Alan Godfrey’s 1980 UFO Encounter: A Critical Analysis of the Todmorden Incident

---

The Alan Godfrey case stands as one of Britain’s most compelling UFO encounters, involving a respected police officer, physical evidence, missing time, and possible connections to another mysterious death. This incident has shaped UFO discourse in the UK for decades and contributed to the reputation of Todmorden as a paranormal hotspot. This report examines the evidence, evaluates source credibility, presents skeptical counterarguments, and discusses the case’s lasting impact, while identifying significant gaps in our understanding.

Historical Context and Todmorden’s UFO Legacy

Todmorden, a small town situated in the Calder Valley on the border between Lancashire and Yorkshire, has a rich industrial history dating back to the Industrial Revolution. Once known for textile manufacturing and being home to the first commercial steam-powered railway, by the 1980s the town had gained an unexpected reputation for repeated UFO sightings and strange phenomena¹. This concentration of unexplained aerial phenomena led to the area being nicknamed “UFO Alley,” with reports suggesting that a disproportionate number of British UFO sightings occur in this vicinity²³.

Alan Godfrey: Background and Career

Alan Godfrey was born on June 30, 1947, and served as a police constable with the West Yorkshire Police⁴. Before the 1980 incident, Godfrey was a respected officer with no previous history of paranormal claims or interests. He had an older brother Colin, with whom he played local football, and twin brothers Ian and Stuart, born on March 8, 1950⁴. In the early 1970s, Godfrey lived in Todmorden and briefly worked in south London around 1970⁴. His position as a police officer lends his testimony a degree of credibility not often seen in UFO cases, as law enforcement officers are trained observers expected to provide accurate incident reports.

The Zigmund Adamski Connection

Six months before his own strange experience, PC Godfrey became involved in another case that would later be connected to his UFO encounter – the mysterious death of 56-year-old coal miner Zigmund Adamski.

On June 6, 1980, Adamski left his home in Tingley, West Yorkshire, to go shopping but never returned¹. Three days later, on June 9, his body was discovered on top of a 10-foot-high coal pile in Todmorden, approximately 20 miles from his home⁴¹. As one of the investigating officers, Godfrey noted several peculiar aspects of the case:

1. While Adamski was wearing a suit, his shirt, wallet, and watch were missing¹.
2. His clothes were “improperly” fastened⁴.
3. His hair had been cropped short in what Godfrey described as a “roughly cut” manner⁴¹.
4. Despite being missing for three days, Adamski only had one day’s growth of beard¹.
5. He had mysterious burns on his neck, head, and shoulders¹.
6. Some of the burns had been treated with a strange gel-like ointment that forensic scientists could not identify¹.

The coroner, James Turnbull, confirmed the presence of this unidentifiable substance¹. The official cause of death was ruled as a heart attack, but this did little to explain the unusual circumstances. Speaking to reporters, Godfrey said there was a possibility that Adamski had been abducted by aliens, stating: “I am open-minded. I can’t rule it out”¹.

Various theories emerged about Adamski’s death, including possible involvement of the KGB or that he had been struck by ball lightning, causing him to wander confused before dying atop the coal heap¹. However, the peculiar circumstances remained unexplained, creating a backdrop of mystery that would color interpretations of Godfrey’s later experience.

The UFO Encounter: November 28, 1980

Initial Sighting and Missing Time

In the early morning hours of November 28, 1980, at approximately 5:00 AM, PC Godfrey was on patrol responding to reports of cattle wandering around a council estate in Todmorden⁴¹. As he drove along Burnley Road, Godfrey observed a bright light hovering above the road, which he described as a rotating diamond-shaped object approximately 20 feet high and 14 feet wide⁴².

Godfrey attempted to radio for assistance, but his communication equipment malfunctioned⁴². According to his account, the object then suddenly vanished in a flash of light². After this, Godfrey found himself 30 yards further down the road than where he had stopped to observe the object⁴².

Upon checking his watch, he realized that approximately 30 minutes had passed that he could not account for⁴². Additionally, he noticed physical evidence of the encounter: his boot was split, and he had developed an itchy red mark on his foot⁴. When he returned to the spot where he had first observed the object, he noted that the road, which had been wet from recent rain, was now dry where the object had hovered².

Interestingly, the cattle he had been dispatched to locate were now in a park adjacent to the road, in a location they hadn’t been previously². This collection of anomalies—the object itself, equipment failure, missing time, physical effects, and environmental changes—make Godfrey’s case particularly noteworthy in UFO literature.

Hypnotic Regression and Abduction Claims

Following the incident, and faced with the mystery of his missing time, Godfrey agreed to undergo hypnotic regression to recover any lost memories². During these sessions, he recalled being blinded by a beam of light that caused him to lose consciousness⁴.

Under hypnosis, Godfrey described waking up inside a room where he was being medically examined by small beings alongside a taller humanoid figure with a beard⁴¹². This hypnotically-recovered narrative significantly expanded the scope of Godfrey’s experience, transforming it from a UFO sighting with missing time to a potential abduction case.

