Classified Part Four

I was hungry and headed to one of the tents that had been set up as a field kitchen and noticed Tim who came over to talk to me , he said that he was a keen ornithologist in his spare time and said how strange it was that he had not seen one bird since arriving and that the forest should be teeming with them especially in such a remote area. We headed for one of the tents that had been set up as living quarters, I was tired and ready for a sleep after the day’s events but as I lay in my bed a feeling of foreboding came over me and I couldn’t help but wonder what the following day would bring. I had drifted off into a deep sleep when at about 03.00 am was woken by the sound of an explosion that rocked the bunk I was in and then rapid gunfire followed that suddenly stopped. Everyone in the tent was now wide awake and looking bewildered, we all quickly got dressed and we hurried down towards the site. It was still dark but with a light blue in the eastern sky with sunrise about an hour away. Then we heard a blood curdling scream that pierced my ear drums and one I'll never forget for the rest of my life. Some of the trees were on fire from the explosion and there was a smell like burning flesh. Then we noticed above us about four hundred feet in the air, the triangular craft just hovering and underneath a pulsating green glow. Then there was a loud humming and it moved off at lightning speed. What we saw next stopped us in our tracks, it was the shape of a human being but it was like a black charcoal statue, we moved about the site and found six more bodies in a similar state, but I remembered it being mentioned that there had been seven at the site, four guards and three sapper's, I suggested that everyone spread out but after fifteen minutes most had returned shaking their heads, Then James who had been with us when we arrived came back holding an army issue S.L.R that he had found and said it hadn't been fired and that the magazine was still fully loaded. Maybe sheer terror had prevented him from using his gun I said, but where was he I wondered. By now everyone from the camp was there and as it was now starting to get light, it was decided to widen the search for the missing soldier but after about an hour everyone came back but no one had found any trace of him Nicholas said that everyone was to report back to camp for a briefing. He was ashen faced and paid tribute to the men who had lost their lives this morning. He said”We were on the edge of making an amazing discovery but it wasn't to be, I don't know what happened down at the site, did they know what we were going to do today, did something emerge from the craft and did the men fire to defend themselves and wound whatever was there, it would appear so because what we heard was not a human sound. These are questions that we'll never know the answers to and I can only assume the missing soldier has been abducted." Someone asked about the bodies and Nicholas said " The bodies will be placed in sealed bags and taken to Porton Down research centre in Wiltshire for a detailed postmortem to try and establish what killed them, but the press release will be that they were handling explosives whilst they were taking part in the war games. I've also arranged for a small aircraft to be brought up to the site tomorrow that was due to be scrapped and placed where the craft landed it will be burnt beyond recognition and photos will then be taken and released to the press and this will explain the explosion that anyone may have heard." My God I thought these people think of everything, the war games and even a plane crash; they are determined to keep the lid on this. Nicholas thanked everyone for their contributions and finished by saying that what everyone had seen fell under the official secrets act and that life could become very difficult for anyone that would attempt to capitalise from what they had witnessed. Then he said our work is not yet over we need to scour every bit of ground around the site, everybody got involved painstakingly getting down on hands and knees looking for any clues luckily we did not have to wear the hazmat suits as the area was free from any radiation. Two weeks had gone by when Tim approached me to say that the operation was being scaled down and many involved were being released he said transport was arranged to take me to Inverness airport but added he was staying to help clear up the site for a couple of days before heading back to London. We shook hands and he said "Who knows we may meet again" but we never did. Then we noticed flocks of birds flying towards the forest, Tim pointed at them saying “They know the danger has past” then headed back to the camp. I gathered my belongings and got in a land rover and headed for the airport then boarded the plane that had brought me here to take me home. I arrived back at Coltishall and wrote down everything that I had witnessed and then took a few days leave and went to see my solicitor in London. A month later I was flown out to Germany to join my squadron, I am struggling to try and lead a normal life, that two weeks in the forest has affected everything I think about in life and for me things will never be the same again. ( What you have read are events I witnessed in 1970 in a forest two hours north east of Inverness. I am sure any government response will no doubt claim I had some sort of mental illness to discredit my story but I firmly believe that the people of this country have a right to know what is happening and that we are certainly not alone in the universe. Also no government has the right to keep that information from you. I can only hope that others who were witnesses to what I saw will also speak up and support my account of events. ) John Phillips. 20th July 1970. The End