Children's Encounter With Odd Humanoid (Isle Of Wight; May 1973)

[Paul_Exeter]

There might be a clue within the history of the airfield:

https://wight.hampshireairfields.co.uk/san.html

At the time of the incident the airfield had been in decline and quite possibly up the sale. When new owners purchased it in 1976 apparently two of the three grass runways had already been abandoned/sold off. So there is a possibility the two workmen were removing fence posts as a runway was abandoned. Then you have a character with a clipboard perhaps checking the released land was safe…? Did the Germans ever bomb the airfield…? Was there any possibility of unexplored ordinance of some description…?

 

[Paul_Exeter]

Pt 2

Was he “all clear” Sam/Man who sounded the loud siren to announce the search had been concluded or was starting…?

(I still prefer fairy lore)

 

[Erinaceus]

The fairy lore option does seem viable. The green tunic sounds like the sort of thing an elf or leprechaun-like being would traditionally wear. Sam was described as moving with a hopping motion with his knees raised high, maybe because his feet were bare?
Can we be sure of the original written message? If English wasn't Sam's native language could he have written the note using the syntax of his own tongue and then had to point to the words as they would have been ordered in English? Did the girl even remember the exact words 'Sam' wrote after three weeks?

 

[Paul_Exeter]

The fairy lore option does seem viable. The green tunic sounds like the sort of thing an elf or leprechaun-like being would traditionally wear. Sam was described as moving with a hopping motion with his knees raised high, maybe because his feet were bare?
Can we be sure of the original written message? If English wasn't Sam's native language could he have written the note using the syntax of his own tongue and then had to point to the words as they would have been ordered in English? Did the girl even remember the exact words 'Sam' wrote after three weeks?

Agreed.

It is great fun to explore the narrative, however we are giving great weight to a young girl’s three-week-old testimony told to a father who had a belief in 70s-era UFOS (not a bad thing, but perhaps a ‘filter’).

With the 70s-era Gisby/Simpson French hotel time slip we had Jenny Randle’s investigation and two reconstructions featuring the witnesses and that made for much more meat on the bone

 

[BS3]

Agreed.

It is great fun to explore the narrative, however we are giving great weight to a young girl’s three-week-old testimony told to a father who had a belief in 70s-era UFOS (not a bad thing, but perhaps a ‘filter’).

With the 70s-era Gisby/Simpson French hotel time slip we had Jenny Randle’s investigation and two reconstructions featuring the witnesses and that made for much more meat on the bone

Well, it's even more filtered than that: three week old testimony told to a UFO-aware father and then only passed on to a BUFORA investigator several years later (the investigator himself was involved in the "Scoriton Mystery", a now frankly bizarre sounding case where a man claimed to have met a reincarnation of Adamski piloting a flying saucer; the witnesses wife later claimed the whole thing was made up).

Good fun to re-evaluate, though.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

Well, it's even more filtered than that: three week old testimony told to a UFO-aware father and then only passed on to a BUFORA investigator several years later (the investigator himself was involved in the "Scoriton Mystery", a now frankly bizarre sounding case where a man claimed to have met a reincarnation of Adamski piloting a flying saucer; the witnesses wife later claimed the whole thing was made up).

Good fun to re-evaluate, though.

Agree re the Scoriton UFO.

There is another angle (sorry, can't help myself...!). It is possible that 1972 was the year our young witness first watched a colour television, either in her own home or at a friend's house:

"The BBC and ITV sought programmes that could exploit this new medium of colour television, and major sporting events were linked to colour television from the very start. Snooker, with its rainbow of different-coloured balls, was ideal. On 23 July 1969, BBC2’s Pot Black, a series of non-ranking snooker tournaments, was born."

and:

The first official colour programme on BBC1 was a concert by Petula Clark from the Royal Albert Hall, London, broadcast at midnight on 14/15 November 1969. This might seem an odd hour to launch a colour service, but is explained by the fact that the Postmaster General’s colour broadcasting licence began at exactly this time.

and:

"Colour TV sets did not outnumber black-and-white sets until 1976, mainly due to the high price of early colour sets. In March 1969, there were only 100,000 colour TV sets in use in the UK; by the end of 1969 this had doubled to 200,000, and by 1972 there were 1.6 million."

https://www.scienceandmediamuseum.org.uk/objects-and-stories/history-colour-tv-uk​

So, was "all colours" a reference to a children's TV character or similar whom she had seen in colour for the first time, quite big deal at the time...?

