documentary: the west lothian question

reply to post by gortex


Gortex -I agree it's a pretty compelling case and the Scottish police also appear very puzzled by this incident - there's a pretty comprehensive link below with more info.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/be163d81bfd1.jpg[/atsimg]

Forester encounters mine-like entities in Scotland (the Dechmont Woods Encounter)

Hi Reject - thank you for posting this. This famous event has always been special to me partly as it was the first time I had seen a tv programme that was about where I lived, not sure if anyone remembers seeing this on Arthur C Clarkes Mysterious World may years ago. In fact where this event took place is about 5-10 mins drive from me as I type this

I took the liberty of inviting Malcom Robinson to join this thread. Mr Robinson has appeared on C2C and various programmes over the years and has interviewed Mr Taylor in person and also claims to still have the plaster casts taken that day of the tracks made by the ufo. Thought his unique view on things might be of interest to us here at ATS. Here's hoping he has the time to swing passed (he seems to visit his youtube page regularly so fingers crossed)

www.youtube.com...

thanks again

bb

[edit on 25-4-2010 by badBERTHA]

Originally posted by badBERTHA
I took the liberty of inviting Malcom Robinson to join this thread. Mr Robinson has appeared on C2C and various programmes over the years and has interviewed Mr Taylor in person and also claims to still have the plaster casts taken that day of the tracks made by the ufo.

BadBERTHA, good stuff - let's hope he swings by and shares some of his thoughts about the case.

There's some other interesting reading at the link below with police statements about the incident - it also states Mr Taylor's Pants are now in the BUFORA archives:

The police reports stated:

"The marks indicated an object of several tons had stood there but no information has been gained to explain them."

After the investigation Wark was in no doubt. He said:

"In my opinion, Mr Taylor genuinely reported what he saw, or believed that he had seen."

He confirmed again later:

"We are still baffled... the case is still open."

The police sent Bob Taylor's trousers to Edinburgh for forensic analysis. Lester Knibb, a forensic scientist in the police's laboratory, found clear tear marks on either side, consistent with the witness's story about being grabbed at waist height by the two spiky sea mines.

Of course the police lab could not say that this should prove anything, but Knibb said:

"The damage could have been caused in the way the witness says. But it would require something mechanical. It was not something caused by an electric shock or bolt of lightning."

To this day the police case still remains open, local authorities marked the site with a plaque, which has since been stolen, and the torn trousers are now in the BUFORA archives.

Link

Cheers.

Not been here for some time.

This was an interesting documentary on one of Ufology's best cases. However, there's a new theory just gone on-line that may (or may not) explain the incident.

Here's a link to the illustrated article. Spaceships, Spheres and the Devil's Herb

This is great, I have never heard of this case before, and I don't live to far from here myself

Let's get one thing straight though, guys. The 'Sceptic' isn't actually a a sceptic, he's a debunker, through and through. Anyone that has even the slightest interest in serious UFO data has to be sceptical, and scrutinize every fact, not just poo-poo it like this guy does.

This guy is a Debunker, there is a difference.

Seriously impressed with this case and it's just down the road from me. S+F for thread. first time I have heard the facts to this case.

Brilliant example of a debunker reading straight from the Debunkers Handbook here and I somehow don't believe his theories. A true mysterious encounter.

Stuart Campbell is a known "ultra sceptic" of UFOs. By that, I mean that he will go out of his way to dismiss all UFO reports by any means possible, even if that requires the kind of dumbass "explanation" like the one suggested in this documentary. To even suggest that anyone could be "dazzled" by Venus when the Sun is above the horizon is laughable.

Latest debunking attempt comes in the form of a “Transient Ischaemic Attack”:

Author attempting to debunk Lothians UFO mystery

In a new book, however, John Alison, 54, a self-employed businessman, argues that Mr Taylor’s alien assault encounter was actually the result of a mini-stroke or “Transient Ischaemic Attack”.

The father of two said Mr Taylor’s loss of consciousness and vision of a “large, dome-shaped machine” with “spheres on stalks” rolling towards him could be explained by the temporary interruption of blood to his brain..

Rebuttal:

This latest theory is unlikely to see the case closed however, and Andrew Hennessey, 55, a ufologist for 22 years dismissed Mr Alison’s theory. He said: “Over the years I have heard all sorts of attempts to debunk this story. I’ve heard Taylor was on magic mushrooms and even that it was an evil Chinese 
lantern.

“I’ve never heard the stroke theory, but I do not believe a word of this. There were quite clear marks left in the clearing which the local CID found had been made by a vehicle entering the clearing from above the forest.”

link

Originally posted by torsion
Not been here for some time.

This was an interesting documentary on one of Ufology's best cases. However, there's a new theory just gone on-line that may (or may not) explain the incident.

Here's a link to the illustrated article. Spaceships, Spheres and the Devil's Herb

That is genuinely one of the funniest things I've read in a long long time. There's nothing more amusing than someone pontificating about psychotropic drugs when they, seemingly, haven't the first clue about how they actually work, their intensity and the physical side effects of each one. Fashionable ladies use to use Belladonna, at a far higher concentrate, than that guy would have received, as eye drops to dilate their pupils.and the "psychotropic effects, were marginal at best. The ingestion of a single leaf, is enough kill and believe me, no-one who works in forestry or its' associated industries would ever eat the berries. If you were looking to blame it on any sort of psychotropic drug, given the duration of the event, there is only one that fits the bill and that's '___'.

reply to post by FireMoon


Firemoon, in complete agreement with you there mate and always found this case to be an incredibly bizarre one - don't hold out much hope for a resolution but apparently National Geographic are 're-examining' the case in a new show..

