Leicestershire UFOs No frills just solid information

On the late evening of 3^rd of September 1966, ‘three blue coloured circular objects’ were seen in the sky over Leicester by Alan Frost and his colleague Tom Burnett while repairing a street lamp by the side of the road when the objects passed overhead and hovered for twenty minutes until “Two of them drifted away one after the other”

On a clear moonlit night, between 9.30 pm. and 1.00 pm., on 7^th September, 1966, an amateur Astronomer, from Braunstone, Leicestershire, was looking at the moon through his telescope, when he saw what looked like a rocket, with what appeared to be a shadow underneath it, apparently stationary and silhouetted against the background of the moon, between the area of Tycho and Maurolycus.

Excitedly, he summoned members of the family and the next door neighbour to come and view the object, through the eyepiece, which was in the same position for over an hour. Could it have been a space rocket, launched by NASA, or Russia? - Extremely unlikely. Was there any connection with a three-day Gemini 11 Mission, launched on 12th September, 1966, and NASA’s Surveyor 11 spacecraft, which impacted after being launched on 22^nd September, 1966, on the moon, near the crater of Copernicus, on 22^nd September, 1966, highly unlikely we would have thought?

(Source Leicester Mercury Saw Moon Rocket says City Man)At about 12.30am 8^th September 1966, between eight to twelve objects were seen moving across the sky over Leicester heading eastwards(Source: ‘NICAP’, Great Britain / UFOLOG, Issue 30, Dec. 66 Leicester Mercury We saw things in sky say Lamp men)

At 6.00 am. a bright light was seen shining through the curtains of the Vicarage, at Sheepy Magna, Leicestershire, by the Rector’s wife, who drew the curtains and saw two mysterious objects in the sky, ‘resembling a large orange, hovering over the nearby church tower; the other was a little higher’. (Source: ‘Leicester Mercury’, 25.10.67)

Strange lights over Leicestershire Later the same evening, (24^th April, 1968), a number of lights were seen in the sky over Wigston, Leicestershire, by Mr. A. Payne, Manager of Holdings, Yarmouth, believed to be stars until examination through a telescope, which revealed at least’ twenty separate white lights, with a red and green light attached to each one.’

Another witness was John Blondeau - an Ex-RAF Air Traffic Controller. He saw a number of green spheres in a triangular formation and believed they were neither aircraft, nor stars, particularly after one of them split away while in flight.It appears he was not the only one to sight this phenomenon over the Leicester area, according to the local Newspaper - the ‘Leicester Mercury’, who published another letter from a reader, who suggested they had seen navigation lights and after burner of an Avro Vulcan Bomber, flying at 625 mph. at 40,000 feet. Oddly, it was claimed the phenomenon had been seen on a number of previous occasions in the locality. (Source: ‘Leicester Mercury’, 24.4.68/ 29.4.68/ 2.5.68. South Lincolnshire Study Group/ ‘UFOLOG’, June 68, Issue 47)

At 2.45 pm. the same day (21.12.68), two members of a family were walking through woods, at Brereton, Cheshire, when they noticed the vapour trail of an aircraft passing over, followed by the appearance of four ‘shining objects showing a dark solid base, with a ‘bubble’ on top, in the sky, one behind the other’, heading SSW – seen to change formation at least four times in flight, until lost from view.(Source: UFOLOG, Jan. 69, No. 54)

Five minutes later, two bright objects were seen passing through the sky over Wigston, Leicestershire, at 10.30 pm. on 25^th December, 1968, by a woman resident and her husband, who fetched a pair of binoculars, when they saw:” The first object still appeared as a bright light; the second looked like one of those ‘flying saucers’ you see in children’s comics - disc shaped, with a raised dome in the centre, its outer part apparently revolving. An orange/red glow then appeared around the outer periphery of the object, as if an engine had been fired up. The object tilted slightly and the glow died away, followed by a silver flickering effect. Prior to this sighting, I had actually been sceptical of the existence of UFOs and only went out into the garden to please my partner.”(Source: Isle of Wight UFO investigation Society)

Landed UFO, LeicesterMr. Mrs. E. Neale, of Thurlaston, Leicester, had just got into bed at 10.45 pm. 4^th April, 1969, when they noticed a pulsating white light low down in the sky, occasionally moving up and down. “We thought this was peculiar and went to the window. On looking out, we saw a stationary bright ‘pillar box red’ dome shaped object, slightly taller than broad, apparently on the ground, 2-300 yards away.

