Man sights UFO at Darwen Tower and talks of '50-year experience'

David Dolby, from Bolton, was walking his dogs last Friday evening (October 8), when a light “not of our science” presented itself above Darwen Tower.

The 59-year-old managed to photograph the sighting – as he has with several prior - and while he says the occurrences can ‘play on his mind’, he feels that he has been selected by “something, somewhere” and accepts his “privilege”. This, he believes, is “the only logical explanation” for the encounters.

He said: “I don’t know what it was, but I know it wasn’t from this planet. A bright light appeared and quick as a flash, it was gone. I’m experienced enough to know a UFO when I see one, and that above Darwen Tower was exactly that.

“There are millions of people out there just like me. This isn’t about glory, I want to get the word out that there are these beings, or objects, that exist right above us. Hopefully I can educate people and we may well find that others have seen these UFOs too.”

Mr Dolby, 59, says that his UFO sightings started at the age of nine – but he only realised this in 2008 after a near-40-year mental block and has since become fascinated by the topic – with research taking up almost all his free time.

He explained: “I had my very first close encounter with a UFO many years ago. It was way back in 1971 when as a 9-year-old schoolboy making my way home from school, I was confronted by a shiny disc-shaped metallic craft, glinting against the sunlit sky.

(A David Dolby UFO sighting)

“I stood for a minute on the grass verge in Astley Bridge, almost totally frozen in awe, and then the craft disappeared in an instant almost as quickly as it had first arrived.”

It would be another 37-years before Mr Dolby would experience his next sighting – taking the ladders off his van at the end of a working day in the winter of 2008.

(David Dolby)

He recalls: “The still air was cold yet dry as darkness descended rapidly on that November evening. For me it was just another routine end of day task to remove the ladders from my work van as I arrived home, my mind was only concerned with the evening meal that awaited me after a long day’s work - until of course my attention was dramatically distracted by a mysterious craft high above.

The trails of the evening airliners were visible across the sky, yet up there amongst them was something else, most definitely not an aircraft.

“At around the same altitude as an ascending jet - but some distance from it - an orangey red pulsating light was ‘zigzagging’ across the sky in the direction of Bolton town centre, the object that appeared to be a similar size to a plane in the sky was leaping around furiously for around half a minute until it completely blinked out of the sky at lightning speed.

“Composure is a must and rationality have to be considered when such remarkable events take place, so a strong cup of tea was rapidly brought forward. As I drank from the cup within five minutes of its dramatic exit, the craft spontaneously reappeared - much to my astonishment - this time further to the right of the sky, once again ranging across the horizon in a zig-zag formation until it darted off to the left out of sight at what I can only describe as incredible speed.

“No explanation could even be considered regarding this sighting, it was an amazing experience, a wonder in many ways that I certainly will never forget.”

Mr Dolby says that he has on occasion had fellow witnesses to such sightings – which include being pursued by a UFO on a seven-mile journey and a 10-minute encounter at Markland Hill “a few years ago”.