NARRATOR: For thousands of years, Scotland has been
an epicenter of otherworldly phenomena.
NICK POPE: So many high-profile
UFO cases and other mysteries
are centered on Scotland
and actually go back to the dawn of time.
NARRATOR: It is home to many mysterious ancient structures...
One of the theories about the stone circles in Scotland
is that they're energetic.
NARRATOR: ...and is a major hotspot for UFO sightings.
RYAN SPRAGUE: The volume of UFO reports in Scotland
compared to the population is astronomical.
NARRATOR: Could it be that, throughout its history,
Scotland has been a magnet for extraterrestrial visitors?
GIORGIO TSOUKALOS: I think that that particular area
of the world is crucial in figuring out
the larger picture that our origins
is not down here on Earth,
but out there.
NARRATOR: There is a doorway
in the universe.
Beyond it is the promise of truth.
It demands we question everything
we have ever been taught.
The evidence is all around us.
The future is right before our eyes.
We are not alone.
We have never been alone.
NARRATOR: Scotland.
The most northerly nation in the British Isles
is a land known for its stunning geography,
mysterious ancient structures,
and a rich mythological tradition
that dates back thousands of years.
PAMELA JAYE SMITH: Scotland, by its very nature,
is a land of mystery.
It's a land of mists.
It's a land of craggy moors.
It's a land of firths
snaking up between green hills and mountains.
NEWMAN: There are many mysteries associated with Scotland
from ancient times
all the way up into the modern era.
NARRATOR: The mysteries of Scotland extend even to its very origins.
Some scholars suggest the country's name is derived
from the Greek word "skotos," meaning "darkness and gloom,"
but ancient legends say it comes from Scotland's true founder,
who was the sister of the famous Egyptian pharaoh King Tut.
ANDREW COLLINS: One of the founders
of the Scottish race, according to ancient tradition,
was a princess or a queen by the name of Scota.
She actually came from ancient Egypt,
and Scota can be found in ancient Egyptian chronicles,
identifying her
as the daughter of the Pharaoh Akhenaten.
And, according to the story,
she left there at a time of persecution.
Tutankhamun, her younger brother, takes over,
and she settled in Scotland and therefore
her descendants are the Scottish people of today.
NARRATOR: Researchers say support for this version
of Scotland's origin story can be found
in The History of Egypt,
written in 300 BC
by an Egypto-Greek historian named Manetho.
But very little was written about Scotland
before Roman soldiers arrived in the British Isles
in the first century AD.
The Romans saw Britain as this mysterious island
at literally the edge of the world.
Now, the Roman legion is notorious for their might,
but yet, they went to great lengths
to protect themselves from the people who lived
to the north to keep them away
from the rest of the Roman population.
NARRATOR: In 128 AD,
Roman soldiers built a massive stone wall
stretching across the southern border of Scotland
named for the emperor Hadrian.
The imposing 73-mile-long structure
was 12 feet thick and stood 15 feet high.
One of the most interesting constructions
in ancient Britain is Hadrian's Wall.
They were trying to keep out the invading tribes
coming down from Scotland.
The tribes were a part of a confederation
called the Picts,
and these people were remarkable warriors.
They painted themselves blue with tattoos
all over their bodies,
and they would attack their enemies,
naked and fearless.
Even up to the 4th century AD,
they were still coming over the wall,
and, virtually, they kind of drove the Romans out of Britain.
NARRATOR: Scotland has maintained its reputation
as a fiercely independent nation throughout its history,
with heroes like William Wallace
and Robert the Bruce and their legendary battles
for Scotland's independence from English rule.
And just as unique and volatile
as Scotland's history is its landscape.
There is something geologically special about Scotland.
It's visible with the naked eye
when you drive through the Highlands,
when you drive through the Scottish mountains
and you see the grandeur of the place.
It's obvious when you come to understand
how much volcanic activity there was in Scotland,
how many extinct volcanoes there are all over Scotland,
and that there is a very specific and powerful
fault structure and system across Scotland.
