An Unrecalled Multi-Person Alien Abduction? The Falkland Hill UFO Encounter

Without a doubt, one of the strangest, thought-provoking, and life-changing encounters with a UFO and its apparent occupants occurred one evening in Scotland in early September 1996 and involved several witnesses, no less. What’s more, the sighting was broken into three separate incidents, and, it would later appear as though the witnesses very well could have been the victims of an alien abduction. Indeed, the landing encounter at Falkland Hill remains one of Scotland’s most mind-blowing and potentially harrowing encounters on record.

The main witness wished to remain anonymous, and so was given the name “Mary Morrison” in the report. All of the other witnesses were also given pseudonyms, all of whom have remained with them in the reports of the incident in the decades that have unfolded since.

As we might imagine, there were several articles in various UFO magazines at the time, covering the case and their respective investigations, and in more recent times, veteran UFO and paranormal researcher, and author, Malcolm Robinson, explored the case in-depth in his book The Falkland Hill UFO Incident (Scotland’s most controversial UFO case). ^[1] It is from each of these sources that we will examine this fascinating encounter.

A Most Eventful Trip To The Late-Night Shop

On the evening of September 23^rd, 1996, between 7 pm and 8 pm in Falkland Hill (also known as East Lomond), Mary, her 10-year-old son, Peter, along with her friend, Jane, and her 14-year-old daughter, Susan, were at Jane’s farmhouse when the two adults realized they had run out of coffee and so made the decision to a light-night shop several miles away. ^[2] Mary recalled several months later that she believed the time they left was closer to 7:30 pm due to Susan wishing to remain at home in order to watch a soap on television that had just started. ^[3]

To begin with, the journey along the quiet country roads was uneventful. When they were around halfway there, however, Mary became aware of several “very bright white beams of light” that were coming from above and illuminating one of the fields at the roadside. Hovering overhead, she could see a “huge, horizontally oval” object. We should note that a report in the May 1997 edition of Sightings magazine offered that Mary first noticed the object, which then “changed into two bright lights”.

Whatever the finer details, at this point Mary made Jane aware of the lights, asking if she thought they belonged to an airplane. After several moments, Mary began to slow the car in order to get a closer look. Mary later recalled being able to make out a “silhouette against the sky” that revealed “a sloping dome towards the rear half” of the object. Although she wasn’t certain, she also thought she could see “fins” toward the back end of the object.

Mary realized that there was now a vehicle behind her which caused her to eventually bring the car to a stop at the roadside where there was a gap in the hedge allowing them to see the bizarre events unobscured. The car behind them pulled out slightly to overtake them and disappeared into the distance (it is not known if the occupant, or occupants, of that vehicle witnessed the strange aerial anomaly also).

All three of the witnesses sat still in the car for a moment before they exited the vehicle.

Something “Aware Of Our Observation!”

As they stepped outside, they saw the lights of the object suddenly “switch off”. At the same time, it began to move, although it did so in complete silence. This silence from the object dispelled any idea that it might be a conventional aircraft. It was at this point, that she could see clearly that she was looking at a huge triangular-shaped craft with a dome on the top. ^[4] Mary would further recall that as the object “tilted” in the sky, ultimately changing direction, she could see a red light at each apex with two others close behind, making a total of three red lights in each corner or point of the triangle.

All three of them watched at the roadside as the object disappeared into the distance, eventually becoming only a faint glow, although still perfectly visible. So much so, that Jane suddenly began to wave her homes high above her head in the direction of the object, as if in greeting. At the same time, Mary suddenly realized she had left the car headlights on full beam. Fearful that they might blind any oncoming motorists, she reached inside and dipped them. Almost immediately, the object then began flashing its white lights at them, three times, making Mary believe that it, or they, were “aware of our observation”.

In response, Mary then flashed the car headlights several times. Once more, the object responded by flashing its white lights an equal number of times. Each of the witnesses was “stunned”, and each remained standing at the roadside, all three of them now waving their arms above their heads in the direction of the strange object. Eventually, it disappeared from view and the three of them stood where they were, contemplating what they had just seen. At the time, Mary believed the entire episode had lasted around five minutes. As we shall see later, however, this might not have been the case.

