A book about one of my favorite UFO events....if it was a UFO event.
Matty, reading here, noted that the 1979 Robert Taylor UFO incident, in Scotland, is an event that I keep going back to, time and time again.
Thus he recommended the book, pictured here, which arrived from Amazon this past Monday [December 30, 2019].
Matty indicated the book was not written well, by his standards, and another visitor here agreed.
I have to disagree somewhat.
The author, Malcolm Robinson, is a fine writer. he communicates his ideas cogently and thoroughly, even if he is occasionally redundant.
I don't think I write well but, like Mr. Robinson, hope I make my points clear enough for even the most diligent literary maven.
At any rate, the book is a must-read. for how UFO events, as that presented, come to be thought about and researched, ultimately landing in UFO lore complete as possible.
In this incident, Mr. Robinson provides eleven theories attempting to explain the "incident" -- I've merely read a few so far.
I'm of the school that thinks UFO witnesses or those allegedly assaulted or "abducted" by UFOs present their experiences as faithfully as is possible, especially under or after a stressful, spectacular event.
My point with this note is to recommend the book, because it covers an intriguing episode, that occurred to a decent, sane fellow, and presents a UFO tale or paranormal event that should raise the curiosity of us who are absorbed by both UFOs and the paranormal milieu.
I thank Matty for bringing this swell book to my attention, and I'll try to bring the story it offers forward again, if it meets with the interest of those who come to this blog: the intellectual subset of ufology.
RR
posted by RRRGroup at
Wednesday, January 01, 2020
22 Comments:
I haven't read the book, but one of the reasons I think this is a valid, classic case is because it specifically DOESN'T fit in with the average UFO encounter. As I see it, sometimes the more the high-strangeness (and uniqueness) attached to a case suggests strongly it's real. And not influenced by hoaxes, pop-culture etc.
By
Nick Redfern, at Wednesday, January 01, 2020
That's how I see it also.
RR
By
RRRGroup, at Wednesday, January 01, 2020
I'm glad you like the book, Rich. I was worried you wouldn't after I saw certain shortcomings in it. Maybe I should give it another chance.
By
Anonymous, at Wednesday, January 01, 2020
I like it very much so far, Matty.
A good buy, for $11+ -- some real information in it that I hadn't known.
Again, thanks for the tip.
(The Aquinas book has shipped but won't be here until January 7. That damn Amazon.)
Rich
By
RRRGroup, at Wednesday, January 01, 2020
Matty:
I notice what you were referring to I think: the errant sentence structure and punctuation flubs in Mr. Robinson's otherwise interesting book.
Because there is no publisher listed or copyright date, I assume the book was self-published, meaning Malcolm did not have oversight of his copy by an Editor, which all writers have whose books are selected for professional publication as you know.
Malcolm has gone to a lot of trouble to gather information -- much too much from the internet perhaps -- and deserved editorial help for the finished product.
I see my pal Philip Mantle helped with the cover (design). I'm surprised that his "company" didn't publish the book (or did they?).
Nonetheless, as I've noted earlier here, the book is filled with minutiae that I never knew, helpful in many ways when trying to get at the nub of this extraordinary event.
If readers can ignore the egregious punctuation errors, they will find the tale to be of real interest in a number of ways, not just ufological.
RR
By
RRRGroup, at Thursday, January 02, 2020
Still the only UFO encounter I'm aware of, officially recorded as a crime (by West Lothian Police) - namely that of 'criminal assault by person or persons unknown'.
The 'skeptic' debunkers have of course helpfully provided us with several 'explanations' involving an 'attack' of temporal lobe epilepsy (of which Taylor had no previous history nor apparently ever suffered from again) a 'mini-stroke' of which doctors who tended to him found no evidence and that old chestnut 'a mirage of Venus' (in broad daylight) - I mean, seriously - you've got to laugh, haven't you!
I'm also, unfortunately (forgive my ignorance) unaware of the mechanism by which one 'hallucinates' the physical evidence of deep 'ladder marks' and multiple circular indentations (with no apparent tracks leading to or away from these) in the exact area where Taylor states he encountered the object, nor indeed how this 'hallucination' would result in physical rips in trousers which police confirmed were evidently caused by them being lifted up and laterally torn (exactly as Taylor attested these rips occurred).
