At 12.45 a.m., on the 18^th. August, 1978, an 18 year-old resident of Syston was sitting in her flat, with another girl, when their attention was drawn to some moving bright white lights in the night sky to the South-west. The two girls were both amazed and a little frightened by the strange sight, however, they opened a window to obtain a better view. The lights appeared to resemble white fluorescent strip lighting, arranged in two horizontal rows on a dark grey object. The object itself, which was at a 45 degree elevation, was seen to frequently change its position by alternately moving and hovering in a seemingly random fashion over open countryside between Thurmaston and Leicester. The object then began to move towards Syston, roughly in the direction of the witness’s vantage point. Its speed was less than that of a conventional aircraft. It was a calm, dry night and the stars were dimly visible through the scattered cloud, and the two girls had a good view of the object for virtually the whole duration of the sighting. Apprehensive at the slow, silent approach of the craft, the witnesses were now able to discern more detail. The two parallel rows of ‘strip lighting’ were on the outer edges of the dull grey exterior of the saucer-shaped craft. Between the two rows of lights was an evenly spaced black panels or windows. On the upper half of the object various projections could be seen. A row of dull, circular coloured lights were visible on the lower portion of the object, and a single bright white light was observed on the extreme right hand side of the UFO, at a level with the black panels. Regarding the size of the object, the witnesses said that it seemed to be two inches at arm’s length. The entire craft was apparently surrounded by an orange glow.

　 LEFT: Investigator’s Drawing of the Syston UFO, based on witness descriptions.

RETURN TO MAIN LOG