 

[BeardSprite]

I don't have much to add to the discussion - it's a very odd encounter, and the discussion so far seems to be covering plenty of ground.

I do have a couple of observations, though.

The talk about 'Sandown Airport' perhaps makes it sound like it's a more extensive facility than it really is. It's a single runway grass field with a few facilities buildings in one corner. It serves very light (mostly single engine and micro/ultralight) general aviation traffic.

I stayed at the nearby Cheveton Copse Holiday Park last time i was down IOW way (in 2004, I gotta rectify that someday soon!), and there was barely any sound from the airport itself - the occasional engine drone from arriving/departing aircraft, but the only time I noticed the PA system was when crossing the field on the access road to/from the holiday park.

The holiday park is about 250m from the airport buildings, the area the encounter took place in is about 1km from them - sound from the airport would have to be noticeable in the wider area to account for the 'siren' sound being discussed. I'm not even sure the airport has one.

A quarry hut might well get moved around, too. Could they have wandered close to the quarry? Hence the siren and workmen

Whilst at 2km as the crow flies the quarry is 'nearby', it's more like 3km on foot following roads/paths, not a casual distance for a couple of small kids to cover in a short space of time. I think the quarry is probably a red herring.

There might be a clue within the history of the airfield:

https://wight.hampshireairfields.co.uk/san.html

At the time of the incident the airfield had been in decline and quite possibly up the sale. When new owners purchased it in 1976 apparently two of the three grass runways had already been abandoned/sold off. So there is a possibility the two workmen were removing fence posts as a runway was abandoned. Then you have a character with a clipboard perhaps checking the released land was safe…? Did the Germans ever bomb the airfield…? Was there any possibility of unexplored ordinance of some description…?

The encounter is noted to have taken place in 1973, so I think the workmen must have been doing something unrelated to the downsizing.

From the same webpage, all IOW airports where closed during WWII, with their runways obstructed to prevent use.

Ventnor is not too far away, from an aerial perspective, and the radar station there was famously bombed at the onset of the battle of Britain in 1940, so its certainly possible other parts of the island had been as well, though I don't know of any incidents off the top of my head.

There is another angle (sorry, can't help myself...!). It is possible that 1972 was the year our young witness first watched a colour television, either in her own home or at a friend's house:

"The BBC and ITV sought programmes that could exploit this new medium of colour television, and major sporting events were linked to colour television from the very start. Snooker, with its rainbow of different-coloured balls, was ideal. On 23 July 1969, BBC2’s Pot Black, a series of non-ranking snooker tournaments, was born."

and:

The first official colour programme on BBC1 was a concert by Petula Clark from the Royal Albert Hall, London, broadcast at midnight on 14/15 November 1969. This might seem an odd hour to launch a colour service, but is explained by the fact that the Postmaster General’s colour broadcasting licence began at exactly this time.

and:

"Colour TV sets did not outnumber black-and-white sets until 1976, mainly due to the high price of early colour sets. In March 1969, there were only 100,000 colour TV sets in use in the UK; by the end of 1969 this had doubled to 200,000, and by 1972 there were 1.6 million."
So, was "all colours" a reference to a children's TV character or similar whom she had seen in colour for the first time, quite big deal at the time...?

Oh. Now that gives me a 'wicked' thought!

Attached is an image cropped from the BBC test card image in use (and in colour) from 1967 and all through the 70's.

Green tunic. Unusual facial features, in unusual colours. A weird little hat, tufts of hair sticking out. Remind you of anyone?

Now, I'm not saying Bubbles the clown was the inspiration for a fanciful little yarn, but it was the first image to pop in to my head when @WeirdExeter posted about colour television characters!

