THE GUARDIAN talked to people who have witnessed strange phenomena in the area. Some of them refused to have their names mentioned.

In September, two teenage girls, who wouldn't be named, saw an orange ball shaped light in the sky, above the clouds, over Moss Lane, Moore, at 8.15 in the evening, as they were walking a dog.

Graham Clamp, his wife, Pauline, and sons Jason, 14, and Colin, 13, all saw a pink ball in the sky over Preston Book, in l994. They were in the garden of their home at Cottons Bridge, Preston On the Hill. "We had never seen anything like it before. It was there for about five minutes. It was just bigger than a football, moving up and down, then stationary, then moving again. We had no idea what it could be. We haven't seen anything like it since," said Pauline. The ball changed from pink to white, before moving off in a strange zig zag course southwards, towards Helsby Hill, then disappeared in the direction of Chester.

Jenny's own parents were involved in an incident at Preston Brook in l990. The couple, both disabled, had parked their car near a field, in which there was a crop circle which Jenny was photographing.

A car crashed into the Randles' vehicle and Mrs Randles had to be cut free. The driver of the other vehicle later told police that he lost control and was pulled across the road, into the Randles' vehicle. "It was as if an unseen force had tugged the unfortunate man's vehicle across the road towards the field," said Jenny. Mrs Randles is still alive, and lives in Fleetwood, and Mr Randles has since died.

The Vicar of Daresbury, The Rev David Smith, said that even after the corn was cut, there was still a dark green circle underneath it.

A Daresbury woman who would not be named told the GUARDIAN last week that people in the village had seen the ghost of a motor cyclist who was killed there in the 1920s. She knew of two people, living in Daresbury at the moment, who had been joined by the spectre while out walking.

Ghost writer Wally Barnes said that five years ago, a couple from Wigan telephoned him and said that something that looked like the ghost of an ugly person had come up to their car as they drove on Chester Road, near Walton Cemetery. It frightened them, then suddenly disappeared. Several people had also reported seeing the ghost of a tramp in Moore.

Several strange incidents in the area are listed in "Mysteries of the Mersey Valley", a book by Jenny, and co author Peter Hough of Lowton.

In 1988 Peter Taylor, of Stockport, had trouble with his car two nights running going through Daresbury. It happened again a few days later. He was still trying to figure out what happened when he found himself near Preston, 40 miles away. More than an hour of his life had gone without his having any recollection of it.

Forty years ago, a man named James Cook claimed to have been abducted by aliens from a hill in Runcorn and taken to another planet. When he returned, he realised that he had "been away" for 45 hours! He also claimed that a similar incident took place two years later in Frodsham.

Other incidents spread over the past 20 years include ghosts in Runcorn, Moore, the Mersey Estuary and Norton Priory and a giant bird seen at Preston Brook Marina.

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