Beam me up Scottie

The Evening Standard, U.K. - 4/8/2004

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It could be the whisky or possibly the haggis - but, whatever the reason, aliens seem a bit partial to Scotland. Anyone wishing to be abducted by the little green men would be well advised to take the High Road - to Bonnybridge, to be precise.

It could be the whisky or possibly the haggis - but, whatever the reason, aliens seem a bit partial to Scotland.

Anyone wishing to be abducted by the little green men would be well advised to take the High Road - to Bonnybridge, to be precise.

The Stirlingshire town has the highest number of reported UFO sightings in Britain, with more than 100 every month, research shows.

Residents there have also claimed the greatest variety of spaceships, describing everything from flying saucers to hovering cigars. Witnesses include not only the usual UFO watchersand cranks, but everyone from firemen to a police helicopter pilot.

In fact, locals want their town to be twinned with Roswell, in New Mexico, where it was claimed a spaceship came down in 1947 and was taken to a secret military base.

The findings are revealed in a study by Grolsch, which has compiled a list of Top 40 UFO hotspots in a booklet How To Be Abducted By Aliens.

'You can be abducted by aliens anywhere and at any time,' said UFO expert Christopher Martin, who claims to have been kidnapped by a ship. 'But the classic abduction happens at night when you're lying in bed and you're awakened by a bright light.

'You are lifted or floated out of your room, often through the walls, and brought on to a spaceship.'

Up to 40,000 Britons and 4million Americans claim to have ben kidnapped by aliens. But Nick Pope, who ran the UFO desk at the MoD for three years, said the number of sightings could be far higher.

'We must take into account widespread under-reporting due to the fear of ridicule,' he added.