Peter and Diane Shepherd had a close encounter of their own in Roade back in August 1973.
"We were just leaving a friend's house at 3am when we saw a saucer-shaped object about the size of a football pitch in a field," said Mr Shepherd.
"I stood on the roof of the car to get a better look and was completely dumbfounded by the sight, because its size was staggering.
"The craft was dark grey in colour and perfectly smooth, with seven rectangular amber-coloured lights or windows on the side facing us.
"It was beautiful to behold and was as real and as solid as the car I was standing on. We were all sober and fully conscious and saw and experienced the same thing."
Mr Shepherd added that the saucer was accompanied by illuminated red spheres in the sky which hovered over the treetops and the road.
"I wanted to get a closer look so my wife and I got in the car and drove a few hundred yards towards them, he said.
"I thought we would be in a good position when they passed overhead but when I stopped the car one instantly appeared in front of us."
Mr Shepherd said he and his wife then experienced a period of "missing time", with about 40 minutes they couldn't account for.
"The next thing I knew I was driving down the road about 300 yards further down and the dawn was already coming up," he said.
"It was an incredible experience that has changed the way both of us see the world and our perception of reality forever.
"We were elated afterwards because we knew we had experienced something amazing."
Mr Shepherd, who said he had seen UFOs since he was a child, added that they were well aware that many people would dismiss their experience and refuse to believe it could be possible.
"Even our families won't believe us, he said.
"We still get people ringing up who just can't tell anyone else because they are worried that people will think they are daft or crazy.
"A lot of people are afraid to come forward and say they have seen something, or they can't handle it, because it is a life-changing thing.
"My wife and I are very fortunate because it's rare for a couple to have the same experiences, and it can drive people apart.
"But we are confident that future phenomena will help everyone, who chooses to, to gain a greater understanding of ourselves, the alien intelligence, and the position we share together in the overall scheme of things."
I personally interviewed Peter and Diane and I found them to be the most warm, friendly and honest people one could wish to meet: As well as running NUFORUM - the Northamptonshire UFO Forum, (now sadly defunct), they always enjoyed speaking about their strange encounter to other UFO groups and individuals.
I met the pair
numerous times and interestingly, on one occasion, when I asked Pete to
elaborate regarding the make up of the main object he had seen, (e.g.
whether he thought it was metallic etc, etc), he described it as
looking rather like a 'glowing jellyfish'!
