UFOs over Avenham Park? Preston man tells of his close encounter

The man, a PhD student at UCLan, claims he saw the unidentified flying object on Sunday night while out walking his dog.

The 31-year-old, who works for HMRC as a tax assessor, says the object was about 100 metres above the ground.

A separate sighting of a similar object was reported at roughly the same time - 9pm on Sunday - in nearby Wigan.

"I'd gone out to walk the dog on Sunday night and was walking through Avenham Park - it was a very bright object, like some like of aircraft.

"I was terrified. I consider myself to be an intelligent person, I'm studying for a PhD at UCLan, and I have never seen anything like this before.

"When I got home I called BAE to ask if they were conducted tests in the area but they said there weren't.

"I'd love to know if anyone saw anything similar on Sunday."

A man in nearby Wigan reportedly seeing a similar object at around the same time.

He said: "I was in my loft room on Sunday night and happened to look up through the roof windows when I saw three distinct glowing orbs.

"I was instantly gobsmacked and knew straight away that whatever it was it wasn't from Earth.

"I'm not a big believer in UFOs, never had been, so I grabbed my phone and snapped off a couple of shots thinking it would be gone in a few seconds, but it wasn't. It stayed totally motionless in the sky for at least 20 minutes before rocketing up out of view faster than anything I have ever seen.

"How can you account for that? How can that be anything like a plane? It's impossible.

"I'm a businessman, an intelligent guy and someone who has always been described as a sceptic, but I was stunned to say the least. Absolutely mesmerised."

The man, who lives in the Swinley area, went on: "I can't be the only person that saw this and when I showed people the pictures they were shocked too.

"You can see from the pictures just how colourful these objects are. The lights weren't flashing and there was absolutely no sound. They just hovered there slightly pulsating.

"To be honest it's given me a whole new perspective on things. It was the most surreal moment of my life."