There are just some places in the world
where the earth itself is powerful,
and Scotland is at the very, very top of this list.
Scotland is really overlooked geologically,
in terms of its seismic activity.
To have greater than a magnitude five earthquake
is, uh, pretty common.
If you look at what we call the structure of Scotland,
it's a structure or an amalgamation
of tectonic activities going back
hundreds of millions of years
that have really pieced together this island,
and it's still very active.
These are deep crustal faults.
So, when you consider the whole configuration of it,
it's a very, very energetically dynamic place.
NARRATOR: Scotland's energetic landscape
is of interest not only to geologists
but also to ancient astronaut theorists
because they believe it could have a connection
to another defining characteristic of Scotland:
its unusually high number of unidentified aerial phenomena.
HENRY: There's a very interesting correlation between
UFO sightings and earthquakes and other underground activity.
In fact, there are numerous places
around the world where portals are talked about.
Natives speak of these portals that are also sites
where there's this seismic activity.
You think of places like the Big Island in Hawaii,
Carnac stones in France,
and also Mount Shasta.
You think of Mount Adams in southern Washington where,
for centuries, we've been told about this place
as being a gateway into the inner Earth.
It's actually a dormant volcano.
These are all places the natives or the locals
speak of UFO activity, portal activity,
and they also happen to be sites where there's
extreme seismic activity as well.
In Scotland, they have exactly the same thing
involving UFOs and paranormal phenomena.
POPE: So many high-profile UFO cases
and other mysteries are centered on Scotland.
And Scotland may be at the heart of
a lot of things which might help us unlock this mystery.
NARRATOR: Could it be that among the mist-shrouded mountain peaks
and boggy moorlands of Scotland lurks an otherworldly presence?
One that has been around for thousands of years?
Perhaps further clues can be found by examining
a small town in Scotland
known to be one of the most active UFO hotspots on Earth.
NARRATOR: Central Scotland.
Situated between Glasgow and Edinburgh
lies a mysterious region famous among UFO researchers
as the Falkirk Triangle.
Centered around the small village of Bonnybridge,
it boasts the highest concentration
of UFO sightings on Earth.
The volume of UFO reports that come
within the Falkirk Triangle in Scotland
compared to the population of these areas
is astronomical and immediately shoots it up
to being one of the biggest UFO hot spots in the world.
You have to say to yourself, "What-what is it
"that's going on in this area?
Why is this area so special?"
NARRATOR: Since 1992,
approximately 300 UFO sightings
are reported every year in the Falkirk Triangle.
And for the past 30 years,
this extraordinary statistic has been well-documented
in recorded images captured by local residents.
NARRATOR: Over the years, Craig has filmed
an unprecedented 18 hours of UFO footage,
much of it from his own backyard in Bonnybridge.
And neighbors like Steven Bird
have captured additional footage.
NARRATOR: While most people cite 1992
as the year the Falkirk Triangle became a UFO hotspot,
locals say that mysterious encounters
have been happening in the area for far longer,
and as evidence point to one of
the most famous UFO incidents in Scottish history.
In the center of the Falkirk Triangle,
just 20 miles from Bonnybridge,
Forest service supervisor Bob Taylor walks
down a wooded path when he sees something
extraordinary in the clearing ahead--
a huge object hovering above the forest floor.
What Bob Taylor came across
was a physical object.
One that appeared to be disc-like in appearance.
But it would seem to have these very odd propellers.
NARRATOR: Taylor managed to stagger the mile and a half
back to his home and called the police.
As a result, the Bob Taylor incident
remains one of the only UFO encounters in history
to be officially investigated as a criminal matter.
The case was also taken up
by young UFO investigators
Malcolm Robinson and Andrew Collins,
who were both just 22 years old.
NARRATOR: Now they are returning to the scene
with researcher Hugh Newman in search of new evidence
that could shed light on the 44-year-old mystery.
NEWMAN: Wow, that's a proper plinth.
