Haunted Skies.Trip to Wiltshire.

    Haunted Skies Update January 14^th 2013
 

Today Monday the 14^th I went to the Post Office and posted signed copies of Haunted Skies books to various people that had ordered them from me. The 2^nd class postage for the earlier Volumes is now costing me £1.90 for 320 pages.

Volume 7 is now classed as a ‘packet’ appropriate bearing in mind its costs us a packet of £3.50 to send the book, which I am well aware of but we didn’t have much of a choice; the work is far too important not to publish. Under the circumstances if anyone wants a copy of Volume 7 signed and sent to them I would ask them if they were prepared to help us by contributing £1.50 towards the postage for Volume 7 and £1 for any of the earlier Volumes. This is more than fair as for the last 2 and half years I have have been paying the postage on every book out of my own pocket, not forgetting Volume 7 has 100 extra pages of information!

Volume 8 (1980) is still being worked on, and will be in colour which is quite exciting, although we haven’t settled on a front cover yet. 
Trip to gloomy Wiltshire

On Saturday last my son Alex and his girlfriend Sonja accompanied by her young son ‘Ollie’ decided to visit the delights of Wiltshire, taking in the sights of West Kennet 

Longbarrow, 
 
    Alex and Sonja freezing their butts off!

West kennet Longbarrow a dark and brooding day!

Silbury Hill, in its magnificence!
Adams Grave, Avebury, and the delightful ‘Barge pub’ now ran by Amanda and her partner. The first photo was where the ladeis toilet was before alterations. They are in the process of re turfing the strip of land that was the seating area and have placed a sarsen stone in the middle.

Haunted Skies Volume 8 & The real Heroes!

           Haunted Skies 8^th January 2013

                      Volume 8

                                 IN Colour! 

                        These are the real Heroes!

                  Wing Commander Eric Cox and his

                   UFO sighting! 1967

                  copyright to his son Eric

                       Budd Hopkins and Peter Robbins thanks 

                                 Peter for the photo!

 Two wonderful ladies that we had the pleasure of  talking  to, 

 rest in peace Betty and Freda!

                       

Currently we are submitting October 1980 to the

typesetter Bob Tibbitts for inclusion in the current

work.This is sample of what that month contains:-

       Chapter 10 October 1980 

Strange orange glow over East Lothian

On the 3^rd of October 1980 Peter Douglas (11) and three friends were out playing on the Muirpark adventure playground near their homes in Tranent East Lothian. When at 7.15pm they saw an orange light covering about half of the sky towards the North West direction.  It then vanished but reappeared a few minutes later as a fuzzy oval shape visible for a few seconds on each occasion it was seen. (Source: BUFORA) Insert letter from Arthur Shuttlewood here dated 3 .10.80

Flying Saucer over Anglesley 

In October 1980 Schoolboys -David Prytherch & Gerald Kellahan, from Syr Thomas Jones School, Amlwch, sighted: “A brightly lit saucer shaped object, full of coloured lights, which made a swishing noise as passed overhead.  It looked like a crab underneath, as it passed directly above our heads, at around 8.00 pm., before heading on towards Parys Mountain, joined, shortly afterwards, by a bigger version of the first.”

David’s father, Ken Prytherch, Postmaster at Penysarn, described his son’s agitated condition and that, after being told what happened, invited him to illustrate what he had seen - identical to that drawn by Gerald. Apparently, the boys weren’t the only ones to sight the UFO.  Members of the McGuire family, from Tyn Ffynnon, claimed to have seen ‘lights’ which seemed to land on the mountain, after darting about in the sky.(Source: The North Wales Chronicle’, 16.10.80 – ‘UFO lands on Parys Mountain’)

UFO over Emley Moor

Russell Callaghan was working as a bus conductor, in Bradford, during October 1980. “We finished early on that day and had little time to spare, so we parked on Odsal Top, looking outwards over Emley Moor.  It was about 3.45 pm.  The sun had gone in. It wasn’t quite dark.  We were shocked to see a silver spinning ‘disc’ in the sky at about a thousand feet off the ground.  Within eight seconds it had gone.”   Russell one of the leading UFO Researchers in the country, was very much involved in UFO Magazine before its demise, after the death of Graham Birdsall.    Insert photo of Russell and Graham

