Case description
A group of boys reported a small blue figure on Studham Common, Bedfordshire, while returning to afternoon school in January 1967. The usual date is 28 January at about 13:45, although one later Vallée account prints 25 January and the imported ledger gives 13:50. Witness totals vary between six and seven. Alex Butler reportedly first noticed the figure after lightning and thunder near the Dell, a shallow valley where the boys played.
They described a roughly three-foot figure with an unusually tall, rounded, brimless hat or helmet, a forked beard and a gray-blue glow that obscured detail. A broad dark belt supported a small square black box. The arms remained close to its sides; legs and feet were poorly seen. On approaching, the boys said it disappeared in bluish haze, then reappeared elsewhere several times. They also recalled unfamiliar voices or a low babbling sound from bushes. The school signal ended their search.
Their teacher, Miss Newcomb, reportedly separated them and collected written accounts; R. H. B. Winder and colleagues later interviewed them for Flying Saucer Review. The original school booklet was not recovered. No UFO accompanied the figure, and subsequent regional sightings do not establish a connection. Speculations that the beard was breathing apparatus or the box a receiver were investigators' interpretations. The ledger carries a hoax flag, but the reviewed accounts provide no established confession or conclusive solution; the plate labels the unresolved schoolchildren's report and avoids treating it as a documented landing.
