by Ciaran Dunbar December 26, 2018 (bbc.com)
• The Northern Ireland UFO Society, formed in 2013 by its current chairman, Chris McMurray, has 14 members who meet monthly in south Belfast to review reports of UFO sighting as well as investigating other strange phenomena.
• The first UFO sighting in Ireland was recorded in the year 743. “Ships with their crews, were plainly seen in the sky this year”.
• Society member Conor Kieran feels the need to speak to like-minded people about the UFO phenomenon. “People think I am crazy,” he said candidly. Conor said he has experienced the paranormal but chose not to expand on those experiences. “I am ok with people laughing at me because I know exactly what I saw, I can tell the difference between a delusion and something I am actually seeing.”
• Society member Diana Jones has had a life-long interest in UFOs. She said she witnessed a UFO along with two other family members. “It actually started off as a light in the sky, and then transformed into a craft which was extremely low.” Jones said the “craft” was travelling very slowly and missed a house by a just few feet. Through the society she has met people who say they have had similar experiences which has helped her in her search for answers.
• In May 2016, society member Arfon Jones says he came upon a ET creature in broad daylight on the Tannyoky Road in County Armagh. He described it as being tall, grey, wide at the shoulders but narrowing at the waist with a rounded muscular torso and a swinging tail. It wore no clothes. “It was a creature, it wasn’t human,” said Jones. “It was right there in front of me, walking, and as I came closer to it, it just turned around and looked at me… for about 10 seconds.” Then it was gone in a flash into a field. Jones reported the incident to the government without response.
• Society vice-chairman Rodney Murphy is convinced that others in the group have the ability to see and experience the paranormal. Murphy cannot say that UFOs are real or that there are visitors to this planet. “But there are certainly questions still to be answered. …And I say, the very reason I’m in the group is to try to find those answers,” in spite of the laughing and sniggering from friends and family.
• The UK Ministry of Defence had a UFO hotline until 2009, but it no longer collects statistics on unexplained events or objects in the sky.
Formed in 2013, the Northern Ireland UFO society is not a big one, there are 14 members in total.
But there is no doubting their passion, their doubts and their desire to know more.
The society meets monthly in the Crescent Arts Centre in south Belfast.
Those meetings review recent reports of UFO sighting as well as investigating other phenomena that are “outside the norm”.
The group provides a “willing ear” to people who may have had an experience that they cannot explain.
Rodney Murphy, a driving instructor from Magherafelt, is currently the society’s vice-chairman.
His interest in the subject was sparked by television programmes.
Rodney admits that when his role in the society comes up it sparks “sniggering and laughing”, even with family members.
But he said that when he explained the questions he has in his own mind about unexplained happenings, people are more accepting.
“Then they start to enquire as well and say: ‘Well that is interesting – what is the answer’?
“And I say, the very reason I’m in the group is to try to find those answers.”
But Rodney does not have the answers himself.
“There’s nothing there that has said to me: ‘Yes, there definitely are aliens or there are definitely UFOs or there are visitors to this planet’. But there are certainly questions still to be answered.”
Rodney says others in the group have convinced him that they have the ability to see and experience the paranormal.
“I don’t doubt their bono fides at all… and I have to say when you see the reactions when they are telling their stories, it is very genuine.”
The first UFO sighting in Ireland is recorded in an entry in the Annals of the Four Masters dating from the year 743.
“At-ces co forréil loingius isin aer cona b-foirnibh isin m-bliadhain-si,” or “Ships with their crews, were plainly seen in the sky this year”.
Conor Kieran is a DJ and barman. But his life-long interest in the paranormal has risen to the point that he feels that he needs to speak to like-minded people about it.
“People think I am crazy,” he said candidly.
“I am ok with people laughing at me because I know exactly what I saw, I can tell the difference between a delusion and something I am actually seeing.”
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