Date of Event: Thursday 12th May 2022
Time of Event: 00:40
Reported: Tuesday 17th May 2022
Location: Bolton, Gtr Manchester, UK
Case Reference: NW220502
Investigators: Ash Ellis, Abigail Hyslop
The witness in this report was sitting on the bed in their upstairs bedroom in Bolton talking to a friend on WhatsApp when they saw out of the window what they described as a ‘brilliant, very bright turquoise ball of light coming down at a 45 degree angle from the sky’.
The ball of light appeared to come down in a woodland behind a row of houses, so the witness grabbed their dog and walked to the area they believed the object landed in. Upon coming to this wooded area known locally as ‘Seven Acres’ (fig. 1), the witness saw an electric blue light at floor level in the woods. They described the silent nature of the object as looking and feeling ‘other-worldly’. At first in awe they were able to record the light but then their phone started malfunctioning.
That sense of awe became a sense of dread and, being alone in the woods in the middle of the night, the witness returned home and reported the event to us a couple of days later.
When I first read this sighting report, I knew it had the hallmarks of a potential classic UFO landing case. We’ve got an object in the sky that’s witnessed coming down, then being seen in the woods, and it came complete with video evidence. I was excited to start investigating the first “landing” case report that our group had received. It only got better from here…
One of the first things we look at when investigating a case is if there are any similar reports from the same time. We will look in the many UFO Facebook groups that are around, we will scour local newspapers, we put appeals out on social media asking for any potential witnesses to get in touch and we search the many sighting databases that are around, which is where we found our next piece of evidence.
On the National UFO Reporting Centre (NUFORC) website, there was a report made at the very same time and date as our report (fig. 2), but this was made by a witness in Liverpool, some 30 miles from Bolton.
You can see from the (brief) description above that this is describing a very similar, if not the same, object. Described as a very bright light, with a haze around it, flying in a downwards direction. Of course there are some differences in the descriptions, and of course the distance between the two locations, but we can’t ignore the exact timings as well as the downwards trajectory. I did reach out to Peter Davenport who runs NUFORC to ask if I could get the witnesses details, or for him to get their permission to talk with me so I could gather further information, but to no avail.
Due to the nature of the sighting, I was keen to get out on location as soon as possible. After a short telephone interview with the witness they agreed to meet with Abi and myself.
Prior to meeting with the witness we decided to have a preamble around the Seven Acres nature reserve to see if there was anything of interest nearby, and from the short video the witness sent us, we are able to identify the exact area where the light was seen in the woods.
In the screenshot below (fig 3) I have pointed out features that are pretty difficult to see but which helped us find the location. There is an unedited version at the end of this report (fig 6) as well as a google maps image of this view (fig 7).
Upon entering the wooded area we were passed by what you might describe as a couple of “shady-looking” characters who looked to have just completed some sort of deal. A little bit deeper into the woods there was a new looking bike leaning against a tree, and at the bottom of what turned out to be quite a steep drop-off around 10 metres back from the road there looked to be a homeless camp.
There was a small clearing in the woods in the area where we believed the light to have been, and in this clearing there was evidence of drug use, including tin foil and a lighter. At this point we actually noticed somebody crouched down in the bushes with his nose in something, so we decided to leave this area of the investigation for now.
The witness lived around a 5 minute walk from the woods, and showed us to their room and the exact view they had of the object in the sky, which they described as ‘moving fast, bigger than the sun and very bright next to the moon’ having thought it initially to have been a firework.
The weather on the night in question was dry, clear and with little breeze.
We then headed back to the woods location with the witness (fig 4), who confirmed that the area we had been to was indeed where they had seen the light on the ground. We interviewed the witness on camera where they were very open with us, answering all questions openly and appearing to be honest and genuine about what they had seen and what they thought it was, which included them believing the object to have been under intelligent control.
The witness told us they have a long-standing interest in UFO and other paranormal topics, which was evidenced by a number of UFO books that we spotted in their bedroom. This wasn’t their first UFO sighting, having seen a UFO from their apartment building whilst studying at Nottingham University in 2014. In this case they saw an object hovering above the city of Nottingham before darting rapidly to one side, then it zipped off in the opposite direction.
They also saw a similar light in the same woods a few months ago.
Happy we had everything we needed, we headed back to UFO Identified HQ to carry on the desk research side of the investigation. This includes using apps such as FlightRadar24, Stellarium, and satellite trackers to see if there are any aircraft or other high up objects in the area at the time as we begin to rule out many usual explanations. As standard we contact the National Police Air Service and submit Freedom of Information requests to find out any police activity or reports on the same night, of which there were none (Note: the witness told us that they reported the event to Greater Manchester Police, but in their FOIA response they said there had been no reports of the like).
At this point one of our original thoughts for the light in the sky is seemingly confirmed, with the UK Meteor Watch website displaying this image (fig 5) of a meteor caught on one of their cameras over the UK at the exact time and day of both this report, and the one from Liverpool. A meteor being something that would likely be seen from locations dozens and even hundreds of miles apart due to the height and the brightness they can appear at.
Of course, there’s always a chance that the cameras did capture an unidentified craft rather than a meteor. However, in this case, we believe the light in the sky seen by the witness was indeed this meteor.
Now to consider the light in the woods.
Based on the images in the video, and of what we saw when we visited the site, including evidence of drug use and being the site of a homeless camp, we believe that the light was human-made. This would be either flames from a lighter or the light from a mobile phone from someone, or some persons, being in the woods.
There is nothing to suggest that the light seen in the sky is in any way connected to the light in the woods.
With the witness having an interest in UFOs, this may have led them to connect the two events and for both of them to be something more than what they were, including describing the light as being “intelligently controlled”. This is a common pattern seen in people who have a preconceived interest or belief in UFOs/aliens and leads them to jump to this as a conclusion rather than considering more mundane explanations
We do not believe that they were misleading us or lying in any way and I think that they believe that they had had a genuine experience.
As always, this is our opinion based on the research and investigation we completed into this event and we are always open for more evidence and testimony. If more information should come to light then we will happily reopen and reconsider this case.
Further images:
