Mystery of silent UFO (From Witney Gazette)

Mystery of silent UFO

10:10am Tuesday 13th March 2007 in Witney By Tim Hughes

MYSTERY surrounds the sighting of a 'spooky' UFO over West Oxfordshire.

An object, described as 'a slow moving orange light' was seen passing over Witney at the same time as the lunar eclipse on Saturday, March 3.

Among those who spied the object, shortly after 10.30am, were Derek Hall, from Jacobs Mill, Witney, and his girlfriend, Paula Siford.

There were also reports of one or more unidentified objects flying over Oxford.

Yet more than a week on, their identity still remains unknown.

Mr Hall, a 43-year-old sales executive for a security company, said: "It was spooky. We were looking at the eclipse, when we saw this bright glow, just to the side of the moon.

"It appeared as a slow moving orange light - as if a light aircraft was in flames.

"It was moving in a northerly direction, then moved round to the east. It disappeared in the direction of Woodstock.

"There was no sound at all. It was very strange."

He said it wasn't a plane, and couldn't have been a meteorite as it changed direction.

"We thought there might have been something in the news since, but there hasn't been.

"I still don't know what it was. But I'm sure others must have seen it. I don't know whether the object we saw was extra-terrestrial, but it was certainly an unidentified flying object."

A Witney householder, who asked not to be named, said: "We saw it up in the sky. It was very unusual."

Another witness was 14-year-old Lewis Ashton, who watched the object from his home in Burford Road, Witney.

Lewis, a pupil at Wood Green School, in Witney, said: "It wasn't a plane or a satellite.

"I don't know what it was, but it seemed quite strange."

In a search for answers, Mr Hall contacted UFO researchers at the Anomalous Phenomena Research Agency - which investigates UFO sightings in Oxfordshire and the Thames Valley.

Research co-ordinator, Brian P James, said there had been sightings in Oxford at about the same time. He said: "We did get a report of a set of four low-flying lights heading east to west over Christ Church Meadow, in Oxford. They were so low the witness thought it was an aircraft crashing.

"These lights split into two pairs, which then went off to the north and south. The witness phoned her daughter in Barton, who then saw another, or similar, four lights coming from the east."

A spokesman for RAF Brize Norton, Katie Zasada, said no aircraft had been taking off or landing at the base at the time of the eclipse.

She said: "We had no reports of strange lights in the sky, and there are no records of unusual activity."

A spokesman for Oxford Airport, at Langford Lane, Kidlington, said no unusual reports had been received. James Godfray, the airport's head of development and marketing said: "There was absolutely no activity here at all.

"We would have been closed."

*If anyone else has seen, or photographed a UFO, please contact us at witney@nqo.com or click in the comment box below.