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Eburacum's Own Sighting (1966; Eastern London Suburbs)

eburacum

eburacum

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The Westall case reminds me of my own sighting back in 1966, which had a number of vague similarities. I have related it on this forum previously, so apologies if you've heard it before.

I was ten years old, and me and my two friends saw a UFO high in the sky above the eastern suburbs of London. Broad daylight; all we could see was a white, motionless dot. I seem to remember that we pointed it out to some adults in the street, so maybe it counts as a 'mass sighting'. Slowly this dot moved across the sky, getting slightly larger, wider, and flatter, until it was almost the same shape as a classic flying saucer (as I remember it). We watched it go down into, or near, Epping Forest, at which time we could see it was a broad, white disk, maybe something like a parachute.

My much older brother came along at this point and identified it as a deflating weather balloon. Ever since that time I've accepted that identification, although I'm not sure why. I think they were somewhat more common in those days, and presumably my brother was reasonably familiar with them.

I'm pretty sure that if my brother hadn't come up with that identification, I would still believe that I'd seen a flying saucer to this day; his matter-of-fact explanation has influenced me towards skepticism all my life. Of course the possibility remains that he was wrong, and a flying saucer really did land in Epping Forest in 1966; but somehow I doubt it.
 
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eburacum said:
The Westall case reminds me of my own sighting back in 1966, which had a number of vague similarities. I have related it on this forum previously, so apologies if you've heard it before.

I was ten years old, and me and my two friends saw a UFO high in the sky above the eastern suburbs of London. Broad daylight; all we could see was a white, motionless dot. I seem to remember that we pointed it out to some adults in the street, so maybe it counts as a 'mass sighting'. Slowly this dot moved across the sky, getting slightly larger, wider, and flatter, until it was almost the same shape as a classic flying saucer (as I remember it). We watched it go down into, or near, Epping Forest, at which time we could see it was a broad, white disk, maybe something like a parachute.

My much older brother came along at this point and identified it as a deflating weather balloon. Ever since that time I've accepted that identification, although I'm not sure why. I think they were somewhat more common in those days, and presumably my brother was reasonably familiar with them.

I'm pretty sure that if my brother hadn't come up with that identification, I would still believe that I'd seen a flying saucer to this day; his matter-of-fact explanation has influenced me towards skepticism all my life. Of course the possibility remains that he was wrong, and a flying saucer really did land in Epping Forest in 1966; but somehow I doubt it.

I am reasonably certain that if someone who was familiar with sky phenomena had been present at the Westall sighting, they might have been able to identify the 'saucer' in that case too; it could easily have been a weather balloon, or a parachute, or some other piece of man-made sky hardware that the observers were not familiar with.
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Here is a similar one from Epping, earlier:

Dec. 27, 1963 Epping (Great Britain). A shiny white object was
1600 seen on the ground at Bank's Stables. It was about
3.5 m long, 1 m high, and had something like a wind-
shield more brilliant than the rest of the craft. It took
off, flew horizontally for 30 m, and was hidden from
view. Grass was flattened over a circular area, and
four traces were found. (BUFORA 1)
http://paul.rutgers.edu/~mcgrew/ufo/magonia/magtdb01/magonia.txt


All kinds of sightings at Epping, here (cntrl+F to jump through them):
"The Epping area would seem to be one of those particularly favoured with sightings; even at the time of writing a new spate of them is occurring. The Harlow Citizen of 14 October 1966, carried a letter from Ronald Caswell, coworker of the International Get Acquainted Program (IGAP), in which these sightings were included.
http://sorenbh.dk/RC-HCP-UFO Contact-Day Before Yesterday.pdf

Maybe you did see a "real" UFO, Eburacum.. That's TOTALLY a UFO maneuver too.. :p
Methinks the skeptic hath protested too much.. :evil:
 
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What year was your "sighting" Eburacum?
This is nearby, correct? Was the year about '54? Sorry If I have miscalculated your age :evil:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UFO_sightings_in_the_United_Kingdom#20th_century
  • 14 October 1954: Flt Lt James Salandin of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, flying in a No. 604 Squadron RAF Gloster Meteor F8 from RAF North Weald, narrowly missed two UFOs over Southend-on-Sea at around 4:30 pm at 16,000 ft. The objects were circular with one being coloured silver and the other gold. He narrowly avoided having a head-on collision with the silver object.[12]
  • 17 July 1955 at noon: on King Harold's Way in Bexleyheath in the London Borough of Bexley a 30-foot-wide saucer-shaped object was seen to hover a few feet above a street in broad daylight by Margaret Fry[13] 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.[14][15][16]
 
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Do you remember it looking and moving like a deflating weather balloon? Or did it seem to move with intention?
 
