Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Via Newspapers.com

All right, it's time to talk about Weird Things Falling From the Sky!  The "Sault Star," January 21, 2008:

SPRUCE GROVE, Alta. An octopus-shaped hole in a frozen golf course pond has left people in a central Alberta town scratching their heads. 

"It wasn't there (Friday)," said Tina Danyluk, whose house backs onto the pond at The Links at Spruce Grove, west of Edmonton. "The whole pond was covered in snow (on Friday) until this morning when we saw the strange marks in the pond." 

The hole, about 1.5 metres wide, was visible Saturday at the golf course, along with at least 20 splash marks, the longest about six metres. Danyluk and others suspect it may have been a meteor.

Astronomer Martin Beech said he wouldn't rule it out, but the marks perplexed him. To punch through ice nearly half a metre thick, the meteor would have to be huge and would look like a bright burning ball with an associated sonic boom, said Beech, who teaches astronomy at Campion College at the University of Regina. "Usually, it's quite a distinctive rumbling sound and people tend to notice that sound," Beech said. No one reported seeing or hearing anything unusual Friday night. Beech added he wasn't aware of any reports of fireballs in the area.

He also noted that such an object wouldn't normally melt thick ice. 

"If it wasn't a meteorite, what the heck was it?" Beech asked. 

Danyluk's neighbour, Aaron Soos, said the marks were puzzling and had people talking all day. "If the pond was not frozen, we wouldn't even see those marks."