UFO sighting deserves a memorial say campaigners

Published on Monday 9 November 2009 08:55

IT HAS been described as one of the most significant UFO sightings in history, yet all that marks the mysterious close encounter is a small pile of rocks.

Today, on the 30th anniversary of Bob Taylor's inexplicable brush with alien life on Dechmont Law, Livingston, UFO enthusiasts are launching a campaign to have the spot officially recognised.

The Scottish Earth Mysteries Research (SEMR) paranormal studies group is calling for a monument to be erected on the spot where the close encounter took place. The group believes the site would be a popular tourist attraction, and a monument would be a fitting tribute to Mr Taylor, who died in 2007 at the age of 88.

Ron Halliday, chair of SEMR, said: "There has been so much interest in this over the past 30 years and it has received world-wide coverage, and all that's there to mark it is the remains of a crumbling cairn which was set up in the 1980s.

"We want a proper monument or sculpture so that people can come here and have something to look at and also find out a bit more about what happened.

"Having something there would definitely attract more visitors."

What happened to Mr Taylor 30 years ago today led to the only case in British history of an alleged alien sighting being the subject of a criminal investigation.

On 9 November, 1979, at around 10:30am, Mr Taylor, then a forestry worker, parked his truck at the bottom of Dechmont Law.

He walked up the lower slope of the hill with his dog, and as he emerged into a clearing saw a large, sphere-like object about 20ft across.

As he approached the object, two spheres, each about3ft wide with protruding metal spikes, dropped from the object.

The two spheres rolled towards him and attached themselves to his trousers.

The next thing Mr Taylor remembered was waking up with his head pounding, a sore throat and a bitter taste in his mouth. He later calculated that he had been unconscious for at least 20 minutes. Police said they were "completed baffled" by the incident, which was treated as an assault.

Mr Halliday believes the most convincing part of Mr Taylor's experience is that he never had any interest in UFOs before – or after – his encounter.

He said: "Nobody ever doubted that Bob was on the level.

"He really believed till the end that he had seen some kind of spacecraft.

"He never tried to campaign about it, he just said he had had this experience, and that's what made it so believable."

Mr Halliday was today set to return to Dechmont Law with members of SEMR to remember Mr Taylor.