AN AUTHOR of a book about UFOs has made an appeal for witnesses to a sighting over an Oxford school nearly 40 years ago.

According to a former pupil at Cutteslowe Primary School, a mystery object was spotted over the playing field during one lunchtime in the summer of 1976.

The woman, who now lives in Swindon, was six-years-old at the time of the incident, and although she does not wish to be identified, she is hoping other pupils will come forward to back her story from that day.

John Hanson, a retired CID Officer with West Midlands Police, has just written his first book on UFOs called Haunted Skies Volume 1 and was contacted by the woman named Zoe who is now in her 40s.

The 64-year-old based in the Midlands said: “A lot of people who sight UFOs don’t want to be identified because of fear of ridicule.

“But she says an incident occurred at the school in the summer of 1976. She was one of about 50 pupils who saw this object at lunchtime.

“She tried to approach it, but couldn't because the atmosphere was extremely cold.

“It’s hard to give distances and heights of what was seen, but it’s pretty strange.

“It is an incident that has never had any publicity, but it has been playing on her mind and her husband has contacted me to see if we can find any other witnesses, whether they are teachers or pupils.

“We would like any information to build the case up as there is very little know about it.

“Oxfordshire has had a number of incidents over the years but there has never been anything published on this particular incident.”

According to Mr Hanson, the vast majority of sightings involving UFOs take place in or around ancient landmarks.

It is unclear whether that is the case with land surrounding Cutteslowe School, but Mr Hanson revealed: “About 90 per cent of sightings occur over or near ancient ruins or Roman roads. This is because they are energy lines.

“It could be these energy lines that are creating UFOs. We always think of aliens from the future or a super intelligence – but I’m sure it’s nothing to do with aliens.

“It could be a natural phenomenon, not that the government would admit it.

“I don't know the history of Cutteslowe School or the feature of the landscape but I’m sure there is a connection with some sort of ancient ruin.”

UFOs have been spotted over the skies of Oxford on numerous occasions, according to the Ministry of Defence.

Two years ago the government released an “X-Files” document that revealed UFOs were spotted locally eight times in the six-year period between 1986 and 1992.

There have also been scores of sightings since the release of those papers with the year 2000 being the biggest year with four separate reports recorded.

If anyone has any information on the incident then they can call Mr Hanson on 0121 445 0340.