The Cheshire “Silver-Suited” Man! An Encounter With The Nordics?

By
Marcus Lowth
Published Date
December 5, 2018
Last Updated
July 22, 2021
Estimated Reading Time
14 min read
Comments
1
Posted in
Aliens, Encounters

In the summer of 1976 in the Reddish Vale area of Cheshire, England, three young children would encounter a mysterious humanoid figure in a strange silver suit. What’s more, this figure would simply vanish into thin air, not once but twice, right in front of the astonished children. The incident would eventually find itself into the MUFON records although it remains unexplained.

Cheshire Silver Man blended into a picture of a UFO over the countryside

A depiction of the Silver Man

As bizarre as the details of “silver space suits” sound, there are relatively consistent reports of encounters with such attired figures. Encounters that are spread across the decades and around the planet. Perhaps, then, we should consider the apparently equally bizarre (to some) claims of the one-time Canadian Minister of Defense Paul Hellyer, who very publicly would state that anywhere from “two to twelve races of aliens” are regularly visiting the Earth. Or maybe we should consider NASA’s recent and discreet announcement that “aliens may have visited Earth” with a little more contemplation than we otherwise might?

Before we move on, however, check out the video below. It gives a basic overview of this silver-suited alien race that some call “The Nordics”.

 “One Minute He Was There! The Next He Was Gone!”

One afternoon in August 1976, three children, brother and sister, Susan and John, and another anonymous boy, were playing near to their homes on wasteland. Although the destination was near the railway lines, a neighbor had built a small hut for the children, which is where they always stayed.

As the two boys played, Susan returned to the hut, so she could make orange drinks for everyone. Shortly after she left, the two boys noticed a sudden “flash of silver” from behind the bushes around the edge of the wasteland. At the same time, they could each hear a “crackling noise” coming from the same area. As each of them turned to look in the direction of the noise, a strange man emerged into the clearing.

He wore a “silver one-piece suit” and had a short grey beard, but long “yellowish hair”. Even stranger, though, was that the figure wasn’t stood on the ground, it was floating slightly above it. Each of the boys remained frozen to the spot watching the strange silver figure. Then, it simply vanished. John would later recall “It was like a light bulb being switched off. One minute he was there, the next he was gone”.

Susan, who was still preparing drinks in the small hut, was unaware the two boys had seen anything strange. However, as she finished the drinks and was about to carry them outside, a “rustling” sound came from outside the shed. She turned her attention to the small window. On the other side of it was a strange man in bright silver clothing, looking in at her.

A Second Sudden Disappearance!

There was only a matter of several feet between herself and this mysterious person. Susan could see the boys behind him, but they were looking towards one of the bushes. After several moments of staring at her, the man suddenly took a small hand-shovel from his belt and dropped down to the ground. He began to scoop up soil, placing these samples into different clear bags. Although he seemed no longer interested in the girl at all, a sudden wave of fear swept over her. Instinctively, she called out to her brother. As soon as she did so, the man vanished just like he had in front of the boys moments earlier.

After composing themselves, and now feeling a sense of safety in numbers, the three children would venture outside once more to look for the mysterious stranger. A school stood nearby. As the children approached the high fence that ran around the perimeter of its land, they could clearly see the strange figure once again. Like before, he was collecting samples of soil from the ground. Although the children continued to quietly approach him, this silver-suited man was apparently unaware of them.

When they were only several yards away, though, he would “go down into the ground” and then vanished. The trio would stop momentarily before continuing on in an effort to reach the location where the man had vanished for a third time.

A superimposed UFO over a field in the country

Just what was witnessed that day in Cheshire?

A Disc-Like Craft From Out Of The Ground!

Before they could reach their destination, however, they noticed a strange object rising, out of the ground, in the same spot where the mystery man had been only moments earlier. The “top” of the craft was a disc-shape with a distinct curve to it. The bottom, on the other hand, was almost perfectly flat. The craft was a dark, silver color, apparently metallic. There were, though, four dark “holes” in a row on the upper section. These were most likely windows or portholes. The children watched the strange craft rise high into the air before it disappeared out of their sight.

