Strange lights in the sky. Metallic discs hovering over a power plant during a blackout. Even three-foot-tall cat people in the trees.

That's just a sampling of the strange UFO-related encounters reported over the last century in northwestern Ontario, according to two researchers busily putting a new documentary together on the subject.

"There is something actually going on," filmmaker Dee McCullay said of the documentary, titled Northern Lights, he's working on with author and researcher Kim Casey. "There are many people out there with similar experiences."

McCullay — who's also behind the two Sasquatch on Lake Superior documentaries — said the idea for the UFO documentary came from Casey.

"She was working on a paranormal project," McCullay said. "She was researching the subject of UFOs, and she presented me with the idea of doing a UFO documentary."

Research into regional reports has so far turned up nearly 200 incidents, stretching back to 1914. The bulk of the reports come from Thunder Bay, although the region overall is well-represented, McCullay said.

Cat people, power outages

Among his favourites thus far is a tale from Black Sturgeon River Provincial Park, where, as the story goes, two men were working on a dock.

"It was a Friday night, and they were supposed to come back Monday to finish the job," McCullay said. "It would only take a few hours."

But it was getting late, and they decided to camp for the night, and finish their work the next morning.

"For some reason, they both woke up at about two in the morning," McCullay said. "Didn't say a word to each other, yet they were both breaking camp."

"They get in the truck, as they're just about to leave they happen to look up in the same spot," he said. "At the top of one of these jackpines, they saw a cat person up there. It had human and cat features, and was hanging from one of the jackpines."

"They completely freaked out, the guy hit the gas. He never let up until they hit the highway; that's when they finally started talking about it."

Another report comes from a power station in Thunder Bay in the 1950s.

"They had a massive, complete power outage, and the guys were running around there, trying to figure out what was going on," McCullay said. "They got the crew together, the work crew, and they come outside into the yard."

"That's when they saw a giant, metallic disc hovering over the power plant," he said. "The thing just sped off, and then the power restored."

Searching for witnesses

The documentary is currently in its early stages — the goal is to have it compl​eted by the fall — and the search is on for more eyewitness accounts, as well as photos or video.

"I know there are people out there with more stories, similar experiences," he said. "That's why we're trying to get the word out."

"I'm looking for eye-witness accounts, or even stuff passed down, like 'my dad saw this, or my mom said this.' Even that'll work — it's all coming together to make one comprehensive documentary on UFOs."

Anyone with a story to share can reach McCullay via his website.