Claims: Physical Evidence of Steve Michalak's Falcon Lake UFO Incident

[Rory]

this part is flat out wrong, if we read that paragraph as prior to the UFO incident [it's different] from their own source link:

fixed

 

[JMartJr]

In general, you can expect it to take between 1-3 weeks to make moonshine, as the mash must ferment and the distillation process must be continued until the final shine is safe for consumption.

https://homebrewadvice.com › how-to-make-moonshine

 

[NorCal Dave]

He succinctly wrote: "Gloves, goggles, burns, smell of sulfur – knocked off his feet by copper still."

Maybe. First of all, let's look at what the hobby distiller said (bold by me):

A distinct smell of sulfur/sulfide and vulcanized rubber overlays the fine malt aroma.

While he does say "distinct" he also says it overlays the malt aroma. To clarify, I'm someone that never misses a distillery tour anywhere I visit, though I can neither confirm nor deny that I may occasionally dabble in some home alchemy with a still. So, the smell of sulfur may not be an overpowering note that can coat Michalak's clothes and make him smell bad.

The other people on the forum point out that the sulfur smell often come from problems with fermentation, so he should have noticed it before he attempted to distill his product.

Fermentation can produce hydrogen sulphide, it stinks of rotten eggs, burnt rubber and sulfur. During fermentation, so-called thioalcohols can be formed, in which an oxygen atom is replaced by a sulfur atom (or so).

https://www.schnapsbrennen.at/discussion/beitrag/raetselhafter-schwefelgeruch-im-destillat/

In distillation, subtlety is key. Making the "cuts" as the alcohol comes off the still is all about the small differences in smell and taste as is the finished product. The hobby guy on the forum can still smell the malt, or smells of the original mash, it's just that the sulfur is overlaying it. So, I would imagine if he spilled it all over himself, he would just smell like alcohol, not really sulfur.

This is a standard, though mini version, of a pot still on the left, that allows the heated vapor to go into the "worm" on the right, where the vapor goes through the small copper pipe that is submerged in cold water, thus condensing it. As for the silver vegetable steamer, I'm not sure what it's for, other than maybe as a strainer. After a mash (if it's grains) or wine (if it's fruits) has been fermented, it is strained before entering the pot still. It appears that the strainer/steamer would fit on top of the bottom 1/2 of the still and act as a rough strainer. In that case it would NOT be in the still when it is heated and therefore wouldn't be hot enough to burn someone.

Key points: A distillery still has perforated plates. And the pattern on Michalak's torso was the only real mystery to me.

Sometimes, they have perforated plates. Those types of plates are often found in column or reflux stills. For home hobby distillers, these are often called "flute" stills. Each of the round glass windows in the flute below has a perforated "bubbler plate":

The bubbler plates sometimes look like this 2" version:

But more often like this 8" one:

More importantly, perforated bubbler plates are used in much more sophisticated and expensive set ups, often to get create very high ABVs (Alcohol By Volume). Anything distilled to 95% ABV is vodka. It's supposed to be odorless and tasteless, other than the alcohol.

A backwoods moonshine still, is often cobbled together with whatever is handy, but resembles a classic pot still. No plates. These turn out product that is between 50% and maybe 70% ABV.

It's possible that Mill had some sort of homemade column/flute still out in the woods AND that he happened to have a very sulfur tainted mash that he decided to run through it anyways when it happened to blow up on him. Sounds like a stretch, though moonshining could have been involved in some way.

In general, you can expect it to take between 1-3 weeks to make moonshine, as the mash must ferment and the distillation process must be continued until the final shine is safe for consumption.
https://homebrewadvice.com › how-to-make-moonshine

As noted, that includes the fermentation process, which can take 3-8 days or so depending on temps, yeast and what's being fermented. Once the mash is fermented, it can be run through a still in 3-8 hours depending on amounts, longer if one has to build a wood fire first. Most simple pot stills require 2 passes, a stripping run and a spirit run, to get something in the 60%-80% ABV.

So, assuming Michalak had already fermented his mash, he could have headed up to his "claim" to distill a bit of "shine" over the weekend.

 

[NorCal Dave]

P. S.: This is my first post on Metabunk. Please forgive me if I am not familiar with the forum software right away.

If you're having trouble getting it to work right, PM me. Took me a while too.

