In
ufology
Ufology ( ) is the investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by people who believe that they may be of extraordinary origins (most frequently of extraterrestrial alien visitors). While there are instances of government, private, and f ...
, the Taylor Incident, a.k.a. Livingston Incident or Dechmont Woods Encounter is the name given to claims of sighting an extraterrestrial spacecraft on
Dechmont Law
''Disambiguation: the name Dechmont, and an associated "Dechmont Hill" are also places near Cambuslang in Scotland''
Dechmont Law is a hill in Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland. It lies around 700 yards southwest of the village of Dechmont, ...
in
Livingston
Livingston may refer to:
Businesses
* Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010)
* Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline
* Livingston International, a North American custom ...
,
West Lothian
West Lothian ( sco, Wast Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Iar) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and was one of its shires of Scotland, historic counties. The county was called Linlithgowshire until 1925. The historic county was bounded geogra ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
in 1979 by forester Robert "Bob" Taylor (1919–2007).
When Taylor returned home from a trip to Dechmont Law dishevelled, his clothes torn and with grazes to his chin and thighs, he claimed he had encountered a "flying dome" which tried to pull him aboard. Due to his injuries, the police recorded the matter as a
common assault
Common may refer to:
Places
* Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
* Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts
* Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts
* Clapham Common, originally com ...
and the incident is popularly promoted as the "only example of an alien sighting becoming the subject of a criminal investigation".
[Bob Taylor (Obituary)]
The Telegraph 23 March 2007 (2008-04-06)[Obituary: Robert Taylor, a possible victim of alien abduction, died on March 14th, aged 88]
''The Economist'' published 29 March 2007
Taylor's story
According to Taylor, a forestry worker for the Livingston Development Corporation, on 9 November 1979, he parked his pickup truck at the side of a road near the
M8 motorway and walked along a forest path up the side of Dechmont Law with his dog.
Taylor reported seeing what he described as a "flying dome" or a large, circular sphere approximately in diameter, hovering above the forest floor in a clearing about away from his truck. Taylor described the object as "a dark metallic material with a rough texture like sandpaper" featuring an outer rim "set with small propellers".
Taylor claims he experienced a foul odour "like burning brakes" and that smaller spheres "similar to
sea mines
A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ve ...
" had seized him and were dragging him in the direction of the larger object when he lost consciousness. According to Taylor, he later awoke and the objects were gone, but he could not start his truck, so he walked back to his home in Livingston.
[Gareth Edwards]
I'm after the aliens that beat up Bob
Edinburgh Evening News
The ''Edinburgh Evening News'' is a daily newspaper and website based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was founded by John Wilson (1844–1909) and first published in 1873. It is printed daily, except on Sundays. It is owned by JPIMedia, which also ...
dated 9 November 2004. Date recovered 4 April 2008.
Police investigation
Taylor's wife reported that when he arrived home on foot, he appeared dishevelled and muddy with torn clothing and ripped trousers. His wife called the police and a doctor, who treated him for grazes to his chin and thighs. Police accompanied Taylor to the site where he claimed he received his injuries. They found "ladder-shaped marks" in the ground where Taylor said he saw the large spherical object and other marks that Taylor said were made by the smaller, mine-like objects. Police recorded the matter as a
criminal assault.
Ufologists
The story drew attention from
ufologists
This is a list of notable people who are ufologists (UFO researchers).
Argentina
* Juan Posadas, (1912–1981), Trotskyist theorist who blended together Trotskyism and Ufology. Posadas' version of Trotskyism is regarded as its own strai ...
, who erected a plaque on the site of the alleged encounter, and Taylor became notable among
UFO
An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
enthusiasts for being involved in the only UFO sighting that was subject to a criminal investigation.
Ufologist and author Malcolm Robinson accepts Taylor's story, saying he believes "it could be one of the few genuine cases of a UFO encounter".
Sceptical reception
In 1979, the UFO sceptic
Steuart Campbell
Steuart Campbell (born in ) is a British writer who lives in Edinburgh.
Career
Campbell trained as an architect and worked as one until the mid-1970s. He then gained a degree in mathematics and science from the Open University ( BA, 1983).
...
visited the scene of the incident with the police. Campbell was convinced that a simple explanation would be found. On his second visit to the site, he stated that he had observed some
PVC pipes in an adjoining field. He discovered that the local water authority had laid a cable duct within 100m of the clearing. He came to the conclusion that stacks of pipes might have been stored in the clearing and were responsible for the ground markings.
[ Campbell, Steuart. (1994). ''The UFO Mystery Solved''. Explicit Books. pp. 150-158. ]
Patricia Hannaford, founder of the Edinburgh University UFO Research Society and a qualified physician, advised Campbell on medical aspects of the case. She suggested that Taylor's collapse was an isolated attack of
temporal lobe epilepsy
Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is a chronic disorder of the nervous system which is characterized by recurrent, unprovoked focal seizures that originate in the temporal lobe of the brain and last about one or two minutes. TLE is the most common f ...
, and the fit explained the objects as
hallucination
A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the qualities of a real perception. Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and are perceived to be located in external objective space. Hallucination is a combinatio ...
s. Symptoms such as Taylor's previous
meningitis
Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or ...
, his report of a strong smell which nobody else could detect, his
headache
Headache is the symptom of pain in the face, head, or neck. It can occur as a migraine, tension-type headache, or cluster headache. There is an increased risk of depression in those with severe headaches.
Headaches can occur as a result ...
, dry throat, paralysis of his legs and period of
unconsciousness
Unconsciousness is a state in which a living individual exhibits a complete, or near-complete, inability to maintain an consciousness, awareness of self and environment or to respond to any human or environmental Stimulus (physiology), stimulus. ...
suggested this cause.
Steve Donnelly, a physicist and editor for ''
The Skeptic'', also considered the incident to be explained by an epileptic attack. Campbell suggested Taylor's attack might have been stimulated by a
mirage
A mirage is a naturally-occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays bend via refraction to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. The word comes to English via the French ''(se) mirer'', from the Latin ''mirari'', meanin ...
of
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...
.
Local businessman Phill Fenton published a report in 2013, speculating that Taylor "may have suffered a mini-stroke and been exposed to harmful chemicals which left him confused and disoriented" and that "the UFO he believes he saw could have been a saucer-shaped water tower nearby".
See also
*
List of UFO sightings
This is a partial list by date of sightings of alleged unidentified flying objects (UFOs), including reports of close encounters and alien abductions.
Second millennium BCE
Classical antiquity
8th century
16th–17th centuries
19th c ...
*
UFO sightings in United Kingdom
This is a list of notable alleged sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) in the United Kingdom. Many more sightings have become known since the gradual release, between 2008 and 2013, of the Ministry of Defence's UFO sighting reports b ...
References
External links
Phill Fenton's reportInterview with Robert Taylor and Detectives investigating the case on YouTube.as shown on the 10th episode of
Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World
''Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World'' is a thirteen-part British television series looking at unexplained phenomena from around the world. It was produced by Yorkshire Television for the ITV network and first broadcast on 6 September 1980.
...
, originally broadcast 4 November 1980
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robert Taylor Incident
1979 in Scotland
Alien abduction reports
History of West Lothian
Livingston, West Lothian
UFO sightings in Scotland