The Scottish A70 UFO & Alleged Abductions Of Gary Wood & Colin Wright

[Bigphoot2]

Another key point in your post that's worth emphasising: there are several houses and a farm on this stretch of road - not just near the road but right on it. We're in the countryside but it's hardly isolated.

I find myself wondering if there's anything at all connected with the reservoir which could explain some of the things the men thought they saw.

The houses got me thinking - I'd imagine a lot of rural homes would have a dog that might act up if something unusual was happening.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

That's very interesting and certainly provides much food for thought. I had also been wondering if the trip to Tarbrax late on a Monday night was to do with avoiding the police when doing something dodgy (I was thinking drugs...), or if it was in fact a cover for some other activity entirely. Perhaps they were just out cruising and looking for a 'good time'. Do we know much, or anything at all, about the people they were alledged to have been meeting? Their testimony about the two men's late arrival, behaviour and conversation would be very valuable.

The dogging site is presumably the secluded layby named Little Vantage car park which is located about 2 miles northeast, towards Edinburgh, from the spot where Garry was photographed in the newspaper article you posted:

View attachment 73979View attachment 73980

Another aspect that occurred when thinking about this case is that, although the A70 couldn't be described as busy late at night, it is still a main trunk road and even between 10pm and 11pm you could expect a few cars to pass in each direction. The statistics on this website show that an average of around 1500 vehicles per 24 hours were using this section of the road in 2000, which is unfortunately as far back as the data goes. There are houses dotted along the stretch of road in question. As far as I know no one else has ever come forward publicly to say they saw anything in the sky - or on/near the road - that could tie in with the encounter.

The information about the early hours pizza is new to me; Garry and Colin could easily have found a late night takeaway in Leith and much else besides. From the early 1980s Edinburgh City Council and Lothian & Borders Police took a pretty sanguine approach to the sex trade in the city; the council even had an inspection and licensing scheme for brothels and massage parlours. In 1992 the city's red light district was the area around Coburg Street in Leith, although the hoors were subsequently given their marching orders and the street was cleaned up and gentrified in the late 1990s. These days the council is much less relaxed about prostitution and strip clubs, and has tried to eradicate it altogether.

I think I need to buy Malcolm Robinson's book...

Yes, the woman they were visiting in Tabrax has gone on the record as regards their time of arrival, the state of shock/excitement theywrere in and that she has four young children. I will dig this out tomorrow as slightly suffering after a few ciders last night after a cracking day yesterday out walking along the mining trails between Redruth and Truro

Curiously, Malcolm Robinson describes the night of 17th August 1992 as "warm' whereas Garry describes it as "clear and cool" and Colin even states it was "clear" and "frosty" (!) The weather records for Edinburgh are here:

https://www.extremeweatherwatch.com/cities/edinburgh/day/august-17

... and the lowest temperature was 10 ºC, although the actual location was higher in elevation that the city and so cooler, but certainly not "frosty". The two men had travelled the road on previous occasions, so is Colin getting confused with date? [source here is Malcolm's book].

 

[Paul_Exeter]

The houses got me thinking - I'd imagine a lot of rural homes would have a dog that might act up if something unusual was happening.

Apparently they did go back and ask the residents if they had noticed anything that night, although this was some time later and I agree as regards the lack of other cars on the road being surprising.

Another strange element of their narrative is that neither of them looked backed back towards the object once they were out of the black void. This seems a bit odd, would you not want to check if it was following you? Or simply to get another look at whatever it was?

I will reiterate that the one consistent element of both their narratives is the black, tiered object above the road (that sounds rather cloud-like), the shimmering curtain of light, the momentary black void and then finding themselves on the wrong side of the road as the exit the void at speed. So @BS3, @Carse and @Bigphoot2 can we think of any activity or event at the reservoir (or associated with the rural road) or meteorological phenomenon that would cause these effects or something similar? It needs to be remembered they were travelling at speed and so everything happened in the space of seconds.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

One thing I'd throw into the pot is that I found an account from someone who'd seen one of the A70 witnesses turn up years later at a UFO group meeting - not as a speaker but as part of the audience - and proceed to angrily correct a speaker at length who stated aliens were "benevolent". They were left convinced that the witness completely believed, at least, their experience.

In fairness this doesn't necessarily preclude a hoax, but I'd say that if you were consciously fabricating your story then going to UFO events in your free time and heckling the speakers is a very odd way of going about it.

