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By Fiona Simpson
The Ardrossan Herald
5-7-08
AFTER last week’s reports of strange lights over the skies of Saltcoats, the Herald office has been inundated by readers who also spotted the bizarre lights on Sunday, April 27. So far there has been no logical explanation for the strange sighting but there have been suggestions of a meteor shower and Chinese lanterns.
Anne Duff, 45 of Auchanshangan Drive, Saltcoats believes it could have been a meteor shower and said: “I only caught the tail end of the lights. When I saw them, four of them were fading away and then one light appeared brighter than all the others. I think it could have been a meteor shower as they sort of disintegrated into the sky.
“My daughter and her friend had been driving home and spotted the four lights before I did. She said they looked like a meteor shower as they broke up rapidly and sort of burned out but she isn’t sure as they came from the earth rather than going from the sky to the ground.
“I really don’t know how to explain them myself. They were very different and definitely not an aircraft but it was really nice to see.”
However, another local resident, Allison Thompson, who took pictures on her camera phone, is convinced that they are not a meteor shower but could well be aliens.
She said: “I saw five lights in the sky near my house on Dykesmains Road. They were very high up and were like orange balls of fire. They didn’t fade away at first but three of them turned into squares and flew off into the clouds.
“It is very strange and I am sure they weren’t a plane or a meteor shower. The fact that they turned into squares is just too weird.”
However, there could be another reasonable explanation. One woman from Saltcoats who wishes to remain anonymous said: “These lights are not alien space crafts. We had a garden party on Sunday night around 9.30pm and set of Chinese lanterns which were bought on Amazon.”
Many people dispute this and claim that they are UFOs.
Mary Cunningham, 54, said: “I have never seen anything like that before. The lights were certainly not planes as we have watched them coming into land for years and they definitely don’t look like what we saw. I doubt they could have been Chinese lanterns either as they were exceptionally high in the sky.
“The lights were very clear and were fireball red. It felt like they were flying straight for me. Two flew side by side and the other two broke away.
“It is very odd and I have no idea what these lights were but it would interesting to find out.”
Some local residents have spotted the strange glowing lights on other occasions and Nicola Campbell is one of them: “I saw the lights on the Saturday night as well as Sunday. On the Saturday night there was only one light in the sky and it was glowing orange. I had been driving from West Kilbride when I first spotted it and when I got into Betsy Miller Wynd there were several people out watching it.
“The light was really high in the sky and then we realised that it was coming down rather quickly as our heads had been pointing up the way and we were suddenly looking at the light around about eye level. It kept falling and falling until it disappeared behind two houses. It looked like it came down over the back of Dalry.”
Rita McJartton, 59, reckons she witnessed the same thing early this year: “I saw the lights in January but when I told my husband he thought I was seeing things. I didn’t think to phone the Herald after that but now that they have been spotted again, I thought I should phone.
“I had been in West Kilbride and was heading back to Saltcoats when I spotted these big, bright orange lights in the sky. They were moving rather rapidly and I think they came down about Dalry. It was very strange and I can not think what they could have been.”
The sightings have not only taken the town by storm but have also spread across the Atlantic and have been discussed on air on an American radio station, and featured on several International websites.
After being inundated with calls about the sightings, the Herald contacted the Met office in search of a solution. Morris Scoolay, a spokesperson for the Met Office said: “There were thunder showers in the area at that time on Sunday so the lights could have been distant lightening flashes, but it is odd that they would be constant. There have been no signs of a meteor shower or any other abnormal activity.”
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