Eveningstar.co.uk
STRANGE lights in the sky over the Suffolk countryside are set to spark fresh excitement over little green men and flying saucers.
UFO watchers believe the county is a gateway to the universe - a portal for visiting alien craft - with many reported sightings of unexplained phenomena over the years.
The latest sighting of four balls of light travelling slowly across the landscape from Grundisburgh towards the Mendlesham mast comes at a time when similar unexplained lights have been seen over Cumbria and Fife in Scotland.
In addition, a strange light was seen in the sky shortly before a 213ft wind turbine in Lincolnshire suffered serious damage in a mysterious incident.
But the Suffolk lights may be easier to explain as they were seen on New Year's Eve and early New Year's Day - and could have been Chinese lanterns floating across the landscape on light winds.
Felicity Tack, of The Street, Framsden, saw three fireballs of light together and fourth not far away at about 12.30am on January 1.
“They were quite large and just moving very slowly across the sky - three of them above the A1120 and another over towards the Mendlesham mast,” she said.
“They were like red balls of light, very bright indeed.
“My husband and I watched them for about ten minutes. At first we thought they were helicopters but there was no sound and we have no idea what they were.”
Another woman at Grundisburgh reported seeing the same number of lights drifting in the sky near her home four hours earlier at about 8.30pm.
One motorist, who drove into Ipswich, to pick up his daughter from New Year celebrations, said the lights could easily have been Chinese lanterns. “The sky was full of lanterns floating around wherever you looked,” he said.
In Cumbria, families reported seeing strange lights on December 28 but are sure they were not Chinese lanterns as some moved very fast and vanished, others converging together.
Investigations are currently taking place into the damage to the wind turbine at Conisholme, Lincs, which ripped one blade off the machine and left another mangled. Theories include a UFO hitting it, a mechanical failure, and ice falling from an aircraft.
The Ministry of Defence does not investigate UFO sightings - only checking what military aircraft might have been in the area.
