2nd June, 1964 Leam Lane, Gateshead

At around 1730 hrs, David Wilson (14) decided to walk down to Leam Lane Farm to collect some straw for his rabbits.  When he got there he observed a group of about ten children standing some 20 yards away from a hay stack.  He then saw:

“Six or eight small human beings on top of the stack; they were about two and a half feet tall and dressed in bright green suits.  They appeared to be digging into the haystack, as if searching for something.  Their hands seemed like lighted electric light bulbs”.

David then went home and told his parents what he had seen and then decided to go back but was stopped by the farmer.  However, in conversation with another child he was told:

“She had seen a circular silvery object take off from the ground in a spinning motion giving off an orange glow”.

Lesley Otley contacted the local press who told him that they had heard none of this but got the names of those involved (!) and contacted them. On the 9^th June, 1964, the Newcastle Journal published the story: “Spacemen of Felling –Flying Saucers and Green Invaders” have split the whole neighbourhood”. Included was a quote from local head master M. Coates, of Roman Road Junior School, who denied calling a special assembly of the children to discuss the ‘little men’ and warning them to keep away from the farm.  It was all “silly rumours”.

On 6^th June, several members of a UFO group decided to visit the area.  This should have been done before even considering talking to reporters and allowing rumours to spread.  The ufologists spent time speaking to residents and children about the incident.

One child admitted to having seen the ‘little green men’ and told them that “The leader of the men was dressed in black and carried a baton with pink stripes” Another girl reported that this leader was sat on the roof of a barn watching them.  Invariably there were the silly sounding stories of this leader being seen “riding on the back of a cow”.  

There was also a rumour that an aircraft had dropped something accidentally and airmen were out searching –police later were said to have carried something from the field.

According to the farmer:

“The claims are a load of nonsense, if anything had landed I would have known about it.  I have a dog kept in the yard, he would have warned me if anyone had been prowling around the farm”.

But it was not seen or mentioned by Wilson and certainly a dog on guard would bark at ten children in the yard surely?

“The investigators concluded that whilst there was no reason to doubt the valoidity of the reports concerning the strange noises and flashes , they felt that under the circumstances one should treat reports of ‘little green men’ with some misgivings, taking into consideration the problems involved with accepting evidence verbatim from young children whose behaviour may have been influenced by fear or panic following the wave of uncontrolled excitement which spread through out the community, after the sightings became public knowledge”.

Green clothing AND black.  What noises and flashes and did no one think to at least put together some sort of sketch of what these entities looked like?  As was found with the youngsters at Broadhaven School in 1977; there can be slight variations in accounts but also a lot of consistencies.  The local UFO group should have been contacted before the press but I hope someone has more details!

 

John Hanson  Haunted Skies  vol. 2  pp 180-181

Harry Lord, April, 1964