Data from the National Archives has shown that Dartford is a popular
place for Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) - so how does the rest of
the county rank?
The term ‘UFO’ was not coined until 1953,
by the United States Air Force, as a catch-all phrase for all of these
objects. According to the force, a UFO is: “any airborne object which
by performance, aerodynamic characteristics, or unusual features, does
not conform to any presently known aircraft or missile type, or which
cannot be positively identified as a familiar object.” Before this,
UFOs were often described as ‘flying saucers’ or ‘flying ‘discs’.
Studies
have concluded that most UFO observations are misidentified
conventional objects or natural phenomena—most commonly aircraft,
balloons, types of clouds, or astronomical objects such as meteors or
bright planets - not to mention the small percentage being hoaxes.
Between
5 per cent and 20 per cent of reported sightings are not explained, and
therefore can be classified as unidentified in the strictest sense.
Despite various studies concluding that these flying objects don’t pose
any threats to national security, or merit further scientific study,
interest remains strong.
Here we list the top ten sightings of UFOs in Kent.
Number 1
LOCATION: Chatham
DATE: January 6 2012
TIME: 1pm
Two
mysterious floating objects were captured on film by an unsuspecting
snapper as they drifted over Chatham. The strange orbs, or very similar
ones, were later sighted in Essex.
The first image was captured
by Ernestas Griksas, 21, who was taking a picture of a cherry-picker
outside his home in Chatham at around 1pm. He didn’t notice the bizarre
apparition until afterwards, when looking at the pictures.
Speaking
at the time, Mr Griksas said: “There are two white discs I can’t
explain. I’m nowhere near a flightpath. One is slightly fainter as if it
is further away or going at a different speed.”
Nick Pope used to
run the British Government’s UFO Project and is now recognised as one
of the world’s leading experts on the subject.
He told Kent News:
“Assuming the photos are genuine, they’re very interesting, although
with one photo, nothing unusual was seen at the time, which raises the
possibility that this was caused by a fault with the camera.
“We
could be dealing with some sort of atmospheric plasma phenomenon, or
some other rare meteorological effect. Other possibilities include a
secret prototype aircraft or drone, though I wouldn’t expect to see them
in these sorts of locations.
“It’s difficult to say, now I no
longer work at the Ministry of Defence and have no way to access radar
data or to get images analysed in a proper, scientific way.”
He added: “The south east is now the hotspot for UFO sightings.”
Number 2
LOCATION: Ashford
DATE: October 10, 2013
TIME: 12.25pm
An
eyewitness identifying himself solely as Nigel gave a detailed
statement on a UFO facebook page about his sighting in Tenderten: “We
were sitting in the garden, sky was perfectly blue without cloud. I
heard a jet flying over, looked up and noticed a a319 easy jet, however
approximately 2000/3000ft directly above the jet, there was a completely
stationery bright silver object that was metallic in appearance,
cylinder shape and other features.
“Aproximately every 15 seconds
it would appear to pulse briefly, giving the appearance of vanishing,
it would then re-appear in exactly the same position, slightly black
briefly before re-gaining the silver tube appearance.
“It
was high and I remember thinking surely the jet would have identified
another object with radar. We watched it for around 6 minutes when it
suddenly completely vanished , no sound and lights of any form.
“I
know my planes extremely well, but this for me was stunning sighting on
the off chance of looking up and clear skies. It was to high to try a
record with my mobile phone. Location wise approximately above Ashford
south.”
Number 3
LOCATION: Tenderten
DATE: February 8, 2013
TIME: 1pm
An
unidentified flying object was spotted in the skies over Ashford during
‘daylight hours’ according to an eye witness who was driving along the
A2070.
The UK UFO sightings website received a witness
statement from Martin Davey who says he was a passenger in a car when he
spotted what he described as “the strangest object ever”.
In
his post on the website he said he saw the UFO heading towards
Tenterden just after 1pm, saying “I saw the strangest object ever very
low to the ground floating or gliding away from the A2070 towards
Tenterden direction.
“It was huge and how something that size flies is a mystery. It looked like an upside-down sharp-edged metal flower.”
“It was like a dark tin foil colour and smooth with a line of dots
along the base of the bottom of the top bud. I watched for maybe a
minute in utter disbelief at what I was looking at as it was nothing
like I’ve seen before.”
Mr Davey described how the unidentified object went out of view as he passed some bushes and then disappeared.
Number 4
LOCATION: Dartford
DATE: Summer 1998
TIME: n/a
Irene
Brennan gave an account of a bizarre light she saw drifting in the aky
around Dartford: “I was driving down to Maidstone in Kent from Suffolk
(in the evening) and somewhere on the road after the Dartford tunnel I
noticed a bright light in the sky that seemed to be staying in the same
place all the time,” she said.
“It stayed in the same
position for quite a long while as I drove down the motorway and I
approached it and literally drove underneath whatever it was.
“[It]
was triangular shaped with lights at each corner and as I looked up I
could see that the underside of the object was divided into sections. I
wondered if it could have been a Harrier or the “invisible” Stealth
bomber or something but I didn’t see any wheels hanging down, just the
lights at the corner of the triangle”.
Number 5
LOCATION: Tonbridge
DATE: June 5, 2008
TIME: 12.55am.
Government
documents released in 2009 revealed that defence officials had examined
a report of a UFO seen over Tonbridge the previous June.
The Ministry of Defence releases details of UFO sightings every year.
The
Tonbridge sighting took place on June 5 at approximately 12.55am, with
an unidentified eyewitness saying that: “An object was flying around in
circles at aeroplane level and sounded like an industrial train. There
was a strange flashing on the object.”
That was not the
end of the incident - just over three weeks later on June 28, a further
sighting was reported, with the location specified only as Kent.
Link:
http://www.kentnews.co.uk/news/top_ten_kent_ufos_have_they_been_spotted_in_your_area_1_3958024
