I remember the following story from when I was a teenager growing up in Yorkshire. I've looked up a few references to see what has happened with
regards to the case in the twenty five or so years since the events took place. I more than half-expected to find an answer to what actually happened
in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, back in the summer of 1980 but I came up with a big fat zero.
Here is a short summary:
Zigmund Jan Adamski, a polish born miner who lived in England since the end of the second world war, went missing after going to the shops at Tingley,
near Wakefield on the afternoon of Friday 6th June 1980. At 3.30pm he left the house to go and buy some potatoes. He exchanged a friendly greeting
with a neighbour and was never seen alive again.
Five days later, he was found dead in a coal yard near a busy railway line, twenty miles away in Todmorden. His body was lying on top of a 12 ft high
pile of coal and was minus his shirt and wristwatch.
He was 56 years old at the time of his death and was happily married to his wheelchair-bound wife, Lottie, since 1951. On the morning of his
disappearance he had gone to Leeds on a shopping trip with his cousin, who had come over from Poland with her son for a holiday and was staying with
the Adamskis at their home. The very next day, on Saturday 7th June, he was due to give his god-daughter away at her marriage and he was very much
looking forward to this.
So far this looks like an everyday, run-of-the-mill, mysterious death case right?
I'll let the BBC continue with the story:
Alien Abduction Claims in
Yorkshire
On the back of his head, neck and shoulders were mysterious burns which attracted lots of attention.
James Turnbull, the coroner who dealt with Zigmund’s death, says it’s the biggest mystery of his career.
The coroner was baffled because although Zigmund had been missing for five days, he only had one day’s growth of beard.
He says, "The question of where he was before he died and what led to his death just could not be answered."
James also said a strange ointment that appeared to have been used on Zigmund’s burns could not be identified by forensic scientists.
Exhaustive checks failed to reveal any record of Zigmund having been treated at any hospital during his missing five days.
It was at this point that questions began occurring, regarding the origin of this inexplicable ointment and who applied it to Zigmund.
What the above article doesn't mention is that he had apparently not being sleeping rough, his body showed no other injuries or signs of a struggle,
he had eaten well but not on the day he died and he had died the morning of the day his body was discovered. His death was by natural causes.
Todmorden is located near the Pennine hills in Yorkshire and is an area known for its many UFO sightings.
The next bit shows that even the BBC can make mistakes...
It was not just the usual investigators, the police and coroners, who were attracted to this case.
One of the most famous UFOlogists of all time, also called Adamski offered his own amazing theories on the tragedy.
He believed aliens from outer space abducted the Yorkshire miner by mistake.
I guess they must have used a Medium to extract this statement. George Adamski had been dead for years when this event happened! The above probably
came from a local wannabe-ufologist and was relayed verbatim by the BBC reporter.
The next event was the one that really fuelled the UFO-fire and involved the policeman that had originally been called to the coal yard to investigate
the discovery of Adamskis body.
In November that year, five and a half months later, PC Alan Godfrey was in his patrol car in an area just one mile from the coal yard where Adamskis
body was found. At just after 5am in the morning, PC Godfrey came across what he described as a diamond-shaped UFO in the middle of the road. He
attempted to radio his headquarters but was unable to do so. Suddenly, he found himself 100 yards down the road and the UFO had vanished. In addition,
his boot was split and he had apparently 'lost' fifteen minutes.
MUFORA, a Manchester-based UFO study group heard about the incident and subsequently regressed Godfrey under hypnosis, after which details of an alien
contact and medical examination aboard the UFO were revealed.
And so a UFO minor-legend was born. Was the unfortunate Zigmund Adamski the victim of an alien examination that caused him to die of fright, or is a
more earthly reason the likely culprit? If so, where did he receive the burns?
The West Yorkshire Police have never solved the case.
The following links contain more details of the case, including an exhaustive investigation by none other than Jenny Randles which has an extremely
bizarre conclusion!
BBC Inside Out - Alien
Abduction Claims in Yorkshire
Jenny Randles Investigation
Zygmunt (Sic) Adamski - Alan Godfrey and the UFO
Ufo's over Calderdale
Thoughts?
