Forty years ago, a forestry worker named Robert Taylor reported seeing an alien spaceship in Dechmont Woods near Livingston, West Lothian. The incident is unusual among UFO sightings because it was investigated by the police, who treated the rips in Mr Taylor's trousers as evidence of an assault.
On 9 November 1979, the 61-year-old war hero and teetotal churchgoer described seeing a 30ft-high dome-shaped object in a clearing. He said two spiked spheres rolled towards him, and as he passed out, he felt himself being grabbed on either side of his legs. When he woke up 20 minutes later, the clearing was empty except for deep regular marks on the ground.
Mr Taylor drove his van into a ditch and staggered home in a dazed condition. His wife Mary called the police, and officers found themselves investigating an assault by alien beings. Detective Constable Ian Wark, the scene of crime investigator, saw about 32 holes, each 3.5 inches in diameter, and marks similar to caterpillar tracks. He checked all machinery owned by Mr Taylor's employer but found no match.
The police report stated the marks indicated an object of several tons had stood there, with no rational explanation. Mr Taylor's ripped trousers were sent for forensic analysis, which suggested the damage was caused by something hooking them and moving up. Ufologist Malcolm Robinson, who now possesses the trousers, said the rips could not have occurred from snagging on the ground.
Mr Robinson described the case as one of the most incredible in the world, defying explanation. Theories range from hallucinatory berries to blackball lightning or a mirage of Venus. A medical explanation involving an epileptic seizure was considered but not supported by evidence. Mr Taylor, who died in 2007, never deviated from his story.