Also, apologies to @WeirdExeter , I see all the quotes I've made are of your posts!

If I do manage to get down that way again soon (well, in the next couple of years!), I'll try and make time for a stroll through that wooded strip between golf course and airport!

Edit: For typo's.

 

[BeardSprite]

Apologies for the douple post. I've also just remembered that it was also broadcast with an accompanying siren like (well, maybe that's a bit of a stretch) tone.

As in this youtube video, from about the 5:50 mark.

Youtube link to video of BBC Testcard with tone.

 

[catseye]

The odd method of locomotion, hopping along with a high knee action, has more than a whiff of 'dream' about it.

 

[maximus otter]

Doctor Who humanoid villains/aliens from 1973:

Inter Minorians:

Draconians:

Sontarans:

https://thedoctorwhosite.co.uk/doctorwho/characters/aliens/

maximus otter

 

[Mythopoeika]

The odd method of locomotion, hopping along with a high knee action, has more than a whiff of 'dream' about it.

Or it might be the end result of wearing a badly-fitting costume.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

I don't have much to add to the discussion - it's a very odd encounter, and the discussion so far seems to be covering plenty of ground.

I do have a couple of observations, though.

The talk about 'Sandown Airport' perhaps makes it sound like it's a more extensive facility than it really is. It's a single runway grass field with a few facilities buildings in one corner. It serves very light (mostly single engine and micro/ultralight) general aviation traffic.

I stayed at the nearby Cheveton Copse Holiday Park last time i was down IOW way (in 2004, I gotta rectify that someday soon!), and there was barely any sound from the airport itself - the occasional engine drone from arriving/departing aircraft, but the only time I noticed the PA system was when crossing the field on the access road to/from the holiday park.

The holiday park is about 250m from the airport buildings, the area the encounter took place in is about 1km from them - sound from the airport would have to be noticeable in the wider area to account for the 'siren' sound being discussed. I'm not even sure the airport has one.



Whilst at 2km as the crow flies the quarry is 'nearby', it's more like 3km on foot following roads/paths, not a casual distance for a couple of small kids to cover in a short space of time. I think the quarry is probably a red herring.



The encounter is noted to have taken place in 1973, so I think the workmen must have been doing something unrelated to the downsizing.

From the same webpage, all IOW airports where closed during WWII, with their runways obstructed to prevent use.

Ventnor is not too far away, from an aerial perspective, and the radar station there was famously bombed at the onset of the battle of Britain in 1940, so its certainly possible other parts of the island had been as well, though I don't know of any incidents off the top of my head.



Oh. Now that gives me a 'wicked' thought!

Attached is an image cropped from the BBC test card image in use (and in colour) from 1967 and all through the 70's.

Green tunic. Unusual facial features, in unusual colours. A weird little hat, tufts of hair sticking out. Remind you of anyone?

Now, I'm not saying Bubbles the clown was the inspiration for a fanciful little yarn, but it was the first image to pop in to my head when @WeirdExeter posted about colour television characters!

Also, apologies to @WeirdExeter , I see all the quotes I've made are of your posts!

If I do manage to get down that way again soon (well, in the next couple of years!), I'll try and make time for a stroll through that wooded strip between golf course and airport!

Edit: For typo's.

Good shout.

There is the original photograph in the wikipedia article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_Card_F#/media/File:TCF_centre.jpg

There are some definite parallels: the white face, triangular eyes, hair, no neck, red collar, green tunic...

So, a little girl watches colour television for the first time and on the screen is a brightly coloured clown next to a little girl just like her. This clown then features in a vivid dream or becomes a childhood fantasy...? She shares her dream/fantasy with the boy, so to his mind it 'happened' but he can't explain it to an adult.

Or;

The 'intelligent other' can see this image in the young girl's mind and chooses this clown for its distortion disguise as it interacts with these young children for whatever purpose that serves

 

[EnolaGaia]

Or it might be the end result of wearing a badly-fitting costume.

