• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

UFO I saw in 1984.

H

HopoUK

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
May 29, 2005
Messages
57
Hi everyone, new to the forum, so I thought I would introduce myself with my one and only experience with a UFO.

It was 1984 ( September or October I think ), and I was on strike during the Miner's Strike of that year. I was around 17 years old, and just hanging around with some friends on the local park in New Whittington, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England at around 21:30 hrs. There were 14 of us in total, aged between 14 and 22.

One of my friends pointed out what seemed to be an orange ball of light hovering over the local chemical plant in the valley about 2 miles away. We were all giving our own opinions as to what it was, with the general consensus that it must be a helicopter that had a bright searchlight. It looked to be the size of a 10 pence coin held at arms length.

It then started to rise slowly until it disappeared above the clouds. We could see the glow from the object lighting up the clouds as it headed towards us. Just above us was a large gap in the clouds, so we knew that we would see it again if it kept on the course it was travelling.

And sure enough, it reappeared above us, only this time, the orange ball had disappeared to become a circular band of light with 4 smaller lights in the middle. If you imagine a 4 hole button, with the edge lit up, and the 4 holes replaced by lights, then you should get the idea.

I think that you can imagine the reactions of each and every one of us at this sight, especially as there was no sound of an engine, just total silence from the object! First there was stunned silence, then excitement, then 2 of the girls became frightened before it disappeared again behind the clouds. I can remember being so excited that I was taking deep breaths to calm down my excitement. We even had to escort one of the girls home because she wouldn't go by herself!

I returned home by 23:00, and promptly told my parents, who promptly asked, " Have you been drinking?". Of course we weren't, but I could not convince them until the next day when my father bought the local newspaper, "The Derbyshire Times". And the headline? "UFO seen by 100's of witnesses", or something like that anyway! Needless to say, my parents were speechless!

Just one point to make. The object, when above us, was about the size of a football (Soccer) held at arms length, and this was above the clouds, so it was massive!

It was obviously the main topic of conversation for weeks afterwards, with many of us constantly scanning the skies.

I would have posted the image that I have sketched on my computer, but this forum doesn't let us upload images directly from our PC's, or am I mistaken about that?

Anyway, Hi Guys![/img]
 
Hi, and welcome. :hello: You can link to remotely-stored photos, i.e. open a free account at Photobucket.com or something like that. Here's how you'd write it out:

{img}http://www.someprovider.com/pic.jpg{/img}

Replace { and } with [ and ].
 
It sounds like you had a pretty good look at it! At least enough of a look to frighten one of your companions pretty badly.

You can't upload images directly but you can link to images posted elsewhere, like on photobucket or other free photo hosting sites.

I'd dearly love to see that sketch as part of your description matches something I saw back in December 2004. You should be able to email
me by clicking the email at the bottom of my post. Would you be willing to email me the sketch?

Also, was there any sound associated with the sighting or was it just sort of a silent orange ball?
 
Sorry Anthony, I clicked on the email link, but it puts me through to the message board emailer, with no facility to attach files. I guess that is prudent with viruses everywhere these days!
 
Ok, let's see if I have got it right. Here is my sketch. I hope!
1984_UFO.jpg
 
Thanks for that, Hopo! That was a good account.
 
Hmm!

I just tried a Google for the The Derbyshire Times article, but all I got was a CAMRA document about Mild Ale!

(Which I thought was pretty Fortean in itself!)
 
Yeah, I tried to find old copies of the Derbyshire Times on the net, but all I could find was the newspaper's home page! You'd have thought that they would have transferred their old copies online for research purposes!

The only thing that I can think of, is if any member of this forum lives in Chesterfield, could they visit the library there? I'm sure they would have old copies on computer discs or whatever. I would dearly love to find a copy of that!
 
A couple of notes;
if you hold a ten pence piece at arms length it is a lot bigger than you might think; at two miles it would indicate an object about six hundred feet long - considerably bigger than a helicopter.
Try holding a ten pence piece at arm's length next to the Moon for instance; the coin is many times bigger.

Similarly with a football at arm's length; above the clouds, an object that size would be about as big as Wembley Stadium. (depending on the height of the clouds of course).
 
Hopo_UK said:
I returned home by 23:00, and promptly told my parents, who promptly asked, " Have you been drinking?". Of course we weren't, but I could not convince them until the next day when my father bought the local newspaper, "The Derbyshire Times". And the headline? "UFO seen by 100's of witnesses", or something like that anyway! Needless to say, my parents were speechless!
Click to expand...

