Visitors to a remote grotto have claimed a statue wept and crosses appeared and disappeared in the night sky this week.

A group of 14 people, who had gathered at the statue of the Virgin Mary, in a rocky outcrop near the town of Dungloe, Co Donegal, on Tuesday night, were transfixed as they watched the phenomenon, which they said lasted almost an hour.

"It was a crazy evening. It was absolutely amazing. I am still on an emotional high. All but one person seemed to see the same thing," recalled James Boyle, from Ardara, who was at the site with his wife Margaret and children, Martin, 10, and Mary, 11.

The Kerrytown shrine is visited by thousands of pilgrims annually, after first becoming the subject of a religious apparition 70 years ago.

James explained how the group had been drawn there last Tuesday night because of a claim by Ballyfermot-based faith healer Joe Coleman that the Virgin Mary had told him in a channelled message that she would appear at the shrine on 29 September at 8pm.

"We went into the shelter facing the rock and at a few minutes to eight someone suggested we should start the rosary. We had no sooner started than someone shouted 'look up'.

"To the left of the cross, another cross appeared in the sky and as soon as it disappeared, another one appeared. It lasted about 10 minutes," he explained.

Then people began noticing that the white statue with its red heart had begun changing colour and form.

"She appeared to have a human face and her head turned and she looked at people. She looked down at the children who were at the front," he said.

In the last forty years of UFO research, one of the most baffling questions that have plagued researchers has been "Is the UFO Phenomenon dangerous to humanity?" Over the years, there have been numerous cases where the phenomenon has figured into human deaths, but as a rule, most cases have been officially ruled accidental. When speaking of cases where death has resulted, usually most assume cases where military pilots have died as a result of "chasing" the phenomenon. One of the most famous of these military chases that is discussed when ever the subject of death and UFOs is raised, is the famous "Mantell Case". This case is so well known that I will not discuss it here, but there are many others. In one of the less well known cases, during the mid 1950's, a military jet interceptor was observed on radar being "absorbed" into a UFO over the Great Lakes. No trace of pilot or aircraft was ever found. In another case reported in the excellent work "Clear Intent" was the case of the "Cuban MIG Incident". In this case a Cuban MIG was locking on his weapons radar when the aircraft exploded in mid*air. The wing man was certain that the UFO had fired some type of weapon, but other than the jet exploding, no other smoke, flame or other obvious weapon firing was observed.

The matter of either overt or covert hostility on the part of UFOs has always been treated warily by serious researchers. On the one hand, if the enigma is hostile, then several questions must be faced. What if anything should the powers in authority tell the public? Is the government capable of handling a threat of this type? Is the public ready to face an issue as potentially terrifying as a "possible threat from somewhere else?" Other than incidents involving military involvement, have there been cases where civilians have been injured or killed during some type of UFO encounter? Is it possible that the reported cases of UFOs and their occupants abducting unwilling humans for some type of medical or genetic experimentation could be true? Now, if any of this is factual, then what ramifications do the Human Race face in light of the above?

According to Yekaterina Shestakova, a town hall official, the expedition consists of five people, three scientists from the Moscow Meteorite Committee and two from Irkutsk. The expedition will go down the Vitim river from Bodaibo to the village of Vitimsky, from where it will proceed on foot to the place where the mysterious celestial body is presumed to have fallen.

It will be recalled that a large bolide entered the atmosphere over the villages of Vitimsky and Mama, in the Mama-Chuya district, on the night of September 24-25, 2002, at an angle of 32 degrees over the horizon and an altitude of 60 kilometers. Then there was a flash at 30 kilometers above the earth's surface which was registered by Americans. According to the U.S. military, the explosion occurred at 58o 13.6, s.l. and 113o 27.6, e.lat.

Interfax News Service in Belarus has reported on a recent mass UFO sighting in Belarus. Allegedly, on 1 September a UFO was seen by many residents in the city of Brest during the day. The UFO circled the city for around on hour and emitted a bright beam of light.

Nicholas Lyulkovich, a train station manager, described the object as 'egg-shaped' and about the size of a passenger plane. The colour of the UFO was said to be sparkling silver and it continually rotated on its axis. Every few minutes the UFO would descend closer to earth and then rise again.

An elderly couple were left bewildered by mysterious orange lights in the night sky above West Wales.

They believe the hovering lights - spotted in the distance over trees from their home in Llandissilo, near Narbeth - could be a UFO.

Ninety-year-old Henry Thomas was going to bed at around 11pm on Saturday, September 12, when he saw the strange phenomenon through a window. He said: "I looked out and saw a light was coming from the sky.

"It was a large thing, all lit up and fairly low."

An amateur astronomer has captured pictures that appear to show a UFO hovering over Devon.

Lee Betts, 29, spotted the glowing red shape hovering 1,000ft up in the night sky from his bedroom window.

The object moved across the sky for more than an hour on Monday evening before shooting off into the distance.

Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has targeted and downed an unidentified shining object after sighting it over Persian Gulf waters.

"Glowing objects were sighted over the Persian Gulf. IRGC air defense targeted one of the objects successfully, forcing it to plummet and sink in the seas off Boushehr (Province)," said top regional commander, Brigadier Ali Razmjou.

Researchers aren't saying they've found a monster, but they do say they believe something big is lurking in a small lake on Vancouver Island.

The researchers spent Saturday probing the depths of Cameron Lake, about 180 kilometres northeast of Victoria.

At least six people have reported seeing something unusual swimming in the lake.

The team was using a fish-finder Saturday when researcher John Kirk said they detected something big, but their underwater camera became detached and they couldn't continue.

Kirk said because of deteriorating weather, the team won't be able to resume their search until next summer.

Bright glowing orange orbs have been spotted in the skies over Belton.

The UFOs were seen on the evening of Saturday September 5 at around 9.30pm by local man Martin O'Hara who has told the Bells/Advertiser all about the mysterious sightings.

The 54-year-old export sales manager of Bellshaw Lane said: "I was sat in my lounge with my wife watching TV and right next to where I sit are French doors and I saw a bright light in the sky.

Something strange was spotted in the skies above West Auckland at the weekend.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing 'strange lights' hovering above the village on Saturday night about 10.30pm, just days before the Ministry of Defence released previously undisclosed information of UFO sightings throughout the UK.

Local police, and a national UFO website, confirmed they had received reports from people concerned about the presence of the unexplained objects.