A common man marvels at uncommon things. A wise man marvels at the commonplace. CONFUCIUS

Sunday 19 August 2012

UFO

Well, it's happened. Something I never thought would happen to me. I've seen a UFO.

Last night we were sipping a glass of wine on the patio watching banks of grey cloud edged with coral move slowly northward in a darkening sky. There was a red smudge of sunset on the western horizon. All colour gradually disappeared as night crept in. No moon or stars were visible. We stayed outside, searching the dusk for bats.

Suddenly we both spotted a round orange light, with a brighter orange centre, speeding noiselessly across the sky. You could hardly miss it. It was travelling low, fast and in a straight line towards the east. After little more than twenty seconds it had flown over our house roof and disappeared.

Now, I'm not a gullible person, and I'm always quite sceptical and questioning about so-called supernatural events. But this sighting has me well and truly foxed. I've checked through all the possibilities and no explanation fits. It was certainly no natural phenomenon — no meteor, fireball, star or planet. It was flying very low, as I said, and across the sky at a level height, fast and steady and with intent. It was perfectly round and completely quiet. As I see it, the other possibility (little green men aside) is that it was some kind of man-made craft or object. But it was much too small and low for an aircraft, not the right shape, and soundless. And it was flying far too quickly and evenly to be any kind of weather balloon, blimp or Chinese lantern. And it was not high enough for an orbiting satellite.

Scanning the internet I've found that, when you've made allowances for all the hoaxers and crazies out there, there are many documented sightings of the same occurrence I witnessed last night: low and fast-moving bright orange lights. But what on earth are these things? And how are they propelled?

18 comments:

The Weaver of Grass said...

I don't know what they are Robert, but now I shall be scanning the skies nightly on the lookout for one.

Ruth said...

We may never know what they are, but I believe in the veracity of people like you who have witnessed them. It seems there must be others who saw what you saw. Have you searched Twitter or Facebook or other sources at around the same time?

The Solitary Walker said...

I haven't sought out any other witnesses, Ruth. What's good about my own sighting is that there's joint corroboration, as my wife and I saw the event together.

Sabine said...

Can I try your wine?

The Solitary Walker said...

It was only a very average South African Colombard-Chardonnay from the Co-op, Sabine . . . but the wine had nothing to do with it! We're sitting outside again tonight (with camera) hoping for a repeat performance.

it's me said...

We have seen the same--except there were 2 --it was about 1992 or so. They were an orange pink color and then merged before they disappeared.

Gail said...

Hi - great post. I am intrigued.
Love Gail
peace....

Dominic Rivron said...

It's amazing what you see when you've got a patio!

In 2010 -I think it was 16th August- Karen and I were driving through Leyburn in the dark, about 9.15pm, when we saw a (similar?) UFO. I use the term in the strictest sense: it was simply a flying object we couldn't identify: I suspect there's a perfectly commonplace explanation for what we saw, but we don't know what it is.

It was a cloudy night. Looking out of the passenger-side window I saw a single light in the sky that seemed to illuminate something above it with an orange glow. I seemed quite close. It was moving Northwards quite slowly.Odd, I thought, that it should be close and slow-moving. Then I thought that it might be a microlight, flying at night (how would it land, I wondered?). At first, what I could see fitted that explanation, but then the "something" seemed to be oblong, the wrong shape for the delta wings of a microlight. Then slightly more of it became visible: there was more to it than the oblong, but exactly how much more was difficult to tell. We'd slowed down, but the car was still moving, and the buildings on our left obscured the view. We turned left in the Market Square and suddenly got a view of the sky again. The light in sky was still there, but it had moved off into the Northeast, and seemed to be a lot further away all of a sudden. At first I thought it was a bright star,and not the light I'd just seen, but the sky was cloudy and it wasn't quite the right colour for a star. Over a few seconds it got fainter and fainter before going out all together (presumably it had disappeared into the cloud).

What was it? It just didn't seem to resemble or behave like any aircraft I've seen before. At first it was low and slow moving then, in a very short space of time, it seemed to be higher up and moving considerably faster. I've heard of the military using small robot planes in Afghanistan and, from my very limited knowledge of such things, I can only assume that this was one of them, or something like it. (There is an RAF base not far away). Or perhaps we were visited by extraterrestrials? Personally, I doubt it, but it's quite amusing to think of someone travelling lightyears on a voyage of discovery only to discover Leyburn. It's a long way to come to discover the teapot shop's shut.

(I lifted this from a blog entry I posted at the time).

dritanje said...

I saw something of a similar colour, a very bright orange red, back in the late eighties. Like you, I went through all the possibilities of what it might be but nothing could explain it. I was on my own, had been driving, not drinking. I don't really talk about it much. But I know what I saw, even if I don't have a name or explanation for it.

Timecheck said...

Possibly Perseid meteor shower? That peaked about Aug 12. We went out and saw one around 10pm after dark. That was quite large, bright with a brighter center and made a full course across the evening sky. I imagine that if I saw it at sunset very low in the sky, it would look as you described.

George said...

Fascinating, Robert! Personally, I have never seen anything that I could rationally suspect was an UFO. By the same token, I have had other experiences which, if shared with others, might lead some to question my sanity. In short, I think there is more going on out there than many surmise. I look forward to following this story and being among the first to see the photos, should you be lucky enough to capture one of the strange flying objects.

The Solitary Walker said...

Thanks it's me and Gail for your comments and observations.

And Dominic, what a great story! I just knew my 'encounter' would provoke other similar confessions . . . including yours, drtanje!

Ralph (Timecheck): oh no, no, no — 100% definitely not the Perseid meteor shower.

George — I'm just reporting exactly how we saw it, for those unique seconds last night! I doubt whether the experience will ever be repeated and the story extended. Tonight I was out there with my camera and captured a distant Venus, but that was about all.

Laura said...

I saw a UFO in the 1960s in Pennsylvania USA. My brothers and I saw it and ran inside to tell our father. He didn't beleive us and told us he would take us to the police to report it (thinking we would back out). We went to the police enthusiastically and when we arrived the station was full of others who had seen it. I still believe and there was never an explanation.

I'm excitied for you.

The Solitary Walker said...

It's amazing how common these experiences are, Laura — as some of the comments have proved.

Goat said...

I'm very envious! A touch of the paranormal or unexplained to add a little spice to proceedings in these highly rational times!

Dominic Rivron said...

You don't think the UFO was the one from Doddington Hall?

The Solitary Walker said...

In sympathy with this, Goat! Embracing the irrational is one of the touchstones of my life.

Dominic, nah, the Doddington Hall one was not a real one, stupid!

Anonymous said...

I too saw a UFO in 1967. Details unimportant and certainly not irrational as some say here. Proof? I have none.

I think I am able to put aside wishful thinking and I KNOW I saw something unusual that night so long ago.

If only 1% of sightings are true, that leaves a helluva lot unexplained.