Hull’s Green UFO Incident

When a mysterious green light followed a bus through town in 1971, even the police were baffled by what would become Hull’s most famous UFO sighting.

Have you seen something strange in the sky that you can’t explain? Can you top seeing a scary green UFO while on a school bus? Well, that’s what happened to folks in Hull, England in 1971.

In September of 1971, people from Hull and nearby towns reported seeing something strange in the night sky — a “greeny-white” oval object. There were also reports from other parts of the region, the local newspaper, Hull Daily Mail reported. “This unusual item was sighted by others in Hull, North Cave, and Beverley.”

One man’s story stood out stood out among the rest. The green, round object he spotted actually followed the number 35 school bus from Bransholme in to Hull! “The object stopped each time the bus stopped to pick up students,” he said.

And the sighting wasn’t only reported by everyday people. Withernsea police received a message from members of the Coast Guard who said that the Royal Air Force (RAF) had seen a big green object in the sky over Patrington. The pilots said it made a slow turn out to sea and vanished. They said it resembled the vapor trails planes create when they leave the sky, except that this version was green.

To most people who saw it, the object seemed roughly the size of our moon. Other sightings took place in Glasgow and southern England as well. It’s not known if these sightings were of the same UFO or if there were multiple objects in the sky that night.

The mystery, however, was finally solved when a helicopter crew went for a fly-by. They were conducting night drills when they observed the UFO and flew toward it. Unlike some science fiction flicks, the object didn’t fly off or try to blast the helicopter with laser beams. Instead, it was described by experts as “a natural phenomenon which occurs from time to time.” Specifically, they called it “a reflection of the moon on layers of dust that is in mist patches.”

Riiiiiiight. Suuuuure it was. That sounds suspiciously like “light bouncing off of swamp gas” if you ask me. Others who heard this explanation felt the same.

The 1971 newspaper reports also says the sighting could have resembled what sometimes occurs in the area when oil refineries in northern Lincolnshire ramp up their flaring (burning off surplus gas). When it does, flame stacks create orange and red glows, which can reflect off low clouds, and produce eerie lights in the sky.

Was it truly the light of the moon refracting through air dust? Or was it something more mysterious? Only the little green men know for sure.

(Cover photo: Hull Live)