Each and every sighting has to be the subject of much scrutiny, before the completed product goes off to be

set into the In Design PDF. This of course means considerable work. Only recently we drove to Dinmore Hill Herefordshire which was the scene of a mysterious

incident involving three people, and interviewed a local farmer  who sighted a UFO hovering over the Clee Hill area. We have sightings over the top of the transmission mast there from the 1990’s, but will have to wait until we come up to the appropriate time/book before we can even start shaping up that Volume.

Spoke to David Sankey and his partner Erica, today they have been the ‘rock’ of what these books have been about, and I apologise if I have mixed up his work with someone elses! 

The problem is that we are a 'one man band' and having taken on the Publishers role demands time which is in short supply.

Colonel Halt has been assisting us with the information contained in Volume 8, but we will be saving his comments for December 1980. he has fully supported our work and  we are grateful to him.

 Megalithic Tours Mysterious Earth Conference 2013

Grimsargh Village Hall Preston Road, Grimsargh, Preston, Lancashire, PR2 5JS

From Neil McDonald  Hi AllThe fifth yearly Megalithic Tours 'Mysterious Earth Conference' will be held over the weekend of the 13th & 14th April 2013.  We will have eight fascinating speakers from across Britain, a range of stalls and catering.  As always the conference will be a great opportunity to meet old friends and like minded people.  Their will also be a four day follow up tour to the 'Mystical Isle of Man', running from the Monday morning.  I have attached a PDF 'information and Booking Sheet' that also covers the 'Post-Conference Tour' and very much hope to see you at the conference.All the bestNeil

---

 

Haunted Skies wishes Happy New Year 1.1.2013

  Rendition of event at Rendlesham Forest  December 1980 by Wayne Mason(c) 2012  

  Haunted Skies 1st Janaury 2013 

Happy New Year to you all from John and Dawn

Volume 8 is under way this covers the period 1980!

Here are some extracts from the forthcoming Volume 8 (The cover has been completed) but wil be under wraps for some time yet

But first does anyone know the whereabouts of Mark Brown & Philip Barnet UFO researchers? 

Aswe would like to speak to them about some old cases?

             

            VOLUME 8 will be in colour!

We are pleased that the opportunity to show some of the images in glorious colour has finally arrived. We are delighted to be able to show the reader some ‘UFO sketches’ from the possession of UFO researcher Derek Samson from Shirley, West Midlands. Derek was a keen gardener and artist and spent much of his life recording for posterity reported UFO activity, brought to his attention from all over the World. 

Invisible Barriers or force fields encountered

In addition to the sightings of UFOs and their occasional occupants, we have now included reports of mysterious interactions between human beings and what some may refer to as invisible force fields of barriers, which prevent access to something or someone, whose identity still remains unknown. Examples of which have already been published in Haunted Skies. They include the report by British Soldier Leslie Grant who saw a domed object on three legs resting on the ground near Arnhem in 1944. When he approached the object he was stopped by doing so by what he described as “like pushing against rubber” (See Page 38, Volume 1)   In May 1957, Mr. John  Payne encountered an object described as resembling a submarine with two fins at the end object on Winkleigh Airfield Devon. When he tried to get closer he found his way blocked by what he described as an “invisible air cushion, that you could actually lean on”

(See Page 210, Volume 1)  In Reading Berkshire on the 4^th of September 1967, Jane a reporter from the Reading Evening News attempted to approach a landed UFO next to the Royal Ordnance factory, but was prevented by “What felt like an invisible force field preventing us getting any closer” (See Page 184, Volume 3) We were to come across many such examples over the years. Many of them took place in Brazil, USA, USSR, and New Zealand but due to lack of space are prevented from reproducing these accounts here; we are forced to confine our interest to what took place in the UK.

