Suffolk ranks highly for UFO sightings

Danielle Nuttall

IT MIGHT sound like the stuff of science fiction movies.

But according to a top UFO expert, people living in Suffolk are more likely to experience a close encounter of the extra terrestrial kind than in most other parts of the UK.

The county has been placed sixth in a list of Britain's top 10 UFO hotspots, with 19 unexplained UFO sightings since 1961.

This includes a sighting made by a number of Bury St Edmunds residents in April last year who reported seeing five black flying spheres in the sky to police.

The research, compiled by the former head of the Government's UFO project, Nick Pope, looks at data since 1961 and has been conducted by Virgin Media to mark a month-long sci-fi extravaganza on its TV On Demand Service.

Suffolk is no stranger to odd goings on and famously gained a place in the extra terrestrial history books after a host of strange UFO sightings on December 27 1980.

American airmen at RAF Woodbridge reported seeing bright lights coming from Rendlesham Forest at 4am.

Indentations were found in the ground and unexplained marks appeared on trees cue one of the biggest UFO mysteries the world has seen.

Today truth seekers are little further towards finding out what really happened that morning than they were nearly 30 years ago.

Nick Popes said: “It's fantastic to see local folk taking an interest in UFO activity and keeping an eye on the sky.

“While we currently have no explanation why certain laces in the UK are alien hot spots, as the research reveals, there are areas where mysterious objects are repeatedly witnessed, so people who want who want to alien-spot should definitely head to Ipswich.”

Virgin Media's On Demand service is showing a host of science fiction classics throughout March, including Red Dwarf, Dr Who, Star Trek and UFO Files.

James Kydd, managing director of brand and marketing at Virgin Media, added: “Sci-Fi is a popular genre with many dedicated fans of all ages so it's great to be able to make the classic shows available on Virgin Media TV On Demand for people to enjoy whenever they want.

“And who knows, as Suffolk is one of our top 10 hot spots, Ipswich folk may even have their own close encounter with the third kind.”

Virgin Media has set up a dedicated area on its website where people can now share their real life encounters at www.virginmedia.com/ufo.