"Most Spectacular UFO Picture Ever Captured" Found after 30 Years

This photo of an anomalous object was reportedly taken by two young men near the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland on August 4th, 1990.

A photograph reportedly lost since 1990 that shows what appears to be an unidentified flying object has been recovered by journalist David Clarke.

In an article for the Daily Mail, Clarke said he first heard of the missing photograph “many moons ago” and has spent the past 13 years looking for it.

"[This is] a photograph one [Ministry of Defence] insider described as the most spectacular UFO picture ever captured, and the Holy Grail in terms of hard evidence that these things really exist," Clarke said of the recovered photo.

The image was said to have been taken on August 4th, 1990, by two young men who were working as chefs in a hotel near the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland.

The two men had decided to head to Calvine and hike the hills on the edge of the Cairngorms at approximately 9 p.m. when they had their encounter.

It was there that they saw what Clarke described as a "huge, solid, diamond-shaped object, about 100 [feet] long, hovering silently in the sky above them."

According to Clarke, the two men became frightened and hid in some bushes to watch the craft until, minutes later, they witnessed a jet aircraft flying north. The jet then came back and circled the anomalous craft before leaving on its original course, an action that was interpreted to mean the pilot had returned for a closer look.

As Clarke notes, "In 1990, RAF Leuchars in Fife had two squadrons of Tornado fighters on 24-hour standby to intercept Russian intruder aircraft."

During this time the men took six photographs, after which the object shot up into the sky and disappeared.

They then took their photos to the Daily Record, one of Scotland's leading newspapers, since they were convinced that they had captured evidence of a UFO.

However, no story covering their experience was printed by the paper. Instead, the photos were given to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), after which they seemingly vanished.

The two young men similarly faded away, and they have remained anonymous since. To this day, both the MoD and the National Archives have been reluctant to release any information about the sighting. The original photographs and negatives remain hidden, and the witnesses' names have yet to be revealed, despite standard procedure dictating that such information be released after 30 years. Currently, the MoD wants to see the witnesses kept anonymous until at least 2076, citing “privacy concerns.”

Clarke was only able to secure his copy of the photograph after finding retired RAF officer Craig Lindsay, who was the first official to speak with one of the young men following their sighting.

Lindsay had broken protocol and hidden a copy of the image prior to sending the remaining evidence to the MoD in London.

"I have been for waiting for someone to contact [me] about this for more than 30 years," Lindsay told Clarke.

Clarke had the photograph analyzed by Andrew Robinson, a senior lecturer in photography at Sheffield Hallam University.

According to Clarke, Robinson "is convinced it is genuine, and if it is a hoax, then a highly elaborate one, involving expensive, sophisticated equipment and flying models, not at the disposal of two jobbing hotel chefs."

"My conclusion is that the object is definitely in front of the camera, that is, it's not a fake produced in post-production, and its placement within the scene appears to be approximately halfway between the foreground fence and the plane in the background," Robinson said.

Lindsay is similarly convinced of the photo’s authenticity.

"As a press officer for Scotland, I dealt with many UFO reports, but most were just of lights in the sky," he said. "It was obvious this one was different. When I asked what sort of noise it had made, the man said, 'It didn't make any noise at all.' Up to that point I wasn't treating it very seriously but when he said it was silent, I suddenly realized there is no aircraft that I know of that is silent."

The MoD may have been convinced as well, based on Lindsay's testimony regarding the organization's interest in the young men's experience.

"Before I could even get back to my desk the phone was ringing and my contact said, 'Tell me more about this. Can you get the negatives?" he said.

Lindsay also implied that the MoD seemed intent on keeping the investigation a secret.

"I asked how they were getting on. They said it was being investigated. I was told to 'leave it to London'… they asked me not to get involved, so I have done exactly that," he said. "The years passed and gradually I just forgot about the print in my drawer. Now I hope the two witnesses will come forward and tell their own stories."

Once the photograph was introduced to the UFO community, the response was immediate.

Some thought to provide a prosaic explanation for the object, such as skeptic Mick West, who posited that it might represent a “drab kite.”

Or Scottish musician Gordon Hudson, who suspects that it might not be a flying object at all, but rather, low cloud cover revealing only the summit of a nearby mountain.

Still others, like retired police lieutenant and UFO researcher Tim McMillan, seem to be surer of what the object isn’t than what it is.

As for Clarke, he believes the photograph captured a secret government project.

"Sadly, I do not think that mysterious aircraft arrived from another galaxy," he said. "I believe it was man-made somewhere in a secret hangar—and whatever it was remains on the secret list and highly sensitive. The witnesses had simply been in that 'million to one' chance of being in that particular place at that particular time and needed to be shut up."

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