City's famous 'flying saucer' reports inspire play

Reports of a glowing red saucer-shaped object seen landing near a housing estate in the 1960s has sparked a new play.

On the evening of 2 September, 1967, there were dozens of reported sightings of a flying saucer and bright lights above Bentilee, an estate in Stoke-on-Trent.

News reports from the time featured a woman who said it seemed like a saucer that changed colours. Another woman said the light did not give off any heat, it was just a red glow.

Deb McAndrew, author of Bright Lights Over Bentilee, said people saw something and "I believe them when they tell me they did".

In a 1960s news report covering the unexplained events, a woman said: "It seemed like a saucer and then it changed in different colours.

"It changed like... red and then it... come into like a greenish colour and then a blue."

Another woman next to her added: "There was no heat. It was just a red glow, like a sunset."

As part of her research, Ms McAndrew uncovered a report detailing 70 other UFO sightings.

"They saw something extraordinary one night in September 1967," she said.

"But they saw something yeah and I believe them when they tell me they did."

Claybody Theatre, which is staging the production, said there had never been a plausible explanation for what people witnessed.

"A number of children and adults witnessed a glowing red object fly over the houses and land in a field on the edge of the estate," it said.

"Then it took off in a blaze of white light and disappeared from view."

Actor Kymberley Cochrane said the play told the story of what happened to the people that saw it and what they might have seen.

Fellow cast member Jack Wilkinson added: "The idea that something might be out there in general and that this is like a.... kind of world where people on a mass scale saw something in our area, I think that's kind of like really kind of wild and magical."

The play will open on Friday at The Dipping House, Spode Works, Church Street.

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