Robert Taylor incident
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🛸 Case
Contents 4
| Type | Case |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Dechmont Woods incident, Livingston incident, Dechmont |
The Robert Taylor incident, also called the Livingston or Dechmont Woods incident, was a reported encounter on 9 November 1979 in which forestry worker Robert Taylor said two small spheres tried to drag him towards a large hovering dome near Livingston, Scotland. Because he came home injured, the police recorded it as an assault, and it is often described as the only UFO report to become the subject of a criminal investigation.[1]
Taylor's account
Taylor, who had worked for the Livingston Development Corporation for 15 years, parked his truck near the M8 motorway and walked with his dog up Dechmont Law. At about 10 a.m., in a forest clearing, he said he saw a "flying dome" about seven yards across, made of a dark metallic material with a rough texture like sandpaper and a rim set with small propellers.[1]
He said he smelled something like burning brakes, and that two smaller spheres, like sea mines, seized him and began dragging him towards the dome before he passed out. When he woke the objects were gone. He could not start his truck and walked home.[1]
Investigation
His wife said he arrived dishevelled and muddy, with torn clothing, and a doctor treated grazes to his chin and thighs. Police went with him to the clearing and found ladder-shaped marks where he said the dome had been, and other marks he attributed to the spheres. They recorded the matter as an assault.[1] A commemorative plaque was installed in 1992.[1]
Explanations
Ufologist Malcolm Robinson considered it one of the few genuine UFO encounters.[1] Skeptic Steuart Campbell, who visited the site with police, found that the water authority had been laying pipes nearby and suggested that stacked pipes had made the marks.[1] Physician Patricia Hannaford proposed that Taylor had suffered an attack of temporal lobe epilepsy, pointing to his earlier meningitis, the smell that nobody else noticed, his headache and his loss of consciousness, and physicist Steve Donnelly agreed.[1] In 2013 a local businessman suggested a mini-stroke and a nearby saucer-shaped water tower.[1]
References
- Robert Taylor incident — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · 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.
No discussion yet.