Whilst others are looking for flight data and such, I thought I'd try to parse out exactly who said what. The story is credited to a Tess Rushin, presumably a reporter at
LeicestershireLive. It seems to start with Mr. David Haith on Facebook.
External Quote:
Meanwhile, on the
Leicestershire Live Facebook Page, David Haith noted "a huge triangular UFO with lights on each corner was witnessed slowly and silently gliding through Leicester" on the evening of 24 February (last Sunday).
He explained: "The UFO was seen by 47-year-old commercial energy consultant Nigel Bailey, who posted details on Facebook."
On the Facebook post, Nigel wrote "Sorry this isn't related to this post but I've just seen a huge triangle-shaped aircraft flying slowly over Leicester.
This is a little confusing. It appears that David is on the Leicestershire Live FB(LLFB) page and is telling people about a separate(?) FB post that Nigel wrote. So I take this as David did NOT see the UFO, only Nigel did.
It's not clear where Nigel made his original post, but from the wording,
Sorry this isn'
t related to this post, it sounds like he chimed in, or went off topic, while replying to some other post.
Did David copy and paste the original Nigel post when he made his post on the LLFB page or is he just retelling it?
Then this completes Nigel's supposed post:
External Quote:
"I caught up with it in the car but lost it. I saw three helicopters flying around it at a higher altitude than the police helicopter flies around it.
"The triangle was so low that I could make out the shape and the three lights at each corner and it had strobes flashing down the sides.
"It was silent!"
Next we get this more detailed account of the encounter, but note this is not from Nigel directly, rather from David who "got in touch with Nigel". So this is at some point after Nigel had made his original post somewhere on FB? Got in touch how, text, at the pub on FB? (Bold by me)
External Quote:
David got in touch with Nigel, who explained: "I had just come out of the front door around 7.15pm to go to pick up my wife who works at Glenfield General Hospital.
"I looked up and saw some strange strobe lighting in the sky.
"It wasn't the height of the normal commercial aircraft going over - nowhere near that height, more the height of helicopters as they're flying over."
He said that he could easily make out in the clear night sky a triangular shape with lights on each corner.
He added that there were red and green strobe lights splashing down the side.
"It was far too big to be a drone – it looked at least four times the size of helicopters that fly over," the witness continued.
"It looked a foot wide at arm's length – probably no more than 5,000 feet up.
"It was travelling west towards the motorway.
David noted: "Nigel watched the craft moving across the sky for two minutes before it vanished behind a block of flats , so he moved into a car parking area near his home where he followed it again for three minutes before it also was obscured by houses.
"It was while in the car park that he spotted a helicopter flying towards the scene.
"He thought the sighting was over so drove off in his car for the five-minute journey to collect his wife from Glenfield General Hospital but spotted it again from his car as he drove into the hospital car park, where he then counted three helicopters.
There's some more details that may be useful in tracking airliners or helicopters and then Tess Rushin ends the story with this:
External Quote:
Have you seen anything unusual in the skies over the past few nights? Send your pictures and videos to
newsdesk@leicestermercury.co.uk
What's important, I think, is that all of this is David relaying Nigel's account to Tess.
It's unclear where Nigel originally posted about his encounter, if he did at all.
It's unclear what David posted on the LLFB page: (Bold by me)
External Quote:
David Haith noted "a huge triangular UFO with lights on each corner was witnessed slowly and silently gliding through Leicester" on the evening of 24 February (last Sunday).
He explained: "The UFO was seen by 47-year-old commercial energy consultant Nigel Bailey, who posted details on Facebook."
All above EC from:
https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/...ufo-sightings-reported-leicestershire-2590859
He explained this on FB? Or did he only post the that a UFO was seen? Then the explanation about Nigel Bailey was told to Tess Rushin?
At the very least, most of it appears to second hand. Nigel's original FB post may exist but it's unclear.
We have complete names, times and dates, but Tess Rushin didn't seem interested in trying to talk to Nigel himself, content to take David's word for it and then solicit more UFO stuff.
Not to say the story isn't real, just that we have very little, if any, eyewitness accounting to go on. Maybe David made the whole thing up.
[Edit] Something else that occurred to me just as I hit the post button. Here is David's version of Nigel's version of the rest of the encounter: (Bold by me)
External Quote:
David got in touch with Nigel, who explained: "I had just come out of the front door around 7.15pm to go to pick up my wife who works at Glenfield General Hospital.
He said that he could easily make out in the clear night sky a triangular shape with lights on each corner.
David noted: "Nigel watched the craft moving across the sky for two minutes before it vanished behind a block of flats , so he moved into a car parking area near his home where he followed it again for three minutes before it also was obscured by houses.
"It was while in the car park that he spotted a helicopter flying towards the scene.
"He thought the sighting was over so drove off in his car for the five-minute journey to collect his wife from Glenfield General Hospital but spotted it again from his car as he drove into the hospital car park, where he then counted three helicopters.
"He watched the triangle for two minutes flying over the hospital before it again vanished behind buildings.
Nigel picked up his wife Emma and immediately told her: "'I think I've just seen a UFO' and, as we were coming out, I pointed out one of the helicopters that was still flying around."
https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/...ufo-sightings-reported-leicestershire-2590859
Note the encounter lasts for ~15 minutes, is clearly visible in the sky and is seen at multiple points around town. And yet, Nigel seems to be the only one that sees it.
