Look closely at this photograph. What at first may seem like an innocuous photo
became the subject of controversy in 1987 when one man, Phillip Spencer, claimed it was an
authentic snapshot of an extraterrestrial being. It quickly became one of the most famous alien
sightings in the history of the UK, but what’s the true story of the creature of Ilkley Moor?
On December 1st, 1987 former police officer Philip Spencer was walking across Ilkley Moor
in West Yorkshire, England. He was on the way to his father-in-law’s house in the village of
East Morton and had decided to bring his camera along in order to capture photos of the moor.
The moor was coated with a deep layer of fog, and Spencer could make it out
very little in the distance besides the path in front of him and a patch of trees.
As he approached them, he began to hear a humming sound in the distance.
He continued down the path, attributing the sound to nothing more than an airplane that wasn’t
visible due to the cloud coverage. Suddenly, in the distance, he spotted a moving figure.
It was a small, vaguely humanoid green creature,
around four feet tall, standing approximately 30 feet away.
Spencer snapped a photo of the creature and it raised it’s arm as if waving him away
before running down the trail and disappearing into the fog.
The former police officer continued quickly down the path in chase of the creature. As he reached
the top of the trail he stopped in his tracks and stared as a large object like to silver
saucers stuck together with a dome top rose from the moor and disappeared into the cloudy sky.
Shocked by what he had witnessed, he decided to cancel his plan to visit his father-in-law
and instead walked to the nearest village. On the way,
he noticed that his compass was broken, and pointed south instead of north.
When he arrived at the village, he glanced at the church clock and was shocked that it read 10 AM,
when it should have been no later than 8 AM. He had two hours of missing time.
After developing the photo and confirming that it did in fact depict the creature he had seen,
Spencer contacted UFO researcher Peter Hough, who was initially skeptical but
decided to help anyway and enlisted the help of fellow researcher Arthur Tomlinson.
Hough sent the photo to a Kodak laboratory for further analysis
and they concluded that the figure in the photo was definitely there when the photo was taken,
that is to say it wasn’t a superimposed image.
It was also analyzed by a wildlife expert who said it didn’t resemble any known animal in the area.
This photograph shows Arthur Tomlinson standing in the exact
spot where the creature was spotted which helped establish the height of the figure.
Not long after the sighting, Spencer started having strange dreams about starry skies.
The UFO researchers suggested he undergo regressive hypnosis,
which might help him recall the missing hours from the day of the sighting.
The session was conducted on March 16, 1988 by Dr. Jim Singleton.
Under hypnosis, Spencer recalled being abducted and taken aboard an alien aircraft.
He was subjected to what he assumed where scientific experiments. He described the
aliens as being short, with large eyes, pointed ears and a small mouth. They also had long arms,
large hands and feet with only two toes. He said they walked strangely, almost as if shuffling.
Spencer then said the aliens showed him footage of Earth that included scenes of destruction,
pollution and starving people. He also said they showed him another film,
but that they warned him against talking about it, and he refused to elaborate.
To this day, the former officer stands by the story. He claims he never wanted any fame for it,
and in fact, has used an alias to conceal his real identity. Philip Spencer is not his real name.
So what’s the truth behind this story? Without any scientific evidence, all we’re left with
is a single photograph and one man’s account. Spencer used an alias because he said he wanted
to remain anonymous, and that he didn’t want any publicity about the case. While that may be true,
it also makes it harder to confirm his story and makes it impossible to verify who he really was.
There’s also plenty of lingering questions such as, why only take one photograph?
If he saw the creature waving and walking away, why not take more?
And why not take a photo of the aircraft he allegedly saw flying away?
Also, using hypnosis to recall past memories is controversial. While studies have shown
that hypnosis can be helpful when it comes to treating things like chronic pain and
stress-related problems, when it comes to recalling memories, there’s a lot of
evidence that people can be easily influenced into believing something happened to them that didn’t.
Then there’s the photo itself, which could be faked easily like the famous photo of Nessie
or it might be something even simpler, like a wild animal caught at a strange angle.
After all, people have a tendency to see human shapes where there aren’t any.
That’s not to say the story is false, only that it’s far from conclusive.
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