UFO sightings and 'abductions' in 1970s UK, Summertime especially....?

Right. As a kid I used to read books on mysteries such as UFO sightings etc...true, by night they'd scare me witless but I still liked reading them. I remember reading in such books that there were a high number of UFO sightings in the UK of triangular shaped or egg shaped objects around 1975/6 in the hot summers...does anyone else remember these news stories? One I recall was many people in Sommerset or somewhere like it seeing a black triangle silently flying being escorted by 3 unmarked black helicopters flying in formation at each of the 3 tips of the triangular object at a very low height off the ground - the RAF and MOD 'claimed' to know nothing of such aircraft and went further to deny they even had unmarked helicopters or were even on manouvres in that area...but many people separately reiterated the same object and helicopters during that evening....and then there were all those stories of crop circles in the 1970s...

There was also the infamous Rendelsham Airbase incident involving the USAF stationed there coming into very close contact with a landed object, even walking around it. Another MOD file released claimed that even Lord Mountbatten knew of a crashed UFO that the RAF recovered, including dead crew...

Then there was the tale my Mum told us about - a housewife washing dishes at her window suddenly was accosted by an alien with a 'jug'/pitcher who gestured he wanted water, she filled it, then he left...that one really scared me as a kid...and I hated looking out the kitchen window at the garden for fear of seeing an alien!

Over to you lot now!

[Sly]

Re: UFO sightings and 'abductions' in 1970s UK, Summertime especially....?

I cannot really comment about the 70's stuff, I wasn't in existence.

In the late 80's my bedroom was due a redecorating, although it had been done before, this time my parents decided to do some building work to patch up the chimney breast. That summer all my stuff was packed up and I was sent to live all my bedroom time in the attic. I hated the attic, you might have read that elsewhere on this forum. Anyway, in the attic we had velux style window skylights. The bed was positioned so that you could look out over the terraces, allotments, rec and far off in the distance a field where cows were kept to graze.

One clear night I'm laid wide awake looking out over the cow fields looking a the stars when a star blazes right across the sky. I sit up immediately, forgetting the uneasy feeling I usually felt while been made to sleep up in the attic. I reach for my glasses so I could get a better look before it finally burnt itself out. I watch it disappear behind the hill, thinking to myself that I finally saw a shooting star. I was just about to lay back down in my bed and another happened. Then another. I get excited, I was witnessing a meteor shower. A few more stars drop out of the sky, I sit for a while after the last one had dropped waiting for more, but none came. Cold, I lay back down and snuggle up, keeping my eyes over the fields. I was totally wired by then, ecstatic by the sights I had just seen. Then it got weird. One of the stars came back up. It was moving in a weird upward arch. Then it stopped and started zigzagging across the sky. The other stars joined in, circling and darting around in a erratic fashion. Finally the stars started flickering in different colours. That was it, they just faded out into nothing.

I told my Mum in the morning but all I got were patronising "Yes Dear" replies. She and many others probably thought it was my dreams or imagination playing tricks on me, but I really did see something, whatever it was.

[battyrat]

Re: UFO sightings and 'abductions' in 1970s UK, Summertime especially....?

I remember much hype in the 70's and have to admit to seeing a silver cigar in the distance from our upstairs window when I was a kid sometime in the 70's.Parents never believed me at the time,and when I spoke to my younger sister about it quite a few years ago she said it was probably one of those goodyear airships.But It was more pointed at both ends and much flatter then those modern type airships.

Funny thing is when I was married I lived for some 10 years at warminster which is pretty much the center of the ufo triangle.The events bagain there in the 60's and went through the 70's.I spent much time there in the mid 80's to late 90's.Arthur Shuttlewood made the area famous with his books about the Warminster thing.Many weird things did happen there but many more were made up and some were just military in nature as Warminster is on the edge of army training grounds.Nothing scares an outsider more then a ghostly white flare floating back to earth.But it never really explained the ambler gamblers that were regularly reported in the late 60's and early 70's there.Several people told me numerous storys of these events when I was living there including an ex researcher who I lived with at the time.The earliest events were sounds like gravel being tipped down peoples chimleys,or an old lady being pinned to the floor by heavy vibrations from just above her.This eventually led into the sightings and then the more made up stuff followed which got more and more unbelivable in each report.So in the end it was hard to tell the truth for lies.

[sf1378]

Re: UFO sightings and 'abductions' in 1970s UK, Summertime especially....?

