An elderly Clifton man has recalled being "frozen to the ground" in awe after reportedly spotting a UFO fly above his home. Gerry Woodcock, a retired fish tackle shop owner, claims he saw the "marvellous" extra-terrestrial object on a summer afternoon around four years ago.
"What I saw was a big orange ball, about as big as two airliners, followed by two more grey objects. It came from the west and went towards the east," the 89-year-old told Nottinghamshire Live. "It was unreal, I was frozen to the ground it was so vivid. The clouds were at a medium height and it was just above them. It was absolutely round, there was no noise just moving. They were not of this world."
Mr Woodcock, who spotted them when returning to his house in Southchurch Drive at around 5.30pm after a day of fishing, said the objects were moving slowly for about two minutes before shooting off in synchronicity. He is now hoping his account will lead to more people coming forward.
Read more: Simple explanation as 'UFO' reported above skies in Nottinghamshire
"I have seen something that probably no-one else has seen," added Mr Woodcock. "I looked up and thought 'oh my god' it was marvellous. I was rooted to the ground, I just watched them. You can't talk about it because people think you're stupid, I mentioned it to a friend and they said 'you're joking'.
"It proves without doubt that they (aliens) are out there, people think it's a load of rubbish but it's not. They are definitely there." His son, Tony Woodcock, said the sighting had been driving his dad mad.
"It was an unusual thing that he saw and he can't let it go," said the 44-year-old. "Every so often he'll mention it, he watches UFO documentaries since he saw that. He realised that there are UFOs out there.
"I believe him, I believe that there are objects that we don't know what they are. I do believe in them and my dad wouldn't lie about something like that. He's still all there, he just wants someone to talk to about it. When you see something like that it's hard to keep it to yourself."
Dr Daniel Brown, an associate professor in astronomy at Nottingham Trent University, said he was only able to speculate about what Gerry might have seen. "Circular seems to imply that it could have been a bright light source that might have been observed out of focus," he said.
"Possibly having something that bright and observing it through another medium like a camera, glasses or even a window can cause ghost images to be noted, that are caused by multiple reflections. The path of the object is unclear only that it lasted for two minutes and it seemed to then accelerate.
"Standard UFO sightings are usually related to very bright stars or planets seen very low above the horizon, showing intense colour play and erratic movement like flickering. None of this can explain this observed phenomenon."
Dr Brown stressed that he did not believe it was a spacecraft from another civilisation. He continued: "I would have to opt for more terrestrial explanations of helicopters and their position lights or drones. This UFO observation will be able to be explained with other, as outlined above, terrestrial explanations."
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