The A614 UFO Sighting – Just One Of Many UFO Encounters From A Small Yorkshire Town

The town of Thorne near Doncaster, South Yorkshire in the United Kingdom is perhaps not the first place one might think of when the subject of UFOs is brought up. However, given that the location is relatively local to me when a brief story appeared on the website of the local newspaper, I decided to investigate further.

After speaking to the witness and using social media in an attempt to locate other witnesses, I was contacted by several people who, while not witnessing the recent sighting of these strange aerial vehicles, had various information on other sightings over the town from past years, some of which stretch back to the 1960s.

While these sightings, understandably given how long ago they occurred and that they are often reported by a third party, are not some of the most detailed, they do show that this small town in the north of England has had more than its fair share of UFO encounters.

Before we examine some of those sightings of yesteryear, we will turn our attention back to the sighting on the A614 road, and the report of Andrea Neal.

The Daylight UFO Sighting Of Andrea Neal

At around 10:45 am on the morning of February 23^rd 2023, Andrea Neal was driving along the A614 road between the towns of Austerfield and Finningley, on her way to visit family in the village of Hatfield. However, to her astonishment, two grey rectangular objects, approximately at her 1 to 2 o’clock position, appeared in the sky ahead, immediately catching her attention. She stated that they did so not only because they were moving, but because “their shape was unlike anything” she had seen previously overhead.

As the road was quiet with no other traffic, Andrea was able to slow down slightly and keep the objects in her view for just under a minute. They appeared to be just below the clouds in a largely clear sky and were a dark grey color. She would recall that they were “long and slightly flat”, as well as being very “straight and streamlined with no parts that interrupted their clean shape”. She was uncertain of the size or dimensions of the objects, but they were seemingly large enough for her to clearly see despite appearing to be several miles away.

Although she wasn’t sure of the exterior’s material, it didn’t appear to reflect the sunlight in any way, at least not from the side she was viewing them. Even stranger, they moved in short bursts of around three to four seconds before coming to an abrupt stop “without slowing down first”. They then moved again, very quickly and smoothly for several more seconds and stopped once more. They repeated this several times.

Andrea also recalled that there was a “sort of subtle fuzz” around the objects that appeared “like vapor”. This fuzz was barely visible, however, and didn’t “distort their clear shape”. She couldn’t recall seeing any lights, nor could she hear any sounds that you would normally associate with aerial vehicles.

My “Mouth Was Hanging Open In Disbelief!”

Andrea would recall that her “mouth was hanging open in disbelief” at what she was seeing and that she “wished someone else was with her” to see the objects also. It appeared to Andrea, based on her location, the direction she was heading and where the objects were, that they were likely over or somewhere near the town of Thorne.

As she drove, a line of trees appeared on her right side and, ultimately, obscured her view of the objects. By the time she was past the trees, the curious crafts were no longer there. At this stage, she pulled the car to the side of the road and called her sister, eager to tell someone what she had seen.

Certain that the objects she had witnessed were, at the very least, out of the ordinary, Andrea contacted the local newspaper in the hope that other witnesses might come forward. However, at the time of writing, it doesn’t appear anyone else saw them, or at least, they don’t want to come forward to speak about it. Andrea offered that it is a possibility that “some people hold back for fear” of being ridiculed, something that she is not concerned about. (Incidentally, although I have not managed to speak to the witness, one online commentator offered that a similar sighting occurred recently in nearby Market Weighton).

Although she had no specific interest in UFOs and extraterrestrial life, she was, and remains, open-minded on the subject, as she does with many areas of the paranormal, offering simply on the possibility of life elsewhere, “Why not? We can’t be the only life forms in the Universe, can we?”

Andrea would state that she will “never forget” what she saw that morning and that her partner, friends, and family, would attest to the fact that she is a “no-nonsense person who tries to see things logically”.

Many Details That Can Be Found In Other Sighting Reports

The sighting of Andrea Neal has several intriguing details to it – ones that, as trivial as they might be, can be found in other UFO reports from across the decades. The shape of the objects, for example, while certainly not typical, has been reported multiple times from various locations around the planet. As has the smoothness of these objects, so smooth and unblemished, in fact, that they appear to be fashioned from one piece of material.

The vapor or “fuzz” that Andrea recalled seeing around the objects is another detail that often comes up in UFO reports. It is unclear if this vapor is some kind of consequence of the mysterious propulsion methods of these crafts, or if they are part of some kind of cloaking technology.

With this latter point in mind, particularly given that Andrea could clearly see the objects until the trees cut them off, it is important to recall the claims of Bob Lazar, who has offered that seeing these advanced vehicles often depends on where a person is viewing them from, and that two people viewing the same part of the sky from different locations could very well result in one person seeing nothing but sky while the other can see a nuts and bolts craft. Could it be that Andrea was simply in the right position on the ground to be able to see the objects, and by the time she had cleared the line of trees had moved out of this “zone” and so could no longer see them? It is certainly worth keeping in mind.

