This story appeared on a good few online 'news' web sites and, as is my rule, whatever I thought about it personally it needed to be looked into. I never dismiss a report until I have the facts.
Here is what the newspapers wrote:
The Sun
SPACE COWBOY Alien sighting reported in Yeovil as man claims he saw sinister seven-foot creature wearing cowboy hat at bus stop
By CARL STROUD
22 Dec 2016, 11:41Updated: 22 Dec 2016, 12:49
Alleged encounter leaves motorist so spooked he has not been able to sleep since
A SINISTER seven-foot alien wearing a cowboy hat has been spotted at a bus stop in Yeovil.
The alleged extra-terrestrial was black, had no face, spikes down its side and “silky” hair.
Panicked driver sent sketch of extra-terrestrial to local paper after witnessing it at bus stop
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Panicked driver sent sketch of extra-terrestrial to local paper after witnessing it at bus stop Credit: SWNS:South West News Service
The spooked driver who claims to have witnessed it outside Yeovil College in Somerset says the encounter has left him so terrified he hasn’t been able to sleep since.
He said: "I was driving up the road as I normally do and I saw this dark looking figure by Yeovil College. It looked quite tall and had this big Stetson hat.
"I slowed down to have a closer look and thought it's not a man, it was about 7ft tall.
"It had this long thin tube coming from the top of it and spikes coming out of the side. The middle bit of it was like moleskin and hairy.
"The thing wasn't moving at all and was in this box that had sparks coming out of it. It was like something out of science fiction."
The man, who does not want to be named, drew a sketch of the creature, which he claims he saw on the afternoon of December 15, in the hope someone will tell him what it is.
In the drawing he notes that the beast, which was black in colour, wore a "weird" coat and had "silky hair".
The image also shows a long, rectangular body and a thin tube coming out of the hat, which looks like some kind of flute or long pipe.
The alien doesn't appear to have a face.
The man sent his drawing to his local paper and added that he wishes he had never stumbled upon it.
He added: "I just keep thinking I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's just mad.
"I'm struggling to sleep because of it and have been looking online seeing what it could be but am at a loss."
-fin-
Then there was the Mail's account which was the same. In fact, every story on this I have seen is identical. And that suggests it was all copy and paste from a release sent in.
By ANTHONY JOSEPH FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 13:28, 22 December 2016 | UPDATED: 16:08, 22 December 2016
Terrified motorist convinced he saw a 7ft alien wearing a cowboy hat at a bus stop has sketched an image of the sinister creature to show the world
He claims to have seen the sinister-looking figure outside Yeovil College
It unnerved him so much he hasn't slept since and had to sketch an image
In his sketch, the alien doesn't appear to have a face but was wearing a hat
A motorist says he was left terrified after spotting what he is convinced was a 7ft silky-haired alien, wearing a cowboy hat, waiting for a bus.
The driver said the sinister-looking figure, standing outside Yeovil College in Somerset, unnerved him so much he hasn't slept since and had to sketch an image to show the world.
The 'alien' had no face and a long thin tube coming from the top of it.
The creature-spotter, who has asked not to be named, said it was standing outside the college at a bus stop as he drove past.
He said: 'I was driving up the road as I normally do and I saw this dark looking figure by Yeovil College. It looked quite tall and had this big Stetson hat.
'I slowed down to have a closer look and thought it's not a man, it was about 7ft tall.
'It had this long thin tube coming from the top of it and spikes coming out of the side. The middle bit of it was like moleskin and hairy.
'The thing wasn't moving at all and was in this box that had sparks coming out of it. It was like something out of science fiction.'
The man drew an annotated picture of the alien, which he claims he saw on the afternoon of December 15, in the hope someone will tell him what it is.
In the drawing he notes that the beast, which was black in colour, wore a 'weird' coat and had 'silky hair'.
The image also shows a long, rectangular body and a thin tube coming out of the hat, which looks like some kind of flute or long pipe.
The alien doesn't appear to have a face.
The man sent his drawing to his local paper and added that he wishes he had never stumbled upon it.
He said: 'I just keep thinking I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's just mad.
'I'm struggling to sleep because of it and have been looking online seeing what it could be but am at a loss.'
-fin-
No one appears to have tried talking directly with the witness. You might think local journalists would jump on this "silly story" to sensationalise it but no.
So, I put out an appeal (and, yes, I was called an "alien hunter"!) because if this witness was so stunned and wanted to know what he had seen he would see the appeal and get in touch, right?
No. I tried everything but no one else appears to have reported this strange site. It was rather suspicious that this happened next to a college. In fact, based on the description it seems that the alien looked more constructed...if anything was actually seen.
In my opinion, and I am open to being convinced otherwise, this was a college hoax. Allegedly one unnamed person saw this and that was it -the sources could not even tell me the original story source but, as with Cannock Chase, I knew that journalists were/are not shy to carry out a little hoaxing (oddly one journalist named was not at that paper and had no contact details online (!).
Unless there are other witnesses coming forward this has to be classed as a hoax.
