The FIFE FILES

PREFACE: Ufology can throw up some pretty challenging cases, and many investigators world- wide have seen how vastly perplexing this subject can be. High strangeness cases are on the increase, but what exactly does this tell us ? Here in Scotland, recent cases would suggest that strange things are still afoot. Not only has there been photographic and video evidence of late, but we have had a few CE IV or close proximity cases, with witnesses claiming encounters with small, grey 'alien' beings.

The following case, to all intents and purposes, is quite staggering. It borders on the unbelievable and even for this researcher was quite hard to accept.

But having said that, one must realise that we live in a strange world with many mysteries which currently tax our minds. It would be foolish to turn our backs on these mysteries just because they sound absurd. The following case features elements both common and uncommon. It was initially featured in the English based QUEST INTERNATIONAL publication, "UFO MAGAZINE".

I would now like to present Strange Phenomena Investigations' research into this most fascinating case, but before I do so, I would like to inform the reader that after this case was featured in UFO MAGAZINE, all witnesses refused any more interviews with Scottish or English researchers. They have told their story and now wish to get on with their lives. We at SPI accept this decision, as it is becoming more and more common with cases of this nature. Thankfully, SPI managed to interview two of the four witnesses in this case, and what you are about to read is the culmination and extracts of a most fascinating audio- taped interview. THE FIFE EVENT, 23rd SEPTEMBER 1996. SPI learned of this event a few weeks after it had occurred, and in a telephone call to one of the witnesses, we arranged a date and time to visit and interview. Malcolm Robinson, accompanied by Billy Devlin and Garry Wood, travelled up by cars to where Mrs Mary Morrison (pseudonym) lived, an area of Fife in Central Scotland. The area itself is covered by farmland and there are many small farms secluded about the landscape. The area is therefore not heavily populated, and the contours of the land rise and fall at different locations. After getting lost, we eventually found Mrs Morrison's farm and introduced ourselves to her. We found her to be a warm and pleasant person and quite attractive. Her farm house actually sits on top of a hill which gives her a commanding and panoramic view of the Fife valley.

After our introductions, Mary then settled down to tell us quite an incredible tale. I sat back in my chair, and was amazed as this strange tale unfolded. This is what she had to tell SPI. A NIGHT TO REMEMBER ! On the evening of the 23rd of September 1996, Mary Morrison, accompanied by her ten year old son Peter and Mary's friend Jane, left her farmhouse home to travel to a nearby town to buy some coffee. The time was around 8:05 in the evening. On the way there, they observed a huge white stationary light in the sky, initially observed by Mary who was driving. Mary presumed that this light was either an aircraft or a helicopter, but after a few seconds realised that this was not the case, as the object was still not moving. This bright light then amazingly changed into two bright lights, at which point Mary said to her friend, "Look at those bright lights up there", to which her friend replied, "It must be an aeroplane."

Mary decided to stop the car and get out for a look, still thinking that perhaps it could be some form of aircraft. Everyone alighted from the car and stood next to the road, looking up in bewilderment at this strange spectacle in the sky, "This was weird," she said, but things took a turn for the worse when suddenly two massive bright spotlights illuminated the ground around them. Beams of light criss-crossed one another in a spiralled dance which captivated all the witnesses. After a period of seconds, these huge bright white lights were switched off and Mary became aware of looking at a large black triangular shaped object. This object then proceeded to bank very gently and Mary then became aware of small red lights at each apex of this triangle, while a brighter light source (white) was obscured to them as this object slowly turned. As the object completed its turn, further small red lights were observed on its underside. No noise was associated with this object and there were no visible signs of ay appendages. However, Mary did say that she saw on top of this triangle, a small dome. When asked by SPI how large this triangular- shaped object was, she replied that if she held her hand out in front of her, this object would still be bigger than her hand !

After a few moments, the object slowly and gradually moved or 'drifted' away. The feelings of all the witnesses were of amazement. They knew that what they had been looking at was not a normal man-made object. It proceeded to move away from them with only the faint red lights showing. At this point, Mary decided on the spur of the moment, to wave at this 'thing', and she was most surprised when this object flashed three times to them! She reckons that the total duration of this incident was around five minutes, and further stated that the corners of this triangular- shaped object were more round than pointed.

With the object now gone, they decided to get back into their car and continue on with their journey to collect a jar of coffee. It was on their return journey that they wondered if they would see this strange object again. No sooner had they thought about this when the same, or similar object was sighted in the sky, only this time it was travelling quickly in their direction. So quickly was this object coming towards them, that Mary's young son Peter started to cry, thinking perhaps that this object might hit their car. No sooner had Peter started to cry, than this strange object shot back the way it came and was lost to view in seconds. BUT MORE WAS TO COME !

Another purchase that Mary had made in this local shop, apart from her coffee, was a UFO magazine which contained the phone number of Larry Dean, an investigator with research group SKYSEARCH. She left a message on his answerphone, stating that if there were any UFO investigators in her area, to get them out quickly, for something strange was going on. After making the phone call, they then related their strange sighting to Mary's friend's daughter Susan, aged 15. Susan was very sceptical and thought that this was one big wind-up. However, after a bit of persuasion, it was decided to once more go back outside and see if they could still see this object, never for one moment thinking that they would. Mary said to SPI that usually these things are only seen once in a life- time and she wasn't really prepared for what transpired next. But nonetheless, they all agreed (including young Peter who had earlier been crying) to go out and see if they could see it.

IT CAN'T BE, CAN IT ?