The way the objects moved – together in unison, as well as coming to a complete stop and then immediately starting again – is also a detail often found in other UFO reports. Of course, this immediate stop/start action is far from indicative of known terrestrial aircraft, as is the ability to hover with no means of propulsion.

The picture below is from the Tic-Tac UFO sightings recently confirmed by the Pentagon. This is an image that Andrea stated was most like what she saw.

Some online commentators questioned why the witness didn’t capture a photograph or video footage of the objects. This is largely because she was driving at the time, and didn’t wish to lose sight of them, especially as she suspected they wouldn’t show nearly as clearly in a photograph as she was seeing them with the naked eye. It could be argued, however, that the fact Andrea reported her sighting without photographic or video evidence makes her report that bit more credible. What, for example, would she have to gain from making such a report without evidence, other than to see if anyone else had seen the same thing?

In short, there is no reason to think the sighting of Andrea Neal is not credible. And, as mentioned in the opening, it is far from the only report of strange aerial anomalies to have come from this part of the world. And it is to some of those sightings that we will turn our attention to next.

Reports Over Thorne That Go Back Decades

Perhaps one of the earliest of these sightings occurred in the Mooredges district of Thorne at some time in 1960 or 1961. The account was told to me by the daughter of one of the witnesses, Sarah Barton. She recalled that her mother would have been in her early teens, around 13 or 14 years old at the time. She lived in a house near the railway crossing near one of the farms in the area.

On the night in question, the teen girl had spent the evening with one of her friends riding their bikes, and as it was already quite dark, were now making their way home. As they did so, however, they noticed a bizarre bright light that appeared to be over the farm near to her house.

To begin with, the object was simply hovering in place. Then, with no warning, it shot off into the distance with alarming speed. Each of the girls was now more than spooked by the strangeness of the situation, and immediately began peddling home as fast as they could. Although they never received an explanation as to what the glowing object was, the incident remained in the young girl’s mind well into adulthood – clearly long enough to tell her daughter, Sarah, of it.

Around a decade later, either in 1969 or 1970, another local woman recalled siting in her garden one evening when her neighbors’ daughter in the garden next to hers asked her what the objects she could see were in the sky. When the witness turned her head to where the young girl was pointing, she was shocked to see two strange aerial vehicles hovering in the early evening sky.

She recalled how the two objects were high over the rooftops of the houses, with one appearing to be slightly closer than the other. The one nearest to her appeared to be saucer-shaped while the one further away more closely resembled a cigar. Each had what appeared to be portholes or windows around their middle and each was “very bright and shiny”. Even stranger, there was no obvious means of propulsion for the two objects, and each appeared to be completely silent.

The witness called for the young girl’s mother to come outside so she could see them also. She did so, and all three of them watched as the objects headed off into the distance, eventually disappearing from their sight. The witness also stated that while she had never forgotten the encounter, she “didn’t like talking about it” as people “think you’re mad if you say anything about UFOs”. We might keep this statement in mind when we think about how many UFO sightings simply go unreported due to the (understandable) fear of ridicule.

The 1984 Field Road UFO Sighting

Arguably one of the intriguing sightings in this area of England occurred at some time in 1984. And this is a sighting that I personally recall hearing people speak about, although I was only 6 or 7 years old at the time, so my only recall is that people had seen a glowing object over the town.

On the evening in question, it appears that multiple residents of Thorne witnessed some kind of glowing aerial anomaly over Thorne, that after hovering silently in clear view for a significant amount of time, took off with great speed and disappeared.

One of those who seemingly witnessed this strange object was a local woman known as Karen, who was 16 years old at the time. On the afternoon in question, she was walking in Thorne along North Eastern Road, eventually turning onto Field Road. It was as she was walking toward the traffic lights that she suddenly noticed a “very large cigar-shaped object” that was “very low” in the sky ahead.

She recalled how there were hardly any people or traffic around, and that there was no sound at all coming from this strange craft. Furthermore, despite the strangeness of the situation, she recalled feeling no fear at all. What happened next, though, is even stranger.

For reasons she still can’t explain, her next memory is of sitting in her mother’s house around the corner. Karen would offer that while she was “not saying I was abducted at all, but I can’t remember how I walked to my mum’s house”. What’s more, she can’t recall even speaking to her mother about what she had seen on her way to the house.

While there is no real suggestion that Karen was abducted that late afternoon, it is very intriguing that she has no recollection of the short journey to her mother’s house after noticing the object. And even today when recalling the events, she feels no sense of fear, which we might expect if something as strange as alien abduction had taken place.

