Within Duhamel
What Could Have Made the Duhamel Rings?
The rings looked like heavy rolling impressions, but no proposed wheel, pivot or vehicle method fully matched every feature at the site.
On this page
- Pressure marks, crushed grass and repeating tread like impressions
- Wheel, pivot arm and motorcycle explanations considered by investigators
- Why the missing approach tracks kept the mechanism unresolved
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Introduction
The central question raised by the Duhamel rings is not whether they looked unusual, but how they could have been made. When Canadian defence investigators examined the site in August 1967, they found six large circular impressions with crushed grass and repeated tread-like markings that resembled the passage of a very heavy rolling object. Yet none of the obvious mechanical explanations fully matched the physical evidence. The circles appeared isolated from one another, there were no convincing approach or exit tracks leading to the main rings, and the impressions were deeper than those produced by ordinary farm vehicles. As a result, investigators did not conclude that the marks came from an unidentified craft—but neither could they demonstrate an ordinary mechanical cause. That unresolved tension is what has kept the Duhamel traces among Alberta’s best-known physical-trace UFO cases.[Digital Collections]batadora.trentu.caetd 776Digital CollectionsA History of Canada's UFO Investigation, 1950-1995 | Digital Collections…
Why investigators thought the marks were mechanically produced
The impressions themselves offered the strongest clues. Rather than scorched earth or excavated soil, investigators found compressed vegetation and ground that looked as though something heavy had rolled across it. Contemporary reports described the rings as containing repeated lug or tread impressions around their circumference, suggesting contact with a rotating object rather than a smooth metal landing pad.[Digital Collections]digitalcollections.trentu.caA History of Canada s UFO InvestigationDigital CollectionsA HISTORY OF CANADA’S UFO INVESTIGATION, 1950-1995…
Several observations pushed investigators towards a mechanical explanation:
- The grass had been flattened by pressure rather than burned.
- The rings contained repeated tread-like impressions instead of smooth circular grooves.
- The marks appeared heavier on one side in some cases, implying uneven loading rather than perfectly uniform pressure.
- Radiation measurements and laboratory testing found no unusual contamination that might suggest heat, chemicals or exotic materials.[Digital Collections]digitalcollections.trentu.caA History of Canada s UFO InvestigationDigital CollectionsA HISTORY OF CANADA’S UFO INVESTIGATION, 1950-1995…
These features made an ordinary physical mechanism appear more likely than an unknown energy effect. The difficulty lay in identifying a machine capable of producing exactly this pattern.
Wheel, pivot-arm and motorcycle explanations
The most obvious possibility was that the rings had been produced by a heavy wheel.
G. H. S. Jones, the Defence Research Establishment Suffield scientist who inspected the site, remarked that the marks looked remarkably like those made by a rolling tyre. Comparing them with the numerous vehicle tracks left by curious visitors after the discovery, he concluded that whatever produced the circles appeared substantially heavier than an ordinary car or light truck.[Digital Collections]digitalcollections.trentu.caA History of Canada s UFO InvestigationDigital CollectionsA HISTORY OF CANADA’S UFO INVESTIGATION, 1950-1995…
This immediately raised practical problems.
A single loose wheel could theoretically be rolled in a circle, but a tyre heavy enough to create impressions of that depth would have been extremely difficult for one or two people to carry repeatedly across a pasture without leaving additional footprints or drag marks. Likewise, a tractor or truck fitted with large tyres would normally leave continuous approach and departure tracks connecting the circles.
Investigators also had to consider whether agricultural equipment might explain the pattern. Machines that rotate around a fixed point, such as irrigation or cultivation equipment, can leave curved tracks. However, no known farm implement matched the spacing, size and isolated arrangement of the Duhamel circles, and the field contained no evidence that such machinery had operated there.[Digital Collections]digitalcollections.trentu.caA History of Canada s UFO InvestigationDigital CollectionsA HISTORY OF CANADA’S UFO INVESTIGATION, 1950-1995…
Motorcycles were another conceivable source because aggressive tread patterns can leave repeated lug impressions. Yet a motorcycle capable of making marks that deep would also be expected to leave obvious tyre tracks between circles, especially on damp ground after recent rain. Those connecting tracks were absent from the principal impressions documented by the investigators.[Digital Collections]digitalcollections.trentu.caA History of Canada s UFO InvestigationDigital CollectionsA HISTORY OF CANADA’S UFO INVESTIGATION, 1950-1995…
Why the missing approach tracks mattered
The greatest obstacle to every conventional explanation was not the circles themselves but their apparent isolation.
