File 24549 · 7 November 1990
Lights over the Bonaventure, Montreal
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Opened 9/9/2026
Ledger illustration of the file — not a photograph of the object. Ledger illustration of the report. A Montreal rooftop at night. — Night Ledger illustration of the file
Standing
Unidentified
On the public record, and still open. A claim, paper, or film — not a finding that it was ours, and not a finding that it was not.
What was claimed
Dozens of people, including police, described a large oval of lights over downtown Montreal for hours. Radar at Dorval and Mirabel showed nothing matching. Later writers offered cloud-reflected searchlights.
What is on the record
This file is a working record — a report, not a verdict. Official paper, if any, is linked where we have it.
On the evening of 7 November 1990, guests at the Hotel Bonaventure rooftop pool, then hotel security and Montreal police, described a large oval of amber and yellow lights hanging over downtown, sometimes with white beams. Air traffic control at Dorval and Mirabel told officers they had no corresponding target. The object, or the lights, stayed for hours. A later Canadian Geographic feature and a sceptical reconstruction (zenithal light pillars / cloud-reflected beams) both sit on the public record.
Police notes and a radar-negative. The file is what was written, including the later mundane reading.
Could this have been ours?
The known sky, that night.
Satellites were already up. The station was not. Starlink was not.
Always
Venus and the bright planets
A fixed brilliant point. Does not streak. Does not hover over a street then leave. Often the first misread light in a rural report.
Always
Aircraft, balloons, meteors
Landing lights, flares, lanterns, reentries, fireballs. They are on the known sky. They do not close a file by themselves — they are what a serious look has to hold the claim against.
Orbit · Space — the desks for lights that are already named.
Sources
Paper on this file
Official or public documents that belong with this case — not a verdict.
Related files
Same craft, same place, same years. A neighbor in the catalogue — not a conclusion.
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