Sunday, February 9, 2025
Contact    |    RSS icon Twitter icon Facebook icon  
Unexplained Mysteries
You are viewing: Home > News > The UFO Phenomenon > News story
Welcome Guest ( Login or Register )  
All ▾
Search Submit

The UFO Phenomenon

Researchers hunt for photographer behind famous UFO image

By T.K. Randall
January 28, 2023 · Comment icon 13 comments

The original photograph. Image Credit: MoD / The National Archives / Craig Lindsay
The hunt is on for the individual who captured this image of a strange object in the skies over Scotland 30 years ago.
On August 4th 1990, two young chefs had been walking in the Cairngorms National Park near Perth when they spotted a strange diamond-shaped object in the sky nearby.

Terrified, the men hid behind some bushes to observe the mysterious craft.

A short time later, they heard the sound of an RAF jet approaching. The plane seemed to change course and circle the UFO for a time before returning to its original course.

Keen to take a photograph, one of the men aimed their camera at the sky and took a few snaps.

A few seconds later, the object flew upwards into the heavens and was gone.

Convinced that they had seen a UFO, the men passed their best photograph along to a local newspaper, however it was promptly handed over to the Ministry of Defense and was never published.
The image would stay classified, in fact, for over 30 years until it turned out that retired RAF officer Craig Lindsay had broken protocol by stashing a copy of it inside his desk.

The image (above) finally made it into the newspapers last year.

Now a team of UFO researchers led by Dr David Clarke of Sheffield Hallam University has been attempting to track down the individual who took the original photograph.

"On the back of the original photo we acquired last year is the name of the photographer, but we have not released this information into the public domain," said researcher Matthew Illsley.

"During our research, though, we have confirmed the man in question did live in Pitlochry in 1990/1991 while working as a kitchen porter at a hotel."

"We have also traced a number of his former colleagues, one of whom says he knew the photographer well during their time together."

Whether this individual will even be able to recall any further details, however, remains to be seen.

Source: Falkirk Herald | Comments (13)




Other news and articles
Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #4 Posted by DreadLordAvatar 2 years ago
No one has claimed ownership of the photo ever, therefore it is a hoax.
Comment icon #5 Posted by DieChecker 2 years ago
So we assumedly know the where, the when, and where they worked. Figure out which hotel/inn it was and figure out who worked there 30 years ago. 1990 isn't like it was 1925 or something. There's got to be records going back 30 years. EDIT: So I went to Pitlochry on Google Maps and entered Hotels. I thought, well how many could there be.... All of the red dots are hotels, or B&Bs. Ok, so NOT such an easy task...
Comment icon #6 Posted by sanchez710 2 years ago
It looks like some sort of fighter jet. Probably a secret test plane hence the RAF escort.
Comment icon #7 Posted by Cupid Stunt 2 years ago
i always thought that someone took a photo of an RC plane flying over a lake, while there's a hill in the background. The underside of the "diamond" is the hills' reflection on the water surface....  
Comment icon #8 Posted by Phlogiston 2 years ago
Could this be early military testing of the radar deflecting properties of angled airframe structures/designs (See for example, the later F-117)? The angled “ufo” could be a tethered, metallized, rigid-framed balloon with the jet flying by to take radar imaging test data. The size of the two could just be perspective—the balloon being closer to the photographer. The oddly slightly asymmetrical shape could test different angle/shape performance with radar painting from different directions. The little “tail” could be an intentional radar corner cube reflector for positioning/targetin... [More]
Comment icon #9 Posted by L.A.T.1961 2 years ago
A previous thread on the topic -   
Comment icon #10 Posted by the13bats 2 years ago
Lots of problems with this pic. the back story and provanance are heresay and its very crappy quality i would say this is an actual unidentified flying object except it hasnt been proven to me its really in the pic and floating or flying. And then if it is that still doesnt prove its prosaic.
Comment icon #11 Posted by astrobeing 2 years ago
The softness and graininess of the object suggests that the photo is a film composite. As usual, although the photographer "took a few snaps", we've only seen one photo because making more than one fake photo would have been too much work.
Comment icon #12 Posted by the13bats 2 years ago
Its kind of the ufo version of the mansie champ lake monster pic, it looks totally out of place in the context of the pic its not 100% proven not to be shopped and even then it just seems off to me. In the end these pics prove nothing.
Comment icon #13 Posted by flying squid 2 years ago
Any updates here, did they find the photographer? It would be interesting to know the real story of this 'UFO'.


Please Login or Register to post a comment.


Our new book is out now!
Book cover

The Unexplained Mysteries
Book of Weird News

 AVAILABLE NOW 

Take a walk on the weird side with this compilation of some of the weirdest stories ever to grace the pages of a newspaper.

Click here to learn more

We need your help!
Patreon logo

Support us on Patreon

 BONUS CONTENT 

For less than the cost of a cup of coffee, you can gain access to a wide range of exclusive perks including our popular 'Lost Ghost Stories' series.

Click here to learn more

Recent news and articles