The Mississauga Blob
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The Mississauga Blob was the name given to a flaming object—later identified as a frisbee—that fell on a back-yard picnic table in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, at about 5:00 pm on Saturday, June 16, 1979.
Traven Matchett and his daughter Donna were in their backyard when the flaming object plummeted onto their picnic table. The object reportedly passed close to nineteen-year-old Donna's head. She extinguished the flames with a garden hose. The glowing, flaming object is said to have been "perfectly" cylindrical with flames about 18 inches high.
After cooling, the remains appeared to be a flat, dark green rock, 8 inches in diameter with a fibrous, "pock-marked" texture.
Traven Matchett contacted the Pearson International Airport (then Toronto International Airport), a nearby Canadian Armed Forces base, the University of Toronto and the Ontario Science Centre. Apparently, none of these contacts offered Mr. Matchett any explanation. He then contacted the Toronto Sun and a story was published on Sunday, June 27, 1979, attracting worldwide attention.
The Ontario Ministry of the Environment sent an inspector. Peel Regional Police questioned the family and neighbours and concluded the object was a "flaming Frisbee" thrown into their yard as a prank.
Proponents of a paranormal explanation for this incident have suggested that anomalies collector Charles Fort (1874–1932) would have called it a skyfall, with superficial parallels to a Welsh myth called powdre ser, meaning rot of the stars.
The incident took place at 789 Melton Drive in Mississauga (the Matchetts no longer live there).
References
- Dwight Whalen, "The Mississauga Blob," Pursuit, First Quarter, 1981
- John Robert Colombo, "Haunted Toronto," Hounslow Press, Toronto, 1996