Case description
Four young men, reportedly aged seventeen to nineteen, said they were looking for pheasants beside the River Weaver in the Devil’s Garden area near Frodsham in January 1978. They watched a silver, balloon-like object travel low along the river and settle in vegetation. Fuller descriptions give a spherical body about 4.5 metres across, a lower rim, windows or flashing lights and an uncomfortable purple glow, accompanied by humming and rushing-air sounds.
A normal-sized figure in silver coveralls and a helmet with a lamp reportedly appeared, then returned with a companion. The witnesses said nearby cattle became motionless. The pair carried a metallic frame to one cow and adjusted its bars as though measuring the animal. The young men fled; one later described soreness and redness, while others mentioned tingling. These were reported after-effects, without an accessible clinical confirmation in the material reviewed.
The early trail includes Sue McTurk’s Runcorn Weekly News reporting in February and April 1978. Retellings disagree over the exact date, time and some details; the imported spelling Fordsham should read Frodsham. Later writers suspected a hoax or mentioned information challenging the story, but the accessible discussion does not publish a decisive demonstration. The case remains disputed rather than a confirmed extraterrestrial examination of livestock.
