Ivybridge, Plymouth, Devon being encounter — August 26, 1993

The contemporary clipping behind this entry identifies Plymouth councillor Hermann Welch as the observer. Published in the Western Evening Herald on 3 August 1993, it dates his observation to 26 July, between 21:50 and 22:45. This conflicts with the Atlas’s 26 August date. Welch watched through binoculars from his Mainstone home toward the Ivybridge area, rather than describing a close encounter on the moor. He reported four bright lights above several coloured lights, with the whole formation appearing to hover. Two lights moved away and returned. A red glow then illuminated the ground below, where he thought he could see movement resembling someone walking. His wording was tentative: he considered whether a farmer and combine harvesters might explain the scene, although he believed the lights were hovering. The clipping does not provide a clear craft outline or an identifiable occupant description. The same article also discusses earlier family and schoolchildren’s sightings on 20 and 24 July. Those witnesses did not independently confirm Welch’s possible ground figures and their cigar-shaped object should not be imported into his account. The plate follows the press version: a distant ambiguous light formation, possible personlike movement below and the binocular observer at home. Its date label and indistinct forms preserve both the source conflict and the uncertainty expressed by the witness.