'I was abducted by aliens in Yorkshire and probed by a bearded humanoid'

Astronomers have made a groundbreaking discovery that could be. Researchers now say they are 99.7 percent certain that signs of life have been detected on a distant exoplanet, located 124 light-years from Earth - more than three billion times farther than the distance between Earth and the Moon.

The planet, known as K2-18b, orbits within the "habitable zone," often referred to as the Goldilocks zone - a region where conditions may be just right to support liquid water, and potentially life.

Scientists are especially excited about two specific chemical signatures found in the planet’s atmosphere: dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and dimethyl disulfide (DMDS). On Earth, these gases are only produced by living organisms, particularly by microscopic marine algae.

This discovery represents the most compelling evidence to date that life could exist on planets outside our solar system, and it marks a major leap forward in the search for extraterrestrial life.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, 'sightings' of are regularly reported, especially from ‘alien corridors’ - or areas with frequent reports of unexplained phenomena. Some people even .

And while most of us associate extraterrestrial activity with places like Roswell in New Mexico, one of the ’s hotspots is ’s Falkirk Triangle.

Here, Malcolm Robinson, founder of Strange Phenomena Investigations Scotland - the country’s oldest UFO society which celebrates its 45th anniversary this month - shares 10 of the most hair-raising reported UFO encounters, including the first Brit on record to claim he was abducted by aliens...

1. Rendlesham Forest Incident

In December 1980 a series of unexplained lights near the Suffolk forest led to speculation that UFOs had landed on British soil.

The events occurred just outside RAF Woodbridge, which was being used at the time by the United States Air Force (USAF).

The sightings were given more credence, as one of the eye witnesses was US deputy base commander Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt.

Halt and his team initially thought the lights they could see descending into the forest were a downed aircraft.

When they went in to investigate, they witnessed a glowing object that was metallic in appearance with coloured lights. As they attempted to approach the object, it appeared to move through the trees, and "the animals on a nearby farm went into a frenzy”.

The next day,servicemen returned to a small clearing near the eastern edge of the forest and found three small impressions on the ground in a triangular pattern, as well as burn marks and broken branches on nearby trees.

Sceptics have explained the sighting as a meteor, a fireball, or even a nearby lighthouse.

But the legend persists and today the forest even has its own UFO trail, complete with a life-size replica of a flying saucer.

2. Dechmont Woods sighting

On the 9 November 1979 Bob Taylor, a forestry worker, had an alleged encounter with a UFO in a clearing on Dechmont Law in Livingston, West Lothian.

He was walking his dog when he was confronted by a large circular sphere, or what he later described as a ‘flying dome’ hovering above the forest floor. The object was dark and metallic with a rough texture like sandpaper and had small propellers on its outer rim.

Smaller spheres resembling sea mines dropped down from beneath this hovering object, hit the ground and start rolling towards him. Terrified, Bob had no time to react and the sea mines started dragging him towards the hovering craft.

He claimed that the UFO had dragged him along the ground and returned home to his wife shell-shocked and with his trousers in tatters.

Bob was a war hero who had fought in World War II and had helped to liberate Bergen Belsen, so people believed him to be a credible witness, a pillar of the community.

This is considered to be one of the most significant close encounters in Scotland. It is the only case in the that merited a full blown police investigation, including a forensic examination.

But it was later to be concluded as an attack by persons unknown.

Other experts cast doubt on Bob’s story, suggesting he may have suffered a seizure. But he maintained he had had a close encounter right up to his death in 2007.

3. The A70 alien abductions

Friends Garry Wood and Colin Wright, were travelling from Edinburgh to Tarbrax one evening in 1992 when they were stopped in their tracks by a black object hovering above them in the sky.

The pair blacked out for what they thought was about 10-15 seconds. But when they awoke, their car was facing in the wrong direction and they had lost 90 minutes.

So disturbed were they by the experience that they even underwent hypnotic regression and claimed to recall that they had been abducted by alien creatures and subject to examinations.

4. The Bonnybridge UFO sightings

So prevalent are reports of UFO activity in this Scottish village that campaigners have made representations to FOUR different Prime Ministers for an official government investigation.

It started back in 1992, when local man James Walker noticed unidentified lights over Bonnybridge.

Since then, the village has become the scene of numerous sightings every year.

Ufologists claim that Bonnybridge is the world’s number one UFO location, with an average of around 300 sightings a year.

Local Bonnybridge councillor Billy Buchanan, teamed up with Malcolm Robinson to investigate these sightings, visiting 10 Downing Street on numerous occasions, asking for a Government investigation. So far, all has been quiet from the Government.

5. The Broad Haven Triangle

In February 1977, 14 schoolchildren claimed to have seen a UFO craft land in the field beside their school. Not only that, the youngsters also said they have seen a spaceman in a silver suit leaving the craft.

Obviously, the teacher did not believe them, even when the pupils claimed to have seen it again later that day.

The children told their parents and everyone they knew, but no-one would take them seriously - until they handed a petition to the local police asking them to investigate.

So, the headteacher gathered all the children involved together and asked them individually to draw what they had seen.

The children’s drawings were highly consistent, showing a saucer-shaped UFO with a dome on top.

This first sighting launched a series of similar sightings which led to the area being likened to the Bermuda Triangle.

The owner of the Haven Fort Hotel in Little Haven claimed to have seen an “upside-down saucer” in a neighbouring field and two humanoid creatures.

