Ray gunning for alien visitors after filming mystery objects in the skies above Millwey Rise

An Axminster man is convinced that alien spacecraft are regular visitors to the skies above the town.

Pensioner Ray Johnson claims to have photographic evidence of their presence – and says they often come in large numbers.

“I’d rather people called me a crackpot than ignored it,” he told The Herald.

The former council parks police officer says he first spotted the UFOs from the garden of his home at St George’s Avenue, Millwey Rise, about a year ago.

Since then he has kept a detailed log of his sightings, some of which have been corroborated by his daughter, Alison.

He says he has seen large and small craft, mostly cylindrical in shape.

“When I first saw them I was so alarmed I called the police – but they said there was nothing they could do,” he said.

“It makes you wonder if we are going to be invaded – but perhaps they are just observing us.”

Mr Johnson, 76, says the UFOs can be best seen when skies are clear in the early hours of the morning.

“The large ones are sometimes accompanied by smaller ones which seem to stop at the boundary like they are standing by,” he said.

“They make no noise and often just fade away. Sometimes there are lights all along the side – like searchlights – so bright they can hurt your eyes.

“One night my daughter Alison, from Wolverhampton, was with me and she was amazed – she had thought I was pulling her leg.

“There were about 10-15 of these huge craft – white oval shaped things they made no noise and eventually just faded away.

“My daughter took a photo on her small Olympus camera – you can see the shape of one of them, and if you use a magnifying glass you can see the stars behind it.”

Mr Johnson said the UFOs were sometimes accompanied by orange and red lights and were capable of moving at amazing speeds and could be gone “in a flash”.

He said he had suggested to his neighbours they take a look but not many were keen to get up in the early hours when they were often visible – around 2am to 3am.

But he is determined to get further corroboration of what he believes he is witnessing and wants anyone who sees a UFO in the area to contact the Midweek Herald and report it, preferably with photographic evidence..

He says the craft mostly come from the direction of the Stockland Hill TV mast which is the direction to start looking he suggests.

A spokesman at Axminster Police Station confirmed they had been contacted by Mr Johnson but said there had been no other reports of unidentified flying objects being spotted above the town.