Wow. Marking the spot.
Was it just right here? Is this where it was?
And then you put the word out to the UFO community.
And this is where Andrew got involved,
-I believe? -ROBINSON: That's right.
I came straight up here, immediately,
because we realized just how significant this case was.
-And there I met Malcolm for the first time. -ROBINSON: Yeah.
That being 44 years ago, almost to the day now.
-Yes. -There were still a lot of people here
that would still come in the area investigating it.
And we saw the marks on the ground.
The marks were in a circular arrangement.
And there was no way that these were caused by some kind of
mundane events such as horses passing through.
You know, these were very clearly
heavy-duty marks pushed right into the ground.
NARRATOR: Bob Taylor's account stands apart from many others
due to the abundance of physical evidence.
Including the trousers he was wearing,
which he claimed were torn by the objects
that tried to pull him into the craft.
NEWMAN: They are proper thick, aren't they, as well?
Look at these.
That is unusual.
You can see the way it's being cut, kind of accurately.
It's not just like a random branch
or a stone cutting it if you fall over, is it?
Something quite-- something else going on here.
COLLINS: Just doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
NARRATOR: Does Bob Taylor's extraordinary encounter--
supported by physical evidence and a large-scale
police investigation-- provide the ultimate evidence
of an extraterrestrial presence in the Falkirk Triangle?
And if so, is some mysterious force
attracting alien visitors
to this particular location on Earth?
Ancient astronaut theorists say yes and suggest
that further evidence can be found
not by looking to the skies above Scotland
but by examining the earth beneath it.
NARRATOR: Billy Buchanan is elected to represent Bonnybridge
and the neighboring town of Larbert
on the Falkirk area council.
It is the same year that hundreds of UFOs
begin to be witnessed in the region
known as the Falkirk Triangle,
and the locals come to Councilman Buchanan
in droves to report their strange encounters.
POPE: Billy Buchanan lobbied the government,
first the ministry of defense
and then the office of the prime minister.
And he was calling for a public inquiry.
And I think
Billy came to view me as-as one of the bad guys here,
because his central allegation was that the ministry of defense
knew all about this and was covering it up.
And, you know, I don't like to fall back
on the Nuremberg Defense, but, uh, this was my job
to play down the phenomenon.
But, uh, Billy and the people of Bonnybridge, I apologize.
There's something going on in the Falkirk Triangle.
NARRATOR: What could explain why this area of Scotland experiences
even more UFO sightings than the rest of the country?
Curiously, geologists have found that the seismic pressure
beneath the Falkirk Triangle is particularly intense.
When you look at that triangular area,
there's a break in seismicity.
And we call that break a seismic gap.
If you live in a seismic gap,
it's actually more prone
to have a next big earthquake, because it's locked.
You know, pressures are being put on it
from what we call the institute stresses.
And we see the Falkirk Triangle
falls into one of these seismic gaps,
and I think that's very, very relevant to the story here.
NARRATOR: Some researchers have theorized
that aerial phenomena witnessed throughout Scotland
is connected not only to seismic activity
but also the country's geological makeup.
A lot of the country is made up of igneous rocks
that were produced by volcanoes across many millions of years.
And this creates
an intense type of geology
involving certain types of minerals,
such as quartz and tourmaline,
which generates electricity.
So is it possible
that the presence of this
incredibly intense geology here
is producing a portal
into another realm
or another place in space and time
or indeed, perhaps, even
a higher dimensional reality?
NARRATOR: Could the geology and seismic activity in Scotland
be creating exotic energy
that attracts extraterrestrial visitors?
Or even opens portals to other realms?
Curiously, a major fault line runs
directly through one of the most famous sites in Scotland.
Loch Ness.
COLLINS: One of the most intense geological areas
is Loch Ness.
Because passing along the entire length
of the loch immediately beneath it,
is the Great Glen fault line.
NARRATOR: The rock walls of the chasm
that exists in Loch Ness
contain a high concentration of quartz,
which is known to be an efficient conductor
of electricity.
