Somewhere in the Skies - Incident at Falkland Hill: A Scottish UFO Mystery

Episode Date: September 15, 2024

On episode 373, we head to Scotland. In 1996, near Falkland Hill in Fife, Mary, her children and a friend decided to make a late night trip from the outskirts of town to a grocery store to buy some coffee. It was a decision that would haunt the entire group for the rest of their lives. Voiceover by Bonnie Calderwood Aspinwal: https://x.com/BonnieAspinwall Patreon: www.patreon.com/somewhereskies ByMeACoffee: buymeacoffee.com/UFxzyzHOaQ PayPal: [e-mail] Website: www.somewhereintheskies.com Store: http://tee.pub/lic/ULZAy7IY12U YouTube Channel: CLICK HERE Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/somewhereskies/videos Order Ryan’s new book: https://a.co/d/4KNQnM4 Order Ryan’s older book: https://amzn.to/3PmydYC Twitter: @SomewhereSkies Read Ryan’s Articles by CLICKING HERE Opening Theme Song, "Ephemeral Reign" by Per Kiilstofte Produced by LIONSGATE Copyright © 2024. Ryan Sprague. All rights reserved. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/somewhere-in-the-skies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One, two, a one, two, three, four. Give me a break, give me a break, break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar. Give me a break. Give me a break. Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat. Me a break. Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat bar. Have a break.

Have a Kit Kat. The Krispy Chicken sandwich from 7-Eleven, people always call me loud. And I'm like, yeah, I know. I'm crispy. Did you expect me to whisper? If you want quiet, go eat some soup and reflect. Like, I know I'm a handful. I'm bold, I'm juicy.

Throw some pickles and barbecue sauce on me, and baby, I'm a whole meal. And with seven rewards, I'm just $4. Quiet, no. Crispy, saucy, and $4? Very. Only at 711. Valley through 62326, participating stores only while supplies lastly out for full terms. On the evening of September 23, 1996, at around 8 p.m.

in Falkland Hill, Scotland, Mary, her 10-year-old son Peter, her 14-year-old daughter, Susan, and their friend, Jane, were at Jane's farmhouse. When she realized that they were out of coffee, wanting a nice cup to cap off the night, they decided to make a late-night trip to the grocery store, which was several miles away. The entire group, minus Susan, who would stay behind, piled into the car as they headed off away from the farmhouse and into town. It was this decision to go to the store that would haunt the entire group for the rest of their lives. What happened that night and what happened after stays with me to this day. I accept it happened and I hope it never happens again to any of us.

This is somewhere in the skies with Brian's bread. The journey along that quiet country road was uneventful at first for Mary and the others. They slowly made their way down the twists and turns of the empty roads. Suddenly, Mary looked at her window at a field to her side. Something had caught her attention. There were several very bright white beams of light that were coming from the sky. It was illuminating the entire field. I rolled down the window and looked closer.

That's when I saw it. It was this huge, oval-shaped object. At this point, Mary made Jane aware of the lights, asking if she thought they could have belonged to an airplane. After several moments, Mary began to slow the car in order to get a closer look. I could make out a silhouette against the sky that revealed a sloping dome toward the rear half of the object. And while I'm not entirely certain, I thought I could see fins towards the back end of the object. Mary realized that there was now a vehicle behind her which caused her to eventually bring the car to a stop

at the roadside where there was a gap in the hedge. This allowed them to see the bizarre events unobstured. The car behind them pulled out slightly and passed them, disappearing up the road ahead. Either they didn't notice the object or they were quite eager to get as far away from all of this as fast as possible. All three of the witnesses

sat still in the car for a moment, before all deciding to get out of the vehicle to get a better look at the object. It was as they exited the vehicle that Mary noticed something. The lights of the object just switched off, but I could still see the outline of the object itself as it began to move in complete silence.

It was a perfect triangle with a dome on top. On each point of the triangle were three small red lights that were very faint and seemed to be pulsating. All three of them watched at the roadside as the object moved off into the distance. Almost in a playful manner, Jane began to wave her arms high above her head in the direction of the object, as if greeting it. At the same time, Mary suddenly realized she had left the car headlights on full beam, fearful that they may blind any oncoming motorists.

she reached inside and dim the lights. That's when she noticed something coming from the direction of where the object was. It was flashing its white lights at us, at least three times. It was aware of our presence and seemed to be responding in some way. Mary flashed the car headlights several times. Once more, the object responded by flashing its white lights back. All three stood stunned and somewhat exclaimed. excited. They waved their arms in the direction of the object, awaiting some sort of further reply.

