Back in 1991, legendary collector of crashed UFO stories, Leonard
Stringfield, published in one of his many “
Status Reports” the account of one “S.M.
Brannigan,” a former U.S. military source who claimed knowledge of an alleged UFO crash somewhere in the vicinity of the
Cannock Chase woods (
see photo) and the town of
Penkridge,
Staffordshire, England.
For years, the case (like so many others!) languished in obscurity. But, in 1996, Irene Bott, then the President of the now-defunct Staffordshire UFO Group, was contacted by a local, elderly man who claimed deep knowledge of the event.
So, on a cold, windy and wet morning in December of that year, me and Irene headed out to his home and were told a strange and intriguing story of a crashed UFO, a high-level military and police cover-up, and of what may have been deep surveillance of the witness himself - and maybe even of me and Irene, too.
It was a truly strange and surreal interview, and one which I have never forgot.
And, although for me the interview was a one-off (the overall investigation was very much that of the Staffordshire UFO Group), I’m very pleased to be able to state that a guy local to the area has started his own, deep investigation of the case.
It’s one of those odd cases that is as potentially significant as it is extremely weird and frustratingly elusive and unresolved.
And, for those who may want to learn about the role of me and Irene in this story - which is truly worthy of an episode of
The X-Files - you can do so within the pages of my book,
On the Trail of the Saucer Spies.
