UFO sightings in the United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
This is a list of notable alleged sightings of unidentified flying objects or UFOs in the United Kingdom
. Many more sightings became known since 2008, when the National Archives have gradually released MoD
UFO sighting reports. In recent years there have been many sightings of groups of slowly-moving lights in the sky in the night sky, which can be easily explained by Chinese lantern
s.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Many more sightings became known since 2008, when the National Archives have gradually released MoD
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
UFO sighting reports. In recent years there have been many sightings of groups of slowly-moving lights in the sky in the night sky, which can be easily explained by Chinese lantern
Sky lantern
Sky lanterns, also known as Kongming Lantern are airborne paper lanterns traditionally found in some Asian cultures. They are constructed from oiled rice paper on a bamboo frame, and contain a small candle or fuel cell composed of a waxy flammable material. When lit, the flame heats the air inside...
s.
1940s
- February, 1942: A woman named Eileen Arnold was walking down CheltenhamCheltenhamCheltenham , also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a large spa town and borough in Gloucestershire, on the edge of the Cotswolds in the South-West region of England. It is the home of the flagship race of British steeplechase horse racing, the Gold Cup, the main event of the Cheltenham Festival held...
high street when she suddenly experienced an altered state of consciousness as she became "tuned into another reality". She became aware of a large oval shape moving slowly above the rooftops. She stated that it radiated light from holes in its side and had quills which detached one by one, also emitting light. Following this, Eileen believed she had numerous psychicPsychicA psychic is a person who professes an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception , or is said by others to have such abilities. It is also used to describe theatrical performers who use techniques such as prestidigitation, cold reading, and hot...
experiences. - September, 1942: Albert Lancaster believes he was abducted by aliens while working as a guard at a radar site near Newbiggin-on-Sea, NorthumbriaNorthumbriaNorthumbria was a medieval kingdom of the Angles, in what is now Northern England and South-East Scotland, becoming subsequently an earldom in a united Anglo-Saxon kingdom of England. The name reflects the approximate southern limit to the kingdom's territory, the Humber Estuary.Northumbria was...
. He claimed to have a sudden urge to go outside followed by a "strange impulse to look at the sky." He claims he saw a glowing light surrounded by dark mist and, assuming it was a German weapon, went to raise the alarm before being struck by a beam of light from the cloud followed by a floating sensation then becoming aware he was back at his post. Following this experience he believed he had psychic powers for a period of time. - August 5, 1944: According to records released on August 5, 2010, British wartime prime minister Winston ChurchillWinston ChurchillSir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
banned the reporting for 50 years of an alleged UFO incident because of fears it could create mass panic. Reports given to Churchill claimed the incident allegedly involved an Royal Air ForceRoyal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
(RAF) reconnaissance plane returning from a mission in FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
or GermanyGermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
toward the end of the Second World War. It was over or near the English coastline when it was allegedly suddenly intercepted by a strange metallic object that matched the aircraft's course and speed for a time before accelerating away and disappearing. The plane's crew were reported to have photographed the object, which they said had "hovered noiselessly" near the aircraft, before moving off. According to the documents, details of the cover-up emerged when the man wrote to the government in 1999 seeking to find out more about the incident. He described how his grandfather, who served with the RAF in the Second World War, was present when Churchill and U.S. General Dwight Eisenhower discussed how to deal with the UFO encounter. The files come from more than 5,000 pages of UFO reports and letters and drawings from members of the public, as well as questions raised by Members of Parliament in the Parliament of the United KingdomParliament of the United KingdomThe Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
. They are available to download for free for a month from The National Archives website.
1950s
- 14–25 September 1952: Operation MainbraceOperation MainbraceExercise Mainbrace was the first large-scale naval exercise undertaken by the newly established Allied Command Atlantic , one of the two principal military commands of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization . It was part of a series of NATO exerciseS jointly commanded by Supreme Allied Commander...
