Lights in the sky over Lilleshall. Picture by Gareth Goodwin
What are these strange cigar-shaped lights spotted glowing in the sky above Telford?
Could they be an optical illusion caused by unusual atmospheric conditions?
Are they Chinese sky lanterns, which have sparked so many claims of unidentified flying objects recently?
Or are they perhaps evidence of an alien invasion?
The questions have been posed by Shropshire Star reader Gareth Goodwin who was on hand with his camera to capture the pair of orange lights.
“I spotted this this strange vision looking north from Lilleshall at about 11.45pm yesterday,” he said.
Mr Goodwin’s photograph is just the latest in a spate of weird and wonderful sightings in Shropshire, which is rapidly gaining a reputation for being something of a Twilight Zone, reaching the national top 10 for reports of UFOs and big cats. In March, similar lights to these pictured were spotted in the sky around Telford.
The mystery was solved shortly afterwards when Colin Turner, a customer services officer with Telford & Wrekin Council, said the lights were Chinese sky lanterns which he had lit and launched .
Mr Turner, of Dunlin Close, Leegomery, dismissed the suggestion aliens had landed in the county as “nonsense”.
Nevertheless, the county is coming under close scrutiny from Phillip Hoyle, of the UFO Investigation and Research Unit in Shrewsbury, who says there is no single obvious explanation for the sightings.
At least 30 sightings of weird lights were reported in the county during a two-month period this year.
4 Comments
Very facinating pictures, I also do research on ufo stuff. I notice that we have the same last name, would like to chat further with Gareth Goodwin. thank you
Report abuse
Oops – looks like the camera was a bit wobbly!
Ha ha it’s a good try, but the ‘UFOs’ are the same colour (just dimmer) as the bright lights in the foreground and exactly the same distance apart!
Report abuse
I reported seeing exactly the same lights as in this picture about a year ago, myself and my husband where walking our dogs and saw at least 6 of these in formation, other people saw these as well. this is definitely not a hoax if i had’nt seen it with my own eyes I wouldnt have believed it either, all I can say is to all you sceptics is dont knock it till you have seen it for yourselves
Report abuse
i saw three of these lights late last night!!1 was sat watching tv with my partner when the first one passed by and i thought i was seeing things.then another one came so i told my partner to look up quick and he saw it.i opened the window but there was no noise and then the third one passed by.we wer etotally mystified.i got up this morning and expected to see something on the tv about ufos bot nothing!!1so i looked on the internet and foundnthat other people have seen exactly the same thing.1 was really surprised when i saw the picture of them on the internet.
Report abuse