Published: Thursday, 7th January, 2010 10:12am

'Mystery lights are lanterns'

Print | Email

"THERE are no aliens in the sky."

That was the message from one annoyed reader in Kilwinning who says the 'strange', orange lights everyone has seen are really Chinese lanterns.

The woman, who lives in the Whitehurst area of the town, told the Herald: "There are no aliens in the sky just Chinese lanterns. I know what these lights are because my neighbour has been setting lanterns off from their garden. Every time they do people start thinking they are seeing aliens.

"I witnessed three of them go up into the sky last week and they had orange flames in the middle of them.

"I am sick to death of people talking about these 'strange' lights and I would just like to put an end to this once and for all."

And Lorna Pirrie has sent in evidence to prove that one sighting was really Chinese lanterns. She said: "Following your story about lights in the sky I can almost certainly say the lights seen on December 12 over Fairlie was caused by a sky lantern. I know this because I was there when it was set off around 8.30pm. I have included a picture of one being launched."

Nick Pope, who used to run the British Government's UFO project and is now one of the leading experts in the unexplained, exclusively told the Herald: "I'm fairly sure, from the descriptions, these are Chinese lanterns - miniature hot air balloons with a small burner underneath. They glow bright orange when seen at night and can move very slowly, or quite quickly, dependent upon the wind speed. They are frequently launched at weddings, birthday parties and barbecues.

"Christmas and the New Year is also a time when people tend to launch them - indeed, I saw two myself, on Christmas Eve. If you haven't seen any before, they can look quite striking. They are responsible for a high proportion of UFO sightings in the UK."

And this could explain the sighting one family witnessed on Christmas Day.

Laura Yuill said: "On leaving my family's home in Hamilton Drive, Largs on Christmas night we were all in awe as three orange lights moved across the sky. It was the strangest sight.

"There was no noise from these objects and they followed each other with a small gap in between. Then all of a sudden they veered right towards the Greenock area and disappeared.

"This happened around 9.10pm and we would really like to know if anyone else saw these flying objects."

Do you think all these sightings are Chinese lanterns? Let us know your views by emailing us at editorial@ardrossanherald.co.uk or contact the office on 01294 464321.