16th November 1967 Storrington, W Sussex
Storrington (FSR vol. 14 no. 2, 1968: Charles Bowen and Gordon Creighton “The Storrington Reports”.
Haunted Skies Vol. 2 John Hanson
To make this brief, at 18:45 hrs on Sunday, 29th October, 1967, Paul Quick (21) saw an oval-shaped UFO flying over woods near the West Sussex village of Storrington. Quick watched amazed as the craft headed for the ground on the Sussex Downs. The object was also observed by his mother and sister despite a search of the area by police, no sign of the UFO was found. This was the first of a number of sightings in the county that were investigated by the late Omar Fowler. The main incident of relevance here took place on the afternoon of Thursday, 16th November involving Mrs Quick (Paul’s mother).
“…I happened to be walking towards the Downs as the sun was setting
in the West. I had stopped to admire the view, when I spotted an obstacle
on the horizon which struck me at first as looking rather like a steam-roller.
So, thinking it would be more than a strange to see a steam-roller on the
Downs, I decided to go home and collect my opera glasses –all I had to aid
me in the sighting.
“I now learned that it was a different thing altogether, so I stood watching a
most strange performance. The shape was very unusual –trumpet-shape at
what appeared to be the front. The centre was dome-shaped, with two tails
from the right-hand side. I would say that length was about 25 to 30 ft. It
swivelled several times before disappearing over the Downs for at least ten
minutes, only to reappear and continue the same movement.
“After the sun had set behind the Downs, a light appeared in front of the
craft. It flickered from very bright to a smaller light, then an extremely deep
red (blood red) glow showed from the object. It changed from light red to
a deeper red glow. It changed its position once or twice at great speed, and
then finally took off at an incredible speed towards the sea, possibly in the
Worthing direction.
“Ten minutes later, it reappeared, but disappeared again behind a clump of
trees. After that we saw no more.
“I had a witness –someone who had been shopping and had seen me looking
towards the Downs with the glasses— so naturally she was interested and asked
me what I was looking at. She also looked through the glasses, also seeing
exactly the same object, behaviour, lights, and departure. By this time she was
convinced that this was no ordinary event, and so nervously decided to return
home to inform her son.
“I noticed a dark figure approaching the craft at one moment, possibly gliding.
It looked slightly larger than a human as we know them. It disappeared suddenly.”
Above: object sighted on 16th November Omar Fowler’s redrawing of Mrs. Quick’s sketch.
Bowen and Creighton wrote:
“As for the vaguely-described “creature” figure, it seems that Mrs. Quick
suggested it was 8 to 10ft. tall, and appearing to float rather than walk,
before it disappeared. Mr. Fowler also remarks that after the incident, the
witness, who lives alone with one of her daughters, had a feeling that
someone was outside the house, a feeling she shared with her daughter…the
second incident in particular has features which bear a degree of resemblance
to descriptions we have come across on many occasions. In this connection
our thoughts range to Saltwood, and even Casa Blanca, to quote extreme cases.”
It should be noted that the Saltwood case started as a ghost sighting and then became a UFO incident and both based on a misidentification which, in 1967 both Bowen and Creighton knew; John Hanson is Haunted Skies (volume 2) covered the incident quite thoroughly. Mrs. Quick did not describe bat-wings and why the writers decided to use the word “creature” when there is only a tall humanoid figure described I have no idea –perhaps it was to try to make the story more sensational for its readers; and not for the first time. The 1955, Casa Blanca, California case involved an entity roughly the size of a 4 year old child so that comment loses me in this context.
So what happened to this case –I asked Charles Bowen who referred me to the FSR issue in question because it seems that was where their interest ended. Omar Fowler told me that he did not think that there was much more to it as Mrs. Quick had already reported a UFO once and he couldn’t find any of his papers on the case. Remember; in those days if you saw two objects you could not identify and so made two UFO reports you were a crank. A UFO sighting (with other persons present) and then another with a second observer and an entity was seen you were a loon. Omar could not recall talking to the second witness.
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