page_title: Winter Hill (North West England)
section_title: Claimed UFO sightings
hierarchical_section_title: Winter Hill (North West England) / History / Claimed UFO sightings
caption_attribution_description: English: View of Greater Manchester, from Winter Hill. Bolton is the large town in the foreground, with all the major Manchester city landmarks visible in the middle distance.
context_page_description: Winter Hill is a hill on the border of the boroughs of Chorley, Blackburn with Darwen and Bolton, in North West England. It is located on Rivington Moor, Chorley and is 1,496 feet high. Part of the West Pennine Moors, it is a popular walking area, and has been the site of mining activity, aeroplane disasters and murders.
  Its prominent position made it the ideal site for the Winter Hill TV Mast, transmitting to a large part of North West England. There is also a number of other telecommunication masts and towers around the summit and side of the hill for mobile phones, Professional Mobile Radio users and emergency services. Lancashire Constabulary was the first to use the site for one of their base stations in 1950; they had to build the road and it is said to have been built by policemen.
  Paths to the summit lead from Belmont, Rivington, and Horwich and Blackrod. The summit can also be reached via a short walk from the top of a road pass 1 ¹⁄₄ miles west of Belmont. The hill is a prominent feature on the skyline for most of the borough of Chorley and further afield. Winter Hill's topographic prominence results in it being classified as a Marilyn.
context_section_description: UFOs have been reported on Winter Hill. In 1950, a witness described a "dark flat iron shaped object hovering close to the ground" and an encounter with a being that returned to a craft before disappearing. In 1999, in what became known as the "Murphy Incident", a farmer said he saw an object hovering over his cattle field. On investigation, the object moved away and the farmer reported the incident to the police. The farmer returned to the field and discovered the object had reappeared. He reported the incident to the Manchester Aerial Phenomena Investigation Team (MAPIT), who investigated it. While MAPIT was conducting its investigation, they alleged they were being followed by a man in a vehicle. The farmer reported that he was warned by officials from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food but has not been traced since the incident, and the current owner has not spoken about it.
  The UK government released previously classified information on UFO sightings in May 2006; one picture appeared to show an unidentified object over Winter Hill.
caption: A panoramic view of the Greater Manchester conurbation, from Matchmoor Lane on the western side of Winter Hill. Bolton is the large town in the foreground, with all the major Manchester city landmarks visible in the middle distance.
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