A small but thriving village, Hollesley’s unusual claim has been somewhat foreshadowed by the mysterious UFO sightings in nearby Rendlesham Forest where a series of unexplained lights in the sky in December 1980 became the UK’s Roswell.
But there are claims that Hollesley had extra-terrestrial visitors of its own – three years after Rendlesham and, in a further incident, again in 2017.
The autumn of 1983 was colder than usual and by the time Halloween was on the horizon at the end of October, there had been several sharp frosts and even some wintry showers – but the weather didn’t deter some very unusual day-trippers who paid an unexpected visit to Hollesley at the tail-end of the month.
Late one evening, in a clear dark sky, villagers reported seeing a large, dark-coloured, silent, triangular-shaped aircraft hovering above Hollesley for around 15 minutes: they were astonished to see that three lights on the base of the craft which lit up the ground spectacularly.
Ron Macro told the press: “We froze. The lights were in a triangle and remained perfectly still. Whatever was in the sky flew over us. The lights beamed down and we heard a high-pitched whine.”
Debbie Foreman and Pauline Osborne were driving in Hollesley when the UFO appeared: as they drew close to it, the engine of Debbie’s car began to splutter, the headlights faltered and then the engine cut out completely: “Until then the car had behaved quite normally,” said Debbie, “but everything seemed to go wrong.”
Many attributed the craft to nearby RAF Woodbridge – one resident, John Button, said: “If they are experimenting then we ought to be told. And if there’s something flying around here which comes from outer space, we ought to be told about that, too.” The answer from Woodbridge was concise: “Nothing was seen on radar. I cannot say more than that.”
Fast forward almost 35 years and there was a repeat visit from an unidentified flying object.
In a submission to BEAMS, the British Earth and Aerial Mysteries Society, a witness offered an account of a strange occurrence which happened as they was driving in the Hollesley area which, they said, included an inexplicable time slip. The sighting happened on August 31 2017 between 11pm and 12.30am.
“I was picking my daughter up from work and when driving past Sutton Heath with Rock Barracks on the left, I saw a flash line of bright white light above the trees ahead and to the right: I asked what that was and my daughter thought maybe streak lightning. I was doubtful as it didn’t look like that to me,” said the witness.
The lights appeared every few minutes. The pair drove towards Hollesley Bay Prison and saw a ball of stationary white light above a building which then suddenly disappeared before another light sphere appeared to the left, then darted into a garden above a low bush before vanishing again.
Perplexed, the pair drove towards Bawdsey but, interest piqued, headed back to where they had seen the lights, driving on a single track tree-lined road where they saw another ball of light which disappeared in a flash. They immediately found themselves outside Hollesley’s village shop.
“It takes at least 10 minutes to get to Hollesley shop from the road leading to Bawdsey where we turned in the road - if we were driving fast, but we were crawling - and we would have had to turn left at the crossroads and drive through Alderton... but we never reached the crossroads, didn’t drive through Alderton or take any turnings…it was as though we’d just been teleported from one place to another!
“The light was like a vibrating wave in the air…(we) saw it twice more, this time above sea to the left where no planes or boats were.”
Keep watching the skies.
For more information on BEAMS click here.
For more Weird Suffolk click here.
For a daily dose of Weird Suffolk follow our Instagram here
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here