Sounds like Garry, the incident clearly affected him on a deeply emotional level and he became immeshed in the world of Ufology. Colin very much faded from the scene whereas Garry has continued to be interviewed, appear on discussion shows etc. Gary and his young sions had a subsequent encounter with a blinding white light that swept over their car and caused the long boys to be violently ill (see the BUFORA article linked to in this thread). Something certainly happened to them but I simply can't get invested in the results obtained from hypnosis, even Alan Godfrey is on record as saying that he is open-minded about the results of his own hypnosis but something very odd happened to him, too.

 

[Bigphoot2]

I wonder if any late-night maintenance involving welding was being carried out on a local farm. The light from the welding gear plus smoke might cause the shimmering light effect.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

So another factor is that harperrigg reservoir offers excellent brown trout fishing with permits valid until 11pm;

http://harperrig.com

So I know a few fishing folk and they will spend all night by a reservoir or lake if they can, they have this little tents with food, drink etc. So on a warm, dry August night where were the fishermen? We don't have an exact time for the encounter as neither Garry nor Colin can remember when they left Edinburgh, but even with a curfew there might have been a few still packing up. Also fish attract poachers. Does eem strange that seemingly nobody was in that area that night.

 

[catseye]

I seem to remember something about plasma balls (ball lightning) being attracted to water - this is why I queried the 'large body of water' thing. Am I making it up, or is this a 'thing'?

 

[Paul_Exeter]

I seem to remember something about plasma balls (ball lightning) being attracted to water - this is why I queried the 'large body of water' thing. Am I making it up, or is this a 'thing'?

No:

https://www.newscientist.com/articl...e-fire-and-water-a-recipe-for-ball-lightning/

 

[Paul_Exeter]

It seems the sun sets at around 20.45 in August in that area, however on a clear August night there will have been some residual light at 22.00 - 23.00, perhaps enough to see low-lying clouds etc. To the best of my knowledge the moon isn't mentioned in Malcolm's reporting of this event and yet it seems it was

"82.28% Visible
Monday, August 17, 1992

Rise/Set

09:09 PM / 10:27 AM

https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/uk/edinburgh?month=8&year=2024"

Which means that now the moon interacting with cloud, mist or smoke is a contender.

For some reason I've got it into my head that the 17th was a Sunday but it was in fact a Monday.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

Anyone fancy working out exactly where the moon would have been in relation to the scene of the incident that night? My understanding is that it would have risen in the East from 21.00-ish and that these two guys were driving East about an hour or so later. The moon should have been visible from their elevated location and yet the moon isn't mentioned in their witness accounts.

For what it is worth, the shimmering light they are heading towards is described as "silver", the same colour as moonlight.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

That's very interesting and certainly provides much food for thought. I had also been wondering if the trip to Tarbrax late on a Monday night was to do with avoiding the police when doing something dodgy (I was thinking drugs...), or if it was in fact a cover for some other activity entirely. Perhaps they were just out cruising and looking for a 'good time'. Do we know much, or anything at all, about the people they were alledged to have been meeting? Their testimony about the two men's late arrival, behaviour and conversation would be very valuable.

The dogging site is presumably the secluded layby named Little Vantage car park which is located about 2 miles northeast, towards Edinburgh, from the spot where Garry was photographed in the newspaper article you posted:

View attachment 73979View attachment 73980

Another aspect that occurred when thinking about this case is that, although the A70 couldn't be described as busy late at night, it is still a main trunk road and even between 10pm and 11pm you could expect a few cars to pass in each direction. The statistics on this website show that an average of around 1500 vehicles per 24 hours were using this section of the road in 2000, which is unfortunately as far back as the data goes. There are houses dotted along the stretch of road in question. As far as I know no one else has ever come forward publicly to say they saw anything in the sky - or on/near the road - that could tie in with the encounter.

The information about the early hours pizza is new to me; Garry and Colin could easily have found a late night takeaway in Leith and much else besides. From the early 1980s Edinburgh City Council and Lothian & Borders Police took a pretty sanguine approach to the sex trade in the city; the council even had an inspection and licensing scheme for brothels and massage parlours. In 1992 the city's red light district was the area around Coburg Street in Leith, although the hoors were subsequently given their marching orders and the street was cleaned up and gentrified in the late 1990s. These days the council is much less relaxed about prostitution and strip clubs, and has tried to eradicate it altogether.

