Nocturnal "Encounters" in Newquay

UFOs…Black Holes?

Close Encounters? Well almost.


Here's how it happened…

10.30pm August 3rd and I am tired so I decided it's time I hit the sack (party animal that I am).

And so it was that I laid my head down on my pillow to go to sleep. Snuggled down, closed my eyes…and then opened them again - This closing and then opening of eyes is an odd ritual I go through every night. It's called insomnia.

Well upon opening them I glanced out of the window to see if the moon was shining up there amongst the stars..... and……. Whoa!……. what was that floating through the night sky? Was it smoke? Was there a fire? Couldn't smell anything burning but you never know. Best make sure.

And so to satisfy my curiosity what did I do? Yes that's right. I got up out of bed and looked out of the window.

Gasp! Followed by another….Gasp!

What was that up there in the sky?

A huge montage of swirling lights. Lots of them spinning around clockwise and pulsating in and out. Like a huge pale animated sunflower painted in the night sky.

I stood there mesmerised trying to make out what the hell it was I was looking at. I had only had one glass of wine that evening so my imagination was not playing tricks on me. Was I dreaming? No. I pinched myself. I was awake.

Anyways. There I stood for a while watching these dancing lights in the sky.

Aliens, I thought…funny looking green men….abductions…..

Then I remembered I had been reading Professor Stephen Hawking's book "A Brief History of Time" and I knew it…..my immediate suspicions confirmed.

A BLACK HOLE…….come to suck us all in!

I recalled what Professor Hawkins has said about the moment you are being pulled into a Black Hole. First you are stretched, elongated to a great length and then shredded like spaghetti and then you are compressed into a very dense and very minute spot or blob, if you like, and spat out the other side of the abyss. Yuk.

And so it was, shivering in my bath robe and bare footed, I stood at the window waiting to be either abducted by aliens or shredded like a plate of pasta. Did I have a choice? I wondered. I really wasn't up for being abducted and I didn't much fancy being food for a Black Hole.

Climbing back into bed - and trying to resist a temptation to hide under the covers. I decided that whatever it was out there was benign and so I thought I should attempt to go to sleep.

But before doing so, a quick peep again through the window and I realised the lights were subsiding. Good. The aliens have had their fill of Newquay. Too noisy. Too many bars. Too many surf shops. Too many drunks……too much…well you get the picture.

I did manage to drift off to sleep…….and then about 1.30am I awoke again quite suddenly. Glancing out the window and thinking how nice and peaceful it was with just the sound of the ocean lapping up the beach when………oh no!…. They were back again! They had sent their Black Hole to sneak up and get me whilst I was sleeping. Oh nooooo…..

Getting out of bed again to have another look, and yes, there they were once more in all their glory.

I looked around but could not see any laser beams coming from any of the clubs around Newquay. Was it the reflection of water from the harbour I was seeing? No, that wasn't right either. Not possible. The ring of lights was huge.

It was not warm standing there with the window open, so I resigned myself that if I was to be abducted, well so be it. And thus I climbed back into bed and once more fell asleep while the strange celestial light dance went on above me.

Morning broke. I awoke and all was quiet. No more lights. No abductions that I was aware of. No spaghetti hanging from…….I'll leave it to your imagination.

I asked others in the apartment block if anyone else had seen the bizarre light show and Yes, they had.

No one knew what it was. One person (who hadn't seen it) suggested that it was strobe lighting from a disco that was going on in Berties Night Club. Maybe. But I have seen those lights from the disco before and they did not look like the ones I saw on the night of the third of August.

Oh well, there must be a rational explanation. The following night was 'normal', whatever 'normal' is for Newquay in party mode. But I will keep my eyes on the skies again tonight and tomorrow night and probably every other forthcoming night..….and if I see them again and if I find out what they really are I will let you know.

That is assuming a big headed, bug eyed monster doesn't appear and try to whisk me off to a pink and purple remote planet somewhere in the far distant reaches of the universe......

If he does there's only one thing I have to say to him…UFO!