9:40am Monday 10th September 2007
By Aaron Moon
Epsom residents were left puzzled after a strange cluster of orange lights drifted across the night sky on Friday.
The first sightings of the extraterrestrial orbs came from Surbiton, but several people from the Epsom area also said they saw the unexplained flying objects.
The odd phenomenon took place at about 10pm and was said to have lasted for about 10 minutes.
Linda Hope, from West Ewell, said: "I was in the garden and these lights began appearing over the roofs of the cottages, quite close behind each other, but spread across the sky and quite high up.
"I realised my husband would think I was barmy if I were to tell him, so ran indoors where he was sound asleep. I shook him and got him outside and we both watched in the garden as the lights still appeared from the west and disappeared into the clouds in the far distance.
"This went on for at least five minutes in all. Two of them seemed to play with each other - darting across and overtaking. "
Susan Stoud-Bury, from Stoneleigh, also saw the lights after her son spotted them and telephoned her.
She said: "My son and I realised they were too close together to be aeroplanes and at first I thought they may have been the army or police. They all followed the same path and appeared as orange lights and crosses that pulsated.
"It was quite scary, because it was an unusual sight. I didn't count how many there were and they definitely were not hot air balloons."
The sightings come as similar claims were made in Cheltenham in Gloucestershire earlier this week and Newbury in Berkshire last month.
Although no definite explanation has been given, one theory is that the mysterious lights were oriental lanterns which are common in China. The orange glow is generated by the heat source which lifts the laterns into the air.
Robert Rosamond, chairman of the British UFO Research Organisation, said: "At face value your orange lights would appear to fit a familiar bill - Chinese lanterns as opposed to an invasion from space."
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