Page 12 - 20120708 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - July / August 2012

@?5;= 2/@:7> ;?56.: ( "E D>?2=D Author attempting to debunk Lothians UFO mystery Edinburugh Evening News 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 Remember that “UFO” autonomously should it lose connection with its is what Taylor saw but that it was misinterpreted controller. because of the stroke.” Mr Alison, who said he spotted in June? Well, here Unlike existing drones, the X-47B had been “intrigued” for years by the incident, doesn’t require continuous controlling from a also believes detectives incorrectly identified it is in daylight human operator, but is instead given a flight the site of the encounter. target and relied on to get itself there and back. He said: “The police would not have Not so much little green men as no men There are “space, weight and power provisions been aware of the water tower that was on the at all: the craft that triggered 911 calls and for weapons and intelligence, surveillance and other side of the M8. I believe that when Taylor Twitter furore after being mistaken for a UFO reconnaissance sensors,” Northrop says, but the spoke to his boss, Malcolm Drummond, after he back in June has been put on show by the US current prototypes are not equipped with came to and made it home, he neglected to Navy, a human-made drone rather than ET’s weaponry. mention he crossed the motorway using a escape pod. The X-47B is a new, experimental Its otherworldly looks make it a good footbridge close to where he parked his vehicle. unmanned aircraft the Navy has admitted, with candidate for something from outer-space. At “Not knowing that this footbridge had a spokesperson telling Fox 5 that while the 62.1ft wide and 38.2ft long, with distinctive been crossed, Mr Drummond retraced Mr stealth aircraft wasn’t meant to be a secret, the kinked and truncated wings (that fold up to Taylors steps on the wrong side of the team “all got a laugh” after it was confused for reduce width), the X-47B is more science- motorway and found himself in a different something extraterrestrial while being fiction at first glance than warfare-fact. section of the woods to where the water tower transported on a truck two months ago. Northrop Grumman says it will have a range of was located.” “There was nothing real secretive about over 2,100nm and a maximum altitude of over This latest theory is unlikely to see the it,” US Navy Test Engineer Matt Funk said of 40,000ft, with “high subsonic” speed potential. case closed however, and Andrew Hennessey, the drone, “but we didn’t go out of our way to It will also support in-flight refueling for 55, a ufologist for 22 years dismissed Mr publicize it.” continuous missions. Alison’s theory. He said: “Over the years I have The drone itself, an X-47B Unmanned A 36 minute test flight at the end of July heard all sorts of attempts to debunk this story. Combat Air System (UCAS) made by Northrop saw the X-47B fly at a maximum altitude of I’ve heard Taylor was on magic mushrooms and Grumman, is entirely remote instructed and the 7,500 feet and a maximum air speed of 180 first of a new breed of air surveillance and knots. It’s worth roughly $800m, and will begin “I’ve never heard the stroke theory, but I attack systems expected to be increasingly aircraft carrier testing in 2013. [] do not believe a word of this. There were quite commonplace in the coming years. Commanded clear marks left in the clearing which the local remotely from a computer system – that will The ‘X’ Zone Radio Show is heard nightly CID found had been made by a vehicle entering eventually be on an aircraft carrier, the Navy on the TalkStar Radio Network - the clearing from above the forest.” [] says – the UCAS can also return to base www.talkstarradio.com