HAUNTED WIRRAL: The Brimstage UFO

This week, tales of UFO visits ...

WHETHER you believe UFOs are the craft of visiting extraterrestrials or nothing more than meteors, overactive imagination and misidentifications of the planet Venus, the reports have not let up over the decades and strange craft and peculiar lights continue to be seen in the heavens.

And the skies over Wirral are no exception.

A browse through the local newspaper records tells me that in August 10 1947, Lancashire and Cheshire police saw a triangular craft hovering over Birkenhead, coming from the river.

Days later, scores of people saw the same object skimming the rooftops of Birkenhead and Bebington.

On October 19, 1963 - a large golden disc-shaped craft was seen hovering 500 feet above the Woodchurch estate.

Around the same time a tugman reported seeing a glowing green flying saucer plunge into the Mersey after passing over Rock Ferry.

On June 23, 1974, a huge black disc gliding over great Sutton was seen to change into a cigar-shaped craft which flew upwards until it was out of sight.

Days after this, a white dome-topped saucer giving off a rainbow of colour was seen flying over Pensby.

A year after this on May 25, 1975, people across Wirral (including an amateur astronomer) saw a glowing disc fly across the face of the full moon before it descended somewhere near Thornton Hough.

This report ties in perfectly with an alleged close encounter which took place on that date in 1975.

It was a Saturday night easing into Sunday morning, and 65-year-old Jack Taylor, a Heswall man, was visited by his neighbour Charlie, who said: "I'm sorry to wake you up at this hour, Jack, but if I give you a few bob could you possibly take my son Eddie home to Bromborough?

"We had a party and he’s had a few and can’t get behind the wheel of his car."

Jack stood at the door, bleary eyed in his pyjamas. "At this hour? You're joking aren't you?" he asked Charlie.

"Let him sleep it off and he can drive himself home tomorrow."

Charlie sheepishly explained: "He's just been married, Jack – and you don’t know what his missus is like.

"She thinks he's with someone; she’s the jealous type. She should have come with him to the party but she thinks she's above us – "

"Look, Charlie, it’s half-past midnight", interrupted Jack, "tell Eddie to get a taxi home."

Charlie shook his head. "We've telephoned twice and no one's turned up – but I just thought I’d put a few bob your way. I'll give you a tenner."

"Charlie, don’t take me for a fool," said Jack, coldly, narrowing his eyes. "There’s more to this than meets the eye, isn’t there?"

There was a pause, then Charlie said: "Look, Jack, I’ll give you a tenner to take Eddie home, there are no strings attached, but I think Eddie might have a little job for you after that."

"What type of job, Charlie?" Jack enquired, "And don't go all around the houses, either."

Charlie smiled and whispered: "You'd be better talking to him yourself but the top and bottom of it is that he wants you to drive your van down to Felixstowe to pick some stuff up from Rotterdam – "

"No - no bloody way, Charlie," said Jack, shaking his head, and then started to close the door.

"Jack!" Charlie put his foot in the door. "That's fair enough mate - but can you please take him back home? I'll give you twelve nicker."

"Give me it now," Jack said, thrusting out his hand, "and tell him I'll pick him up in ten minutes. No Felixstowe, though."

Charlie rummaged about in his wallet and gave Jack the twelve quid. "Nice one, Jack."

Jack picked up tipsy Eddie in a Transit van and embarked on what should have been an eight-mile twenty-minute journey, but as the van was travelling along a moonlit Brimstage Road towards the Whitehouse Lane junction, a green flash lit up the farmland on either side of the road.

Jack saw a disc-shaped craft come silently down out of the sky and land about 200 yards away.

He pulled over and looked at the unearthly UFO; it seemed to be standing on four legs.

The sound of the van door closing startled Jack; it was Eddie leaving the vehicle.

He went behind a hedge to relieve himself, then wandered off towards the landed craft. Jack swore and shouted: "Don't go near the bloody thing! Come back!"

"I've got to see this," Eddie yelled back, and started trotting towards the craft, which Jack estimated as being about 250 feet in diameter.

Jack cursed the young man, got out the car, and ran after him across the field.

Eddie could see rows of widows in the UFO and a circular brightly lit opening in its underside through which he could see human-like silhouettes moving about.

Jack grabbed Eddie's arm and dragged him to the ground.

They hid in the long grass and Jack said he'd knock Eddie out if he refused to come back to the van.

Eddie wanted to go and "make contact" with the occupants of the craft.

All of a sudden a bright light from the UFO shone on the two men, and Jack and Eddie fell down, unconscious.

When Jack woke, he saw the sunrise - it was almost 5am - and he realised he'd been out cold for four-and-a-half hours.

The craft lifted into the air, its legs withdrew into its underside, and it moved steadily upwards until it was a point of light.

When Eddie sobered up he said he vaguely remembered hearing English-speaking voices when he was half-asleep in the field.

Was the UFO a top secret military craft – or do aliens speak perfect English?

Or, was that machine from the future?

We'll probably never know.

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