Summary:

An extremely compelling account of alien abduction that took place in 1987 in the Ilkey Moor, Yorkshire, U.K. is a unique case which may include one of the very few photographs taken of a live alien being. The main character and only witness of a UFO and alien being is one Philip Spencer, a retired policeman. He claims to have been taken aboard an unidentifed flying object, and snap one photograph of an unknown being.

The Ilkley Moor:

Ilkley Moor is very much like you would expect: a place of mystery and intrigue, and full of legends. There have been a number of reports of UFOs over the area, along with odd lights that seem to come and go. The lights, shining through the dense fog, can play tricks on the mind. There are two places where planes come and go-Menwith Hill Military Base, and Leeds Bradford Airport. Some of the strange sightings in the moor may be attributed to plane lights, but they will not explain what happened to Philip Spencer.

A Walk Across the Moor:

Spencer had worked as a policemen for four years in another location, but to fulfill his wife's wishes to be closer to her family, he had moved the family to Yorkshire. Spencer was taking a walk across the moor one December morning to his father-in-law's house, and was hoping to take some photographs of the strange lights on the moor. He had loaded his camera with ASA rated film to get the best quality pictures he could in the less than perfect lighting conditions. He could not imagine what was to soon befall him.

A Strange Looking Creature:

Spencer also brought along a compass to help find his way in the early morning hours before sun up. He was attempting to get some good angles for his photographs, when he saw a strange-looking being through the fog. The small being was on the slopes of the moor. Spencer took aim and photographed the small creature. He felt that the being was attempting to wave him away from the area. Whatever the being was, it ran away.

UFO Leaves Moor:

Spencer wanted to know more about what this strange being was, and what it wanted. He took off trying to catch up to it. Later, he would state that he must have just acted on impulse, as he had no fear of the unknown entity at the time. As he ran toward the being, he was stunned to see an unknown flying craft with a dome on top rising up from the moor grounds. It soon disappeared into the sky. He was not quick enough to photograph the UFO.

Blurry Photograph:

The photograph that Spencer took of the creature on the moor was very blurry, but it is still quite evident that there is some type of being present. The being very much resembles the so-called "grays" of UFO legend. Spencer waited for a time to see if the UFO or the alien creature might return, but all was quiet across the moor. He began to make his way to the nearest village, to get his photograph developed, and as he did, he noticed that his compass was pointing south instead of north. Arriving at the village, he noticed that his watch was an hour behind.

Photographic Analysis:

The photograph that Spencer took was first analyzed by a wildlife expert. He concluded that whatever was in the photograph was not any known animal. There was no way to ascertain if the subject of the photograph was a living creature or not just by looking at the picture. A recreation of the setting of the photograph was undertaken, and it was estimated that the creature was about four feet tall. An analysis of the photograph was done by Kodak laboratories in Hemel, Hempstead. They concluded that the object was indeed part of the original shot, and not added later.

Dr. Bruce Maccabee:

The photograph was then shipped to America to be enhanced by computer, and analyzed. Dr. Bruce Maccabee, optical physicist with the United States Navy gave his expert conclusion:

"I had great hopes that this case would prove definitive. Sadly circumstances prevent it from being so."

Spencer made no money from his photograph, and relinquished all rights to the photograph to UFO investigators.

Conclusions:

There have been numerous theories and much speculation about the Ilkley Moor photograph. Because of the poor lighting conditions present on the moor at the time the picture was taken, it was not possible to get a complete and definite conclusion. But with Spencer being a well respected man, and not given to making up stories, it can be said with certainty that Spencer lost about an hour in the moor, saw an unknown flying object of some type, and took a photograph of some unknown creature on December 1, 1987.