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..Just to clarify something - in a lot of recent literature, the witness/photographer is named as Alan Godfrey...

One has to wonder why Alan Godfrey, if it was the same one, would be wandering around this are when he was from Hebden Bridge/Todmorden area. Not far away, but a bit too far for a casual stroll. His claimed experience was in 1980.

INT21
Definitely NOT the same PC Alan Godfrey who saw a large UFO hovering over the street one night.
 
PeteS,

East Morton would appear to be the best bet if he walked back via the Keighley side of the moor.

I'm going to have to look up the case again and delve into it. The first thing to do is find out more about the clock.

Dr wu,

No, I didn't bother with this case. But I did look into another case on the Ilkley side of the moor. The one I mentioned above.

It will be interesting to follow the route though.

INT21
Would of course also explain why his compass pointed south if he walked to East Morton.
 
PeteS,

..Would of course also explain why his compass pointed south if he walked to East Morton...

Not quite sure what you mean.

A compass always points to the magnetic North. Are you suggesting that Magnetic North on this occasion was not where it usually is. I.e Fairly close to True North (Polaris).

INT21
 
PeteS,

..Would of course also explain why his compass pointed south if he walked to East Morton...

Not quite sure what you mean.

A compass always points to the magnetic North. Are you suggesting that Magnetic North on this occasion was not where it usually is. I.e Fairly close to True North (Polaris).

INT21
Yes sorry - I wasn't clear. He would be walking south if he was heading to East Morton. I wonder if in fact that is what he meant - ie that his compass showed he was walking south when he thought he was walking north.
 
Would anyone tec-savvy and with the time or inclination post a map please? Showing where this spot is and anything else (roads etc.) of note in that area?
 
I think someone may have already asked, but do we know which exact path the photograph was taken on?

I too have always been quite fascinated with this photograph.
 
So, Zebra, what conclusion did you come to ?

The story, as told, tells you nothing.

It didn't say where this @spencer' started out from.

It didn't give the name of the destination.

It doesn't say which town he got the film developed at.

It didn't tell you what route he took.

It did tell you it was 7 AM when he set off. So it was Dark.

As long as he had a torch (no mention) he would have had no trouble even in the dark as, until he reached the top he would have been able to see the urban conurbations in the distance. Particularly Bradford and Leeds. Also Keighley once he had crossed the top area (it is sort of like a depression) IF he was heading towards East Morton.
But on a dark foggy morning in December he would not have been able to see where he was walking.

The part about him carrying a compass means nothing. A compass is only any use if you also have a map.
No mention of a map. Also you would need to be able to see landmarks. Not easy in the dark.
When you are on the top of the moors, you can't see anything to sight on. Particularly in the dark.

It all sounds very unlikely to me.

INT21
 
I think someone may have already asked, but do we know which exact path the photograph was taken on?

I too have always been quite fascinated with this photograph.
If you go to Google maps satellite view of Ilkley moor and click on 3d you will see the problem. The moor is crossed with paths and I think it would take an expert on the moor to identify where the photo was taken from. Personally I don't think that the alien is standing on a path- more like a natural erosion track which is a feature of the moor. An area of this type can be found between Silver Well and Crawshaw Spring on the moor but needle and haystack spring to mind. I'm sure somewhere there is a feature on Google where you can view topography (alien is stood in a depression) but I don't know how to access this.
 
You know what the original Ilkley Moor picture looks like to me? An ET (as in the movie ET) toy, propped next to a rock, and photographed at a distance to avoid too much detail showing up. 8)

Certainly the head, long arms, clawed feet and even (at a pinch) the object it is carrying look very similar to the commercial ET model. ET's legs were much shorter though.

PSX_20180917_102702.jpg
 
Does anyone know if there are other pics of this....I thought he was using a video camera and these were stills from that or did he only take pics?
 
Does anyone know if there are other pics of this....I thought he was using a video camera and these were stills from that or did he only take pics?

It was a still camera, and he took a single still photo of the figure observed on the moor.
 
Thanks......one wonders why he didn't keep taking pics until the thing ran away...?
 
Thanks......one wonders why he didn't keep taking pics until the thing ran away...?

Good question ... I've never seen any account that mentions whether there were any other shots on the film, much less what they depicted. By the same token, I've never seen an account that claims the 'alien' photo was the only one he took on that film roll.
 
I don't know whether this is helpful or not ...

At least one person found the spot where Spencer's photo was taken.

tomlinson.jpg

The above photograph shows UFO researcher Arthur Tomlinson standing in the exact spot where the ‘creature‘ stood.

SOURCE: http://www.ghosttheory.com/2015/03/13/the-1987-ilkley-moor-alien-photograph

The only clue I have regarding this Arthur Tomlinson is that it was at his home that Spencer underwent a regressive hypnosis session.

Spencer had begun to have strange dreams of starry skies, and was still puzzled by the missing time he experienced, so the final test would be subjecting him to regressive hypnosis. The session was conducted by Dr. Jim Singleton, at Arthur Tomlinson's home, on March 16, 1988. Also there were Peter Hough, and Mathew Hill, a journalist friend of Hough who was to operate the three tape recorders.

