The Scarborough Sighting - 15.02.01

Below are case details from the Scarborough Sighting - 15.02.01.

They give full details, barring the witness details, of the UFO sighting, they include case notes, witness statements, witness drawings and offical letters from the Police, Airports, RAF bases and of course the MOD. (Ministry Of Defence)

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Hull UFO Society

Date Of Sighting: 16.02.01

Time Of Sighting: 18.20

Duration Of Sighting: 40 Minutes

Nearest Town: Nottingham

"I observed the lights at approx. 18.20pm, not long after total darkness (significant point?) as I was closing the blinds on my kitchen extension. The first time I observed the four lights was about 20-30 minutes after dark, and they approached my house extension in two pairs, call them A, B & C, D."

"The four "stars" were very smooth in their motion, very linear is the best way I can describe it, and when they reached over my house they all stopped for a few seconds then pair A, B moved off together and in the same direction as previously seen in their approach to my house, with pair C, D remaining stationary".

"Within the space of 2-3 minutes, 2-4 light, single engine "trainer" aircraft appeared and flew in a criss cross fashion between the two stationary "stars" (at least that's what I could see from my main window). During the course of the sighting light C pulsed once, getting slightly bigger, then resuming original state".

"The length of time of the sighting was approx. 40 minuets that I personally saw. At about 23.50 that night, just before I went to bed, the lights had resumed another position and still visible, BUT! Just behind the still lights (just visible to the naked eye) were 3 white spheres. You could just make out the colour and I counted 3 but could have been more."

"We, Vicki, Tony and I, we're on the way home from Whitely, when we took a wrong turn. We pulled up down one of the side streets to turn around and we then decided to have a drink, (Coke Only!) and while we stood outside our cars we all looked to the skies as it was a very clear night. It was Tony who first noticed the object/object's in the night sky. "Look at that, Two of them!!!" We all looked up in amazement, we could clearly see two very bright balls of light (Brighter then Jupiter), moving in a straight line, one in front of the other. I'd say the object/objects were about 3 - 4 inches apart, and traveling at the same speed from West to East. It was then I wished I had my camcorder with me, but luckily I had my mobile phone, so I called my son Sean, who was back home in Hull, and asked him if he could see anything in the sky near Orion's Belt, luckily I taught him some of the major constellations, He said he could see "Two balls of light traveling from West To East just going through Orion's Belt." I asked him to get my camcorder and video the objects, without moving too sharply or going into digital. He videoed for about 2 minutes and got some very good shots. We actually saw the objects for about 8 or 9 minutes before losing sight of it over the roof tops. Whatever it was, was now gone, but luckily we now have the video to prove what we witnessed that night."

Date Of Sighting: 16.02.01

Time Of Sighting: 18.20

Duration Of Sighting: 8 - 9 Minutes

Nearest Town: Scarborough

"We all witnessed two very bright balls of light (Brighter then any planet), moving in a straight line, one in front of the other. I'd say the object/objects were moving from West To East and about 3 inches apart, and both were traveling at the same speed. My boyfriend phoned our son, Sean, on the mobile phone and asked him if he could see anything in the sky near Orion's Belt. He said he could see the same objects we could see. He got his Dad's camcorder and videoed the objects. He videoed for about 2 minutes. We actually saw the objects for about 4 or 8 minutes before losing sight of it over the roof tops."

"I spotted two very bright balls of light (Brighter then any star or planet), moving West to East in a straight line, one in front of the other. I'd say the object/objects were about 3 inches apart, and both were traveling at the same speed. I told the others to look and witness what I had seen. Sean, then phoned his son, back home in Hull to see if he could see the same objects we were viewing. He verified that he could see the same thing and he recordered the objects on his dad's camcorder. We saw the objects for about 6 - 8 minutes before they disappeared over the rooftops."

Date Of Sighting: 16.02.01

Time Of Sighting: 18.21

Duration Of Sighting: 2 - 3 Minutes

Nearest Town: Hull

"My Dad telephoned me and told me to look outside towards Orion's Belt. I spotted two very bright balls of light moving West to East in a straight line, one in front of the other. I'd say the object/objects were about 2 - 3 inches apart, and both were traveling at the same speed. I shouted my Brother to come and look as well. He saw the same objects what me, my Dad, Vicki and Tony could see in Scarborough. I videoed the whole event for my Dad before I lost sight of them over the roof."

(Below) - Original stills taken from video footage, Left Click for higher resolution.

"My Dad telephoned my brother and told him to look outside towards Orion's Belt. He spotted two very bright balls of light moving West to East in a straight line, one in front of the other and shouted me. I'd say the object/objects were about 2 inches apart, and both were traveling at the same speed. We saw the same objects what, my Dad, Vicki and Tony could see in Scarborough. Sean videoed the whole event for my Dad before we lost sight of them."

