I saw aliens' mother ship
"A possible mother UFO, with green and pink lights.The orange lights are street lights, but the pink and green lights are really suspicious, there is definitely something going on around here..."
These are the words of an amateur cameraman trying to capture a suspected flying saucer in Moulton, Northampton, late last Sunday, before posting the 'discovery' on popular video website YouTube.
Unidentified Flying Objects have fascinated folk for centuries and sightings in Northamptonshire still crop up every few months.
Sites such as YouTube are a perfect medium for sharing footage and theories to a mass audience.
Despite 27 officially-recorded UFO sightings in Northamptonshire during the past decade the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is keen to disperse any claims of extra terrestrials – however it still investigates sightings if they may be a potential threat such as unauthorised military activity in UK air space.
The MoD states: "We believe that rational explanations, such as aircraft lights or natural phenomenon, could be found for them if resources were diverted for this purpose, but it is not the function of the MoD to provide this kind of aerial identification service."
Despite this claim, the MoD has been recording and investigating UFOs for more than 50 years, and now the military organisation is about to release its UFO files and hand them over to the National Archive in Kew Gardens, which is bound to become a mecca for conspiracy theorists.
When the French Government released all of its UFO files earlier this year, the network promptly crashed due to the number of people trying to access the information.
The first UK files will be available in the spring and the whole process is expected to take three years.
The MoD has received more than 10,000 UFO sightings since the UFO project was set up in 1950 and following investigation around five per cent remain unexplained.
However these reports may reveal more about military activity and paranoia during the Cold War period as the MoD investigated UFO files during this period in case there was evidence of a foreign government developing missiles and satellites or testing prototype aircraft.
The chairman of Northamptonshire Association for Paranormal Experiences, known simply as Gary H, is cynical about what the Government will release to the National Archive and does not believe it will be the whole picture.
He said: "The only reason they are being opened up is because France, Germany and other countries have opened them up. They are not doing it willingly, they are doing it begrudgingly. We will only get what they want us to see.
I am waiting to see what they release and how wishy-washy it is."
He also believes the Government is continuing to cover up sightings, which he says does not help people who have genuine paranormal experiences and are ridiculed by those around them.
He added: "They (the Government) won't admit something is out there as they think it will upset religion."
One of the most famous UFO experiences in Northamptonshire is the 1978 tale of Elsie Oakensen who believed her car was stopped on her way home to Church Stowe by a flying machine.
"As usual I turned off the A45 on to the A5 towards Towcester," she said. "The journey had been uneventful, but then directly ahead of me I saw two very bright lights, one red and one green.
"There was a lot of traffic but it seemed as if everything had gone into slow-motion. I could see a dumb-bell shaped object, made of very smooth plastic material, and there were no openings or windows."
Elsie continued her journey but when she came off the main road she stopped her car to take a closer look.
"A green light started to flash. I decided to restart the engine but when I turned into the village something strange happened – the car, which had just been serviced that day, completely cut out.
"Eventually it restarted but I had only travelled about 100 yards when it stopped again. The natural light disappeared and everything was in absolute blackness.
"Then suddenly a brilliant white circle of light about a yard in diameter shone on the road.
The very next moment, as if someone had flicked a switch, natural light returned and I was driving my car normally."
The whole journey took 15 minutes longer than normal although Elsie cannot account for the extra time.
Elsie was so mesmerised by her experience that she went on to write several books about her close encounter of the third kind.
Today Elsie still lives in Church Stowe and, despite a recent fall in Daventry affecting her memory, she is still convinced she had an extraterrestrial encounter.
She said: "I looked at my books and I can't remember what I had written, but it must be true."
County Sightings
A member of Northamptonshire UFO Research Centre found reports from the county dating back to the 1790s.
On March 23, 1909, PC M Kettle of Peterborough (then part of Northamptonshire) reported a strange airship. There were many other reports of this object from around the country.
Around 1954/55 an eight-year-old boy was digging in his garden near Rushden when he saw a strange ovoid-shaped cloud and heard a voice giving him instructions. He has also had a number of subsequent UFO experiences.
In 1977 researchers carrying out a skywatch exercise saw two separate strange lights over Harrington, then in May 1978 at 11.30pm a witness saw strange manoeuvering lights in the sky over Finedon.
In 1980 a man in Northampton General Hospital saw a strange object over the town when he looked out of the window.
In 1997 a woman from Kingsthorpe in Northampton reported round red objects moving fast over the town. In October the next year, two witnesses from Kingsthorpe reported seeing two triangular objects moving from the south to the north.
In June 1984 a man saw what he described as being a Chinese lantern over Northampton. It was an octagonal object about 20 feet long and 35 feet in height. At each of its eight corners was an orange light. It made a sound like electricity shorting out and there were occasional blue sparks. The witness estimates that the object could not have been more than 100 feet from the ground.
In November 1995 two separate sightings of lights were made – one over Yardley Hastings and the other above Derngate in Northampton town centre.
In September 2003 the MoD recorded two small, star-size objects, dark orange or rust in colour, followed by two others doing manoeuvres over Northampton.
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