The strange sight was seen around 10-40 p.m. on Friday.

Landscape manager Mr Phil Hargreaves (49) said he was driving back to Brierfield from Bacup after picking up his 17-year-old son, Jarod.

"Driving down Burnley Road, past the quarry and where the Townley Arms used to be located, you get a great view of Burnley. My son noticed them first, about 15 to 20 lights in the sky, just above the town. I stopped the car and got out for a better look.

"They were single lights, glowing, and were moving slowly upwards towards the clouds. Some appeared to be moving in formation, and one rose up from the ground and joined the others. They seemed to circle for a few minutes, then rose up slowly through the clouds and out of sight.

"The whole experience lasted about five minutes at the most from spotting them to the last light disappearing.

"The lights seemed to be quite large, but it's difficult to say really. The only explanation I could give would be someone setting helium balloons off with lights inside, although that sounds a bit ridiculous itself.

"Whatever they were, I haven't seen anything like them, and my son and I got a bird's eye view right over the town where they were. I am usually a bit sceptical about these things, but I can't explain what I saw adequately."

Mr and Mrs Tom and Elaine Sharples also saw the lights. They were watching television at 10-40 p.m. when Mr Sharples spotted them through the window.

He said: "They appeared in the sky over the rooftop facing our house moving slowly but purposely in a south-westerly to north-easterly direction. There seemed to be 12 or more bright white lights in formation with a few stragglers.



"We often see the lights of aircraft flying over at night, but there were far too many of these lights, close together, to be aircraft. Planes usually have flashing lights and these lights didn't flash.

"My wife and I went outside to watch and I tried to get a closer look with my binoculars but couldn't see them any clearer, we watched for a couple of minutes until they went out of sight behind clouds.

"It was a very unusual sight and unlike anything I've ever seen before."

Paul Smith also said he had seen 15 or 20 dots of light over Worsthorne. The amber lights were travelling silently in a line across the horizon towards Colne.

And John Hewitt said: "My wife and I observed these lights while we were in the car park at McDonald's. Like other people, we saw about 20 lights all moving as if in formation."