Travelling out in the direction of their earlier sighting, they did not see the same object again, but what they did see was what looked like stars sparkling in the night sky but only much, much lower. "There were hundreds of them," she said. She couldn't for the life of her fathom out what they were, but they were beautiful. It was at this point that things started to get 'strange' and the following information may prove, at least to the hard-nosed sceptic, difficult to believe. But this is what they said happened next.

All four witnesses were startled to see a tremendously bright, white light on the ground beside a group of trees which were at the other side of a ploughed field. Their initial thought was that this might be a bright security light attached to a building. However, they soon noticed a bright glow over some trees, an immense bright blue glow which actually shone up from the bottom of the trees into the dark night sky. They likened it to a bright searchlight as it continued its spinning movements up and out of this grouped range of trees. In an effort to get closer to this amazing spectacle, they decided to get back into the car and travel down a little back road. This they did, and they continued to view the strange spectacle. A sense of non-reality was in the air, when suddenly the bright, blue, spinning light was joined by other bright lights, red and green. Mary likened them this time to a laser light show. "They really were lovely," she said. "We were all moved to tears by them". It was at this point that events took a dramatic turn, for whilst they were all captivated by these spinning lights, Mary suddenly became aware of 'figures' silhouetted in these lights, small grey figures who were running around and appeared to be very busy picking up what looked like boxes or cubes, and also cylinders or canisters. Further back in the woods, she said that she saw some form of triangular 'structure' out of which these small 'beings' were coming and going. But what really surprised Mary the most was the sight of a very large 'being' who was a different colour from the rest. The 'being', she said, was a sort of tan brown. 'He' was standing a short distance away from the rest of these 'beings,' as if he were somehow in charge - this she strongly felt.

Indeed at one point, the large 'being' actually stretched down towards the ground and opened his right hand to 'something,' stood up, moved back into the trees a bit, then took up the same position as before. In the sky around this amazing spectacle, were hundreds upon hundreds of these small star-like 'things' which were just hanging in the sky. Suddenly a bright beam of light shone down from the sky and illuminated the road in front of them.

Mary related to SPI, that as soon as this 'light beam' hit the ground, her memory of events becomes sketchy, but she believes that they all took a fright to this light, and jumped back into the car and headed off to her friend's house. Indeed this is what did happen (at some point !). It was at her friend's house that she decided to phone Larry Dean again and inform him about what had happened. Larry was home and suggested to Mary that she should contact Malcolm Robinson of SPI. He then gave out the number but unfortunately when Mary tried it, she found much to her disappointment that the line was discontinued (Malcolm Robinson had moved house). She again phoned Larry, who this time put her in touch with Tony Dodd of UFO MAGAZINE.

THE THIRD SIGHTING.

It was at Jane's house that Mary spoke to Jane's husband about what had transpired. Unfortunately he had to go to work, but offered them the use of his binoculars. With these, the intrepid witnesses decided once more to go out into the dark night and see if there was any more evidence of these strange objects and 'beings'. One would imagine any other witnesses as being too frightened to again venture out into the night, but curiosity was the major factor here, and although slightly fearful they just had to find out more. Would they see anything more, or would the area be as dark as it usually was on a crisp September evening ?

Well, they didn't have to wait long. As they travelled in the direction of the earlier sighting, they again saw many of those strange star shapes in the sky. Also observed near a transmitter on a hill, was another immensely bright, white light which was flashing in a sequence of three! They continued on with their journey and this flashing light was lost to view. At this point Mary started to become more alarmed. She felt that as these were narrow country roads, she didn't really want to get trapped here. The excitement of the initial events was now changing to fear, but she didn't want to show this in front of the others.

They stopped the car and proceeded to look up into the night sky with the borrowed binoculars. Jane, who was at this point holding the binoculars, thought she was looking at a star. Mary replied that "this was not a star" and quickly took the binoculars from her friend and directed them to the object. Mary stated to SPI that what she had seen resembled a 'squashed ball', elongated from top to bottom. It was a hot, fiery orange colour with big irregular indentations in it. " It looked really shimmery", she said, "as if it was giving off energy." "This thing", she said, "wasn't on the ground, but it was near the ground". Near the base of this 'squashed ball' was something like a wiggly, long, oval black spot. It was moving slowly and was tilting on its axis. To the right of that, and all around, was a small, orangey light, very round and very small.

The scene once more changed, and they again all witnessed these small 'beings' in the woods, who seemed to be supervised somehow by this tall brown 'being'. SPI asked Mary how tall she thought this 'being, was, and she replied, "Oh, at least half the size of the trees" !!

The time of this third visit was roughly around 11:30pm, and during all of these observations, no noise at all could be heard, except when Mary directed the binoculars onto that strange 'squashed ball.'Then she thought she heard a crackle, something like an electrical crackle. Another unusual statement that Mary relayed to SPI, was that after using the binoculars to view these strange sights, she could see just as well without them. She can't for the life of her understand how, because she said that these binoculars were so bad that it was a wonder at all you could see anything out of them. SPI asked Mary if she saw what could be termed fingers on any of these 'beings', to which she replied, "No," but went onto say that this large, brown, tanned being had a very large bulbous head with a very flat face. When we asked Mary about how these smaller 'beings' moved in the woods as they carried these boxes, she stated that they moved just like any normal person would move. "They were bending at the waist."-- very naturalally. There was no struggle as these 'beings' lifted the boxes and cylinders. They were lifting them quite easily. The cylinders or canisters, Mary went on to say, were being carried by these small 'beings' lengthwise in their arms. No markings could be discerned on any of the boxes or cylinders. Susan and Peter, daughter and son of both women, also stated that they could see these strange 'beings' in the woods close up, just as well as if they were almost there, an effect that they should not have experienced at that distance!

