MYSTERY shrouds the origin of bizarre black gunk, which was splattered all over the home of an Upper Clapton man this week.

Roger Hughes, 68, spotted that a strange substance had fallen from the sky onto the outside of his home in Mount Pleasant Lane at about 11am on Monday morning (August 16).

“I assumed first of all that someone had been chucking paint at the house,” he said.

“But then I walked across the road and looked up at the roof and I could see it was up there too.

“So I assumed it was from some sort of air bourn vehicle.”

The black goo has coated his walls, garden path and scooter – as well as his roof and newly painted white windowsills.

So Roger, who is retired, concluded that it must have been dropped as waste from an aeroplane passing in a flight path above.

But following the Gazette’s enquiries, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) refuted this idea, saying it was unlikely that the liquid had come from an aircraft.

He said the splattering was probably caused by vandals or passing traffic – an explanation rejected by Roger.

“I can’t imagine it to be passing traffic or vandalism because it is so high up,” he said.

“And I don’t think it was caused by birds – they would be have been bloody big birds.”

The gunk was not washed away by the recent heavy rain, and has now dried into what Roger describes as a “carbon-like” covering.

The CAA advised Roger to contact Hackney’s environmental health team who could investigate.

A Hackney Council spokeswoman said: “If Mr Hughes contacts the council we will consider his concerns and act accordingly.”