The Aveley Abduction - Part 1

Considered by some to be Britain’s first and most important UFO multiple abduction case!

by Brent Raynes

On October 27, 1974, an East London family had a strange experience. It was late at night, around 10 p.m., when the young married couple with their three children in the car (two asleep and one awake) noticed an odd looking oval-shaped pale-blue irridescent light some 25-30 degrees over the eastern horizon. It appeared to be traveling in the same direction as their car, seemingly “stopping and starting.” At first the couple speculated that it was possibly a helicopter, but within a short time they were both calling it a UFO. The husband remarked more than once on the lack of other traffic. They seemed to be the only ones traveling on this night.

The mysterious object seemed to be an estimated 500 yards distance (or no further away), although some direction changes and a higher elevation level on the horizon were noticed. The family was a short ways outside of Aveley, in Essex, when they were entering a bend in the road at about 30 miles an hour, passing a block of four terraced houses on the right, when something felt terribly wrong. All of a sudden, the engine and tires went silent. The only sound they heard was from the radio. Then as they were driving through the bend in the road, no more than 30 yards ahead of them, there was a dense green “mist” or “fog” covering the road up to a height of about 8-9 feet. Just as the “fog” was seen the car radio began crackling and smoking. The man went ahead and pulled out the wires. Then the headlights went out.

Still traveling at 30 m.p.h., the car entered the green mist. The wife remembered the car violently jerking at this point. The couple had seen fog different times in their lives, but this green “fog” seemed very different from anything that they had ever experienced previously. In addition, it seemed very light inside the “fog,” they felt very cold (the windows were rolled up), and they recalled a tingling sensation and remarked on the curious dead silence.

Next things seemed a little hazy. The couple couldn’t even remember for sure if the car was still moving. It seemed as though they were only in the mist for a second or two, then there was a jolt “like a car going over a hump back bridge,” and the “fog” was gone. At this point the driver realized that they were about a half mile further up the road. The coldness was gone and the car was functioning fine, except of course the radio still remained unwired.

When they returned home, the husband rewired the radio, checked the headlines, and then the two still sleeping children were carried into the house. The wife then noticed the time. Expecting the clock to read about 10:20 p.m., it instead read about 1 a.m.! They were disturbed that some three hours had passed for which they could not account for.

Ufologist Andrew Collins, who learned about this case in August 1977 and initiated his first investigation of this family’s experiences beginning on the 15th of that month, would later drive this very same route from Harold Hill to Aveley, and it took him exactly 22 minutes to drive the nine miles distance.

This case became a very important one, and one which offered Andrew many significant insights into the deeper and more complex implications of the so-called “abduction” phenomenon. In a report that was compiled in January 1978 on behalf of the UFO Investigators’ Network (UFOIN) and published in England’s prestigious Flying Saucer Review, Andrew wrote: “Never before have we been able to present a fully documented account of an abduction, a car teleportation, and an important contact case all rolled into one...in Great Britain.” Andrew considered this “probably the most important British case ever.”

Andrew described the family as “a very normal, simple, and warm” family of Aveley, Essex. They were John, then 32, his wife Elaine, age 28, and their three children: Kevin, 10; Karen, 11; and Stuart, 7. Though John had left school at the age of 15, Andrew described him as a very intelligent and creative person who had worked many different jobs over the years, mostly carpentry and construction, but also spent many evenings as a radio disc jockey. “He expresses points very effectively and has a vast vocabulary, although keeping his typical Londoner-type personality, i.e. accent, humor and views,” Andrew wrote. “He says he dislikes officialdom, snobbery and the rich.”

His wife Elaine, on the other hand, was described as very quiet, left school at age 16 to become an accountant, then married John and became a full-time housewife and mother. They appeared to be very credible people.

After Effects?

Notable personality changes occurred with all members of the family following the green “fog” incident. Particularly with John and Elaine. Shortly after the incident John suffered a nervous breakdown, for which there existed no apparent cause. This occurred sometime before Christmas of 1974, and caused him to stop working, which he did until September 1975, when a job working with mentally handicapped people “fell into his lap.” This had been something he had wanted to do for years, and he now felt very confident of himself. Then he resigned in July 1977 after a disagreement with the management, at which time he began working for himself “creating things,” and hoping to embark upon a career in which he would teach arts and crafts. Since November 1974, John began writing lots of poems about life, written “on the spur of the moment.”

In the meantime, Elaine had become much more self confident, and beginning in September 1975 attended college, something she had wanted to do for years. Kevin, the child who had been awake during the UFO/fog incident, and was also the first one to spot the mysterious light, suddenly began to improve in his reading ability, in fact soon was “way ahead of his reading age,” whereas previously he had been backward in his reading at school. Additionally, John, Elaine, Kevin and Karen all stopped eating meats and got to where they couldn’t even stand the smell of it. John and Elaine had tried on different occasions to eat fish and meat, but the taste made them ill. They also began eating health foods to some extent, and avoiding foods with preservatives, colorings, favoring, etc.

While before the incident John and Elaine enjoyed “a good drink” they hardly ever, as of January 1978, touch alcohol. John and Elaine also became very environmental minded and expressed great concern over how we are abusing our natural environment.