"THEY ARE COMING OUT OF THE WOODS" !!

However, the most frightening part of the whole night was to come on this third visit, for whilst they were all again looking at this strange spectacle in the woods, of lots and lots of small grey 'beings' busily running around, Jane screamed out, "Oh my God, they are coming out of the woods. There is a mist coming towards us. My God, there is a cocoon. There are hundreds of them, and they are in these things". Susan also screamed," They are coming towards us. They are moving so fast." Mary was by now becoming increasingly alarmed, and she couldn't understand how it was so light at the edge of this field. She could even see the straw bales which she wouldn't have normally seen, had it been pitch dark. The next sensation or impression that Mary had, was of these huge straw bales crowding across the road from them, and she could sense a being at the passenger side of the car, at the window. At this point Mary's friend said, "Let's get the hell out of here," followed by Susan who shouted, "There is one standing grinning at me".

Mary then slammed the car into first gear, then second and third and soon realised that she was doing 55 miles per hour, at which point she thought it better to slow down as she didn't want to end up losing control of the car. The other passengers in the car looked back out of the rear window and claimed that the whole field 'lit up' in an enormous blue flash. They eventually arrived back at Jane's house and stayed up most of the night extremely shocked and amazed.

FURTHER RECOLLECTIONS.

I (Malcolm Robinson) asked Mary about this mist that was coming towards her car just before they fled, and she told me that she herself didn't see this mist, but her friend described it as looking very fibrous, like a cocoon, and all these small 'beings' were being carried in it towards their car, their legs never moving. The orange light that they all saw earlier also contained 'beings', although Mary claims that surprisingly she didn't see them, but all the others did. SPI ascertained that they arrived back at Jane's house roughly around 00:30am . Mary had the distinct impression that she had watched this amazing spectacle for much longer than the actual time that had transpired, indeed on one occasion, whilst sitting in the car and watching all these small 'beings' moving around in the woods, she felt the distinct impression that (although she was in a sitting position in the driver's seat), she was being pushed back into a lying position, with someone or something holding her head. She didn't mention this sensation to the others, for she didn't want to alarm them.

UNUSUAL MARKINGS FOUND ON THE WITNESSES' BODIES'.

She said that researcher Tony Dodd from UFO MAGAZINE had suggested that she look out for unusual marks. That first day as far as she knew, she had none. It was a few days after that when she learned about her friend's daughter, Susan. She had found a strange mark on her shoulder, "as if the blood had been sucked up through the skin". This mark resembled two small vertical bars, side by side, separated only by a small space. Jane, Mary's friend, ended up initially with two marks on her body, one was on her right buttock, like a very pale brown birth mark, and the other one was found underneath her right breast on her ribs.

Mary informed SPI, that although she hadn't noticed any marks on her body, she was getting extreme discomfort from underneath her arm, at the top where it joins the body (right shoulder). There was no visible mark, but it was very painful to touch. Her son Peter had no marks at all. A few days later, Jane found another mark which appeared on her right shoulder. This consisted of a brown discoloration, blotchy and irregular around the edges. Susan, Jane's daughter, then found another mark, this time on her right shoulder. It was about 4 inches long and appeared roughly around a week after the main sighting. The week after the event (Monday the 30th), Jane found on the top of her right thigh, an immense bruise, a very colourful bruise. SPI asked Mary if she or the others had experienced any headaches or strange tastes in their mouths after the incident. She replied that they had not, but individually they were all very stressed -out by the whole incident.

THE INCIDENT IN THE BATHROOM.

On Sunday the 20th of October (a month after the sighting), one of Mary's friends, along with her son, came to visit. She was leaving her son with Mary as she was going away on a weekend visit. Soon her son and young Peter were playing happily in his bedroom. However, things were soon to change, for a short while later as Peter looked out of his bedroom window, he was surprised to see a small 'white being' with lots of teeth, looking straight at him. This 'being' was free floating and was not standing on top of the kitchen roof. He was too small for this. After a few moments, the 'being' just simply floated straight upwards with ease and was gone in seconds. According to Peter, his friend also saw this strange 'being'. Later on that same night, Mary was on the phone to Garry Wood, a researcher and himself UFO experiencer. Just prior to the phone call, Mary had run a bath for her son. Mary was explaining to Garry about some recent strange events when all of a sudden she heard her son screaming at the top of his voice, "Mummy, Mummy! Come quick, please come quick." Mary immediately threw the phone down in mid-conversation and dashed up the stairs three at a time.

She entered the bathroom and found her son in some distress. After calming him down, he explained that as he had entered the bathroom, he saw a small white 'being' standing next to the wash hand basin and bath. This 'being' also had a row of teeth, was small and thin and looked very pale. After Peter had screamed, this 'being' just simply vanished !! Mary had to eventually sit outside the bathroom door to let her son have his bath. Indeed, he was still so frightened, that she had to sleep beside her son with the bedroom light left on the whole night.

SPI QUESTIONS YOUNG PETER.