Some researchers have suggested
that quartz, coupled with the narrowness
and depth of Loch Ness,
creates a perfect storm
of highly charged electromagnetism
that could generate portals
in space-time
through a process called the Casimir effect.
The idea is if I take two metal plates
and stick 'em in the vacuum of space,
it turns out, because of quantum fluctuations,
this creates an effective,
attractive force between the plates.
One can think of this as a negative energy.
Now, an intriguing idea that we get
is that this is exactly the principle we need
to understand, perhaps, how to stabilize a wormhole.
TSOUKALOS: Perhaps Loch Ness
creates a window into the past.
And so what if, because of the Casimir effect--
which, at Loch Ness, is a physical possibility--
a window in time opened
and the Loch Ness Monster is witnessed
essentially almost by coincidence.
NARRATOR: Could it be that those who witness
the Loch Ness Monster are actually
looking through a window in time?
Or is it even possible that Nessie is an alien entity
that is able to pass through a wormhole
that exists at Loch Ness?
COLLINS: If it was only Nessie,
then we could ignore this as perhaps
being a clue to understanding
the greater importance of Scotland.
But it's not.
Because what we also find
is that UFOs are regularly seen
either above the loch,
on the shores of the loch.
Sometimes they fly down the length of the loch.
We have Bigfoot sightings on the shores of Loch Ness.
We have fairy encounters
in the modern day.
So is this underlying
geological fault
producing the right type
of environment
to allow the manifestation of UFOs?
NARRATOR: Is it possible that the geology
and seismic activity in Scotland
creates an energetic environment
that attracts extraterrestrial visitors?
Or even opens portals to other realms?
Perhaps further clues can be found
by examining another of Scotland's many mysteries:
the ancient stone circles.
NARRATOR: For more than 2,000 years,
Scotland has maintained a connection
to its ancient Celtic traditions
of little people and fairy folk.
According to legend, these magical beings
inhabit stone circles and standing stones
across the country,
and sometimes even abduct humans
into their realm.
Most scholars regard such Celtic mythology
as purely fictional.
But to many Scots and other descendants
of the Celtic people, stories of fairies
and other non-human entities are anything
but fantasy.
NARRATOR: Scotland's fairy folk are often associated
with its rich trove of stone circles
that date back more than 4,000 years.
Legends have persisted for centuries
that these sites attract otherworldly entities
and serve as portals to other dimensions.
Scotland does have a lot of stone circles,
and some of them are...
similar, somewhat, to Stonehenge
in that they are upright stones
of varying size and heights.
And typically, the layout
seems to correlate with the summer
and winter solstices
and the equinoxes.
Knowing the changing of the seasons
is really important because
you need to plan your agriculture around it,
you need to plan your herding around it.
And some people think the stone circles might have
a hidden meaning that speak
of a higher connection to something.
NARRATOR: One of the first researchers to document
the strange happenings witnessed near Scotland's
ancient standing stones was a 17th century
episcopalian minister in the Scottish Highlands
named Robert Kirk.
McGOWAN: Robert Kirk made it his life's work
to document supernatural activity around Scotland.
And he created a volume called The Secret Commonwealth.
And Kirk really focused on the idea that
the fairy folk were guardians
of portal areas, that there were places
in Scotland where you could slip
in and out of different dimensions.
NARRATOR: The accounts Kirk documented
came from his parishioners' many striking stories
about elves, fairies,
wraiths, and other mysterious beings.
Kirk believed these stories constituted strong evidence
that another world exists parallel to our own.
The fascinating thing about Robert Kirk
is right before he published The Secret Commonwealth
he died and his body disappeared.
And it's believed to this day that he was taken,
uh, by the fairy folk into another dimension
through one of the very portals that he was writing about.
NARRATOR: Could it be that the fairy folk described
in Scottish folklore truly exist?
According to some researchers,
the fairy sightings reported at stone circles
may be connected to the modern-day UFO phenomenon.
