September 1977 Somerset

This account comes from the British UFO Research Association and, sadly, although they also published this on their website BUFORA appears to not want to discuss the case or whether there has been any follow-up since.

Kate Walker (pseudonym) and her family underwent two extraordinary events in September
of 1977 whilst travelling from Yeovil to Chard in Somerset. Mythology and folklore surrounds the particular area of Windwhistle Hill.  John Heptonstall conducted the investigations and research into this case and interviewed Kate. 

 Windwhistle Hill lies at the southern tip of Somerset and stands over 700 feet above sea level where two coastlines can be seen from the summit -the Bristol Channel and the English Channel. Made of sandstone, limestone and green sand it is a covered by woodlands of tall beech trees.
 
Whynne Hammond in Ten Somerset Mysteries notes the mysterious side of Windwhistle

named very aptly because of the winds whistling through the tall tree-tops.  Strange lights, sounds, figures and shapes and other unusual and eerie phenomena have been reported in the area. In fact Yeovil and other Somerset towns and villages know strange orbs of light as "The Devil's Eye". A witch is also said to haunt the area. Local news services have also reported on the area:

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/spooky-somerset-road-a-hotbed-6887653
 

 

 
In September, 1977, Kate Walker her husband and two young sons, aged seven and six years old were returning home to Chard from visiting relatives in Yeovil. They left Yeovil at 21:30hrs and were driving on the A30 approaching Windwhistle Hill, a couple of miles outside of Chard and a very isolated area.
 
As they came to the top of the hill Kate and her family all observed a huge orange light diffused by cloud, to their left-hand side and at the far end of Windwhistle Hill. It seemed to be right beside the road, not very high up, and was partially obscured by cloud, but they did not feel any alarm as there was a power station and pylons further along. However, as they drove nearer to the light, it was easier to observe and Kate states it was massive and totally static and very low and bright. She describes it as
being cigar shaped and vast in size, maybe 200-300 feet, and she estimates the light to be approximately 800-1000 feet above them. As they got closer she noticed that the pub on the right hand side of the road, The Windwhistle Inn , was almost in total darkness, except for a light in a small upstairs window.
 
Kate looked at her watch to check the time as she felt it was strange that the Inn was in darkness so early as it was very popular and she remembers wondering why it had closed so early. The time was 22:10hrs and Kate looked up again at the light, which was almost on top of them by now right beside the road. She felt very uneasy and told her husband to 'put his foot down' The next thing she was clearly aware of was seeing a cyclist's headlamp coming the other way, which seemed to appear from nowhere, and continued on the road to Crewkerne.

Above: visual

 
Upon arriving home Kate discovered, curiously, that it was now 22:50hrs. Their journey from Windwhistle Hill should have taken them only ten to fifteen minutes maximum, therefore she felt there were twenty-five to thirty minutes that appeared to be unaccounted for. As her husband did not remark on this possible time discrepancy, Kate just forgot about it, but on reflection finds this odd due to the fact that their journey from Windwhistle Hill should have only taken a maximum of fifteen to twenty minutes.
 
A few days after this puzzling incident, Kate and her family were once again making the journey back to Chard after visiting relatives, and as they were coming over the brow of the same hill, and about 200-300 yards from the first incident, they saw in front of them on the left hand verge, two people, one who appeared to be lying down, and the other standing. Their initial thoughts were that someone had been injured and went to slow down, when to their astonishment, the person standing took one step out
in front of them..one foot remained on the grass verge at the roadside and other foot was right over the centre of the road!
 

 
 
Kate describes the figure as being 'abnormally tall with legs that were horrendously long and thin'.
Her husband swerved to the far side of the road, and around the figure, and they kept on driving and did not look back. They all agreed that there was no one who could possibly have legs that long.
 
Kate fully expected to hear something about this in the local paper, maybe someone being injured or taken ill on Windwhistle Hill, but she never heard anything about an incident there at all. She has commented to me that it seems very odd in retrospect that they all took these events so calmly and just got on with their lives, and never discussed it at all.

 
This story becomes more significant eighteen years later, when Kate, now remarried and her sons now aged 25 and 26 years, were intriguingly finally discussing the events  of that night. The three of them were together talking about family holidays and the places they use to go together when Kate ask them both whether they recalled the orange light they had seen beside Windwhistle Hill. This generated a conversation on their personal recollections of this night.
 
