Livingston, Scotland UFO encounter revisited

Dear readers

Well, Adelaide is now in the grips of winter. Minimum temperatures down to 5-7 degrees C and maximum daytime temperatures hovering about 15 degrees. It's a lovely time of the year to be in my favourite pub, sitting by a roaring log fire, with a glass of superb South Australian red wine at hand.

The other day, I was there at the pub, and discussion with my friends turned to what they know is my passion - the UFO phenomenon. I was telling them about an encounter in Scotland, based on a recent piece I had read in the English Fortean Times (FT) magazine (Issue 273, May 2011 page 26.)

The Livingston encounter:

The event took place on the 9 November 1979 near Livingston, Scotland and the witness was Bob Taylor. Here's part of the article from the FT.

"Taylor encountered a large sphere hovering between the forest floor and the tops of the trees...two smaller spheres detached themselves from the object and rolled toward him. Taylor could see the spheres, hear the sound as their spines touched the floor and was conscious of "a strong pungent smell that was overpowering" ...he passed out...'

The article continues: "...David Slater's excellent "Musing on Anomalous Culture" blog has suggested a possible cause for Taylor's bizarre experience. He notes that Deadly Nightshade (Belladonna) is indigenous to the area, the berries of which contain atropine, a poison that can dramatically affect the body's central nervous system in a number of ways, with perceptual distortions and hallucinations being common.

"Is it possible that Taylor naively picked and ate some of the tasty-looking berries or even just touched or crushed them? Slater's theory is highly speculative, but all the elements for it exist in known reality ..."

Slater's full article:

To read Slater's full blog article, click here.