Ilkley Moor UFO incident
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🛸 Case
Contents 5
| Type | Case |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Ilkley Moor alien, Ilkley Moor photograph |
The Ilkley Moor UFO incident is a claim by a retired police officer, known by the pseudonym Philip Spencer, that on 1 December 1987 he photographed a small green being on Ilkley Moor in West Yorkshire, England, and saw a craft rise from the moor. He later recalled under hypnosis being taken aboard. The blurred photograph is one of Britain's best-known UFO images, and its authenticity is disputed.[1]
The account
Spencer said he was walking across the moor early in the morning to visit his father-in-law, carrying a camera and a compass, when he saw a figure about 1.2 metres tall, dark green, with a large head and long thin arms. He said it gestured at him, and he photographed it before it ran off. Following it into the fog, he saw a whitish craft shaped like two saucers joined together rise with a loud hum. On reaching a town about 30 minutes away, he found that about two hours had passed and that his compass was pointing the wrong way.[1]
Investigation
Spencer contacted UFO researchers Jenny Randles and Peter Hough and gave Hough the copyright of the photograph, while remaining anonymous; accounts state he did not profit from the story.[1] Kodak experts found no sign of tampering, and a wildlife photographer said the figure was not a known animal, but US optics expert and ufologist Bruce Maccabee called the image too grainy for proper testing.[1]
Hypnosis
In March 1988 Spencer underwent regression hypnosis. His account changed: he now described being paralysed, lifted into the craft, given a medical examination and shown films of nuclear explosions, famines and floods, and said the being in the photograph had been waving goodbye rather than warning him off.[1]
Assessment
Former MoD official Nick Pope included the case in a 2011 list of the top ten UK UFO incidents. Skeptics point out that the photograph is too blurred to prove anything and could show a person or a cut-out, that Spencer did not photograph the craft, and that a compass is easy to damage.[1]
References
- Ilkley Moor UFO 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.