Brit noticed ‘caravan-sized UFO’ 50 years in the past – he saved quiet for one key motive
A retired primary school caretaker says he’s kept his encounter with a UFO secret for five decades.
Gordon Mackerracher said he was 17-years-old in 1974 when he spotted a brown, caravan-sized metallic conical structure above a rural lane in West Lothian, Scotland.
The now 67-year-old remembers watching the aircraft as he hurriedly made his way to a phone box on Langton Road to call air traffic control at Edinburgh Airport.
He claims staff at the control tower explained no aircraft had entered or left the surrounding airspace in the past hour.
READ MORE: Deadly remote Scottish island no one can visit after creepy WWII experiment
Gordon said he remained tight-lipped about his experience for so long because did not want to be branded as an “idiot” or associated as someone who saw “space people”.
(Image: Callum Moffat)
He said: “I never told a soul. I was too scared because I did not want to be classed as an idiot, so I just kept quiet about it when I got back to my parents. Not once did I think my mind was playing tricks on me as I knew exactly what I saw. I had no interest in UFOs at the time or even thought about them or anything like that.
His experience stayed in the family with his son Ross also learning of what happened 50 years ago.
Despite his concerns around other people’s perceptions, Gordon grew in confidence after reading Arthur C Clarke’s ‘Mysterious World’ which contained a near identical drawing of a UFO craft that was spotted by a Yorkshireman around the same time.
Describing the night he say the object in 1974, Gordon said he left the cottage of a girl he was dating to travel down a road which connects the villages of Kirknewton and East Calder.
(Image: Callum Moffat)
He said: “I don’t know why but I looked to my left and in the sky above me was this brown conical craft travelling in total silence.
“I could see the moonlight shining off it. It was funny, as I don’t remember being scared when I watched it, although it is possible I was at the time.
“I headed to the phone box on Langton Road which was about a 20 minute walk and phoned the control tower at the airport. I told them I saw a conical object flying in the sky that was completely silent.
“They went away to check and when the guy came back he told me that nothing had taken off or arrived at Edinburgh in the past hour. He said their radar did not capture anything during that time either.
“At first I thought it was maybe circling round to land at Edinburgh airport but obviously not. I just told the controller that it didn’t matter and headed home.”
The first time he opened up was several years later to his wife Margaret when they were watching a show that mentioned extraterrestrial encounters.
“Not once did I think my mind was playing tricks on me as I knew exactly what I saw. I had no interest in UFOs at the time or even thought about them or anything like that.
“The first time I mentioned it was after I got married and something came on TV about UFOs. I told my wife about the encounter and she just said ok. I later told my son about it as well. Neither of them are really believers or non-believers, it never really comes up between us.”