Both John and Susan would estimate the man to be of normal height (they would say the same height as their father – 5 feet 9 inches). They would describe the silver clothing as like a tracksuit with several “buttons” down the front of the top. On his hands were silver gloves and on his feet were boots with “thick black soles”. Aside from the bright attire, they would recall his skin was very pale. Furthermore, his eyes were a shape that was “like a cat’s”.

Did the three children witness a strange humanoid entity from another world? One who, judging from its actions, was on a non-aggressive fact-finding mission? As bizarre as it perhaps sounds, entities with “silver space suits” are remarkably persistent across the decades. Even apparent trivial details such as the shape of the eyes, pale skin, and in particular “long yellowish hair” all surface regularly in similar close contact encounters.

A 1976 “Nordic Alien” Wave?

Many people in the UFO community refer to this apparent race of extraterrestrials as The Nordics. In a similar way that many dismiss claims of “reptilian aliens”, claims of this pale-skinned long-haired alien race are often met with similar disdain. It is easy, on the surface, to see why, and tempting to do likewise. However, the abundance of similar claims forces us to at least contemplate the reality of such an alien race.

Perhaps even more intriguing, certainly to the above accounts, is that August 1976 has several very similar encounters to boast of. Incidents where disc-like crafts would land and similarly dressed occupants would perform some quick surveillance type duty before quickly disappearing again.

For example, in Flint in Wales, an unidentified craft was observed in a field in the middle of the afternoon. Furthermore, there were reports of several “occupants”. An almost identical sighting, again in the middle of the afternoon, occurred in Stockport towards the end of the month. A sighting in St. Raphael in France one evening just after midnight saw a “cigar-shaped” object hovering over a field with several humanoid figures clearly visible and moving around inside. According to the report, upon the blasting of a car horn, the object shot upwards and disappeared.

Over in the United States, in Sterling, Colorado, in the middle of a series of cattle mutilation cases, no less, came a report of “three human-like figures” witnessed floating over a fence around a field housing the farmer’s cattle. When the two ranchers went over to the muddy field, there were no footprints whatsoever, suggesting, as in other cases, the entities were floating above the ground’s surface.

Perhaps one of the first of the August 1976 encounters also took place in the United States, this time in Wisconsin.

A depiction of a UFO over an American farm

There were many sightings of “Nordic Aliens” in 1976

More Strange “Sample Collecting” Encounters

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the early hours of 1st August 1976 at just after 4:30 am, came another intriguing incident. The unnamed 20-year-old female witness heard a noise outside that dragged her from sleep. When she peered out of the window, she was shocked to see two “humanoid occupants” near a strange “glowing light”. She could hear them talking, although the language was “unintelligible” to her and not one she could even hazard a guess at. The figures were a person’s average height and were apparently collecting something from the ground. Suddenly, they both disappeared and the light, likely the craft, disappeared into the night sky.

Perhaps one of the strangest of these incidents comes from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. On the afternoon of the 15th August 1976, an “elderly gentleman” watched in bemusement as a shining circular object appeared out of the sky and began to descend into his yard right in the front of his house. Then, a humanoid figure emerged from the craft and quickly scanned their surroundings. Rather than take any further action, though, the figure promptly re-entered the craft which then took off at breathtaking speed. The entire episode had played out in absolute silence despite the obvious highly advanced nature of the craft. Was this a case of a landing in the wrong destination?

A similar incident would take place less than twenty-four hours later. And interestingly enough, the location was, once again, Wisconsin. The same state of the “humanoid sightings” only a fortnight earlier.

The Egg Harbor Incidents, Wisconsin

Perhaps of these other incidents of humanoid sightings in the summer of 1976 are those at Egg Harbor in Wisconsin on the 16th and 23rd August respectively. The first incident occurred around 4 am on the 16th August. The witnesses, Dean Anderson and Wayne Schutte, were tending to a local golf course ready for the busy day ahead. However, out of nowhere, an “orange object” descended on to the golf course. Anderson, who was on one of the golf course’s mobile mowers at the time, saw a strange figure standing on the course in the headlights of the mower. It turned and began running which prompted Anderson to give chase on the mower.

