The truth behind 'UFO sightings'
The truth is out there – and UFO researchers say it might not be as extraterrestrial as first thought.
In the past four months, 48 people have reported orange lights and mysterious "burning objects" hovering over their homes.
Each of the sightings has been investigated by the Leicestershire Unidentified Flying Object Research Society – known to members as LUFORS.
However, the organisation now thinks it has uncovered the true story behind them.
And it all appears to be nothing more out-of-this-world than summer party-goers having a bit of fun.
Society co-ordinator Graham Hall said: "We got numerous reports of orange orbs and bright lights and after researching the accounts we found that it was nothing more than Chinese lanterns.
"People were releasing them in their gardens, at parties and weddings and members of the public have been mistaking them for UFOs."
Chinese lanterns are paper-covered lamps which float up into the sky when a fuel cell is lit.
The society, based in Linden Road, Hinckley, says it released its own lanterns as an experiment in July and within 24 hours received 10 new reports of UFOs in the area.
They also invited 12 members of the public, who had previously thought they had seen flying saucers, to watch the release of the balloons.
Graham said: "All of them, except one, said the balloons resembled the objects they thought were UFOs."
The exception was the sighting of a disc-like object hovering near a wooded area over Barwell. That sighting remains unsolved.
The society, which has been investigating UFO sightings in Leicestershire since 1971, added that about 10% of UFOs each year remain unexplained.
Malcolm Moore, 69, from Oadby, claims to have regularly seen mysterious lights over his home since about 2004. He says the unexplained objects appear at about the same time every year.
The last sighting was on July 27 at about 2am. Mr Moore saw a bright white light hover above his garden and then disappear.
He said: "I had to get up in the night and I saw a triangular object which was going over Oadby towards Leicester. I'm sure the objects weren't Chinese lanterns though, they seemed to hover for a while and then shot off at an incredible speed.
"I'm a true believer. There's a lot of stuff we can't know about."
This weekend, the Leicester Mercury received several calls from people in Queniborough, Syston, and East Goscote who claimed to have seen strange lights in the sky on Friday and Saturday night.
One caller, Elaine, of Queniborough, said: "We popped up to our local pub for a drink and several people had also witnessed them. They had been coming over for about 20 minutes and they had sighted over 30 of them.
"They did not look like lanterns and were moving too fast in the sky."
Watch a video of one of the sightings in Leicestershire
11 Comments
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by poetrymel
Saturday, August 06 2011, 3:21PM
“Does anyone remember a UFO sighting many years ago. I was a littl girl so it was around 1969 to, say, 1972 and I remember being in the street in central Leicester with quite a few neighbours watching 2 different colouered lights in the sky moving in an oblong pattern. I think it was reported on local TV at the time.”
by jeffr, wigston
Tuesday, August 17 2010, 5:06PM
“your'e right the wigston cemetary is the place it nearly always travels from west to east”
by kimby, wigston leicester
Tuesday, August 17 2010, 2:33PM
“if you want to see it just look round the sky after dark in wigston magna round the halcroft rd area you will see it ok. it once dropped down and turned from orange to black very big and round. this is no lantern”
by jeff ryder, wigston leicester
Tuesday, August 17 2010, 2:21PM
“we see this ufo regularly [last night]and its definatley NOT a lantern I estimate its speed from hover to 600-1000 mph the jet stream blazes in front of it, if someone lends me a camcorder for a week I will give you the proof you want.”
by rassmalaii, Loughborough
Thursday, September 03 2009, 9:47AM
“UFO Video Footage on August 24th over Loughborough I took on my video camera - Maybe these where Chinese lanterns? Who knows!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7XZtX5fB4Pg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hB7EIWD_ygE”
by Ed, Leicester
Tuesday, August 11 2009, 1:46PM
“Joe, I have not read these University papers you mention - could you give us reference? As far as I know the only suggestions ever made is that TFL is theoretically possible but practically impossible, especially when we are talking about actual objects (rather than say particles of light or data) - but I would certainly be interested in any further information.
Sad to say, I fear that even if we are not alone in the universe (and present evidence suggests we are) that anyone else out there is having the same problems as we have with space travel and/or physics.”
by Joe, Santa Barrbara, CA
Tuesday, August 11 2009, 10:18AM
“What a stupid title. The truth about some ufos is not the truth of others. Only one out of the tens of thousands that have been reported need be confirmed to establish what is implicit in the term, i.e that ONE, and therefore probably others, come from another planet. And to the false comment about speed of light travel, scientists now suggest from such Unviersities as Oxford, Stanford and Harvard, that faster than light travel is indeed possible.”
by Tideswellman, Stoke on Trent
Tuesday, August 11 2009, 8:08AM
“"The Truth is out there,and UFO researchers say it might not be as extraterrestrial as first thought."
This statement is very misleading. To dismiss all sightings as chinese lanterns is beyond shortsighted. THESE recent sightings may be Chinese lanterns..clearly many others are not.”
by Gareth, Thurmaston
Monday, August 10 2009, 12:37PM
“In relation to the 'UFO' sightings over Quiniborough, Syston and East Goscote on friday night, I am pleased to be able to confirm they were indeed..... chinese lanterns. Of part of me and my wifes wedding day on friday, our two best men organised a display of 100 of these lanterns, released from East Goscote. I hope this may clear up any confusion related to the issue!”
by Angela Fikion, Perth
Monday, August 10 2009, 11:25AM
“People have been fascinated by this question for years. In fact, some people belive that we have already been visited by beings from outer space. Others say that unidentifided flying objects, which really have been seen, are spacecraft from other worlds. Scientists tell us that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light- 299,792 kilometres per second. At first, we probably would not know what the signals were saying. But eventually we might be able to decode the message. What an extraordinary day that would be! Right now all we can do is wait, and listen.”