South Wales man abducted by aliens.....

  • Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.

Justin Time

Native
Aug 19, 2003
1,064
2
South Wales
Or Teaching yourself tracking, part 1, by F Mulder

OK, Today I thought I would abandon my local patch and head down to Kenfig NNR to see what early migrant birds were coming in, and have a wander round the dunes. Excuse my self indulgence here, but I had a great day, never mind the wind and rain.

Didn't see any Sand Martins, but did see a Chiffchaff and 8 Wheatear. Also saw a couple of Hares doing the full Mad March Hare routine, first time for me so I was well pleased. Lots of singing skylarks too. Most of the tracking on the dunes consisted of "ok, that's another set of dog prints and not fox prints because...."

I walked along the length of the reserve and decided to walk back along Sker beach, which is about 3 or so miles. Made some discoidal knives by bashing some of the beach cobbles together, this primitive stuff's great fun.

I quickly picked up on some tracks in the sand, very clear at first and was able to work out that the person was probably a male, feet just a bit smaller than mine and a similar pace to mine. Given the state of the tide then I would have said the tracks could only have been a few hours old at most. I got the impression that he was walking quite fast and was able to pick up occasional stops. I also noted steps where it would seem that he had turned his body, whilst walking, to look at something to his right (the sea was to my and his right). His pace seemed the same, but the "plates" of sand pushed back by the front of his boot seemed canted up to the left, if that makes sense. Another point I noted was that the sand was quite moist and if I put any great pressure through my feet then the track was almost obliterated, presumably the pressure liquified the sand/water mixture. So lighter steps produced better tracks.

For a while I was able to follow the tracks at a normal walking pace, with the sun to my right picking out the shadows far enough ahead. Once I got to a dry area it started to get a bit more tricky since the sand was blowing in the strong wind. I had to slow down and look closely for the outlines and realised that a tracking stick would have been handy to help measure the pace, easy enough to do when moving but harder when stopped. I found that the most useful indicator wasn't the outline itself but the eroded lump/plate of sand pushed up by the front of his shoe when he pushed off on each step. I would see that creating a shadow, then on checking I'd see the faint outline around it.

After about a mile of alternating dry and moist sand I was feeling pretty good about following this track, then disaster struck.... The surface changed to sand with about an inch or so of water flowing over and lots of pebbles and some beach cobbles. I thought I'd no chance now but once again those lumps/plates of sand came to my rescue. By and large the feet outlines had been washed away but the lumps remained, although smoothed and rounded by the water. Looking at one by itself I wouldn't have picked them up, but I was able to see the pace and alternating position of left and right. Most of this time I was now down on my hunkers and could really have used a tracking stick. Sometimes I'd lose the track and have to scout about, picking it up maybe 5 metres or so ahead, cursing him when he didn't keep to a straight line. Even the heavy rain by this time didn't seem to hamper things too much

I probably managed about half a mile of this before it came to the alien abduction point. Now one of the things I've picked up from reading Tom Brown's books, and watching the X files is to keep an open mind and always ask myself what do I see, what is happening to the tracks and what does it mean?

So all of a sudden the prints disappeared, no matter how much hunkering down, or casting about I did would turn them up. After a good ten minutes of this I had to accept the inevitable, the guy had been lifted off the surface of the earth.

Now I know what you're thinking here, maybe he was picked up by a helicopter or a harrier jump jet, right? Wrong, and for two reasons: Firstly, the downdraft from the helicopter rotor or the harrier's jets would have created quite a disturbance to the sand and pebbles, there was no evidence of this, the area was quite unremarkable. Secondly, by now I felt I was getting quite good at reading the guys actions, when he stopped, when he turned to look at something. At the abduction point he had been keeping the same pace for quite a few metres, if a Harrier or heli had flown over him he would have heard it from some distance and would at least have looked at it, and then stopped. I'm sure a heli wouldn't be able to scoop up a walking man at all, never mind without him being aware of what was happening.

So the case is proven, something picked this guy off the surface of the earth without him being aware of it. I'm guessing some sort of anti gravity drive, perhaps with a tractor beam? Obviously Heisenberg's uncertainty principle rules out some sort of dematerialising transporter like Star Trek, but that is only fiction isn't it.