 

[FatPhil]

https://homebrewadvice.com › how-to-make-moonshine

Nah, we've had Turboyeast for decades

What is Turbo Yeast?
Jun 26, 2018 11:36:13 AM Published in Liquors 6702 Views.

A turbo yeast is nothing like an ordinary pack of wine or beer yeast. In fact, it is not very good at fermenting beer or wine, it is usually far to fast and brutal for this, leaving nothing of the desired flavours and bouques in your brew if you try. Instead the turbo yeast is designed for the fastest and most reliable fermentation of a pure sugar/water mix, into pure alcohol.

...

Turbo yeast come in many flavours today. The typical groups are
Moderate alcohol turbo yeast - fast

Turbo's in this group are Alcotec 6 (3 day fermentation), Alcotec 48 (which does it in 48 hours, hence the name). The alcohol level is usually around 14% by volume. This is the result of full fermentation of 6 kgs of sugar in 25 litres final volume (the rest being water).High alcohol turbo yeast - slower

...

Speciality turbo yeast - hyper fast, hyper clean

We have the Alcotec 24 - makes moderate alcohol in only 24 hours, it is the most extreme fermentation you have ever seen. There are also a few "super clean" fermenting yeasts such as the Alcotec VodkaStar and the Alcotec Triple Still.

-- https://www.brewuk.co.uk/faq/what-is-turbo-yeast.html

 

[JMartJr]

Nah, we've had Turboyeast for decades

But is it universally used? Or do some traditionalists prefer doing it the old fashioned way like daddy taught 'em? If nothing else, it would seem to deprive one of the peaceful weeks of vacation out in the woods, away from trouble and strife. (Of course one COULD stay out for weeks and use your newfangled yeast to make multiple batches, maybe...)

That said, I have no dog in the fight of what he might have been doing out there, other than still believing his time frame not totally inconsistent with some shining, possibly with attendant hunting and spitting and whittling and generally enjoying the some time off.

 

[Charlie Wiser]

Old thread but I wanted to add this: The photo of the grid of dots on Michalak's stomach is always used to illustrate his original burns but it appeared in a newspaper article in Jan 1968 where he claimed the burn marks had recurred. Hence no singed hair.

Winnipeg Free Press, Jan 17, 1968

Obviously it does not match the location of the grid on the undershirt - which actually shows the grid of dots on the BACK of the shirt, not the chest:

His original burns are the blotchy ones on his chest and upper abdomen - that photo was taken 2 or 3 days after the incident probably by the UFO researcher who visited him at home. It appears in Michalak's self-published book (late 1967), in which there is no mention of him suffering a grid of dot pattern of burns and no photo of it.

So, his self-published book came out in Nov or Dec 1967, and in Jan 1968 he's in the paper because his burns are back... presumably he called the reporter with that update, whereupon the article was written, the famous dot-photo photo taken.

 

[NorCal Dave]

Old thread but I wanted to add this:

I'll add more, like a plug for your website.

Seriously, if anyone on Metabunk wants a real good run through on the timeline of this case and how what were told is not what really happened, check out Charlie Wiser's own page threedollarkit.weebly.com.

In addition, there is a great run through on the Travis Walton Fire in the Sky case and the Ariel schoolyard case.

I'm currently reading through her work on the Ariel case and it's everything I love about Metabunk. Contrasting what the children said on video versus what the investigators said they said.

 

[Charlie Wiser]

I'll add more, like a plug for your website.

Hehe thanks. I have a much longer article on Michalak's case that I'll replace the existing one with, at some point, as my website only focuses on the burns and what we could charitably call the photo mix-up. Chris Rutkowski has been the main investigator and knew the family since the 70s. His 1994 report for JUFOS as well as his 2017 book (cowritten with Stan Michalak, the son) caption the grid-dot-burn pattern as "taken a few days after his encounter" and "shortly after the incident" respectively.

The latter book includes the full text of Michalak's 1967 booklet but no images, so the blotchy-burns photo doesn't appear anywhere in that book (or in the 1994 report).

