Book Review UFO Case Files of Scotland Vol 2, The Sightings.
Title: UFO Case Files of Scotland Vol 2, The Sightings.
Author: Malcolm Robinson
Publisher: Healings of Atlantis, ISBN: 978-1-907126-12-3, Price: £14.99
This new book from the well known Scottish author and paranormal researcher Malcolm Robinson takes his researches into the convoluted subject of the UFO phenomenon up a gear with a companion volume to his first similarly titled 2009 work. The book is satisfyingly meaty at just under 300 pages and benefits from a plates section showing several related images drawn from the author’s extensive files. It comprises fifteen chapters with an introduction and some pensive afterthoughts and combines a whistle stop tour round various locations along the length and breadth of Scotland detailing many of the cases personally investigated by the author.
The book begins with very brief look at Scotland and many of its talented sons who have made their mark worldwide in various scientific and engineering fields, then continues with some background on how Malcolm first became interested in the subject of ufology. As befits the subject matter, we also discover his very first encounter with an unidentified flying object and how other early sightings he had of these enigmatic objects served to fully ignite his lifelong interest and passion for the subject. However it was not until he founded Strange Phenomena Investigations (SPI) that his name became synonymous in the UK with the paranormal in all its guises.
Perhaps the best known case in the book is that of Robert Taylor, who had much closer encounter than he might have wished with an enigmatic spherical object in the wilds of Dechmont Forest. During his investigations into this case Malcolm was startled to learn that asking a specific question about the local flora from the local wildlife centre would cost the rather hefty sum of £100; needless to say the question was not asked! This encounter, along with what occurred during the famous (or should that be notorious)? A70 Abduction Case (which is detailed in the companion volume), are two of the best known examples of close encounter UFO lore, not only in Scotland, but worldwide. To his credit the author makes it very clear that he is prepared to admit that many UFO sightings are of very prosaic objects indeed, such as aircraft, bright planets, shooting stars and many other natural objects and phenomena that clutter up our skies. However his determination has succeeded in revealing many cases for which there are no rational explanations.
Malcolm reveals that in some instances he used the services of hypnotherapists and hypnotic regression techniques to elicit answers. He also concedes that, although once acceptable, this practise is now seldom used due to the general unreliability of the process and the unconscious desire of the subject to provide answers that the questioner wants to hear. On another slightly depressing note, we also discover some of the negative and generally cynical responses from the media in all its forms, be it newspapers or broadcast. This reviewer has been on the receiving end of treatment like this and can heartily sympathise.
The book would serve well as an invaluable reference work for anyone interested in Ufology, since although concentrated in Scotland, the same basic sightings and procedures hold good worldwide. If I have one criticism it is this: for all the abundant evidence presented, whether anecdotal and otherwise, plus the meticulous and painstaking drawing together of the many accounts, I waited patiently for conclusions. Unfortunately, other than some observations and comments amounting to a paragraph at the very end of the book there were none. I can only hope that Malcolm Robinson turns his deductive skills to possible explanations for the phenomenon in a forthcoming volume. Hopefully it will not be long in arriving.
