Solway Firth Spaceman
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🛸 Case
Contents 4
| Type | Case |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Solway Spaceman, Jim Templeton |
The Solway Firth Spaceman is a figure that appears in the background of a photograph taken on 23 May 1964 by Jim Templeton, a Carlisle firefighter, of his daughter on Burgh Marsh, overlooking the Solway Firth in Cumbria, England. Templeton said he saw no one there when he took it. The figure, which looks like a person in a white spacesuit, made the photograph famous worldwide.[1][2]
The photograph
Templeton took three photographs of his five-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, on a day out. He said the only other people nearby were two elderly women sitting in a car at the far end of the marsh. When the film came back from Kodak, the middle picture showed a white figure behind her. Kodak said the photograph was genuine, and Carlisle police found nothing suspicious.[1] The Cumberland News published the story, which quickly spread around the world.[1][2]
Later claims
Templeton said two men claiming to be government officials, who would not show identification, visited him and became angry when he said he had not seen the figure; he later dismissed them as a hoax.[1] He also said he had heard that a Blue Streak missile launch in Australia had been stopped after two large figures were seen on the range. The Ministry of Defence said the photograph was of no interest to it.[1]
Explanation
In 2014 author David Clarke told the BBC that the figure was most likely Templeton's wife, Annie, who appears in another photograph from that day. Clarke said that with that type of camera the photographer saw only about 70 per cent of the scene through the viewfinder, so she could have walked into the shot unnoticed. She was wearing a pale blue dress that appears white when overexposed, and her dark bobbed hair would match the dark area around the figure's head.[1][2] Templeton, who died in 2011, always maintained that he did not know how the figure got there.[1][2]
References
- Solway Firth Spaceman — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Simon Armstrong, "The mystery of the Solway Spaceman", BBC News (2014) · bbc.co.uk · archived copy
This page was last edited on 31 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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