Taras Young · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Dechmont Law and the Only Criminal Case

added01 September 2026

On 9 November 1979 a forestry worker named Robert Taylor walked up this hill outside Livingston and, by his account, came upon a dark spherical object; two spiked balls on legs detached from it, took hold of his trousers and dragged him. He lost consciousness and came round alone, with his trousers torn and grazes on his chin. Lothian and Borders Police opened a criminal case of assault — the only known instance of a UFO encounter investigated as a crime. It has never been closed. Depressions and marks were left in the ground and photographed. Taylor did not drink, had worked in forestry for decades, and never changed the account. A plaque stands at the spot.

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