I think I need to buy Malcolm Robinson's book...

"Both men were by now quite distressed, and Garry recalls after getting out of the car at their destination, of ‘banging’ on his friends door. He was surprised that no one was answering and thought that perhaps they weren’t home, even although they had arranged to see them."

Robinson, Malcolm. The A70 UFO Incident: (Scotland’s First ‘Officially Reported’ UFO Abduction) (p. 4). Kindle Edition.

"Some minutes later however, Katrina, one of the occupants of the house, answered the door, whereupon she asked Garry where had he been? And did he know that he was an hour and a half late! Garry at this point was very confused, as he knew only too well, that this journey, (a journey that he had made many times before) should only have taken him around 3O to 35 minutes, how on Earth had it taken him an hour and a half!"

Robinson, Malcolm. The A70 UFO Incident: (Scotland’s First ‘Officially Reported’ UFO Abduction) (pp. 4-5). Kindle Edition.

" Indeed, when Katrina was later interviewed for the television series, ‘Strange But True’? Hosted by Michael Aspel, she had this to say, and I quote, “Garry was hysterical, he knows that I have got four kids. There is no way that he is going to come to my door, pound on it, push me right out of the road, and enter the way he did. Something dramatically happened to him”

Robinson, Malcolm. The A70 UFO Incident: (Scotland’s First ‘Officially Reported’ UFO Abduction) (p. 5). Kindle Edition.

"... banging on my friend’s door to tell them what happened. They actually came out to us saying, “God what time is it, it’s bloody late, its quarter to one, what are you doing here at this time”? We had no recollection of the time that had passed by”.

Robinson, Malcolm. The A70 UFO Incident: (Scotland’s First ‘Officially Reported’ UFO Abduction) (p. 35). Kindle Edition.

However;

It was a warm cool August night just after 11:3Opm, on the 17th of August 1992, when 29 year old Garry Wood and his friend 27 year old Colin Wright, left Scotland’s Capital city of Edinburgh

Robinson, Malcolm. The A70 UFO Incident: (Scotland’s First ‘Officially Reported’ UFO Abduction) (p. 3). Kindle Edition.


Although Garry and Colin differ on their accounts of when they actually left Edinburgh, however Malcolm believes they left at 23.30, so an estimated eta of midnight which is a very odd time to be delivering satellite tv equipment. This just doesn't add up to me and I personally don't believe there was any missing time other than perhaps the two men stopping en route for their own purposes.

 

[Erinaceus]

According to Stellarium the moon had risen at 2112 and was about 10° above the horizon at 2230.

The skyline in this is generic and doesn't represent the actual location.

 

[BS3]

If on the journey from Edinburgh to Tarbrax, the road is travelling broadly south-west so the moon would have been rising behind them more or less.

Of course if the men had been going back towards Edinburgh at that time, assuming a possibility that the bit about delivering satellite equipment wasn't true, they could conceivably have seen the moon ahead of them.

There is perhaps an interesting relationship here to the point made by @Carse that the press photo featuring the witness is also looking back towards Edinburgh.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

If on the journey from Edinburgh to Tarbrax, the road is travelling broadly south-west so the moon would have been rising behind them more or less.

Of course if the men had been going back towards Edinburgh at that time, assuming a possibility that the bit about delivering satellite equipment wasn't true, they could conceivably have seen the moon ahead of them.

There is perhaps an interesting relationship here to the point made by @Carse that the press photo featuring the witness is also looking back towards Edinburgh.

You can tell I haven't been to Scotland for 20-odd years. So yes, the moon behind them. I've just found that Garry mentions the moon was up and it was bright but this is not in the main account. So regardless, the moon played a part even if only to illuminate the object/cloud/whatever.

As regards timings:

1. Garry's timings

“Well I finished my work quite late that night and I was a bit dirty with the job I do. Then I went home, got washed and changed, and planned to drop a satellite system off at my friend’s house, Katrina. Colin helped me put the equipment in the car. This was late, about the back of nine or ten o clock."

Robinson, Malcolm. The A70 UFO Incident: (Scotland’s First ‘Officially Reported’ UFO Abduction) (p. 34). Kindle Edition.