(Below) - Negative stills taken from video footage, Left Click for higher resolution.

Date Of Sighting: 16.02.01

Time Of Sighting: 18.30

Duration Of Sighting: 2 - 3 Minutes

Nearest Town: Leeds

"I was in the street in front of our house admiring Venus, Jupiter and Saturn and generally looking at the stars, the sky was very clear. I turned to my left and 2 lights moving across the night sky. These lights were about 3 inches apart and inline with each other. They were moving very quickly, more so then satellites I have seen before and at a steady pace. They looked quiet high in the sky, but not overhead. If these 2 lights had not been moving they would have just looked like stars, maybe a bit brighter. I watched the lights for about 10 seconds then went back home so Margaret, my wife, could see them, which only took about 20 seconds. We both watched the lights till they went out of view, travelling towards the East."

"It was dark, with clear skies and the moon was not visible. I was in my back yard generally looking up into the night sky, looking at the stars. When I noticed two white round objects, each about the size of a bright star. They where moving in a straight line, one in front of the other. I didn't notice anything unusual like effects to cats dogs etc. At first I thought it could have been two airplanes flying in formation but there was no noise, no flashing lights and they appeared to be traveling too fast. They were traveling in a West to East direction."

I can also tell you we have ruled out the ISS (International Space Station) and the Space Shuttle, although at the time they were undocking, they could only be seen in the lower half of Britain and they would have been too high up, altitude wise, as they went through the constellation of Taurus (Auriga) while the object/s we witnessed went through the bottom half of Orion.

There was talk that the military might have been flying exercises over the areas in question, but this sighting does seem unlikely to be a plane/s, as there was no flashing lights, contrails, or noise. It was a crystal clear night, with all the constellations visible and if this/these were a plane/s, we would have recognised it/them immediately.

Whatever we witnessed was very high up and was seen in Scarborough, Hull and Leeds at the same time. It passed over my back garden in Hull and my son lost sight of it in the last screen shot 18.22.59 over our single story bathroom roof. At the same time we witnessed the object/s go right above our heads in Scarborough heading in a easterly direction.

With so many people seeing the same thing at about the same time, I believe, something was there, something was seen!

I wrote letters off to Humberside Airport, Humberside Police, RAF Leconfield, RAF Leeming, RAF Waddington, RAF Fylingdales and the MOD, on 25.2.01 with all the information I had collated. I did not get any responses for nearly 2 months until I received an email from RAF Waddington, very unusual because they always reply, but it's always by letter!!!

Andy Ellis of Yorkshire UFO Info who had the Nottingham and Leeds sightings reported to him on the same night, wrote off to the MOD and got this reply dated 5 April 2001:

"Thank you for your recent letter. As requested, please see below a table giving details of the sighting reports received by this office for 16 & 17 February 2001."

Date 16 February 2001
Time: 18.20
Location: Ruskington, near Sleaford
Sighting: Two lights, white and constant - Heading east towards Conningsby

Date 16 February 2001
Time: 18.30
Location: Ryhall, Stanford Lincolnshire
Sighting: Two large, very bright objects (with the intensity of Saturn), no particular shape about 2 - 3 miles away - seen for approx 2 - 3 minutes.

Date 16 February 2001
Time: 21.00
Location: Shelve, Ministerley
Sighting: One red, yellow & green object, 20 - 30 miles away moving towards Shrewsbury - seen for approx 2 minutes.

Date 17 February 2001
Time: 17.30
Location: Queensbury, Bradford, West Yorkshire
Sighting: No Description given

This letter amazed me, in all my years of investigation and letters I have sent to the MOD, this is the first time I have ever heard of the MOD confirming sightings from differant counties especially on the same night as our investigation and sighting.

Dear Sean,

Sorry, we have had no reports. I think I have checked before on this one. Are you interested in getting your video analysed? We have departments that do that sort of thing, they might help.

It would be interesting, there are not many totally unexplained recordings. If you are interested let me know and I will see if they can help.

Regards

Jacqui Wheeler

CRO RAF Waddington

As you can see in the picture above, I replied to this email on the 09.04.01 from hullufosociety@yahoo.co.uk account:

Hi Jacqui,

Thanx for the e-mail.

I would love to have the footage analysed to try and prove what the object/s were. Whether a plane, satellite, ISS or UFO. UFO in the sense of "Unidentified" Not "Alien" we do really need to know.

My contact details were on the top of the letter I sent to you, but just in case you have forwarded the letter to the MOD, here they are again:

Mr Sean Tierney
62, Egton Street,
New Cleveland Street,
Hull.
N. Humberside
HU8 7HU
Tel: 01482 219887
Mbl: 07880955326
Email: hullufosociety@yahoo.co.uk

On the 10th April 2001 I recevied a reply again from RAF Waddington.........

