Todmorden UFO Incident

The Encounter

On the morning of November 28, 1980, Police Constable Alan Godfrey was patrolling Burnley Road on the edge of Todmorden, West Yorkshire, searching for reported missing cattle. At approximately 5:15 AM, he encountered a bright, diamond-shaped craft hovering above the road. The object was approximately 20 feet high and 14 feet wide, described as metallic with a row of illuminated windows. The craft was silent and stationary.

Godfrey attempted to radio for assistance, but found his equipment unresponsive. Suddenly, he was enveloped by a burst of light. When clarity returned, he found himself in his patrol car roughly 100 yards farther down the road, with no memory of the intervening distance or time—approximately 15 to 20 minutes remained unaccounted for.

Physical Evidence

At the location where the craft had hovered, Godfrey discovered a circular dried patch on the wet roadway, marked by a distinctive swirled pattern—a striking contrast to the saturated surface surrounding it. Upon examining his own body, Godfrey noted unexplained burns, the presence of an unidentified ointment on his skin, and splits in the soles of his police-issue boots, as though he had been dragged across a rough surface. His police notebook showed a time gap and contained unusual sketches of the craft.

Corroborating Witnesses

A motorist near Cliviger, approximately three miles distant on Burnley Road, reported witnessing a brilliant white object and contacted Todmorden police. The timing of this sighting corresponded precisely with Godfrey's encounter. Additionally, a police patrol from the adjacent Halifax force, engaged in a motorcycle theft stakeout on the Calder Valley moors, reported observing a brilliant blue-white glow descending into the valley toward Todmorden at the same moment.

Hypnotic Regression and Recalled Details

Eight months after the incident, in July 1981, Godfrey underwent hypnotic regression with a Manchester psychiatrist working in collaboration with UFO researchers. Under hypnosis, Godfrey recalled being in a strange chamber where he encountered a being who identified himself as "Yosef." This entity was described as wearing garments resembling Biblical attire—a distinctive detail contrasting with typical American abduction accounts. Assisting Yosef were several small, robot-like creatures approximately the size of five-year-old children, with heads described as "shaped like lamps." Unlike many reported American abduction cases, Godfrey's hypnotic recollections did not include invasive medical procedures or biological sampling.

Significantly, Godfrey remained skeptical of the hypnotic memories himself, questioning whether they represented actual experiences or unconscious elaborations from dreaming.

Aftermath and Career Impact

Godfrey was subjected to mandatory medical evaluation to determine his psychological fitness, though he was pronounced in good mental health. Nevertheless, he later claimed to have been systematically hounded from the police force for refusing to recant his account, and stated publicly that the incident and its aftermath profoundly damaged his personal and professional life. The case remains one of Britain's most significant UFO encounters, distinguished by the credibility of a serving law enforcement witness, multiple corroborating observers, and documented physical traces.