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At UnHerd we like to take a closer look at under-reported stories, but today I venture into the realm of the ‘unexplained’.
I’ll begin with something that happened to me a while back. I was walking from a quiet country railway station to my parents’ house – a distance of about a mile. It was dark and the road was deserted, but I was fine with that.
And then I saw the lights. Four of them. At first I thought they were aircraft coming into Gatwick, which wasn’t far away. But there was none of the usual jet engine noise. And in any case, the lights were too still and, as far as I could tell, too low and too near.
I was looking across a field; beyond it, a hillside was just about visible against the night sky. The lights, I realised, were below the ridgeline – so I thought they might be shining from the hillside. Except that I knew there were no houses there. No buildings of any kind, just woodland. Bonfires, was my next thought.
And then I saw that they were moving. Slowly, but in perfect formation – and parallel to my own path. I’ll admit: at that point my blood ran cold. Or was it just the gust of wind behind my back? Because that’s what gave it away: the wretched things were Chinese lanterns drifting along in the breeze…
The UFOs turned out to be no more than an irresponsible party gimmick. And, yes, I did feel stupid for not realising that straight away. Yet I’m grateful for the experience. For a moment the ordinary world had given way beneath my feet, leaving me struggling to explain the evidence my eyes presented me with. That brief moment of wonder and terror left me with a lot more sympathy for those who have more enduring encounters with the unexplained.
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