From: RAF Waddington
To: hullufosociety@yahoo.co.uk
Subject: video
Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 10:15:33 +0100

Dear Sean,

I've been making a few enquiries for you. The best thing to do is ring the contacts below and ask if they can get your video analysed. It might take a while as it will be a low priority job.

Sqn Ldr Andy White or Flt Sgt Al Huntley

**** *** ***** or *****

Good luck

Jacqui Wheeler

And that was it......... Basically, I think we just got knocked back!!!

I also received a letter from RAF Leeming dated 9th April 2000!!! This date is no mistake...... Check it out!!!! It states..........

"I am writing in response to your letter in which you describe a sighting of 2 bright lights seen in both Scarborough and Hull. I can confirm that RAF Leeming has no record of any activity in that area at that time."

"I have therefore forewarded your letter to the Ministry of Defence Secretariat."

The next response was from RAF Leconfield this one states........

"Thank you for your very detailed letter which we received on 7th April 01." (Very strange considering all the letters were posted at the same time on the 25.02.01 and RAF Leconfield is only up the road from me!!!)

"As you are probably aware, we a very busy Search and Rescue Flight based here at Leconfield. So unfortunately, workload and commitments here at E. Flight, 202 Squadron would prevent us from undertaking the research that would be necessary to try and identify the source of your sighting, we simply do not have the resources or manpower I am afraid.

"We wish you every success in your endeavors to find the source of your sighting."

The 30th April 2001, I received a letter from Humberside Airport stating........

"With reference to your letter dated 25.02.2001 concerning an unidentified sighting on the above date."

"At the time in question the only aircraft working Humberside was a helicopter in the Hull area. This was operating below 1500ft."

"We trust this helps with your investigation."

Well I finally received a letter from the MOD dated 9th May 2001, this is what they had to say about our sighting.......

"I am writing with reference to your report of an 'unidentified flying object', seen on 16 February, in the vicinity of Scarborough. This Department is the focal point within the Ministry of Defence for correspondence relating to 'UFOs' and your letters to RAF Leeming and Humberside Police have also been sent to us for reply."

"I will answer your questions in the same order as your letter."

"Could you clarify this sighting?"

"As you will be aware from previous correspondence, the Ministry of Defence's interest in reports of 'UFOs' is limited to whether there is any evidence that UK airspace has been compromised by authorised air activity. Unless there is such evidence, we do not attempt to identify the precise nature of each reported sighting. We believe it is possible that rational explanations, such as aircraft lights or natural phenomena, could be found for them, but it is not the function of the MOD to provide this kind of aerial identification service. We could not justify expenditure of public finds on investigations which go beyond our specific defence remit."

"With regard to your particular sighting, we are satisfied that there is no corroborating evidence to suggest that the United Kingdom's airspace was breached by unauthorised military aircraft on this day."

"Was the military flying exercises?"

"The only military flying activities notified to the Ministry of Defence are major exercises and low fling training (below 2000 feet), where a specific hooking is required. Individual sorties at medium or high level and small Squadron exercises are flown depending on individual training requirements and it is therefore not possible to say if there were any military aircraft in the area. I can confirm, however, that there were no major exercises taking place and there was only one aircraft flying at low level. This was a search and rescue Sea King helicopter operating in the general area between 17.45 and 18.45."

"Have you had any more sightings reported from anywhere else on the night in question?"

"We received three other reports for l6 February and these are summarised below."

Date & Time: 16 February 2001 - 18.30
Location: Ryhall, Lincolnshire
Sighting: Two large, bright objects, no particular shape.
Distance: 2-3 miles
Movement: North to South
Duration of Sighting: 2-3 minutes

Date & Time: 16 February 2001 - 18.20
Location: Ruskington, Shropshire
Sighting: Two white lights
Distance: Right above
Movement: Heading East
Duration of Sighting: Not given

Date & Time: 16 February 2001 - 18.30
Location: Bishops Castle, Shropshire
Sighting: One red, yellow and green light., no particular shape.
Distance: 20-30 miles
Movement: Towards Shrewsbury
Duration of Sighting: 2 minutes

"I hope this is helpful."

The strangest thing about this sighting and the letter from the MOD is that there was no mention about Andy's sighting in Leeds or Nottingham, and our sighting wasn't mentioned to him. I wonder why?

Stranger still, Why did my letters take almost two months to get an answer? And, to date, I still haven't had a reply from RAF Fylingdales concerning this case.

This case still remains firmly open and unidentified!!!

Sean Tierney

Hull UFO Society c/o 62, Egton Street, New Cleveland Street, Hull. N. Humberside HU8 7HU Tel: 01482 219887 Mbl: 07754 036536 Email: Hull UFO Society

Click the links below to see more case investigations from your local, friendly UFO Society.........

The Scarborough Sighting - 15.02.01

The Transparent Triangle - 04.09.99

Great Balls Of Fire - 24.02.99

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