I'm avoiding any elaboration on my part, since anything I do say will merely add to my misremembered memories of the event. But I can say that I am fairly sure that it appeared motionless when we first saw it, but over time it drifted north east, which is consistent with the prevailing wind direction in that part of the world.
 
eburacum said:
I'm avoiding any elaboration on my part, since anything I do say will merely add to my misremembered memories of the event. But I can say that I am fairly sure that it appeared motionless when we first saw it, but over time it drifted north east, which is consistent with the prevailing wind direction in that part of the world.
Click to expand...
I understand your concern about memory drift, but since time is also a factor, it might be worthwhile to do a couple of renderings --this might help understand it's size, etc. You said it seemed to appear motionless --was that due to perspective --what about the wind? Were there a lot of trees? Did it somehow manage to clear them and land in an open spot? Did it maintain its shape when landed? i.e. perfect circle? Did it lose shape and deflate to the ground? Could you find a type of weather balloon that matches its description?

I humbly offer any skill I may have at rendering to do a couple of pics for you until they look right --just let me know.
 
I'm ok with rendering, actually, thanks.
But it was very small, and very far away. I've wondered if the saucer shape was the result of a parachute system, which some types of weather balloon use to lower the instrument package to the ground.
Balloon_Parachute_Payload_bf21789c-f0d8-477e-a9c4-90027df15c61_large.jpg
 
You don't remember the date, do you? Something very similar was seen over a large area of Essex on the morning of 1 July 1966, when I was nearly 12. I witnessed this, and I keep meaning to do some further research.

I was in NW Essex, but what appears to have been the same object was also seen from Halstead and Colchester. This suggests that whatever it was (quite possibly a research balloon) was at a very high altitude indeed.
 
I found something that might be of help ... Below is a partial listing of UFO sightings during the mid-1960s, with particular focus on sightings in the vicinity of Epping Forest.

EppingUFO-1996.jpg

​
This table (and some voluminous articles) comprise the following:

UFO CONTACT: The Day Before Yesterday
Two series of articles in support of George Adamski
by Ragnvald A. Carlsen (Ronald Caswell) and Hans C. Petersen.
Published between circa 2007-2014 in Gensing Gardens News, edited by André van Looy, Hastings, England, UK.

In support of George Adamski: Parts 1 - 4

The list of 1966 sightings appears on page 14 within this series. The series is reproduced in the following online document:

SOURCE: http://sorenbh.dk/RC-HCP-UFO Contact-Day Before Yesterday.pdf
 
Thanks! I'm fairly sure this was in high summer, during the holidays, so I'd think the August dates might be closest. But this may not be the case.
 
EnolaGaia said:
I found something that might be of help ... Below is a partial listing of UFO sightings during the mid-1960s, with particular focus on sightings in the vicinity of Epping Forest.

This table (and some voluminous articles) comprise the following:

UFO CONTACT: The Day Before Yesterday
Two series of articles in support of George Adamski
by Ragnvald A. Carlsen (Ronald Caswell) and Hans C. Petersen.
Published between circa 2007-2014 in Gensing Gardens News, edited by André van Looy, Hastings, England, UK.

In support of George Adamski: Parts 1 - 4

The list of 1966 sightings appears on page 14 within this series. The series is reproduced in the following online document:

SOURCE: http://sorenbh.dk/RC-HCP-UFO Contact-Day Before Yesterday.pdf
Click to expand...
Great find, EnolaGaia (as usual!) That might have been alien, eburacum.. And you might have been a lucky guy.... :cool:
 
Epping Forest has a history of weirdness.


Can I ask,

How was you life then?
School life?
Family life?
Stable time or were things changing around you?
Did you experience any other unexplained phenomena? At home, school or elsewhere.

Thanks.
 
I was ten. And yes, I was really interested in ghosts, witches, and UFOs.
I was the sort of person who could have become obsessed with these phenomena, and I suppose I still am obsessed in some ways, but from a skeptical viewpoint. My interest in ghosts and witches has morphed into an interest in local history (any local history); my interest in UFOs has morphed into obsession with astronomy, space travel and science fiction.
 
When I was around ten, I lived for the Saturday morning TV kids programs hopping that our old black and white TV would work and the antenna did not get blow away.

Among the mix was Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, Space Patrol, etc.

So, I was always interested in space and science.
 
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