The Winchester UFO Landing Incidents – The Strange Encounters Of Joyce Bowles

Although it is not quite as well-known now, a series of UFO landings and eventual alien abduction encounters in Winchester in the south of England in the mid-1970s made national news. What’s more, there would be several corroborating accounts of this first sighting, suggesting that whatever had been seen from the roadside of a quiet Hampshire road, it was something very real.

What is even more interesting, following this encounter, the main witness, Joyce Bowels, would be involved in several further encounters, all of which saw them taken onboard the apparent otherworldly vehicle where she interacted with strange humanoid entities. And while some, even in the UFO community, remain doubtful of these subsequent encounters, they too contain details that are often found in other cases of alien abduction or close encounters.

What is further interesting, is that around the same time, several other incidents were reported that shared similar details to the initial encounters of Joyce Bowels, offering further, albeit indirect corroboration to her claims. While the sightings remain unresolved and, ultimately, unexplained today, they continue to fascinate UFO researchers and enthusiasts. And are quite rightly still occasionally reexamined in the hope that new information, details, or even witnesses might be found.

A Routine Car Journey Takes A Strange Turn

According to a report in the February 1977 edition of Flying Saucer Review, on the evening of November 14th, 1976, at just before 9 pm, 42-year-old Joyce Bowles and her neighbor, 60-year-old Ted Pratt, were driving toward the nearby village of Chilcomb. ^[1]

As they were making their way along the road, they each spotted a strange orange light that appeared to be hovering at a relatively low altitude over one of the fields at the roadside. As they continued along the road, hedges and trees temporarily blocked their view, but the light soon became visible once more.

At this point, they came off the main road, turning left onto a quiet country lane (Kings Lane). As the road was smaller, Joyce reduced her speed to somewhere between 20 to 25 miles per hour. Suddenly, with no warning whatsoever, the car suddenly lurched to the right and the engine suddenly revved up on its own. As this was happening, the pair could feel some kind of heaviness in the atmosphere around them, as if some unknown force was pressing down on them.

When Joyce looked out of the window, she could see they were now on a grass verge. Of more concern, she was struggling considerably to maintain control over the moving vehicle. The next thing they could see rushing at them were trees. Ted reached the steering wheel in order to assist Joyce in her attempts to avoid them slamming into the trees. Then, the car suddenly came to a stop, against something that Ted described as an “invisible barrier” which appeared to bend slightly before halting their progress.

A Glowing Cigar-Shaped Object

After taking a moment or two to bring themselves to their senses, Joyce and Ted turned their attention to the windscreen. There, in front and ahead of them, was a cigar-shaped object hovering. Even more amazing, they could see what appeared to be a cockpit area where three humanoid figures, or at least the head and shoulders of them.

They would recall that, through the windows as they viewed them, the figures had the appearance as if they were “sitting on a bus, one behind the other”. They further recalled that the craft was now only very slightly above the ground and there was a strange mist-like substance beneath it. Ted would further recall that it appeared to be “four jets blowing out gases” were supporting the craft.

Then, things became even more bizarre.

One of the figures, according to Joyce’s recollections, left the object and then began walking toward their vehicle. At the same time, a strange kettle-like whistling sound began. The closer it got she could see the figure was wearing what looked like a silver-blue boiler suit that stretched right the way up the neck that Ted recalled “shimmered as if being shaken by a wind”. What’s more, neither witness could recall the clothing having any buttons or seams.

To increasing shock, before they realized it, the figure was at the driver’s side of the vehicle, as if it had simply “materialized”, and stared in at them. This strange entity appeared almost entirely human, aside from his bright pink eyes. Joyce estimated he was around six feet high and had long blond hair and a full beard on his face.

When Joyce looked behind the man, back to the hovering craft, she could see three figures, all of which were now watching the scene before them. She turned her attention back to the figure, noting that he had a “horrible” look on his face. Interestingly, Ted would recall feeling completely opposite upon seeing the figure’s face, describing having feelings of “peace and tranquility”.

The humanoid continued to look in at them, then turned his attention to the dashboard before heading to the back of the vehicle.

