A pensioner has been left baffled by what he believes was a close encounter with a UFO.
John Ford said it appeared as a bright light hovering in the night sky which he was able to observe for several minutes.
But it was the sudden, dramatic departure that made the biggest impression - which he described as being like the Starship Enterprise of Star Trek fame.
Both Mr Ford, 69, and his wife Joyce, 70, witnessed the strange events above their home in Stoke Manor Close, Seaford, at around 6pm on November 26.
He takes up the story. He said, “My wife and I were about to go out for a meal and, whilst in the porch changing my shoes, there was a tremendous drone-like noise and I could feel a very slight shudder as it seemed to reverberate around the place.
“Quickly moving outside, I just caught sight of the tail lights of a very low flying, and very noisy, helicopter heading in the direction of Newhaven. I suppose under certain circumstances, especially at night, the lights of a helicopter could be mistaken for a UFO, but they are usually very noisy, and not very big or very fast moving.
“However, as I moved towards the car parked on the drive, I happened to glance up and noticed a bright orange coloured light in the sky some distance away, approaching from a north-easterly direction and moving in the general direction of Seaford. Naturally, I thought it must be another helicopter, as it was just blob of light and did not seem to be very high in the sky.
“This ‘light in the sky’ was moving in my general direction and seemed to cover the distance very quickly and, strangely, there was not that familiar drone-like noise as it got closer and closer. As this single blob of light reached a position in the sky, quite close to where I was standing, it suddenly mushroomed into a very bright configuration of light that illuminated a large area of the surrounding night sky, and appeared to be, simply, hovering.
“As I watched this light show, it became apparent that at the centre of this ‘illumination’ I could discern a very definite shape/pattern that was round in outline, possibly more hexagon in appearance, with a sort of cross like structure contained within the main outline. I am quite definite about this ‘shape’ as, on reflection, what I was seeing reminded me very much of a large ground-fixed type of firework display, where you get a prolonged, well-lit defined profile of something or other, that also creates that surrounding aurora against the night sky. However, this was no firework!
“This light spectacle continued for some time, and as I couldn’t quite believe what I was witnessing, I shouted to my wife to come out and have a look, as I needed some reassurance of what I was seeing! By the time she joined me, the light show had started to subside but, nevertheless, it was still clearly visible but had now adjusted its position in the sky.
“Both of us continued to observe this light for some time, which had reduced back down to a clearly identifiable compact shape and was continuing to hover when, very suddenly and without any indication or further movement, this ‘object’ simply shot away at such speed up into the night sky, that within just a few seconds all we could see was a small dot that disappeared amongst the stars. The speed at which it travelled was incredible – I could only liken it to the Starship Enterprise going into warp drive, it was that quick! This last event was slightly unnerving and a bit spooky – what we had just witnessed could not be explained away and there was no mistaking what we had seen.
“This series of events from spotting the travelling light in the sky, to the bright illuminated profile in the night sky and, finally, the manner of its departure, all played out over several minutes. It was not an encounter that was over in a brief few seconds when, subsequently, you may ask ‘did I really see that?’, and may come to seriously doubt what you thought you saw because it was over very quickly – whatever it was we had witnessed, these events had really taken place as I’ve outlined them.
“It was not a helicopter and it certainly was not a plane. Could it have been a drone, or possibly some sort of laser, or even an elaborate firework display of some sort? None of these possibilities sound very convincing or really plausible, though the possibility that it was indeed a UFO may also be a little hard to swallow, but it was very, very convincing.
“My wife and I did see something that was certainly very unusual and thought provoking. I am personally convinced that what I saw was a UFO because it was indeed an ‘unidentified flying object’ in the true sense (but, alas, no sign of any aliens). Given what we had witnessed, and that this series of events had played out over several minutes, I said to my wife, as some form of reassurance and possible later verification, that we couldn’t have been the only persons to have seen this spectacle, and that others would, undoubtedly, be reporting it and that it would be out in the public domain; and, if it was a hoax, that it would be quickly exposed as such.
“So, the fact that I have not read or heard any such reports during the last few days is curious, but perhaps not really surprising, as I am beginning to believe that we did have a UFO experience and that, in a funny sort of way, we were privileged to have experienced this extraordinary event, and that I wanted to put this unique experience on record.”