"The figure appeared to be standing right behind Elizabeth at an angle, how had Jim not noticed this bizarre tall figure encroaching his shot?
Jim and his family said that they never saw another person on the marsh (bar two old ladies sitting in a car on the road knitting), and this mysterious figure wasn’t in any of the other photographs Jim had taken.
He had snapped three pictures and only the middle photo of the three, had this figure on it. (The third of the 3 photos is not in the public domain).
The story could have ended there but word soon got round and the photo made the local Cumberland Newspaper which sold out and then the national papers.
The photo was also passed to the Carlisle police and then sent on to Penrith where photographic experts studied it and finally, Kodak – who checked the camera for faults and the original negative for signs of overexposure, faulty stock and tampering – they found nothing.
The photograph was then sent by the Cumberland News team ‘down under’ and was published in Australian newspapers, soon after. The newspaper contacted Jim and requested a copy of the negative of the picture due to a bizarre incident.
Shortly after this, Jim reported that a Technician from the ‘Blue Streak missile project’ in Australia contacted him and told him they had spotted similar looking unauthorised figures in white, wandering around the launchpad, during an aborted countdown on May 23rd.
Woomera, Australia was the launch site of a big space project called Blue Streak. When the site was checked later by security staff, no person or tracks could be found, the operator who had reported the incident was sent on leave.
This freaky incident allegedly happened within hours of Jim snapping his photograph, on the otherside of the world.
Later, Jim learned that rockets used for the Blue Streak project were being manufactured at RAF Spadeadam, England about 25 miles east from Burgh Marsh on the English/Scottish border.
The picture and negative was exhaustively examined by Police and then Kodak’s experts for any signs of tampering or hoax but none could be found."