Or the end result of wearing flippers (swimfins) or some other footwear suitable for mucking around in water.

 

[maximus otter]

Good shout.

There is the original photograph in the wikipedia article:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_Card_F#/media/File:TCF_centre.jpg

There are some definite parallels: the white face, triangular eyes, hair, no neck, red collar, green tunic...

So, a little girl watches colour television for the first time and on the screen is a brightly coloured clown next to a little girl just like her. This clown then features in a vivid dream or becomes a childhood fantasy...? She shares her dream/fantasy with the boy, so to his mind it 'happened' but he can't explain it to an adult.

Or;

The 'intelligent other' can see this image in the young girl's mind and chooses this clown for its distortion disguise as it interacts with these young children for whatever purpose that serves

A more recent photo of Carole Hersee and the original (according to Wikipedia) Bubbles.

maximus otter

 

[Paul_Exeter]

This is a modern day Bubbles doll:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/209414330/bubbles-the-test-card-clown-novelty

Are there any early-70s dolls of Bubbles made? If so, did they utilise wood within the arms and legs? Was there ever a Bubbles cartoon book...?

 

[charliebrown]

Do we know how old the children were at the time of Sam All Colours ?

My 5 year old grandson gets his point across in a conversation one way or another, and most of the time he is telling the truth.

For example, sometimes it takes interpretation like his teacher is going on long vacation to the beach when she really is out having a baby.

I think these kids were telling 100% truth, but it could have been anything.

It could have been a “ surf board hippy “ or a “ hobo “ ?

 

[Mythopoeika]

I think these kids were telling 100% truth, but it could have been anything.

It could have been a “ surf board hippy “ or a “ hobo “ ?

Or a mime artist.

 

[EnolaGaia]

Do we know how old the children were at the time of Sam All Colours ? ...

Yes we do ... It's in the original BUFORA article, page 10 (see my post of 27 April).

The girl (Mr. Y's daughter; the primary informant) is stated to have been 7 years old at the time of the encounter in May 1973. The boy (who isn't cited as contributing anything beyond confirmation he'd seen whatever the girl reported) is stated to be "about her own age."

 

[Earthly oddity]

I don't have much to add to the discussion - it's a very odd encounter, and the discussion so far seems to be covering plenty of ground.

I do have a couple of observations, though.

The talk about 'Sandown Airport' perhaps makes it sound like it's a more extensive facility than it really is. It's a single runway grass field with a few facilities buildings in one corner. It serves very light (mostly single engine and micro/ultralight) general aviation traffic.

I stayed at the nearby Cheveton Copse Holiday Park last time i was down IOW way (in 2004, I gotta rectify that someday soon!), and there was barely any sound from the airport itself - the occasional engine drone from arriving/departing aircraft, but the only time I noticed the PA system was when crossing the field on the access road to/from the holiday park.

The holiday park is about 250m from the airport buildings, the area the encounter took place in is about 1km from them - sound from the airport would have to be noticeable in the wider area to account for the 'siren' sound being discussed. I'm not even sure the airport has one.



Whilst at 2km as the crow flies the quarry is 'nearby', it's more like 3km on foot following roads/paths, not a casual distance for a couple of small kids to cover in a short space of time. I think the quarry is probably a red herring.



The encounter is noted to have taken place in 1973, so I think the workmen must have been doing something unrelated to the downsizing.

From the same webpage, all IOW airports where closed during WWII, with their runways obstructed to prevent use.

Ventnor is not too far away, from an aerial perspective, and the radar station there was famously bombed at the onset of the battle of Britain in 1940, so its certainly possible other parts of the island had been as well, though I don't know of any incidents off the top of my head.



Oh. Now that gives me a 'wicked' thought!

Attached is an image cropped from the BBC test card image in use (and in colour) from 1967 and all through the 70's.

Green tunic. Unusual facial features, in unusual colours. A weird little hat, tufts of hair sticking out. Remind you of anyone?

Now, I'm not saying Bubbles the clown was the inspiration for a fanciful little yarn, but it was the first image to pop in to my head when @WeirdExeter posted about colour television characters!

