When examining the alien abduction phenomenon, few cases stand out as much as the 1987 case of Philip Spencer. Spencer was a police officer and abductee who claimed to not only have encountered aliens, but to have photographed them as well. His photograph bears a striking resemblance to other alien photographs that have surfaced since.
Philip Spencer was a police officer in Yorkshire, and a well respected member of the community. He was not prone to making up fantastic tales and was in fact a fairly sober man with no history of interactions with the paranormal. He did not, however, pass up the opportunity when he heard reports that several mysterious lights had been seen in Ilkley Moore nearby a relatives house. As he ventured into the Moore that night he brought with him a camera and a flashlight, but decided to take the journey alone expecting to see only a distant light in the sky. What he found, however, was far more incredible than his wildest ambitions.
Venturing into the moor, Spencer suddenly caught a strange being apparently surprised to see him standing some distance away and attempting to signal him to leave. As he approached, the being remained stationary but waved its arms trying to get him to leave. The being was short, but had a massive head and large eyes. Spencer raised his camera and snapped a photograph. The being responded by sprinting away. Spencer would feel compelled to follow. As he did so, he came to an area where a mysterious craft with a dome shape on top was hovering in the field. The being retreated toward the craft and it shot off into the sky. Spencer didn’t have time to photograph this mysterious object as well.
Spencer returned to a nearby village and had his photograph developed and analyzed. After taking stock of his situation, he checked his watch and realized it was an hour too slow. As the watch had been previously set to the correct time, he wondered if there had been an hour where his watch had stopped. Had he somehow been “frozen in time” this could have been an indicator, though Spencer’s testimony didn’t suggest any further interaction with the beings.
Perhaps one of the most perplexing elements of this case is the fact that the alien beings, normally seemingly in control of every situation they come across were generally caught unaware in this case and one of them even allowed itself to be photographed. And it wouldn’t have been terribly difficult to then take the camera or film away from Spencer or cause him to forget the entire incident.
Experts who have studied the film have said it is too blurry and dark to really draw any conclusions about it or use it as conclusive proof of alien existence. And yet the photo remains as the single piece of evidence drawn from an incredible incident. After the incident Spencer would ask for no money from his sighting, giving up the photograph for free to be researched.