ARE the skies above Barnoldswick acting as a window for extraterrestrial visitors......or is the answer closer to home?

This is a profound question on an emotive subject, but is also something to which Barnoldswick man Mel Ford, of Chatford Lodge, Ben Lane, wants answers.

Mr Ford, a builder, his wife, Helen, and their son, John, have all witnessed incidents to which they have no real explanation.

"It has been going on for many years now," explained Mr Ford. It began when we were living on Wellington Street in the town. My wife and son both experienced what they can only describe as nocturnal paranormal events.

"I will be the first to admit that I thought they were crackers. I had neither felt nor seen anything and just dismissed it as rubbish.

"It wasn't until about three years after we moved to the bungalow I built in 1989 on Ben Lane that I began to experience these same things," he added.

"It began with balls of light appearing in the night sky across the fields to the front of my house. There is an underground reservoir between two hills, and these objects, which are silent, can appear and disappear in a matter of seconds. Even when the curtains were drawn across I would instinctively know they were there and felt as though they were watching me. I even bought a camcorder to be able to film them. I have a lot of footage which has and is being analysed by Dr Green at Bradford University.

"There have been incidents when dead mice laid perfectly neatly at the back door have been found, unmarked apart from a small hole in between their eyes."

So concerned about these events were Mr and Mrs Ford that they contacted Donald Cooper, president of SERIUS, a Skipton-based extraterrestrial research organisation who explains: "I didn't know at the time when I was contacted by Mr Ford that I had actually gone to school with him. I remember him as a sensible, ordinary sort of person and I feel very concerned about the experiences he has had which have left him at near breaking-point.

"Mr Ford has not only seen craft in the area close to his house near the underground reservoir, which is a powerful source of energy, but he has also experienced what he can only describe as three to four foot 'beings' in his house which have the ability to paralyse him," continued Mr Cooper.

"He is not totally sure what these visitors are trying to do but each time he is put into a state of paralysis, usually at night while he is preparing to go to sleep.

"On one occasion he felt some pain in the side of his head and discovered a bead-like shiny object which was partially embedded in his scalp. He gave me this object which I sent away for analysis and the results were that it was made up of eight elements, seven of which the scientists could identify, the eighth was totally unknown to them," Mr Cooper explained.

Mr Cooper, an ex-RAF officer, has studied this type of phenomena for many years and feels the cause lies as much with military involvement both nationally and internationally, as it does with alien forces.

"There are many intelligence organisations throughout the world of which the ordinary man cannot begin to comprehend.

"The truth, as they say, is out there and yet UFOlogists come up against closed doors at every turn. It's not until a past member of these groups leaks something to the media that we get to hear about things, but even then they are quickly hushed up one way or another. The technology we have at our disposal is phenomenal and far more sophisticated than we are led to believe. During my time in the RAF I was aware of whole sections devoted to scanning the skies and seas for UFO activity," claims Mr Cooper. "Files were kept, secretly of course, and secret meetings arranged between the many Heads of State."

Mr Cooper has compiled a 50 page dossier taken from research he has undertaken which links intelligence organisations to UFO activity. "It is about time ordinary people demand more openness with regard to the UFO phenomenon," he added. "Technology could fall into the wrong hands and we could be left with a one-world government, with one army and one police force.

Mr Ford feels it is about time the public know about the things he has experienced and hopes people will come forward and be counted. Lots of people have already approached him after hearing of the incidents and Mr Cooper has records of hundreds of sightings in the Barnoldswick area.

"Surely," says Mr Ford, "all these people cannot be wrong."

If anyone wishes to get in touch with Mr Ford his telephone number is 01282 812707.

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