As he did so, he noticed a strange light appear on the creature’s helmet. At the same time, the creature’s belt also began to glow, colors of red, green, pink, yellow, and orange. He would get to within several feet of the strange humanoid before an “energy beam” appeared out of nowhere, instantly causing the mower to stop. Several seconds later, a “scout ship” descended, an open doorway on the underside declaring a bright glow inside. Suddenly, the figure began to float upwards into the doorway which closed as soon as its cargo was safely inside. The craft then ascended quickly and disappeared.

A superimposed UFO over Golf Course at night

What was witnessed in Egg Harbor in 1976?

A Cosmic Scientific Mission On Earth In 1976?

At a little after 4:15 am on the 23rd August, the strange orange “glow” would descend again, almost in the exact same place. Once landed, two “human-looking occupants” came out of the craft. They would “float” down to the ground on a “band of light” before gathering several “samples”. They then approached Anderson and introduced themselves as “scientists” from Jupiter and Saturn. This detail, particularly in retrospect, leads many to question the authenticity of the account, certainly the second one, of which he was the only witness. However, it is perhaps worth noting that many scientists today point to the moons of both of these gas giants as likely candidates of supporting, and perhaps already hosting life.

Upon closer inspection, Anderson could see each of the humanoids wore sparkling tight-fitting suits of “some glistening metallic material”. He further claimed that these apparent cosmic entities had different colored skin. One a “light tan” and the other a “copper color” and were of the standard size of a human adult. The previous week, incidentally, Anderson would state the height of the entity to be around seven feet. Was this landing of a different race of alien? Or, and perhaps more likely, was the first incident in the early hours of the 16th August genuine? Whereas the second was one of fantasy on the part of the witness? Perhaps wishing to prolong the attention, or even seeking monetary gain? All speculation, no doubt, but several other similar close encounters, at least according to some, took similar turns.

All are compelling cases, though. And maybe there was a cosmic scientific mission on Earth by non-aggressive extraterrestrials during the summer of 1976?

Check out the video below. It looks at claims of The Nordics and who this mysterious alien race might be.

The Equally Bizarre Accounts Of Gaynor Sunderland

What is intriguing about this account that occurred in Cheshire in the summer of 1976, an incident with almost identical “silver-suited” aliens occurred in Wales only weeks earlier.

One day in July 1976, 9-year-old Gaynor Sunderland (some sources state she was 6 at the time) rushed into her home almost unable to speak from fright. She would eventually tell her mother, Marion, of a strange and frightening ordeal as she made her way home in Oakenholt, near Flint in North Wales.

She claimed that she had noticed a strange “silver saucer-shaped object” descending from the sky overhead and land in a nearby field. She immediately knew she was seeing something out of the ordinary and took cover in some nearby hedges at the roadside. She would lay quiet, peeking through a small gap in the vegetation. She would later estimate that the object was around 35 feet long and around nine feet high. On the top was a “flashing box” and a row of yellow windows ran along the side of it.

To her amazement, she witnessed two humanoid figures emerge from the landed craft, each of which was dressed from head to toe in a tight-fitting silver suit. For reasons she couldn’t explain, she had the feeling that one of the beings was a man and the other a woman. They each carried a strange piece of equipment with which they appeared to poke at the ground. It appeared that when the device touched the ground, it “burned holes” in it.

Artist's impression of Gaynor Sunderland's encounter

Artist’s impression of Gaynor Sunderland’s encounter

Suddenly, it appeared the figures realized they were being watched as they looked directly at her. She would later recall how she had the impression that they were “probing her mind” with their large angular pink eyes.

A short time, later, as Gaynor remained as still as she could despite the feeling that the being was attempting to get inside her mind, the two figures returned inside the craft. As it rose into the air, she heard a loud humming sound. Taking her chance, she broke cover and rushed home to her mother.

She would claim that she was “cold and terrified” as she watched the strange creatures, feeling “sure they had seen” her. It would be almost 18 months before Gaynor agreed to speak and report the incident through her fear of being ridiculed by her friends. When she did, though, it would prove to be the first of several events over the coming years.