SOURCE: https://www.ufocasebook.com/ilkleymoor2.html

I don't know whether the Tomlinson snapshot above was taken the same day as the hypnosis session.
 
I don't know whether this is helpful or not ...

At least one person found the spot where Spencer's photo was taken.



SOURCE: http://www.ghosttheory.com/2015/03/13/the-1987-ilkley-moor-alien-photograph

The only clue I have regarding this Arthur Tomlinson is that it was at his home that Spencer underwent a regressive hypnosis session.



SOURCE: https://www.ufocasebook.com/ilkleymoor2.html

I don't know whether the Tomlinson snapshot above was taken the same day as the hypnosis session.

Interesting. One assumes that Spencer pointed out the spot to Tomlinson, otherwise I can't see it could have been identified.
I also note that Spencer refers to a town hall clock which, taken on face value would rule out East Morton. The time difference of the clock could be a red herring- all these clocks were 100+ years old and I can't remember seeing one in the area which ever consistently showed the correct time. Could of course be a mis reference though.
What I thought from the beginning though was that the alien looked much bigger than 4 foot tall - the photo of Tomlinson gives a perspective.
Other discrepancies in the story as well eg the reason for his trip over the moor, visiting his family or exploring Ilkley? Alien waving goodbye to him after his abduction or warning him away when there was no mention of an abduction. Agree it might all be down to misreporting but there are just too many holes in the story for me to be convinced, although I'd like to be!
 
Ok...for the sake of discussion let's assume it was some kind of 'hoax'.....then what did the image represent?
A child in costume...a very small man...a dummy of some sort..?
 
I'm not sure that the alien was that small if you look at the image of Tomlinson taken from the same perspective and compare the two. But size notwithstanding, my thoughts are a dummy cardboard cutout or similar. I still wonder why anyone in their right mind would consider wandering about the moor so early in the morning in December. So dark in fact that you had to take a torch but light enough to be able a photo at a fairly long distance. Doesn't add up to me.
 
So then the man who took the pic set the whole thing up...?
 
Ok...for the sake of discussion let's assume it was some kind of 'hoax'.....then what did the image represent?
A child in costume...a very small man...a dummy of some sort..?

Good question ... My initial, and primary ongoing, impression was that it wasn't a humanoid figure, nor even a decent simulacrum of a humanoid figure.

I thought it looked like someone had erected a piece of driftwood - e.g., the stump of a small tree or substantial bush with roots attached. Given the trough-like contour of the path, I also wondered whether it was a stump below which the surrounding soil had eroded away.

I even wondered if it could be a total simulacrum involving stone(s) and / or vegetation at that particular spot viewed from that particular angle, but the Tomlinson photo 10 months afterward seems to rule that out.
 
So then the man who took the pic set the whole thing up...?

The standard storyline includes some odd bits that contribute to - but don't clearly validate - such suspicions, such as:

- leaving home at dawn on a foggy morning just to catch some snapshots of weird lighting effects on the moor
- not taking more than the one photo of a purportedly extraordinary scene
- never mentioning whether any other photos were taken on that hike

One must also note that 'Philip Spencer' was claimed to be a pseudonym from the very start.
 
Good question ... My initial, and primary ongoing, impression was that it wasn't a humanoid figure, nor even a decent simulacrum of a humanoid figure.

I thought it looked like someone had erected a piece of driftwood - e.g., the stump of a small tree or substantial bush with roots attached. Given the trough-like contour of the path, I also wondered whether it was a stump below which the surrounding soil had eroded away.

I even wondered if it could be a total simulacrum involving stone(s) and / or vegetation at that particular spot viewed from that particular angle, but the Tomlinson photo 10 months afterward seems to rule that out.

The driftwood/ tree root idea was my first thought actually. You might expect of course that if the guy spotted the stones or vegetation and thought that it would make a good alien story, he would have removed this material in case anyone else subsequently stumbled on the scene.
I agree that the odd bits don't necessarily validate suspicions that the whole thing was faked. Indeed you would expect that if the whole episode including the abduction was true there would be anomalies in the story due to the extreme affect on the abductees brain. On the other hand in my mind there are just too many anomolies.
It would interesting if we could identify the spot where the alien stood.
 
..Just to clarify something - in a lot of recent literature, the witness/photographer is named as Alan Godfrey...

One has to wonder why Alan Godfrey, if it was the same one, would be wandering around this are when he was from Hebden Bridge/Todmorden area. Not far away, but a bit too far for a casual stroll. His claimed experience was in 1980.

INT21
Do you not think it's too much of a coincidence that two police officers with the same name had ufo experiences 25 miles apart? I guess that it's far enough apart for Spencer/Godfrey to want to move closer to his father in law as he stated. I wonder where he actually moved to? A look in an old telephone directory would probably give the answer.
Any more thoughts on this case INT21? I read that Spencer gave an exclusive interview to a Japanese TV company who did a reconstruction but can't find any further reference to this.
 