Her eldest son, Jeff's recollections refute the fact that they had driven under the object. He can recall Kate telling his father to 'put his foot down', but says that as he did so 'the engine died, and the headlights went out'. His father started to panic and tried to restart the car, but nothing happened. He goes on to say that at this point things became very strange and everything was in slow motion. He recalls his father lunging across the front of the car to the passenger seat and at the same time there was a very deep, humming vibration, slow and rhythmic. The passenger door was open, but he comments that he couldn't understand why his Dad lunged across the passenger seat as he had no recollection of his mother being in the passenger seat and all memory of her had gone. He then remembers his father punching the dashboard repeatedly, but everything was still in slow motion with no sound. He felt frightened and turned to ensure his younger brother was okay but Tony was looking out of the side window and seemed excited, but Jeff didn't know why, and his father was pointing and obviously shouting, but Jeff could not hear any sound and somehow things were different. He then realised his father was looking past him
out of the back window and was terrified. Tony was kneeling on the back seat looking out of the rear window and pointing at something saying "Look Jeff, look Jeff" and although Jeff could now hear him speak… his lips and movements were again in slow motion.
 
Jeff then realised that there was something behind the car and felt almost paralysed by terror. He put his head down and covered his face and then for some reason said he had no memory of Tony either in the same way as he had no memory of his mother, Kate. He felt there was only himself and his father in the car. He could then see a white light through his fingers so he looked up and the light was everywhere, inside and outside of the car. It was a very bright white light and he describes it as … like being inside lightning,… but it didn't hurt his eyes.

above: visual

 
His last memory is of seeing a dark shape outside the car, beside the window. He describes it as being very tall and bending toward the window looking in, and having the impression that the shape was human, although he knew it wasn't, which was the reason he was so afraid. Jeff's next memory is of looking back at the orange light and seeing the 'headlamp' coming towards them only a few yards away and he remembers saying 'where's he come from'. He then looked back and the orange light had gone. He
explains that initially he only remembered seeing the orange light, the cigar shape, feeling and  hearing  the hum and vibration.
 
Through the years fragmented memories of that night have returned, but as no one talked about it he felt he shouldn't mention it. He also recalls just after the incident that boys at his school were talking about strange sightings at Windwhistle Hill. Geoff's vague recollections of the incident are that he did lock the car door when his mother told him to and that he never looked behind, but can recollect knowing there were five black figures. He also feels, in his own words, that "all four of us were taken" and that when something looked in at him through his window, it was his turn to 'go'. This, Kate, emphasises is not just a feeling, but a conviction.
 
 
Geoff goes on to say that he seemed to recall these events more clearly in 1996 when he, his brother and Kate were finally talking about this incident. They were all surprised to find that they had varying memories of the event, except for their observation of the huge orange light and the time discrepancy
I would like to conclude this with Kate's comments in her letter to me where she writes;" I find it incredible thinking about it now, all these years later, that we could have dismissed it so casually at the time . We just never discussed it and life went on as usual. It has been a great relief to tell someone".
 
Robert Moore conducted research into this particular area in order to establish whether similar cases have been documented there. There were, apparently (though BUFORA could not supply any details) observations of unusual lights and an entity over a ten year period at Cricket Malherbie which is within 3km north west of Windwhistle Hill.
 
A newspaper article in the Yeovil Weekly News generated a number of unusual reports from around this area, some of which I would like to mention here.

Witness A tells of a strange incident experienced by her husband, grandson and herself in 1991, which involved what they perceived as a tall strange figure, which they claim was looking through the farm window followed a few days later by their observations of a 'saucer-shaped object.
 
Witness B tells of a similar experience to the Walker family on Windwhistle Hill in 1975, which happened to her mother and father (now deceased).

Witness C tells of a strange experience on Windwhistle Hill whilst driving a lorry either in 1976 or 1977. He claims that his lorry went out of control as though by some strange force. This took place over a distance of about 100 yards or so and then he seemed to recover normal control. He felt as though the lorry was hovering over the road whilst he was experiencing this.
 
Witness D. tells how she and her husband observed a very large unidentified object, silver and shaped like a humming top, near Windwhistle Hill in November 1959. They watched it as though 'hypnotised' from about 23.00 to 09.00 hrs the next morning and for some reason felt unable to tell anyone.

Witness E. was employed by Westland Helcopters at the time of Kate Walker's sightings and feels that the light she saw was probably a Sea King Helicopter, sporting a Nitesun beam, on trials.
 