- many UFOs were observed. On 19 September at 11am a silver disc-shaped object followed a Gloster MeteorGloster MeteorThe Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies' first operational jet. It first flew in 1943 and commenced operations on 27 July 1944 with 616 Squadron of the Royal Air Force...
returning to RAF TopcliffeRAF TopcliffeRAF Topcliffe is a Royal Air Force station in North Yorkshire. It is a satellite station of RAF Linton-on-Ouse.Topcliffe opened in September 1940 as a bomber station in RAF Bomber Command and was home to 77 and 102 Squadrons flying the Whitley heavy bomber. There was a decoy site at Raskelf...
, and seen by observers on the ground. It rotated whilst hovering. It then travelled towards the west at high speed. On 21 September, six RAF planes followed a spherical object over the North SeaNorth SeaIn the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
. It followed one of the planes back to the base. - 14 October 1954: Flt LtFlight LieutenantFlight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many Commonwealth countries. It ranks above flying officer and immediately below squadron leader. The name of the rank is the complete phrase; it is never shortened to "lieutenant"...
James Salandin of the Royal Auxiliary Air ForceRoyal Auxiliary Air ForceThe Royal Auxiliary Air Force , originally the Auxiliary Air Force , is the voluntary active duty reserve element of the Royal Air Force, providing a primary reinforcement capability for the regular service...
, flying in a No. 604 Squadron RAFNo. 604 Squadron RAFNo. 604 Squadron RAF was a squadron of the Royal Air Force notable for its pioneering role the development of radar-controlled night-fighter operations. The squadron was established in March 1930 at RAF Hendon as a day-bombing squadron of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force. In July 1934, the squadron...
Gloster MeteorGloster MeteorThe Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies' first operational jet. It first flew in 1943 and commenced operations on 27 July 1944 with 616 Squadron of the Royal Air Force...
F8 from RAF North WealdNorth Weald AirfieldNorth Weald Airfield is an operational airfield, near the village of North Weald Bassett in Epping Forest, Essex, England. It was an important fighter station during the Battle of Britain, when it was known as the RAF Station RAF North Weald. It is the home of North Weald Airfield Museum...
, narrowly missed two UFOs over Southend-on-SeaSouthend-on-SeaSouthend-on-Sea is a unitary authority area, town, and seaside resort in Essex, England. The district has Borough status, and comprises the towns of Chalkwell, Eastwood, Leigh-on-Sea, North Shoebury, Prittlewell, Shoeburyness, Southchurch, Thorpe Bay, and Westcliff-on-Sea. The district is situated...
at around 4.30pm at 16,000 ft. The objects were circular with one being coloured silver and the other gold. He narrowly avoided having a head-on collisionHead-on collisionA head-on collision is one where the front ends of two ships, trains, planes or vehicles hit each other, as opposed to a side collision or rear-end collision.-Rail transport:...
with the silver object. - 17 July 1955 at noon: on King Harold's Way in BexleyheathBexleyheathBexleyheath is a main suburban district of Southeast London, England, in the London Borough of Bexley with a small percentage of the district itself being in the London Borough of Greenwich. Bexleyheath is located on the border of Inner London and Outer London. It is east south-east of Charing Cross...
in the London Borough of BexleyLondon Borough of BexleyThe London Borough of Bexley lies in south east Greater London, and is a borough referred to as part of Outer London. It has common borders with the London Borough of Bromley to the south, the London Borough of Greenwich to the west, across the River Thames to the north it borders the London...
a 30-foot-wide saucer-shaped object was seen to hover a few feet above a street in broad daylight by Margaret Fry and her doctor on a very hot cloudless day. Car engines nearby to the object stalled. It was seen by around thirty people and made a humming noise and landed at the junction of Ashbourne Road and Whitfield Road. It hovered over Bedonwell Primary School (now Bedonwell Junior School) for around one minute. It finally shot off into the sky. Another UFO had landed a few streets away at the same time. A similar object had been seen in Bexleyheath in 1952. - 13 August 1956: Lakenheath-Bentwaters incidentLakenheath-Bentwaters incidentThe Lakenheath-Bentwaters Incident was a series of radar and visual contacts with Unidentified Flying Objects that took place over airbases in eastern England on the night of 13 - 14 August 1956, involving both RAF and USAF personnel...
