News of a mystery spread like wildfire through the village of West Pubnico, N.S., on Thursday after a helicopter landed in Arthur Nelson's backyard.

Nelson said he didn't hear the helicopter land and only noticed it when he looked outside.

But there was no pilot in sight.

"I was a little ... freaked out there for a bit, wondering where that person was," he said.

Nelson said his lawn makes for a great landing pad.

Facebook to the rescue

"It's the only piece of land in town you could essentially land a helicopter on," he said. "I guess that's what people are doing now."

Nelson posted a photo of the helicopter on Facebook asking: "Anyone know who owns this???"

The small-town social media sleuths identified the owner within minutes.

"He was down at the local café having lunch and everybody's phone started dinging in there at the same time, so it didn't take long for him to figure out he wasn't parked in the right spot," said Nelson.

The person who parked his helicopter on Nelson's lawn is having a boat built at a shop next door. (Submitted by Arthur and Samantha Nelson)

He said the carefree parker was apologetic.

"It was just kind of a misunderstanding on where he was able to park his helicopter at. I did chat to him and he was a pretty nice guy about [it]," said Nelson.

"Told him just gimme a call next time you want to fly your helicopter into my backyard and I'll make sure my kids and my dogs are in the house and then they'll all be good."

Nelson said the pilot is from Digby, N.S., and is having a boat built at the shop next door.

The helicopter owner declined comment to CBC News.

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