2. Colin's timings:

(MR) “Now what was the reason for your journey to Tarbrax”? (CW) “To take a satellite system to Garry’s friends in Tarbrax and fix it for them to keep”. (MR) “Now do you remember the actual time when you left the house”. (CW) “The back of nine”. (MR) “Do you have an exact time”? (CW) “About 20 past nine” (MR)

Robinson, Malcolm. The A70 UFO Incident: (Scotland’s First ‘Officially Reported’ UFO Abduction) (p. 67). Kindle Edition.

3. Malcom's timings:

It was a warm cool August night just after 11:3Opm, on the 17th of August 1992, when 29 year old Garry Wood and his friend 27 year old Colin Wright, left Scotland’s Capital city of Edinburgh

Robinson, Malcolm. The A70 UFO Incident: (Scotland’s First ‘Officially Reported’ UFO Abduction) (p. 3). Kindle Edition.

So we have a discrepancy of up to 90 minutes or more in the time they left for Tarbrax...?!

 

[BS3]

Maybe we can imagine a situation where the men had been up to, or were carrying, something illegal. Whatever this is isn't particularly important beyond the fact it might have led them to obscure exactly where they were and when. This might lead them to be in a nervous, maybe even slightly fearful state while driving (back towards Edinburgh, rather than southward as they claimed).

At this point they see the rising moon interacting with, perhaps, some cloud or mist associated with the lake, giving the effect of a dark shape and shimmering curtain. Who's to say this wouldn't lead to a moment of total panic?

 

[Paul_Exeter]

Where Colin mentions frost but no moon:

“What was the weather like on that night”? (CW) “It was a clear crisp night, touch of frost but clear” (MR) “Was there much cloud in the sky”? (CW) “No cloud at all, no”. (MR) “No cloud as far as you can remember”? (CW) “It was all clear sky, just the stars”

Robinson, Malcolm. The A70 UFO Incident: (Scotland’s First ‘Officially Reported’ UFO Abduction) (p. 68). Kindle Edition.

Is he thinking of the same night?

 

[Carse]

Apparently they did go back and ask the residents if they had noticed anything that night, although this was some time later and I agree as regards the lack of other cars on the road being surprising.

Another strange element of their narrative is that neither of them looked backed back towards the object once they were out of the black void. This seems a bit odd, would you not want to check if it was following you? Or simply to get another look at whatever it was?

I will reiterate that the one consistent element of both their narratives is the black, tiered object above the road (that sounds rather cloud-like), the shimmering curtain of light, the momentary black void and then finding themselves on the wrong side of the road as the exit the void at speed. So @BS3, @Carse and @Bigphoot2 can we think of any activity or event at the reservoir (or associated with the rural road) or meteorological phenomenon that would cause these effects or something similar? It needs to be remembered they were travelling at speed and so everything happened in the space of seconds.

Yes, it's surprising that nothing is mentioned about stopping and getting out, or looking back, to see if the object had gone or was following them. That was a feature of the Betty & Barney Hill case and the more local Newton of Falkland case too (although I think both of these have now been thoroughly debunked). Again, I wonder if they drove the A70 back to Edinburgh or took an alternate route. If they were concerned about meeting the object again, then from Tarbrax they could easily have headed back via Woolfords, West Calder and the A71. If they did return via the A70 then it begs the question whether they were worried about the object still being there, or if they stopped anywhere on the journey to look for it.

Another thing that interests me is the report of 'foost' (which Scots will understand as meaning mould or dust) persistently growing on the car after the event. You'd think someone would have at least taken a photo of this, if not a sample. If we accept that the missing time indicates that the men were transported somewhere, what became of the car during that time?

If only one of the men had experienced this phenomenon I would be tempted to put it down to a brief seizure or some sort of transitory epileptic activity. The reported witness evidence of missing time and something growing on the car suggests that some sort of phyicial occurrence took place.

It seems the sun sets at around 20.45 in August in that area, however on a clear August night there will have been some residual light at 22.00 - 23.00, perhaps enough to see low-lying clouds etc. To the best of my knowledge the moon isn't mentioned in Malcolm's reporting of this event and yet it seems it was

"82.28% Visible
Monday, August 17, 1992

Rise/Set

09:09 PM / 10:27 AM

https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/uk/edinburgh?month=8&year=2024"

Which means that now the moon interacting with cloud, mist or smoke is a contender.

