Spooky Runcorn and Widnes

What's that hovering over Halton?

TAKE a look at all the strange sightings that have occurred in the Runcorn and Widnes area over the last 50 years. Do you have any UFO stories to add? If so click here to email us.

1957, Runcorn - James Cooke claimed he was hijacked by aliens in a flying saucer from Runcorn Hill - 40 years ago. He says he was taken to their homeworld, Zomdic, a planet orbiting a star light years away from our own solar system. There he claimed to meet with the wise elders of the planet who instructed him to spread the word of "universal peace and harmony" to the rest of humanity. He was returned home 45 hours later. After a later contact, this time on Frodsham Hill, James set up the Church of Aquarius in the town. It became so popular that a second "church" was opened. Here, James "channeled" information from the elders of Zomdic. The church ran for 10 years before James disappeared from public view in 1969.

1963, Runcorn - RAF veteran Dick Newby saw a "huge blue star-like object" hurtle through the sky, just above the rooftops over Boston Avenue. He then watched as it burned a path over Halton Castle. He said: "I was very alarmed. I've seen plenty of shooting stars and airliners but this was neither. It looked nothing like a shooting star and was dead silent."

1966, Runcorn - John Middleham of Runcorn saw a flying disc over Halton. From then on, armed with a cine camera, he constantly scanned the skies trying to capture UFOs on film. Three years later, he spotted a huge cigar shaped object with two smaller discs underneath the skies of Runcorn. 1968, Widnes: Police took chase in squad cars after a huge brightly lit flying cross was seen flying over Fiddlers Ferry power station. No explanation was given for the object which left the cars standing as it hurtled off at speeds in excess of 100 miles an hour.

1969, Runcorn - Police received a report of a UFO landing on a playing field behind Pine Road.

1972, Runcorn - Julie Robson, Joyce Baxter and son Paul saw an unusual flying object over Halton Brow during daylight. They described it as "resembling a flying teapot without a lid."

1979, Runcorn - Workers at the Employment Department building near Runcorn Shopping City saw a huge orange sphere move slowly across the sky over Palacefields.

1995, Widnes - A woman saw a "bell shaped object" hover over the Mersey near Fiddlers Ferry power station. It appeared to be "sucking up a column of water" from the river. Six other passers-by also witnessed the event. This was the start of a two-month spate of sightings over Halton. Many witnesses saw all manner of unusual objects and lights, ranging from bright star like objects, flying discs and black triangles to huge wedge shaped objects which were described as being larger than two football pitches.

1996, Widnes - A Widnes man claimed to have seen a UFO over Widnes railway station. He reported that the bright spherical object made a sound like "a thousand wailing cats" and then fired bursts of flame at the ground which apparently burnt holes in some railway sleepers.

1997, Runcorn - There were numerous sightings of huge black triangular objects on a large section of the North West shoreline. In Halton, one witness was pursued by a dark triangular object as she drove over the Runcorn-Widnes bridge.

1998, Runcorn - People ring a local radio station claiming to have seen bright blue lights the size of fridges, others said they definitely thought they were UFOs. The authorities claim it was a meteor storm caused by the freaky weather conditions.

Click here to email us your Halton UFO experiences.