Here's the 'Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World' take on it featuring Bob himself recounting his experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI4hY3tuKEE
By
DrDee, at Thursday, January 02, 2020
DD:
The event is truly interesting.
Robinson, in his book, offers all the "theories" to explain the incident.
I'm through all but a few.....crazy stuff...the Venus explanation is just stupid.
I see the account, as you know, as a (possible) AI robot attack, gone amiss. (From whom or where, I'm open to suggestions.)
I hope you had great, happy holidays.
RR
By
RRRGroup, at Thursday, January 02, 2020
Rich and DrDee,
Well, I had a whole comment written up that's now gone because of one errant mouse click. Fucking Google idiots and their shitty platforms--they should've implemented some autosave feature for Blogger comments a long time ago.
Anyway, I had written that I'm unsure about the Taylor case but leaning toward a debunking explanation. Let me put my points in list form to save myself time.
Points for the skeptic:
1. Taylor had a history of meningitis. This increases the risk of seizures, so the skeptic seizure explanation has a reasonable basis.
2. Tears in Taylor's pants might have been from crawling on the ground after the incident, as he claims he did.
3. Ground markings don't seem anomalous enough to mean much. Apparently there's some evidence that they were made by PVC pipes.
4. Taylor didn't receive the sort of medical examination shortly after the incident needed to exclude the possibility that some brain pathology was the cause of his experience. A family doctor examined him at home, and found nothing seriously wrong, but also wanted Taylor to receive a head x-ray and see a neurologist. Unfortunately neither happened.
Point against the skeptic:
1. One skeptic, Campbell, argued that Taylor's alleged hallucinatory seizure was caused by a sighting of a mirage of Venus. This suggests Campbell doesn't think a seizure alone is adequate to explain the sighting. I don't know enough about hallucinations in seizures to say if Campbell's Venus posit is gratuitous or if it, or something like it, is needed for the seizure hypothesis to work.
The real problem with the case is that it's a single witness one, as far as I know. Without at least one other person to corroborate Taylor's observation it isn't easy to rule out the possibility that it was "all in his head," and due ultimately to some pathology.
By
Anonymous, at Thursday, January 02, 2020
Matty, a couple of things....
I like David Slater's Belladonna hypothesis and the idea that Mr. Taylor may have seen a Dr. Who program, during a strike of other TV programming, in which a "space ship" not too unlike the one Mr. Taylor said attacked him, was represented. (The Betty/Barney Hill "Outer Limits" progenitor idea).
I like it but don't think it's the explanation.
If Robert Taylor had a seizure, he surely didn't crawl around, but lay there immobile, his dog tugging at her master, trying to rouse him.
And perceiving a scenario like that described by Mr. Taylor is not uncommon in any kind of neurological misstep, my son, the neuroscientist assures me.
But, as usual, investigators and skeptics or believers, are prone to gilding the lily in UFO cases. Author Robinson tosses in Occam's [sic] Razor -- I prefer Ockham -- which is helpful.
One problem for me is that there has been no other event or sighting like the Taylor event. It's unique, supporting the idea that it was a confounding of things, making for a hallucinatory episode.
Yet, I like the possibility that Mr. Taylor saw what he says he saw, and passed out from the stress, his dog adding to the "evidence" by ripping his pants while he was unconscious.
But what or who was in the "contraption" that brought this incident into play? Not ETs. Then who?
It's a fascinating tale, whether an epileptic seizure or a real encounter with something outside the norm, way outside.
I'd play down the single witness stigma, Matty. Lone witnesses are quite fine and able to give information without the help of others. (Lonnie Zamora is an example.)
Remember, Moses alone spoke to God, and from that came a lot of foo-fah that you believe.
RR
By
RRRGroup, at Thursday, January 02, 2020
Rich,
Moses also worked miracles that many saw, including Egyptians (in light of fairly recent archaeological evidence, but let's not get into that), so it wasn't as if those who believed him had nothing to go on but his assertions.
My claim isn't that Taylor was crawling during his seizure. Rather, and as he himself stated, some of his movement back to his truck *after* the incident included crawling.
By
Anonymous, at Thursday, January 02, 2020
@Rich & Matty - the main piece of physical evidence in this case, according to West Lothian Police, was that Taylor's trousers, made from a hard-wearing 'police issue' material, did indeed show that they had been lifted up on either side, around the hip area, then torn laterally whilst being worn by some external agent (as Taylor stated) which police forensic officers described as appearing to have been caused by something akin to a 'grinding wheel'.