We carried on watching the white light and the object on the ground when, to our astonishment, the red object rose upwards into the sky, heading towards the south-east, now looking like an elongated triangle, the smaller angle ahead, followed by the white light.” (Source Stratford on Avon UFO Group)

A weird flashing object was seen at 9.45 pm. 20^th August, 1969, by student - Robert Jordan, who was walking home with his girlfriend, through Sileby, Leicestershire, pointing out the ‘Plough’ constellation to her, when he saw what he thought to be a shooting star moving fairly slowly in the sky, heading towards the City.

As it disappeared behind cloud, another one appeared in the sky.Somebody else who saw it was Mark Fenn - then a 17 year-old apprentice, who described seeing, ‘a red and white object wandering to and fro across the sky, in set patterns, at around l0.00 pm. Enquires into the incident revealed a Russian satellite was launched at 9.31 BST, followed by a second satellite - probably a ‘Cosmos’, on a parallel path to that seen by the witnesses. Could this have been what they saw? (Source: Mr. Geoffrey Coxon / ‘Leicester Mercury’, 2 l .8.69)

UFO over Leicester

At 12.25 am. 23rd August, 1969, Mr. & Mrs. Black were preparing to go to bed, when they saw what they took to be the moon through the bedroom window, but then realised this could not be the case, as it was lying on its side.

In an interview conducted with UFO Investigators - Geoffrey Coxon and Janet Gregory, the couple told of seeing a bright orange crescent shaped object, like the setting sun, with a blurred or shimmering outline, hovering silently in the sky.

As it began to move away, a white light shot upwards from the side, like a shooting star, before fading away. Immediately, the object shot off into the sky - soon a tiny point of light, but returned to its original position. Moments later, it tilted upwards to the right and, to the astonishment of Mr. & Mrs. Black, changed into a circle of 20-30 yellow lights, slowly rotating in an anticlockwise direction. At this point, Mr. Black went and summoned the next door neighbour, while Mrs. Black continued to watch the object, which once more travelled across the sky in a similar sequence of action as before but now no longer visible. (Source: Isle of Wight UFO Investigation Society, Issue No. 62, Sept. 69)

UFO over Leicestershire

“Just talking about it makes the hairs on the back of my neck feel as if they are standing on end”, was how Eunice Rose described her feelings when talking to us about what she witnessed, over thirty years ago, while driving home to Hinckley, Leicestershire, along the A.30, at 10.45 pm. 25th May 1971

“It had stopped raining and I was about half-a-mile away from the Belcher’s bar junction, when I noticed a large glowing light through the windscreen of my A.35 car that I took to be the headlights of an oncoming lorry. After nothing happened, I continued on my journey and turned right at the junction, heading along the A.447 towards Hinckley.

At this point I noticed the radio began to fade and the headlights were dimming, with the engine running very roughly. The car came to a halt just past the junction to Nailstone Grange. I looked out of the window and saw a saucer shaped light to my left moving over nearby fields, about 20 yards away, strong enough to illuminate the interior of the car. After whatever ‘it’ was had moved out of sight, I started up the car and drove home.”

The following day Eunice contacted the couple, who she had been visiting. Imagine her surprise to discover their son, Terry - and then aged 10, had reported seeing what he took to be the lights of a car arriving at the house, but no car ever arrived. She then contacted the ‘Leicester Mercury’ to report the matter. After publication of the incident, a day later, she received a letter from Stephen Freary (13), who told her, while travelling along Coventry Road, Hinckley, with his father, at 10.45 pm., 25^th May, he had seen ‘an orange light, surrounded by a halo’, moving across the sky, towards the direction of the Electricity Board building. (Source: personal interview)

UFO over Leicester In 2009, we contacted Julie Mayer, wife of BBC Radio presenter, Tony Wadsworth, now running the weekday BBC Leicester radio car, after having spoken to her about what she witnessed while) waiting for a bus, near Leicester University, with her sister, in the early 1970’s. “It was the movement of the object between two tall buildings that caught our attention. It seemed to glide down and stop in the sky. Although it happened over 30 years ago, I can remember it very well indeed. I suggested my sister go and fetch somebody else to witness the sighting. She thought it might be better to hang on, as we didn’t know how long the UFO was going to be there. Suddenly, it shot upwards into the sky and vanished from sight.”