- 12 to 15 objects were picked up by USAF radar over East AngliaEast AngliaEast Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
. One object was tracked at more than 4,000 mph by USAF GCAGround-controlled approachIn aviation a ground-controlled approach , is a type of service provided by air-traffic controllers whereby they guide aircraft to a safe landing in adverse weather conditions based on radar images...
radar at RAF BentwatersRAF BentwatersRAF Bentwaters, now known as Bentwaters Parks, is a former Royal Air Force station about 80 miles NE of London, 10 miles ENE of Ipswich, near Woodbridge, Suffolk in England...
. The objects sometimes travelled in formation, then converged to form a larger object and performed sharp turns. One object was tracked for 26 miles which then hovered for five minutes then flew off. One object at 10pm was tracked at 12,000 mph. RAF de Havilland VenomDe Havilland VenomThe de Havilland DH 112 Venom was a British postwar single-engined jet aircraft developed from the de Havilland Vampire. It served with the Royal Air Force as a single-seat fighter-bomber and two-seat night fighter....
s from RAF Waterbeach had sightings of the objects. - 22 September 1956 at 3 pm: a large spherical glass-like 80 ft diameter object was seen over the CleethorpesCleethorpesCleethorpes is a town and unparished area in North East Lincolnshire, England, situated on the estuary of the Humber. It has a population of 31,853 and is a seaside resort.- History :...
coast for over an hour and also seen on radar from RAF Manby. RAF planes approached the object and it flew off. - 4 April 1957: West Freugh incidentRAF West FreughRAF West Freugh is a Royal Air Force station located in Wigtownshire, five miles south east of Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland....
- a large object was seen on radar at RAF West Freugh near StranraerStranraerStranraer is a town in the southwest of Scotland. It lies in the west of Dumfries and Galloway and in the county of Wigtownshire.Stranraer lies on the shores of Loch Ryan on the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland...
at 50,000 ft which was stationary for 10 minutes over the Irish SeaIrish SeaThe Irish Sea separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is connected to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel, and to the Atlantic Ocean in the north by the North Channel. Anglesey is the largest island within the Irish Sea, followed by the Isle of Man...
. It moved vertically to 70,000 ft and was also tracked by radar at ArdwellArdwellArdwell is a village in the Scottish unitary council area of Dumfries and Galloway. It lies on the shores of Luce Bay in the southern part of the Rhins of Galloway. The A716 road to Drummore or the Mull of Galloway passes through the village...
. The object did an 'impossible' sharp turn and was described as being as large as a ship, bigger than a normal aircraft. - 20 May 1957: Milton Torres 1957 UFO EncounterMilton Torres 1957 UFO EncounterThe Milton Torres 1957 UFO Encounter is a case reported by a former jet pilot in the United States Air Force, Milton John Torres, of Miami, Florida. On May 20, 1957, the 25-year-old Torres was ordered on a mission to intercept and shoot down a large UFO that had been picked up by radar in the skies...
- a USAF F-86D Sabre based at RAF ManstonRAF ManstonRAF Manston was an RAF station in the north-east of Kent, at on the Isle of Thanet from 1916 until 1996. The site is now split between a commercial airport Kent International Airport and a continuing military use by the Defence Fire Training and Development Centre , following on from a long...
intercepted an object over East AngliaEast AngliaEast Anglia is a traditional name for a region of eastern England, named after an ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdom, the Kingdom of the East Angles. The Angles took their name from their homeland Angeln, in northern Germany. East Anglia initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, but upon the marriage of...
.
