REPORT SUMMARY:
A woman looking out her window spotted strange lights in the sky.
FIRST NAME
Amber
LAST NAME
Stebbing
GENDER
Female
Withheld
DATE OF BIRTH
Withheld
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO REPORT?
UFO Sighting
DESCRIBE THE WEATHER CONDITIONS.
Calm, Cold, Thin Cloud, Wet
WERE YOU NEAR ANY OF THESE?
Town, Urban Area
WHEN DID YOUR ENCOUNTER HAPPEN?
1st Jan 2020
APPROX TIME OF ENCOUNTER
03:00
DURATION OF ENCOUNTER APPROX
19 Mins
COUNTRY OF ENCOUNTER
Northern Ireland
LOCAL AREA OF ENCOUNTER
Coleraine
WHERE THERE ANY OTHER WITNESSES?
No
IN YOUR OWN WORDS, DESCRIBE WHAT YOU SAW.
"In the early hours of New Year's Day, Wednesday 1st January 2020, I had gone into the kitchen (of the shared hospital accommodation - a Bungalow in suburbia - in which I was living at that time) when three extremely bright white lights caught my eye through the window. This was at 00:19a.m. (as recorded on my mobile phone video footage).The lights were equally spaced, initially travelling from the right side of the window towards the left and at a height of approximately 2000 feet (the height that a light aircraft would fly at). Their speed was fairly slow and steady; again, I would estimate at roughly the speed of a small plane, maybe 150 miles per hour? Then, each light in turn abruptly made a right-angled turn (literally a 90 degree turn with no change to speed or spacing between each light) and the trio began to head off in the direction of the coast (roughly between Port Stewart and Portrush). Needless to say, the lights were silent and there were no lights that would identify a known aircraft i.e. red or green lights.There was light low lying cloud cover, and one by one the lights disappeared from view. It had rained earlier on but was not raining at this time. There was no strong wind. Initially I was transfixed by this sight and didn't have the presence of mind to run and grab my mobile phone so that I could record them. Fortunately I did rush to get my phone and managed to film the last two lights before they disappeared from view. Sadly this was from inside the kitchen as I didn't want to miss capturing anything at all by going outside.I have never seen anything like this in my life before. I have seen Chinese lanterns in the past and I do not consider it possible that these lights could be attributed this. They were large white lights, travelling at a speed, spacing and with 'intent' i.e. a sudden change of direction that lanterns could not possibly achieve by 'drifting' with the wind etc. Nor do I think that they could be drones - again, I have seen drones flown at many firework displays in England and in no way do they appear as round white balls of light and nor (as far as I am aware) can they travel at the speed of the lights that I witnessed.[I am quite happy to add that I am a hospital doctor, not given to imagining things that aren't there & have to record details and events very precisely in my job. Also, I would also like to state that I was entirely sober on this occasion, having flown from Bristol to Belfast during the late afternoon of Tuesday 31st December 2019. My three housemates were still with their families during their Christmas break and I was home alone - hence, unfortunately I had no witnesses to corroborate my sighting. I have searched via Google for any similar sightings of this nature in N.I. at this time but have not found anything that matches. I do have two short video clips saved on my mobile phone & regret that I am unable to upload them to this report - but am happy to provide them on request)."
PLEASE SELECT...
I give permission for my name to be published on the report and website, but not my personal details.
Investigator comments:
Definitely a strange sighting in the least. As the Witness stated it was not Chinese lanterns. Nor was it any type of light aircraft travelling at high speed and turning at 90 degrees, this also would discount any satellites passing overhead.
I will be contacting the witness soon with a couple of follow up questions about her sighting.
Hynek Classification:
Nocturnal lights
Picture for illustrative purposes only