6. The Lakenheath and Bentwaters UFO sightings

As spooky incidents go, the is right up there. The UFO sighting took place in England in 1956, when a series of strange lights were seen in the sky over the Bentwaters and Lakenheath air bases.

They were described as being large, glowing objects that were flying at high speeds and performing unusual manoeuvres.

But even more incredible was that secret papers released in 2003 by the US military showed that fighter jets from RAF Lakenheath spent more than seven hours tracking down the objects, which were picked up on Army radar screens.

The classified documents were secured under the US Freedom of Information Act by Dave Clarke, an author researching the subject.

It remains one of the most mysterious and unexplained UFO sightings in Europe, although sceptics suggest a meteor shower may have been responsible.

7. The Calvine Incident

On 4 August 1990 at around 9pm, a diamond object estimated to be 100 feet wide was seen and photographed by two men near Calvine, Perth and Kinross, Scotland.

It was reported as hovering silently in place for 10 minutes, before rising rapidly into the sky.

The sighting became known as the Calvine UFO and attracted world-wide attention, when a copy of one of the six original photographs, which had been kept for more than 30 years by former RAF press officer Craig Lindsay, was discovered and published by Dr David Clarke.

If genuine, the photograph is considered by some as the best UFO photograph ever published.

8. The Alan Godfrey Incident

In November 1980, police officer Alan Godfrey claimed to have been abducted by an alien spacecraft in Todmorden, West Yorkshire.

PC Godfrey had been sent out at 5am to deal with a call about escaped cattle on a housing estate.

But he was stopped dead in his tracks by what he claimed was an unidentified flying object - a rotating, diamond-shaped vessel, 20ft high and 14ft wide. He quickly sketched the craft in his notebook and grabbed his radio to call the incident in. But the line went dead and the craft disappeared in a flash, with Godfrey finding himself sitting in his car 30 yards further down the road.

Looking at his watch, the policeman was surprised to see it was 25 minutes later than it had been just moments before. Weirder still, his boot was split open and an itchy burn mark had appeared on his left foot.

In a interview at the time, he said: "I was driving the Panda car and I came across this strange craft blocking the road."It was about 20 feet high, 14 feet wide, it was a diamond-shaped object hovering about 5 feet off the ground.

"I got within about 20 feet of it but I didn't get out of the car - I didn't want to get out of the car. I got on the radio but there was no response. The next thing I remember, I was at the other side of where the object had been, driving the car away."

Desperate to understand what had happened, he underwent hypnotic regression and had his sessions filmed. "When I was allowed to see them at the end they were quite frightening," he said.

"Under hypnosis I find myself getting out of the car and a very strange, powerful beam of light is shone towards me, which blinds me. I jump back in the car in a panic and then there is some sort of blackout.

"After the blackout, I wake up in some sort of examination room."

Describing the alien he said, "He was a humanoid, of human appearance, about six feet high. He had a beard and wore some sort of skull cap. He wore a white a gown, he was really very pleasant. He wasn't at all frightening to look at.

"There were eight, small three-foot high creatures that transpired during the regression to be robots. My left foot was examined. Then the doctor woke me up. I was wired up to some heart machines, they went completely off the scales, I was in such extreme stress."

When he reported his close encounter, he was met with ridicule and disbelief. He underwent hypnosis and claimed he had been in a strange room being examined by several little creatures and a tall, humanoid figure with a beard.

Again, his claims were derided, and he later said he had been hounded out of the police for refusing to give up on his story.

9. Pentyrch pyramid

In the early hours of 26th February 2016, Caz Clarke, 57, of Pentyrch in Wales, claimed she saw something, quite literally, out of this world.

She reported seeing a huge pyramid of light over fields close to her home. The witness visited the field and claimed that the object descended to near the ground, before two objects were ejected from it.

According to Mrs Clarke, she was “scanned” by the UFO in the sky before a red object went in and a green object went in the other.

At that point, a fleet of RAF helicopters arrived. On the same night, two explosions were reported by members of the public around the local area. Mrs Clarke contacted the to be told her sighting was not in the public interest.

10. Operation Mainbrace

In 1952 multiple NATO countries embarked on the biggest peacetime military exercise since World War II - manoeuvres in the North Atlantic to simulate NATO’s response to a mock attack on Europe.

But they didn’t expect their enemy to be UFOs. The first Mainbrace encounter came on September 13 when the captain and crew of a Danish destroyer spotted a triangular-shaped object moving through the night sky at alarming speeds. The unidentified craft emitted a blue glow and was estimated by Lieutenant Commander Schmidt Jensen to be travelling upward of 900 miles per hour.

A week later an American newspaper reporter named Wallace Litwin was aboard the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt when he saw several pilots pointing at a silver sphere in the sky that appeared to be following the fleet.

Litwin quickly shot four colour photos of the round object, which he assumed was a balloon. But he later discovered no weather balloons had been released that day.

This may have single-handedly relaunched the British military’s interest in UFOs, after it was reported by a half-dozen RAF officers and crew based in Topcliffe, Yorkshire, England.

On September 19 a British Meteor fighter jet was returning to the airfield from exercises over the North Sea. When the plane had descended to 5,000 feet, crew on the ground spotted a silvery, circular object travelling several thousand feet above the Meteor. It suddenly stopped in mid-air, rotated and sped off over the horizon.

* Stories featured in this article where taken from documentaries on TV channel, BLAZE. UFO Thursdays on BLAZE is a dedicated night every week to all things UFO.

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