I know the feeling! When I was in high school I was out driving with a friend and we saw this low flying(i.e beneath the clouds) ball of light which we followed in the car for a while....then , as we had driven about five miles out of town (this is in the outback) we got scared and went back to town, to the party we were originally headed for. We told everyone what we had seen and they also assumed we were drunk! (I had to point out to them that THEY were the ones drinking, WE had just arrived at the party)So did my mother, when I told her the next day...But then, at school, my biology teacher approached me because he had seen it and had heard that I had also. And THEN a couple of days later I saw a small column in the newspaper detailing a very similar sighting, on the same night, but about a hundred kms away... strange....
 
So let me get this right, from the sketch this object lookedvery much like a button from underneath, but from a distance what kind of shape would you say the object was in profile?

I only ask, because in my only UFO experience - back in 1996 - the object I saw was distinctively cigar shaped in profile. I never got to see it hovering anywhere near enought to see its underside.

Back in October 1996 I was 16 and still in my first year at college, in Kenilworth, Warwickshire. At the time I was appearing in an amatuer production of Fidler on the Roof, in the nearby town of Leamington Spa. Not yet being old enough to drive, my father would drive over from Kenilworth to collect me from the theatre each night, and on one night during the run, as I was about to get into the car when my dad said "I'm going to drive a little further down the roadbefore we turn, back. You've got to see this". We drove around to the side of the jefferson gardens railings, where the buildings were slightly lower and my father pointed out something in the sky. It was a cigar shaped object hovering in the sky, quite a distance off, I suppose, above one of the villages outside Leamington. I wouldn't sway it was silver exactly, but certainly metalic enough to be reflecting enough moonlight to make out its outline.

My father said he first spotted it as he was crossing the A46, leaving Kenilworth. It was hovering a fair bit closer then, but it caught his eye because of the odd speed at which it had moved. He'd lost sight of it, until he got into Leamington and saw it hovering in the distance.

We watched it for a while, but whatever it was, it appeared to be stationary. So eventually we drove back towards Kenilworth. As we approached the A46 however, we spotted it again some distance off in the direction of the motorway. Now, either this was a second separate craft, or this thing had moved very fast in the last five minutes. From where it appeared to be hovering now it was somewhere between Warwick and Stratford Upon Avon, a good 15-20 minute drive from where it would have been.

I tried to persuade my father to follow it, but it was almost 11.00pm, and he was reluctant. But when we got home I could still see it vaguely in the distance from my room at the back of the house. We tracked it for a good half hour with a pair of binoculars until it disappeared from view, off in the direction of Oxford we thought.

I can remember the story making at least one of the local rags - the Leamington Courier or Stratford Herald at the time, but I haven't ever searchedfor the story.
 
light said, after telling of a UFO sighting:

We told everyone what we had seen and they also assumed we were drunk!
Click to expand...

WHY :?: :?: do people often think you were drunk when you tell them you saw a UFO :?: {rhetorical type question, not really directed to you, light.}

I've been drunk and never hallucinated.

Do other people routinely see things after drinking too much?
 
sudi said:
I've been drunk and never hallucinated.

Do other people routinely see things after drinking too much?
Click to expand...
Usually an empty wallet! :?
 
Curious Ident said:
So let me get this right, from the sketch this object lookedvery much like a button from underneath, but from a distance what kind of shape would you say the object was in profile?

I only ask, because in my only UFO experience - back in 1996 - the object I saw was distinctively cigar shaped in profile. I never got to see it hovering anywhere near enought to see its underside.
Click to expand...

We didn't see the object in profile. All we saw was the lights. It was 9.30 at night, cloudy and dark. We couldn't see it after it was above us as it went behind the clouds. Shame really, it would've been nice to see it's profile. :(
 
Hopo_UK said:
Curious Ident said:
So let me get this right, from the sketch this object lookedvery much like a button from underneath, but from a distance what kind of shape would you say the object was in profile?

I only ask, because in my only UFO experience - back in 1996 - the object I saw was distinctively cigar shaped in profile. I never got to see it hovering anywhere near enought to see its underside.
Click to expand...

We didn't see the object in profile. All we saw was the lights. It was 9.30 at night, cloudy and dark. We couldn't see it after it was above us as it went behind the clouds. Shame really, it would've been nice to see it's profile. :(
Click to expand...

Fair do's. Although to be fair those lights alone are enough to wig me out... :shock:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top