I remember much hype in the 70's and have to admit to seeing a silver cigar in the distance from our upstairs window when I was a kid sometime in the 70's.Parents never believed me at the time,and when I spoke to my younger sister about it quite a few years ago she said it was probably one of those goodyear airships.But It was more pointed at both ends and much flatter then those modern type airships.

Funny thing is when I was married I lived for some 10 years at warminster which is pretty much the center of the ufo triangle.The events bagain there in the 60's and went through the 70's.I spent much time there in the mid 80's to late 90's.Arthur Shuttlewood made the area famous with his books about the Warminster thing.Many weird things did happen there but many more were made up and some were just military in nature as Warminster is on the edge of army training grounds.Nothing scares an outsider more then a ghostly white flare floating back to earth.But it never really explained the ambler gamblers that were regularly reported in the late 60's and early 70's there.Several people told me numerous storys of these events when I was living there including an ex researcher who I lived with at the time.The earliest events were sounds like gravel being tipped down peoples chimleys,or an old lady being pinned to the floor by heavy vibrations from just above her.This eventually led into the sightings and then the more made up stuff followed which got more and more unbelivable in each report.So in the end it was hard to tell the truth for lies.

So the stuff I mentioned would have happened in the areas you've mentioned? Do tell more BR, sounds intriguing....also, whats an ambler gambler?

[battyrat]

Re: UFO sightings and 'abductions' in 1970s UK, Summertime especially....?

The 70's sightings were nationwide but Warminster and surrounding areas were one of the main hubs in the Triangle.
The amber gambler was one of the earliest and most believable ufo's in the area.It was simply an amber coloured light that could be seen on occations moving across fields or above trees in desolate areas.The tale I was told by Barry(ex UFO spotter) was that he was cycling home one night from work near Henford Marsh when one of these things appeared following him on the other side of a field parrallel to the road.The thing crossed over the field moving up the hedge then crossed over the road behind him before dissapearing upwards towards the tree tops at far edge of the next field.They were silent UFO's and moved slowly but could change direction fairly quickly.They remind me of marsh gas in desciption...willow the wisps,but these do not change direction and float.The Gamblers movement was steady always at a constant pace or suddenly shooting off somewhere fairly fast or pulling so called impossible movements like suddenly changing direction etc.There were two other colours,blue and white.The white ones were reported as very fast compared to the amber ones.

The main areas to spot them was at Battlesbury Hill and cley Hill where the ground fell away below to form a large natural bowl which made an ideal spot for ufo sightings.

As I said the reports at first were believable to an extent and I have a feeling they made news in the local papers but when the researchers and ufo spotters moved in and the reports started to come from these people and not the actual residents the papers soon lost interest as the storys became more and more incredible.Many locals made things up to try to bring in a bit of extra trade as well.

I have no doubt that something did happen there in the early years of the sightings but the later years are hard to believe.Storys became far too unbelievable.This is basically one such tale.One lady from her kitchen window who lived close to cop heap rise looked out of her kitchen window late one night was surprised to see a bright white light coming from over the top of cop heap(a local wooded hill).She suddenly saw a helicopter appear over the top of the hill but this changed to a brilliant white light that kept changing shape before it dissapeared.This is the sort of late story that was circulating and one that was reported in one of the numerous books written by Arthur Shuttlewood,one of the towns UFO experts of the time.Could easily be explained by army activity in the area.The town is an army town with training excersises taking place just above the town.You can see the red flags flying on top of the hills at Arn Hill etc nearly every day on the ranges.

During my time when I lived thereabout 10 years in all with another 8 years visiting frinds and socialising there from the ealy 1980's nothing new or fresh to my knowledge happened.I think only the early sightings are relevant in the warminster triangle incident.

I think there were three books written by Arthur Shuttlewood about the UFO's there.Paper back jobbies,about the size of a small novel each.

Interestingly enough I was told that the man himself who done most to publicise of the UFO's eventually found it hard to live there and eventually moved away for a bit of piece and quiet.Some one told me he was very ill by that time(1990's) and his family just wanted him to be left alone.

[battyrat]

Re: UFO sightings and 'abductions' in 1970s UK, Summertime especially....?

I will try to post a link,something I found on the net below.
http://www.ufo-warminster.co.uk/clippings_top.htm

I hope its ok with the forum mods.I had a quick look,clippings etc about the Warminster thing.The site hopefully will give more info as well about the sightings.

