- For the Allen-Bergeron family Sunday, January 2nd, 2000
was a not too special day. If anything it was a "clean up after Christmas"
sort of day. And that meant taking the Christmas tree to Newton Athletic
Park on 128th Street in Surrey, to the chipper that was located there.
They disposed of the tree and as they were leaving at around 15:55 an East
Indian gentleman approached them in a great state of agitation asking if
they would be witness to a highly unusual event. According to his account
he had been walking through the park when he heard a whistling sound approaching.
A few seconds later a large piece of ice fell out of a clear blue sky and
landed in the soft turf about two feet away, shattering on impact and throwing
fragments over an area about fifty feet in diameter! His first reaction
was to look upwards for an aircraft, but the sky was clear and none was
to be seen. Daniel Bergeron said that the man was visibly shaken as he
recounted the circumstances.
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- The hole that was created was about one foot wide and
a foot deep. A large fragment of ice remained embedded in the soft soil.
If this original ice fall had hit this man he would most certainly have
been killed.
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- By this time a crowd of people had gathered around to
wonder and commiserate with the near victim. Someone phoned 911 (why?)
and shortly afterwards the Newton Fire Department arrived. A fireman lifted
out the ice chunk, stirred around in the impact crater with his flashlight
and of course discovered nothing more of any consequence.
-
- Although concerned about the possible effect of radiation,
Colleen and Daniel picked up two pieces of ice about the size of tennis
balls, took them home and placed them in the deep freeze in plastic bags.
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- The ice is opaque, weighs a quarter of a pound, the second
chunk maybe slightly less. If it fell from an aircraft toilet then no chemical
discoloration can be seen, nor is human waste apparent to either the eye
or nose. It will be interesting to see what a laboratory analysis will
disclose, (if anything).
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- At this point it would be worth mentioning I think that
whilst on the topic of unusual incidents, this took place right in the
centre of the "Surrey Corridor" (a long history of high strangeness),
was in close proximity to an electrical sub station, and is only one of
many recorded incidents of strange ice falls, even here in Vancouver. A
few years ago two such falls took place within one week! Both went through
the roof of the owners, homes.
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- Although BCTV carried the report on the evening news
none of the city newspapers seemed to pay attention to it. Not even the
Surrey Leader and the Surrey Now.
-
- For those readers who are prepared to again attribute
this event to a passing, (long since gone aircraft) it should be pointed
out that Charles Fort recorded large chunks of ice falling from the sky
as far back as 1802 and that is only one of many cases recorded during
the 1800,s from a variety of diverse locations such as Britain, Spain,
France, Hungary, Tunisia, India and the United States. When one of these
pieces weigh 80 lbs and in another instance is 3, wide, 3, long and two
feet thick! you have to ask yourself other questions, to which simple answers
are not easily found.
-
- And, oh yes, before I forget. About 15 "iceballs"
have rained down in Spain in the first three weeks of January, 2000. One
of them, a lump of ice weighing 8 lbs, fell out of the sky onto a car,
demolishing it! That event took place on the 12th January in Madrid.
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- Not a bad start for mysteries of the new millenium.
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- See photos at UFO*BC.org
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- Above: Sabrina Allen beside crater left by Iceball impacting
at Newton Athletic Park, in Surrey. Above: Daniel Bergeron, Colleen Allen
and Brandon beside "Ice Hole".
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- Above and below: Fragments of the Surrey "Iceball".
Compared to a "Toonie" on the left and a quarter on the
right.
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