Media Attention And Blunt Warnings

As the figure began to walk around the vehicle, it appeared to Joyce that Ted was going to get out of the car forcing her to lean over and prevent him from doing so. It was at this point she happened to closer her eyes for just a moment. When she opened them, both the hovering object and the strange figure were no longer there.

The two witnesses took a moment or two to gather their thoughts. Then Joyce started the car and after putting it into first gear attempted to set off. However, much like when their vehicle had first come to a stop, an “invisible barrier” resistance stopped the car from moving in any way. She switched the engine off, and this time the car set off with no trouble.

They arrived back home at 9:25 pm, with Joyce immediately telling her husband of the bizarre encounter. In turn, he would contact the local BBC station to see if they had received any other reports. As a result of the conversation, both he and Joyce would appear on the BBC’s news show the following day. Following that, they would appear on BBC national news.

This episode, though, was just the first of a series of strange events. What’s more, the effects of the encounter would show up several days later when Joyce discovered a strange rash on the read side of her head and shoulder.

Of even more concern, she would receive an ominous phone call from a person claiming to be from the government who issued her a blunt warning not to speak of the encounter. A short time later, the same man called again, once more issuing the same warning to her. Even stranger, for several weeks after the encounter, he telephone gave an “engaged” tone – and this happened even when she hung the receiver up several times (which should have severed any connected call). Ultimately, Joyce ignored this warning and spoke of her encounter to the local and national press.

The Daily Mail newspaper would even conduct its own investigation into the incident, finding multiple other witnesses from the area who also claimed to have seen the same object that Joyce and Ted had reported. The subsequent encounters, however, would take an even stranger and more mysterious turn, and her story would become not just a local interest, but a national one.

Inside The Spacecraft

Around six weeks after the incident, at around 6:30 pm on December 30^th, 1976, Joyce and Ted were making the same journey as they had that November evening. Not only would they witness an almost identical craft, but they would suddenly find themselves onboard it with the strange figures they had witnessed previously.

A short time later, they both heard a whistling sound – the same whistling sound they had noticed during their November encounter. Once more, the car began to rock and rattle, as if something else was controlling or manipulating it. Then, things went blank, and the next thing they realized they were standing outside the car. They weren’t, however, on the road, but inside a strange room. As they looked around, they concluded they were inside the bizarre craft.

Inside the room with them were three humanoid figures, almost certainly the same figures they had seen during their first encounter. They were dressed in the same attire, only this time Joyce recalled that they also wore shiny, silver boots, and now she was much closer she claimed the material of the clothing reminded her of tin foil.

She noticed an intriguing detail about the room they were in, and it is interesting as it has come up before in other cases of people who have apparently been onboard a UFO. She would state that in the middle of the room was a “large bottle-like structure” that rose up from the floor. What’s more, this was wide at the bottom of the structure but tapered off at the top. There were also strange black and yellow rings around this structure. Although she had no inkling of that what the structure might have been, other witnesses have described very similar details and claimed that this was part of the propulsion system of the craft.

These humanoids would speak with the pair, using broken English but perfectly able to make themselves understood. They would inform them that they meant them no harm and that they had nothing to fear.

The pair were shown all manner of devices and even star charts. Their memories of the rest of the encounter, however, were sketchy, at best. They recalled being taken back to their car but when they came to, they were on a road that was unfamiliar to them. Perhaps interesting, while Joyce felt a sense of calm following the incident, Ted had a decidedly uneasy feeling – as if his memory was preventing him from recalling something ominous.

A Third And Forth Encounter

Around five months later in May 1977, Joyce would find herself in the middle of another encounter. ^[2] Once more, she was driving, and once more had a friend with her, a lady named Ann Strickland. As in previous encounters, they would witness a cigar-shaped object that glowed brilliantly ahead of them.

Joyce brought the vehicle to a stop and the two women watched as the craft descended before one of the humanoid figures emerged from it and headed in their direction. As it approached them, it held out its arms. At this point, the two women became frightened beyond belief. Then, the figure began speaking to them, in English, but very broken.

Rather interestingly, when asked what the figure said, Joyce would recall, “He said something to me which I understood but I can’t tell anyone what it was. I wouldn’t dare”. Following this relaying of information, the figure turned around and walked back to the craft which then ascended and disappeared.