John used to smoke some 60 to 70 cigarettes a day, but before Christmas 1974 he gave up smoking completely, and now hates the smell of cigarettes.

Strange Events since the initial incident

Shortly after the UFO/fog encounter, John and Elaine began to often notice three certain cars following them around. A small red “sports” looking car, a blue jaguar, and a large white car (Ford Executive?). All of them had darkened windows.

Paranormal events also manifested themselves. At about 7 p.m., on December 13, 1977, John and Elaine were watching television, when a large portable radio sitting on top of the TV set rose into the air about three inches, and then dropped back down. Later that same evening the entire family was gathered in front of the TV when the handle on the door leading to the hall outside turned slowly as if someone was opening it. Then it shot back to its original position. Twice the back door of the house, normally kept locked, forcefully flew open. The second time this happened a smell like lavender filled the room. Anomalous humming noises, “clicking” sounds and even “morse code” type sounds were occasionally heard inside and outside their home. In October 1977, Andrew was visiting John and Elaine and ended up staying the night as it was very late and a thick fog had set in. He slept on the sofa, but during the night was awakened by what sounded like pots and pans being banged together in the kitchen. It had really shaken Andrew up. The commotion had lasted for only a few seconds. Instead of going into the kitchen to investigate, he remained under the sheets. Andrew wrote: “Suddenly I felt a very strange sensation in my feet: it gradually moved up my whole body and over my head. It was a very stimulating and soothing feeling that soon passed away. Then the sensation was felt again in my feet, and again it moved up through my body to my head. Once more it faded and went. This feeling left me really at ease and peaceful, whereas before I had been very frightened after hearing the banging.”

I emailed Andrew about that personal incident, to which he replied in a recent message dated July 8th, 2006: “It was an instant calming effect that started in the toes and moved very quickly up to my head. I went from being genuinely frightened to being in a state of relaxation in seconds. Very odd indeed, and not something I have experienced since.”

Young Kevin recalled seeing a strange man, apparently dressed in white, standing at the side of his bed. He said that he looked like a clown. John had recalled two experiences with ghost-type apparitions back in his childhood. In both instances, John described seeing a small boy that would suddenly disappear before his startled eyes.

The incident of October 27, 1974, was not the first and only UFO encounter described by this family. The first episode had occurred while John and Elaine were courting, perhaps around 1965-1966. They were at a seaside resort in Essex, located at Walton-on-the-Naze. They were strolling along the seafront when out over the ocean they spotted a large “flat” star-like thing flying erratically. “It was stopping, looping the loop, and darting across the sky,” Andrew wrote. “It was in view for about 10 minutes before it shot off out to sea. At least 10-15 other people had been watching it.” Then in 1968, John was a passenger in a car with three others riding down M1 Motorway outside of London when a “large bluish-white light” headed towards them. Andrew wrote: “...the brake lights of the car in front intensified then went out. After which the car appeared to be slowing down and John presumed the engine had cut. Then the lights and engine of the car John was travelling in, also cut. They then hit the car in front, and that consequently hit a car in front of that, whose lights and engine had also cut! All drivers left their cars and chatted together, then decided to call the police. In the confusion the light was ignored and presumably disappeared.”

Sometime just before or just after the 1974 incident, John was driving along Aveley Road (the road of the UFO/fog encounter) around 8:30 a.m. when he happened to glance up through his windshield and noticed an airliner in the clear sky above. However, John was quite amazed to notice that behind and above the airliner a large cylindrical looking object, seemingly twice the size of the plane, appeared to be keeping pace with it. Then suddenly the mysterious object shot away and was lost from sight.

Then on October 7, 1977, the family was traveling from their home in Aveley to Walton- on-the-Naze, along A12 between Gallows Corner and Brentwood, when they noticed a large bluish “star-like “ light moving through the sky in a similar direction as their car. “This light kept in view on the left-hand side of the car until they almost reached Colchester, some 40-50 miles from where they had first seen it,” Andrew wrote in his report. “During this time the object changed speed and height and at one point was just above tree top level, at which point they could make out that it was oval in shape. Also at this point the car radio crackled and eventually the station was lost. The car’s lights and engine also acted oddly at this point. Eventually the light climbed high into the sky and was seen to disappear in front of them at an incredible speed.”

“Abduction” memories

John and Elaine had been asked if they had had any unusual, recurring dreams. John remembered something about being operated on (or “something similar”) by “small ugly” beings that resembled “gnomes.” He also remembered from the dream state something about “tests” being carried out on him. Elaine recalled a “dream” wherein she was laying on a flat wide table, feeling as if she could neither move nor speak, while standing nearby was a being of small stature in a white coat. Suspecting that these “dreams” might be masking real abduction memories or something of potential significance, Andrew Collins initiated an effort to locate a hypnotist, and soon had lined up Dr. Leonard Wilder, a dental surgeon. The first session was set up for September 25, 1977.

Editor’s Note: Part II will continue in the next issue and will contain startling revelations unearthed as the investigation and the hypnotic regression sessions unfolded! Plus Andrew Collins will provide updates and additional insights and information on this very fascinating case.