As they set off once more on their way to the shop, Mary offered that they should report the sighting to a UFO organization, and upon arriving at the shop, she sought out any magazines they might have on the subject (she did find a magazine – Tony Dodd’s report stated that the magazine was UFO Magazine, while Mary’s own recollection several months later was that it was Alien Encounters, Issue 3).

Whatever the magazine was that Mary purchased, at around 8:15 pm they were back in the car were on their way back home. Only minutes later, at around 8:20 pm, though, they would see the object again.

The Reappearance

As the car went along the quiet country roads back to Jane’s farmhouse, both Jane and Peter spotted the object, each exclaiming loudly, “It’s there!” as soon as they did. Mary turned her attention briefly to where they were looking, instantly noticing the red triangle of lights they had seen before in the distance. This time, however, rather than hovering or moving slowly, it was “traveling fast, on a course parallel” to theirs.

Then, the object “turned, suddenly and sharply” in their direction and approached them at “high speed”. Jane urged Mary to stop the car, but as there were three other cars behind them, she had to signal her intention first before pulling over to the side of the road and allowing the other vehicles to go on with their respective journeys.

By this point, multiple lights were flashing on the object, with Jane stating that it was “lit up like a Christmas tree”. Strangely, as these lights continued to flash, Peter, who had been more excited and curious about the object’s presence previously, now began to scream in terror. This is perhaps an interesting detail. Could it be that the object was transmitting some kind of subsonic sound – something not audible to the human ear, but something that evoked unexplainable fear? When we know that this technology is utilized by militaries around the world, as well as the fact that many UFO witnesses often describe a sudden surge of intense fear running through them, it is an intriguing notion.

The next thing they realized, the lights on the triangular object suddenly went out and it “jumped back into the distance”. With all three of them now feeling slightly uneasy, they restarted the car and returned to Jane’s house.

A Realization Of Missing Time

Upon arriving home, they could see Susan was clearly worried as to where they had been. It was only at this point that they realized they had been gone for a little over an hour. As Mary and Jane attempted to piece together the bizarre events of their journey, they realized the first sighting must have lasted at least 20 minutes and not five as Mary had first thought, and that there was around 15 minutes from the sighting of the outward journey to the shop that they couldn’t account for.

The three of them told Susan exactly what they had witnessed and of the strange events of the past 60 minutes. As we might imagine, she, at first, thought they were pulling her leg, refusing to believe them. However, after several moments, she could see the seriousness of both Mary, Peter and her mother. Now intrigued, Susan asked if the others thought the object “might still be there” as she wished to see it also.

The group discussed whether they should go back out to the road again, with Mary feeling particularly nervous for Peter, who had reacted with such fright during the second encounter. However, he urged his mother that he would be OK and that he didn’t believe the object, or its occupants, meant them any harm. Ultimately, this time, all four of them decided to venture outside to the car to see if they could locate the object once more.

Before they could do so, though, a neighbor of Jane’s called to the house unexpectedly. This delayed their departure slightly, but by 9:45 pm, all four of them were on the road again. And it wasn’t long at all before they witnessed strange lights in the distance once more.

Like A “Star That Had Come Down To The Ground”

Mary brought the car to a stop, and they all looked in the direction of the strange glow. From their perspective, it looked like a “star that had come down to the ground”, although Mary later suggested that she wondered if the light was a “security light on a building”, although she couldn’t see any buildings in the distance. Then, she became aware of a “blue glow to the left of the light” that was “shining up from the ground through the trees” and “some way beyond” them.

After several moments, Mary suggested that they make their way to one of the backroads a short distance away, which she believed would give them a closer view of the events. As they made their way there, however, they became aware of another star-like light near the trees on the ground. As soon as they noticed it, Mary, now feeling suddenly uneasy, stopped the car, although she kept the engine running in case she needed to get away quickly.

They kept their focus on the light, noting that it appeared to pulse somewhat, becoming larger then smaller as it did so. Mary later likened this to seeing “its power source increasing and reducing” over and over again. They watched this for several moments before laser-like beams of light began to shoot into the air from the light.

It Was “By No Means Human!”

As she viewed the glowing object, she almost gasped out loud at what she could see. All of them witnessed something moving back and forth in front of the light, but Mary could clearly see that it was a humanoid figure, although she also firmly stated that it was “by no means human”. She went on to describe this figure as being “long-limbed, slender, with a head larger in proportion to its body and much higher and more rounded at the top than a human’s, and very large and extended to the rear of the skull”.

