Posted: February 11, 2010

Location of Sighting: Newcastle Under Lyme
Date of Sighting: 31 December 2009
Time: 11-30pm

Witness Statement: First, I do not drink & second, this was definately not a chinese lantern!

On New Years Eve I was standing in the back garden to have a cigarette when I looked up & saw an incredibly bright orange ball in the sky. It was bigger than the moon usually appears to be from this location & had the appearance of a ball of flames. It hurtled across the sky, at least 10 times faster than any plane I've ever seen, then stopping very suddenly. It remained still for 30seconds then expanded to double its size. After a few seconds it disappeared briefly before it slowly shrank down to a quarter of its original size.

It then cruised along at about normal airplane speed for about 20 seconds, stopped & then hurtled on for a distance before suddenly disappearing in the middle of a clear sky. The whole sighting lasted several minutes. Strangely, two similar orbs followed 'in convoy' 45 minutes later but with less activity. The lanterns released locally were about one fifth of the smallest size of the orange balls I saw in the sky & appeared totally different.

Did anyone else see them?