British SAS in 'Alien' Riddle : “little grey men” walk into ambush - then vanish

This is not a brand new case. In fact it is around 20 years old and concerns an alien encounter by British SAS troops close to the Irish border in South Armagh, Northern Ireland. Information available on the internet seems to amount to almost nothing. However since stumbling across this story about 6 months ago I have remained intrigued by it as encounters with aliens are something very rarely reported in Britain. So I hope this interests a few others.

The MOD archive releases over the past few years do not seem to have even acknowledged the story. Although I could be wrong on that one and am willing to be corrected if anyone else knows any more.

However I have finally tracked down the newspaper clipping (shown above) that appeared in the People newspaper in 1997.

It reads as follows:

Source : The People (UK newspaper), July 13, 1997 page 29 By Joe Brady

SAS In Alien Riddle Troops saw "four little grey men" walk into ambush - then vanish

SAS soldiers waiting to ambush IRA gunmen were stunned when aliens
walked in front of their gun-sights, it was claimed yesterday.

The undercover troops - hiding near an arms cache on a hillside in
South Armagh - say they saw up to four small grey figures.

The "aliens" and soldiers stared at each other for a minute. Then the
"spacemen" disappeared - and seconds later the eight SAS troops saw a
flash in the sky.

They were so disturbed by what they had seen that they took the rare
decision to abandon the stake-out.

Their commander was furious - and their comrades in the elite Special
Air Service Regiment laughed or accused them of being high on drugs.

But the eight stuck to their story and it was accepted. Now, four years
later, it has been revealed to a Ulster UFO study group by a former
Army intelligence officer.

Belfast-based expert Hugh O'Brien said: "We are trying to interview the
soldiers even though some may be too embarrassed to come forward.

"We have learned that on that morning they were convinced they saw
three, perhaps four, small grey figures in human form.

"At no stage did the soldiers feel threatened. They simply could not
believe what they were seeing.

"The alien forms made no move towards them but judging from what the
soldiers told their regimental priest and commanding officer, the
aliens knew the soldiers were there. It was like a stand-off. Within a
few minutes, probably much less, the aliens disappeared.

"All the men can recall is that in a very quick space of time they saw
a brief flash of light in the sky."

Mr O'Brien added: "These men were fit, highly-trained observers and to
put it down to some flight of imagination would be absurd."

The weapons cache was recovered by other soldiers.

My original source for the story came from a small piece in Flying Saucer Review Vol 42 No.3. First published in 1997 but the story appears to have taken place in 1993.


Here’s the clipping from Flying Saucer Review.




Sadly the CNI trail also ran cold a long time ago.

www.anomalies.net...

There is no clue as to who the Intelligence Officer within the British Army who leaked the story was. The date of the encounter and the unit involved are unknown. Nor does it seem has any further information come to light since the late 1990s.

To put things in historical context, South Armagh was an area of Northern Ireland seen as hostile territory by the British Security forces and dubbed as “bandit country”. A republican stronghold where hundreds of lives were lost as a result of the troubles in the province. In 1993 there were a number of IRA bombings notably in Warrington and the City of London on the UK mainland and the Shankhill Road bombing in Belfast. So it is without doubt that British forces would be operational in the area and that many of these operations will remain secret for a long time.

With such sparse information it’s difficult to decide whether the story has any validity.

There are a number of possibilities.

#The story is totally bogus and/or was there to fill white space in the silly season (it was printed around the same time as the 50th anniversary of the Roswell event).

#The story is disinformation to fool the public. The British Army and MoD managed to cover up an embarrassing incident involving a number of SAS troops with a prepared cover story.

#A bizarre encounter really did occur with unidentified beings and a tight clampdown was put in place to conceal the truth.


If the SAS troops really did encounter alien beings in hostile territory then it throws up a number of odd questions as to why they were there. Were they searching for something or had they landed in the wrong place?

If the whole episode was a cover story for something else then why was this leaked 4 years after the event?

Face to face close encounters with alien beings involving our military are almost unheard of in the UK which makes this story almost unique.

Unless other information comes forward on the case though it remains just another bizarre alien encounter to which we have no real answers.

reply to post by mirageman


It seems to be the same old story, anyone that brings forth an alien sighting is ridiculed so much, that hardly anyone wants to come forward.

It is really a shame when people are willing to blindly accept miracles associated with their religious faith, and no one is considered crazy, and will not accept the ancient ( or ongoing) alien theory, when really when you think about it, actually is a more logical plausible explanation.

Here, you got me thinking.

People who know about these SAS squads know they were kill squads (shoot first) so anyone going there would not stand a chance.

Can I also point out that the now leaders of Northern Ireland where the same terrorists in the south Armagh hills with the weapon caches and the ones that brokered the peace deals years later.

Could it be that an important figure like 'Marty' who was known to operate in the hills as other now prominent figures where the intentional targets for the ambush, but ET stepped in to save his/her life. Why? For future a purpose?

Strange....

reply to post by mirageman


Regardless of whether I believe this or not, this is a fascinating thread that has some originality to it, which is turning into a rare thing these days on ATS.

I really did enjoy reading this, I really don’t know what to make of it, I am inclined to say it might the Media reporting silly stories but at the same time I honestly cannot discount the possibility that these guys really did run into ET.

S&F OP, I hope this thread get the attention it deserves.

