'Mysterious Mitcham' is the online sequel to the original 'Strange Mitcham', which contains stories not found on this website:



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'MYSTERIOUS
MITCHAM'

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Covers the London Borough of Wandsworth (Balham, Battersea, Putney, Tooting & Wandsworth):

UFO over Mitcham Common, 2004

In the early hours of Tuesday 7 September 2004, something strange appeared in the skies over Mitcham Common.

At the time, Della Edwards and her boyfriend Paul Ferman were living in a house in Almond Way, Mitcham. A year or two earlier, Della had bought Paul a copy of Strange Mitcham as a birthday present. She also read it and afterwards they lent it to friends, and it was some time before the booklet was returned to them. When it eventually was they put it into their wardrobe with all their other books.

On Monday 6 September 2004, as Della was tidying out the wardrobe, she spotted the copy of Strange Mitcham and decided to re-read it. Later that day, she, Paul, and three friends went out to spend the evening playing pool at Potters in Streatham and they did not return until past midnight. They had not had much to drink as it was a weeknight and they all had to work the following day. When they arrived home, Della felt tired and 'fell asleep as soon as [her] head hit the pillow' but Paul did not go to sleep straight away.


'A Massive Ball of Light'

As he lay in bed, trying to get to sleep, the wall opposite 'lit up and started flashing'. He got up to see what was causing the flashing and what he saw made him wake Della, shouting: 'Babe, wake up and look out the window!'

Della looked out of their bedroom window and to the left she saw a light in the sky. It was approximately to the southwest, in the direction of Mitcham Common.

Above: Mitcham Common. (James Clark, 2010)

She described it as 'a MASSIVE ball of light in the sky that lit up the surrounding area flashing'. It was white, 'brighter than the moon' and appeared to be at about rooftop level. 'It didn't have a solid shape. It was round but with no solid lines. I think the best way to explain it is like a flashing moon up close, but as if someone had smudged or brushed the (circular) lines outwards to light up the sky.' She described the flashing as fast, like a strobe light. Paul remembers that there was 'a slight lightning effect to it (yellowy/ green)'.

The light did not move around the sky but stayed in one place. It is difficult to estimate how far away it was from the house: 'It seemed to be up close,' said Della, 'but I don't know if that was just because of the sheer size of it.'

Della and Paul watched the light for approximately 2 minutes, until it 'suddenly vanished'. They were so 'amazed' that they immediately telephoned Paolo, one of the friends with whom they had been out earlier, who lived on the opposite side of the road. They asked Paolo: 'Did you see anything weird just now?' He confirmed that he had and described seeing the same ball of light. Paolo was sharing his mum's room, sleeping on the floor because they had lodgers staying in their house. When the room lit up and he saw the sky he tried to wake up his mum but by the time she awoke the light had gone.


'I was extremely freaked out'

Then Della remembered reading an account in Strange Mitcham that she feels was similar to what had just happened. The brief account, on page 49 of that booklet, reads: 'At about 4 a.m. on the morning of 7 September [1997], a man and his wife had seen a bright white light hovering over King's College School (by the Ridgway in Wimbledon). The light was so bright, they said, that it lit up the surrounding area.'

Della was struck by the coincidence of the date: 'I was extremely freaked out. The date of our encounter was also the early hours of the morning of 7 September 2004. The exact same date as the encounter in [Strange Mitcham], 7 years later.'

[Source: personal communication with Della Edwards, January 2007.]