The Robert Taylor Incident—Where the Truth Lies b

by
Andrew Hennessey

Over the years there have been many sceptical attempts to explain away forester Robert Taylor's 1979 traumatic close encounter with what is believed to be physical contact with non-human technology and machinery. In view of the reported facts, however, these opposing explanations, whether mundane, simple or scientific, are far more bizarre than the idea of an alien event having taken place on Dechmont Law, near Livingston.

These rival justifications transverse the whole spectrum of the human imagination, and include: (1) an array of electrical plasma lights (the ‘piezoelectric effect’) emanating from stresses and fault-lines in local volcanic rocks; (2) Mr Taylor accidentally sniffing reactive water-processing chemicals irrespective of the fact that these chemicals were kept under lock and key behind tall security fences in the local water depot, and not in his vicinity; (3) Mr Taylor having come into contact with alleged bio-active 'magic mushrooms' in his capacity at the time as the local forester; (4) mistaking a water tower illuminated by passing cars, which he saw numerous times before, to be a 'space craft' and the consequent, alleged, sudden triggering of an interlude of extreme ill-health to be inconsequential, or; (5) he had a fainting spell and/or ‘fit' due to his need to abruptly duck and fall in extreme fear after seeing the planet Venus instantaneously magnify and distort through some sort of 'atmospheric lens', which assumes he had never seen such natural phenomena before in all his many years working outdoors; and not least, (6) the dutifully pragmatic but observant local police investigation into this incident concluding that some sort of ‘criminal activity’ had taken place, which culminated in an assault on Mr Taylor, with the assailant having entered and left the forest from above the clearing, irrespective of how bizarre this might sound (by helicopter? hovercraft? abseiling down trees?) and straight out of James Bond.

From this point onwards the Robert Taylor incident generated a deluge of interest from individuals, whether in books, articles or through media attention, whose sole purpose was to counter or detract from Mr Taylor's integrity as a witness. Belief in the familiar was the only explanation tolerated. Thus, almost any semi- or quasi- rational explanation that would make the original witness account appear unfeasible or ridiculous got publicity, while those supporting it were either snubbed or given short shrift.

Why was this? Was it simply a press joke gone wild, a public conflagration of sorts but without clear intention or was there some other motive for this ad-hominem line of editorial, in other words, of attacking the man rather than looking at the facts? To understand why there probably was – and still is - an active disinformation campaign against the Robert Taylor story, one has to understand the strategic significance of Scotland and specifically, central Scotland, to the establishment and its military and allies.

Historically, more military bunkers have been delved out all over Scotland amongst its vast array of lowlands, highlands and coastlines than could ever be found at the most bunkered of well-heeled golf courses. At the time of the Taylor incident, for example, the RAF Machrihanish installation in the Mull of Kintyre had long been made available to the US military forces since the beginning of the Cold War. It was only after the draw-down of US military in Europe at the end of the Cold War, resulting in the US Navy leaving Machrihanish, that it officially, on 30 June 1995, handed back its facilities to the Ministry of Defence, after which the station became MOD Machrihanish, but not until then. Wth its long runway and underground works, this base could well have been trying out test flights of “Aurora", a secret, hypersonic spy plane or other secret technology stealth flights amongst the many mountains, valleys and cities of Scotland. Could this be what Robert Taylor encountered? Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe a far more advanced technology.

Similar secret test flights in America, whether from Groom Lake in Nevada (Area 51) or from some other US military installation, were happily promoted as alien UFOs by authorities there because the vastness of the territory covered would not reveal their true human origins, e.g. Nevada alone could easily fit two or three countries the size of Scotland into its deserts. Flight paths in Scotland, however, could be much more easily triangulated and tracked in the relatively small distances over Scottish airspace. Given this, the establishment or those in power had a vested interest in keeping the public gaze off of the Scottish night skies and onto its television screens. What was not wanted was for the Scottish tax-paying public to gaze skyward and whether witnessing genuine alien activity or not, uncover at the same time the truth of the very secretive and expensive undertakings the Military was carrying out. Concealing its own assets and activities, therefore, and not the odd individual incident of alien interaction with the public, would have been the main reason for encouraging the degree of disinformation used against Robert Taylor.

In the end, therefore, the last thing that the establishment wanted was for the focused binoculars of the world to hone in on the tiny night skies over central Scotland, thereby disclosing its own secret activities accidentally exposed by the highly credible reporting of a very real, up close and personal alien encounter.