I note that everyone seems to agree that it was a 'clear' night. That seems significant to me and combined with the relatively low temperature at night after a warm day (a 7° termperature diurnal range according to the figures in the link you posted) makes me wonder about low lying mist hugging the road surface.

For some reason I've got it into my head that the 17th was a Sunday but it was in fact a Monday.

It was a Monday, and I find that particularly intriguing when thinking about why they were out so late. Why was delivering a satellite TV box (which, as you point out, was still in its infancy in the UK) so important that it had to be done that night and why wait so late to do it? Why not do it the previous weekend? Why did this require both Garry and Colin to be present - was one the 'fixer-upper' who supplied a dodgy box and the other the one who knew how to install it?

I think the vagueness and inconsistency around this, as well as their actions after the event all point to some something else really going on behind the story, but I'm not sure what.

Anyone fancy working out exactly where the moon would have been in relation to the scene of the incident that night? My understanding is that it would have risen in the East from 21.00-ish and that these two guys were driving East about an hour or so later. The moon should have been visible from their elevated location and yet the moon isn't mentioned in their witness accounts.

For what it is worth, the shimmering light they are heading towards is described as "silver", the same colour as moonlight.

I’m not an astronomer but using an online planetarium, at 22:30 on 17th August 1992 the moon would have been almost due east, 10° above the horizon and rising. At midnight it was 31° above the horizon in the east south east, with Mars just starting to appear above the horizon to the north east.

[Edit - beaten to it!]

 

[catseye]

Re reading this reminds me of the story of the man who had a weird event whilst driving and later found a punctured can of something (paint?) in the back of his car.

I also wonder if these two had something else in the car, apart from the satellite equipment. Did they empty out the boot and check whether everything was intact?

 

[Carse]

As regards timings:

1. Garry's timings

“Well I finished my work quite late that night and I was a bit dirty with the job I do. Then I went home, got washed and changed, and planned to drop a satellite system off at my friend’s house, Katrina. Colin helped me put the equipment in the car. This was late, about the back of nine or ten o clock."

Robinson, Malcolm. The A70 UFO Incident: (Scotland’s First ‘Officially Reported’ UFO Abduction) (p. 34). Kindle Edition.

2. Colin's timings:

(MR) “Now what was the reason for your journey to Tarbrax”? (CW) “To take a satellite system to Garry’s friends in Tarbrax and fix it for them to keep”. (MR) “Now do you remember the actual time when you left the house”. (CW) “The back of nine”. (MR) “Do you have an exact time”? (CW) “About 20 past nine” (MR)

Robinson, Malcolm. The A70 UFO Incident: (Scotland’s First ‘Officially Reported’ UFO Abduction) (p. 67). Kindle Edition.

3. Malcom's timings:

It was a warm cool August night just after 11:3Opm, on the 17th of August 1992, when 29 year old Garry Wood and his friend 27 year old Colin Wright, left Scotland’s Capital city of Edinburgh

Robinson, Malcolm. The A70 UFO Incident: (Scotland’s First ‘Officially Reported’ UFO Abduction) (p. 3). Kindle Edition.

So we have a discrepancy of up to 90 minutes or more in the time they left for Tarbrax...?!

That vagueness, to me, instantly calls the 'missing time' into question. If the timeline can't be nailed down then the whole thing starts to fall apart.

I really would love to know if the location of the press photo is the actual location of the encounter. Pinning down exactly where the men were when they first saw the object, which direction they were driving in and where they passed through the curtain of light would be really useful information.

 

[Carse]

Re reading this reminds me of the story of the man who had a weird event whilst driving and later found a punctured can of something (paint?) in the back of his car.

I also wonder if these two had something else in the car, apart from the satellite equipment. Did they empty out the boot and check whether everything was intact?

This is a very good suggestion. I once worked with a man who crashed his car off a straight bit of road into a field and rolled it over three times. It turned out the exhaust was leaking into the cabin and had been poisoning him.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

@BS3 and @Carse I wound if they had a rendezvous planned with someone else for whatever reason? There are lay-bys and forest tracks plus of course the reservoir. In an age before mobile phones they may have driven up and down the road looking for that person's vehicle and so were facing away from the direct of Tarbrax and facing the low moon (as @BS3 postulates)

 

[Paul_Exeter]

That vagueness, to me, instantly calls the 'missing time' into question. If the timeline can't be nailed down then the whole thing starts to fall apart.