Also, apologies to @WeirdExeter , I see all the quotes I've made are of your posts!

If I do manage to get down that way again soon (well, in the next couple of years!), I'll try and make time for a stroll through that wooded strip between golf course and airport!

Edit: For typo's.

I thought of that testcard clown too....We only had a black and white tv in the 70s when I was a child but I always thought that testcard was weird. Just an odd photo. And the clown.....Just a weird old thing. The head is a weird shape and it doesn't have proper legs and arms.....

In fact when I viewed it on the black and white TV I didn't work out the head of the clown was attached to a body. It just looked like a decapitated weirdly shaped clown head to me as a child....Because the shape of the body is so vague....

So you can imagine as a child I saw that picture on the screen and was very confused.

Looking again at it now, Bubbles is the stuff of nightmares!

 

[GNC]

We could do a whole thread on kids freaked out by the testcard. It never bothered me, mind you, I just accepted it.

 

[Earthly oddity]

We could do a whole thread on kids freaked out by the testcard. It never bothered me, mind you, I just accepted it.

Am I the only one who just saw a weird decapitated clown then?

I blame black and white tv and the picture quality wasn't that good then either.....

 

[Ermintruder]

Am I the only one who just saw a weird decapitated clown then

No, I also saw "Test Card F" as looking that way (in black+white) when I was much younger: I then started seeing it as a thalidomide clown.

The advent of colour TV (and ultimately an understanding what all the card elements were designed to do) helped make it just appear limbless, as opposed to being bodiless

 

[Paul_Exeter]

The odd method of locomotion, hopping along with a high knee action, has more than a whiff of 'dream' about it.

I was born in 1968 and I feel as if I remember a character who walked like this from children's tv when I was very young, but your memory plays tricks on you

 

[Earthly oddity]

I was born in 1968 and I feel as if I remember a character who walked like this from children's tv when I was very young, but your memory plays tricks on you

Bill and Ben. And Andy Pandy and Looby Loo...... and many other puppets will have walked like this.....Puppets on TV in those days would have had funny walks. I think illustrations in books of pixies and the like would have had a similar pose for the walking too.....

 

[Earthly oddity]

No, I also saw "Test Card F" as looking that way (in black+white) when I was much younger: I then started seeing it as a thalidomide clown.

The advent of colour TV (and ultimately an understanding what all the card elements were designed to do) helped make it just appear limbless, as opposed to being bodiless

I did a google search and found this article which is technical but has some screenshots indicating what my childhood view on an old black and white tv might have looked like....
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/rd/pubs/reports/1981-11.pdf

Yes - I can see how I saw a clown head and didn't identify the blob as being a body. I seem to remember the body blob looking textured like a light marble effect as a child. It looked like a solid polished stone. So I didn't equate the blob with a body at all....

 

[Mythopoeika]

Bill and Ben. And Andy Pandy and Looby Loo...... and many other puppets will have walked like this.....Puppets on TV in those days would have had funny walks. I think illustrations in books of pixies and the like would have had a similar pose for the walking too.....

 

[BeardSprite]

Ah. Oh dear. I appear to have sent the thread off on a tangent - sorry!

The odd method of locomotion, hopping along with a high knee action, has more than a whiff of 'dream' about it.

I think a lot of the account does, especially that detail, but I am biased in that direction as I'll detail in a moment...

There are some definite parallels: the white face, triangular eyes, hair, no neck, red collar, green tunic...

So, a little girl watches colour television for the first time and on the screen is a brightly coloured clown next to a little girl just like her. This clown then features in a vivid dream or becomes a childhood fantasy...? She shares her dream/fantasy with the boy, so to his mind it 'happened' but he can't explain it to an adult.

Sounds good to me. I mean, it's all speculation, but from the available information, it gets the most 'hits' for me.

But then I would say that - I brought up the test card, and it ties in with one of my own memories of a childhood dream featuring a childrens tv character, which would have taken place in late 73 or early 74.

