In response to reports this week of mysterious lights over Jackhead Reservation in Manitoba, Canada, a possible UFO crash into Lake Winnipeg and military forces on snowmobiles pulling a large disc out of the lake, a spokesperson for the Canadian Forces said it was just a military training exercise. Really?

On the night of Wednesday, February 18, reports began appearing on social media of lights over Lake Winnipeg. These were followed by Facebook posts by a Brent Mancheese:

UFO crash reported on the Jackhead reserve in Manitoba, Canada. Apparently the Canadian Military have vehicles lined up on north shore. They are threatening anybody who tries to take pics…lots of eye witnesses. Thur is round object being hauled across the lake being pulled by snow mobiles and bombardier … Something was seen going down by 8 fishermen they reported it…why would they not let the media know if it was a plane crash.

Another report had some bad news about one witness with a camera:

Apparently a disc shaped craft was seen crashing through the ice on the lake, at least one person got photographic evidence but has since been detained by the Canadian military.

Ah, the Canadian military. According to Lt.-Col. Paul Davies, commanding officer 38 Territorial Battalion Group, about 150 military personnel were at the frozen lake taking part in Exercise Arctic Bison 2015, a training program for dealing with emergencies in harsh environments. Emergencies like a UFO crash? Not so, says Davies.

There’s no aliens, just my friends in the air force who are out there helping us on this exercise … that was not a UFO …

So what was it? Davies said it was an airplane with quick takeoff capabilities.

From a distance it may have looked like it was going straight up in the air, but it wasn’t.

An airplane taking off from a frozen lake? What about the crash? What about the disc? What about the photographic evidence? What about the witnesses?

What really happened at Lake Winnipeg this week?