The Further Bizarre Events Of The Sunderland Family

Veteran UFO researcher, Jenny Randles, would investigate the case and publish several articles on it, as well as including it in her book Alien Contact. It would turn out that Gaynor and the Sunderland family would have several strange encounters over the later years of the 1970s.

For example, in September of that year, she would witness a “huge orange light” that appeared to be hovering over the Dee estuary. She watched it for several moments before taking her focus away for just a second. When she looked back, the object had vanished.

Almost exactly a year after the encounter with the silver-suited beings, in July 1977, she witnessed another orange glowing light hovering over the same field. As she left the area she turned to watch the light as it “melted away”.

She would see two orange lights a little over a year later in September 1978. The two orbs were connected by some kind of black bar. They began on their way toward her at speed before simply vanishing. On this occasion, a friend she was with corroborated the strange orange lights.

Around a month later in October, Gaynor’s mother witnessed a strange aerial anomaly. It was around 10 pm when she witnessed a “pale yellow light” whilst outside of her home. The bizarre glow was moving slowly toward the estuary. She called out to her husband who was inside the house causing him to rush outside.

At first, he offered that the light was merely an aircraft. However, when he witnessed the object split in two, however, he immediately changed his mind. They continued on a parallel course for several minutes before they merged together once more and appeared to land in one of the fields in the distance.

A depiction of a silver-suited alien

Just what were the Sunderland family seeing?

On the evening of 29th October, another strange occurrence unfolded. On the night in question, at a little after 9 pm, Gaynor was returning home from a disco with her older brother, Carl. As they did so, Gaynor noticed a strange orange light appearing to “dance” on the hedges in the distance. When she pointed this out to her brother, though, he dismissed at as some kind of firework. As he walked off ahead, she continued to watch the light. Long enough to see it shoot off into the air and over the fields.

Around 45 minutes later at around 10 pm, Gaynor’s mother was walking the family dog near their home. As the night was clear, she had brought her binoculars with her so that she might look at the stars while the dog went off to investigate. On this night, though, rather than spotting stars, she noticed a large light seemingly moving over the nearby fields.

She dismissed it as nothing but an airplane, but when she viewed the light through the binoculars it appeared to be a “white circle with a smaller orange circle inside”. She could further see a “red band” went around the middle of the craft. Furthermore, she could clearly see the object “rotated anti-clockwise” and did so at a “moderate but consistent rate”.

She would later report that she felt a strange hypnotic attraction to it, almost as if she couldn’t take her gaze from it. Suddenly, she snapped herself out of the apparent trance and rushed home so that she could grab her camera. After doing so she rushed outside and attempted to capture a picture of the bizarre object. However, as she attempted to do so, it suddenly shot upward and disappeared in a second.

She noticed that where she had viewed the orange object there was now a “circular green luminescence”. She would return to the house but ventured back outside around 20 minutes later to find the green circle still there. It had disappeared within the next several hours. She would even make a report of the incident the following morning with RAF Sealand. Interestingly, she was informed that “dozens of reports” had been received since the previous evening.

Even more interesting, when she rang back only 24 hours later in order to obtain contact of the other witnesses, she was told that the base had had no such UFO reports and was not aware of anything strange in the skies two days previously.

Incidents Continue Into 1979

Sightings would continue into 1979. At around 6:15 pm on the 21st February was walking a neighbor’s dog when it suddenly lay face down on the floor and began to whine anxiously. At first, Gaynor was completely confused as to why the dog was acting in such a way. Then, however, she looked out over the fields in the distance and saw the now similar orange ball, seemingly spinning repeatedly as it hovered.

More alarming, though, were the two beings she witnessed near some bushed only 25 yards from where she stood. Like before, the two figures were dressed in the same tight-fitting silver one-piece suits.

A depiction of a silver hand reaching out of a portal

Are these similar encounters connected?

As she stood looking at the two figures, she could hear the dog begin to whine once more. She instinctively turned her head toward the dog. When she glanced back to the bushes only a second or two later, the two figures had vanished. She turned her attention back to the orange object which remained hovering for several more moments before it too disappeared. Almost as soon as it had, the dog returned to its normal behavior.

