When members of the US Congress went into a confidential briefing last week hoping for answers about what the US government knows about alien life, they emerged with more questions, according to reports.
The closed-door briefing with Thomas A. Monheim, the inspector general of the US intelligence community, was supposed to help members of the House Oversight Committee understand if there was any credibility to bombshell UFO claims made by a high-profile whistle-blower last summer.
Former US intelligence official David Grusch told a Congressional hearing last July that he was “absolutely” certain the US government is in possession of “non-human” vehicles and that “non-human biologics” were recovered from crash sites.
The evidence followed the release by the US Department of Defence of three declassified videos of “unexplained aerial phenomena” filmed by two US Navy fighter pilots.
The videos rekindled debate about Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) and conspiracy theories about government.
But is the truth really out there?
And where does this leave ‘unexplained’ UFO sightings reported in Tayside and Fife?
What does Scottish UFO investigator Malcolm Robinson think is going on?
Sauchie-based UFO and paranormal researcher Malcolm Robinson has investigated hundreds of cases over 45 years – including numerous cases in Tayside and Fife.
The 66-year-old retired newspaper advertising executive says most UFO sightings are explainable by “natural identifiable solutions”.
However, the self-confessed former UFO sceptic, whose research has led him to believe in alien life, says events in America continue to leave many questions unanswered.
“Sadly a lot of UFO witnesses the world over have been poo-pooed at, laughed at and made fun of,” said Malcolm.
“But it seems they are not getting that anymore – simply because of what is coming out of America.
“Men of integrity have been saying that things they can’t explain have been entering American skies.
“Yet we also have to accept the possibility that this is all just a mask – and what I mean by that is like a ‘false flag’.
“If that’s the case they really are covering their tracks, because what they don’t want you to find out is it’s their own black budget technology – possibly a super stealth aircraft, a super drone, because they want to have better military capabilities than China or Russia.
“It would suit them to have these sightings explained as ‘UFOs’ – that takes the weight off what really truly it is.
“But that’s just speculation on my part of course.”
Does Malcolm Robinson believe in ‘aliens’?
Malcolm, who grew up in Clackmannanshire, formed Strange Phenomena Investigations in 1979.
He has looked at most aspects of strange phenomena including ghosts, poltergeists, UFOs – and even our beloved Nessie!
His passion was fuelled by a number of strange paranormal incidents he experienced as a boy.
By the time he reached his teens, he didn’t see any validity to claims of UFOs and ghosts and set out to “disprove it”.
But like everything else in life, once he got his hands dirty, he realised “there’s no smoke without fire”.
“Don’t get me wrong – a lot of these UFOs are just normal things you can see in the sky, misconstrued by ground-based observers,” he said.
“We’ve got prototype aircraft, we’ve got drones, Chinese lanterns, Venus…
“But once I realised all that, once I shook the sieve to let the nonsense fall through, we’re still left with a residue of totally unexplainable sightings which for me personally defy explanation.
“I would not be in this field of study if I honestly didn’t feel there was some validity to these claims.”
UFOs have been capturing imaginations worldwide for centuries
The question of whether the truth is “out there” remains a captivating mystery.
Scientific inquiry continues, grappling with the complexities of space exploration, astrobiology, and the challenges of identifying extraterrestrial life.
Government secrecy adds a layer of opacity, triggering suspicions and conspiracy theories. Meanwhile, the cultural impact of UFO phenomena fuels the collective imagination.
Sceptics say that in the pursuit of truth, it is essential to approach the UFO phenomenon with a balanced perspective, combining scientific rigour with critical thinking.
While the existence of extraterrestrial life remains an open question, it is imperative to navigate through the realms of science, government, and culture with a discerning eye, recognising that the truth may be as elusive as the mysterious objects that populate our skies.
While high profile international cases like ‘Roswell’ and Scottish cases like the ‘Bonnybridge triangle’ and ‘A70 abduction case’ have gone down in the annals of UFO-logy, Malcolm says Fife and Tayside have been no stranger to unexplained cases either.
What are some of the most infamous Tayside and Fife UFO cases?
He has told previously how his 2017 book UFO Case Files of Scotland (Volume 2), included the detailed testimony of a former nurse who witnessed an “unusual looking UFO” over Perth in 1979 which left her “rooted to the spot”.
The woman, who it emerged was a “psychic”, told how all the “normal background sounds disappeared” and revealed she’d had other, similar, experiences over many years.
Malcolm also investigated the case of a police officer who was at home in Forfar in the summer of 1980 when he saw a “strange orange glow” in the sky.
He described the strange object as being “shaped like a rugby ball with a white top and a glowing orange base”.
It also had “four bright lights shining down from its underside and appeared to be hovering in its own air space”.
The object then faded to a pin prick, and then re-emerged as a bright glow – continuing to hover for just under an hour.
Neither the police nor the military could offer an explanation.
Malcolm spoke to a former cinema projectionist who, in 1954, was walking in woods near his home in Crieff when he was astonished to observe a “disk shaped object passing overhead at a uniform speed”.
It made no noise whatsoever, and it continued on its journey in a northerly direction towards Perth. In prophetic words, the witness stated, “Had I not seen this with my own eyes, I would be an unbeliever about UFOs”.
The book also went into great detail about an incident at Blairgowrie in 1984 when a beam of light “shot out” onto the stomach of a woman doing tapestry work in her garden.
Feeling a warm sensation, she looked up into the sky and observed a long translucent object above her house to the east.
It was also witnessed by her husband and son who phoned the police.
Helicopters later appeared above the house with police, who took soil samples, telling the family they were “conducting tests”….
In August 1995, a former member of the Special Forces walking his dog in Dundee spotted a “cone shaped light” which was coming out from a silver metallic looking object.
This sighting was reported just over a year before the alleged ‘Fife incident’ when a family driving near Newton of Falkland claimed they saw a large black triangular shaped ‘craft’ and numerous small grey ‘beings’ in front of some woods.
How significant was the ‘Falkland Hill’ UFO incident in Fife?
“Certainly the main Falkland hill incident is still quite a strange one for me,” added Malcolm.
“We never truly got answered in so far as the people involved moved away from the area.
“But the investigations we did in Newton of Falkland and Falkland in Fife as a whole – it threw up other sightings in the Fife area.
“There’s no denying that Fife, Tayside, that part of Scotland, has been touched by the UFO presence over the years.
“And as far as I’m led to believe it’s still seeing UFO activity.
“But while back in the 1990s the people put their hands up and came forward, I’m a wee bit surprised that they are not prepared to do that now.
“Is it because of the fear factor? No one wants to be poked fun at in the newspapers and stuff?
“I can only think that maybe, just maybe, that’s the reason.
“They just maybe feel they are going to be made fun of.
“But I’d like to hear from them none-the-less.”
Challenging public to ‘look at the evidence’
Malcom is currently writing a book with Ron Halliday about the Bonnybridge Triangle.
They also have their Scottish UFO and Paranormal Conference coming up on June 15 at Queen Margaret Union in Glasgow.
He’ll be giving a lecture there on Scotland’s “best UFO cases”.
He appreciates many people do not believe in the subject.
But he adds: “Hear what we’ve got to say.
“Have a look at these slides. Listen to the testimony.
“It’s all about letting people understand that there’s strange things afoot.
“All we are trying to do is say look at the evidence!”
Conversation