Swindon UFO Research

Kevin Goodman Interview

Ufology has been making major headlines in 2008 with hundreds of sightings. Could you sum up 2008 from your perspective?

2008 has, to an extent, been a rather disappointing year. The huge "Flap" reported by the Sun newspaper has propelled the subject back into the public domain. But, poor reporting and sensational journalism has really done nothing to advance the cause. On a more positive side, I've rekindled old friendships through the Warminster website and made new ones within the field.

How has Warminster changed since your first visit to the town in the 1970's?

Apart from the population nearly doubling? Cradle Hill being more open to the public than it was in the 1960s and 1970s? The population being mostly ignorant about what went on in their town? The atmosphere [for want of a better description] has changed. when I last visited the town before my sabbatical, there seemed to be an air of almost menace! Now, the town does seem to be a quieter place.

"The Thing" was considered the forgotten phenomena of Ufology. Why do you think this was?

Now that is a thorny subject! I suppose, with Arthur Shuttlewood basically retiring from Ufology in the early 1980s, the sole champion had no news to report, and the in fighting amongst various UFO groups in the town didn't help matters either. Arthur was over zealous in his reporting of events, that much is true. All you have to do is read some of the early press reports and then compare them to the reports he wrote in his books. they just didn't match up. Was Arthur a victim of his own publicity and ego? Sadly, we will never know..

It is documented that the phenomena lasted for many years since its start in late 1964. In all the years that people sky watched, what was the most unusual sighting from the hill?

There are so many! One does stick out in my mind, which supposedly happened at Heaven's Gate on the Longleat Estate. A couple claimed to have seen a small, soup plate sized UFO land, and two tiny occupants get out, who then grew to normal size. they offered to take the couple for a trip in the UFO, but only the man agreed. He was shrunk down, and the craft took off returning about an hour later. BUT... the two people concerned were Bob Strong and Cybil Champion, two of Arthur's sky watching stalwarts. they decided to make the story up to see just how gullible Arthur was. Sadly, before they could retract the story, their account saw print, and according to someone I spoke to, who told me the truth, they decided to keep quiet about it! so, as I said before, just how true was Arthur's take on events?

Your book 'Cradle of Contact' is a very personal account of your experiences. How do you reconcile what is recounted in your book with your current beliefs?

This is another difficult one. I tend now to tread the fine line between keeping an open mind and dismissing 90% of UFO reports as mis-sightings. As for the claims made in the book, with my hand on my heart, I just don't know. All that happened to us in warminster DID happen, of that there is no doubt. but the outcome? I'll let the reader decide on that one!

Tell us your memories of Arthur Shuttlewood without who it is likely Warminster would never have been a UFO hotspot at all. What sort of person was he?

Arthur was a gentle, kind man. He was always ready to listen to you, would often hold court on the cold hill side, BUT, he wanted people to come to Warminster to see a UFO. He would often claim a mundane event, such as a helicopter, satellite, meteor, or car headlight on a distant hill was a UFO. He cared about the phenomenon, possibly to an extent that could blind his vision slightly. He was the main focus in the town, and would spend many nights up on the hill, sky watching, which i think adversely affected his health.

Gordon Faulkner took an image of what he claimed was a UFO. This has become one of the UFO iconic photographs - Is it real or a hoax?

Debate still continues to this day. Faulkner admitted sometime ago it was a hoax, but then later retracted that statement. In my mind, it is a fake. Steve Dewey and John Ries go into much greater detail than I ever could in their excellent book, "In Alien Heat".

Tell us some of your experiences with the Army on the hill. Was it an amicable relationship for example?

During the 70s and 80s? No way! Colin Rees and I were ejected from the hill literally at gunpoint in late October 1986. the army were very nervous during those times, due to the continued IRA bombing campaign, so two idiots on the hill, late at night were suspicious. There are urban myths of sky watchers who trespassed on army land being taken back to the camp and being questioned. Today, as long as the Army are kept informed about events being held on the hill, they are much more open now, thank heavens. Indeed, you can often engage them in conversation, as the modern squaddie seems interested about what went on all those years ago.

Finally, Nearly half a century since the first recorded phenomena in Warminster, what does the future hold for you and Warminster?

Well, all I can say is this: "Keep the flame burning" A lot of the new researchers of a certain age cut their researcher teeth on those hills. People do wax lyrically about the halcyon days, and are as keen as me to redress the balance in so much that warminster has been quietly swept under the carpet of UK Ufology. as for why, that I can't answer. all I know is that Warminster was probably the longest sustained flap in the world, and what I saw there convinces me that under all the smoke and mirrors something strange did happen in that town