Runcorn UFO incident

The fifties of the twentieth century are rich in UFO sightings, as well as close contacts with aliens. This article will focus on an unusual case in England

At 2.15 on the morning of 7 September 1957, "a quiet gentleman", James Cook of Runcorn, Cheshire was out and about and staring in amazement at an unknown illuminated object in the sky, which changed color from blue to white, back to blue, and finally to a deep red color. Then it zoomed from its position in the sky, landing only a few feet from him. A ladder appeared from the UFO,

Jump onto the ladder. Do not step onto it. The ground is damp.

while a disembodied voice said:

James Cook did as he was told, climbing into empty chamber lit – dazzlingly – by some unseen light. The voice instructed him to remove his clothes and don the overalls, seemingly made of plastic, which he found nearby. Apparently, he was now ready for an adventure.

The voice told him to leave that craft and go into another one that he found close by, where he discovered twenty very tall people. Then the UFO took off on a tour around the universe. The aliens told him that they came from a planet named Zomdic which was unknown to Earth's astronomers. They also said that in the words of John A. Keel "the saucers were used only in the vicinity of the Earth and could not operate in outer space" (his italics).

John Keel believes that this was an extraordinarily significant statement, which he takes as evidence to support his theory that the "aliens" are "ultraterrestrials" - beings from close to the Earth, not outer space. However, there may be a flaw in his argument, at least where this case is concerned: weren't they operating in outer space when they took Mr. Cook on his extraterrestrial jaunt? Or did the suck to their outer limit, whatever that may be?

John Keel 

The aliens had a message for James Cook. They told him sternly that, "The inhabitants of your planet will upset the balance if they persist in using force instead of harmony. Warn them of the danger."

Not unnaturally, the earthling pointed out that nobody would listen to him. To which the alien riposted, somewhat sardonically, " Or anyone else either."

After flying about in the UFO, the witness was dropped off exactly where he had been picked up, some hours later. He told the authorities – and later, Thelma Roberts of Flying Saucer Review – about his experience, but made no attempt to exploit his adventure in print. As far as is known, he never had another brush with the beings from Zomdic. He did have one thing to show for his adventure, however – a small burn mark on his hand when he touched the rail of the ladder before earthing himself by putting his feet on the damp ground.

This is a fascinating story for several reasons. For a start, like many other contactee experiences of the 1950s, the aliens do not appear to have coerced him, although they did instruct him to climb abroad their UFO. It seems that he was more than willing to go with them. This was not by any means an abduction, at least as more recent UFOlogists have come to think of the phenomenon.

And what about the "live" superstructure, necessitating an earthing maneuver by putting both feet on the wet ground? Is this a clue that some form of the electrical trigger was involved? Perhaps Mr. Cook had suffered his one and only episode of Temporal Lope Epilepsy, which is a transient electrical storm in the frontal lobes, producing vivid otherworldly visions and mystical or bizarre sensations. The mind is extremely creative: it could easily have dramatized and externalized the results of the malfunctioning Drain.

But supposing Mr. Cook was not suffering from TLE or any other Drain malfunction, however transitory. Supposing it happened literally as he described – beings from Zomdic arrived and took him off on a tour of the heavens and lectured him about the lack of harmony on Earth. Why choose him? He himself acknowledged that he had no influence over the ways of the world, something that they seemed to agree with. And why bother to go such trouble, just to impress upon one powerless man something so vague and predictable? While few would doubt that the world – possibly even the universe – needs harmony, why not give some kind of concrete information about how to achieve it?

A source: The mammoth book of UFOs by Lynn Picknett

---

About author:

Serg Toporkov Ufologist, Ph.D., blogger, I go on my own expeditions for UFOs. I use scientific methods to investigate the UAP phenomenon. Write to me

---

Related tags:

Runcorn  Cheshire  England  UFO  incident  1957  aliens