I'd like to arrange for some of you guys to come down and review my findings, but I'm afraid that by now the tide will have wiped away all the tracks :-(

I had a great day out, found the tracks pretty absorbing and it was great to take some of the stuff from books into practice, particularly noticing the pressure releases and the importance of the tracks as a sequence not just isolated bits of evidence.
 

Adi007

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 3, 2003
4,080
0
I'd call Mulder ... just to be on the safe side!

What was the tide doing at the time?
 
Oct 30, 2003
35
0
Cornwall
Unless they disappeared up into a puff of smoke the sign would there.
Sounds like you were determined, I cant say what happened but you need to think about other factors.
Regards
Ian
 
Mar 2, 2004
325
0
the guys kite eventually got the better of him?
the african woodbines kicked in at last?
your completly bonkers and need a good rest and a straight jacket?
 

JakeR

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 18, 2004
2,288
4
36
Cardiff
Crikey, sounds odd.
Where in south wales do you live justin?

Jake
 

Adi007

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 3, 2003
4,080
0
Any chance he walked doen to the water's edge and his tracker were washed away?
 

Justin Time

Native
Aug 19, 2003
1,064
2
South Wales
:-D I think naughty boy might be the closest. :yikes:, his last suggestion I mean, although people were flying pretty big kites at a beach further along near Porthcawl, even using them with surf-boards (I'm sure there's a name for that). Jake, I live in Bridgend so just along the M4 from you. and Adi, I guess you were a Reggie Perrin fan?

I'll admit I was being a bit tongue in cheek about my failure to find his tracks at the end. I think a combination of the surface water flowing down the beach, lots of pebbles and a very heavy rain shower defeated my beginner's ability. I suspect he probably had walked at a right angle from his original heading up onto the dunes and if I had looked there I would probably have found his trail again.

It was a bit of self indulgent blogging, just wanted to share the buzz I felt. You'd think tracking on a beach would be easy, but the different surfaces, moisture, blowing sand etc really gave me a hell of a challenge and to see some of the ideas I've seen in books coming to life like that was pure magic.

Can you tell I was excited by it? Wish I could have had the annual leave left to go on the Portugal course with Ian et al.
 

Justin Time

Native
Aug 19, 2003
1,064
2
South Wales
Stew said:
Justin Time said:
...although people were flying pretty big kites at a beach further along near Porthcawl, even using them with surf-boards (I'm sure there's a name for that).

It's kiteboarding!

that sounds about right, and then of course there's them with their kites and the oversized skateboards, wazzat then?
 

Adi007

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 3, 2003
4,080
0
Ooops, I meant tracks washed away!

Kitesurfers generally leave very deep prints and hop along. They also get dragged quite a bit.

Sounds like you had a great time!
Adi007 said:
Any chance he walked doen to the water's edge and his tracker were washed away?
 

Adi007

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sep 3, 2003
4,080
0
What do you call the folks who just get dragged along and jump about with a kite ... see them all the time here on Newborough beach.
Stew said:
Sorry got it wrong.
Kite boarding = being pulled along on a mountain board (aka oversized skateboard)
Kite surfing = being pulled along on a surf board.
 

Stew

Bushcrafter through and through
Nov 29, 2003
6,446
1,284
Aylesbury
stewartjlight-knives.com
I'm not too sure. Probably power kiters or just plain kite flyers. Or not as rich as they used to be!

I have heard the term "sand dragging" with regards to being pulled along the sand while still on your feet but I don't that's the name for the participants!
 

ChrisKavanaugh

Need to contact Admin...
It's a sad day when your own rich folklore is ignored under the cheap veneer of this UFO rot. Next you'll be stopping at a McDonalds to see if there are any secret messages in the kazzie. What you saw is nothing less than one of the Sidhe, AKA the Good Neighbors or the Gentry. You were following what was probably a Kelpie, a water spirit that takes the form of a seal. When they wish to come on land once yearly, they remove their skin and appear mortal.
 

Lithril

Administrator
Admin
Jan 23, 2004
2,590
55
Southampton, UK
mmmmm Kite Jumping, almost had a couple of totally unplanned experiences with that.... I've got an 8' Flexifoil at home, but the moral is to not fly them in strong winds! I weigh around 17 stone and have been dragged along several times, now if only I'd thought to jump :shock:
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE