DORSET has long been a popular location for UFO sightings, with some even occurring over the past few weeks.
Speculation follows a sighting, with Dorset residents wondering whether the mysterious object or light they have seen could be something from space, a science phenomenon, spacecraft equipment, or something else entirely.
Sightings in the county aren't a new thing, but only since the advent of camera phones has it become easy for spotters to point their phone to the sky and take a snap.
In this article, we look back at previous accounts of sightings, details and photographic 'evidence' of UFO's.
The first ever recorded sighting of a UFO
The term UFO didn't become common until the 1950s, but the first time a sighting of an unexplained object in the sky was recorded was December 8 1733 in Dorset.
Fleet resident Mr James Cracker saw a silvery disc fly overhead in broad daylight.
His eyewitness account said: "Something in the sky which appeared in the north but vanished from my sight, as it was intercepted by trees, from my vision. I was standing in a valley.
"The colour of this phenomenon was like burnished, or new washed silver. It shot with speed like a star falling in the night.
"But it had a body much larger and a train longer than any shooting star I have seen."
UFOs or Chinese lanterns?
It recent years, the Daily Echo has been contacted about numerous potential UFO sightings, but how many of them were plausible?
In 2007, a video was sent in by Echo reader Tina Pope of a UFO sighting.
It quickly became an online sensation as viewers could hardly believe what they were seeing.
However, it was revealed that the lights believed to be UFOs were in fact Chinese lanterns, the result of a prank organised by students at the Arts Institute at Bournemouth.
A similar incident happened two years later in 2009.
Southbourne man Chris captured a video of what he thought could have been of a UFO.
Although it is not known whether the UFO was identified, people seemed to believe it could have been Chinese lanterns or the SBS.
In 2010, reader Joe Weil saw the above object in the skies above Parley Manor.
He said: "This object was in the sky for more than four hours.
"Although it moved up and down, the object never changed position in every photo so it could not have been a balloon or any other object flying on a cord.
"I phoned Hurn airport, the general manger got the tower to have a look and they could see nothing on radar."
After a friend investigated further, Joe discovered that it was in fact a crow-scaring device used by farmers.
Mysterious moving lights
Last year, numerous slow-moving, mysterious bright lights were seen travelling across Dorset towards the New Forest on March 29.
Around 80 moving lights were spotted, and they were first seen at 8.46pm in Poole by couple Brian and Heather Camfield who stepped outside to watch the International Space Station go overhead.
"We thought, 'This is it, the UFOs are coming now," Brian said.
The mysterious lights were also seen above Christchurch a few minutes later.
Stacey Sprason and her family witnessed the slow-moving, consistent lights around 9pm.
Stacey said: "The lights were about plane height, bright and low. It was really weird how all the lights were in one dead straight line."
These lights were later believed to be Starlink satellites.
The latest UFO sighting
A mysterious round shape (believed to be a UFO) was spotted above Durley Chine beach last month.
The flying object was spotted by the owner of Naked Coffee Ian Saul at 8.29pm on Monday, March 29.
He said: "I don't believe in UFOs and I never have in all my life, but I can't explain what it was, especially when I see in my video how quickly it was flying.
"I have never seen anything like this in my life and I couldn't say what it was.
"When I watch the video back, it almost looks like a round ball flying in a circle whilst moving through the sky."
A video of the UFO can be viewed in the original article.
Have you seen a UFO in Dorset? Show us your pictures!
Send us photos of UFOs you have spotted in Dorset, whether that be recently or a few years ago.
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