If a heavy wheeled object created the impressions, it had to reach each circle somehow. Normally this would produce:
- continuous tyre tracks entering and leaving each ring;
- disturbed grass between circles;
- turning marks where the vehicle changed direction; or
- evidence that equipment had been repeatedly repositioned.
Instead, the principal rings appeared separated from one another without an equally convincing network of connecting tracks. This was the contradiction repeatedly noted in official documentation. Jones considered the ring impressions themselves consistent with rolling contact, yet he could not explain how such a rolling object had been moved around the field without producing the expected transit marks.[Digital Collections]digitalcollections.trentu.caA History of Canada s UFO InvestigationDigital CollectionsA HISTORY OF CANADA’S UFO INVESTIGATION, 1950-1995…
This issue should also be viewed in light of the condition of the site. By the time the official inspection took place, numerous visitors had driven into the pasture, leaving many unrelated tyre tracks. That disturbance complicated reconstruction of the original scene. Investigators therefore had to distinguish between the apparently original circular impressions and later damage caused by sightseers. Even allowing for that complication, they still regarded the principal rings as a distinct pattern requiring explanation.[Digital Collections]digitalcollections.trentu.caA History of Canada s UFO InvestigationDigital CollectionsA HISTORY OF CANADA’S UFO INVESTIGATION, 1950-1995…
Could it have been a deliberate hoax?
A deliberate fabrication remained a realistic possibility throughout the investigation.
Creating large circular impressions with improvised equipment is not impossible. A sufficiently heavy wheel mounted on an axle, suspended from machinery or attached to a pivot could, in principle, compress vegetation into broad arcs. Likewise, several people using specialised equipment might be able to manufacture unusual ground traces.
However, investigators never reconstructed a method that successfully accounted for all of the observed characteristics simultaneously. Any proposed hoax had to explain not only the circular shape but also the depth of the impressions, the repeated tread-like pattern, the lack of convincing connecting tracks and the apparent absence of obvious preparation or support marks. No documented demonstration achieved that combination.[Digital Collections]digitalcollections.trentu.caA History of Canada s UFO InvestigationDigital CollectionsA HISTORY OF CANADA’S UFO INVESTIGATION, 1950-1995…
Importantly, this does not mean a hoax was ruled out. Rather, the available evidence did not identify a specific method or responsible individuals.
Why the mechanism remains unresolved
The Duhamel rings are often described as mysterious because no single explanation comfortably fits every physical observation.
The official investigation did not endorse an extraordinary cause. Instead, it concluded that the marks most closely resembled pressure produced by a heavy rolling object while acknowledging that no satisfactory mechanism had been identified for placing that object where the rings appeared. Laboratory testing found no unusual radiation or foreign substances, and investigators found no evidence supporting a more exotic physical process.[Digital Collections]digitalcollections.trentu.caA History of Canada s UFO InvestigationDigital CollectionsA HISTORY OF CANADA’S UFO INVESTIGATION, 1950-1995…
Within Alberta’s UFO history, this makes the Duhamel case notable for a limited but important reason. The unresolved element is not that investigators believed an unidentified craft landed, but that they documented genuine physical traces whose most plausible mechanical explanation remained incomplete. More than half a century later, the missing approach tracks—and the lack of any demonstrated wheel, pivot-arm or vehicle method reproducing all of the observed features—remain the central reason the formation has never been conclusively explained.[Digital Collections]digitalcollections.trentu.caA History of Canada s UFO InvestigationDigital CollectionsA HISTORY OF CANADA’S UFO INVESTIGATION, 1950-1995…
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Endnotes
1.