Obviously, when one is dealing with young children in cases such as this, one must be very careful. Questions have to be asked gingerly and in a manner understood by the child. I, with the blessing of his mother, then proceeded at this point in our investigation to ask young Peter some questions in regard to these 'beings' that he said he saw. I first of all asked Peter if this first white 'being' that he saw outside his bedroom window whilst he was playing with his friend, could be seen by them both. He replied, "Yes". I then asked Peter what exactly did this 'being' look like ? Peter replied that he was small, he had an egg-shaped head, with lots of sharp teeth in his mouth. He had oval- shaped eyes and was very white looking. One thing I found most peculiar in Peter's testimony (apart from the row of jagged teeth) was when Peter referred to seeing an unusual 'flap of skin' which he saw on this 'being' between the elbow and forearm. This 'being' was also muscular, according to Peter, and there was no sign of any facial or body hair.

GREY 'BEING' AT SCHOOL.

Dealing in cases such as this, one sometimes stumbles across pieces of information which can be incredible and hard to believe, but because information can sound fantastic, does this mean that there is no truth in it ? Well, what you are now about to read, truly does sound fantastic and one can be forgiven for thinking that it is all a load of nonsense dreamed up in a young child's mind. However, it would be wrong of me to keep this information out of this case just because it sounds ridiculous, so here it is, for what it is worth.

At this point during our interview with Mary, Billy Devlin turned his attention back to her son Peter and proceeded to ask questions about Peter and his school. The following information is taken straight from our audio- taped interview.

Billy Devlin asked, "Has anything happened to you at your school?" Peter replied, "There was a green one, a brown one, and a huge white one at school in the classroom. These ones did not have any teeth. The grey one was holding the top of my pencil, showing me what number to write". Billy then asked, "Did you say anything to your pals?" To which Peter replied, "No". Malcolm then asked, "Were you frightened?" Peter again replied, "No". Malcolm then asked, "Did he speak to you or try to tell you something?" "No," was Peter's reply.

Billy queried, "Why were you not frightened of that one?" Whereupon Peter quickly said, "Because he was helping me." (Peter's tone of voice was as if we should have known this !) Billy then said, "But surely he didn't appear just holding your pencil?", to which Peter replied, "He came in the same time as me". Garry Wood then said, "Do you think he knew you ? Peter answered, "Don't know, he might have known me."

Billy then asked,"Was he with you before you went to school?", to which Peter answered, "He was in my room before I woke up, standing near the bed". Billy went on, "So you got up, got dressed, went downstairs. Did he follow you downstairs?" Peter nodded his head in a yes motion. Billy went on, "Was he there when you were eating your breakfast?" Peter replied, "Yes, he was still standing"

Garry Wood at this point spoke up and asked, "Did you not go and tell your Mum?", to which he replied, "No, she's pretty scared of these things". Malcolm then asked, "Peter, how tall or short was he?" Peter answered, "He was about the same size as me".

Billy Devlin then came in and said, "So he followed you all through that day and helped you with your homework. Where did he go after that?" Peter then said, "He went through the wall". Billy asked, "Did he not say cheerio or anything before he went?" Peter replied, "No, he just turned round and walked through the wall"

SPI also learned at this point during our discussion with Peter, that this strange 'creature' also shared his taxi on the way to school ! 'He' also shared it on the way back! I asked Peter if, by the help of his unseen friend, he had got his sums or school project correct, to which he replied that as yet he didn't know. I also asked Peter if he felt that his 'unseen friend' was helpful in any way. A resounding "yes" was Peter's reply. SPI learned that this 'creature' had also assisted Peter with another classroom project that day, a project which concerned tissue paper (yellow and orange) to represent flames. The project was concerning the Great Fire of London. Apparently this 'creature' had shown Peter how to cut out his tissue shapes.

It was apparent to me, that due to Peter's close proximity to his 'unseen friend,' he surely must have been able to observe many features of this small creature, and so I endeavoured to ask him about how many fingers this 'creature' had. Peter replied that he had three on each hand. I then asked if they were long and thin, fat or short, to which he said that they were long and thin and did not have any nails. I then asked Peter if he noticed any lines on 'his' hand, perhaps near the knuckles. Peter nodded yes. I then asked, "Did you notice any veins in his hand?", to which Peter murmured, "No". Garry Wood then asked, "Was 'his' hand warm or cold?", to which Peter replied, "Cold". Malcolm then asked, "Did this small 'creature' have the fold of skin that you observed with another small 'creature' ?" Peter replied, "No". Billy Devlin then asked, "Was 'he' there when you woke up the next day?" Peter replied in the affirmative.

ALIENS AT THE WINDOW.

If the reader finds the above hard to believe, then some might find the following even harder to swallow. But like I mentioned earlier, SPI must present all the facts, no matter how bizarre they may seem. It would be wrong to leave certain parts out of a case report purely because some might find them nonsensical. I would also like to point out before I continue, that we must remember that the paranormal is full of reports of young children witnessing all kinds of unusual phenomena. Some have had what is termed as imaginary playmates, but as children grow older, they seem to lose this psychic faculty. Was this the case with young Peter? At this point in our interview there was a lull in the conversation. This was broken by young Peter who then said, "Why don't you ask them what you want. There are three of them standing over there". (Peter was pointing towards the living room window). Both Billy Devlin and I, as well as Garry Wood, immediately turned our heads in the direction in which Peter was pointing. Whilst doing so, we also grabbed our cameras. Sadly, although we were all looking intently, we didn't see a thing. Nonetheless, both Billy and I took many photographs of this area. I asked Peter what they were doing, what they were saying, to which he replied, "They are just looking. I think they have been with me all my life. I've seen shimmering all my life". Billy then asked, "How do you know they are aliens?", to which Peter replied, "Because they look like them", at which Billy continued, "Like aliens in the magazines and books?" "Yes," replied Peter. At this point I asked Peter to point again to where these three 'aliens' were standing. When he did so, both Billy and I moved right into where they were located, again taking further photographs. Peter said that he sometimes felt cold as he 'walked through them.' However, I never felt anything as I moved my body in and around where Peter said that these three 'aliens' were standing. Billy had taken several Polaroid photographs of this spot, but nothin unusual had come up on them. I asked Peter what was happening now, now that we were more or less standing in amongst them, and he mentioned that he could see a series of white zigzag lines in the area where these 'aliens' were standing (again unseen by the rest of us). Malcolm then asked Peter if they could move anything in the room. Could they move Billy's pen for instance? Peter replied "I don't know. You might want to ask them yourself" ! I laughed, but then said, "If there is anybody here with us, could they please move this pen (referring to Billy's pen in front of me). I then jokingly said, "I'll be the first out of this room if the pen moves." The pen didn't move.