This evidence in itself puts paid to any notion that Taylor in any way 'hallucinated' the experience, the rips themselves being deemed as incompatible with any 'accidental' irregular tears caused by tree branches or foliage, the nature and location of these being too symmetrical and regular to be deemed as such.
Even one of Zoam's favourite 'skeptic' heroes, Dr. David Clarke, concedes that despite having only one key witness, this case is both intriguing and inexplicable, Bob Taylor being regarded both by his local community and local Police force as a 'down-to-earth' individual and an impeccably credible witness who had no motive for making up such a strange story.
Clip on Bob Taylor's experience featuring Dr. David Clarke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxgPUYv9Mys
and (prob. for UK viewers only I'm afraid) Blaze TV's 'UFO Europe: The Untold Stories' featuring Bob Taylor's experience plus West Lothian Police statements and Dr. David Clarke's take on the incident from 2:28 onwards - https://www.blaze.tv/watch/replay/239569
By
DrDee, at Friday, January 03, 2020
@Rich - well thanks for the sentiment but no, I didn't have great, happy holidays [It's of absolutely no consequence tho' :) ]
By
DrDee, at Friday, January 03, 2020
@Matty - 'Well, I had a whole comment written up that's now gone because of one errant mouse click. Fucking Google idiots and their shitty platforms--they should've implemented some autosave feature for Blogger comments a long time ago'.
I know the feeling! I've genuinely written (& re-written) a reply to your response about the Turkish fossilised 'tyre-tracks' and lost it both times before giving up the will to live! :)
The 'rebuttal' article seems to be composed of an awful lot of 'probablies' (it's 'probably' 5,000-year-old agricultural rows/cart tracks etc.) - however, the guy stating that the tracks are 'fossilised' and in geological strata dated to 3-4 million years old is himself a Doctor of Geology & I'm not aware of any other geologists refuting or dismissing his dating of the strata - so until then, that's presumably where we are on that topic! (doesn't mean it's 'aliens' tho' - just that humans were prob. a lot more advanced at an earlier stage than we give them credit for!)
By
DrDee, at Friday, January 03, 2020
Sorry to read that DrDee...let's hope the rest of 2020 is better.
As for the Taylor event, Robinson's book provides many photos which, alone, are worth the price of the paperback, $17.74
Clarke's views along with others are provided also.
The seizure explanation is plausible, except for the ripped pants, which I'd attribute to his dog Lara trying to rouse her fallen master...but for the tears looking as if done by a "grinding wheel."
The problem for me are the many parted and sub-parted explanations. Like other UFO tales attempted to be explained, the explainer creates so many intertwined clues that their explanations are like a Chinese puzzle, nowhere near an explanation, more like a potpourri or stew with everything thrown in, many not complimentary but rather conflicted and not logical.
The Taylor incident opened the door to screwy interpretations that gild the lily: Taylor's simple and clear exposition.
RR
By
RRRGroup, at Friday, January 03, 2020
@Rich - hey, it's perfectly ok! [but no, realistically I don't expect 2020 or any other year from now on to be 'better'- I'm getting older, things are packing in and friends and relatives are dead and dying - whaddya do? :)}
Anyway, the clips I provided links for are very much what I'd concentrate on with regard to Bob Taylor - I don't believe for a minute (and nor does Dr. David Clarke) that he 'made it up' nor do I accept he had some 'fit' or 'seizure' given West Lothian Police's forensic assessment of the physical evidence, both track marks and the ripped trousers.
Bob Taylor's daughter was a nurse at the A+E Department he was brought into following the incident and neither she nor the doctors in attendance believed Taylor was either making up a 'story' or that he'd had a seizure or 'mini-stroke' or indeed that he'd 'inadvertently' ingested 'deadly nightshade' and neither did West Lothian Police!
These are all aspects brought to the story by desperate 'skeptic' debunkers and should be dismissed and disregarded as such (as Dr. David Clarke himself seems to do in this instance)
By
DrDee, at Friday, January 03, 2020
@Rich - Just for the record, I think Dr. David Clarke is a genuine 'sceptic' (not a militant 'skeptic' debunker) who displays a genuinely healthy 'scepticism' with regard to many UFO reports but when such incidents do seem to be genuinely inexplicable by 'normal' criteria, he accepts them as such and says so.