Source: batadora.trentu.ca
Title: etd 776
Link:https://batadora.trentu.ca/objects/etd-776
Source snippet
Digital CollectionsA History of Canada's UFO Investigation, 1950-1995 | Digital Collections...
2.
Source: digitalcollections.trentu.ca
Title: A History of Canada s UFO Investigation 1950 1995
Link:https://digitalcollections.trentu.ca/_flysystem/fedora/2022-04/A_History_of_Canada_s_UFO_Investigation_1950_1995.pdf
Source snippet
Digital CollectionsA HISTORY OF CANADA’S UFO INVESTIGATION, 1950-1995...
3.
Source: scribd.com
Title: A History of Canada s UFO Investigation 1950 1995
Link:https://www.scribd.com/document/817127658/A-History-of-Canada-s-UFO-Investigation
Source snippet
PDF | Unidentified Flying ObjectSeptember 1, 2019 — A HISTORY OF CANADA’S UFO INVESTIGATION, 1950-1995 A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE CO...
Published: September 1, 2019
4.
Source: digitalcollections.trentu.ca
Link:https://digitalcollections.trentu.ca/collection/trent-university-graduate-thesis-collection?f%5B0%5D=creators_and_contributors%3AHodgins%2C+Peter
Additional References
5.
Source: youtube.com
Title: The Shag Harbour UFO Incident
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4zxYPh4dVw
Source snippet
This selection provides direct coverage of the 1967 Duhamel, Alberta physical trace case and its investigative mechanical theories, along...
6.
Source: researchgate.net
Title: (PDF) A Bicycle Can Be Self-Stable Without Gyroscopic or Caster Effects
Link:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51051995_A_Bicycle_Can_Be_Self-Stable_Without_Gyroscopic_or_Caster_Effects
Source snippet
April 1, 2011 — sence of gyroscopic actions, the speed range of com- plete stability would vanish” (11) and make what ap- pears to be a s...
Published: April 1, 2011
7.
Source: cycleworld.com
Title: Piston Rings Look Simple But Are Not | Cycle World
Link:https://www.cycleworld.com/blogs/ask-kevin/piston-rings-and-motorcycle-engine-function/
Source snippet
March 13, 2026 — PISTON RINGS LOOK SIMPLE BUT ARE NOT By Kevin Cameron March 13, 2026 Image: Kevin Cameron Kevin Cameron has been writing...
Published: March 13, 2026
8.
Source: ised-isde.canada.ca
Title: Additionally, different federal departm
Link:https://ised-isde.canada.ca/site/science/en/office-chief-science-advisor/sky-canada-project/management-public-reporting-unidentified-aerial-phenomena-canada
Source snippet
of Public Reporting of Unidentified Aerial Phenomena in CanadaJune 1, 2025 — Federal government The history of UAP reporting within the f...
Published: June 1, 2025
9.
Source: newspaceeconomy.ca
Title: What Is the Sky Canada Project?
Link:https://newspaceeconomy.ca/2025/11/11/what-is-the-sky-canada-project/
Source snippet
New Space EconomyNovember 11, 2025 — GHOSTS IN THE ARCHIVES: CANADA’S LONG, FORGOTTEN HISTORY WITH UFOS The 2025 Sky Canada Project is...
Published: November 11, 2025
10.
Source: youtube.com
Title: The Shag Harbour UFO Incident
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPbDa5D7IUE
Source snippet
3 - Exposing the Mystery (live in Halifax with Chris Styles)...
11.
Source: degruyterbrill.com
Title: Search for the Unknown
Link:https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780228012290/html
Source snippet
June 9, 2023 — Copy Copied to clipboard Image: book: Search for the Unknown Book Image: Cite this Cite this SEARCH FOR THE UNKNOWN Canada...
Published: June 9, 2023
12.
Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oL4E6YRuvN0
Source snippet
The Shag Harbour UFO Incident - Full Documentary...
13.
Source: sciencedirect.com
Link:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0022489867900365
14.
Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbIILun9ZfM
Source snippet
The Summer of UFOs: Canada's 1975 Wave (with Chris Rutkowski)...