Records of UK's oldest UFO sighting found in 280-year-old journal

The oldest UFO sighting in the UK was recorded in 1742 during the reign of King George II of Great Britain.

The alleged UFO was spotted by a physician named Cromwell Mortimer, who was also secretary of the Royal Society. Mortimer was on his way home from Westminster in December 1742 when he spotted a shiny object.

The alleged UFO sighting is mentioned in the journal Philosophical Transactions, vol XLIII in 1746 and it is the first time that the records have come to light. Mortimer writes: "I saw a light arise from behind the trees and houses in the south by west point, which I took at first for a large skyrocket."

"But when it had risen to the height of about 20 degrees, it took a motion nearly parallel to the horizon, but waved in this manner, and went on to the N by E point over the houses," he adds.

He then goes on to describe how it moved in the sky: "Its motion was so very slow, that I had it above half a minute in view; and had time enough to contemplate its appearance fully."

The volume of the Philosophical Transactions also features a diagram of the object by Mortimer. He writes that the object passed over Bloomsbury before he "lost sight of it over the Haymarket," writes The Mirror.

"It is the first of its kind. Folk stood out on a balcony witnessed it. These folk were well to do which encouraged proper research into it," claims British UFO expert Steve Mera.

Belief in UFOs is a global phenomenon, with millions of people subscribed to ideas of unidentified flying objects, aliens, abductions and government conspiracies about the likes of Roswell and Area 51. This belief has even led to the creation of World UFO Day on July 2, an event set up in 2001 to commemorate the supposed UFO crash in Roswell in 1947.