Joyce would experience yet another encounter around a month later in June. As in the first two encounters, Joyce was driving with her neighbor, Ted Pratt. And once more, the two witnesses appeared to have undergone an alien abduction encounter.

According to Ted, they would once more find themselves in front of the cigar-shaped craft. The humanoid figures were there again also, each wearing “dull metallic suits”. Once more, some kind of communication and relaying of information took place, with one of the figures issuing warnings of various wars, as well as damage that humanity was doing to the planet. With that, the figures left and returned to the craft.

Further Revelations And Connection To The Paranormal

After this incident the sightings suddenly stopped. Investigations, however, would soon reveal further intriguing details about Joyce. It appeared that stretching back several years, she also experienced a lot of poltergeist-like encounters. What is interesting here is that many repeat alien abductees often report more paranormal incidents – particularly poltergeist-like incidents – leading up to their apparent abduction experience. Indeed, there appears to be more of a connection between alien encounters and the paranormal than many of us might think.

Of further interest, Joyce would reveal that she had encountered strange “psychic manifestations” and other poltergeist-like activity since being a young child. Objects or ornaments would often move of their own accord, with several of these incidents witnessed by other family members. She would also often report seeing a strange “white-robed lady”. Once more, other members of her family have also reported seeing this apparition, although only Joyce was ever able to make out any specific features.

It would appear that a particularly interesting and unnerving series of events unfolded four years prior to her encounters of late 1976 and early 1977, when, in 1972 she began to see several “ghosts” in her home, even going as far as to reach out to the local church to perform an exorcism – two of which went ahead.

She would recall to a BBC reporter that she had seen a lady who appeared “like a nun” in her bedroom, elaborating that this apparition was “dressed in all black” and was seemingly standing at the bottom of her bed. What’s more, she would see similar figures over several weeks, each one bringing a sense of “evil” with it.

Even in the nights leading up to the first UFO encounter in November 1976, Joyce recalled seeing a strange “shadowy figure” at the top of her stairs. Although she didn’t think it at the time, following the series of encounters, she began to contemplate whether this figure was, in fact, one of the humanoids from the craft.

Further Sightings Revealed Around The Same Time

Investigators also uncovered several other sightings around the same time of the first encounter in November 1976. Mr. and Mrs. Haines, for example, claimed they had seen a “silver-suited man” near one of the local hypermarkets, around seven miles from Joyce and Ted’s encounter.

There were also several other people, who while not seeing the occupant, did witness what would appear to be the same object. Sandra Wheeler claimed she had witnessed a glowing orange object that was hovering near Horton Heath, while Maureen Lovley claimed she had watched a very similar object for around 20 minutes from Winchester. Another sighting from (relatively) nearby was reported by Mr. and Mrs. Boise in Alresford. They reported seeing “two suns” overhead.

There were also sightings from further away. Mrs. Atkinson was driving to Portsmouth to Swindon with several passengers when they saw a strange object overhead with “lots of lights”. The day before Joyce’s first encounter, at around 7 pm on November 14^th in Southampton, Mr. Baker saw a huge orange disc moving across the sky while he made his way to a friend’s house.

A Strange And Complex Case

What should we make of the claims of Joyce Bowels and Ted Pratt? While the first encounter appears very credible, not least due to the wealth of other witnesses that investigators eventually revealed, the encounters that followed appeared to be of a much more outlandish nature. It is perhaps worth noting that many of the more outrageous claims of interaction with extraterrestrial entities that have turned out to be hoaxes or fabrications have very often started with a genuine encounter. Might this be the case here?

However, it was also the conclusions of several investigators at the time that there was little of any incentive for them to fabricate such an account, not least due to the ridicule each of the witnesses would receive, particularly after the later revelations.

It was also noted that there could be a connection between the “psychic aspects and energies” of Joyce and the UFO encounters she experienced. Indeed, certainly, in more recent decades of the 2000s, many researchers have put forward such a connection between UFO and alien encounters and other areas of the paranormal. In that sense, if there we accept the credibility of Joyce Bowels’ account, the encounters could be of utmost importance.