1960s
- Late spring (from 19 May) and early summer 1965: Many sightings of UFOs were seen in the Warminster area. Cley HillCley HillCley Hill a prominent hill near Warminster in Wiltshire, England.A 26.6 hectare area of chalk grassland at Cley Hill was notified as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1975.-Source:* -External links:...
, near to the town, has since been a place for frequent sightings. - 28 April 1967: a dome-shaped object was sighted over Brixham in Devon at around 1,600 ft at around 12pm for approximately one hour. A door was seen in the side of the object and it had been seen by the HM CoastguardHer Majesty's CoastguardHer Majesty's Coastguard is the service of the government of the United Kingdom concerned with co-ordinating air-sea rescue.HM Coastguard is a section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responsible for the initiation and co-ordination of all civilian maritime Search and Rescue within the UK...
station at Berry HeadBerry HeadBerry Head is a coastal headland at the southern end of Torbay, to the southeast of Brixham, Devon, England.-National Nature Reserve:Berry Head to Sharkham Point is a haven for several nationally rare and threatened species which are dependent upon the thin limestone soils, mild climate and exposed...
. - 1967: Clapham WoodClapham Wood MysteryThe Clapham Wood Mystery is the name given to a collection of unusual events which are associated with Clapham Wood, West Sussex, England, resulting in the area developing its own lore in popular culture. Events have included reports of people making unusual sightings or experiencing unusual...
experienced a rash of UFO sightings and unexplained events during the 1960s and continuing into the 1970s. - 24 October 1967: Devon Flying Cross UFO - PCs Roger Willey (from OkehamptonOkehamptonOkehampton is a town and civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. It is situated at the northern edge of Dartmoor, and has an estimated population of 7,155.-History:...
) and Clifford Waycott (from WinkleighWinkleighWinkleigh is a small village in Devon, England. It is best known outside Devon as the birthplace of Inch's Cider. Inch's Cider was bought by Bulmer's, who then closed the plant down...
) were driving from HolsworthyHolsworthy, DevonHolsworthy is a market town in the north west of Devon, England. It is situated near the county border with Cornwall, and is 9 miles from the coastal resort of Bude. It is on the intersection of the A388 and A3072 roads, and lies on the River Deer, a tributary of the Tamar...
to HatherleighHatherleighHatherleigh is a small market town in west Devon, England.It hosts an arts festival in July, and a carnival in November featuring two flaming tar barrel runs. The Walruses meet on New Year's Day to jump into the River Lew to raise money for local good causes...
along the A3072 at 4am. They saw a bright object in the shape of a cross at tree-top height at a distance of about 40 metres. They followed the 'pulsating' object for about fifteen minutes along the road at speeds up to 80 mph. The object was described as being star-spangled like 'looking through wet glass'. At 4.23am it was joined by a second object. A motorist, Mr Christopher Garner of Hatherleigh, had also seen it and thought he was having a nightmare. The object disappeared around 5am having been followed for fourteen miles. It was attributed to Venus as were other similar sightings that same month. - 25 October 1967: Sussex flying cross - policemen in five police cars across East SussexEast SussexEast Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
reported a bright flying cross in the early hours, with the first sighting at 4.45am at HallandEast Hoathly with HallandEast Hoathly with Halland is a civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. The parish contains the two villages of East Hoathly and Halland, two miles to the west; it sits astride the A22 road, four miles north-west of Hailsham, although the original sharp bend on that road...