Hmmm I'm considering forwarding this to my brothers friend who was in the army and as far as I know either worked with the SAS or he was SAS. Apparently he has left the army now but cannot say where or what he is doing now .. He did operate in Northern Ireland but I believe it was in the late 90s

Either way good story I rarely give out stars or flags but willing to this time as its close to home and quite an interesting case providing its not a bogus report

reply to post by michaelmcclen


Who knows what happened? Perhaps the "timeline" needed fixing for some reason so that Marty survived hey?
[That was Back to the Future wasn't it?)


If the story isn't totally false then we can rule out some kind of prank or psychological test. South Armagh is hardly the place for either. After that it's difficult to put any sort of theory together.

Other than tracking down the news clipping I've not really found anything more about the case and have hit a dead end. I'm hoping maybe someone out there has a little more information, but if not then people at least find this an interesting story.

This... this is a good one. You would think there is something of a paper trail from the military's side of things.

S&F.

Thank you for the thread! I hope someone here can track down more information to illuminate this possible event. I would not have heard of this without you digging it up and bringing it to my attention and I really appreciate hearing these stories as food for thought. I will follow this thread with interest!

peace,
AB

I don't believe this if I'm completely honest, the original pasted text doesn't really ring true - the soldiers saw them through their gun-sight's but then had a face off for a minute or two?

SAS Soldiers are still human beings, there's no doubt about that, but IMHO they wouldn't stand and stare at an alien being. The training and discipline they are put through would make me think they would at least shoot one of these other worldly beings and/or restrain/capture one.

Whole thing shouts PR stunt to me.

Originally posted by cenpuppie
This... this is a good one. You would think there is something of a paper trail from the military's side of things.

S&F.

Even if this was true (which I doubt), not a chance

Originally posted by michaelmcclen
Here, you got me thinking.

People who know about these SAS squads know they were kill squads (shoot first) so anyone going there would not stand a chance.

So why didn't they shoot 'em?

reply to post by Death_Kron


SAS members are highly disciplined and are hardly likely to take potshots at a target that wasn't on their mission briefing, just because it looked a little freaky.

Originally posted by IvanAstikov
reply to post by Death_Kron

 

SAS members are highly disciplined and are hardly likely to take potshots at a target that wasn't on their mission briefing, just because it looked a little freaky.

OK. So which is it? "Shoot first" but not at anything that looks a little freaky? So you are saying they couldn't identify what they saw. Something doesn't add up.

Originally posted by ZetaRediculian

Originally posted by IvanAstikov
reply to post by Death_Kron

 

SAS members are highly disciplined and are hardly likely to take potshots at a target that wasn't on their mission briefing, just because it looked a little freaky.

OK. So which is it? "Shoot first" but not at anything that looks a little freaky? So you are saying they couldn't identify what they saw. Something doesn't add up.

Even if they were "shoot first" killing squads, that doesn't mean they'd be trigger-happy and mow down anything that even looked remotely threatening or out of place. Assuming the basic story, ie, that of an SAS stakeout team calling off their gig for some reason, is true, you'd have to wonder what would spook 8 special forces-type guys enough to not carry out their mission.

Originally posted by IvanAstikov
reply to post by Death_Kron

 

SAS members are highly disciplined and are hardly likely to take potshots at a target that wasn't on their mission briefing, just because it looked a little freaky.

They also wouldn't stand and watch aliens....enough said

Originally posted by Death_Kron

Originally posted by IvanAstikov
reply to post by Death_Kron

 

SAS members are highly disciplined and are hardly likely to take potshots at a target that wasn't on their mission briefing, just because it looked a little freaky.

They also wouldn't stand and watch aliens....enough said

Which seems more likely - that they'd watch them and wonder wtf?, or that they'd go "OMFG!" and shoot them?

ps. For all we know, they might have reported back to command base that their stakeout had been compromised by non-earthly creatures that definitely weren't leprechauns, but the MOD wouldn't tell us that.

The decision to stand down and do nothing to these aliens is consistent with NUMEROUS close encounter reports.

You see, seeing an alien in person is not something the mind would take lightly. Most people become paralysed with fear. Like literally paralysed. I remember once reading a report rm Kentucky or some such place where a man and woman saw a blue light out on their back 40. They decided to go investigate. Upon doing so the aliens or whomever it was manipulated these people into taking off their clothes and made them to bow to the ground in front of their UFO in the snow. They "woke up" there hours later in the same position.

Long story short, I would NOT expect soldiers to shoot them. In fact there have been many reports of soldiers encountering aliens and UFOs over the years and only once (Phil Schneider) do I ever recall reading about any sort of shoot out taking place.

Good thread OP. S&F

reply to post by JayinAR

Wasn't there also that one time when a fighter jet tried to shoot down a ufo, or am I mixing up real life with Independence Day, again?

reply to post by IvanAstikov


That has happened several times, but I don't think a single round has ever been fired.

You are probably thinking of the Tehran Iran incident.

Why did it appear in the People newspaper? What is the People newspaper? Is it a legitimate news agency or is it similar to the tabloids? I'd definitely want to hear more about that.

Overall, the odds that this has any reality are extremely low, imho.

But things do happen. People forget that it's not just crazy psychotic people that report seeing UFOs. There're well trained people that also report it. So I'd expect to find rare cases in the military.

The reason most people chock this up to hysteria and myth is because there's no quantifiable empirical evidence of the presence of extraterrestrials or advanced humans (even) visiting our planet.

There're lots of witnesses, but witnesses aren't going to measure up. The scientific community needs something real and something peer reviewed. Something like non-earth chunks of rock, but instead of some rock it needs to be a piece of spacecraft displaying properties of something manufactured and using materials not located in our particular solar system. It's possible for them to figure out whether the materials come from our solar system, but even it they're local it could still be useful.