We waited, and then suddenly it drifted off further into the distance and disappeared from sight. I would say the entire incident lasted about five minutes. Or so she thought. The group, excited and full of adrenaline, completed their trip to the grocery store, buzzing about what had just happened. It was on their way home around 8.30 p.m. that they realized their night with this strange object was far from over. As the car went along the roads back to Jane's farmhouse, both Jane and Peter spotted the object again, exclaiming loudly,

it's there. Mary turned her attention briefly to where they were looking. I instantly noticed the same red triangle of light off in the distance. This time, however, rather than hovering or moving slowly, it was travelling fast on a course parallel to ours. Then the object turned, suddenly and sharply in our direction, and came right at us. Jane urged Mary to stop the car. By this point, multiple lights were flashing on the object.

It lit up like a Christmas tree. The next thing they realised, the lights on the triangular object suddenly went out. and it jumped back into the distance. With all three of them now feeling slightly uneasy, they restarted the car and returned to Jane's house. Upon arriving home, they could see Susan was clearly worried as to where they had been. It was only at this point that they realized

they've been gone for a little over an hour. As Mary and Jane attempted to piece together at the bizarre events of that journey, they realized the first sighting must have lasted at least 30 minutes and not five minutes as Mary had first thought. Besides the object itself,

there was something else that Mary couldn't make sense of. That first sighting and then our subsequent drive to the supermarket, there was about 15 minutes that we couldn't account for, at least not yet. The three of them told Susan

exactly what they had witnessed. and of the strange events of the past hour or so. At first, Susan thought they were pulling her leg, refusing to believe them. However, after several moments, she could see the seriousness of both Mary, Peter, and her mother. Now intrigued, Susan asked if the others thought the object might still be out there. She herself curiously wanted to see it as well. The group discussed whether they should go back out on the road again. Mary was understandably hesitant.

Peter had been particularly frightened during the events that night. I didn't want to make things any worse for him, but his curiosity got the best of him and he begged me to let him look for the object. He didn't believe that the object or whoever was piloting it were of any harm to us. So I said yes. This time, all of them piled into the car and headed out around 9.45pm. certain that the events were fleeting, Mary didn't believe they would see anything, but she couldn't have been more wrong.

I brought the car to a stop because we could see a strange glow in the distance. It almost looked as though a star had fallen to the ground. The closer we got, I noticed that it was blue in colour, and instead of glowing downwards to the ground, it was actually shining upwards through the trees from the ground. I decided to drive onto a back road a short distance away which would give us a better view of what was happening. As they made their way there, however,

they became aware of another star-like glow near the trees on the ground. I now began to feel very uneasy. The entire carload was quiet. I stopped the vehicle but kept it running just in case something truly concerning happened and we needed to make a quick escape. At the time, Mary had to be a quick escape.

no idea how right she would be. She and the others looked on, staring at the light as they got closer and closer. The light was pulsating, growing bigger and smaller and then bigger again, like it was a power source increasing and reducing over and over. Then something suddenly took them by surprise. This beam began to shoot into the air from the light, like a laser beam of some sort. They could all see the glowing object, and they could also see that something was moving back and forth in front of it. But it was Mary who could make out what was moving, and it made her audibly gasp.

It was a figure, and it was by no means human. It was slender, long-limbed, its head was disproportionately large. As if this wasn't shocking enough, Several moments later, four other figures suddenly came into view. These figures, however, were slightly smaller, but similar in appearance. In utter shock and awe, the group watched on silently. What happened next, Mary would describe as the following. They were all moving around the glow.

In the glow was some sort of black structure that I couldn't completely make out. They were picking up some kind of boxes and cylinders from the ground and carrying them toward the structure in the glow. The next thing they realized, there were blue star-like objects in the trees all around them and several sharp light beams lit up the road in front of the car. They all, understandably, became uneasy. The light's getting a bit too close for comfort.

I decided we'd had enough and put the car in motion and headed out of the area. As we drove down the road just before humpback bridge, I noticed in the rearview mirror that the blue lights were following us. The group, alarmed, began screaming for Mary to go faster and faster. The light surrounding the car. Determined to get back to Jane's house, Mary drove on. They would eventually arrive to the farmhouse at around 10.45 p.m.