. The other sightings were a few minutes later. - 26 October 1967: 54 year old Mr Angus Brooks, a former BOACBritish Overseas Airways CorporationThe British Overseas Airways Corporation was the British state airline from 1939 until 1946 and the long-haul British state airline from 1946 to 1974. The company started life with a merger between Imperial Airways Ltd. and British Airways Ltd...
administrator for its CometDe Havilland CometThe de Havilland DH 106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner to reach production. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at the Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom headquarters, it first flew in 1949 and was a landmark in aeronautical design...
fleet, of Owermoigne was walking on Moigns Down at 11:25am near Holworth close to the DorsetDorsetDorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
coast (a mile south of OwermoigneOwermoigneOwermoigne is a village in south west Dorset, England, situated six miles south east of Dorchester. The village has a population of 450 .The parish was formerly part of hundred of Winfrith, and subsequently constituted a liberty by itself.-External links:...
on the A354A354 roadThe A354 is a primary route in England which runs from Salisbury in Wiltshire to Easton on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, a total distance of . From Salisbury the road crosses Cranborne Chase and briefly merges with the A350 at the Blandford Forum bypass before crossing the Dorset Downs and...
) with his two dogs in a force 8 gale and took shelter in a hollow. He then saw a circular translucentTransparency and translucencyIn the field of optics, transparency is the physical property of allowing light to pass through a material; translucency only allows light to pass through diffusely. The opposite property is opacity...
craft with a 'girder' to the front and three 'girders' pointing to the rear. The girders rearranged to form a cross shape around the central 25 ft diameter disc and then began to spin. Twenty two minutes later, the 'girders' went back to their original position and the craft sped off in a north-east direction.
1970s
- 8 September 1970: William SchaffnerWilliam SchaffnerCaptain William Schaffner was a pilot in the United States Air Force. He died in an incident in 1970 over the North Sea...
intercepted an unknown object over the North SeaNorth SeaIn the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
. His BAC LightningEnglish Electric LightningThe English Electric Lightning is a supersonic jet fighter aircraft of the Cold War era, noted for its great speed and unpainted natural metal exterior finish. It is the only all-British Mach 2 fighter aircraft. The aircraft was renowned for its capabilities as an interceptor; Royal Air Force ...
was later retrieved from the sea. - 1971: It is claimed that unidentified silent craft were regularly seen by two school children near the coastal village of MuchallsMuchallsMuchalls is a small coastal ex-fishing village in Kincardineshire, Scotland, south of Newtonhill and north of Stonehaven. Muchalls is situated slightly north of a smaller hamlet known as the Bridge of Muchalls. At the western edge of Muchalls is the historic Saint Ternan's Church...
, Scotland (but not in the village itself), from 1971 onwards. These events are claimed to have continued night after night for many years. The phenomena are reputed to have continued at least until 1991 when some aspects of the apparitions were also filmed in the area. - October 16, 1973: It is alleged that Gabriella Versacci was taken on board an alien space ship near a small village in Somerset, England. She was physically inspected when strapped down to an examination table.
- January 23, 1974: A UFO allegedly crashed at Berwyn Mountain, Wales. The event coincided with an earthquake.
- February 4, 1977: A cigar-shaped craft is alleged to have landed next to Broad HavenBroad HavenBroad Haven is a village in the south east corner of St Bride's Bay at the terminus of the B4341 in south Pembrokeshire, Wales. Broad Haven is part of the Havens division of Pembrokeshire County Council. The 2001 census records a population of 1,328 for the Havens...
Primary School and witnessed by 14 school children who saw a silver creature. - 22 November 1978 at 17:15 : Elsie Oakensen of Church StoweChurch StoweChurch Stowe is a village in the Daventry district of the county of Northamptonshire in England. It is the largest settlement in the civil parish of Stowe Nine Churches.- External links :*...
, south of Weedon BecWeedon BecWeedon Bec , usually just called "Weedon", is a large village and parish in the district of Daventry, Northamptonshire, England. It lies close to the source of the River Nene.-Geography:...
in NorthamptonshireNorthamptonshireNorthamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
was driving down the A5 from Weedon southwards to her home. She saw two bright lights, one green and one red and could make out a dumbbellDumbbellThe dumbbell, a type of free weight, is a piece of equipment used in weight training. It can be used individually or in pairs .-History:...
shaped object. Turning off the A5 to her village, her recently-serviced car cut out twice. Then she noticed the sky was black and a brilliant white beam of light shone on the road ahead, then the normal colour of the sky returned but she could not account for 15 minutes of her time. - November 9, 1979: Bob TaylorRobert Taylor incidentThe Robert Taylor Incident, sometimes also referred to as the Livingston Incident or the Dechmont Woods Encounter is the name given an event which occurred on Dechmont Law near Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland in 1979, in which local forester Robert "Bob" Taylor reported encountering an...