I really would love to know if the location of the press photo is the actual location of the encounter. Pinning down exactly where the men were when they first saw the object, which direction they were driving in and where they passed through the curtain of light would be really useful information.

They are consistent in their account that it was the second bend after the reservoir

 

[Paul_Exeter]

Re reading this reminds me of the story of the man who had a weird event whilst driving and later found a punctured can of something (paint?) in the back of his car.

I also wonder if these two had something else in the car, apart from the satellite equipment. Did they empty out the boot and check whether everything was intact?

They state that they removed nuts and bolts from the satellite dish after loading it into the car, so they possibly used WD40 or something similar, not sure this would cause a problem but Garry was a mechanic and Colin a painter and decorator so plenty of scope for chemicals there.

To cover all bases, we have to consider that Garry was a married father and so there is the possibility they used the tarbrax people to unwittingly create a cover story for nefarious purposes

 

[Carse]

@BS3 and @Carse I wound if they had a rendezvous planned with someone else for whatever reason? There are lay-bys and forest tracks plus of course the reservoir. In an age before mobile phones they may have driven up and down the road looking for that person's vehicle and so were facing away from the direct of Tarbrax and facing the low moon (as @BS3 postulates)

Yes, I had wondered whether a stop along the way had been planned. Perhaps the dogger's layby might have played a part, which could also explain the vagueness around the timeline.

They are consistent in their account that it was the second bend after the reservoir

Thanks, that does narrow it down.

They state that they removed nuts and bolts from the satellite dish after loading it into the car, so they possibly used WD40 or something similar, not sure this would cause a problem but Garry was a mechanic and Colin a painter and decorator so plenty of scope for chemicals there

Were they planning to actually fit a satellite dish that night?! That makes the late night trip even odder.

 

[BS3]

Yes, I had wondered whether a stop along the way had been planned. Perhaps the dogger's layby might have played a part, which could also explain the vagueness around the timeline.


Thanks, that does narrow it down.


Were they planning to actually fit a satellite dish that night?! That makes the late night trip even odder.

Fitting the satellite dish under cover of darkness (which would be one reason for the odd timing; not too much darkness available in Scotland in summer) might point to the fact that both equipment and installation weren't 100% kosher.

 

[Paul_Exeter]

Yes, I had wondered whether a stop along the way had been planned. Perhaps the dogger's layby might have played a part, which could also explain the vagueness around the timeline.


Thanks, that does narrow it down.


Were they planning to actually fit a satellite dish that night?! That makes the late night trip even odder.

Colin states:

(MR) “Now what was the reason for your journey to Tarbrax”? (CW) “To take a satellite system to Garry’s friends in Tarbrax and fix it for them to keep”.

Robinson, Malcolm. The A70 UFO Incident: (Scotland’s First ‘Officially Reported’ UFO Abduction) (p. 67). Kindle Edition.

... but doesn't elaborate on whether this was involved affixing the dish to the exterior of the house. They both state repeatedly that the purpose of their trip was the satellite tv equipment (including the dish).


@Carse What we know about what occurred after they got back to Edinburgh:

(CW) “We went up to Carlton Hill. There were a lot of people hanging about Carlton Hill and we were looking for one of Garry’s pal’s called Stevie, then we were going for something to eat, try and get a pizza”.

Robinson, Malcolm. The A70 UFO Incident: (Scotland’s First ‘Officially Reported’ UFO Abduction) (p. 76). Kindle Edition.

Why look for Stevie unless perhaps they had money or a delivery for him...?

 

[Carse]

Fitting the satellite dish under cover of darkness (which would be one reason for the odd timing; not too much darkness available in Scotland in summer) might point to the fact that both equipment and installation weren't 100% kosher.

I think it would explain a lot.

The possible scenario I'm thinking of is that in 1992 Colin has a sideline in supplying/fitting dodgy Sky boxes that have fallen off the back of a lorry. One day Garry's friend mentions to him that she would like Sky TV but cannot afford it and he says he knows just the man. A date is fixed up for late on a Monday evening, taking account of Garry's work schedule and the low likelihood of running into the police on the road at that time. They intend to leave Edinburgh around 21:00 but for whatever reason actually end up leaving a good bit later - maybe even as late as 22:30 - though neither man pays particular attention to the time. After loading the gear, they head out to Tarbrax and on the way they stop in at the dogging spot to see if there's anything is happening. Perhaps they get a bit carried away and spend more time there than they intended...