If we remove abduction out of the equation, then, there are perhaps two possibilities to explain why Karen couldn’t recall the last few minutes of the journey. We could speculate that the surreal nature of the events simply put Karen into a mild form of shock or contemplation – one which left her unable to recall the journey. Or, if we assume for a moment that the object was extraterrestrial in nature, that some kind of technology was utilized that would achieve this lack of recall. And, of course, if that was the case, we might contemplate if the occupants inside this craft were aware of her presence.

Another report which appears to be of the same object was recalled by a local woman whose mother witnessed the object from her home on Durham Avenue (which connects to North Eastern Road and is a short distance from Field Road). She would recall her mother speaking of the sighting often when she was a child. However, given her age at the time, she can only recall that her mother was at home at the time when she witnessed a strange cigar-shaped craft hovering in the sky before it made its way over her house and disappeared.

It is easy to see (looking at the image above) that the object could easily have made its way west of the corner of Field Road, over the properties of Durham Avenue, and then into the distance, and very well could have been the same object that was witnessed by Karen. Even more interesting is that the next sighting we will examine would appear to be a third report of the same object.

Another Report From The Same Road

Whether or not there is a connection, or indeed whether it is from the sighting mentioned above, is an account from another local woman who believes that around the same time, her father, along with several of his friends, witnessed a strange, fast-moving object while chatting near the gate of his garden with a neighbor.

What is interesting about this sighting is that it occurred on Field Road – the same road that Karen witnessed the strange object from, as well as being close to Durham Avenue where the local woman’s mother saw what very well could be the same craft. With that in mind, it is not that much of a stretch of the imagination that the following encounter is indeed the same as those we examined above.

The witness’s daughter recalled that her father later described the object as a cigar shape – almost like “an ordinary aircraft but without wings”. The object “went from hovering to moving at an incredible speed” with “phenomenal acceleration” that her father had never previously witnessed before. Although he did report the sighting to the local police, asking if RAF Finningley had reported anything unusual, he never received any form of explanation as to what he saw.

She further recalled how astonished and shaken her father had looked when he had told the family (including her) about what he had seen.

Incidentally, the witness was an ex-RAF pilot, and as such, had more than adequate knowledge of aviation of the time. Furthermore, his daughter would assure me that her father was “not a man to make up stories or exaggerate”. He was, though, “utterly astounded” by what he and his neighbor witnessed, not least because of the blistering pace with which the object moved.

An Incident That Left A Distinct Impression On The Town

When Andrea Neal’s story appeared on a local media platform several online commentators also recalled the above sighting, which perhaps shows that the incident not only definitely occurred but that it left a distinct impression on the people of Thorne at the time.

One such commentator recalled they were “fixated” with the object and that they watched it hovering over the houses for several moments before it “flew off” with lightning speed. Furthermore, they also recalled seeing a story in the local paper the following day that stated many residents of the town saw it also.

Another commentator also recalled the events, claiming they and a friend had witnessed them while walking a short distance away near the fields on the other side of the town. Yet another recalled that members of their family claimed they had seen the object as far away as the neighboring village.

In short, given the sheer number of witnesses – many of whom, remember, remain unknown – the fact that something truly strange occurred that afternoon in 1984 over the town of Thorne is almost certain. And it could well be one of the most discreet multi-witness sightings of the last 50 years. Incidentally, if there are further witnesses to this strange event, we would like to hear from them using the email address below.

How Many More Unreported UFO Sighting And Encounters Might There Be?

Perhaps what we should take away from these encounters – many of which are being placed into the public domain through this article for the very first time – is the sheer number of UFO sightings, many of which are from decades ago, are still waiting to be discovered and reported on. And we have concentrated here on one small town in South Yorkshire only.

How many similar sightings might we uncover if we reproduced such investigations in as many areas and locations around the world as we could? What we can take away from these reports is that sightings of strange, unidentified aerial objects – just like elsewhere in the world – have occurred in this small town for decades, and seemingly continue to do so today.

And, as a testament to the importance of reporting such sightings, all of the incidents we have examined here – some of which occurred decades ago – came to light as a result of investigating the sighting that Andrea Neal reported – a report, incidentally, that she had nothing to gain from.

There are many possibilities as to what these objects witnessed by Andrea, and other witnesses over the years, might have been. Perhaps they were visitors from another world. Or, given that many scientists are examining the possibilities of other dimensions existing alongside our own, perhaps they are the result of these dimensions temporarily overlapping, which would seemingly allow us to see vehicles from an alternate reality. Or maybe these strange objects are highly advanced experimental military aircraft. That they were something strange, however, is without a doubt. And they all remain unexplained today.

The video below looks at some of the UK’s best UFO sightings.