The UFO Phenomenon

Mysteries revisited: the Hull 'major UFO scare' of 1971

By T.K. Randall
March 10, 2025 ·  9 comments

What did witnesses see over Hull that day ? Image Credit: Pixabay / Tombud It had been just like any other ordinary day in Hull, England when something showed up in the sky that caught the attention of, not just the general public, but the newspapers and even the police as well.

It wasn't long before people from all over the city had begun reporting sightings of a peculiar green oval-shaped object hovering in the sky that was visible for miles around.

One man claimed that the object had been following him home on the bus.

"I could see this thing - it was green and round - following the bus," he recalled. "Every time the bus stopped to pick up passengers, the object stopped as well."

"People on Bransholme and round Noddle Hill Way were all standing looking at it."Soon, the local police had received multiple reports, not only from concerned members of the public, but also from the coastguard and the nearby RAF Manby air base.

Air crews had reportedly observed the object moving slowly out to sea before disappearing.

This all might sound like a compelling mass UFO sighting, but as it turned out, there happened to be a conventional explanation for the phenomenon.

The answer, which came courtesy of a helicopter crew who had been out on a practice flight when they spotted the object and had decided to fly closer to investigate, was that the 'UFO' was in fact "a natural phenomenon which occurs from time to time".

It was created by "a reflection of the Moon on layers of dust contained in mist patches".

The incident just goes to show how easily something mundane can be mistaken for something extraordinary.

Source: Hull Daily Mail | Comments (9)

Tags: UFO