Unidentified Flying Object sightings chart from 1969 - Credit: Wikimedia Commons

It was a midsummer night in 1965. And as a chauffeur drove his client’s car away from Caistor Country Club – there, shimmering in the sky, was a flying saucer.

The driver’s report was described by the British UFO Research Association as “one of the most interesting and veridical [truthful] UFO reports from a British source for quite some time”.

On June 9, the man, a “chauffeur to a leading dignitary in the district” whose name was on the BUFORA’s files but which he did not wish to be made public, was driving at around 4.45pm when he spotted something strange above him.

As the car he was driving turned into the road from the driveway, he saw an object hovering above a lawn enclosed by hedges and a wall.

Photograph of a purported UFO in Passaic New Jersey taken on July 31 1952 and similar in appearance to that seen in Norfolk - Credit: Wikimedia Commons

After around 20 seconds, the object, which was “…slightly oblate, light-grey in colour and resembling a clam or a spinning-top with a flattened bottom” shot vertically upwards at high speed and disappeared into a patch of cloud.

The silvery ‘rugby ball’ emitted a low humming sound as it hovered and another witness was said to have heard the noise, but not seen the object.

Estimated to be around 100 yards away from him and about 40ft in diameter, the UFO was said to be around the size of two double-decker buses on top of each other.

The 1962-formed British UFO Research Association evaluated the report in its Autumn 1965 journal, and evaluation officer J Clearly-Baker PHD offered his professional opinion.

 “The witness is a man of good repute, whose job demands qualities of judgement and cool appraisal of unusual situations,” he wrote.

“He does not seek any publicity and he admits to having read about UFOs, which is in very refreshing contrast to the unbelievably abysmal ignorance of these which would-be hoaxers usually profess!

“There is no valid reason to suspect a hoax here. I can discover no grounds for any assumption of hallucination. The object did not resemble any type of conventional aircraft and certainly no known natural phenomenon could counterfeit such an appearance.

“In my view, we are here dealing with a perfectly genuine UFO visitation.”

The witness’s evidence is further probed.

“In cases of near-landings, there are often marks visible afterwards upon the grass and other vegetation beneath the spot at which the UFO hovered,” the BUFORA’s report continues.

“The absence of such tokens in this instance suggests that no landing was contemplated and that marks, when they are encountered, are due to some kind of gaseous emission from the UFO, connected with cushioning its descent.

An image of the former Roman Town at Caistor St Edmund - Credit: Mike Page

“Here, perhaps, the UFO's occupants brought their craft low in order to observe some surface feature, or maybe for a reason quite frivolous.

“It is probably a mistake to assume that ‘enterprises of great pith and moment’ hang upon every UFO descent to a low altitude, as it would be to assume the same concerning all examples of low-flying by terrestrial aircraft.

“I regard this as one of the most interesting and veridical UFO reports, from a British source received for some time past.”

Could, as Mr Cleary-Baker suggests, aliens have been dropping in to have a look at the Roman Town of Venta Icenorum established at Caistor in the early 2nd century AD?

The remains of the Roman town st Caistor St.Edmund. The bastion. Photo: Paul Hewitt - Credit: Archant

Was what the witness saw an example of extra-terrestrial tourism?

The truth is out there.

Norfolk claims a spot in top 10 places in the UK where you are most likely to spot UFOs – but just when is the best time to look for alien visitors in the county?

Our tourism figures prove that Norfolk is a national and international hot spot, but new figures reveal the county is also a favourite for alien visitors, too.

Weird Norfolk has written extensively about UFO sightings in the county.

There was the sighting in Hainford and Motum Road in August 1971, in Cromer on New Year’s Eve in 1978 , in Dereham Market Place in May 1978 and an incident which was documented by the CIA when a UFO was seen above South Park Avenue in Norwich in 1953 to name just a handful.

Have you see a UFO in Norfolk? Let us know by emailing stacia.briggs@archant.co.uk.

Noah Vickers, Local Democracy Reporter