Encounter with UFO

Two days later, on 27^th August 1980, Gateshead waitress - Marjorie Stainthorpe - was driving towards Winlaton, at 3.00am, near Shibdon Bank, when she became aware of a blue and green coloured ‘ball of light’ following behind the vehicle.” I was terrified. When I arrived home, I found myself shaking with fear. I don’t know what it was, but it wasn’t any aircraft.” Enquiries with the local coastguards revealed a blue/green ‘flash of light’ was sighted over Marsden Rock, on the same evening, which was explained away as a shooting star.  (Source: personal interview)

              

               Flying Saucer’ seen near Temple Meads Bristol

William McQuaid of Knowle Bristol telephoned us in 2007 wishing to bring our attention to something that he witnessed around the 1980 period.    “At the time I was employed as a catering steward for British Rail. One morning we were on our way to Cardiff and had just left Temple Mead Station Bristol. I happened to look out of the window and see a sight that shocked me to the core. A spinning silver saucer shaped object showing a completely smooth outer surface, with no sign of any rivets joins or windows, showing a dome at the top and bottom, hovering in the air about 6ft away from where I was.   I estimated it was about 3ft in length and 2ft wide, my first thoughts were that it was radio controlled. There was a man asleep in a nearby carriage, but for some inexplicable reason I didn’t try and awake him”.

From Volume 6 the Jubilee edition 1975-1977

Close Encounter with UFO

Actress Freda Driver, the sister of Betty Driver - more familiar for her role as evergreen Barmaid, Betty Turpin, of ‘Coronation Street’ fame - spoke to us about a strange incident she and her sister witnessed, during the 1970s.Freda:  “I was sitting in the lounge at the farmhouse where we lived at the time, one stormy evening, and happened to glance through the window, when I saw this large circular yellow ‘ball of light’ hovering above some trees, apparently unaffected by the gale force wind blowing outside. I watched it, noting it had a slightly misty halo around it, and thought to myself it’s watching me as well!

After about 15 minutes, I decided to summon up the courage and venture outside, asking my sister, Betty, to come with me. When we opened the door, accompanied by the three boxer dogs, the wind was so strong we had trouble standing.  As soon as the dogs saw the UFO they ran back inside and hid under the table, at which stage we began to feel frightened and went back inside the house.

After 5 minutes or so, it shot up into the sky and disappeared, followed by the wind dropping dramatically. We found out that others had also seen this UFO, which was explained away as a weather balloon!”

Freda described another incident which took place, while home with her sister, Freda, one evening, approximately ten miles from Ellesmere Port, when they noticed a curious ‘ball of light’ travelling in tandem with their vehicle, about a hundred yards away. Freda:  “I stopped the car to have a closer look at this object, and was surprised to see it had also stopped motionless in the air, as if somehow watching us.

 Unsure of what to do, we got back into the car and continued on our journey, noting, with fright, it was still following us - always at the same distance away from us, irrespective of whatever speed we were doing. It stayed with us for about 20 miles and was clearly seen by other motorists, some of whom stopped their cars. To our relief, when we entered a built-up area, it shot off upwards into the sky and disappeared.”

A few days after the incident, Freda was not surprised to learn, from reading a local Newspaper, that the UFO had been seen by other drivers on the road, one of whom launched an appeal, asking for any other witnesses to contact him.   Needless to say, Freda and Betty decided to keep quiet, fearing ridicule.   (Source: personal interview)

Don Ramkin who has been a valuable supporter of the Haunted Skies project is off to Rendlesham Forest tonight to celebrate the New year with Terry and Brenda Butler. Our best wishes to all of you hope you have a great night.

Don -Well here are three photos of the latest kittens. We've named the black tabby Tabatha , the black n white is called fur ball as its a podgy thing , and the beige & white we called Charlie .Happy New year.

 

   We would also like to thank Steve Franklin, David Bryant and Jason Chapman for their help with illustrations. If any budding artists wish to assist of any age ! All contributions are welcome here! please contact us on 0121.445.0340

Once again Happy New Year from John and Dawn.

