OCTOBER 1996

AN UNEXPLAINED object in the sky seen by a Newport man while walking on Hunnyhill, was also seen on the mainland. Richard Cattle, 18, of Northumberland Road, Newport, was walking home from a party at 6.30 am on Sunday when he saw the strange light. "I had just got to the top, near Hunnyhill School, and saw there were two airplanes travelling eastwards." Flying over the aircraft was something he could not recognise so easily. "It was a round ball of pulsating, white light," he said. Mr Cattle said the light seemed to be quite large and to change size. He said it followed the aircraft for a time before it accelerated, overtook the aircraft and flew off eastwards over the Solent at a rate faster than any aircraft. Mr Cattle said although he had been at a party earlier that night, he was not drunk or seeing things, "I am interested to know if anyone else saw it," he said.

The IW branch of the Global UFO Investigation Systems group have checked with other branches and confirmed that a similar sighting was made in Littlehampton at the same time. Mr Stuart Shore, 24, of Crossway, Bembridge who organises the recently formed IW group, said they existed to collect reports of unidentified flying objects, and had branches all over the world. He said people like Mr Cattle who saw something they could not explain should contact him, and he would either interview them or send a report form to fill in. Mr Shore said more than 90 percent of reports could be explained by known phenomena, but there was 10 percent that could not. "It is that 10 percent that we are interested in investigating," he said.
Mr Shore can be contacted on 01983 873200.