Friday, January 9, 2009

The Don Quixote of UFO Accounts: Chasing Windmills

Early in the morning of January 7, 2009, residents living near a wind farm northeast of Louth, England were awakened by a loud crash that resulted in damage to one of the large windmills that dot the landscape.

Hours prior, locals had witnessed strange glowing yellow-orange spheres flitting about. Dorothy Willows, who lives less than a mile from the scene, stated that she had seen the lights flying low near the turbines. Then, around 4 am, her husband was awakened by a loud crash and discovered that one of the 65-foot blades missing from a wrecked windmill.

Other witnesses describe a "massive ball of light with tentacles going right down to the ground... like an octopus." 71-year-old Lesley Whittingham claims to have snapped an image of the event; however, nothing has yet been printed.

Later, a search by officials turned up no sign of where the missing piece could have gone. As well, no reports came in of any aircraft collisions.

According to Russ Kellett, of Flying Saucer Review, scores of reports had come through that very evening; callers all swore to seeing "balls of light" in the night sky. The famed UFOlogist, Nick Pope, added that reported sightings in the area and military encounters with UFO's had been on the rise for the past few months.

Ecotricity, owners of the wind farm, have yet to reach a satisfactory explanation - and one may be some time in coming. The nations Ministry of Defence could offer little comfort: "Unless there is evidence of a potential threat, there is no attempt to identify the nature of each sighting." Even if it damages a gigantic windmill, I suppose.

Until suitable answers are forthcoming, the locals have already begun to refer to the strange orb(s) as "the Octopus UFO".

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