Haunted Skies blog the facts about UFOs!

Coming soon !

 

                                  New book from artist/author Jason Chapman well done young Jason for having a go!

Newspaper coverage on Police sighting of UFO!(August 2012)over last few days.

Will they ever get it right no! 

Will they ever seek to question what the hell is happening out there No! 

I am not a UFO fan I am a retired CID Officer with nearly 30 years in the job and the Publisher/co-author of now seven books dedicated to preserving the history of the British UFO phenomena.    But thanks for crediting the blog!

No wonder the Officer asked that his identity be keep secret! bearing in mind the Police felt that any subsequent newspaper publicity may well bring the force into disrepute. The second cutting is from the Metro and was sent to us by UFO Investigator Bill Eatock, the first clipping from Don Ramkin. Suffice to say,there are many details that are incorrect in these two versions. 

Haunted Skies report into West Midlands Police Officers UFO sighting 02.25- 5.8.2012   

At 9.25am the 10^th of August 2012 we made our way over to Coventry Police where we met up with the Officer in the front office.  On this occasion we were accompanied by Mr Bob Tibbitts a personal friend and formerly the head of the Coventry based UFO Group (CUFORG)  

The Officer (who asked that his name be withheld after consultation with Dan Barton of  the West Midlands Police Press Office,) was accompanied by a colleague, who confirmed that he had received call on the radio from the Officer following the UFO having been seen and that all communication was then made via a personal phone.

The Officer now 12months from retirement told us that he was travelling along the A45 out of Coventry heading towards Birmingham, towards the Stonebridge Island along the darkened section of the A45. Weather conditions were described as being clear with a Moon and intermittent cloud cover although fog developed later. About a quarter of a mile past Map location SP280812

“I noticed a light in the sky which was pulsing rhythmically. It was very bright and had a bluish tinge to it. I thought at first it was plane and then realised as it was only a single light this was not likely to be the case, as I had never seen an aircraft in that  part of the sky. A couple of seconds later it shot off at an incredible speed silently heading towards the Birmingham direction. As it did so the pulsating continued but of course diminished as it moved away, now over the Birmingham Airport direction. Suddenly it shot straight upwards into the sky at a phenomenal speed far to fast to have been any aircraft. About 2-300yars past where I had seen it I pulled into a lay-by on the left and radioed a colleague  also on duty that night and told him what I had seen”.

The incident was then reported via mobile phone rather than contacting the Force Control room using the Police radio for obvious reasons.

The Officer then contacted a relative to report the matter and then made his way to Birmingham Airport where he discussed the matter with the ATC and the crew of the Police Helicopter.    According to ATC nothing had shown on Radar and no flights were plotted for that time (15minutes before and 30minutes later)

The Officer dismissed any suggestions made that he had seen a fireball meteorite, a sky lantern or jet aircraft.   He feels that what he saw wasn’t man made; and maintains an open mind as to the identity of the object.  He also stressed that if it had been an aircraft travelling at the speed why it didn’t break the sound barrier

 as it moved through the sky.

While we were unable to identity what it was the officer saw, we had of course come across many other examples of this phenomenon before during our research.

Those examples also include occasions when film has been taken of these pulsating flickering objects which are seen stationary in the sky before suddenly shooting away at speeds which rule out the possibly of any terrestrial explanation.

One such example took place in Greenlands near Redditch a few years ago. The witness a taxi driver called the Police who attended but were unable to offer any explanation.  

Another witness living in Longbridge Birmingham also filmed a UFO over the Birmingham area in 1995. Interestingly she told of seeing a dark hardly noticeable object rotating around a luminous object creating what appeared to be the pulsating effect. 

Whether these have any bearing on what it was the Officer saw we can’t say, all we can say is that although these are examples of Unidentified Flying objects  which continue to be seen around the skies of the UK we should only judge each case on its individual merits and not jump to any conclusions, rather than attempting to sensationalise incident like this (as are often seen in the media)by suggesting that they are extra terrestrial in origin, nothing may be further from the point!