I've been unable to reconcile the discrepancy with Chris. I don't know when the blotchy-burns photo first (re)surfaced but it was donated to the U of Manitoba Library Special Collections around 2019 along with the shirt which is on display with a red RCMP label even though to my knowledge it was never in RCMP's possession. (Photos in the right case are of Michalak and the site.)

 

[Charlie Wiser]

On a different note - while I have no doubt this case was hoaxed in every respect (other than perhaps the initial burns, which may have been accidental), I do wonder why he described two UFOs, only one of which landed. In those early days of UFO encounters, I imagine those with an interest in the subject who wanted to hoax their own sighting would have copied off each other. So what story was Michalak copying? Because otherwise I don't know why he'd add the second, superfluous, UFO.

 

[deirdre]

His original burns are the blotchy ones on his chest and upper abdomen - that photo was taken 2 or 3 days after the incident probably by the UFO researcher who visited him at home.

ouch. the hospital shaved him all around and Over his burns?
i mean that could be like when people lose their eyebrows in a flash fire, but the doctor said the holes in his undershirt matched the burned areas on his chest. so the whole shirt didnt catch.

and he said he had a proper shirt over his tshirt. weirdness.

 

[Charlie Wiser]

the doctor said the holes in his undershirt matched the burned areas on his chest. so the whole shirt didnt catch.

The doctor wrote in his 1968 report for APRO that he "observed the burnt undershirt which had holes with charred (or blackened) edges corresponding to the site of the burn."

Note the grid pattern on the undershirt is not holes with blackened edges - merely surface marks. So what the doctor is referring to here must be the other burns on the shirt - the huge holes on the chest (in the photo the shirt has been cut open so you need to imagine it back in one piece) which do indeed match Michalak's burned chest.

His description of Michalak's burns also match the blotchy burns photo - no mention of a grid of dots which would obviously be worth remarking on: "numerous reddish, slightly irregular, oval-shaped, slightly raised lesions" on Michalak's "lower sternal and upper abdominal region… especially to the left of the midline… consistent with a first-degree burn."

and he said he had a proper shirt over his tshirt. weirdness.

That shirt, he claims, was burned into tiny pieces. When he (finally) located the site weeks later he claims he collected all the remnants but I've seen no reports that anyone else ever saw them, and when the authorities went to the site they couldn't find even one scrap left behind.

 

[deirdre]

Note the grid pattern on the undershirt is not holes with blackened edges - merely surface marks. So what the doctor is referring to here must be the other burns on the shirt - the huge holes on the chest (in the photo the shirt has been cut open so you need to imagine it back in one piece) which do indeed match Michalak's burned chest.

yup.

still doesnt explain where all his chest hair went. why would the hospital shave between his pecks for example, there is no burn there and shaving a burn would hurt.
and the ufo grid i dont think, can flash singe hair off your body if it is under two shirts.

i think he made up the grid pattern burns because he didnt have any evidence of a grid causing the initial burn.

 

[Charlie Wiser]

still doesnt explain where all his chest hair went. why would the hospital shave between his pecks for example, there is no burn there and shaving a burn would hurt.
and the ufo grid i dont think, can flash singe hair off your body if it is under two shirts.

I'm not sure what you mean about his chest hair - are you referring to that asymmetrical patch of missing hair in the 1967 photo? This could be where hair was merely singed when he got the rest of the burn. (I think it's likely he rubbed hot ash on his chest, since that's what the highway officer thinks he saw. He refused to show the officer his undershirt, so I also think it's likely all the damage on the undershirt was created when he got back to the hotel, or back home.)

I should reiterate that Michalak isn't the one who mixed up the photos. Prior to 1968 he never mentioned a regular grid of burns on his body as part of the original injury. Then in Jan 1968 he claimed that pattern was the same as the original. To explain why the original photo is blotchy burns, he said the dots would grow and eventually join up. He said this had already happened before in Sep 1967.

So he invented the story that the recurrence was the same as the original, and when Chris Rutkowski got involved I guess he therefore assumed the dot-pattern photo was from the original incident. He suggested the dot pattern is a chemical burn (whereas the burns elsewhere were thermal), to explain why the stomach hair isn't singed. If he can ever accept the dot pattern photo is from Jan 1968, this explanation also works.

i think he made up the grid pattern burns because he didnt have any evidence of a grid causing the initial burn.

