Devon and Cornwall Police have received more than 150 strange calls from the public in th elast 15 years - including ghost reports, UFO sightings and dream crime solving.

Police call handlers were faced with everything from a call from Callington reporting his wife and dog being abducted by aliens, a UFO being sighted over a pie factory in Okehampton and numerous reports of poltergeists and ghosts.

In one case in October 2003, the force recorded: "Caller states he has got a ghost on CCTV. Caller wanted advice on who he could contact as the footage was going to make him a million. Advised to go to the Press."

The same year, one caller claimed a "ghost gives him horrible hairstyles and has some dodgy photos of him. Ghost is called Paul Newman."

The alien encounter in Callington was put down as a "suspected drunk call". Other UFOs were reported in Bideford, Plymouth, Falmouth and Exeter.

People described "a light about 50ft above the roof tops zig-zagging along", "a long, white cylinder thing like a train in the sky" and "orange balls moving slowly upwards and in all different directions".

Many of the calls were received from people with known mental health problems or from inside mental health units. Most of the incidents were logged as "non attendance" or "routine" although some others forced officers to respond.

Documents show that in July 2004 someone from Newton Abbot reported a "ghost driver" on the A38.

"Two old ladies in white Fiesta," the police recorded, "come onto the A38B carriageway on the off slip facing the wrong way. Goodstone Cross. Stopped on the hard shoulder, trying to reverse back up the off slip."

Police were forced to respond quickly but could find "no trace of the vehicle".

In December 2006 – at the height of the hunt for the killer of five prostitutes in Ipswich, Suffolk – one woman from Newquay contacted Devon and Cornwall Police with information.

"Lady who says she is paranormal has had a dream about the Ipswich murder," the documents record. "Details of dream taken and forwarded to Suffolk incident room."

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall Police said yesterday: "Our call centre operators take many types of calls and the vast majority are for emergencies or relate to non urgent inquiries of one type or another.

"There are occasions though when a more unusual call is received. These are all dealt with professionally by our highly trained staff who access and process them in an appropriate way."