This article was published in the daily newspaper West Lothian Courier, Scotland, on Friday, 28 February 2003.
UFO investigators claim to have found alien landing site in Bathgate
UFO investigators believe they have discovered a genuine landing site for alien craft in West Lothian.
The stargazing sleuths found unusual indentations and a large oval of yellowing grass in a Bathgate field last week - spookily pointing in the direction of STARlaw.
The Ufologists, working for the West Lothian-based Anglo Scottish Unidentified Flying Object Research Agency (ASUFORA), believe that the 72ft-long oval is not a naturally occurring shape and could only have been caused by a UFO.
The group's chief investigator, who asked not to be named, said he had no other explanation for the find after 10 years of researching possible landing sites.
"We've asked around and found out that the indentations and dead grass are new features in this particular field," he said.
"As far as I'm concerned it is one of two things. It's either a secret experimental military aircraft or it's a non-terrestrial controlled vehicle. "I've dealt with about seven landing sites and I've managed to dismiss five of them as having occurred naturally, but I've got no explanation for two of the sites and this is one of them."
The investigator, who has a military background, said he was 98.5 per cent sure that his group had stumbled upon a genuine UFO landing strip.
The phenomenon was discovered after a local man, who was driving to work along the A7066 between Motorola and the Holiday Inn Express, reported seeing a bright fluorescent light hovering over a nearby field at around 4.30am.
Three of ASUFORA's most senior detectives were tipped off about the sighting and rushed to investigate.
The oval, lying in a grazing field to the north of the M8 and Motorola Pyramids, is 72ft-long, 51ft-wide and has an inner circle of dying grass.
There is a dead zone between the inner circle and outer oval which is "down to the topsoil", but there are no burn marks.
Within this boundary strip are five deeper indentations which are circular, 32 inches in diameter and approxiamtely six inches deep.
Researchers think these marks have been made by standing supports and signify a heavy stationary object.
"The fact that a Harrier Jump Jet is 40ft-long and only has three standing feet shows that this is something big," said our chief source.
"We really try to be as professional as we can about our investigations and we look at every alternative before accepting that we are dealing with the unknown. We have 15 serious investigators who have dealt with a lot of sightings, but this just makes everyone sit up and say, oh-oh."
ASUFORA investigates sightings, abductions, crop circles, Big Cat sightings and other phenomenon across the UK.
It is currently investigating two UFO sightings in Lanarkshire, two Big Cat sightings in Blantyre and East Kilbride and a report of a UFO in Perthshire which caused two car crashes.
Anyone with information on the Bathgate landing site, or who has witnessed other UFO, crop circles, big cats or been abducted, contact ASUFORA through e-mail at chiefinvestigator@asufora.com, through its web site at www.asufora.com or by telephone on 07796 095 480 (24hrs).