These regression sessions are documented in archival footage available on YouTube, where viewers can observe Godfrey recounting these experiences under hypnosis (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YfAlpWVtac)³. The visual documentation of these sessions provides researchers with primary material to evaluate both Godfrey’s demeanor and the regression techniques employed.

Aftermath and Professional Consequences

After reporting the incident, Godfrey faced significant skepticism from his superiors, and his account was met with ridicule². Despite reports that several other officers had noticed strange lights in the sky around the same time, Godfrey found his professional standing deteriorating². He was eventually transferred to Wakefield and has claimed that the incident ultimately cost him his job, his family, and his credibility².

Godfrey believes he was forced into early retirement from the police force as a result of his UFO report⁴. This professional fallout highlights the significant social and career risks that often accompany reporting unusual experiences, particularly for individuals in positions of public trust.

Evidence Assessment

Physical Evidence

The physical evidence in the Godfrey case includes:

1. The split boot and red mark: Godfrey reported physical effects on his person, though it’s unclear whether these were documented by medical professionals or photographed at the time⁴.
2. The dry road surface: While this environmental anomaly is intriguing, the temporary nature of such evidence makes verification difficult in retrospect².
3. Radio malfunction: The failure of Godfrey’s police radio coinciding with the sighting represents a commonly reported effect in close encounter cases⁴².

The transient nature of this evidence presents challenges for retrospective investigation. Without contemporaneous documentation or physical samples, these elements remain primarily testimonial rather than objectively verifiable.

Witness Credibility

As a police officer, Godfrey brought professional observational training to his account. Police testimony is generally given substantial weight in legal contexts, making Godfrey’s account more compelling than many civilian reports. However, several factors complicate the assessment:

1. Evolution of claims: In 2018, Godfrey modified his position somewhat, suggesting that the abduction scenario he described under hypnosis was “probably a dream” and stating that he “never said [he] was abducted by aliens”⁴. This represents a significant qualification of his earlier claims, though he has maintained the reality of the UFO sighting itself.
2. Hypnotic regression: The reliability of memories recovered through hypnosis is considered questionable by modern psychological standards. Such sessions can potentially introduce or reinforce false memories, especially when the subject has preexisting beliefs or expectations.
3. Corroborating witnesses: The search results mention that “several other officers” reported strange lights in the sky around the same time as Godfrey’s encounter². Additionally, a year after Godfrey’s experience, locals Vicky Dinsdale and her grandfather reportedly observed “a long thin diamond-shaped object that kept changing color” in Todmorden². While these reports support the notion of unusual aerial phenomena in the area, they don’t directly corroborate the specific details of Godfrey’s experience.

Skeptical Perspectives and Alternative Explanations

Several alternative explanations have been proposed for Godfrey’s experience:

Psychological Explanations

1. Sleep-related phenomena: The early morning timing of the incident (around 5 AM) might suggest the possibility of hypnagogic hallucinations or microsleep episodes, which can produce vivid dreamlike experiences.
2. False memory syndrome: Memories recovered under hypnosis are particularly susceptible to suggestion and confabulation. The fact that Godfrey himself later characterized the abduction component as “probably a dream” lends weight to this interpretation⁴.
3. Stress-induced experiences: Godfrey had been involved in the disturbing Adamski case months earlier, which might have created psychological stress that manifested in his own unusual experience.

Conventional Phenomena

1. Misidentified aircraft or atmospheric phenomena: Unusual lighting conditions, weather phenomena, or experimental aircraft could potentially explain the sighting. The Pennine region where Todmorden is located is known for unusual atmospheric conditions that could contribute to optical illusions.
2. Temporal lobe epilepsy or similar neurological conditions: These can produce experiences of missing time, unusual visual phenomena, and even complex hallucinations that the experiencer perceives as entirely real.

While these explanations address some aspects of Godfrey’s experience, critics argue that they struggle to account for the full constellation of reported effects—especially the physical evidence and the correlation with other sightings in the area.

Cultural Impact and Legacy

Local Impact

The Godfrey case, combined with the Adamski death and other reported sightings, has cemented Todmorden’s reputation as a UFO hotspot. The town has gained the nickname “UFO Alley,” with claims that a disproportionate number of British UFO sightings occur in this vicinity²³.

This concentration of alleged paranormal activity has continued long after Godfrey’s 1980 encounter. The search results mention that “mysterious objects have been reported for 40 years across the Pennines,” including a 2016 incident over the Ribblehead Viaduct “where strange lights could be seen hovering in the sky for several hours”².

