definitely think it could have been a UFO'

He said: 'I am a rational man, but

A mysterious saucer-shaped object has been photographed floating in the sky above Manchester.

The peculiar outline was captured by craftsman John Hindley - who claims he took the picture of what looked like a 'glitch' in the clouds after feeling a 'magnetic pull' towards it.

The 35-year-old insists he is a perfectly rational man but after zooming in on the photo believes what he saw could have been a UFO.

Spooky: The peculiar outline was captured by craftsman John Hindley - who claims he took the picture of what looked like a 'glitch' in the sky after feeling a 'magnetic pull' towards it

Mr Hindley was staying at a friend's house in Middleton, Manchester, on November 7 when he woke at around 10am.

After getting up he recalls feeling a 'pulling sensation' that led him to look up into the sky where he spotted the paranormal-looking shape drifting over the Pennines around two miles away.

Standing by the window on the third floor of the maisonette he took a picture using his mobile phone.

Mr Hindley said: 'I just got up from the sofa and I felt this pull to take a picture out the window there and then. Something drew me to the window.

'Two days after I remembered feeling I had. It was like that pull I had had before.

'Normally when you take a photo there is no emotion so I remembered that feeling I had - and so I thought I would take a look at the photo. It had it again when I looked at the photo.

Unexplained: The object - which is oval shaped with lights emanating from it - remained in the same position in the sky for half an hour before disappearing.

He added: 'It was like a magnetic pull - a lunar pull. I felt the same pull at when I took the picture

'I am a rational man. I have never felt that feeling before. With the feeling I had and what it looks like, I don't think it was a Chinook helicopter.

'I definitely think it could have been a UFO. I think people more people are realising that we are not the only people floating around the vicinity.

'I mean the photo shows the lights shining through the clouds. I really don't think it is a reflection - look at the saucer shaped object and the lights and the two lines coming out of the bottom.'

The object - which is oval shaped with lights emanating from it - remained in the same position in the sky for half an hour before disappearing.

Nigel Watson, author of the Haynes, UFO Investigations Manual, claims there has been a progressive build up of sightings in the UK this year.

Recent sighting: Just two months ago this dark grey, disc-like object was spotted in the sky above Portsmouth

He said: 'Only recently a blue light was seen and filmed flying over Liverpool, and a BBC local news crew captured two nebulous fast moving lights moving over Walton-on-the-Naze in October.

'As with most UFO photographs it is hard to tell what created these images. The majority tend to be of Chinese lanterns that always give off an orange or red light.

'In this case the lights are tightly packed together so it is doubtful lanterns were responsible for this.

'An added mystery to this sighting is that the photographer felt magnetically attracted to the object.

'In many cases people have viewed UFOs and experienced a loss of time or felt an impulse to signal to the object. It could be just a subjective factor or energy radiating from the object interacting with the witness.'

Just two months ago a dark grey, disc-like object was spotted in the sky above Portsmouth.

After weather experts ruled out the possibility that the shape was a cloud, many of the town's residents were left wondering exactly what it was that passed over their homes.

The man who took the photo said: 'My initial thought was that it was a plane, but it was just moving too quickly.

'I was the only one that saw it but was quick enough to take the picture.

Last year a professional photographer inadvertently captured this strange flying object in Devon

The photo was taken in Devon, with the object floating above turbines at Fullabrook wind farm

'I definitely believe in UFOs and am very interested in science fiction, and often look up at the sky in the evening wondering if there is anything or anyone else out there.'

And last November there was another UK sighting, in Devon, where images showed what appears to be a UFO floating above turbines at Fullabrook wind farm.