DID 'UFO LIGHTS' HERALD LINCOLNSHIRE EARTHQUAKE?

08:00 - 18 March 2008

Strange lights spotted in Lincolnshire's skies may have been a warning of the earthquake which sent tremors across Britain.

Several sightings of lights appearing in the sky were reported in the days leading up to the quake, which had its epicentre near Market Rasen when it struck early on February 27.

And some believe that these could be "earthquake lights" - caused by changes in the electrical properties of the ground before a quake occurs.

There have been many similar reports of "earthquake lights" throughout history.

The most well known case was in Lincoln's twin town, Tangshan, in China in 1976, before a massive quake that killed 240,000 people across the country.

Husband and wife Jamie and Emily Goddard, of Alexandra Terrace, in Lincoln, managed to capture the lights on a mobile phone camera just as they appeared above Drury Lane at around 8.30pm on February 22.

And other people have contacted the Echo to say they saw lights on the same night - with some wondering at first whether it was a 'UFO' from an RAF base.

Dr Richard England, from the Department of Geology at the University of Leicester, said that there is little evidence to explain the phenomenon - but there have been enough sightings to suggest there could be a link.