This article was published in the newspaper The Whitehaven News, Cumbria U-K., on Thursday, September 18, 2003.
Golfers, much like anglers, may be accused of a tendency to exaggeration and the telling of tall tales. But it was with all seriousness that a group of six people at Whitehaven Golf Club stood transfixed in the presence of a UFO on Sunday night. It was the second similar sighting in Whitehaven in a matter of weeks.
The mysterious flying object, brightly lit and initially taken for a helicopter, travelled across the skies from above St Benedicts School, flew over the clubhouse and dropped into the middle of the golf course about 500 yards away from where the group were. "It was very strange" said golf club operator Craig Hamilton. "Five or six of us were sitting in the conservatory having a drink. It was about 8.30pm and this large light about five or six foot across travelled past us across the sky at about 60 or 70 mph." It was at a constant height but there was no noise, then it shot got about 500 yards away there was a puff of smoke and it shot off at about 150 mph and fell to ground. It looked more like a flame rather than a light. We wondered if it could be a firework or a flare but it was too constant and there was no illumination coming from it." A subsequent investigation of the area where it appeared to fall, both that evening and the next day revealed nothing, so the mystery remains. Three weeks ago, on a Saturday night, a similar occurrence was sighted in the skies over the valley area of Whitehaven.
