ALAN GODFREY

Opening

At about 5 a.m. on 28 November 1980, near the end of a night shift, PC Alan Godfrey of West Yorkshire Police was driving along Burnley Road on the edge of Todmorden, looking for a herd of cows that had been reported straying. In his headlights he saw what he first took for a bus.

It was a diamond-shaped object, by his estimate about 20 feet high and 14 feet wide, rotating and glowing, hovering just above the road. His radio wouldn't work. He sketched it on a notepad from the driver's seat. Then there was a flash, and he found himself further down the road, with about 25 minutes he couldn't account for. The rain-soaked road where the object had hovered was dry, in a swirled patch.

Timeline

28 November 1980, about 5 a.mGodfrey sees the object, tries his radio, and makes a quick sketch.

Moments laterA flash. He comes to further along the road. One of his boots is split along the sole, and he later finds an itchy mark on his foot.

The same morningHe reports it. Officers from the neighbouring Halifax area, out on the moors watching for stolen motorcycles, report seeing a brilliant blue-white glow descending into the valley toward Todmorden. The missing cows are found after daybreak in a wet field with no hoofprints leading in.

1981Under hypnosis with psychiatrist Joseph Jaffe and hypnotist Robert Blair, sessions partly filmed, Godfrey describes being drawn into the craft by a beam, examined by small creatures, and meeting a tall, bearded, human-looking man who called himself Joseph.

Following yearsGodfrey says he faced ridicule at work, was moved to Wakefield, and was eventually pushed out of the force.

Key figures

Alan Godfrey was a serving police constable. Five months earlier he had been one of the officers dealing with the death of Zigmund Adamski, whose body was found on a coal heap in Todmorden in June 1980.

Joseph Jaffe and Robert Blair carried out the hypnosis. Investigators from the Manchester UFO Research Association looked into the case.

Physical and documentary trail

What exists: Godfrey's report and sketch, made at the scene; the split boot; the dry patch on the road; the separate report of a glow from the Halifax officers; and the recordings of the hypnosis sessions.

Still missing: any photograph, and any independent witness who saw the object itself close up. The story of what happened inside the craft comes only from hypnosis, months later.

Things you might not know

• He thought it was a bus. His first impression in the dark was a double-decker on the road ahead.
• He was out looking for cows. The herd turned up later in a sodden field with no hoofprints to show how they got there.
• The road was dry. It had been raining, but the patch under the object was dry, in a swirling pattern.
• The being had a biblical look. Under hypnosis, Godfrey described Joseph as bearded, in robe-like clothing.
• He had handled the Adamski case. Todmorden's two famous mysteries share a policeman.
• It cost him a great deal. Godfrey has said the encounter cost him his job, his family life and his home.

Competing explanations

A real encounter. A police officer on duty, a sketch made on the spot, a dry patch on a wet road, a split boot, and a separate police sighting of a glow descending toward the town.

Tiredness and a natural light. At the end of a night shift, a brief doze or a natural electrical phenomenon could explain the light, the radio problem and the gap in time. It doesn't explain the dry road or the Halifax sighting.

Hypnosis filling the gap. Sceptics accept that Godfrey saw something but argue the abduction story came from hypnosis, which can create detailed memories that feel real.

Later life of the case

Godfrey's case is one of Britain's best-known abductions, appearing in documentaries for four decades. He has given interviews into the 2020s and still stands by what he saw.

Finding

A serving police officer saw something on Burnley Road that he drew on the spot and could never explain, and other officers saw a glow descending toward Todmorden the same morning. The sighting and the lost time are well supported. The events inside the craft rest on hypnosis and can't be tested.

What still will not resolve: what dried that patch of road, and where 25 minutes of Alan Godfrey's shift went.