At this point in the proceedings, I was intently looking at Mary to see if she was perhaps in embarrassment at her son saying that he could see three 'aliens' in her living room. However her face was impassive. Indeed I asked her if she could see anything in front of the living room window. She replied that all she could see was a shimmering effect. She knew that if she concentrated hard enough, these 'creatures' would come through, but she didn't want this. She has also seen this shimmering effect on a number of other occasions since the stated event. She likens it to a heat haze, that shimmering effect that you see above a road on a hot sunny day. SPI also learned that the night Mary had stayed with her friend, (the night of the incident), Mary kept sitting up in bed and throwing off the top quilt from the bed. This went on for around twenty minutes to half an hour. Mary then explained to SPI that the muscle on her right arm was very painful, and was very swollen some days after the incident.

STRANGE DREAMS.

Malcolm then asked Mary if she had had any strange dreams after the incident, to which she replied that there had been one or two, some with sexual overtones. She remembers walking through various corridors, whereupon she saw a black door. She was being accompanied by a 'male' person. There was a short corridor and a marble sort of floor, and there were black doors and silvery walls. She got to the end and saw a ladder which she proceeded to climb. This led her out through a hatch, where she saw an outdoor scene, which she describes as a grassy hill or bank. A 'saucer' was sitting on the grass, which was odd, she thought. Then she had the impression of a 'male' person doing something to her neck. This male person explained that she might experience a very strange sensation. Mary further explained to SPI that she has had strange dreams like this all her life! Mary also said, that a few days after her UFO sighting, she dreamt that she was on-board a 'craft'. She was unsure if it was a 'real dream' or bitsand pieces of fragmented memory of a real event. She dreamt that she was in a room, a white room, and there were about half a dozen of these little grey ones in there. She thought she saw a black cupboard and bench in there. The roof appeared a darker grey, and it got lighter on the walls. She also saw a large chair, like an office chair without the arms, and there was a brown 'creature' sitting in it. This brown 'creature' turned to face Mary, and all the little ones were in front of her. She then said that she went over to the brown one and started feeling his arms. Mary's friend Jane said that she could also recall being in this 'craft', so Mary explained to SPI that she had spoken about her dream to her friend and asked her if the 'creature's' arm felt rough and warm, to which her friend said, "You were definitely in the 'craft'". Mary said that this 'creature's' arm felt very textured, and looked very leathery.

ANOTHER TRIANGLE SIGHTING.

Mary also informed SPI that she again saw the 'black triangle' a week before our interview. She was going to visit a friend (Sharon Coul). The object was hovering above a field near Kennoway. She was at a higher vantage point so therefore this triangle was actually below her. She said that it displayed two big white front lights and also a red flashing light. It was only when she continued driving into town, that she began to lose sight of the object, although for a short time she said that she could see it between some buildings.

Mary also explained to SPI that she felt very nervous staying alone in the house. She is aware of things around her, especially this "shimmering", but she deliberately ignores it. On one occasion though, she decided to let this "shimmering effect" develop, and she said that she saw one of these 'faces' (typical grey alien face) come straight towards her, at which point she blanked it out. She also informed SPI that she sometimes sees something out of the corner of her eye, but when looking straight at it, it disappears.

Mary went on to inform SPI that in her house, she believes she has a ghost of a dog which sometimes runs by her (the family don't own a dog). A few weeks prior to our visit the family heard the sounds of this dog. The family cat shot straight out of the kitchen with eyes as wide as saucers and its tail all bristling out. Both Mary and her husband went into the kitchen, where they were both amazed to hear the sound of 'something' lapping out of the cat's water dish! Nothing could be seen.

CATS AND ALIENS !!

SPI asked Peter if the cats reacted to this ghostly dog and also these 'creatures'. Did they hiss, for instance? Peter replied that one of their two cats did indeed hiss at them, whilst the other cat was quite content when being stroked by one of these small 'creatures' !! Mary then explained that Domino, one of their cats, a little white one, sometimes went on the defensive on the occasions that she had seen this "shimmering" effect. Domino would react by hissing and spitting at this "shimmering" . One question that Malcolm posed to Mary was a question about balls of light in her bedroom, which are sometimes seen by witnesses either prior to, or after, a UFO event. Had she seen any of these, I asked ? She replied that she had not.

