Post by auntym on May 23, 2014 11:50:31 GMT -6
www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cumbria-27391210
22 May 2014
The mystery of the Solway Spaceman
By Simon Armstrong BBC News
Was the mysterious figure behind Elizabeth Templeton a spaceman?
On a bright summer's day in 1964, a Carlisle fireman took a photo of his daughter that created headlines around the world. Fifty years later are we any closer to solving the mystery of the "Solway Spaceman"?
"We went on a normal outing and picked our spot," Jim Templeton recalled in a BBC interview before his death in 2011.
"We sat down and I said, 'Now I'll get some photos of you with the new dress on', never expecting this to happen."
By "this" he meant worldwide media attention and decades of debate over the mysterious figure shown behind his daughter, Elizabeth.
For UFOlogists, it was clear.
A white suit. A helmet. A dark visor. Mr Templeton, they believed, had photographed a spaceman.
Other than his wife, Annie, and two pensioners sat in a car, the Carlisle fireman maintained he had not seen anyone else that day on Burgh Marsh, overlooking the Solway Firth in Cumbria.
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“Start Quote
Then came a visit from two "Men in Black" who asked to be taken to the spot where the image was taken”
It was, he said, only when the chemist who processed his pictures pointed out the shot had been spoiled by a figure that he realised there had been somebody - or something else - present.
Mr Templeton took it to police in Carlisle, who declared there was nothing out of the ordinary.
Film company Kodak said the same and even offered a reward to anyone who could prove the photo was faked. It was never claimed.
But a media frenzy soon ensued.
"It came to the attention of the local paper, the Cumberland News. From there it ran and ran. It was picked up by the Daily Mail and Express," said Dr David Clarke, an author on UFOs.
Mr Templeton began receiving letters from all over the world.
"Some people claimed it was a spirit, others believed Jim or his daughter had psychic powers they had not been aware of," Dr Clarke said.
"It got weirder and weirder and weirder."
Then came a visit from two "Men in Black" who asked to be taken to the spot where the image was taken and referred to each other only as Number 9 and Number 11.
Perhaps the strangest turn of events was a link to the planned launch of a Blue Streak missile in Woomera, South Australia.
Just days after Mr Templeton had taken his photograph, that missile test on the other side of the world was aborted by technicians who reported seeing two men in the firing range.
Upon later seeing the Solway Spaceman picture on the front page of an Australian newspaper, they were said to be stunned as the figure looked the same as the figures they saw close to the missile.
The plot thickened as the Blue Streak had been built at RAF Spadeadam in Cumbria - just a few miles from where Mr Templeton photographed Elizabeth - and as the story gathered momentum it was also claimed a UFO had been seen at Woomera.
So could those incidents really be linked to events in Cumbria?
No, said Dr Clarke, who has seen the black and white film of the aborted launch.
CONTINUE READING: www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cumbria-27391210
22 May 2014
The mystery of the Solway Spaceman
By Simon Armstrong BBC News
Was the mysterious figure behind Elizabeth Templeton a spaceman?
On a bright summer's day in 1964, a Carlisle fireman took a photo of his daughter that created headlines around the world. Fifty years later are we any closer to solving the mystery of the "Solway Spaceman"?
"We went on a normal outing and picked our spot," Jim Templeton recalled in a BBC interview before his death in 2011.
"We sat down and I said, 'Now I'll get some photos of you with the new dress on', never expecting this to happen."
By "this" he meant worldwide media attention and decades of debate over the mysterious figure shown behind his daughter, Elizabeth.
For UFOlogists, it was clear.
A white suit. A helmet. A dark visor. Mr Templeton, they believed, had photographed a spaceman.
Other than his wife, Annie, and two pensioners sat in a car, the Carlisle fireman maintained he had not seen anyone else that day on Burgh Marsh, overlooking the Solway Firth in Cumbria.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
Then came a visit from two "Men in Black" who asked to be taken to the spot where the image was taken”
It was, he said, only when the chemist who processed his pictures pointed out the shot had been spoiled by a figure that he realised there had been somebody - or something else - present.
Mr Templeton took it to police in Carlisle, who declared there was nothing out of the ordinary.
Film company Kodak said the same and even offered a reward to anyone who could prove the photo was faked. It was never claimed.
But a media frenzy soon ensued.
"It came to the attention of the local paper, the Cumberland News. From there it ran and ran. It was picked up by the Daily Mail and Express," said Dr David Clarke, an author on UFOs.
Mr Templeton began receiving letters from all over the world.
"Some people claimed it was a spirit, others believed Jim or his daughter had psychic powers they had not been aware of," Dr Clarke said.
"It got weirder and weirder and weirder."
Then came a visit from two "Men in Black" who asked to be taken to the spot where the image was taken and referred to each other only as Number 9 and Number 11.
Perhaps the strangest turn of events was a link to the planned launch of a Blue Streak missile in Woomera, South Australia.
Just days after Mr Templeton had taken his photograph, that missile test on the other side of the world was aborted by technicians who reported seeing two men in the firing range.
Upon later seeing the Solway Spaceman picture on the front page of an Australian newspaper, they were said to be stunned as the figure looked the same as the figures they saw close to the missile.
The plot thickened as the Blue Streak had been built at RAF Spadeadam in Cumbria - just a few miles from where Mr Templeton photographed Elizabeth - and as the story gathered momentum it was also claimed a UFO had been seen at Woomera.
So could those incidents really be linked to events in Cumbria?
No, said Dr Clarke, who has seen the black and white film of the aborted launch.
CONTINUE READING: www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-cumbria-27391210