Soon after leaving the dogging spot they turn the blind corner, see the weird object in the sky ahead of them and pass through the shimmering curtain (which may be something truly extraordinary or may be a combination of the moon and the car's headlights illuminating low-lying mist). Because both men are on edge anyway they become alarmed and start to have an animated discussion about what they've just seen, each fuelling the other's fears. By the time they arrive at Tarbrax at 00:50, they are hysterical and cannot account for the missing time, which was actually spent enthusiastically watching people have sex in a layby. The reluctance to come forward for some time after the event is due to the dubious nature of the errand. Although the sighting of the object and the light are genuine, on hypnotic regression, they both recount muddled visions culled from various on-screen depictions of alien abduction, such as Close Encounters (as noted in a previous post).

The above is all just conjecture!

 

[Paul_Exeter]

I think it would explain a lot.

The possible scenario I'm thinking of is that in 1992 Colin has a sideline in supplying/fitting dodgy Sky boxes that have fallen off the back of a lorry. One day Garry's friend mentions to him that she would like Sky TV but cannot afford it and he says he knows just the man. A date is fixed up for late on a Monday evening, taking account of Garry's work schedule and the low likelihood of running into the police on the road at that time. They intend to leave Edinburgh around 21:00 but for whatever reason actually end up leaving a good bit later - maybe even as late as 22:30 - though neither man pays particular attention to the time. After loading the gear, they head out to Tarbrax and on the way they stop in at the dogging spot to see if there's anything is happening. Perhaps they get a bit carried away and spend more time there than they intended...

Soon after leaving the dogging spot they turn the blind corner, see the weird object in the sky ahead of them and pass through the shimmering curtain (which may be something truly extraordinary or may be a combination of the moon and the car's headlights illuminating low-lying mist). Because both men are on edge anyway they become alarmed and start to have an animated discussion about what they've just seen, each fuelling the other's fears. By the time they arrive at Tarbrax at 00:50, they are hysterical and cannot account for the missing time, which was actually spent watching people have sex in a layby. The reluctance to come forward for some time after the event is due to the dubious nature of the errand. Although the sighting of the object and the light are genuine, on hypnotic regression, they both recount muddled visions culled from various on-screen depictions of alien abduction, such as Close Encounters (as noted in a previous post).

The above is all just conjecture!

Garry's mate Stevie is involved in the dodgy Sky dishes which is why instead of going straight home to sit and work out what the hell happened they instead go looking for Stevie. perhaps to hand over money or, if they were unable to fix up the dish to return it to him?

It is worth noting here that Colin emphasis just how quickly the encounter happened: they came round the bend, saw the object, Garry accelerates and they under under it and out the other side with a "bump" from the back of the car. He also states that Gary was focused on driving when he first saw the object and that he called out to him. They were travelling at around 35-40 mph and so all this took place in amateur of seconds. However, Garry provides a detailed description of the craft, even speculating on what detail it was constructed from etc. and from his account you would think they were waking towards it. This makes me wonder if Garry caught more than a brief glimpse of what was overhead and his imagination has compensated for the rest.

 

[Carse]

@Carse What we know about what occurred after they got back to Edinburgh:

(CW) “We went up to Carlton Hill. There were a lot of people hanging about Carlton Hill and we were looking for one of Garry’s pal’s called Stevie, then we were going for something to eat, try and get a pizza”.

Robinson, Malcolm. The A70 UFO Incident: (Scotland’s First ‘Officially Reported’ UFO Abduction) (p. 76). Kindle Edition.

Why look for Stevie unless perhaps they had money or a delivery for him...?

Calton Hill is synonymous with drugs and rent boys.

This is now reminding me of the episode of the Simpsons when Homer is abducted by the two green aliens and they spray him all over with rum before returning him, so no one will believe him.

 

[Bigphoot2]

This video covers pretty much all that has been said, however it does introduce the possibility of secret projects at the nearby RAF base at Kirknewton. However, from what I can find about Kirknewton, it's hardly Area 51.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Kirknewton
Like a lot of youtube videos it also has the annoying habit of chucking in random stock footage.