I can't 100% parse your sentence but the grid pattern of burns (on his skin) was never part of the story until 1968. So even the idea of producing evidence of burns matching the dots on the shirt didn't exist until 1968.

 

[deirdre]

I think it's likely he rubbed hot ash on his chest, since that's what the highway officer thinks he saw. He refused to show the officer his undershirt, so I also think it's likely all the damage on the undershirt was created when he got back to the hotel, or back home

its possible if he caught his undershirt on fire and patted it out with his hands it could look like ash smeared on his chest. But yea i always wondered what he was wearing on the road, the officer didnt say "a shirtless guy flag me down". and he said "he showed me his burn" which implies the burn was hidden by something.

 

[deirdre]

So even the idea of producing evidence of burns matching the dots on the shirt didn't exist until 1968.

the story was always a grid on the ufo burned him. all sorts of things could have burned him, so the only way to give his story oomph was to produce a grid. (vs everyone just dismissing him saying "yea you were drunk and passed out on the fire" etc.) I think that is the only reason he faked the grid burns later on.

 

[deirdre]

It appears in Michalak's self-published book (late 1967),

can i ask how you know this? i've been looking for it but cant find it anywhere.

 

[Charlie Wiser]

he said "he showed me his burn"

The officer said he was wearing a jacket with no shirt.

Michalak claimed in a TV interview years later that he was bare-chested because it hurt to much to wear his jacket.

 

[deirdre]

The officer said he was wearing a jacket with no shirt.

thanks. i didnt see that in the report i read. thanks.

 

[Charlie Wiser]

can i ask how you know this? i've been looking for it but cant find it anywhere.

The booklet is reproduced as photocopies in the Canadian govt UFO files.

 

[Charlie Wiser]

thanks. i didnt see that in the report i read. thanks.

This is the start of Solotki's report - written 2 weeks after Cpl Davis's Jun 5th report for some reason.

 

[Charlie Wiser]

Link to the booklet - it was published in 1967, no earlier than November.

 

[Charlie Wiser]

Link to the booklet - it was published in 1967, no earlier than November.

The above post has been flagged and I was asked to edit it but there's no edit button. Whatever. I was trying to provide a helpful resource which was essentially requested, and which anyone reading this thread can see the relevance of. I'm not going to upload 40 jpgs here.

 

[Landru]

The above post has been flagged and I was asked to edit it but there's no edit button. Whatever. I was trying to provide a helpful resource which was essentially requested, and which anyone reading this thread can see the relevance of. I'm not going to upload 40 jpgs here.

You can describe briefly what is in the link in accordance with the Posting Guidelines. If it is a response to a request you should have replied to the request so it would be included to provide context.

 

[Charlie Wiser]

You can describe briefly what is in the link in accordance with the Posting Guidelines. If it is a response to a request you should have replied to the request si it would be included ti provide context.

The context of the booklet is abundantly clear.

Two phenomenal researchers, including one retweeted by Mick West, have left this board because of this nit-picking nonsense by overzealous mods against skeptical users trying to have evidence-based conversations. Congrats for making me the third.

 

[Mendel]

. I'm not going to upload 40 jpgs here

it might be worth uploading the booklet to archive.org, for posterity.
i believe the site will generate a PDF for easy dissemination.

 

[deirdre]

The context of the booklet is abundantly clear.

someone would have to be closely paying attention to our conversation. first its called a book , then you answer my question. and then post something else then post a link to a booklet.

but the reason mods don't let people just post unclear links is because they don't want the conspiracy theorists to do it. Conspiracy theorists just posting random unclear links is a real problem on this site, and people complain when there are double standards (which my signature attests to )

add: they also are supposed to frown on people stating things as if they are fact, but not providing back up evidence. Again, this is because it's too annoying when conspiracy theorists do this. and we should be modeling good analysis techniques.

 

[Nemon]

Link to the booklet - it was published in 1967, no earlier than November.

But this booklet does not show the colour photo as you are stating here (#47):

His original burns are the blotchy ones on his chest and upper abdomen - that photo was taken 2 or 3 days after the incident probably by the UFO researcher who visited him at home. It appears in Michalak's self-published book (late 1967), in which there is no mention of him suffering a grid of dot pattern of burns and no photo of it.