After talking with Mary about these balls of light which she said that she hadn't experienced, she did recount the time when strange blue lights swooped into her bedroom. She initially thought that it must be emergency vehicles outside, like an ambulance or police car, but on looking out the window, no emergency vehicles were to be seen. These blue beams, Mary said, were coming into her bedroom from above and not from below (Mary's bedroom was on the second floor). Malcolm Robinson asked, "How thick were these blue beams that shot into your bedroom. Were they as thick as your arm" ? "Oh yes," she replied. "These blue beams were straight and did not bend as they came into the room". Mary remembers feeling very uneasy about these blue beams and did what she felt was the correct action, she dived under the covers! This all happened when Mary stayed in a house in the village of Cupar in Fife back in 1986.

On another occasion when she stayed in Cupar, she had another unpleasant experience. One day as she went out to collect her washing, she felt a strange presence. She described it as 'horrendous', as if it was crushing her. She has never felt anything so malevolent in her life. By the time she had collected her washing and moved back indoors, she was so frightened that she dropped to her knees with the tears just streaming down her face. It took her all her time to lock the door. Her neighbours later told her that there was a strange presence, 'out the back'. There was nothing tangible that Mary could see, but she related that it was the sheer malevolence of this episode that completely terrified her. It was a feeling of complete and utter hatred.

Mary then explained to SPI that she has noticed that her son Peter has become more psychically aware over the past few months. And she remembers her son telling her that he had seen a ghost when he was younger, a white lady, seen in a cupboard in his room. He had been playing on his bedroom floor, said Mary, when all of a sudden a mist drifted out from beneath this cupboard then developed into the form of a 'white lady.' Mary also told the story that when Peter was younger, he had said to her that he could see a 'little man' in his room. Mary had heard the sound of 'someone' or 'something' walking up the stairs, but upon looking, nothing could be seen. On one occasion she had a cousin stay over, who, during the night, became very scared as he heard 'someone' moving about.

MORE QUESTIONS, MORE ANSWERS.

Garry Wood asked Mary about her friend Jane, who was with her on the night in question. "How was she taking it?" Mary responded by saying that Jane was taking it better than she, that she had seen an awful lot more. Garry went on, "When you were looking at the UFO on the 23rd, did you feel that you were getting any communication from it?". Mary replied that she never got anything, she was just completely stunned.

At this point in the proceedings, I, Malcolm Robinson asked Mary, "Do you think that what you saw is the true image of these beings, or do you think that it is something else?". She replied that she didn't know. She felt that they were collecting things, taking samples. She then went on to say that at one of the sites where they saw these 'beings' (when they went back at a later date) there was a huge rock, like something that had come out of a stone building house. This had been moved from one area to another, very cleanly. And it was near this that Mary said that they had found an 'igloo thing' !

THE IGLOO.

Mary said that when she went back to this area, not only did she see this large rock, but she found an 'igloo thing', which was about three feet in height and was about the same diameter. It was beautifully constructed. Malcolm asked her if perhaps this might have been built by kids. She replied that it was really complex, really perfect. It was made out of weeds and grasses and things, but she couldn't recall seeing any twigs. This left her totally "gobsmacked".

STRANGE SMELL.

Mary then informed SPI about a strange smell that pervaded the family home some days after her UFO encounter. It was a horrible, burning, acrid smell which was all over the house. They couldn't account for it. It smelt like burnt paper she said. MONDAY 30th SEPTEMBER 1996.

Mary related to SPI about a strange event that had occurred on Monday the 30th of September (about a week after the initial big sighting). She said that she was driving up to her home when she observed what she termed as "a star" which came shooting over from the right and curved round, almost as though it was keeping parallel with her. She said that she then lost sight of it in the trees. She quickly went indoors and went upstairs and looked out of a window. She then caught sight of it again as it rose above tree level, and it just sat there twinkling. After a few minutes, a little red light flew across and kept a certain distance from it, then the two of them moved together in tandem. She then lost sight of the red one, but continued to see the white one twinkling away, and then it started flashing in sequences of three (her son Peter was also witness to this). It was at this point that she started to see something 'flash' above her head. She looked up, and at the top of her bedroom window, she sawwhat she described as a "thing" come, oh so slowly, over the top of her house. To start off with, she said that it had two white lights that were flashing on and off at the same time, and the object just kept coming and coming. It was shaped like a cone, and it had a big white light in the centre, a small red light elsewhere, and another white light and possibly a further white light near the end of this cone, although she is not really sure about this. To the underside of this object, she described something like lumps or shapes which were attached. It reminded her of those small structures that she had seen on some of the" Star Wars" craft in the film of the same name. This was an amazing spectacle in a dark starry sky. The object kept coming slowly over the roof of her house and she noticed a further two more white lights. The whole thing was now shaped like a big rectangle. The four white lights on the corners were all flashing on and off at the same time. Eventually the object cleared her roof and headed off in the direction of where she had earlier seen that small red light, and then out in the direction of the North Sea. Mary went on to say that later that evening other aircraft showed up in the vicinity, but these, she said, were all normal aircraft. But it was the feeling of peace that she got whilst looking at this strange 'craft' that she has never been able to describe. She said she felt wonderfully happy, very calm and ecstatic. It was a tremendous feeling to see this object, a feeling which, she states, words cannot describe.

This feeling of peace stayed with Mary for quite a number of days. The Thursday of that same week, she and her husband saw another shape rise up from behind the trees. It started off with a blue glow, and then it started moving about erratically. Mary stated that this was the first time that she had seen any strange object move erratically. Normally they moved so gracefully.

AIRCRAFT AND HELICOPTERS.

