Author attempting to debunk Lothians UFO mystery

Published on 13/08/2012 12:00

THE mystery of what happened to Robert Taylor on the morning of November 9, 1979, is one of the longest standing in the history of ufology.

Now a Livingston resident has claimed he has the definitive explanation of what really happened during the incident – known by UFO hunters as the Dechmont Woods Encounter.

The case has seen theories ranging from a fit-inducing mirage of Venus to magic mushrooms put forward to explain the story of strange craft and robotic beings which “attacked” and knocked unconscious the 61-year-old Livingston Development Corporation worker on Dechmont Law in West Lothian.

Local detectives even joined the investigation after Mr Taylor’s legs were found to be grazed and his trousers torn.

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.

He said: “About two hundred yards away from where the encounter was claimed to have occurred, there’s a dome-shaped fresh water reservoir tower built in the late 1950s that still serves as a fresh water reservoir to this day.

“This construction matches the description of the UFO given by Robert Taylor. It 
features a large grey dome with a flange sitting on top of a cylindrical base coloured green to match the surroundings. I believe this is what Taylor saw but that it was misinterpreted because of the stroke.”

Mr Alison, who said he had been “intrigued” for years by the incident, also believes detectives incorrectly identified the site of the encounter.

He said: “The police would not have been aware of the water tower that was on the other side of the M8. I believe that when Taylor spoke to his boss, Malcolm Drummond, after he came to and made it home, he neglected to mention he crossed the motorway using a footbridge close to where he parked his vehicle.

“Not knowing that this footbridge had been crossed, Mr Drummond retraced Mr Taylors steps on the wrong side of the motorway and found himself in a different section of the woods to where the water tower was located.”

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.”

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