(Original headline: UFO mystery solved ) 
THE Recorder can now shed light on the mystery UFOs seen in the sky last week - they were sky lanterns!!
Reports flooded into our office of lots of orange, unidentified flying objects after the Smalley family saw the mysterious lights floating over their home in Acacia Avenue, Elm Park, at 10pm on Monday, August 29.
And it now seems likely that the mystery lights are not hi-tech visitors from outerspace but an ancient kind of party popper imported by Grant Barry for his six-month-old business, Sky Lanterns.
The 26-year-old from Stapleford Abbotts, ships over the floating lanterns from Asia and has let them off at around 30 weddings and parties.
He said: "I'm afraid to say these aren't little green men flying around. It's most likely me letting off the lanterns in my garden or some of our recent parties.
"The lanterns are like little hot air balloons. You set fire to the wick and let them float up into the air. They're made from mulberry paper wrapped around bamboo frames."
Grant came across the sky lanterns while travelling around Asia where they are released during festivals.
They vary in size from titchy 2ft to a massive 8ft tall. Grant charges £999 for a display of 100 sky lanterns.
He said: "I was at a festival on a beach in Indonesia when suddenly they let off thousands of sky lanterns. It was breathtaking. I'd never seen anything like them so decided to bring them to England."
Janet Smalley, 53, whose family were the first to contact the Recorder about the sightings, said: "My son will be disappointed. I think he was hoping they were real UFOs."
Keith Blackwell, 48, Gorseway, reported seeing mystery lights. He said: "I saw an indistinct orange light to the south east at about 40 degrees high. It was totally stationary in the sky."
His wife Kate said: "It certainly did not look like a lantern. It was hovering in the sky then came shooting towards us. It then shot back to its original position. It really spooked me."
Pat Fitzpatrick of Hornchurch added: "We were at a barbecue in Grenfell Avenue on Bank Holiday Monday and late in the evening a large orange light flew overhead, stopped for about 30 seconds and then went up higher and higher until it disappeared."
Liz Gamby, 51, from Douglas Road, Hornchurch, also witnessed the light display. She said: "I was looking up at the stars with my son Thomas, 23, when we saw an orange light in the sky. It was moving along, getting higher and higher. We were all stumped."
Tony Rutter from Coltsfoot Path, Harold Hill, also saw them: "There were about seven lights, a group of five and two singles. We were just as baffled as the Smalley family."
Grant said that he had been releasing the lanterns at a wedding on August 27 and a pool party on August 28. He added that he often experiments with the lanterns in his back garden, most Friday and Saturday nights - when most of the sightings have been made.
John Murphy,48, of Channing Close, Hornchurch, saw them on August 6 at around 10pm as he drove on the A12 between Colchester and Chelmsford and said motorists were pulling over to look at them..
Stuart Kennedy from Hornchurch reported seeing more lights on Friday September 9.
