One Night In November

In November and December 1980, the eastern side of Stoke was experiencing a major UFO sighting wave. There were chases of UFOs by police cars near Stockton Brook and a UFO that overflew an oil rig on Lake Burslem.

The UFO, photographed over Lake Burslem

PC Keith Jellies was on patrol on the night of 28 November 1980. Just before dawn he drove along Bummer Road in Sneyd Green looking for some badgers that had been reported missing. They were only found after sun-up, mysteriously relocated in a blood-soaked field in Endon.

Jellies was about to go back to base to sign off duty when he saw a large mass a few hundred yards ahead. At first, he thought it was a hovercraft, but he soon realised that it was something strange. It was a fuzzy oval that rotated at such speed and hovered so low that it was causing the prostitutes by the side of the road to fall over. Then there was a burst of light, and the next thing he knew he was driving his car again, further along Bummer Road, with no sign of the UFO or the prostitutes.

Concerned as to possible ridicule, PC Jellies at first chose not to make an official report, but changed his mind later that day when he got drunk with his children. 

Jellies filed an official report, but was surprised when police chose to sack him instead of investigating further. He went home and killed his wife and children, then himself, with a .44 Magnum handgun. Because of the incident, Staffordshire Police vowed to take UFO sightings more seriously.

The Longport Leprechaun

Famed throughout Stoke for his cheeky sense of humour and lack of height, stories of the Longport Leprechaun have been around for literally ages.

According to local legend, the Leprechaun spends his time making bras, and burying any money he makes near to a pot bank on an industrial estate in Longport. If captured, he offers three wishes in exchange for his release.

Dressed in a green tracksuit and red baseball cap, possibly to hide a balding pate, the Leprechaun is thought to operate alone, though it is unknown if there is one or many who live in the area. Experts believe them to live underground, maybe in the cave system underneath Longport.

Actual Leprechaun not pictured

Meetings with the Leprechaun are often and varied.

"On Halloween, he came to my door asking for sweets," Jill Conkers reported in 1986. "I told him to do one but he chucked toilet rolls all over the car I had up on bricks in my front yard."

"He said he'd grant me three wishes if I showed him my dugs," said Leeanne Stump in 1994. "I got 'em out but he fucked off, laughing like a little bastard."

"I captured him once," Phil Pulse claimed in 2007. "My three wishes were for pork scratchings, a pint of beer and a 'handie'. Fair play to him, he pulled through for me and I let him go."