Media Coverage and Continuing Interest

The case has maintained media interest over decades:

1. BBC Radio 4: The case was featured in an episode of “Classic Uncanny” titled “The Todmorden UFO”⁵.
2. YouTube documentaries: Multiple videos explore the case, including the recent March 2025 video “Alan Godfrey’s Shocking UFO Abduction – UK Police Officer’s Alien Encounter!” by Lab 360 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYmyO0Ee7nw)².
3. Books and websites: Godfrey himself has a website (alangodfreyufo.com) where he shares his story⁶. According to the website, Godfrey states: “Now for the first time you can read the truth in his own words…” suggesting that he believes aspects of his experience have been misrepresented or incompletely reported in other sources⁶.

This sustained interest demonstrates the case’s significance in British UFO lore and its power to captivate the public imagination more than four decades after the events occurred.

Position in UFO Discourse

The Godfrey case has become one of the more prominent UFO encounters in British history, particularly notable for:

1. The witness’s position as a police officer
2. The physical evidence claimed
3. The connection to the unexplained Adamski death
4. The detailed “abduction” narrative recovered through hypnosis

These elements have made it a frequently cited case in discussions of potential extraterrestrial visitation, especially within the UK context. The case also highlights important tensions in UFO research—between hypnotically-recovered memories and consciously recalled experiences, between institutional skepticism and witness testimony, and between purely psychological explanations and those that posit external phenomena.

Epistemological Challenges

The Godfrey case illustrates several fundamental challenges in evaluating UFO reports:

1. Transient evidence: The most compelling physical evidence in UFO cases is often temporary or not properly documented at the time, making retrospective verification difficult.
2. Hypnotic regression reliability: The use of hypnosis to recover “missing time” raises significant questions about the reliability of such memories, even when the witness is otherwise credible.
3. Institutional response: The reported professional consequences for Godfrey highlight the institutional barriers to serious investigation of such phenomena within official organizations.
4. Witness reliability over time: Godfrey’s later qualification of his claims demonstrates how witness interpretations can evolve, complicating the evaluation of historical cases.

These epistemological issues extend beyond the Godfrey case to UFO research more broadly, highlighting the challenges inherent in studying phenomena that resist conventional investigation methods.

Research Gaps and Future Directions

Several avenues could potentially provide additional insights into this case:

1. Military/government records: Freedom of Information requests might reveal whether military radar detected unusual objects in the Todmorden area on the night of Godfrey’s encounter.
2. Comprehensive interviews with other officers: More detailed accounts from the other officers who reportedly saw strange lights around the same time would strengthen the case considerably.
3. Analysis of Adamski evidence: Modern forensic techniques might be able to identify the mysterious substance found on Adamski’s burns if samples were preserved.
4. Geological and atmospheric study: Research into whether the Todmorden area has unusual electromagnetic, geological, or atmospheric conditions might explain the concentration of unusual phenomena reported there.
5. Psychological research: Controlled studies of hypnotic regression and its reliability could help evaluate the abduction component of Godfrey’s account.

Conclusion

The Alan Godfrey UFO encounter of 1980 remains an intriguing but ultimately unresolved case. While it contains elements that UFO researchers find compelling—a credible witness, physical effects, missing time, and possible connections to another mysterious incident—it also presents significant evidential challenges.

Godfrey’s later qualification of his claims, particularly regarding the “abduction” component, adds complexity to the assessment. Without additional independent verification or preserved physical evidence, the case largely rests on Godfrey’s testimony and the circumstantial connection to the Adamski case.

What makes this case particularly valuable to UFO research is not necessarily what it proves, but the questions it raises about how we evaluate testimony, physical evidence, coincidence, and the boundaries of conventional explanation. Whether one interprets Godfrey’s experience as an alien encounter, a psychological event, or something else entirely, it remains a compelling chapter in the ongoing study of unexplained aerial phenomena and challenges our understanding of the boundaries between objective reality, perception, and interpretation.

The continued fascination with the Godfrey case over four decades highlights both the power of such narratives in our culture and the persistent lack of satisfactory explanations for experiences that fall outside conventional understanding. As new investigative techniques and more open institutional attitudes toward unexplained phenomena develop, cases like Godfrey’s may eventually yield more definitive answers—or continue to remind us of the limits of our knowledge.

⁂

^{457681239101112}

1. https://www.history.co.uk/articles/the-todmorden-ufo-mystery-a-close-encounter-in-west-yorkshire ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYmyO0Ee7nw ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YfAlpWVtac ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Godfrey ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰

5. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0011bgy ↩ ↩²

6. https://www.alangodfreyufo.com ↩ ↩² ↩³

7. https://www.dazeddigital.com/art-photography/article/55258/1/yorkshire-town-unexplained-extraterrestrial-activity-ufo-todmorden-rik-moran ↩

8. https://open.spotify.com/episode/3lA191mugP8sQAsj7W0r8e ↩

9. http://www.calderdalecompanion.co.uk/mmg222.html ↩

10. https://www.daysofhorror.com/episode/the-baffling-case-of-alan-godfrey-1980/ ↩

11. https://www.umbrellamagazine.co.uk/feature/chance-encounters-alien-abduction-in-the-pennines ↩

12. https://scaredycatskeptic.co.uk/todmorden-ufo-abduction/ ↩