A NUMBER of UFOs have allegedly been spotted in the Cumbria area in the past year – with sightings including an 'orange orb' floating above the sea.

The mysterious orb was spotted from Ravenglass in November and is one of six sightings in the county to be listed in a collation of reports on the website 'UFO Identified'.

According to the website's database, a bright, white light was seen 'moving at speed' over Kirkby Stephen in May, while a 'round-shaped aircraft' roughly 12ft wide was spotted over the Solway Coast in February.

The man behind the database is 34-year-old Ash Ellis, of Manchester, who says a sighting of 'three lights and a triangle shape' moving across the sky when he was 10 years old sparked his interest in all things extraterrestrial.

Mr Ellis believes the sheer number of UFO reports, which he collates courtesy of various sources, including the Mutual UFO Network and social media, is evidence that there is something alien out there in the skies.

One of his theories is that UFOs constitute visits from other dimensions.

"I think it's widely accepted that there's lots of dimensions," said the retail supervisor.

"We can't see beyond ours.

"So, if there's beings from higher dimensions, they can see us but we can't see them, unless they make themselves visible to us."

Mr Ellis set up UFO Identified last year in an effort to combat what he considered to be a lack of available data on UK sightings. The group runs regular meetings and sky-watches and, in October of this year, held a UFO conference in Preston.

"It's just to provide information," he said.

"When I was trying to find my own information, I couldn't find any that was up to date.

"I saw a gap that needed filling."

According to UFO Identified's database, the other sightings in Cumbria in 2021 were as follows:

  • September 4, exact location unknown, red, orange and white lights 'coming and going before all vanishing at the same time'.
  • January 24, Whitehaven, single white light moving across the sky.
  • January 7, Carlisle, bright light 'which changed colours when looking at it through a camera'.