Capital tour firm plans journey into the unknown

Published on Tuesday 25 June 2002 01:00

AN Edinburgh tour operator has announced plans for day-trips to UFO hot-spots across the Lothians.

Mercat Tours will run excursions to the locations of sightings, including Bonnybridge, the Bathgate Hills and Dechmont Law, near Livingston.

The company’s plans follow a surge in the number of incidents in Scotland in the last decade.

Gordon Stewart, spokesman for Mercat Tours, said: "There is a such a rich history of legends and myths in Scotland. Things like balls of light in the sky have been reported for centuries.

"What might have been interpreted a couple of centuries ago as a ghost or something to do with fairies, is now automatically associated with UFOs."

The Mercat tour will pass through the famous Falkirk Triangle, the epicentre of UFO activity in Scotland.

Scotland tops the league of UFO hot spots, according to new research, commissioned by VisitScotland.

With 300 reports every year, Scotland had a far higher concentration of UFO sightings than any other country in the world.

Bonnybridge, near Falkirk, has been recognised as a centre of UFO activity. Since 1992, motorists have reported eerie flashing lights shooting across the night skies, while others spoke of lights lingering and then disappearing over the town.