Malcolm Robinson then asked Mary if she had heard any aircraft in the area over the past few weeks she replied, "Stacks of them." She went on to say that both she and her friend had never known so many night- flying aircraft prior to when they had their sighting. Mary also explained that a neighbour down the road had told her that she had heard the constant noise of aircraft for days. Mary then related the time when she saw a helicopter in the area, not long after her UFO sighting. She said it was during the night, and it was flying nose down without any lights. She didn't see any markings or insignia on it and speculates that it might have been using night-vision, as it circled over the valley. MARY AND HER EARLY YEARS. Mary related to SPI that when she was growing up she had many nightmares, especially in her Mum and Dad's house in Auchtermuchty. Then she moved to a cottage in Monefeith (near Dundee) where she had the most horrendous nightmares. Indeed, these nightmares became so bad, that her Mum had to wake her up as she was almost clawing her way through the bedroom walls. Growing up, Mary showed an interest in psychic and spiritual matters. She has read Whitley Streiber's two books, Communion and Transformation. Three years ago (1994) she started a subscription to Flying Saucer Review. She also likes the Fortean Times Magazine (a journal of strange phenomena). She was quick to point out however, that reading all these magazines and books had nothing at all to do with her own and her friend's UFO sighting. "This really did happen," she said." I am not making it up"..

Mary went on to discuss her friend Sharon Coul. "Sharon," Mary said, "is a good friend to talk to". She went on to say that she had stayed with Sharon one particular night, and that night they could both feel these 'presence's', so much so, she said, that if one comes close to you, you feel yourself going really icy cold, even if you are sitting next to a radiator. She also related that on one occasion, the hairs on the backs of their hands would stick up. "It was like static electricity," she said. Sharon's dog was also a bit upset by the 'presence's' in the room. The following morning as both she and Sharon were having a cup of tea, the electricity went off, the main switch had been switched off. They were both perplexed as to how this could have happened.

OTHER POINTS THAT CAME OUT OF SPI'S INVESTIGATION.

• 1. Mary refused SPI's help of hypnotherapy in an effort to see if there was any more hidden subconscious information. We did inform her about the pitfalls of hypnosis and said to her that it wasn't the best of tools. However, we did say the final decision on whether to use it or not would be hers. Mary felt that she didn't want to explore this avenue. However, she did accept counselling, and SPI put her in touch with an expert and qualified counsellor. (Not Quest International, I hasten to add. UFO MAGAZINE said it was they who had got the witness a counsellor. Not so. It was SPI).
• 2. Sadly Mary refused to let SPI have access to any of her son's drawings. He had drawn a lot on our visit, of the craft that he saw, and also the 'beings' that he saw. None of this was given over to SPI.
• 3. UFO sighting account forms were left for the witness and her son. She promised to complete these and return them, but we never received these forms back.
• 4. Essentially SPI have no written confirmation or drawings by any of the witnesses. Thankfully we do have an audio recording of our visit that night.
• 5. Mary explained to SPI that when she was sitting in the car looking at all these small 'beings' in the woods, she experienced the sensation that something was standing outside, near the car. She then experienced the feeling of someone holding or forcing her head back and felt as if she was lying on her side, but she told SPI that she was in a sitting position in the car. She describes this episode as "really bizarre".
• 6. The witnesses now feel that they have told their story, and they no longer wish to discuss it anymore. They now want peace and quiet. This is a great pity, but a decision we must respect. There are indeed a number of unanswered questions, points we would like cleared up, but due to the witnesses refusing any further co-operation, we sadly cannot answer those points.
• 7. Mary has left her Fife home, and now lives with her husband and family in Wales. This move of house was planned prior to these UFO events and not because of them.

We learned about this case from Garry Wood, a UFO abductee from Edinburgh who has assisted SPI a great deal with cases over the years. Garry's own case is incredible in itself, and we thank him for letting us know about this one.

Garry informed Malcolm Robinson of some of the information that he had obtained through a lady called Sharon Coul who lived in the Fife area. Sharon was a friend of one of the witnesses to this case and had spoken to Garry about it. Garry had also informed me that QUEST INTERNATIONAL were now on the case, and that Tony Dodd was the main investigator dealing with it. I quickly phoned Tony Dodd and asked him if he could tell me anything about the case. Indeed I wanted to know as much as possible. Unfortunately, Tony refused to tell me anything about it, due, he said, to witness confidentiality, which I must admit, I had no qualms about. This I respect. Indeed, we at SPI would also follow the same guidelines should a similar case come about (if the witness requested it !). I thanked Tony for his help and asked him to let me know as much as possible about this case on completion of his study.