She watched for several moments, shocked even more when four or five other humanoid figures suddenly came into view, although these seemed to be slightly smaller than the first one. Although she wasn’t certain, she believed she saw the figures turn toward them, “as though they were watching us for a few moments”.

They then continued to move, picking up some kind of boxes and cylinders from the ground and carrying them toward the woods. Mary would later state that they could see a “black, structured shape” in the glow near the woods that were “on the ground”. Furthermore, the figures were “walking in this glow towards and behind the black structure”.

In a bizarre twist, all three later stated they could see what Mary was describing equally well with their own eyes, as if something in the atmosphere had manipulated their perception, intentionally or not, so they could see the scene much closer than the distance allowed.

The next thing they realized, there were blue star-like objects in the trees around them, while at the same time, several light beams lit up the road in front of their car. Deciding they were a little too close for comfort, the four of them decided to put the car in motion once more and return home. On the way back, Mary brought the car to a brief stop just before Humpback Bridge and recalled several of the blue stars appearing to surround the vehicle temporarily. She would later report to UFO investigator, Tony Dodd, that this brief period she found to be “hazy and confused”.

Venturing Outside Once More

They eventually arrived back at Jane’s home at around 10:45 pm and Jane immediately rang the telephone number of Skysearch, whose phone number they had found in the UFO magazine they had purchased earlier. Following the answering machine kicking in she began leaving a message. However, halfway through, the call was picked up and a voice interrupted her (it would later be found to be Larry Dean who had spoken with Mary).

He was, as we might imagine, remarkably intrigued, and even asked if they had a pair of binoculars or a video camera, and whether they could possibly get any closer to take a closer look at the events currently unfolding. Jane replied they hadn’t binoculars or a video camera, nor did they feel at all comfortable getting any closer. They did, though, agree to return to a safe distance and monitor the events once more.

By pure chance, just before they set out once more, Jane’s brother called in as he made his way home from work. And, after listening to their account, he offered that he had a pair of binoculars he could lend them. Several minutes later, all four of them were in their car on their way to Jane’s brother’s house in a nearby village. As they drove, they could see the blue star-like objects in the same location they had witnessed them earlier.

A Truly Bizarre Sight

Jane’s brother’s house was around three miles away from her own. And by the time Mary and the other three had arrived there, they could see another “very large white light” on the hill that overlooked the village, “on the right-hand side of the hill before the peak rises”. Several moments after they first noticed it, the glow began to flash in “sequences of three”.

They continued on, eventually arriving at Jane’s brother’s home at around 11:30 pm. There, hanging on the front door as he had arranged with them, was his pair of binoculars. Susan ran from the car to retrieve it, returning to the vehicle moments later. They then set off back to where they had watched the bizarre figures around an hour earlier.

Jane urged Mary to take the backroads to save time, but Mary refused to do so, stating that she would have felt trapped on such a lonely road after what they had experienced. In fact, the two women became quite angry with each other over this, although they ultimately came to the quiet road with a clear gap in the hedge that allowed them an unrestricted view. Mary kept the engine running while Jane looked at the scene through the binoculars. After several moments she gasped, offering that the glow wasn’t a star but “something else”.

After several moments, Jane passed the binoculars to Mary so she could see what Jane was viewing for herself. As she did so, she felt a “very strange electrical buzzing, cracking sort of noise” that “came in two bursts” from her left, something which left her a little unsettled, to say the least.

She did her best to push aside the strange sensation, instead focusing on the glowing object in the woods. She described it as being the shape of a ball and “slightly elongated towards the top and bottom”. What’s more, it “shimmered as though (it was) giving off a tremendous amount of energy or heat”. She could also see “large, irregular indentations” all over the exterior of the object, each of which was “dark in color”. Of more interest, near the base of the object, was a “very long, irregularly shaped oval kind of opening” which was also dark in color.