Two weeks later in the early hours of the morning of 7th March, another remarkable incident unfolded. According to a report from Marion Sunderland to Randles, at around 1:50 am she awoke suddenly and immediately realized that the streetlight outside the house was not on. Before she could contemplate that any further, she heard a strange “low rumbling” sound quickly followed by a flash of white light that appeared to pass by the window. During this, Marion remained in bed fearing what would happen next. After around 20 seconds the light suddenly vanished the low sound ceased. A second later, the streetlight came back on. Strangely, within seconds, she had fallen back asleep, feeling particularly refreshed the following morning.

Further Revelations Through Jenny Randles Investigation

Randles would uncover sightings from other residents of the area during her extensive investigation of the Sunderland case. For example, in August 1978, a local 16-year-old girl was so traumatized, she had previously refused to speak of the strange object she witnessed on a quiet road.

An even more intriguing incident occurred in the opening months of 1979 when a local man came across a strange man in a shiny silver suit. The encounter occurred just five miles from Gaynor Sunderland’s encounter in the town of Shotton.

Yet another encounter occurred only four miles away in Ewloe in July (once more) 1975. An anonymous couple was driving along a country road at a similar time to Gaynor’s sighting when a strange, silver-suited man appeared out of nowhere in their path. The figure then disappeared down an embankment at the side of the road. The witnesses would recall that the figure walked awkwardly.

Perhaps also of interest are the “psychic experiences” of Gaynor Sunderland during the time of the sightings. It has been noted by many UFO researchers over the years that is a strange connection between UFO and alien encounters and paranormal activity. For example, she had several “mental pictures” of strange entities smiling at her. This happened a lot, she claimed, when she was under stress.

A depiction of silver aliens

There were multiple accounts of silver-suited humanoids in the 1970s

She would also speak to Randles of strange dreams she often had. These would usually involve being inside a UFO and sitting in a “high-backed chair” with “aliens” around her. She also often dreamed of walking past the field where she had the first encounter, with the strange beings smiling at her.

One particular encounter took place on the 24th March 1979 while she was babysitting at a neighbor’s house. At around 9:30 pm she was overcome with a sudden feeling of anxiety. She telephoned her mother and asked if she would come to the neighbor’s house. However, she could not do so for another hour. This anxiety continued once her mother had joined her. At one point, she even jumped from the chair where she was sitting and rushed to her mother. She claimed she had sensed a sudden “presence” near her.

Perhaps bizarrely she would then offer that she believed these people – whoever they were and wherever they came from – were “important people”, perhaps “leaders or scientists”.

The Sunderland case is without a doubt one of the most intriguing on record – and for several reasons. Not only does it corroborate, in part, the sighting of the silver man in Cheshire, but it is perhaps one that suggests a connection to alien abduction. Furthermore, it is another case that shows connections to the world of the paranormal.

It is perhaps interesting that Gaynor herself referred to the apparent aliens as “entities” as opposed to anything else, perhaps once more suggesting a link with something that we would more readily understand as the paranormal.

The incidents themselves – at least the sightings of the strange figures and glowing crafts – appeared to stop as the seventies slipped into the eighties. Why this might be is uncertain. Might it be that this particular race of aliens – if indeed that is what they were – were only present here for that short window of time? Or might it be that their interest in Gaynor and her family was no more, and that they had received whatever information they required from them?

Marcus Lowth

Marcus Lowth is a writer with a love for UFOs, aliens, and the Ancient Astronaut Theory, to the paranormal, general conspiracies, and unsolved mysteries. He has been writing and researching with over 20 years of experience.

Marcus has been Editor-in-Chief for several years due to his excellent knowledge in these fields. Marcus also regularly appears as an expert on radio talk shows including Troubled Minds and Unexplained Radio discussing these topics.

Read Marcus' full bio.

You can contact Marcus via email.

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1 Comment

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  • Geoff says:

    I’ve been a student and fancier of this phenomenon since Major Donald Kehoe days . I may be old but I am determined to ferret out the truth from fantasy. There is SOMETHING there and the truth will OUT ..eventually. Be patient.

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