Astronomical information would be speculative particularly since Kate cannot remember the date of the sighting just that it was late summer and probably September.

Another sighting of an unsual flying object was observed on 12th September 1977 as recorded by the Chard, Ilminster, Axminster Newspaper. This was described by the witness as an orange glow, fairly high in the sky and moving quite fast from West to South. This may or may not be important in establishing a date for the Walker family's sighting, as this sighting may not be related to their own observations but Kate is convinced that this would indeed have been the date of their sighting, particularly as her son Geoff remembers that this occurred a few days after his return to school following the summer holidays. In fact the 12th September sightings sounds like the one I investigated and the complete report was lost by BHUFORA along with others I forwarded.
 

BUFORA offered the possible explanation that power lines in the area created electromagnetic fields and these were responsible for the memories of this night "due to their effects upon the human brain as highlighted by Albert Budden's research. Could this interface be responsible for this family's
perceptions of these extraordinary experiences?"
 
John Heptonstall interviewed Kate and her son Jeff in 1997 and in his report he writes:

"This explanation cannot be ruled out if the transmitters were there in 1977. It could
certainly explain other strange experiences people have had locally. For example
Witness C's lorry being taken over and the very subtle effects an EMF event could
have on his brain activity as well as an effect on the motor and some types of ignition
systems being more susceptible to EMF events than others. I do not believe that EMF 

effects will explain most of the unusual events witnesses have recorded. For example, 

the Walker case would be more difficult to explain as EMF hallucination although not 

impossible".
 
 
BUFORA: "It is obviously becoming more and more apparent that we need to understand the
functions of memory and memory retrieval in a much more comprehensive way in
order to realise the fallibility of accurate memory retrieval specifically in relation to
an understanding of these inexplicable experiences.

"This is of course, significant and it is interesting that eighteen years later aspects of
the incident were specifically remembered in this way by Kate's eldest son, Geoff. At
the time of the incident Kate remembered only some odd things, such as the pub being
in darkness except for a light in an upstairs room. Geoff remembers this as being the
same colour as the orange light on the hill. Kate also remembers feeling something
was wrong and asking her husband to put his foot down. Furthermore, she feels that
there was something strange about the time involved in driving from Windwhistle to
their home in Chard. Kate's sister recalls vividly that Kate specifically commented to
their Mother about this incident remarking on the unusual orange light and the time
discrepancy. The younger brother, now in his twenties, did not wish to participate in
the interview with John Heptonstall as he only really remembered seeing the huge
orange light. Furthermore, he did not experience the same sensations about this
incident as Kate and Jeff."
 
BUFORA also notes that:

"Kate's vague recollections when discussed eighteen years on were not evident for her
immediately afterwards, but during their conversation Kate found she had vague
memories and a dreamlike recollection of:
 
• The engine cutting out
• Screaming at the boys to lock their car doors
• Something looking through her side window
• Five black figures walking up to the car from behind
• Her husband lunging to grab her and to pull her back, and then nothing."

Kate told BUFORA that the car was not stopped in the remote area because far from suspecting an accident had taken place she knew something was wrong -hence the car being swerved to avoid the figures.

 
Two to three months after their discussion and with these recollections on her mind
Kate contacted BUFORA and telephoned BUFORA in the summer of 1996.
 
John Heptonstall conducted his interview with Kate and her eldest son in 1997 and
documented this interview in a subsequent report to BUFORA. It is unfortunate that
Kate and her family have had no contact with her ex husband so he certainly
is not aware that Kate has contacted BUFORA. Furthermore, this is a sensitive family
matter and therefore it is unlikely that a BUFORA investigator could talk with him at
any future date in order to obtain corroboration and his version of events. However,
Kate hopes that at some stage she may be able to talk with her ex-husband about the
events that night, which would possibly add some vital information and create some
further understanding of the Walker family's experiences during both nights. John
comments too that something happened which caused both fear and concern for the
family.
 

BUFORA seems to grasp at straws to try to find a "rational" explanation and the organisation appears to be far more "It's never aliens" since the late 1980s and although I adopt a sceptical approach it is still open minded and I've had no contact with BUFORA higher ups who believe in anything other than psychological, misperception etc as a solution. 

A sceptical open mind is what these reports require as well as a lot of time and patience to get at, as far as possible, what happened.