I didn't think for a minute that the Ilkley case was down to the same Alan Godfrey as was involved in the Todmorden case. And Alan did have corroborating back up from other police officers who were seeing strange objects on the same night.

But coincidence is a strange thing.

Remember that, previous to his ufo experience, Godfrey was involved in the rather mysterious case of a man who appeared dead on a coal heap. The man's name was Zigmund Adamski.

Apparently to relation to George Adamski of ufo contactee fame.

I was hoping Jayceedove would chime in on this one. But haven't seen her about for a while.

I'm out of touch with everyone from my YUFOS days.

But in the dim recesses of my memory I recall there being some doubt about the case once people started digging into it. Japanese camera crews were everywhere back then.

INT21
 
The name similarities in both cases is indeed strange as is the Adamski connection name in that other coal mound case.
Dr Vallee and others like John Keel have commented on these odd name and place coincidences before in ufo/paranormal related cases. Almost like The Trickster is involved.
 
Ok...for the sake of discussion let's assume it was some kind of 'hoax'.....then what did the image represent?
A child in costume...a very small man...a dummy of some sort..?
His ex-wife claimed he made it out of chicken wire.

Think I read that a few year ago in FT? Jenny Randles Column?

She was very much the EX-wife at this point, and could have made it up anyway.
 
I don't know whether this is helpful or not ...

At least one person found the spot where Spencer's photo was taken.



SOURCE: http://www.ghosttheory.com/2015/03/13/the-1987-ilkley-moor-alien-photograph

The only clue I have regarding this Arthur Tomlinson is that it was at his home that Spencer underwent a regressive hypnosis session.



SOURCE: https://www.ufocasebook.com/ilkleymoor2.html

I don't know whether the Tomlinson snapshot above was taken the same day as the hypnosis session.

For no particular reason, I started looking into where this photo was taken. Strangely, it's one piece of information that I can't trace among all of the reports of the sighting. It seems that most of them merely recycle previous reports, including their errors (I saw several that copied the erroneous town name of "Hemel, Hempstead"). Even "Spencer's" route is glossed over.

After some digging, I assembled the following kit of parts:

"Spencer" was walking from Ilkley (no further info)...

...to his father-in-law's house in the village of East Morton (no specific address given).

After the sighting he was shaken up, and decided to re-route to the village of Mensor [sic. Menston?], which was approximately a thirty-minute walk away.

Here's an overview OS map of the area. Ilkley is the conurbation at the top of the map. It has East Morton (arrow), Menston (arrow) and my theory as to the sighting location (star) marked:

Ilkley-Fortean-overview-map.jpg


My main clue as to the exact-ish locus of the close encounter was this snippet from the Ilkley Gazette:

"A new twist has been added to a well-documented account of alien abduction on Ilkley Moor. Ufologist Nigel Mortimer, of Stocks Hill, Menston, has met two men from Horsforth who had an unexplained experience just 100 yards from where the incident allegedly took place. Mr Mortimer said: “They went for a walk just above White Wells at about 5pm on October 29, 1991. When they got to West Rock they found a great big ball of light 15ft across hovering above the rocks.” The men, who wish to remain anonymous, claim the ball of light then advanced and chased them for for a quarter of a mile as they ran back to Ilkley. This allegedly took them only ten minutes. Mr Mortimer’s attempts to get from West Rock to Ilkley have taken a minimum of half an hour. As a result he believes a “time warp” may have affected the two men."

So: "Spencer's" sighting was within 100 yards of West Rock. Where's that? A search of the map database of the National Library of Scotland led me to the 1909 25" to the mile map of Ilkley. There, just south of the town:

Ilkley-West-Rock-White-Wells-Fortean-annotated.jpg


So: the "Spencer" sighting was "within 100 yards" of West Rock. Here's a Google Earth satellite view of the locus, displaying a 200 yard radius around West Rock:

Ilkley-alien-200-yards-West-Rock.jpg


(The digits in the pic above are the latitude and longitude of West Rock).

Enquiries continue after coffee...

maximus otter
 

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Right: Here's a Google Earth screengrab depicting the exact location of West Rock, and a circle of radius 101 yards surrounding it, looking from north to south (as "Spencer" would have been walking):

Ilkley-alien-sighting-locus-100-yards.jpg


It would make sense to me that a man not intimately familiar with the Moor, and feeling the need to take a compass "just in case", would stick to the track of the Dales Way, especially as a fork off it about half a mile south (between Gill Head and Ashlar Chair on the OS map above) leads to East Morton, "Spencer's" intended destination.

This short (53 seconds), silent video of the locus shows trees to the left (west) of the path leading past the locus:


My guess is that the sighting reported in the Ilkley Gazette (see post above) was rather more than the stated "100 yards" from West Rock, as 200 to 300 yards would encompass those two spinneys to right centre. There are a couple of open areas in and around there with visible footpaths leading to them. Could one or other of those be the exact location?

maximus otter
 

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