THE FIFE INCIDENT

The encounter began when Lyn, who was in the front passenger seat, spotted a bright oval-shaped light low down in the sky. She watched for a few seconds, wondering what it could be, then turned away. When she glanced back, the single light had become two circles of light Lyn was now intrigued, as the object did not appear to be moving and so, she was sure, could not be a plane and seemed too big to be a helicopter.

Lyn drew Jean's attention to the light and both agreed that it was difficult to account for. A UFO, then, although neither described it as such at this point Jean, who was driving, slowed the car to a walking pace so that they could get a better view The object was now to their left and seemed to be hovering behind a farrnhouse whose silhouette was visible against the gentle glow. Beams of light seemed to be travelling from the sky to the ground. Suddenly, the field below the UFO was lit up like a firework display, the intensity of the light turning night into day all around them.

The explosion of light ended as dramatically as it had begun. The object, which had remained stationary for so long, now started to move and as it did so Jean and Lyn noticed its triangular shape and that it appeared to have a dome on its uppermost section. The UFO then moved away swifily, rotating slowly to display small red dots of light.

Moving among the trees were several small entities, and whatever they were, they were definitely not human. Above them towered a tall individual, its height estimated at around seven feet, who seemed to be in cha~e of his smaller companions. Understandably frightened, Jean and Lyn turned the car round and drove home.

Although frightened, they were intrigued by what they had seen, and they decided to return and have another look. This time they took a pair of binoculars, lent by Lyn's brother James. As they reached the place where they had last seen the UFO, the blue light was still glowing, but with the binoculars it was now possible to get a much better view. They could see a shimmering ball which appeared to be emitting heat and energy of some kind. It looked amber in colour, with an irregular surface and dark sections. One of these darker sections, situated near the base, seemed to be an opening. The craft did not appear to be resting on the ground, but was hovering or possibly held up by thin supports. It appeared to be rotating and tilting rhythmically.

To the right of the object, but definitely on the ground, lay a circular disc, coloured dark red but possibly reflecting the amber colour of the ball-shaped craft. All around was a hive of activity, as groups of the small creatures transported boxes and tube-shaped objects from the wood towards the craft. Lyn described these beings as having 'very big, dark eyes and with heads too big for their bodies. They didn't appear to have mouths'. The taller 'supervisor' was still visible and the witnesses could make out his brown skin and narrow eyes.

The incident had a terrifying ending, described by Jean: 'Suddenly dozens of bubble-like things came out of the woods and flew across the field towards us. Then they were all around us, about four feet away, motionless. They were all alike. We could see through them and each one had one of these small creatures inside. They had big black eyes and big heads.'

The echoes of this incident have been no less disturbing than the events of that fateful evening. Understandably, all three witnesses have had to live with the fear and confusion brought on by their experiences. Weeks after the incident was over, Lyn began to have dreams about being taken into the craft. Dreams can often surface in the wake of a terrifying ordeal, but, given the content of the dreams in this case, a rather more sinister possibility presented itself: were details of an abduction experience emerging? The witnesses, quite correctly, were wary of undergoing hypnosis. Conscious recall of events is far more reliable as it allows investigators to examine the evidence without the possibility of 'false memory syndrome', which can sometimes occur with hypnotic regression, obscuring the facts of the experience.