Is light shone on UFO mystery?

Last week, the News reported that David Dixon had spotted UFOs flying over King's Drive.

He said they definitely were not Chinese lanterns – paper globes lit by a candle – because they had been travelling too quickly.

He said: "If they were Chinese lanterns they were turbo-charged!

"I went onto the internet to look at those lanterns, and they are not what I saw. It's sent shivers down my spine."

And he said he thought they could be extra-terrestrial: "I just think it's a bit far-fetched to believe we are the only living things in the universe."

But one family contacted the News to say the strange lights were indeed Chinese lanterns – because they had set them off as part of a birthday party.

Glynn Griffiths said that on December 22 they had lit six lanterns on Trinity Terrace to mark his wife Carol's 60th birthday, one for each decade of her life.

He said they could 'quite easily' have been mistaken for UFOs.

He said: "They were actually Chinese lanterns, quite large and quite impressive actually.

"The chap in the paper said it was only breezy that night; well it's not so breezy when you get high up. They were going up quite a way.

"If the wind caught them, they were going quite quickly then."

And Daz Shires, of Haworth Road, said he saw the six Chinese lanterns float past his home.

He said he and his wife Jude had been watching TV when they noticed what looked like paper hot air balloons.

He said: "They appear to have come from somewhere around Raikes Lane, near the bottom of Haworth Road.

"We were just sitting quietly watching TV when I saw first one, then the second one.

"I think there were about six in total. They floated up very prettily and of course when they got higher up they did pick up speed and move more quickly, or maybe the fires went out and they disappeared.

"They were definitely paper lanterns – and they were absolutely beautiful."

Sarah Roper lives in Highfield Drive and caught the spectacular scene on video using a mobile phone.

She said: "I saw two of them flying from above Kings Drive and over my house where they stopped and just sped off.

"I also saw about 10 of them on December 23 at around 8pm and they carried on for over an hour.

"I have been told they were Chinese lanterns but am still convinced it was paranormal."

Joe Pitts, who lives in The Mount, Birstall, said it was easy to dismiss the sightings as an ordinary event, but thought people should be more open minded.

"We live in a universe which is massive, beyond even our imagination," he said. "Why should we think that life only exists on our small planet Earth?

"There is much documented evidence of light orbs, of crop circles of many other unexplained mysteries and I would suggest that, like Mr Dixon, we do not turn our back on other possibilities, just because we don't understand them.

"I am not some sci-fi nut, but my logic tells me that we should be prepared to open our minds to things that we never have done in the past."

l The News has filmed a video of Chinese lanterns being lit.

To see this video, and decide for yourself whether these could be mistaken for UFOs, visit www.batleynews.co.uk.