Link to Forteana Forums Adventures in Sleep Paralysis thread, post number 71.

Relevant bit starts about halfway down that post.

So yeah, I'm biased in favour of that interpretation, but I'm aware it has no greater grounding in the reality of the case than any of the other possible/proferred alternatives.

I just can't resist the apparent parallel of the test card image and tone and the 'clown-ghost and the siren'.

And those weird triangular eyebrows.

 

[Robbrent]

Read a post about this on FB the other night, pretty sure there must be a thread about this but couldn't find one

It certainly ranks as one of the strangest cases I have ever read about, I've known about it for a few years but kind of thought that it may have been debunked by now, there are a couple of red flags, the first they were children and they could have made up the story in order to explain being missing also no witness names so a bit had to get back up clarification

Having said all that it's so bizarre that there is a ring of the truth about it, for those unfamiliar with the case the below link documents the case quite well, it's quite a well known case but that does not always mean it's true, I am surprised there has not been a more detailed investigation or perhaps it's just so bizarre it frightens researchers away

https://www.curiousarchive.com/sam-the-sandown-clown-alien-man-in-black-or-folie-a-deux/

 

[Robbrent]

I don't have much to add to the discussion - it's a very odd encounter, and the discussion so far seems to be covering plenty of ground.

I do have a couple of observations, though.

The talk about 'Sandown Airport' perhaps makes it sound like it's a more extensive facility than it really is. It's a single runway grass field with a few facilities buildings in one corner. It serves very light (mostly single engine and micro/ultralight) general aviation traffic.

I stayed at the nearby Cheveton Copse Holiday Park last time i was down IOW way (in 2004, I gotta rectify that someday soon!), and there was barely any sound from the airport itself - the occasional engine drone from arriving/departing aircraft, but the only time I noticed the PA system was when crossing the field on the access road to/from the holiday park.

The holiday park is about 250m from the airport buildings, the area the encounter took place in is about 1km from them - sound from the airport would have to be noticeable in the wider area to account for the 'siren' sound being discussed. I'm not even sure the airport has one.



Whilst at 2km as the crow flies the quarry is 'nearby', it's more like 3km on foot following roads/paths, not a casual distance for a couple of small kids to cover in a short space of time. I think the quarry is probably a red herring.



The encounter is noted to have taken place in 1973, so I think the workmen must have been doing something unrelated to the downsizing.

From the same webpage, all IOW airports where closed during WWII, with their runways obstructed to prevent use.

Ventnor is not too far away, from an aerial perspective, and the radar station there was famously bombed at the onset of the battle of Britain in 1940, so its certainly possible other parts of the island had been as well, though I don't know of any incidents off the top of my head.



Oh. Now that gives me a 'wicked' thought!

Attached is an image cropped from the BBC test card image in use (and in colour) from 1967 and all through the 70's.

Green tunic. Unusual facial features, in unusual colours. A weird little hat, tufts of hair sticking out. Remind you of anyone?

Now, I'm not saying Bubbles the clown was the inspiration for a fanciful little yarn, but it was the first image to pop in to my head when @WeirdExeter posted about colour television characters!

Also, apologies to @WeirdExeter , I see all the quotes I've made are of your posts!

If I do manage to get down that way again soon (well, in the next couple of years!), I'll try and make time for a stroll through that wooded strip between golf course and airport!

Edit: For typo's.

I think the test card picture pretty much solves this one (for me anyway)

 

[catseye]

I think the test card picture pretty much solves this one (for me anyway)

I think it's more the number of incredibly unlikely things that children say they've seen which, on subsequent questioning, turn out to have actually been dreams. Some children really have difficulty sorting the difference between imagination and real life for quite a long while. Very small children often can't tell dreams from reality and this can persist well into later childhood.

I always think about the boy with the giraffe under the door here (I can't remember where that was, but the gist is that a young boy heard adults talking about 'the giraffe coming under that door' and actually 'saw' a giraffe's head and neck squeezing under the gap in the door. The adults had been discussing a 'draught', and he had misheard, and constructed the imaginary giraffe).