Tony had informed me that he had put a Scottish member and investigator of QUEST onto this case, one Brian Rooney. My next call was to Sharon Coul herself, Garry's informant. Sharon was very helpful, but could not put me in direct contact with her friend who had experienced this strange event as she was still very traumatised . However, she did say that she would telephone her friend, tell her all about me, and see if she would perhaps call me direct. I thanked her for this and put down the phone. A very short while later I received a phone call from one Mary Morrison (pseudonym), Sharon's friend and UFO witness. She was on the phone to me for a very long time indeed, explaining all about what had happened. As she continued recounting her experiences to me, with every sentence it was becoming apparent that this case was not only very big, but could possibly be the biggest case of its kind ever to have occurred in Scotland, perhaps even surpassing the Garry Wood A70 case. Mary told me about marks on the ground, small grey 'aliens', cocoons, 'creatures' in her home, and a whole host of strange and puzzling events. By the time she had finished talking with me, it would be fair to say that I myself was more than a little shocked. I was honestly stunned by this startling information. I promised Mary that SPI would help her as much as we could, and would ensure a proper and thorough investigation. Her reply was that she would be happy to continue talking with SPI, but more than anything, she desired counselling. She just had to talk to someone, a professional person with a medical background, about what she had seen, and indeed was still seeing (!). I promised Mary that I would find her someone to go to, and, true to my word, I put her in touch with a professional counsellor (name on SPI's files). STEPS TAKEN BY SPI TO OBTAIN MORE INFORMATION TO HELP WITH THIS CASE. I again contacted Tony Dodd and informed him that I now had the telephone number of Mary Morrison, one of the witnesses. He was most surprised at this as he was sure that she wouldn't talk to anyone else, but I explained that she really needed help and was prepared to talk to anyone who could offer this. I then asked Tony to assist SPI, by giving us all the information he currently had, including any photographs or drawings. He replied that he couldn't do so at the moment as all this material was required to assist in the writing up of a case report on this event for UFO MAGAZINE. The published report about this incident has since come out, but as yet SPI has not received any information which could assist us in compiling our own report, and also in continuing our own investigations.

I then telephoned a local police station in the area and requested information about any members of the public that might have phoned their station on the night of the incident, perhaps relating their own sighting. After checking his records, he informed me that no members of the public had phoned their station, and he was not aware of any such reports over the past several months. I left him with my name and address to contact me should he become aware of any such UFO witnesses. I then wrote a letter detailing my request to the main police office in nearby Glenrothes. In their reply (see appendix), they stated that they were not aware of any UFO incidents in the area.

Letters were also sent to the various airports in Scotland asking them if they had any air-traffic in the area on the night in question. Calls received from these airports stated that they had no air-traffic in my specified area. I await written confirmation from the airports to this effect.

A letter to the British Ministry of Defence was also sent at the time of this report, but no reply has been received. Other lines of enquiry are being looked into, and reports of such enquiries can be found in our appendix section.

LETTERS TO OTHER SCOTS UFOLOGISTS.

Because this was proving to be such a big case, I took the step of contacting four other Scots Ufologists in order to ask them if their own group had any reports concerning UFO activity in or around the date in question. Those Ufologists were Ron Halliday of the Scottish Earth Mystery Research group. Ron had no cases near our date. George Niedzwiedz of Eyemouth near Berwick also said that he had none. John Jenkins of Pennicuick, West Lothian submitted a case, but this was not near our own specified date. David Colman of Lothian Borders Research informed SPI that he was aware of two cases near the date. This information is currently being looked into by SPI.

INVESTIGATION OF THE AREA.

Due to work commitments by not only myself, but Billy Devlin and Iain Connon, we were unable to quickly go to the specified areas where the events took place. However, Garry Wood has visited these areas on several occasions and a full and comprehensive account of his visits will be given at a later date. SPI finally paid a visit to the three specified areas in January 1997. Malcolm Robinson, Billy Devlin, Stephen Black, and channeller Graham Wylie went over the areas in question, but no physical ground traces were found or noticed. However we did find a white fibrous substance at various areas which we now conclude to be a normal product of the area, though we await the tests done by Quest International to confirm this. Channeller Graham Wylie felt (as we all did) a negative feeling at one location. Later, Graham performed a "cleansing ceremony" at one site and he now feels that these 'beings' won't be back !! SPI aim to return to these locations on further dates to go over the ground at great length, or to ensure that we haven't missed anything.

CONCLUDING REMARKS BY MALCOLM ROBINSON.

Without a shadow of a doubt, this case is truly puzzling, and has all the elements of what must be the biggest UFO event ever to have occurred in Scotland (perhaps even surpassing the A70 UFO abduction case which occurred to Garry Wood and his friend Colin Wright) Sadly in the Fife case, the witnesses have refrained from giving any more interviews to UFO investigators, which is a great shame, but something that we must respect. This does not mean to say that the case is false or did not happen. The witnesses have told their story and would now rather forget it. I'm sure the sceptics will love this !!!

Linda Moulton Howe, the cattle mutilation and abduction expert, phoned Malcolm Robinson from America and was speaking about this case with him for just under two hours. She gave SPI a few tips about how to go about dealing with a case as big as this, for which SPI thanked her. Malcolm did an interview with the Herald, one of Scotland's major newspapers. Upon publication, many other newspapers phoned Malcolm and asked him to do an interview. The Fife Free Press, one of several papers in the Fife area, did an extremely large piece about this case. Thankfully, they placed his phone number and address in the article. This brought forward several other witnesses who have also seen strange triangular craft in the Fife skies. Sadly, no one phoned who saw anything on the night in question. One witness wrote to Mr Robinson and informed him that she saw two air force jets pursuing a dull grey disk shaped object in the sky !! Investigations are still ongoing into this most impressive case, and we feel that this cae should be brought to your attention. UFOlogy is for the people, and people should become aware of what's going on, and in this regard, we submit this case for your attention. We hope you find it of interest.

 Malcolm Robinson, Alloa, Central Scotland, February 1997. (c) Strange Phenomena Investigations. Strange Phenomena Investigations Researcher Malcolm Robinson 29 Kent Road, Alloa Clackmannanshire Scotland FK10 2JN Tel: 01259 210714

ADDENDUM. SPI would like to thank the following people for their welcomed help in the investigation of this case. Garry Wood from Edinburgh, Sharron Coul from Methil (Fife), Graham Wylie and Stephen Black from Dundee.