THE question of whether or not we are truly alone in the universe remains one of life's greatest mysteries.
However there has been many times throughout history people have seen suspicious objects in the sky.
a UFO or unidentified flying object is defined as a mysterious object seen in the sky for which it is claimed no orthodox scientific explanation can be found.
Across Somerset there have been a number of reported sightings and in this week's looking back we are taking a look at some of those cases.
In January 1994, a couple reported to the County Gazette they saw a UFO hovering above the village of Stoke St Gregory.
It was just one of a number of recent sightings at the time in the Taunton area in fact.
It was described as a bright white object and was seen just before midnight on a Monday.
The couple said: "It was hovering, but then started moving left to right, somewhere towards Burrow Mump.
"As the object moved it tilted, revealing three or more blue, silver and red lights underneath it."
The couple said they watched the object suddenly shoot up hundreds of feet into the night sky.
More recently, in 2018 a reader of the Bridgwater Mercury captured a mysterious falling object during a storm in Bridgwater.
The storms hit Somerset on Saturday afternoon and Megan Taylor caught some dramatic footage of lightning in the skies above the town.
But what she didn't bank on was captured something else too, a black object is seen falling from the sky just after a lightning strike.
It is hard to make out what it is but one thing is for certain it is very bizarre.
Moving forward again to 2020, a Taunton reported seeing a "mystery object" in the sky above Taunton in the early morning.
The UFO was high in the sky and barely moved for 15 minutes before slowly moving away behind a cloud.
A man in the north of the town who saw it at around 11.15am contacted the County Gazette, who confirmed the sighting.
He said: "It was high up, too high for a helicopter.
"It looked like a burning object and was stationary for some time.
"When it moved it moved really slowly as if it was observing something, it certainly didn't look like a plane.
"As far as I'm concerned, it is a UFO."
Make of these what you will but they definitely pose some questions.
One in particular, are we truly alone in this universe?
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