, a forestry worker had an alleged encounter with a UFO in a clearing in LivingstonLivingston, ScotlandLivingston is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It is the fourth post-WWII new town to be built in Scotland, designated in 1962. It is about 15 miles west of Edinburgh and 30 miles east of Glasgow, and is bordered by the towns of Broxburn to the northeast and Bathgate to the northwest.Livingston...
, which he claimed dragged him along the ground. It is considered one of the most significant "Close Encounters" in Scotland.
1980s
- 29 November 1980 at 5am: Alan GodfreyAlan GodfreyAlan Godfrey is a retired police constable who served with the West Yorkshire Metropolitan Police Force. His life and career are notable for having been entangled in some of Britain's most unusual mysteries, including the Zigmund Adamski case, allegedly connected with the UFO phenomenon...
, an on-duty police officer, claims to have been abducted by an alien space craft in TodmordenTodmordenTodmorden is a market town and civil parish, located 17 miles from Manchester, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. It forms part of the Upper Calder Valley and has a total population of 14,941....
in West YorkshireWest YorkshireWest Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
. A strange luminescent object had been spotted by other local police officers at the same time. - December, 1980: A series of reported sightings of unexplained lights and objects in the sky, and the alleged landing of an extraterrestrial spacecraft occurred at Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, EnglandRendlesham Forest IncidentThe Rendlesham Forest Incident is the name given to a series of reported sightings of unexplained lights and the alleged landing of a craft or multiple craft of unknown origin in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, England, in late December 1980, just outside RAF Woodbridge, used at the time by the U.S....
on 26 December. It is perhaps the most famous UFO event to have happened in Britain, ranking amongst the best-known UFO events worldwide. - August 12, 1983: A 77 year old gentleman, Alfred Burtoo, was quietly fishing on the Basingstoke CanalBasingstoke CanalThe Basingstoke Canal is a British Canal, completed in 1794, built to connect Basingstoke with the River Thames at Weybridge via the Wey Navigation....
when a UFO landed nearby. Two humanoid beings beckoned him onto their disc-shaped vehicle and he was medically examined by English-speaking creatures. He was 'rejected' by the creatures because he was 'too old'. - 19 November 1987 at 7pm: the Black CountryBlack CountryThe Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton. During the industrial revolution in the 19th century this area had become one of the most intensely industrialised in the nation...
UFO - a large UFO was seen at close quarters hovering over houses in Brierley HillBrierley HillBrierley Hill is a town and electoral ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands, England. It is one of the larger Black Country towns with a population of 9,631 and is heavily industrialised, best known for glass and steel manufacturing, although the industry has declined...
. - 1 December 1987: Philip Spencer (not his real name), a retired policeman, took a picture on Ilkley MoorIlkley MoorIlkley Moor is part of Rombalds Moor, the moorland between Ilkley and Keighley in West Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom. The peat bogs rise to 402 m above sea level...
, which is claimed to be of an alien creature, and then saw a white coloured craft leaving the area. The object in the photograph was examined by KodakEastman KodakEastman Kodak Company is a multinational imaging and photographic equipment, materials and services company headquarted in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded by George Eastman in 1892....
Laboratories at Hemel HempsteadHemel HempsteadHemel Hempstead is a town in Hertfordshire in the East of England, to the north west of London and part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2001 Census was 81,143 ....
and they decided that the object was not superimposed. This was one of the few British close encounters of the third kind. Under hypnosis he claimed to have been abducted and medically examined.
