Close Encounter on Cononley Moor

At 4:30 a.m., a lonely police patrol car was driving on a remote country road along the Cononley Moor. In the car were Sgt. Anthony Dodd and Constable Alan Dale. They saw a bright white light that seemed to be diving towards them in a glide - a big shining disc which flew over their heads at a speed of about 40 mph. At its closest, it was hardly 100 feet away from them, so that they could see a number of details. "It was a huge thing, about 100 feet in diameter, and it made no noise whatsoever."

The incident occurred on the frosty winter morning of December 12, 1978, not far from Skipton in North Yorkshire. At 4:30 a.m., a lonely police patrol car was driving on a remote country road along the Cononley Moor. In the car were Sgt. Anthony Dodd and Constable Alan Dale, who operated the radio. It was very dark and the road was lit only by the headlights of the car, the silence broken only by the noise of the motor and the occasional messages over the radio. Dodd loved that kind of mysterious stillness in the middle of a bare and unspoiled countryside, with dark houses snuggling up against the low hills as if seeking shelter from the cold winds, and the stone walls that divided the meadows from time immemorial.

It was the land of sagas and legends, of witches and elves, spirits and wills-o'-the-wisp, which lured unfortunate wanderers in the moor towards inescapable death. There was a magic in the air which, even thousands of years ago, the ancestors of the Celts must have been aware of, as is shown oy the mighty sacrificial altar stones in the middle of the moor.

Suddenly, a loud static noise, hissing and rustling, tore Sgt. Dodd out of his reverie. They were just then driving into a curve when, to the right, a bright white light seemed to be diving towards them in a glide. They thought it was a burning airplane so they drove to the side and stopped the car to see what was happening and where it would land, in case help was required. It was, however, no airplane but a big shining disc which flew over their heads at a speed of about 40 mph. At its closest, it was hardly 100 feet away from them, so that they could see a number of details.

When I interviewed Dodd in 1991 for my documentary film UFO: Secret Evidence he explained, "It had a dome with ports all around it. The bottom was surrounded by colored lights like neon lights in blue, red, green and white which blinked in a sequence as if they were rotating, and in the middle there were three spheres or hemispheres. It was a huge thing, about 100 feet in diameter, and it made no noise whatsoever. What fascinated me even more was that the object was enveloped in a kind of halo which made its entire metallic structure glow white. It flew slowly over our heads and seemed to land at a place behind a group of trees. But we couldn 't see or check that out because at that point it was too far away and in the middle of the moor."

"What on Earth was that?" asked Constable Dale breaking the silence, brought back to reality by the penetrating cold. Sgt. Dodd's answer came minutes after that. "I don't know, but it was wonderful."

From that day onwards Dodd started collecting all the information about UFOs that he could get, including, of course, the book "Flying Saucers Have Landed" by Desmond Leslie and George Adamski. His personal encounter with a saucer that resembled Adamski's saucer like a twin had convinced Dodd that Adamski must indeed have had an encounter with a UFO. Since retiring in 1988, Dodd has dedicated himself fully to his "cosmic hobby" as he calls it, and is today one of Britain's leading UFO researchers.

Adamski was the first person to have spoken about contact with aliens who resembled human beings. After him many others reported such encounters. With Adamski, the age of the contactees had begun. - Michael Hesemann

Video - Tony Dodd

The Tony Dodd Zone

Tony Dodd's passing

Alien Investigator

UFOs: The Secret Evidence (2009) Revised Full Press Special Edition

The UFO Singularity: Why Are Past Unexplained Phenomena Changing Our Future? Where Will Transcending the Bounds of Current Thinking Lead? How Near is the Singularity?

The UFO Files: The Inside Story of Real-Life Sightings

Search

Have you had a close encounter or witnessed something unusual? Send us an email