The Lyme Bay Mutilation
It was 10 years ago this week that a strange series of events occurred in the West Country of England that involved UFOs, strange beasts and weird animal mutilations. The events at issue were chronicled within the pages of The Rising of the Moon - an excellent book written by two good friends of mine: Jon Downes and Nigel Wright., and one that I urge anyone and everyone with an interest in UFOs and animal mutilations to read.
Given that the case is little-known outside of the UK, and with this being its anniversary (of sorts!), I figured now would be a good time to bring the story to a wider audience.
It all began on 1 October 1997, as Nigel revealed:
“Approximately three weeks ago two young men were swimming in Otter Cove [, Lyme Bay, Exmouth, England]. As darkness drew in, they decided to make for the shore and change to go home. As they got changed, one of them looked out to sea. He saw what he described as a ‘greenish’ light under the surface. He called to the other young man and they both watched as this light ‘rose’ to the surface of the water. The next thing they knew there was a very bright light shining into their faces. They turned the scene and fled.”
Meanwhile, on the top of the cliffs, said Nigel, equally strange things were afoot. The two young men ran to the car of a relative and explained what had happened. Incredibly, she, too, had seen something highly unusual in precisely the same time frame on the road leading to Otter Cove: a strange animal that she likened to “an enormous cat.” Whatever the origin of the beast, however, she was certain of one thing: it was, to quote her, “all lit up” – glowing almost.
On the following day, a dead whale was found washed-up on the beach below the cliffs. This did not appear to have been merely a tragic accident, however. And upon receiving reports that the whale had been found in precisely the area that anomalous lights and a strange creature had been seen, Nigel launched an investigation.
According to Nigel: “The first thing that struck me as I looked on at this scene was how perfect the carcass was. There was no decay or huge chunks torn from it. Then, as I wandered around it, I noticed that there was only one external wound: in the area of the genitals a round incision, the size of a large dinner plate, was cut right into the internal organs of the mammal. The sides of this incision were perfectly formed, as if some giant apple corer had been inserted and twisted around. From the wound hung some of the internal organs. I quizzed the official from English Heritage, who was responsible for the disposal of the carcass. He informed me that no natural predator or boat strike would have caused this wound. As I looked at this sight, the first thing that came into my mind was how this looked just like the cattle mutilation cases of recent times.”
Nigel was also able to determine that this was not the only time that unusual lights had been seen in the vicinity of Lyme Bay.
“No precise date can be given for the evening when a fishing boat encountered a strange light over Lyme Bay,” explained Nigel, “but, since this was told to me by the skipper of the vessel concerned, I can vouch for its authenticity. The vessel in question was five miles off Budleigh Salterton. The crew became aware of a bright, white-blue light which hovered some distance from the boat. At first they thought it was a helicopter but they heard no engine sounds, nor saw any navigation lights.”
Nigel was told by the captain of the vessel that the night had been “bright and clear” and that if the object had made any noise, it would certainly have been “audible for miles.”
“The light remained stationary for about one and a half hours. Judging by the mast of their vessel, which is twenty-eight feet high, the crew estimated that the light was not much higher than that,” added Nigel ”It then very suddenly disappeared.”
Ten years on, the mystery of Lyme Bay remains…
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Oct 01 2007 
October 1st, 2007 at 11:58 am
I must admit, I’d not heard of the Lyme Bay mutilation. Thanks for the heads-up - I’m now off to find out more.
October 1st, 2007 at 5:56 pm
Would love to see a photo of the whale carcass.
What species was it?
October 1st, 2007 at 6:22 pm
Whoa, a whale mutilation? Is that a first?
October 2nd, 2007 at 9:53 am
Some of the photos were published - back around 1999 or 2000 in the now-defunct British “UFO Magazine” that Graham Birdsall edited. I no longer have copies of the mag, but if someone reading this does, maybe they can dig out the old issue in question.
I’d definitely recommend a read of Jon Downes’ book on all this: “The Rising of the Moon.”
Not sure of species, but I’ll have a look in Jon’s book.
Nope: not the only whale mute, as there were a couple of other, odd ones in the area too; but I don’t think they have been repeated for a long time.
Nick