Thirty-four years after an incident involving two British friends who encountered an unidentified flying object, a former colleague has come forward with details. “They should never have seen it,” he claims.
At around 9pm, while trekking high in the Glens Mountains at Culvain, on the Cairngorms’ fringe, they witnessed something terrifying: a massive, solid, diamond-shaped object silently hovering in the sky above them.
At the time, they possessed a camera and succeeded in snapping some photos while concealed in the bushes. These images were later published in the Daily Record, Scotland’s most widely circulated newspaper.
Subsequent to the event, a dark vehicle pulled up, and two enigmatic men in black suits stepped out from the rear. They addressed both Britons by their names.
“Smoke break’s over, guys,” one of them commanded the others. Following that, the friends were escorted away for a “chat.”
Retired chef Richard Grieve remembers that the following morning, two entirely different young men arrived for the morning shift.
After 34 years of silence, Richard disclosed the events of that enigmatic night in 1990. He observed that the young men were “visibly shocked” by the information shared with them, yet they declined to reveal specifics, merely stating that the individuals involved “were from the Royal Navy”.
“Shortly thereafter, it all turned secretive, and they started mentioning being trailed in the vicinity of Pitlochry,” Grieve reveals.
Following the conversation, there was a noticeable shift in their behavior. They began to miss work, and one individual took to heavy drinking, which quickly led to his dismissal. The other, once outgoing and jovial, turned reclusive and gloomy. A few months subsequent to the visit by the men in the car, both departed from their jobs.
“Whatever they knew, it was something they should not have witnessed. They seldom spoke of it, but one remarked, ‘They were Americans,’” the chef observes.
Secret project codenames included “Bad Diamond,” “Blue,” and “Aurora,” the latter being a legendary hypersonic spy plane rumored to have operated from a Scottish base when the images were captured. Some are firmly of the belief that the photograph is an intricate hoax, akin to Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster.
The original photo was discovered at the residence of Craig Lindsay, a retired RAF press officer, who concealed it on a bookshelf for 32 years.
Richard Grieve notes, “They seem to have vanished off the face of the Earth.” He cannot recall the precise names of his associates, but “Kevin Russell” is inscribed on the reverse of a black and white photo preserved by Craig Lindsay.
Craig recalls the document being sent from a British newspaper to his office, which requested his commentary for an exclusive article. He promptly sent a facsimile of the image to the Ministry of Defense’s UFO Unit in London and received contact information for British photographers.
These photographers recounted that while concealed in foliage, they initially detected and subsequently observed a military jet traversing the valley beneath the UFO. They captured footage of the jet, or possibly another, encircling the object as though providing an escort, before it departed. Subsequently, the craft ascended vertically into the heavens and vanished silently.
Richard Grieve is certain the image was not a hoax. Given that during peak season, temporary staff often worked 16-hour shifts to cater to the needs of 150 hotel guests, there simply wasn’t any opportunity for mischief.
Officials have stated that the negatives were returned to the newspaper, and the only remaining records have been moved to the National Archives. All other materials were destroyed, including Craig’s resume, image analyses by RAF and MoD experts, and missing images.
Photography expert Andrew Robinson performed a thorough analysis of the image and found no evidence of manipulation.
However, if the photos were a hoax, they managed to surprise the Royal Air Force, the Ministry of Defence, and the Pentagon. Records from the Department of Defense revealed that upon examination of one of the missing images, a second jet was spotted in the distance, adding to the incredibility of the hoax. Indeed, documents indicate that the images underwent at least three separate analyses by government agencies in both the UK and the US.
Malcolm Speed, former editor of the Daily Record, is unable to explain why the newspaper did not publish a unique photograph of a UFO. Speed recalls the moment editor Andy Allan showed him the photos: “They were astonishing and I was taken aback that they weren’t published. When I inquired about the photos, Andy informed me that the RAF had declared them to be forgeries.”
Earlier in 2024, the US government acknowledged the flight of prototype aircraft that resembled alien ships, some of which were reported as UFOs. The Pentagon stated, “Some of these systems were saucer or triangle-shaped and had the ability to hover.”
The Department of Defense’s All Areas Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), commissioned by Congress to investigate unexplained UFOs, has released the initial volume of its significant investigation.
The report asserts that “all UFO sighting evidence corresponds to misidentified authentic high-sensitivity national security initiatives.”