If we turn our attention to the findings of Jenny Randles, she would highlight several similarities with another incident that unfolded several months later at Nelson in Lancashire, perhaps most notably, the descriptions of some kind of pressing force that the witnesses felt while the UFO was in sight, as well as the effects on the vehicle itself. However, there were other similarities, not least the shape of the object itself, as well as the red and orange lights.

There were also the physical effects experienced by Joyce, which would also mirror themselves in the incident in Nelson, and it is to that incident we will focus on next, an account that entered the public domain in an article by Tony Grimshaw and the aforementioned Jenny Randles in the August 1977, Vol. 23, No. 2 edition of Flying Saucer Review.

A Strange Glowing Object Appears Out Of The Cloud

According to the account ^[3], at around 3:15 am on March 9^th, 1977, 38-year-old Brian Grimshaw and his friend, Jeff, were driving back to the textile factory where they worked in Nelson, Lancashire in England after having given a ride home to a colleague.

As Tony guided his car along the road, Jeff suddenly noticed a strange light in the clouds ahead of them. He alerted Tony to it, asking him what he thought it was. The strange glow was seemingly directly over Pendle Hill, a location that also had a long history of legend and folklore. As they watched, the object suddenly dropped from the clouds and hovered for several moments. Then, it began toward the two men’s vehicle.

Tony would later state that the object was moving relatively slowly, around five miles per hour. The closer the object got, the more details the pair could make out. And they could clearly see that whatever it was, it was something very strange.

They brought the vehicle to a stop, keeping the engine running but putting the handbreak on. Then, they both stepped outside of the car. The object was continuing in their direction.

Tony stated in his report that the object appeared “like a round ball of light”, to begin with. The strange object continued forward in their direction and then “just stopped” in front of the witnesses. Now, with the object directly ahead of them, they could see that it was shaped “like a cigar with pointed ends” that was “colored shiny black against a dark black sky”. He would further state that the size of the object was huge, most likely larger than a “double-decker bus” (although investigators would suggest – given the witness’s description – that it was likely to be between 90 to 100 feet).

Something Not Seen Before

The two men stood there continuing to take in as much detail as they could. They recalled seeing “an array of lights” on the underside of the object, as well as “peculiar structures” on each end. There even appeared to be some kind of windows at what they assumed was the front of the object, although neither witness mentioned being able to see through the windows, but that they were “oval-shaped and (were) lit up”.

Tony would recall that there appeared to be “thousands of lights”, all moving in different directions, elaborating that it was “as if you were looking at the exhaust of a car when it is red hot”, and that the “red and orange stood out a lot” but that there many colors, including “red, pink, green, blue, and black”.

They also noticed that as the object hovered overhead the headlights on their car grew particularly faint, only barely glowing. What’s more, the engine suddenly cut out, “as if someone had ripped the wiring out”.

Eventually, the two men decided to get back inside the car and attempt to restart the engine. However, despite all of his best efforts, the engine refused to tick over. Even the ignition light failed to come on when he inserted the key.

At this point, both men began to sense a rising of fear within them, with Jeff being particularly unnerved.

A Strange Presence “Pressing Down From Above!”

After several minutes, the object began to move once more, passing directly over the two men. The back of the object appeared to be two oil-like objects positioned at each end. The witnesses also recalled that throughout the sighting they could see a “grey mist” around the object. This mist, the witnesses stressed, was around the object’s edges and not surrounding it.

As the object began to move away from them, they became aware of a low humming sound that they presumed came from the craft. Tony would elaborate that this sound was similar to listening “to the tide coming in and out”.

As soon as the object headed off into the distance, the engine suddenly restarted and the lights suddenly lit up as bright as they had been previously. They watched for a few moments as the object headed off into the distance.

The two witnesses, though, reported other details that they had noticed during the encounter – some of which were very much physical. Perhaps the strangest of these was a feeling of pressure around them as the object passed overhead, as if “something was pressing down on them from above”, with them elaborating that this pressure felt wind-like although there was no wind at the time.

As we mentioned earlier, Jeff was particularly frightened of the two men, with Tony recalling that he was aware of the intensity of his friend’s fear, even turning white in the face as if the blood had completely drained away.  With this in mind, as soon as he could, Tony pressed down on the accelerator and began back to the factory.

