Ministry of Defence UFO files reveal sighting and mysterious heat damage to tracks in Avondale Drive, Widnes

Aug 20 2009 by Mark Smith, Runcorn and Widnes Weekly News

Ministry of Defence UFO files reveal sighting and mysterious heat damage to tracks in Avondale Drive, Widnes

BAFFLED investigators found mysterious heat damage to railway sleepers following a UFO sighting in Widnes, a new report has revealed.

The previously secret Ministry of Defence file relates to an alleged sighting at 2.30am on July 15, 1996, near a footbridge on Avondale Drive.

The report said a young man, described as ‘a sensible sort of lad and genuine’, said he had been followed by a yellow light which had fired beams into the ground.

The report said: “He saw a very bright yellow light, hovering approx two houses high, a short distance away from him.

“As he started to walk away from it, it began to follow him and he ran.

“He looked back and saw it hovering over the cemetery area and heard a high-pitched sound like cats wailing and saw beams of light come down from it, striking the ground.”

The report said his father was initially sceptical and went back to the site with him to investigate.

The two men found four railway sleepers ‘smouldering’ and one had a four-inch hole burned through it.

An police officer was sent to the scene and could find no explanation for the damage.

The officer’s report said: “I have been to the location and the sleepers have been burned and there is a hole in one of the sleepers. There does not appear to be any trace of any accelerant.

“One of the sleepers is still smouldering.

“It does look rather odd.”

The files have been released as part of a joint project between the MoD and the National Archives, and details 800 UK sightings from 1981-96.