It is perhaps Scotland’s most famous “close encounter” and one which has fascinated scientists, investigators and UFO hunters from around the world.

The mystery of what happened to a forestry worker called Robert Taylor on a chilly November evening more than 30 years ago is one that has baffled all who have examined the case – including the police, who keep the file open and consider it “unexplained”.

The fact that the police were not able to come up with some rational explanation is one of the enduring elements of a story which Mr Taylor continued to insist was true up until his death in 2007.

And now it is the subject of more scrutiny, thanks to a new show being produced by the National Geographic channel.

link

Cheers.

This is an excellent event to make you stop and wonder if there really are things visiting us (not enough for me to believe yet though) .

What really makes me wonder though is how in the hell a photo with a spot on it from Crete can generate 70 pages and something this profound gets 2 pages and pushed to the bottom of the heap??

is it because there are no skeptics to keep it going?

The kids like YouTube videos of lights in the night sky, that's why.
I wish there were multiple witnesses to this case, it's always hard to corroborate with only one witness.

Originally posted by Sakrateri
This is an excellent event to make you stop and wonder if there really are things visiting us (not enough for me to believe yet though) .

What really makes me wonder though is how in the hell a photo with a spot on it from Crete can generate 70 pages and something this profound gets 2 pages and pushed to the bottom of the heap??

is it because there are no skeptics to keep it going?

Suppose that's a fair question mate and this case (as well as quite a few others) also makes me wonder as well.

Found the 'horrible chemical-like smell' and hissing noise reportedly coming from the objects very intriguing and the article below also mentions a skeptical explanation involving military 'wheelbarrow bomb disposal type' contaption'.. but it doesn't sound very convincing (to me anyway).

It also mentions that Scottish police are still 'baffled' by this incident and the assault case citing 'a physical assault by person or persons unknown' is still open so I guess all we can do is speculate.

Duncan Lunan, a fortean researcher said that the more plausible explanation was that Mr Taylor had seen a military operation to recover a downed pilotless aircraft using a "wheelbarrow" bomb disposal type which later became familiar from its use in Northern Ireland. How this would fit the silent semi transparent round object and the attacks of the two bouncing seamine-like smaller object on Robert Taylor's legs and his subsequent unconsciousness and headaches etc. was not specified.

link

Cheers.

Exploring the scene of UFO incident - a 'fantastically uninteresting visit to Dechmont law'.

A terrible quality video of a short visit to Dechmont Law, Bathgate, Scotland, where in 1979 the senior forestry worker Robert Taylor had his workday interrupted by an inexplicable event. He was gassed and rendered unconcious by two small "robots" resembling World War 2 naval mines, which had emerged from a larger UFO landed in the forestry area.

To this day, it remains the only UFO encounter ever investigated as a criminal assault by the UK police. Robert Taylor never changed his story. A rock and plaque were set in place by the local council, but the plaques keeps getting stolen, and so are no longer replaced.

reply to post by reject


I remember back in the 70's "temperature inversion" was one of the cliche Hynek-type explanations for eyewitness accounts of UFO's.

Wow, thanks for posting that, I'd never heard of this case before. It was definitely very interesting and certainly some high strangeness, with touches of true absurdity like Bob Taylor's trousers.

As for the debunker's belabored, improbable explanation, it reminds me of nothing less than Principal Skinner's attempts to explain away the fire raging in his kitchen:

I'd just like to thank Mr. Steuart Campbell for giving himself a full-on lobotomy just prior to the interview. Welcome to the world of pseudo-skepticism and uninformed patchwork theory-fabrication. Your future looks bright, but that will likely turn out to be an hallucination.

But seriously, that was a wonderful documentary.

I can't think of any reason to disbelieve Mr. Taylor.

He doesn't seem the kind of person to make up a story like that, and go through all the trouble of setting it up by making careful imprints in the ground, cutting his pants and then driving his truck into a ditch, and then suddenly becoming an Academy Award actor by stumbling into town and fooling his wife, the police and his doctor. And for what reason? He seems like a person that doesn't even like the attention.

I'm curious if there was any other UFO activity in that area at the time. I wonder if others saw anything.

A flying saucer travelled to Earth from its home planet thousands of light years away, landed in a Scottish wood (apparently unnoticed by anyone, including airspace detection systems) and ripped the trousers of a bloke having a pleasant stroll. Then it travelled the several thousand light years back home, leaving some mysterious marks in the soil.

That's obviously what happened - far more credible than the theory that the man (who had previously been stricken with meningitis) had suffered a seizure, lost consciousness, and had imagined this fantastical tale.

Dang them skeptics....

Originally posted by CJCrawley
A flying saucer travelled to Earth from its home planet thousands of light years away, landed in a Scottish wood (apparently unnoticed by anyone, including airspace detection systems) and ripped the trousers of a bloke having a pleasant stroll. Then it travelled the several thousand light years back home, leaving some mysterious marks in the soil.

That's obviously what happened - far more credible than the theory that the man (who had previously been stricken with meningitis) had suffered a seizure, lost consciousness, and had imagined this fantastical tale.

Dang them skeptics....

Yeah, it's funny when that theory gets thrown at this case, they never mention that not once did any involved with this change their story of the incident (I'm including the family of the victim). Also, this is still an unsolved case within the files of the local constabulary.