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11:00am Wednesday 6th May 2009
PUZZLED residents are trying to solve the mystery of orange ‘flame-like’ orbs spotted floating across the sky.
Several sightings of the strange spherical objects have been reported in recent days.
Nina Seymour said she saw the object travelling north-west to south-east over the Haylands Estate on Portland at around 9.20pm on Saturday night.
“It was silent and rapidly disappeared into the clouds,” she said.
Peter Hunt then spotted an almost identical sight on Sunday evening as he was watching the kite festival firework display from his house on Bincleaves Road, Weymouth.
He said: “I noticed what looked like a circular orange light in a clear bit of sky.
“I thought it was a helicopter but it didn’t change at all as it came over.
“It was travelling quite fast and disappeared towards Portland.
“It travelled very steadily in a straight line and moved rapidly.”
Similar sightings have also been reported across the area.
David Haigh was among those to spot the unusual lights when he was heading home on the bus from Weymouth town centre to his home in Chickerell.
He said: “We could see these orange lights about the size of a football travelling across the sky.
“There were no navigational lights or anything so it couldn’t have been an aircraft or anything like that.
“They were about a quarter of a mile high and travelling too fast for the wind to be blowing them.”
Mr Haigh said that he and his fellow bus passengers could not come up with an explanation for what they were seeing.
He said: “It was quite strange, I have never seen anything like it. It really spooked us.
“Nobody had any idea what it could have been. UFOs are all we can think they are.”
Kevin Smith, 49, spotted the lights from his home in Vanguard Avenue.
He said: “It was about half ten at night and I just looked out the window and saw this orange light moving across the sky and then about another six or seven of them.
“I opened the window and there was no noise.”
Mr Smith added: “I counted 12 lights in all, it was really peculiar. They were all moving right across the sky more slowly than a helicopter or anything like that.
“They seemed to be coming over the Ridgeway and floating over towards Weymouth, they weren’t in any particular formation.
A Portland Coastguard spokesman said they received no reports of any strange sightings, but said Chinese lanterns or meteors could be the explanation.
He said: “We have had numerous calls of sightings of lanterns in the past.
“All the way along the coastline people have parties that include these items.
“You also have to consider meteor showers, which can be mistaken for distress flares.”
A Dorset Police spokesman also said they had not been alerted to anything unusual in the sky over the weekend.
He said: “We found nothing related to UFOs, orange lights, unidentified objects or anything similar.”
Over the years, there have been many reports of UFO sightings above the Ridgeway between Weymouth and Dorchester and above the A35.
Can you solve the mystery? Anyone who can explain the lights is asked to contact the Dorset Echo newsdesk on 01305 830999.
Dorsetdumpling, Weymouth says...
12:53pm Wed 6 May 09
Ask Archie, Weymouth says...
1:20pm Wed 6 May 09
klax, Melbourne says...
1:50pm Wed 6 May 09
bungy, weymouth says...
2:03pm Wed 6 May 09
free wessex, Bridport says...
3:58pm Wed 6 May 09
dopey, says...
6:06pm Wed 6 May 09
X Old Bill, Sunny South Coast says...
6:57pm Wed 6 May 09
mikeh62, Weymouth says...
10:44pm Wed 6 May 09
weymouthfox, Weymouth says...
11:42pm Wed 6 May 09
weymouthfox, Weymouth says...
11:42pm Wed 6 May 09
mikeh62, Weymouth says...
9:23am Thu 7 May 09
patregan, southport says...
9:32am Thu 7 May 09
patregan, southport says...
9:45am Thu 7 May 09
Atalanta, Weymouth says...
10:51am Thu 7 May 09
Atalanta, Weymouth says...
10:53am Thu 7 May 09
Atalanta, Weymouth says...
11:05am Thu 7 May 09
Dorsetdumpling, Weymouth says...
11:26am Thu 7 May 09
Genghis, Portland says...
12:23pm Thu 7 May 09
Dorsetdumpling wrote:Look us Alpha Centaurians as these monkey-based lifeforms call us(it's Psychosia in our language) have been down on this backward planet conducting research far longer than you Sreggubyllis-gniyalp
Curses! - the Patregan has demolished the cover story in my earlier posting with his flawless scientific argument. Allright I confess - I am in fact an alien from the planet Sreggubyllis-gniyalp , planted on your planet to deal with any sightings of the advance scouts from our invasion fleet - a fleet which has now been recalled since we no longer have the element of surprise with the likes of the great DavidHaigh scanning the skies so resolutely for our presence.. (Although I would point out, that he is in fact, looking IN TOTALLY THE WRONG DIRECTION - so there!) Pesky humans. Goodbye. Oh, and don't bother reporting any sightings of my craft as I return home 'cos I have now told everyone about it and it won't be news (- although that's never stopped you in the past.) PS - anyone know of any offies or farmers' markets in the Alpha Cenatauri region where I can buy some decent farmhouse cider? - I seem to have developed a rather worrying dependency on the stuff since I've been here....
Albo, Wyke Regis says...
1:02pm Thu 7 May 09
patregan wrote:It's fine, pal. Keep wearing the tin-foil helmet and The Man won't be able to find your brain waves
I may add: similar reports have also arrived at our desk from other UK regions. NWUR welcome any public feedback on these phenomena. “Chinese lanterns”, mentioned as a potential cause of these lights, have in fact been dismissed by our research in many instances too as the lights moved against the wind and something erratically in windless conditions. http://www.ssgb.brav ehost.com/cumbrian_o rbls.htm Best wishes Pat Regan, Founder of North West UFO Research
boxfile, Dorchester says...
3:44pm Thu 7 May 09
X Old Bill, Sunny South Coast says...
6:58pm Thu 7 May 09
I Don't Like The New Echo Website, Weymouth says...
7:23pm Thu 7 May 09
Dorsetdumpling, Weymouth says...
10:37am Fri 8 May 09
UFOwga, Washington DC says...
7:25pm Sun 10 May 09
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I Don't Like The New Echo Website, Weymouth says...
12:32pm Wed 6 May 09
This has been covered count less times before by the Dorset Echo, and they act as if they have heard it for the first time.
http://www.dorsetech
o.co.uk/search/40668
55.Weymouth_UFO_myst
ery_solved/
The Dorset Echo want you to call them and help solve the mystery- just as they have asked before!
IT WAS CHINESE LANTERNS! JUST LIKE LAST TIME, AND THE TIME BEFORE...