Witness sketch
22/10/2015: Here is the latest possible threat to national security - a bizarre-looking UFO seen over GCHQ, Cheltenham, Glos.
An eagle-eyed pensioner spotted the sinister shape in the skies above the top-secret listening post. He described it as being the size of a car with red lights and spun around while travelling in a straight line at 15mph, up to 500m above ground level.
The 67-year-old, describing himself as a professional with a physics degree, had a pencil and paper to hand and quickly sketched the odd-shaped object in Cheltenham, Glos. But his rough sketch - which he admitted lacked "artistic skills" - has only sparked ridicule from online commentators.
One asked what the pensioner had been smoking, while other said he was "a couple cans short of a six pack". The man, who spotted the object on Tuesday, said: "My eye caught a slow moving object in the sky which I initially dismissed as a balloon. "On second glance I was puzzled by its shape so I started to observe it objectively. "Please excuse me for my lack of artistic skills. "It was not possible to see the exact shape or any special features so the sketch is only an approximation. "The structure was rigid, solid and did not change shape. "The object appeared to be moving in a straight line and came from the airport or GCHQ direction and heading across town. "However what really intrigued me was that the object was rotating around its vertical axis at a rate of about one rotation every two to three seconds.
The man, who has asked not to be named, said he was standing on the platform at the train station in Cheltenham when he saw the UFO. He said the craft was constantly moving and there were two "very intense but small" red lights at each extremity of the object. He added: "They gave the impression that they were flashing but on reflection they were not flashing but due to the rotation of the object gave the appearance of flashing. "I am unsure of the colour. I got the impression that it was very dark with a hint of deep red but it may have been black. "I was puzzled as to how the object could move forward in a straight line and be rotating at the same time. There was no noise."
People took to Facebook to offer their own theories on what he had seen. Some said it could have been a drone while others joked it could been Doc Brown from Back to the Future on his travels. Wayne Sullivan said: "If it was the size of a small car from the ground then it was probably at least four times that size in real life." Another person joked: "Who can tell from this 'sketch' what was he smoking?" A third added: "So being professional with a physics degree automatically negates you from being a couple cans short of a six pack? "Rather than try and make this into something it's not, lets just agree it was a drone." But a more sympathetic reader said he was "brave" to speak out, and added: "The U in UFO means Unidentified. "It does not mean anything else. It does not mean we're being buzzed by aliens. "This guy is pretty brave to report this though, he must have been amazed by what he saw. Real or not."
Source: Western Daily Press