Excited, scared, confused. and still a bit curious. The entire group debated going back to the area where they'd seen the figures. There was shouting, crying, silence, and then a collective agreement that we would, in fact, go back to the site. Why, I could not tell you to this day, but we did. Only this time they decided to keep a safe distance away, retrieving a pair of binoculars. to view any activity from afar. They arrived back in the area,

slowly making their way to the road where they could get a clear view through the trees and brush. Mary kept the engine running while Jane looked about with the binoculars. After several moments, Jane gasped. She passed the binoculars to Mary so that she could see what had startled Jane.

As I looked through the binoculars, I could see a glowing, object in the woods. It was round like a large orb, but slightly elongated towards the top and bottom. It was shimmering from the moonlight. I could also see large, irregular indentations all over the exterior of the object, each of which was dark in colour. Near the base of the object was a very long, irregularly shaped oval kind of opening, which was also dark in colour. This object appeared to be hovering a few feet off the ground. As it did so, it revolved slowly and steadily, on a slightly tilted axis.

To the right of this object was a perfectly circular, dull, red-colored disc. As extraordinary as these objects were, it was what she saw next that had unsettled both herself and Jane. It was the tall being. I could see it clear as day. It had brown skin that glowed slightly orange due to the light coming from the object. But it wasn't alone. In a clearing in the distance, I could see another tall being that was identical, though this one almost appeared to be supervising. That's when I pointed the binoculars lower and saw a handful of the smaller beings.

From there, Mary passed the binoculars back to Jane, who after Susan begged, then handed them to her. Peter would then grab them and look as well, all of them, having now seen the events playing out. Once the binoculars made their way back to Jane, she panicked. Mary would state the following about what happened next. A strange mist began to emerge from the trees, and Jane dropped the binoculars and started screaming at us.

They're coming! They're coming towards us! Hey everyone, Ryan Sprague here, host of Somewhere in the Skies. If you've ever thought about supporting us, we have great two easy options for you right now. If you listen to the show on Apple Podcasts, you can click the subscribe button at the top of your Apple feed. Or you can join our Patreon at patreon.com slash somewhere skies. Both of these options give you the same benefits. Early access to the main show, bonus episodes and content, and priority to ask our guests your listener questions.

So to help support Summer in the Skies, click that subscribe. button on Apple or visit patreon.com slash somewhere skies. Thank you so much for your support and keep looking up. Mary now concerned, started to drive away, but she slammed on the brakes when she could see something in the trees just be on the road. There were these capsules, like cocoons or something, hundreds of them. They were coming out from the trees and began to surround us on every side. But what happened next? was even stranger.

As I looked out at the field again, my vision went funny, like a television picture being tuned in. And while I was sitting in the driver's seat of the car with my seat belt tightly fastened, I also felt as though I was in a lying position and I was being lowered into my seat. But just as quickly as this almost out-of-body experience occurred,

Mary snapped out of the trance to the voice of Jane yelling to her to, get them out of there. Before I even knew what was happening, I slammed the car into gear and hit the accelerator, driving away as quickly as I could. As they looked through the back window, each of them could see that the field was being lit up

by a gigantic blue flash. They eventually arrived back at Jane's farmhouse for the last time that evening, and it was now half-past midnight. Needless to say, they spent much of the rest of the night discussing the extraordinary events that had unfolded throughout the night. Jane, much like Mary and the two children, had trouble sleeping that evening,

with all of them still retaining an eager sense of fear. There was, though, one more unsettling incident later that night. With both Jane and Mary unable to sleep, they were in the kitchen making a cup of coffee, the coffee that had presumably started this all. Suddenly, Jane let out a terrified scream, causing Mary to instinctively back out of the kitchen and into the lounge area. Jane followed, looking deathly pale. In fact, she looked so white that Mary let out a laugh.

Clearly, an unexpected reaction. After several moments, Jane, albeit nervously, began to laugh, too. It was as if all of this was just a... crazy shared dream. When she had her senses back, she stated to Mary that as she was standing at the kitchen window, she was almost positive that she could see a strange

figure standing outside. The two women continued to talk following this, each of them becoming steadily calmer as they did so. Eventually, Jane turned to Mary and said bluntly, we were on the craft. The small one

were there and they were grey with huge sloping black eyes. I told her that I did not believe it. I couldn't believe it. Seeing them was enough being on their craft or being taken. My mind refused to accept it. Other details that suggested something truly out of the ordinary had taken place that evening would come to light over the following days. Susan, for example, had discovered a strange mark on her shoulder, a mark that appeared as if blood had been sucked up through the skin.