Some Kind Of Alien Mission

Mary could also see that the object was not resting on the ground but was, in fact, hovering a very short distance above it. As it did so, it “revolved, slowly and steadily, on a slightly tilted axis”. She could also see a “perfectly circular dull, red-colored disc” that was slightly to the right of the object. The tall being was also visible. Mary could see that it had brown skin that glowed slightly orange due to the light coming from the object. She could further see another of these tall entities standing a little further away in a clearing in the trees, appearing to be supervising the multiple smaller figures.

Mary passed the binoculars back to Jane, who, after some persuading, passed them to Susan who then passed them to Peter. Mary was eager that the two children also viewed the events through the binoculars so that they could corroborate what they had seen. After a short time, Jane took possession of the binoculars once more.

Jane would later describe the object as a “large transparent illuminated capsule-type thing” that was “rippled on the outside with indentations like a brain”. She also saw the tall being with brown skin, as well as the many smaller entities who were busy loading boxes and cylinders onto an object near the clearing in the woods.

As Jane watched the scene through the binoculars, Mary continued to watch also. And even without the visual aid, she could see clearly enough to tell that almost all of the figures were now facing their direction.

Then, things became panicked and confused.

“They Are Coming Out Of The Woods! They’re Coming Towards Us!”

Jane began to state she could see a strange mist emerging from the trees. At the same time, the two women heard Susan, relatively calmly, to begin with, saying, “They’re coming. They’re coming towards us!”. She then raised her voice, a little more urgent now – “They’re coming out of the woods! They’re coming towards us!”

As Susan repeated the warnings, Jane was seemingly in a world of her own, now offering that “It’s not mist, it’s a sort of fibrous stuff and they’re in it”. She later recalled that she saw “capsules that looked like cocoons coming out of the trees”. She would tell Mary this at the time, offering that “they’re in cocoons and they’re carrying them”, adding that there were “hundreds of them” and “they’re coming fast!”

Mary would later recall that in her confused state, she took these cocoon-like vehicles for round bales of hay, and from her perspective, these bales of hay were suddenly across the road from them. It was eventually Jane’s insistence that they weren’t hay but vehicles.

Things became even hazier as the bizarre events unfolded around them, with Mary later recalling that “everything was happening at once”.

She further recalled that as she looked toward the field, her vision “went funny, like a TV picture being tuned in”. Then, she realized she was sitting in the driver’s seat of the car with her seatbelt on, but at the same time she “felt that I was in a lying position and (was) being lowered into my seat”.

Then she could hear Jane telling her to “get them out of there” and before she knew what was happening, she had already “slammed the car into gear and started driving”. As they looked through the back window, each of them could see the field behind had been “lit up in a gigantic blue flash”.

They eventually arrived back at Jane’s house – this time for the last time that evening – at around half past midnight. Needless to say, they spent much of the rest of the night discussing the surreal events they had all been witness to.

We might as, though, as surreal as the events already were, might the encounter have been much more than just a sighting. We might recall that Mary stated that she had the feeling of being lowered into her car, and how the events following the strange figures coming out of the forest became confusing and disjointed. As it turns out, she wasn’t the only one who revealed details that hinted at much more interaction than just a sighting.

Further Hints At Some Kind Of Abduction?

Perhaps even more intriguing, Jane would later recall that “it was strange because I started to remember things and somehow felt that they had taken us towards their craft”, elaborating that she “couldn’t move” and that they were “doing things” to her. She further recalled that the smaller beings were all around her, and appeared to be “smiling at me with their eyes”, while taking things from her and giving them to one of the taller entities. When they did, he touched them with some kind of “probe-like rod”.

She would also offer that the smaller beings appeared to communicate by making “strange noises” that were “high-pitched like whales”, stating further that she “didn’t hear them talking” rather the sound “just happened in her head”. Perhaps of most interest was the feeling she had that they didn’t enjoy what they were doing – “it was just work”.

Many people who have been abducted by alien entities – many of whom describe the same creatures as those described by Mary and Jane – also state that their abductors have a robot-like manner about them and, as such, take no pleasure whatsoever from their actions – rather they are simply following orders, or indeed programming.

Jane – much like Mary and the two children – had trouble sleeping that evening, with all of them still retaining an eager sense of fear.

Perhaps one of the strangest details offered as to what might have happened that night on the lonely Scottish country road came from Susan. Although they were far from tired, the two adults made makeshift beds for Peter and Susan in the lounge. As she lay down, Susan suddenly offered to her mother that “there was an alien grinning at me in the window”, adding, “It was horrible!” We can only imagine what exactly she meant.

