This article was published in the daily newspaper Aldershot News and mail, Surrey and Hampshire, U-K., on September 10, 2004.
Local News
THE sighting of a mystery object in the sky over the weekend has baffled passers-by, air traffic control experts and Army officials.
An Aldershot couple, who did not want to be named, spotted the object on Saturday afternoon as they played with their sons in Aldershot Park.
The cigar-shaped object appeared in the sky at about 2.15pm and the family watched it ducking around for around 20 minutes.
"It caught our attention because it didn’t move like an aircraft," said the mother, who was in the field opposite the car park entrance in Guildford Road. "We watched it for about 20 minutes. It was a shiny cylinder-shaped object. It moved in apparently random moves and it turned and moved horizontally, vertically and diagonally."
The News received several other calls about sightings.
The director of Farnborough International Airport Ann Bartaby said the object was nothing to do with them: "I have spoken to air traffic control and they didn't see anything unusual and nothing was reported to us."
A spokeswoman for the Army said he too was baffled and the Army was not responsible for the unidentified object. "We were not flying any type of cylinder-shaped aircraft on Saturday afternoon," he said. "Without any further details it is quite hard to say, but I doubt this has anything to do with the Army."
Note: this report may be explained by a toy balloon.