1990s
- 4 August 1990 at 9pm: a 75 ft wide diamond object was seen by an RAFRoyal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
Harrier 20 miles north of PitlochryPitlochryPitlochry , is a burgh in the council area of Perth and Kinross, Scotland, lying on the River Tummel. Its population according to the 2001 census was 2,564....
in Perth and KinrossPerth and KinrossPerth and Kinross is one of 32 council areas in Scotland, and a Lieutenancy Area. It borders onto the Aberdeenshire, Angus, Dundee City, Fife, Clackmannanshire, Stirling, Argyll and Bute and Highland council areas. Perth is the administrative centre...
. It appeared to hover for 10 minutes above the A9 near Calvine. - 21 April 1991: airline pilot Achille Zaghetti from GrossetoGrossetoGrosseto is a city and comune in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the Province of Grosseto. The city lies 14 km from the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the Maremma, at the centre of an alluvial plain, on the Ombrone river....
, TuscanyTuscanyTuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....
, in a AlitaliaAlitaliaAlitalia - Linee Aeree Italiane S.p.A. , in its later stages known as Alitalia - Linee Aeree Italiane S.p.A. in Extraordinary Administration, was the former Italian flag carrier...
McDonnell Douglas MD-80 on a flight from MilanMalpensa AirportMilano Malpensa Airport "City of Milan" , former "Aeroporto Città di Milano" is Milan's largest airport. It is located 39.97 km northwest of central Milan, Italy...
to HeathrowLondon Heathrow AirportLondon Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...
saw a three-metre-long khaki-coloured object over LyddLyddLydd is a town in Kent, England, lying on the Romney Marsh. It is one of the larger towns on the Marsh, and the most southerly town in Kent. Actually located on Denge Marsh, Lydd was one of the first sandy islands to form as the bay evolved into what is now called the Romney Marsh...
in KentKentKent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
at 22,000 ft about 300m away. It was seen on radar. - 1992: James Walker noticed unidentified lights in the sky over Bonnybridge, the town became the scene of numerous UFO sightings. It forms part of the "Falkirk Triangle", an area stretching from Stirling to Fife and the outskirts of Edinburgh. UFO enthusiasts claim that Bonnybridge is the world's number one UFO location, with an average of around 300 sightings a year.
- 1993, March 30: Multiple witnesses across south-west and west England saw a large triangular-shaped UFO speeding across the sky leaving a luminous wake. Analysis of the sightings concluded that the object was the re-entry of a Russian booster rocket combined with a later sighting of a police helicopter.
- 6 January 1995: pilots aboard a Boeing 737Boeing 737The Boeing 737 is a short- to medium-range, twin-engine narrow-body jet airliner. Originally developed as a shorter, lower-cost twin-engine airliner derived from Boeing's 707 and 727, the 737 has developed into a family of nine passenger models with a capacity of 85 to 215 passengers...
on British AirwaysBritish AirwaysBritish Airways is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom, based in Waterside, near its main hub at London Heathrow Airport. British Airways is the largest airline in the UK based on fleet size, international flights and international destinations...
Flight BA5061 from Milan saw an object on their descent to Manchester at 4,000 ft when over the southern PenninesPenninesThe Pennines are a low-rising mountain range, separating the North West of England from Yorkshire and the North East.Often described as the "backbone of England", they form a more-or-less continuous range stretching from the Peak District in Derbyshire, around the northern and eastern edges of...
. The reports have been attributed to a bright fireball. - 5 October 1996: the Wash Incident - in the early hours a rotating UFO was seen over The WashThe WashThe Wash is the square-mouthed bay and estuary on the northwest margin of East Anglia on the east coast of England, where Norfolk meets Lincolnshire. It is among the largest estuaries in the United Kingdom...
by SkegnessSkegnessSkegness is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. Located on the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, east of the city of Lincoln it has a total resident population of 18,910....
and BostonBoston, LincolnshireBoston is a town and small port in Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England. It is the largest town of the wider Borough of Boston local government district and had a total population of 55,750 at the 2001 census...
police officers, although later (partially) explained as a radar echo of St Botolph's Church. The visual sightings were explained as celestial objects. - 24 March 1997: At 22:00 on the Dark PeakDark PeakThe Dark Peak is the higher, wilder northern part of the Peak District in England.It gets its name because , the underlying limestone is covered by a cap of Millstone Grit which means that in winter the soil is almost always saturated with water...