Physical Effects Experienced

By the time they arrived at their destination, both men noted they had intense, painful headaches – headaches that had seemingly come from out of nowhere in the minutes following the encounter. And these headaches were compounded somewhat by an intense pulsing or pounding sensation that accompanied them.

Tony also experienced significant problems with his eye, with it becoming particularly “weepy”. And this remained the case for over two weeks. As well as this, his appetite decreased suddenly to the point that he struggled to eat anything at all. Perhaps amazingly, despite the surreal nature of the encounter, he didn’t, at first, connect these symptoms to the sighting, but simply believed he had picked up some kind of bug.

The two men, as the days and weeks went by before they made a report which eventually found its way into a local newspaper and then into the in-tray of a local UFO organization, seemingly reacted to the incident drastically differently. While Tony, undoubtedly amazed and perplexed by the encounter, was almost at peace with the incident. Jeff, on the other hand, was much more affected by the encounter, becoming immediately frightened when recalling it, and was particularly unwilling to speak about it.

This is perhaps an interesting detail. While people clearly react differently to UFO encounters – just as they would to all aspects of life – it is interesting that Jeff felt such fear, especially as the two men didn’t appear to have been under threat at any point. Might we find, then, that UFOs, in particular, are as much an individual experience even when there are multiple witnesses?

No Reason To Suspect A Hoax

It had been the hopes of the witnesses, specifically Tony, that by allowing the newspapers to report on their account other witnesses might come forward. And, several weeks later, a Manchester businessman did just that.

According to his account, which he gave to a Manchester newspaper, he was driving along the Moors on the night in question and claimed he witnessed the exact same object. However, the newspaper neglected to print or even record the man’s name or contact details, meaning that UFO investigators could not locate the man to question him further.

A rather negative aspect of the account hitting the newspapers was the ridicule the witnesses began receiving, with Tony, as Jeff had done all along, began to pull back from speaking about the incident. Investigators, though, would continue to examine the incident for further information.

They looked, for example, at the car, noting that it had received new plugs and power points only weeks previously and that the engine and battery were in excellent overall condition – certainly so that the headlight or the engine should not have died as they did. Even stranger, the radio in the car no longer worked. And what’s more, all attempts to repair the radio simply failed.

They would also contact Manchester Airport to see if they had any vehicles in the area that evening, and if they had anything untoward on their radar. The answer was no to both.

The Findings Of Jenny Randles

Jenny Randles, who co-authored the article for Flying Saucer Review several months after the encounter, would come to some initial conclusions on the case.

She would speak to Tony Grimshaw once more, around two months after the encounter. He offered to Randles that he had had no further encounters since that night in March 1977, nor had he been contacted by the military, or any other mysterious groups such as the Men In Black.

Randles also questioned Tony more on the sensation he and Jeff experienced while outside the car of something pressing down on them. The more details he gave – such as hairs visibly rising on his arms – the more Randles suspected he was describing some kind of an electrostatic field that likely emanated from the strange aerial craft. What’s more, Tony recalled that this sensation continued even after they had gotten back inside the car, only ceasing when the object had moved away from them.

There were also details of the other physical details experienced by Tony in the weeks following the encounter, particularly the weeping he experienced in his eyes. This had continued for several months, albeit more sporadically and less intensely.

Overall, Randles found both of the witnesses to be credible, noting that bother was “working men with major cares for their families and with little time for the UFO phenomenon”. Furthermore, she would write, that she believed that neither man had “anything like the required knowledge to fabricate the details of the story”.

Randles would state that if UFO researchers and investigators could gain an understanding of some of the details of the case, particularly why cars often cease to work while these strange objects are overhead “will lead us some way to an understanding of the physical principles behind whatever it was that hovered over Nelson that night”.

Interestingly, there were several other intriguing encounters around the United Kingdom around the same time as the incident at Nelson. And it is to some of those that we will turn our attention to next.

The Bury M66 Encounter

It is also worth our time examining another encounter that occurred a little under a year before the incident at Nelson in nearby Bury. And while there are few similarities – if only because this incident unfolded at a much greater distance as opposed to close proximity – it is very much worth noting given that it occurred in the same county and within 12 months of the encounter we have just examined.

