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This article was published in the daily newspaper Newbury Weekly News, Newbury, Berkshire, U-K., on October 5, 2006.
By Robert Rowlands, Reporter
MOD and Met Office say they can't account for strange light formations seen over Greenham bunkers.
A week may have passed, but there is still no explanation for the mystery lights seen over Greenham Common.
The MOD and the Met Office have been unable to account for the strange light formations, and newburytoday and the Newbury Weekly News have been flooded with calls and emails from readers who saw the lights or think they know what caused them.
Some of the explanations include Chinese lanterns, hoaxers with kites, helicopters and fireworks.
Meanwhile, the Met Office has confirmed that the bright, silent flashes that lit up the sky around the time of the light formations were due to distant lightning.
Fifteen-year-old Declan Geater of Greenham Close was with some friends when he saw 12 orange lights moving soundlessly in a V-shape formation over Greenham Common just after midnight on September 23.
"We were all interested when we saw it in the sky," he said.
"I have never seen anything like it. I thought it was something like a UFO."
One woman, who wished to remain anonymous, was driving from East Ilsley to Streatley with her partner when she saw the lights at 8pm.
"I thought they were like strange helicopters in a triangle formation, very high up. They were there for the whole 20 minute drive. They were very large, and you could not see any other shape."
A hoaxer was the more likely culprit, according to Turnpike Road resident Patrick Painting.
"They are done deliberately to make people confused and to create hysteria. I know that there are people who attach lights to the kites and throw them up, and of course you can't see the kite or the line at all."