[Trickyvee]

Re: UFO sightings and 'abductions' in 1970s UK, Summertime especially....?

I remember hearing the story about a woman who said she saw an alien in her back garden one afternoon, although it looked more like a human from the future - about 7 foot tall, sliver suit and helmet with a big square visor she couldn't see through. That freaked me out!

[sf1378]

Re: UFO sightings and 'abductions' in 1970s UK, Summertime especially....?

I remember hearing the story about a woman who said she saw an alien in her back garden one afternoon, although it looked more like a human from the future - about 7 foot tall, sliver suit and helmet with a big square visor she couldn't see through. That freaked me out!

That does sound freaky. We once had an article in the paper we kept for a bit (dunno why!) that had a story of a UK woman who claimed she was abducted and harvested for her reproductive system, in particular her eggs. She got an artist to draw a pic of the aliens face and it was frightening to look at. She also said the Aliens themselves had that sort of rotten egg/acidic methane smell about them....yuck. My Mum later said to throw the article away as it was frightening to think about.

Battyrat - your articles and info sound very intriguing. While I'm a UFO believer I do wonder if the Warminster Triangle early stories of 'The Thing' may have been Military/MOD experiments into some form of sound weapon? Given the fact its an Army Town you have to remain open to such a line of thought...? Hmmm. Dunno, but its a suggestion...all in all, it does sound creepy.

[victorbrunswick]

Re: UFO sightings and 'abductions' in 1970s UK, Summertime especially....?

Suddenly the famed "Cumbrian Spaceman" image comes to mind

[sf1378]

Re: UFO sightings and 'abductions' in 1970s UK, Summertime especially....?

Thats weird...whats the story with that one?!

[sf1378]

Re: UFO sightings and 'abductions' in 1970s UK, Summertime especially....?

http://www.ufocasebook.com/caponi.html

[victorbrunswick]

Re: UFO sightings and 'abductions' in 1970s UK, Summertime especially....?

Thats weird...whats the story with that one?!

In May 1964, Jim Templeton, a fire officer with the Cumbrian Fire Brigade in Carlisle, took his family on an outing to the marshes at Solway Firth where he took a series of three photographs of his daughter Elizabeth. One of the photographs showed the mysterious space-suited figure apparently hovering or floating behind the girl, though some theorize that the "spaceman" is merely the back view of a person wearing a hooded sweater or jacket who happened to walk into the picture. The photograph was submitted to Kodak for analysis and they could find no evidence of trickery. Significantly, RAF Spadeadam in Cumbria was where the rocket engines for the Blue Streak nuclear missiles were tested with the actual flight testing at the Woomera Missile Range in Australia. It transpired that around the same time Mr Templeton photographed what became known as the Cumbrian Spaceman, a flight test of the Blue Streak missile was being conducted at Woomera. In the middle of the countdown two mysterious figures attired similarly to the Cumbrian Spaceman were seen by controllers on their video monitors. The countdown was halted and a thorough search was conducted of the launch site but no one was to be found.

[sf1378]

Re: UFO sightings and 'abductions' in 1970s UK, Summertime especially....?

Nick Pope - wunderkind who always debunks everything - he really annoys me by doing that....

[FLYING SAUCER]

Re: UFO sightings and 'abductions' in 1970s UK, Summertime especially....?

This footage is most interesting, however, my interest is in USAF, RAF, and anything that ventures into the sky!

I lived through the 60s and 70s and whitnessed many news stories, sightings, and possible freaky UFO happenings, all with an open mind (Please excuse my username!!)

Watch this :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9nET2KXV24


USAF/RAF Lightning exchange Pilot lost in strange circumstances, I have since read other accounts of this occurence, and nothing really ties up, In other accounts there has been mentioned a "glass football"

Make of it what you will.

[battyrat]

Re: UFO sightings and 'abductions' in 1970s UK, Summertime especially....?

I always find reports made by airforce or civilian avaitors to be most interesting.Some of the most impressive sightings have been hade of the same object/s seen in various areas at simular times by people who had no knowledge of the other sightings so a flight path can be established.

A lot of the glowing orbs types reported remind me of storys of the foo fighters reported by airmen from the last war that was often seen close to military aircraft.It seems strange that most sightings have come from a period in our history when space exploration became possible in the 40's with high powered rockets like the V2,and started to build pace throughout the 50's and 60's onwards with both sci-fi and the worlds space programs incraesing.