Scotland has a long history with the mysterious and unknown. Our past is littered with long-told myths and legends like the Loch Ness Monster, whose first sighting dates back to the 6th century.
But it isn’t just our waters that provide mystery and intrigue – it’s our skies. In recent years, our nation has been a hotbed for UFO activity. There have been sightings across the country that excite and enthral alien enthusiasts, despite naysayers brushing them off as things like drones and comets.
We have decided to take a look at some of our more memorable sightings. And while many of them were above our most populous city, others have cropped up in the skies over some of our iconic landmarks.
10: Glasgow, 2009
First up on our list is a sighting from Glasgow back in August 2009, when a keen stargazer was looking at the night sky and spotted something very strange. The seasoned astro-nut was looking through his binoculars when he saw a cube appear, accelerate, then disappear.
He said: «I saw a perfect cube appear right before my eyes! I was looking at Zubeneschamali, which is the beta star in Libra, when the cube just came out of nowhere»
«Speechless, I quickly spotted it with the binoculars, through which I saw a brilliant perfect cube with an illuminated border. It changed colour from blue to aqua-green and stopped cold.»
(Image: MUFON)
9: Bannockburn, 2017
A woman from Bannockburn spotted a UFO flying over the Stirlingshire town in 2017 and revealed that it left her struggling to sleep for months.
Telling her story to our sister title, the Stirling Observer, in 2018, she said: «The size of it was unreal. It was about 20ft away from and I’d say it was about 100ft in diameter. I love looking at the sky, I do it all the time.»
«For about a week, I could see lights in the sky. I could see that it had windows and had red lights flashing. Even if it was a military thing, why was it coming down a quiet street? «.
«I know it sounds crazy, but I would say it was a spaceship. I thought it was an aeroplane at first but when it tilted forwards it was a circular shape.
«I could see writing on the top of it as well, like Egyptian hieroglyphs. It has been a few sleepless nights for me since. I was kind of into UFOs and that sort of thing a bit before.
«When I saw it in between the two houses, I had to run into the house because I was a bit scared. I went back out for another look and it wasn’t moving very fast and there was no noise coming from it.»
(Image: Stirling Observer)
8: Shetland, 2013
Sullom Voe oil terminal worker Steven Slane took some photos of the nice scenery on his journey home from the site in January 2013. When he looked back at his sunset snaps later in the day, he was stunned to see something unusual in the Shetland sky.
He explained: «I’d taken the pictures earlier in the day because I saw some nice scenery as I was coming along the road from Southern Voe towards Southerness and the sun was setting.
«It looked very nice so, even though it was very cold, I just stopped and took a couple of photographs in quick succession.»
«It was only late on in the evening when I was having a wee look at the photos that I noticed something different in the second picture. I was a bit surprised and shocked when I noticed the strange shape.»
«It looked like there was something flying up with a propeller at the bottom, in the shape of an inverted Eiffel Tower or a parachute. It must have appeared in seconds, or even less.
«I didn’t know what the heck it was and although I don’t believe in aliens or UFOs, I was a bit freaked by it and thought there was something strange. It would be good to find out more about it, if anyone has any ideas.»
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7: Irvine, 2016
An unusual object was spotted in the skies over Ayrshire in October 2016. The image, snapped by Heather Stewart from Bourtreehill in Irvine, led to much online speculation about what it could be.
Heather said: «You just sort of dismiss it at first but I looked out and I couldn’t believe it. It was like a big moving fireball.
«But after seeing it, I went to see if there were any plane crashes or anything like that and I’ve been looking on the internet as to what it could have been.»
(Image: Heather Stewart)
6: Hamilton, 2015
The Hamilton UFO was spotted in the summer of 2015. An image taken from a car appears to show two strange white objects floating in the sky.
The uploader simply said: «Was driving when uncle told me he could see UFOs.»
(Image: Mutual UFO)
5: Glasgow, 2009
Another UFO picture from Glasgow in 2009, this time on Christmas Day. The spotter said they were with a friend in a residential area near the city when a round, glowing object overhead began moving rapidly towards them.
They believe it moved too fast to be a Chinese Lantern and don’t think it was a star or a comet.
They said: «It was like nothing we had seen. Much too big to be a star, definitely not a comet, too fast to be a Chinese lantern. As it became closer overhead, it slowed down and descended before ascending very rapidly and vanishing into the clouds.
«We were both quite scared by it and shaking a little, even though we did not see it close up we both thought because of the direction and speed it was going it may land on top of us.
«We uploaded the photographs that were taken to our computer and they turned out pretty blurry, mainly because the zoom on the camera was not so good and possibly because of the speed of the object.
‘It was not a windy evening, quite still and the object made no noise, and had no wings or anything like that.
(Image: MUFON)
4: Glasgow, 2018
One of the more recent sightings on the list, once again in our biggest city, came from 2018. Ian Andrew, who filmed the object said he had spotted the object several times before taking a picture.
He said: «I noticed it a few nights last week and again at 1am this morning. Where I stay the view of Glasgow is tremendous. I spotted the red and green light in the sky. Its not flying about, it’s just hovering.
«As soon as I saw it I felt like I had to film it because I had no idea what it could be. It’s only when you zoom right in you can see how it doesn’t look like a plane or anything. I knew it was something that didn’t look right.»
«I don’t think it’s a drone as it’s too high, it’s very high in the sky. I thought it was something to do with measuring the weather, but it’s been there off and on for a couple of days.
«I’m not interested in space, I don’t even watch Superman or anything. My girlfriend was here and she saw it too, I was a bit shocked, to be honest.»
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3: Loch Lomond, 2015
A video shared on YouTube by Tom Hall in 2015 shows a bright white light moving very slowly above the hills surrounding Loch Lomond for around 15 minutes.
The object hovers above over the horizon before making its descent. Tom captured it from Kinlochard in the Trossachs, and said he did not believe it was a drone, helicopter, or lantern.
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2: Moray Firth, 2016
Surprising snaps of something plummeting to Earth were taken from Macduff, Moray, in 2016. Reg Cannon shared them online asking: «Any ideas what it is?»
He received more than 120 answers from UFO buffs, with some thinking it may have been an aeroplane reflecting the sun, while others were more adventurous, believing it to be a UFO (or Superman).
Some thought it was just a meteor while another reckoned it might have been the «second coming» – though there is no evidence of that in the eight years since.
The most plausible explanation came from Steve Balfour, who used a flight tracking site to work out which plane it could have been.
(Image: Facebook)
1: Perthshire, 1990
One of the most iconic UFO pictures in the UK dates back more than three decades. A hotel porter snapped a diamond-shaped object in the sky over Perthshire – with the image dubbed the ‘Calvine photo’.
It is at the centre of a mystery after images sent to the Ministry of Defence disappeared, but one certified copy came to light in 2022.
The Calvine file should have been released after 30 years in 2021 but the MOD blocked the release of key details until 2076 due to “privacy concerns”.
One MOD insider described the Calvine photo as the most spectacular UFO picture ever captured – and the Holy Grail in terms of hard evidence that such things really exist.
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