The Warminster Thing
In 1964, people in an English market town began hearing strange crackling sounds from the sky, and seeing lights over the hills. They called it the Thing.
What was reported
It began on Christmas morning 1964, when people in Warminster reported a loud, rattling, crackling noise overhead, like something being dragged across the roof. Over the following months, residents described sounds that knocked birds out of the sky, and glowing lights moving over the downs.
A local journalist wrote books about it, and for years crowds gathered on Cradle Hill at night to watch for the Thing. Some said they saw lights land.
Explanations offered
Warminster is next to big army training areas on Salisbury Plain, and military exercises, flares and helicopters explain many reports. Some photographs were later shown to be faked. The sounds were never fully explained.
- When
- 1964–1970s
- Where
- Warminster, Wiltshire, England
- Witnesses
- Residents, and skywatchers who came from across Britain
- Status
- Partly explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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