Nights of the Manta Ray
This event happened in the latter part of September 96. My phone rang and it was the lady with the two daughters, she relayed this story to me.
My eldest daughter and I had been to visit friends at Heatherside a new housing complex in upper Camberley Surrey. We where just about to leave saying our farewells to our friends when a gigantic shape silently and slowly moved over my friends and us, to be honest we all looked up with mouths wide open.
"The size of this huge form was we estimated at least 600ft wide at the back and about the same kind of dimensions from the huge base to the nose; it was far bigger than the playing field belonging to the Heather Ridge First School, situated near by."
This giant form moved stealthily, almost in total silence, except for a deep throbbing sound which seemed to emanate from the centre of the structure, it was moving at no more than 30mph and going in the direction of Farnborough.
My daughter and I had to leave our friends at 9pm as it was school the next day, so the whole sighting took about 2 minutes, but seemed much longer, every one was shaken by the sheer size of this craft, and they all agreed it must be alien technology.
Our unique location where we all live, Farnborough is the home of aviation, and head of European cutting edge technology, so when we have the Worlds largest air show it beggars the question, 'why are these so called cutting edge firms still using old dinosaur technology?'
Artists Impression of 'Manta Ray' craft, 1996.
A flash of light came out of nowhere during the evening of 22nd October 1996, a month and one day since the above report. Four lights; two red and two white – were travelling very close together, then suddenly a gigantic body appeared – it looked like the 'manta ray' craft that I had heard about before.
The object appeared to be somewhere around 1,000ft across, and was travelling very low at an approximate speed of 30/40mph. The object proceeded over the DERA airfield now QinetiQ, where it then turned over the central area before hovering in a stationary position. It was then that I noticed that there was total blackout over the area…even the red navigation lights on the runway were out.
The 'manta ray' flew around the east side of the DERA facility, it passed extremely low over the buildings before executing a complete roll, then it flew low down the British Aerospace Business Park and did a side roll as it passed by them.
"This giant craft made the large buildings look something out of Toy Town."
The last thing I saw was its left fin as it landed on the airstrip. As it was now only 8.50pm I got my daughter in the car and drove straight to the airfield, in those days you could park on the grass verge. There was total darkness, except for a chink of light over the airfield so with my binoculars I could see easily an open door to the side of a large hanger, then men dressed in white coats running in and out of the hanger. They where carrying various boxes and equipment. These men vanished into the darkness round the back of this hanger, then re appeared with yet more equipment and boxes taking them back into the hanger.
I looked for some kind of trace of the bizarre mantaray but saw nothing.
My name is Hilary Porter and I live in Hampshire in the United Kingdom. I am the co-founder of B.E.A.M.S - The British Earth & Aerial Mysteries Society, a long established investigation and studies forum dealing with all aspects of unexplained phenomena and the paranormal.
Since my childhood I have experienced numerous abduction-type experiences and had some major UFO sightings. From the mid-sixties onwards I have been a researcher of UFOs and related subjects which has taken me down a fascinating path. For a number of years I have contributed a collection of articles to well known periodicals such as 'Alien Encounters', 'Witness' and also had material appear under various pseudonyms in books such as Nick Redferns' 'Cosmic Crashes' and 'Covert Agenda'. I have also appeared on Live TV's the 'Why Files' program."
When I left school in the early 60's I had several jobs in engineering companies of which there where many in this area. Then I saw an advertisement in our local paper for engineers needed at what was then the site of Elliott Automation, Frimley in Surrey. I was successful at the interview and got a job in the micro circuitry laboratory; I knew this was where the future in electronics was heading and I wanted to be part of it. In time we were taken over by Marconi. From the very second this took place nothing was ever the same again. The work changed to very hush-hush stuff, everything in duplicate and on a strictly need to know basis.
It was at this time that strange things started to happen within the company, accounts of which are in my book. Reports of Hexagonal craft where coming in from witnesses who not only lived near this site but from the general area as well. Because of my artistic skills I was asked by the chief draughtsman if I would consider an apprenticeship as a draughts woman, I jumped at the chance, and became one of only a handful of woman working in a very male dominated environment. This work took me all over the company into many laboratories and offices even to outside firms from time to time.
All employees had to sign the Official Secrets Act and it’s only now I can give the reader some insight as to what it was like to work in this environment.