According to an article by Jenny Randles and Peter Warrington in the same edition of Flying Saucer Review, at around 1:50 am on April 2^nd, 1976, 32-year-old Detective Sergeant Norman Collinson was driving home after finishing his shift. It was as he was making his way along the M66 that he noticed a strange light in the sky that appeared very much disc-shaped. He immediately noticed how fast the light was moving through the sky, passing directly in front of his vehicle ahead of him.

Although he didn’t immediately suspect that he was witnessing something otherworldly (he believed he was most likely seeing a top-secret military aircraft), he was more than certain that he hadn’t seen anything like this before.

He continued to drive along the motorway, watching in awe as the object made extremely sharp turns and changed direction overhead. After losing sight of the glowing disc temporarily, he suddenly noticed it coming up from behind him and then heading off in front of his vehicle once more. At this point, Collinson pulled his car to the side of the road and exited the vehicle.

As he looked around, he noted that there was no other traffic on the road. He then located the object once more and realized it was headed in his direction. Then, all of a sudden, it came to a stop.

“Acceleration That Instantaneous!”

Collinson continued to look up at the disc, noting that it was now moving in a strange fashion in the same part of the sky, almost in the shape of a box. What’s more, as it did this, its speed remained constant, with no braking or slowing down whatsoever.

After several moments of this, the object came to a sudden stop before heading off to the east. At this point, Collinson returned to his car and began to follow the object as best he could. To his amazement, he managed to get relatively close to its aerial location before it stopped once more and began on the box-like movements as it had done previously.

As he watched this second aerial display Collinson looked around, hopeful that he would spot another motorist who might also have been witness to the bizarre events, and so corroborating his sighting. However, to his dismay, he realized he was the only person on the road.

The object once more came to a stop. However, this time, instead of heading off slowly into the distance, it disappeared over the horizon in a second. Collison would later recall that this last acceleration was “instantaneous”, leading him to believe that the object was not a top-secret military aircraft at all, but something much more out of the ordinary.

A Lack Of Interest In Investigating

Collinson would make a report of the sighting to the Ministry of Defense, who while taking his report, gave the impression that there would be little, if any investigation. Perhaps with this in mind, Collinson also contacted Manchester Airport, asking if they could look into the sighting and match it with their radar readings. Once more, although they took details from him, they would fail to get back in touch.

A report of the incident would eventually appear in the Manchester Evening News several weeks later after word-of-mouth assisted in spreading the incident as far as the newspaper’s in-trays.

UFO investigators at the time would highlight a similar encounter that had occurred the previous year, at just before 3:30 am on August 15^th, 1975, just outside Bury. On the night in question, several residents, as well as two patrolling police officers, witnessed an almost identical object. After moving around the sky, also in a very similar fashion, it once more headed toward the east and disappeared.

It was soon discovered that further witnesses had reported the same object when several staff from Rochdale Infirmary saw it while driving in North Manchester. Whether it was the same object or not is perhaps open to debate, as is whether these sightings are connected to the two we examined in the opening of this article. That they all occurred within the same window of time and, for three of the encounters, in the same region of the country, makes that possibility worth considering.

More Examples Of Little-Known But Potentially Important Encounters

Whether there was any kind of connection between the subsequent encounters we have examined here or not remains open to debate. What is certain is that these are only a tiny fraction of the encounters that are on record – many of which are buried within old editions of magazines and newspaper reports, perhaps in danger of being forgotten.

It is important that such encounters remain in the public eye, particularly so when connections and resonating details present themselves. After all, if we can highlight such connections we can build up a fuller, clearer picture of the UFO and alien question.

As we examined above, even if the apparent subsequent encounters of Joyce Bowels were of a manufactured nature, if only in part, it would appear very much that the initial encounter was genuine, if only due to the many corroborating reports that were unearthed in the investigations that followed. And of the encounters in Nelson and Bury, both appear very credible indeed.

In short, it would appear that there was almost certainly something strange in the United Kingdom during this time. Indeed, for much of the mid-to-late seventies, UFO sightings in the United Kingdom appeared to increase significantly.

The video below is the Out Of This World documentary from the BBC that aired in May 1977, only months after the first of Joyce Bowels encounters.