COLLINS: In the folklore of Scotland,
the fairies became
the inhabitants of these stone circles.
So how can we relate this to the UFO phenomena?
Well, we can in the sense that we know
that these monuments are associated
with the appearance of mysterious lights.
This is found not just in Britain
but also across the world.
In other words, it's very obvious
that our ancestors built these monuments
where mysterious lights would appear on a regular basis.
NARRATOR: Andrew Collins and Hugh Newman have spent
decades researching UFO activity associated
with the standing stones of Scotland.
This is really a fascinating area.
I mean, Lundin Links is an incredible megalithic site...
NARRATOR: In 2023,
they traveled to the northern edge of the Falkirk Triangle
to investigate Lundin Links,
three ancient monoliths
associated with mysterious lights
and other phenomena.
These are some of the tallest standing stones
we get in the entire British Isles.
These have been compared to the sites
on Orkney, like the Stones of Stenness,
but also the Ring of Brodgar and a few other places.
So, these are just so similar.
They're so outrageously tall for Britain.
We are in a landscape that was created
as much as 300 million years ago.
But intruding into that is this incredible hill behind us,
Largo Law, as it's known locally.
NEWMAN: That could be important because we know
that Largo Law was once a volcano.
So, there could be a lot of unusual geology,
which could create energies within the landscape.
Yeah. And those energies are generated
through the extreme actions going on below the earth,
through the process of piezoelectricity.
And through them, portals might open.
Folklore plays an incredible role
in the memory of historic UFOs.
They were associated with the fairies, the little people.
So, what is the relationship
between these megalithic monuments here
and the UFO phenomena?
Is it possible that this whole area
is one big UFO hotspot
whereby structured craft can come through?
Structured craft like Bob Taylor saw in 1979?
Certainly seems like that because we are literally
on the edge of the Falkirk Triangle.
It just seems like there's something really special
about this place, and this was marked
by these giant standing stones
that we have here at Lundin Links.
NARRATOR: Could it be that the people of ancient Scotland
were instructed to erect stone circles
by extraterrestrial visitors
in order to harness the energy of the Earth?
Do the many modern-day UFO sightings
reported throughout Scotland
point to an alien presence
that remains in this region of the world even today?
Ancient astronaut theorists say yes
and suggest the most compelling evidence of all
has been kept hidden by the British government
for more than three decades.
NARRATOR: August 15, 2022.
Newsweek magazine publishes the provocative headline
"Best UFO Picture Ever,
"the Calvine Photo, Found After 30 Years Missing."
HENRY: This from the Calvine Hills in Scotland
is crystal clear. It's in color.
And it shows this just magical-looking,
100-foot-long diamond-shaped craft
that is clear as a bell.
SPRAGUE: Not only that, we also see Harrier jet
trailing the object.
As soon as this photo was released to the public,
uh, people went crazy.
It was a big deal.
HOWE: It has been called the greatest UFO photo ever.
And I agreed. In fact, I've had a picture
of the Calvine photo on my wall for the last year.
NARRATOR: While the image is compelling,
of greater interest to UFO researchers
was the sudden publication of the photograph.
It was taken 32 years earlier,
in August 1990,
by two hikers outside the small village of Calvine.
The identities of the two hikers have never been revealed,
but according to the story,
they delivered the photos to Scotland's biggest newspaper,
The Daily Record.
HOWE: They had six photographs
and they go to the local newspaper
to have them published.
And for reasons that are still not clear to this day,
this Scotland newspaper, instead of immediately
putting these six incredible photos on the front page,
which is what I would have done as a reporter,
somebody calls the ministry of defense in London.
And they are ordered to send the photos and the negatives
from the newspaper to somebody in the government.
NARRATOR: The only people to see the Calvine photos
were the hikers who took them,
a handful of people at The Daily Record,
and a select group of employees at the ministry of defense.
Among them was former ministry of defense
UFO investigator Nick Pope,
who was present for classified briefings regarding the images.