...and the Michalak booklet does show a photo of the shirt with the grid pattern on the cover, doesn't it?


Maybe I got mixed up ...

 

[deirdre]

But this booklet does not show the colour photo as you are stating here (#47):

i saw it. page 21

and the Michalak booklet does show a photo of the shirt with the grid pattern on the cover, doesn't it?

i think she is talking about the photo with the grid pattern on his stomach.

 

[Nemon]

i saw it. page 21
View attachment 56727


i think she is talking about the photo with the grid pattern on his stomach.

Okay, thank you! I did not recognize it from the preview pictures.

i think she is talking about the photo with the grid pattern on his stomach.

I'm a little confused now. I understood that in this version the grid pattern was introduced afterwards - not only as an injury, but also on the undershirt.

 

[Charlie Wiser]

Timeline of the evidence for Michalak's injuries

The reason I'm posting this is because the timeline, specifically the photos, have been mixed up in order to create the narrative that Michalak suffered burns in a grid pattern (matching the UFO exhaust). I am unmixing them.

Documents are from the Canadian UFO files unless otherwise stated. The files can be downloaded in parts here (Archive.org) with parts 17 and 18 containing documents on Michalak's case.

Summary: There is no evidence from medical reports or from Michalak himself that he suffered a grid of burns as a result of the incident. The famous "grid" pattern photo first appeared in 1968 when he claimed the burns reappeared.

What was documented at the time

Constable Solotki, who saw Michalak on the side of the road (after he ran out of the bush), said Michalak wore a jacket over a bare chest, and appeared to have rubbed ash on his chest. (Solotki, G A (Jun 16, 1967). Royal Canadian Mounted Police Report, D Division, Falcon Police Highway Patrol. Stefan Michalak: Report of Unidentified Flying Object, Falcon Beach, Manitoba – 20 MAY 67)

The ER doc who treated Michalak the next day described the first-degree burns:

At examination the physician found an area of first degree burns over the upper abdomen, covering an area of 7-8 inches [17-20 cm] and consisting of several round and irregular shaped burns the size of a silver dollar or less.

(This memo is from a doctor writing to the main investigator Bissky, following his discussion with the ER doc.)

A story by Heather Chisvin appeared in the local paper (Winnipeg Tribune) on Monday, after she visisted Michalak at home on Sunday. Chisvin quoted the ER doc as saying there was "nothing unusual about [the burns] at all". The photo with the article shows Michalak with a covered chest, holding up his sketch of the UFO.

The photo shows Michalak wearing a button-down regular shirt, which is very similar or identical to the shirt worn in the blotchy burns photo (below). The timeline indicates these photos were taken on Sunday and Tuesday respectively.

Michalak's son Stan (then 9) would later recall that the above article showed his father's chest with a grid of burns but this is clearly an incorrect memory:

Source: When They Appeared by Stan Michalak and Chris Rutkowski, 2017, chp 3.

Michalak's family doctor Dr Oatway examined him on Monday and talked to RCMP the following day, per Corporal G J Davis's (RCAF) first report, and did not mention a grid of dots on the patient's skin. This report from Oatway includes a second treatment in Sep for an allergic reaction. In neither case does he mention a grid pattern of burns.

In 1968 Oatway wrote a report for APRO where he described:

numerous reddish, slightly irregular, oval-shaped, slightly raised lesions [on Michalak's] lower sternal and upper abdominal region… especially to the left of the midline… consistent with a first-degree burn.

Source: When They Appeared by Stan Michalak and Chris Rutkowski, 2017, chp Physiological Effects.

Irregular burns left of midline does not indicate Oatway saw a regular pattern of dots over Michalak's navel. His description exactly matches the blotchy burns photo.

On Tuesday two officers from RCMP interviewed Michalak, who:

showed us the burns on his abdomen and chest and there is a large burn that covers an area approximately 1 foot in diameter… blotchy and with unburned areas inside the burned perimeter area… It resembled an exceptionally severe sunburn in the one spot.

Again, clearly not a regular grid of dots on the stomach.

