Livingston, West Lothian 1979

“As a man who has spoken to hundreds of UFO witnesses over many years, none have convinced me so much as Bob Taylor,” Malcolm Robinson

More alien stories, yes please! The Dechmont Woods Encounter or The Livingston Incident or the Robert Taylor Incident (I love a case with multiple names!) is an interesting one as it involved the police and was investigated as an assault case rather than dismissed as yet another UFO encounter. We’re heading to Livingston in the 1970s for this one…

Robert Taylor, a forester for the Livingston Development Corporation, was tasked with developing Livingston New Town, as it was called back then. So on the 9th November 1979, he parked his pickup truck on a road close to the M8 motorway and made his way through the newly-planted forestry area to the north of Dechmont Law. Nothing unusual for him, this was his job afterall.

But what he saw next was anything but usual. He reported seeing a ‘flying dome’ about 20 feet in diameter just hovering above the forest floor. Describing it as ‘a very dark grey colour’, he went on to claim it had an ‘outer flange’ with arms that boasted mounted propellers. The object supposedly had a strong burning smell, ‘like burning brakes’, before the two smaller domes snatched Robert and dragged him towards the larger dome.

Robert then lost consciousness, and when returning to his senses, twenty minutes later, found that the domed object had vanished. He struggled back to his truck, which wouldn’t start, and so travelled back to Livingston on foot. After being dragged through the dirt by the domes, Robert returned home rather dishevelled. His wife took him to a doctor for the scrapes and grazes on his chin and thighs and then promptly called the police. Robert returned to the scene with the police, where they found marks on the ground that struck similarity to ladders under where the large domed object was. There were also smaller marks where the smaller domes had been.

The police treated the case as criminal assault, and investigated it as such, supposedly making it the only UFO encounter report in the UK to be actively subjected to criminal investigation!

As part of the police investigation, Robert’s ripped trousers were sent for forensic examination. Unfortunately, this was years before the technology allowed for reliable results, and so the tests were simply to try and figure out how the rips were made. Police forensics claimed the trousers seemed to have been damaged by something hooking them and moving upwards - however, author and Ufologist Malcolm Robinson (who became the owner of the trousers) claimed that the police-issue blue serge trousers would not have been material so easily snagged.

As with any word-of-mouth alien report from a singular witness, there have been doubters, speculations and theories as to why Robert did not see aliens that day. Many believe that Robert might have suffered from some kind of epileptic fit causing hallucinations, which some attribute to Robert having previously suffered from meningitis. Some think that the hallucinations could have been caused by eating local berries and others claim ‘blackball lightning’ is to blame for the burning smell.

Robert, in his statement, claimed he did get taken to Bangour Hospital for a check-up and x-ray after his encounter, but left the building after two hours of not being seen by a doctor. After being interview multiple times, Robert never faltered in his story and many believe in his character enough to believe Robert saw what he saw.