 Kevin Goodman tackling Aunt Bessie!

UFO over Walton on Thames In June 1998 Mr Alan Howard from Walton on Thames who was  very familiar with the passage of  aircraft  and the occasional Airship as used by Fuji and Orange   Telecommunications was sat is his armchair watching TV   when he  noticed an object in the sky  through the window climbing steeply, and presumed it was a balloon that had come adrift, ‘Suddenly it stopped in mid air and  began to   descend in a  falling leaf  motion, before slowly rising upwards I asked my partner Pam what she thought the object to be, and continued watching  wondering if it was tethered to the ground in some way.

Then an aircraft appeared over the trees in front of us heading out of Heathrow, at which point the object whatever it was  raced towards the plane like a missile, and stopped short of the aircraft  in mid air  for a second or two before  moving quickly away into  a nearby cloud, we were both literally struck dumb by what we had  witnessed. 

Moments later the object dropped out of the cloud and continued to fly around the sky making impossible tight turns diving and climbing. I went and fetched my camera and took a clip of film of the UFO which by now was quite small through the viewfinder”

Throughout the following days and weeks Mr Howard scrutinised the newspapers hoping to see that somebody else had seen the UFO but found nothing. (Source :UPN Investigations London Elaine Waite)

At 12.25am 2^nd August 1998, a resident of Bury St Edmunds contacted the Police after sighting eight to ten lights rotating around a larger object moving across the sky. Five minutes later at12.30am a revolving circular object with square lights was seen over the A4 Cambridge near to the M11 junction by a motorist and his wife (yet another UFO sighting from this locality). At 1.40am a pulsating glowing object with an outer ring was seen hovering and circling the sky over Wrexham North Wales and reported to the Police.

 A Cleethorpes housewife was hanging out her washing at 1142pm when she saw ‘three lights forming a triangle in the sky’ bright enough to illuminate the house with two flashes of light. - ten seconds later they vanished from view.

Haunted Skies Volume 7

I find it odd that while we have continued to write and catalogue reports of UFO activity going back to the 1940’s, now contained in 6 Volumes, with another one coming covering the period 1978-1979, we are completely ignored by the media.   Time and time again we have been asked for books with a promise to review them and feature our work, so far nothing. Surely this is rather odd in itself?

I must profess that this lack of interest in us just spurs us on. At the end of the day these books are not about us, but about those people who have had the courage to come forward and just report what they have seen.  

We are determined to carry on despite massive personal costs and continuing problems in obtaining the service of a illustrator. Sadly these are times when money is very short and people are more concerned with just coping with everyday life problems….

Nick has doe a great job, but I don’t agree with the statistics he hands out, i.e 99% may be hoaxes. Clearly the majority of sightings we have outlined in our books are unexplainable; the evidence of those very personal sightings indicates this to be the case.   As far as ASSAP was concerned I was invited to talk but it never transpired, as I was never placed onto the schedule of speakers.    

Reports from the 1970's still coming in......

In November 2012 Mr. James White now aged 71 contacted us about what he witnessed during 1979 while on the way home from Oxford to Bicester one evening between 11.30pm and 12.30am

"At the time I was a mechanic at Cowley, it was a clear night, no other cars on the road It was like a ball of energy  that came down from the sky I was coming home from Oxford to Bicester .When I was near Wendlebury I saw a light in the sky , which came towards me and then turned at right angle before moving just in front of the bonnet, I thought to myself I will run it over so I put my foot down but is still stayed with me. I wondered if it was sort of x raying me or examining me that the impression I had. It seemed controlled in its actions. Then it suddenly shot up into the air and went away towards the direction of Buckingham. When I arrived home I told my Wife she said you should report it, I said no people will think I am a bloody idiot."   Mr. White told us that the object was totally silent and appeared to be just a ball of energy rather than any UFO.

 Diamond UFO seen

 Roger a retired Police Offcier contacted us...

Having read your recent article in the latest NARPO magazine I am prompted to write to you concerning my own experience of an unexplained sighting.  This is the first time I have written about it although I did raise the event with my duty Sergeant shortly it happened.   

In 1965 I joined Kent Police as a 19 year old and after initial training was posted to Gillingham in the Medway towns.  Gillingham sits alongside the River Medway and there are unhindered views across the river estuary mouth out across the North Sea to its horizon with the Essex coastline to the left.

I was the young probationer Constable on my section who walked or cycled.  I never rode in a police vehicle unless it was to take me to the scene of some incident such as a sudden death or RTA where I was left to deal with it.  

About a year had passed when changes to the members of my section resulted in the loss from it of the more mature officer and I was now considered suitable to drive and patrol in police vehicles.  I cannot recall the exact month of this particular night duty but it was in the early months of 1966.  I was driver of the area 999 car with a much older Constable crew member from Rainham Police Station.  We covered both areas and it had been particularly busy with a variety of calls through the night duty which had commenced at 10 p.m.

It was about 2 a.m. when I drove to an area overlooking a car park, a day-time picnic area and outdoor swimming pool at an area of Gillingham called The Strand.  It was an area subject to crime and I knew it  well. I parked the police vehicle in an elevated position looking over this area facing towards the River Medway which was about 500 yards away.  My view also took in an uninterrupted view towards the North Sea and its horizon with the Essex coast to the left.  It had been raining previously but had now stopped.   It was now a perfectly clear night and visibility was excellent.  I could see the lights of the coastal towns of Essex to the left and the blackness of the North Sea and the sky above it on its horizon.  I also knew this view well.

As I looked through the screen I could see movement of lights forming a pattern hovering in the blackness above the horizon of the North Sea.  I asked my colleague if he could see what I was looking at.  He told me he could not even though I described where they were.  I got out of the vehicle to have a better look and saw that there were about 9 small lights forming a diamond pattern.    They were fairly close together and quite clear to the naked eye.  I could see the lights of the coastal towns of Essex to the left but these hovering lights were not close to land and were out to sea.  The lights were not coloured and appeared to be pulsing slightly.  My eye sight was perfect and I was not wearing spectacles or contact lenses.

I watched these lights for possibly 20 seconds and they had formed a diamond formation.  I initially thought of fireworks or flares but there was no movement by the lights or any diminishing of their brightness.  They remained static in the same place and in their diamond formation throughout.  I informed my colleague of what I was witnessing but he remained within the vehicle.  It was difficult to judge their distance but they appeared to be well out on the horizon, above the darkness of the sea, and far beyond the coastal towns of Essex to the left.  They were almost pin sized but quite visible.

After about 20 seconds all of the lights suddenly split their formation and travelled away at very high speed.  They all went in different directions but in straight lines away from where they had been.  One or two went up, others to the left and right and others down towards the sea.  They all travelled at high speed and disappeared altogether.  It left me looking at the void of blackness of the sky where they had been.  I looked at the area for some moments trying to understand what I had seen but they had disappeared and did not return.

Stationed at Gillingham with the North Sea and River Medway on my doorstep I had seen fireworks and flares discharged previously but these lights were not the same and were neither.  I got back into the police vehicle and told the officer with me what I had seen.    A short time later we went to Gillingham Police Station.  Whilst there I looked at our Force Policy Book which covered all work practices and procedures by Kent Police.  There was a section dealing with unexplained sightings and UFO’s.  It advised how to report such matters.  As I was still a Probationer Constable I spoke to the duty Sergeant who was a very mature and experienced officer who had been stationed at Gillingham for many years.  I told him what I had seen and I then suggested that I should report the matter as per Force Policy.  He dismissed this idea and I took no further action.

 I had many postings throughout my service and I was stationed several times within the Medway Towns in various ranks.  Of course there were many times when I wondered just what I had seen back in 1966.  In 1995 I retired from Kent Police as a Superintendent and by coincidence my house was situated on high ground about one mile inland from The Strand.  It provided an uninterrupted view across The Strand, the River Medway and out to the North Sea with the Essex coastline to the left. I often looked out across this view at night but I never did see the diamond formation again.