The photographs and the negatives went to JARIC,
which is Joint Air Reconnaissance
and Intelligence Center.
This is part of the intelligence community
that specializes in imagery analysis.
Their opinion was that this was not a fake,
these were genuine pictures.
And they showed a solid structured craft.
And also critically important,
parts of the countryside were visible.
So, trees, fields, a fence.
What that meant was that our ministry of defense experts
could start to make some calculations
and estimate distance from the lens,
height above ground, diameter of craft.
One of the things we were most interested in
is the apparent lack
of conventional aerospace, parts and shapes.
No wings, no tail, no fuselage,
uh, no obvious engines.
NARRATOR: While the ministry of defense claimed the Calvine photos
were returned to Scotland's Daily Record,
the newspaper said they never received them.
The images remained a mystery for the next 30 years,
until former ministry of defense press officer Craig Lindsay
revealed that he had kept a copy of one of the photos
and shared it with Newsweek for publication.
NARRATOR: While it is unknown exactly what happened to the originals,
some believe the ministry of defense
secretly took measures to ensure that the photos
would never be seen by the public.
POPE: My theory is that the ministry of defense
bought the photos and the negatives.
And the witnesses effectively signed
a nondisclosure agreement.
NARRATOR: Were these photos hidden by the government
for more than 30 years because they know
that what was captured is in fact an alien craft?
Could the Calvine photos provide the strongest evidence yet
of an otherworldly presence in Scotland?
According to ancient astronaut theorists,
the mysteries found in Scotland
extend throughout the entire region of the British Isles,
and their connection to extraterrestrials
is well known
to the royal family.
NARRATOR: Across the United Kingdom,
people gather to pay their respects
to Queen Elizabeth's husband
Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh,
who passed away at the age of 99.
In the months after his death,
reports surface that Prince Philip
spent more than half of his life
investigating UFO reports.
Over the years, he allegedly used his influence
to amass a trove of classified reports
and statements from the British military.
COLLINS: The late Prince Philip had this incredible interest
in the subject of ufology and would follow it avidly.
He would actually even invite witnesses
to come to Buckingham Palace
to actually discuss their encounters.
POPE: Using the intermediary of a royal inquiry,
he actually investigated a number of cases himself
and had witnesses brought in.
And interestingly, he was the Duke of Edinburgh.
Edinburgh being the capital of Scotland.
So, with Prince Philip's interest in this in mind,
it does pose the intriguing possibility
that the Royals are aware
not only of Scotland's ancient mysteries,
but are the ultimate guardians of the UFO secret.
NARRATOR: The British Isles account for only 0.2%
of the Earth's surface above sea level,
but despite their small size,
they are home to many of the world's greatest mysteries,
like the towering monoliths of Stonehenge,
the giant Newgrange mound in Ireland,
the crop circle phenomenon
and Rudloe Manor,
an underground military installation
where it has been rumored
that the British government is hiding an alien craft.
Is it possible that the British Isles
have been a prime destination for extraterrestrial visitors
dating back thousands of years?
And if so, might the modern UFO hotspot of Scotland
provide important clues to understanding why?
McGOWAN: Scotland seems to have the largest number
of recorded events,
whether it's recorded in folklore
or recorded in modern times.
Scotland seems to have more supernatural,
unexplained events and circumstances
than maybe in any other place in the world.
TSOUKALOS: To this day, Scotland has incredible UFO sightings.
And we can see this also in ancient times.
So I think that
that particular area of the world
is crucial in figuring out the larger picture
that our origins is not down here on Earth,
but out there.
NARRATOR: Is Scotland, with its long history of unusual phenomena,
a hub of otherworldly activity?
Could it be that thousands of years ago,
extraterrestrials made this area a connection point
using megalithic stone circles
to harness the energy of the Earth?
And does the region's unique geology
still attract otherworldly visitors today?
Perhaps solving the mysteries of Scotland
will provide the key to reuniting
with our alien ancestors.
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