This sighting occurred sometime in mid 1970. I sent it to a British UFO group ��� BUFORA who gave it a very cool reception. I believe the group had been infiltrated by Government personnel because of the way the reply was couched.
I���m not certain whether it is of any use but I believe that it was a very real event due to the weather conditions and its position in the sky;
The tale:
I was fishing with two friends on a favourite stretch of the River Medway about 700metres downstream from the village of Wateringbury in the county of Kent, UK. (It was night time).
At this point the river undercuts a wooded area on a steep slope. Opposite, on the other bank where we were fishing, there is a small flat area, a field of marshy ground with type vegetation. (We were facing downstream and Wateringbury was on our backs).
The summer night was balmy and still ��� not a breath of wind; you could hear the silence! A high, thin veil of cloud masked the lesser stars but the brighter ones shone through. Aircraft could easily be heard droning high overhead with their navigation lights discernible. Wisps of river mist hovered above the surface of the water ��� it was an idyllic night.
At about 02.30, out the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a movement just above the tree tops on the opposite bank. It was a very bright, orange light (an orb) which drifted effortlessly across the sky. I mean this was bright. I strained to hear a noise, nothing! There had to be a noise for the light was at a low altitude and virtually overhead. There were no other lights associated with the orb. It stayed at a constant speed towards the village of Wateringbury. There it seemed to hover for a short period before changing direction, northwards before disappearing over the hills above Wateringbury.
I was drawn out of my seat and walked transfixed across the flat field, my eyes did not leave it. The light did not change in intensity as it passed by and went away from me towards Wateringbury. It gave no sound. The back of my neck tingled, my hairs stood on end.
I stood motionless for a number of minutes hoping it might return. The sighting lasted about 30 seconds. My two companions saw the light but were too engrossed in their endeavours not to be disturbed.
The night air was still and the silence even more intense. My companions laughed when I said it must have been a UFO, but what else could it have been? On returning to my pitch by the river my mind was no longer on fishing but on what I had just witnessed.
I went through every conceivable possibility and crossed them off in my mind one by one ��� no way was it a conventional aircraft (of any size or shape), it was not a hot air balloon, not a shooting star, not any kind of star, not ball lightning, not marsh gas, not piezo-electricity, not a laser effect, not car headlight, not a bolide meteor, not falling space debris.
Today of course one of the main culprits for orange orb sightings is the ubiquitous Chinese lantern ��� but it certainly wasn���t one of those ��� not in the 1970���s ��� they we���re not in use then. So what was it?
Although I was interested in the UFO phenomenon and was reading Von Daniken, I should have pursued matters but, alas, I did nothing. It was years later when I first witnessed early crop circles (pure circles not glyphs) I decided to submit the sighting to BUFORA but their reply left me cold!
After watching Hangar1 I decided that I should offer the sighting up to MUFON to enhance your records.
