When Taylor returned home from a trip to Dechmont Law dishevelled, his clothes torn and with grazes to his chin and thighs, he claimed he had encountered a "flying dome" which tried to pull him aboard.
Due to his injuries, the police recorded the matter as a common assault and the incident is popularly promoted as the "only example of an alien sighting becoming the subject of a criminal investigation".
Taylor described the object as "a dark metallic material with a rough texture like sandpaper" featuring an outer rim "set with small propellers".
Taylor claims he experienced a foul odour "like burning brakes" and that smaller spheres "similar to sea mines" had seized him and were dragging him in the direction of the larger object when he lost consciousness.
[19] Patricia Hannaford, founder of the Edinburgh University UFO Research Society and a qualified physician, advised Campbell on medical aspects of the case.
Symptoms such as Taylor's previous meningitis, his report of a strong smell which nobody else could detect, his headache, dry throat, paralysis of his legs and period of unconsciousness suggested this cause.
[19] Local businessman Phill Fenton published a report in 2013, speculating that Taylor "may have suffered a mini-stroke and been exposed to harmful chemicals which left him confused and disoriented" and that "the UFO he believes he saw could have been a saucer-shaped water tower nearby".