By
DrDee, at Friday, January 03, 2020
While I think and often expressed that Robert Taylor saw what he said he saw (and experienced), the possibility of a delusional few moments cannot be ruled out.
Epileptic hallucinations are not rare, almost common actually.
When I was in High school, a hypnotist brought in for a student assembly put some students "under" and told them they were experiencing a flying saucer.
The six students, on stage, went into a hypnotic frenzy, rushing from the stage, knocking over their chairs, and engaged in mayhem, with one student, a girl, in the bleachers, not on stage, had an epileptic seizure (called a fit back then).
There never was another hypnotic act brought in for student entertainment.
While Robert Taylor's experience has all the earmarks of an "attack" by an (AI?) object, the idea that he imagined it, inserting memory from the Dr Who TV show (he may have seen) is acceptable to me.
Again, why no replication of such a craft as that described by Mr. Taylor -- or one described in a previous sighting?
Either way -- a real event or a delusional mise en scene -- the incident is fascinating.
David Clarke is a judicious academic with a journalistic open mind, one of my favorite people in ufology.
RR
By
RRRGroup, at Friday, January 03, 2020
DrDee,
Sorry for your recent troubles. I'm not sure if you agree or if it's of any comfort, but I think the evidence is actually quite strong that human life continues after bodily death. So I expect you'll see those friends and relatives again.
Clarke's contribution to Robinson's book makes it sound as if he's not too impressed by the Taylor case. The information you've provided has made me less confident of debunkings of it, however--many thanks. Thanks also for the information about the "tire tracks." Very interesting.
By
Anonymous, at Saturday, January 04, 2020
@Matty - Well we shall all one day, no doubt see (or not as the case maybe) what the truth of the matter is! :)
In the Blaze TV show 'UFO Europe - The Untold Stories', [link (prob. only UK I'm afraid - a UK proxy might work tho') https://www.blaze.tv/watch/replay/239569 from around the 14min mark] Clarke clearly states, and I quote:
'Bob Taylor's case strikes me as a really good example of a genuine eye-witness account of an inexplicable phenomenon'
So I don't understand how or why he would then come across as seemingly 'unimpressed' with it in the book.
By
DrDee, at Saturday, January 04, 2020
DrDee,
It seems Clarke changed his mind. Rich can also attest that Clarke doesn't favor a view of the case as anomalous in his statement in the book.
By
Anonymous, at Saturday, January 04, 2020
@Rich - The trousers are the key piece of evidence here. Police Forensic analysts stated the rips were NOT caused accidentally either by foliage, falling or Taylor's dog and appeared to be clean, symmetrical tears consistent with them having been lifted up and cut laterally by something akin to a 'grinding wheel'.
None of this is 'hallucinatory' and Clarke also notes forensics determined the track marks to have been made by something weighing several tons which, whilst not in itself necessarily evidence of the physical reality of Taylor's 'UFO', no one could recall any such piece of equipment being present at the location of the incident, nor could it be explained how these marks appeared without any apparent evidence of tracks leading to or away from them.
Again, this is physical evidence indicating the presence of 'something' weighty and substantial at the scene which was evidently not hallucinatory yet remains unexplained.
By
DrDee, at Saturday, January 04, 2020
Clarke favors the neurological (medical) explanation -- no ET visitation, which I like also, however...
The tracks caused by a weighty vehicle and the dog not ripping Mr. Taylor's pants, make the mundane explanation troublesome.
As Matty notes, Dave Clarke finds the incident interesting but not anything exotic.
Since I don't think ETs are visiting, even via an AI von Neumann probe, in this case, I'm at a loss as to what really occurred.
Yet, Bob Taylor saw what he says he saw -- either as an hallucination under neurological stress or as a bona fide paranormal intrusion, from somewhere different than his normal reality.
The event is a riddle.
Again, let me point out that no UFO with spiked spheres alongside, like Bob Taylor's UFO has ever shown up in the modern literature, although there is an account in Aubeck/Vallee's Wonders in the Sky book that I've noted here a few times, a contraption not unlike Mr. Taylor's: The account appears on Page 165 (PB) for the year 1571 in Prague, Czechoslovakia.
And while looking up the Page it appears on, I saw quite a few other reports of UFOs with similarities like those Bob Taylor recounts. (I may do a posting on them.)
RR
By
RRRGroup, at Saturday, January 04, 2020
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