Case file · Abduction
Alfred Burtoo, Aldershot
A 77-year-old angler said small green-suited beings led him into a disc on the Basingstoke Canal, examined him and rejected him as 'too old'.
1983 CE · 51.25, -0.76 · status: account
The account
Alfred Burtoo said the encounter happened on 12 August 1983 while he was night fishing near Government Bridge; the craft left toward Tongham.
The sceptical view
A single elderly witness with no physical evidence; some suggest a vivid dream.
The researched reading
A modest, consistent tale from a single elderly witness. A waking dream during a night of fishing explains it best; there is nothing to check physically.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Perception, memory or mind | 48% | An elderly angler alone through the small hours is a prime candidate for a vivid hypnopompic dream after dozing, which feels completely real and is described matter-of-factly. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 15% | The detail of being rejected as “too old” has a storyteller’s ring, and the account comes through one investigator. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 15% | Burtoo was consistent and sought no gain, which earns the case a hearing. |
| Undetermined | 11% | The share the reading had given to fabrication on doubt rather than evidence: the record does not settle it either way. |
| Something known, misidentified | 5% | A light on the canal at night could be a lantern or vehicle, but not the boarding. |
| A known natural phenomenon | 2% | Nothing natural fits. |
| A poorly understood natural phenomenon | 2% | Speculative only. |
| Secret human technology | 2% | Aldershot is an army town, but no military explanation fits. |
Official position: No official investigation.