Spate of UFO sightings in the area
Since the article was published last week, referring to two alleged sightings in the district, the Journal office has fielded similar tales of the apparently unexplained — or inexplicable.
Gary Donnelly, who visited Woolacombe from Sleaford in Lincolnshire, said he had seen “something strange” in his holiday snaps.
He said: “I was on holiday for one week and I spotted something in a photo I took on June 20.
“I know that people did do paragliding from a nearby hill but on this day there was none going on and I do not recall any aircraft in the sky.
“It was a very calm morning and I don't remember even seeing the flying objects when I took the picture — I only wanted some nice views of the beach.
“It was only when I downloaded the pics from my mobile phone onto my computer that they became clear enough to see. I still cannot readily identify them, very weird.”
Lantern FM's breakfast presenter James Chapple also got in touch after he had a close encounter of the blurred kind last Friday night.
Mr Chapple said: “Around 10pm I saw a bright orange light in the sky and following a short distance behind was another.
“As I stood there, stunned, watching these objects pass over Roundswell Industrial Estate, I tried to film them on my mobile but as I zoomed in the quality was very pixilated and when I pressed record the two lights faded out at exactly the same time.
“I could still clearly see two black objects moving in the sky. They we're not moving very fast at all and were following each other in a strait line.
“I kept watching them, until they went out of sight behind a building. By the time I had got round the other side the two objects had completely gone.
“I was so freaked out that I phoned a few people in the area to see if they saw it, but I was the only one.”
Derek Reynolds, a Journal reader from Fremington, saw something very similar the same night.
He said: “I was coming through Bickington on my way back from a bowls match, with my friend Colin Murrells driving.
“We saw four bright orange balls in the sky. They looked like miniature suns, like flashing fire and travelled very slowly not like any aircraft and there was no noise.
“By the time I got home in Redlands Road, we got out of the car and stood and watched them travel away from us towards the Moors.
“My wife was very disappointed that she was too late to see them but we certainly did.”
On the evening of Saturday, June 7, the same night that Andrew Beer of Bickington claimed to see an orange flying object in last week's story, Rod Courtney from Mortehoe looked up from his dinner and saw something peculiar.
He said: “While eating our evening meal (completely alcohol-free) my wife drew my attention to what appeared to be a very bright star some distance to the right of Lundy at a height considerably above the normal flight path of incoming aircraft.
“It soon lost its star-like brilliance to become a dark elliptical-shaped object, like a rugby ball with a bump on the top.
“It was stationary and, as far as we could tell, was hovering several hundred feet above Lundy.
“It then emitted an orange glow at the rear of the ellipse, at which point my wife and I were alarmed that it was an aircraft on fire.
“I was sufficiently alarmed to telephone the non-urgent Police Emergency Service to report this object, enquire whether they had received reports of an aircraft in distress.
“The object then disappeared over the Western horizon in a fiery tail.”
But there remains no proof that any of these sightings was a bone fide UFO.
A spokesman from 22 Squadron Search and Rescue at Chivenor, said: “In the three and a half years I have been working at Chivenor I can categorically state that no one here has ever seen a UFO.
“There has been nothing reported to us recently and we do have a system in place for logging the sightings of unidentified aircraft.
“I'm not sure what these could be, maybe it's the sun reflecting off an aircraft.
“Having said that, I suppose there could be anything out there.”
Have you seen a UFO in North Devon? Or are you a sceptic. Have your say at www.thisisnorthdevon.co.uk
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