UFOs spotted over Evans Head | Northern Rivers News | Local News in Northern Rivers

Moon-like objects ziz-zag in night sky on weekend

Poll

Do you believe in UFOs?

• Absolutely
• Definitely not
• They could be 'out there'
• Only after I've been at the pub
• or view results

STRANGE lights spotted over Evans Head at the weekend have been listed as a possible UFO sighting.

The sighting is one of ‘a constant stream’ of such events recorded as ‘worthwhile’ by UFO Research Queensland, which monitors the skies from New Guinea to northern New South Wales.

The high incidence of sightings in the area had prompted the group to man a stall at this year’s Starlight Wellbeing Expo in Bangalow over Easter, and also to hold a workshop in Byron Bay on April 17.

Tino Pezzimenti, who ran a seminar at the Expo, said the Evans Head sighting occurred when two men were walking back from the pub on Saturday night.

One of the men, who swore he was completely sober, had reported seeing ‘moon-like objects’ in the sky besides the real one.

“They were of the same size and brightness as the crescent Moon, but vertical,” Mr Pezzimenti said.

“A third appeared and they all started moving erratically, zigzagging in the air.

“One moved to the left, another to the right and the third straight up. They then rejoined themselves in the blink of an eye, back in their original position.”

Mr Pezzimenti said it was possible to discount other phenomena, such as hot-air balloons or aircraft.

“It was also at 10.30pm, so it could not have been Venus,” he said.

“It’s something we cannot explain.

“But many UFOs have been reported as behaving in this way – erratically, and making sudden right-angled turns without slowing down.”

Australia has been something of a hotspot for UFO sightings in the past.

Almost 900 a year were recorded throughout the 1990s, and there have been 200 this year.

UFORQ has about 220 financial members and records reported sightings from all over the world.

It had been in existence since 1956 and was the oldest still-running such group, Mr Pezzimenti said.

One of the services it offered was a confidential support group for people who believed they had seen something but felt unable to tell anyone for fear of ridicule, or even worse, feared they might be going crazy.

UFO Research NSW spokesman Doug Moffett said the majority of the sightings in the state had been in rural areas.

The reason for this was because the aliens’ actions were largely ‘covert’.

“They do not land and say ‘take me to your leader’,” he said.

They could get lower and not be seen by so many people in country areas, he said.

Grafton-based UFO researcher and sky-watcher Barry Taylor said the phenomena went in 20-year cycles, known as ‘flap activity’.

He said the 1950s, the ’70s and the ’90s had been active years for sightings, and he expected activity to increase again this year.

SIGHTINGS

The Gold Coast, with 25 reports, ranks second to Brisbane in the number of unexplained sightings in Queensland between October 2008 and September last year.

Out of a total of 123 statewide, Brisbane had 28, while Caboolture, Cairns and Logan were next on the list, with five.