, Howden Moor, two sonic booms were heard over the area, and recorded at this time although the RAF denied having supersonic aircraft in the area. They later helped in the night-long search for a crashed aircraft, using helicopters and sniffer dogs from the police with 150 Mountain Rescue volunteers. No wreckage was found. A triangle-shaped UFO had been seen an hour before the sonic booms in the local area.
2000s
- October 5, 2000: A woman named Sharon Rowlands from Bonsall, Derbyshire claimed to have seen a large luminous pink objectBonsall UFOThe Bonsall UFO was an incident said to have occurred at 21.15 on October 5, 2000, in Bonsall in Derbyshire , where a woman named Sharon Rowlands of Slaley claims to have observed a large luminous object with a shimmering pink colour, hovering and rotating over a nearby field. She captured many...
hovering and rotating over a nearby field. She filmed the object on a camcorder. - 26 May 2004: a 60 metre long cigar-shaped object was seen over TorquayTorquayTorquay is a town in the unitary authority area of Torbay and ceremonial county of Devon, England. It lies south of Exeter along the A380 on the north of Torbay, north-east of Plymouth and adjoins the neighbouring town of Paignton on the west of the bay. Torquay’s population of 63,998 during the...
. - November, 2007: Numerous people from the West Midlands conurbationWest Midlands conurbationThe West Midlands conurbation is the name given to the large conurbation that includes the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton and the large towns of Dudley, Walsall, West Bromwich, Solihull, Stourbridge, Halesowen in the English West Midlands....
reported sightings of a silent triangle shaped object in the skies in the evening which the press dubbed the Dudley DoritoDudley Dorito (UFO Sighting)The Dudley Dorito UFO sightings concerns multiple sightings of a Black Triangle over the West Midlands conurbation of the United Kingdom which began in November 2007...
. - June 8, 2008: A number of UFO sightings took place in Wales which involved a police helicopter following a UFO over Cardiff near MOD St Athan and the Bristol ChannelBristol ChannelThe Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...
. See: Wales UFO sightingsWales UFO sightingsThe Wales UFO sightings were unexplained UFO sightings across south Wales in June and September 2008.- Summary :At 00:40 AM, June 8 2008, a South Wales Police helicopter with three experienced crew onboard was above MOD St Athan, an RAF base, waiting to land in order to refuel... - September 10, 2009: In Glen Road, near Lennoxtown, three people in a car were reportedly struck by a colourful beam of light, the event reportedly lasted for over two minutes.
- Roughly 2009-2010: In Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, a teenager spotted a 'quite large, quiet, scalene triangle' moving at the speed of a small plane about a mile away from his position. He claimed that he only saw it for about three seconds before disappearing.
- October 3, 2010: A diamond shaped UFO was spotted in Largs, Scotland by a teenager. No other witnesses reported a diamond shaped object in the sky. The event happened for about half an hour.
External links
- National Archives
- MUFON - Last 20 UFO Sightings and Pictures
- PRUFOS
- I'm after the aliens that beat up Bob; Gareth Edwards; Edinburgh Evening News published 9 November 2004 - Date retrieved 4 April 2008
- Interview with Robert Taylor and detectives investigating the case on YouTube. as shown on the 10th episode of Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious WorldArthur C. Clarke's Mysterious WorldArthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World is a thirteen part British television series looking at unexplained phenomena from around the world. It was produced by Yorkshire Television for the ITV network and first broadcast in September 1980....
, originally broadcast 4 November 1980