Date: 21st August 1994 Place: Bellingham, Northumberland

Peter Nelson had retired to bed on Sunday, 21st August, when his alarm system went off. It was 11.35.pm and Peter got out of bed and checked the house and garden. There appeared to be no problem with intruders, and when checking the garden he looked up at the night sky and noticed a bright object travelling in an easterly direction and moving quite slowly. He went into the rear garden to have a closer look as it came over the Tyne Valley, and could see a glowing outline of what he described as a coppery dome shape. It moved slowly along the valley towards the river Tyne, then changed direction and headed North. Peter describes his sighting in the following way.

'I could hardly believe what I was looking at. As it came closer I could feel the air pulsating and was aware of ozone in the air. The hairs on my arms started to bristle. As I watched the object I remembered there was some film left in my camera, so I went into the house to get the camera and shouted for my daughter Mary-Anne to come and see the object. I took five photographs of it. The bright light on the bottom of the disc slowly got brighter and it accelerated at great speed to the north.'

Peter's observation time was approximately twelve minutes and he describes the object as being larger than the full moon. He heard no sound, and states that it was a clear, dry and mild night with no cloud cover. This object was also observed by five other people west of Ovington at about ll.30 pm on the same night.

The Hexam Courant and Evening Chronicle carried articles about this sighting and Phil Mantle called me to tell me that photographs had been taken by Peter Nelson. I contacted Peter and he very kindly came to see me bringing the negatives with him and the camera he had used. He left the negatives with me for examination. The photograph of the UFO shows a coppery dome shaped object with a light emanating from underneath, and the moon clearly visible. The object seen by the other witnesses is described by them as an orangey yellow colour in two parts hovering above the trees, a few miles west of Ovington. This sighting was at 11.30pm, and several of the witnesses said they had never seen anything like it before.

Visit from the Military

Peter was visited in September by two military officials, who claimed to be from RAF Prestwick. They briefly showed Peter some identification and asked many questions pertaining to the object he observed. They also asked for the negatives. However, I had the negatives at that time and so Peter gave them a copy of the photograph of the UFO. They were interested to know about the sound, movement and height of the object and the approximate distance from which Peter had observed it. The men spent over an hour with him and then went down to the golf course nearby, where they used binoculars and appeared to be looking around. Peter has since told me that both he and his daughter felt that their conversation was being taped.

Otterburn Army Range is in close proximity to Peter's home and he and his daughter are used to seeing military activity around the area on a regular basis. Apparently there is going to be a large military base there in the future and there has been a great deal of objection to this from residents in the area.

This photograph will be forwarded to a photographic analysis consultant and I will give you an update on this when I receive his evaluation.

By Gloria Dixon.