“We Were Taken!”

There was, though, one more unsettling incident later that night. With both Jane and Mary unable to sleep, both women were in the kitchen making a cup of coffee. Suddenly, Jane let out a terrified scream, causing Mary to instinctively back out of the kitchen into the lounge. Jane followed, looking deathly pale. In fact, she looked so white that Mary let out a laugh. After several moments, Jane, albeit nervously, laughed too. When she had her senses back, she stated to Mary that as she was standing at the kitchen window, she was almost positive that she had seen a strange figure standing outside.

The two women continued to talk following that, each of them becoming steadily calmer as they did so. Eventually, Jane turned to Mary and said bluntly “we were on the craft. I know what it was like, the small ones were there and they’re grey with huge sloping black eyes”. Mary responded that she didn’t believe they had been “taken” – however, she also realized the events were strange enough that they couldn’t completely rule it out either.

Other details that suggested something truly out of the ordinary had taken place that evening would come to light over the following days. Susan, for example, had discovered a strange mark on her shoulder – a mark that appeared “as if blood had been sucked up through the skin”. Jane also discovered marks on her body that weren’t there before – one on her right buttock, and one under her right breast on her ribs, as well as a strange mark on her right shoulder.

Mary herself, although not noticing any strange marks, did complain of “extreme discomfort” under her arm near the shoulder.

Strange Creatures Outside And Inside The Morrison Home

The following month, on the evening of October 20^th, 1996, this time at Mary’s home, another strange encounter unfolded. One of Mary’s friends had come to visit and brought her son with her. As the two young boys were playing in Peter’s bedroom, Peter happened to look out of his bedroom window. He was more than shocked to see a strange “white being” that appeared to have “lots of teeth” looking straight at him.

He continued to watch the entity, realizing it was floating in the air, although it appeared to have no technological means of propulsion (such as a jet pack, for example). He simply remained where he was, watching as the figure then floated up into the air, eventually disappearing from sight. He looked over at his friend, realizing that he had seen the curious creature also.

We might imagine that Peter had imagined the incident, perhaps as a form of aftershock from the surreal events of the previous month – that is if his friend hadn’t seen it also. The strange events, though, had not yet finished.

Several hours later, after having run a bath for Peter, Mary telephoned UFO researcher, Garry Wood to discuss some of the most recent strange events. As she was speaking, she suddenly heard Peter screaming out loud, calling for her to come to the bathroom. Mary broke off the conversation immediately and rushed upstairs to her son.

Upon arriving at the bathroom, Peter was clearly in a state of shock. Mary eventually calmed him enough so he could tell her what had happened. He claimed that as he walked into the bathroom, the strange, white entity – the same one he had seen outside his window only hours earlier – was standing by the bathtub. As soon as he screamed out for her, the entity simply vanished into thin air.

Researcher and investigator, Malcolm Robinson, interviewed Peter a short time after these sightings. Peter described the entity for Robinson, claiming it was small with “egg-shaped eyes” and “very white”. He also described the sharp teeth, and, for the first time, claimed the being had a “flap of skin” between the elbow and forearm. Of course, whether this entity is connected to the strange object witnessed by the two families back in September 1996 remains open to debate.

Something Happened, That’s For Certain

The Falkland Hill UFO encounter remains one of the most interesting UFO incidents on record, not least due to the genuine possibility that the events that evening could very well have involved an alien abduction-type scenario involving multiple abductees. Indeed, if there is any truth to that, we might imagine that at least some of those involved had been abducted previously, and quite possibly after.

UFO investigator, Brian Rooney visited the location a short time after the events unfolded. Remarkably, he discovered “areas of burnt grass”, as well as “pressure marks on the ground” where the witnesses claimed the events occurred. He also noted “dead grass” in and around these markings – something that shows up in other landing encounters.

Ultimately, Rooney concluded that something out of the ordinary had been on, or at least close to the ground exactly where the witnesses said there had been, not least as there was no way a conventional vehicle could have driven there from the road.

The incident still very much remains a mystery. That something strange occurred that evening in September 1996, however, is surely not in doubt.

The short video below examines this most remarkable case a little further.