SIGHTING: PEEBLES (NEAR) (UK/SCOTLAND)

Witness Testimony

"Viewed at 200/300 yards using a rifle telescope it was very close and could not have been one of ours I am not sure on the actual date and time. My elder brother, 2 friends and I were out shooting which on occassions would start at dusk and last all night until just after dawn. We inavariably tried to get some sleep in the FWD from time to time whilst one or the other would keep watch. It was a very clear night, absolutely no cloud and I estimate ( very roughly ) that we could see aircraft as far away as 5/10 miles. I was sleeping in the back seat when my brother woke me "Stewart it's the UFO again - Look !". I woke up half expecting some prank or another - the guys had been out the previous night when I was not there and had babbled on about seeing a UFO which I had dismissed with a "Oh Really!" attitude. When I looked out of my left window and forward towards the forestry commision ground I saw a circular shaped light/ vehicle rise straight up from what appeared to be the forest. I immediately tried to rationalise what I was seeing - I rolled down the window to stop any glass interference but it was still there but had stopped and just hung in the sky at about a 40/50 degree elevation from the ground in relatuion to me. I would estimate that this object was within 300 yards of us. I asked my elder brother to tell me what it was as I was really at a loss to identify it. He said it was the UFO. I screamed at him - I know it's a UFO but what is it ? "Its a UFO" he said rather infuriatingly. As hard as I could I struggled to reason this one out - could it be a helicopter with a night lamp - but there was no noise and I could see only the object not any helicopter or anything else near it. Could it be a light projected from the ground - no because the circle was not just light it had a physical presence ( and I may ot be describing this well ) a sort of texture - It was definately something real not just a light. I knew by this time that with the best will in the world my friends could not be replicating this. I started at it in awe and then remembered we had the scoped rifles so I took mines out - equiped with a powerful 6X42 scope and started to study it. I could determine a circular physical shape , bright luminescent , with a ill defined banding around the center but little else could be identified. I must have studied this object for 3 or 4 minutes at about 300 yards and no higher than 200/300 ft. All the time I was trying to figure out what it was. So far it has risen vertically and quite slowly and then stopped. I knew Helicopters could do this and harrier jump jets but at that distance I would have expected to hear something. There was no wind to block sound. The craft then moved from it's hover position from my right to my left. It moved quickly with incredible speed but stopped instantly. I know we have fast aircraft but I doubt anything can demonstrate this level of acceleration and it came to an instant stop eg from whatever speed to zero instantly. I had only travelled about 200/300 yards and stopped behind but above the corner tree where the two fields meet, still off our ground but only just off. I shouted did you see that and ofcourse they all did. We had the night lamps ourselves - these are million candle power lamps and it was suggested by my brother to "Lamp It" eg switch on the lamp and aim it at the object. This was not to increase the view of it - that was not necessary - it was more to provoke it or communicate with it in some way. The eldest chap there did not want us to do this - he was very nervous of what he was seeing and did not want the thing to come any closer that it already was. Behind and below the craft on the horizon I could see an aircraft with its normal navigation lighting heading in our general direction. If the aircarft which must have been 5/10 miles away continued in our direction ( Common site with aeroplanes passing over us at normal height regularly) then it would come close to the bright object albeit the object was still only at about 200/300 ft off the ground. We watched , me through the scope and using the naked eye and the craft just hovered. You could determine some activity eg shimmer/vibration but in was not moving. The Aeroplane continued to approach and we stared , transfixed by this encounter and eager to see what if anything was going to happen as the aircraft was on course to fly over the object. When the aircraft was a few miles distant the object moved again. It shot upwards to the left and stopped instantly again. Then it literally accelerated from zero to disappear in a second heading left and away from us. It's speed of departing was instant eg almost in the blink of an eye. I am not sure of the actual dates and times however within a day or two of our sighting the morning TV programme showed a report on fishermen in cornwall having captured a UFO on video. Whilst I know that video was subsequently disproved or belittled what I can say is that the object we saw resembled what they caught on video. To say the event had an effect on me - we wanted to go check out the woods where the object rose from but were frightened to without our rifles and the ground it rose from was not ours. I told a lot of people about this and met with a lot of ridicule but I am a very logical person in my early 40's , my brother and his friends are about 10 years older and the eldest was a business man who had retired. I would have given a lot of money to have a video camera that night instead of our rifles. For weeks I tried and tried evaluate what I had seen and were there any other possible explanations. For the reasons given below I remain convinced to this day that what I was seeing was either a very specialised and earth shattering new aircraft of ours as yet not made public and has not been made public in the 10 years since or that the object was not man made. 1] I believe the object demonstrated intelligence in that it moved vertically then horizontally with amazing acceleration and deceleration ( well instantly stopping ).2] I had a clear site of the object and even better through my telescope.3] I am used to seeing british fighters at ground level practising where I used to fish and when they move they make an enormous racket that you can hear for miles let alone 200/300 yards.4] I had a significant amount of time to study it.5] My brother is army trained and was involved in flying drones etc as well as aircraft recognition. Overall I do not know what it was but it still facinates me as to what it could have been. I hope this helps anyone who studies these events.((NUFORC Note: Date is approximate. PD))"