Jane also discovered marks on her body that she never remembered being there before. One on her right buttock, and one under her right breast on her ribs, as well as a strange mark on her right shoulder. Mary herself, although not noticing any strange remarks, did complain of extreme discomfort under her arm near the shoulder. Recalling for a moment that Mary stated that she had the feeling of being lowered into her car and how the events following the strange figners coming out of the forest became confusing and disjointed. As it turns out, she wasn't the only one who may have suggested more than just a sighting. Jane would later have a memory of being taken towards the craft in the woods, and that she couldn't move.

She could see the small beings all around her. She had a very interesting way of describing what the beings were doing, recalling that they were somehow smiling at her with their eyes. She would also offer that the smaller beings appeared to communicate by making strange noises that were high-pitched like wet-end, stating further that she didn't hear them talking, rather the sound just happened in her head. Perhaps of most interest was the feeling she had that they didn't enjoy what they were doing, and that it was just work. The following month on the evening of October 20, 1996, this time at Mary's home, another strange encounter unfolded.

One of Mary's friends had come to visit and brought her son with her. As the two young boys were playing in Peter's bedroom, Peter happened to look out his bedroom window. He was more than shocked to see a strange white being that appeared to have lots of teeth looking straight at him. He continued to watch the entity, realizing it was floating in mid-air. He simply remained where he was, watching as the faithful. figure then floated up into the air, eventually disappearing from sight.

He looked over at his friend, realizing that he had also seen the curious creature as well. Peter would tell Mary of the incident, and at this point, she had simply had enough. I telephoned a gentleman named Gary Wood, who I learned was a self-proclaimed UFO investigator. I discussed what had happened to Peter and also all of the previous events. But halfway through the phone conversation, Peter suddenly began screaming, calling for me to come to the bathroom. I hung up the phone and immediately rushed upstairs to Peter. When I opened the door, he was in utter shock. I was able to calm him down enough to get him to tell me what had happened.

He claimed that as he walked into the bathroom, the strange white being, the same one he'd seen outside his window only hours earlier, was standing by the bathtub. As soon as he screamed out for me, the being. simply vanished into thin air. UFO investigator Brian Rooney visited the location a short time after the events unfolded. Remarkably, he discovered areas of burnt grass, as well as pressure marks on the ground,

where the witnesses claimed the events had occurred. He also noted dead grass in and around these markings, something that frequently shows up in other alleged UFO landings. Ultimately, Rooney concluded that something out of the ordinary had been on or at least close to the ground, exactly where the witnesses said there had been, not least as there was no way a conventional vehicle or even aircraft could have driven or landed in that area where all of this was said to have occurred. With this, it seemed that the Falkland Hill events had ended. But the memories remained for Mary, Jane, and the others.

What happened that night and what happened after stays with me to this day. Jane was very bothered by it all. In fact, we barely spoke in the years that followed. And while I've tried to move on from it all, she became somewhat obsessed. While a part of me doesn't blame her, a part of me hopes that she can come to terms with it someday. how I don't know I'm still trying myself but for her own sake

the children and all of us I accept it happened and I hope it never happens again to any of us the story of Falkland Hill would make its way into a full-length book written by Scottish UFO researcher Malcolm Robinson

and the case is held as one of the most elaborate detailed and well-researched cases to ever come out of Scotland. And while it may never truly be resolved, it only adds to the mystery and a lore, not only of Scotland itself, but to the many mysteries that remain somewhere in our skies. This episode was written and co-researched by Marcus Loth. To learn more, visit UFOinsight.com. A very special thanks to our voiceover talent, Bonnie Calderwood, Aspenwall.

You can learn more about Bonnie's work at the link in the show notes. You can follow us on Twitter at SomewhereSkies and on Instagram at Somewhere Skies pod. If you can, please take just a few moments to rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get podcasts. It helps us gain visibility and find newest. If you have had a UFO sighting and want to tell your story on the show, we're always looking for accounts for her special witness account series. You can find my email in the show notes as well. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, keep your feet on the ground, but never stop searching. Somewhere in the Skies. The Somewhere in the Skies podcast is part of the Lionsgate Sound Network. Please take a moment to rate and review the show. on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever possible. Thank you for listening.

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