DETAILS of one of the most infamous UFO sightings in the district’s history have been released as part of a batch of previously unseen Government ‘x-files’.
Loughton residents were left baffled in September 2005 when ten glowing orange orbs were witnessed hovering in the night skies over the town.
Fearing an alien invasion, one concerned neighbour dialled 999 to report the ‘balls of fire’.
But the mystery was solved days later when Tina May, of Colson Road, came across the story in newspapers and on television – and recognised the ten Thai lanterns she had let off on the same evening to celebrate her 21st birthday.
Now a detailed report of the Essex Police response to the evening’s strange happenings has been made public for the first time – part of more than 6,700 pages of Ministry of Defence files released by the National Archives on Thursday (July 12).
The two-page fax is a transcript of the dialogue between officers after an unnamed local reports the objects ‘circling and lining up’ with the ‘whole street’ watching them.
One officer confirms seeing three ‘orange lights in a stationary position’ which ‘moved off twds the London area’.
Checks are made with Stansted air traffic control tower and RAF West Drayton – whose staff can shed no light on the origins of strange orbs.
