Classification & Features

Type of Case/Report: StandardCase

Hynek Classification:

Special Features/Characteristics: Missing Time, Children





Full Report / Article

Source: Flying Saucer Review, 1981?

[go to original source]

The following hair-raising report comes to us from Mr. & Mrs. Jones of the Rochdale Group, 116 Louise Street, Smallbridge, Rochdale, Lancs., OL12 9RT, and concerns the experiences of two teenagers, "John" and "Michelle", while seated in their car high up on the Pennine Hills on the night of November 5, 1994. EDITOR.



INTRODUCTION



For two Rochdale youngsters remembering November 5th will never be a problem again, because it was on Guy Fawkes night of 1994 that they were subjected to a frightening ordeal that has left them both emotionally drained.



It is not often that an investigator has a case that is literally "hot off the press", but I got to know about this one a little over a week after the event. I was approached by the mother of one of the young people, who told me that as a result of something that had happened to her son "John" and his girl friend, he ("John") was suffering from bad nightmares and severe mood changes. She asked for my help and I arranged for the couple to be interviewed on video. With my colleague Colin Howarth, we arranged for the interview to take place at the home of "Michelle’s" parents, and it was noticeable that all through this remarkably candid and open interview both young people were suffering from emotional stress. The following is an account of what happened.



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THE EVENTS



In their quest for privacy, the couple had decided to drive up high into the Pennine Hills above Rochdale to carry on their courting. The night was clear, and from their position they had a panoramic view as they sat in their car. A private Yorkshire radio station was being received loud and clear on the car radio when the couple first noticed something strange. The clock on the dash-board of the car could be heard ticking loudly, so loudly in fact that they could hear it over the sound of the radio; so much so indeed that the couple turned the radio off for a while to listen to the clock, which seemed to be getting ever louder!



Then John noticed that the inside of the door-panel on his side (driver’s) was giving off heat, and was even uncomfortable to the touch.



It was then that John noticed something in his wing mirror which he described as "very brilliant flashes of light, brighter than any lightning he had seen". When he turned his head round he saw what he described as a large luminous cloud, with bright flashing lights inside it, coming towards them. He also heard a noise that he likened to "a resonating drone."



For some reason he couldn’t explain, the young man was overcome by a sense of panic, and he decided to turn the car round and leave the area. So he put it into reverse and turned the car to face the lights, which were now overhead, illuminating the entire area including the inside of the car.



He pressed the button to close the windows, but found that they stuck after rising about an inch. He also noticed that Michelle was laughing in an hysterical manner.



John put his foot down hard on the accelerator to an extent that would normally have set the car shooting forward, but, despite the fact that the rev counter on the dash-board indicated great acceleration, the vehicle was only moving sluggishly. As Michelle continued to laugh hysterically John panicked even more. Then suddenly the car shot forward at great speed, nearly causing John to lose control. In his own words he described the propulsion "as if someone had held us back with a giant elastic band and then let go".



Luckily there is a small upgradient leading away from the beauty spot which absorbed much of the impetus, and after a few moments John had regained control and the car spun away down the dirt track which eventually leads to the main road. As he looked in his driving mirror he now saw no sign of the object, and he certainly had no inclination to go back and look for it.



The couple drove back towards Rochdale in silence, until they stopped for petrol at a nearby filling station, when both suddenly started chatting incoherently about the events.



I have timed the drive from the house of Michelle’s parents to the spot where the incident took place as taking a little under fifteen minutes (that was in heavy traffic). Allowing for the stop at the petrol station, and the fact that the return was late at night, a total return time of twenty minutes or so for them seems reasonable,. but as the couple neared Michelle’s home the clock on the dashboard indicated a little after nine thirty five. Both youngsters had a feeling it was later. Neither was wearing a watch but both remarked that there was a lack of traffic on the road, and when they got back home they found that it was a little before midnight. (The incident had taken place at approximately 9.10pm; the dashboard clock was working, but was approximately two hours slow.)



But there was more terror to come for the two young people for as they parked the car, John having turned the ignition off, the engine continued to turn over and all the lights on the dashboard refused to go out! This lasted for over two minutes before the engine finally died and switched itself off. By now of course the couple’s imaginations were working over-time and both eyed the car suspiciously as they walked into the house. So shaking was Michelle and so frightened of being on her own that she asked John to stay for a while and it was just before dawn that he left the house for the short drive to his own home. The car was now acting normally.



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NIGHTMARES



Not surprisingly, John had nightmares about the event, but in a most unusual way. Having been awoken one night in a cold sweat he would then continue, the following night, at the spot where the first nightmare had left off, and as the nights passed John admitted to being totally confused as to what was dreams and what was reality. One remarkable sequence was of him running out of the car, with little regard for Michelle’s safety, bathed in a strong white light, and on another occasion he remembers (or dreamed) that he looked across to find that Michelle was no longer there. These dreams continued for a fortnight or so after their alarming experience up on the Hills.



The car actually belongs to John’s parents, and had undergone a full service, less than a week before, by a reputable garage. But it continued to behave erratically after the event, a fact confirmed to us by John and his parents. Professional mechanical advice was therefore sought and given, but the car was found to be sound and in good working order.



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HYPNOSIS REFUSED



Arrangements were made for the couple to be hypnotically regressed by a professional hypnotherapist. But less than forty-eight hours before the date arranged John phoned me to tell me that he was too frightened to go through with it, and although he was still having dreams he felt he could now rationalise and live with the situation.



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FOOTNOTES



Firstly, although the location of their experience is geographically just inside the Yorkshire boundary, the area is policed, as far as aerial cover goes, by the Greater Manchester Police Force, who have confirmed that their own helicopter was not in the area that evening. Secondly, there is a history in John’s family of mysterious U.F.O. -style events. His mother apparently had reported a sighting to the Rochdale group about twenty years previously. Thirdly, on investigation of the spot, we discovered that (a) there is an expanse of water there - a reservoir - and, (b), there are several electricity power-lines which criss-cross over the dam.



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© Flying Saucer Review Library of Congress copyright FSR Publications, Ltd. 1981.