APRO investigator B. Thompson visited on Tuesday and took the "blotchy burns" photo (evidence of the date of this photo is in the next paragraph):

A poor photocopy of the photo appears in the Canadian government declassified UFO files, labeled as part 17 on Archive.org as part of a Jul 1967 memo. The memo (from the lead govt investigator Bissky) describes the photo as being taken by Thompson. This is evidence that the photo represents the burns Michalak suffered at the time of the incident.

This is my composite of the memo and the photo which appear on contiguous pages of the government file, indicating that the memo is referring to this photo.

Also on Tuesday, presumably at the urging of Thompson, a UFO sighting report was made:

His shirt was burned from the exhaust panels on the outer edge and he required medical treatment for burns on his stomach.

No mention of a grid pattern.

In late 1967 Michalak published a booklet to detail his experience. It does not include any picture or description of a grid of burns on his body. It only includes the blotchy burns photo with this caption:

Large and small pink spots appeared on my chest as a result of burns I received from the heat of the craft.

The text itself describes his injuries like this:

Red marks had appeared where the blast from the craft touched me and burnt my shirt. Some spots were as large as silver dollars

(This proves the marks were of different sizes. A Canadian silver dollar is 1.4", much bigger than the fingernail-sized dots in the grid pattern.)

The hot surface of the craft melted my glove and the heat burned my cap and set on fire my shirt, formed a peculiar burnt pattern on my undershirt.

(Pattern on his undershirt but NOT on his body.)

He twice mentions that his chest was burned, not his stomach:

A doctor examined the burns on my chest...
(caption) Remains of the undershirt found at the site of the landing. Note the peculiar checkerboard pattern created by the heat which also burned my chest.

In Nov 1967, Lou McPhillips (Winnipeg City Policeman and UFO enthusiast) wrote to the Defence Minister, Ontario about various cases including this one. He included the following quote from Michalak:

I was burned from the heat, and I was thrown back. My clothes, shirt & chest were burned.

Again, he was burned on the chest, not the stomach, and he makes no mention of the burns being in a grid pattern.

The famous photo

There is no evidence that anyone saw, or that Michalak claimed, during 1967 that he had a grid pattern of burns on his body. The first time it comes up is in Jan 1968 in the newspaper article "Burns Back, Says Michalak" (Winnipeg Free Press). Michalak was at home on bed rest with what he called a recurrence of burns "identical" to what he suffered in 1967. The photo with the article (actually a series of photos) is the famous one often used to illustrate the case, but these photos did not exist before 1968. The caption makes it clear that the photo was taken for the article, describing Michalak as bedridden. There's no evidence a doctor saw him.

Note:

• If this photo was actually from May 1967, as Chris Rutkowski claims, and reused by the newspaper rather than the staff taking their own photo, it would include a copyright or source.
• The missing patch of chest hair seen in the blotchy burns photo is not present. There's no singed chest hair.
• The hair on his stomach is not singed under the "burns". Chris Rutkowski explains this by saying the grid is actually a chemical burn - despite Michalak and everyone who saw him saying his suffered first degree burns / sunburn.
• The grid pattern and its location doesn't match anything about the descriptions given by various people in May (see above).

Other evidence

As previously discussed in this thread, the grid pattern on the undershirt is on the back, not the front, and doesn't match the size, location, or pattern of the "burns" on Michalak's stomach in the 1968 photo (claimed by Rutkowski to be the 1967 photo). The grid barely goes below the bottom of the armholes. It's nowhere near his stomach even if he was wearing the shirt backwards.

Note the missing squares in the bottom row (unlike the grid on his stomach) and the outline which reminds me of a vintage waffle iron. I haven't found a matching item, but these photos show a handheld waffle iron along with a old electric one that has those corner squares missing. Also note that these fabric burns are very minor and it seems unlikely that the heat which caused this damage could cause much damage at all to the skin underneath it.

The allegedly recurred burn in Jan 1968 matches this vintage brass ashtray pretty well. As I said, there's no evidence he sought medical treatment so we don't know if these are burns or marks made in some other way. In this color photo it's clear Michalak has no other burn damage on his body despite the huge burns on the undershirt that's left ragged holes. There's simply no way this photo comes from 2 days after the incident (and nor did Michalak claim it did).