Editing MUFOB ARCHIVE/04 1966 MUFORG Bulletin 02 (section)

== THER NORTH WEST SIGHTINGS: ==
=== WIGAN INCIDENTS ===

Three witnesses reported seeing a flying saucer early in the morning of March 11th, at Shevington, near Wigan.

The witnesses were Mrs Faith Hudson, of Inward Drive, Shevington, her daughter Pauline, and her daughter’s boy-friend, Frank Round. Mrs Hudson described the object as follows (according to the Liverpool Daily Post):

“The object had a sort of glow about it and was flying up and down and sideways. It disappeared for a time and then came back. Finally it went off towards Gathurst. It seemed the size of an aeroplane.”

This sighting lasted for about a quarter of an hour.

Twelve hourse earlier two objects were sighted by rugby players at Saddleworth, near Oldham. The players thought they were meteors at first, until they doubled back on themselves. Manchester Weather Centre suggested that they could have been balloons from the radiosonde station at Aughton, near Liverpool.

In the Liverpool Echo, on March 24th, there appeared a report of a sighting at Up Holland, near Wigan (Up Holland is about four miles away from Shevington). The report is vague about the time and date, but it was probably the evening of March 22nd.

The witness, Mr Norman Comber, licensee of the Plough and Harrow Inn, Ormskirk Road, Up Holland, described the object as being about 15 ft long and dark orange in colour. It was round and flat, with a small dome. It appeared to be low down and it flew fast, leaving a thin trail behind it. It appeared to be illuminated from the inside.

On top of all this, another Wigan mystery received wide press publicity on March 29th and 30th.

Witnesses reported seeing a mysterious animal, like a small lion. The affair was similar to the persistent reports of a mysterious animal, or animals, in the South of England throughout 1963 and 1964. Readers are referred to an article by Charles Bowen in Volume 10, No. 6, of Flying Saucer Review, in which he postulates a possible connection between such mystery animals as UFOs.

The incident that brought the Wigan “lion” to the attention of the national press seems to have been a report by Farmer Smith, of Shepherds Farm, Aspull, near Wigan. Mr Smith reported large paw prints around his outbuildings and in a field.

The prints were said to be four and a half inches across and two feet six inches between each stride. The prints were made on the night of March 27th. Police took plaster casts, to take to Belle Vue Zoo, Manchester, for evaluation by experts.

Two weeks earlier, a woman at Worsley, 12 miles away, reported seeing a lion “loping along” in her back garden. She and her husband were positive it was not a dog.

Police found more paw-prints by a canal at Abram, near Wigan, after another “lion” sighting. The witness said that it was definitley not a dog.

Mr Raymond Legge, superintendent of Belle Vue Zoo said that the paw=prints were probably made by an outsize dog.

All witnesses, however, were unanimous in their belief that it was not a dog. It is difficult to imagine how such a dog could fail to be caught, or its owner fail to be identified.

A further report in the Daily Telegraph, on March 31st, tended to undermine the large dog theory. A lorry driver reported to the police that he nearly ran over a lion on the A6, about 15 miles from Aspull. Police said that the driver, Mr John Waring, once worked with a circus and was most definite that the animal was a full-grown lion. It had jumped over a hedge.

=== WILMSLOW SIGHTING ===

A sighting at Wilmslow, near Manchester, received wide publicity on March 3rd and 4th, although the incident occurred in January.

While he was on his beat in Wilmslow on January 7th, at about 4.10 a.m., Police Constable Perks heard a high-pitched whining noise. He then saw the object hovering 100 yards away, 35 feet from the ground, surrounded by a greenish glow. After a couple of seconds he could make out its shape. It was about 30 feet long and “went up in three sections”, the top one looking something like a dustbin lid. The object remained hovering for about 5 seconds and then shot away horizontally at a tremendous speed, taking only about one second to disappear from view.

A dog had been barking nearby for about an hour before the sighting.

A sketch of the object, published in the Daily Telegraph, shows the familiar flying saucer shape, complete with flanges and dome.

The sighting was investigated by the Ministry of Defence, but they had no explanation to offer. BUFORA and DIGAP (Direct Investigation Group on Aerial Phenomena) also investigated, and pronounced the sighting genuine. Arthur Tomlinson of DIGAP writes:-

“As far as P.C. Perks is concerned, we accept his sighting as a genuine ADAMSKI type saucer.”

Mr Tomlinson also mentions two other sightings:-

“Round about the same day a saucer was seen near Marple by a man and his wife while in their car.

“A Mr John Ackerley saw a cyslindrical shape with red flame coming out of both ends, which flew so low over his shop in Tatton Street, Salford, that he thought it would hit the roof. The object whizzed over at about the same time as P.C. Perks saw his flying saucer.”