Flying tonight

As a science writer and the principal investigator of Robert Taylor’s report, I find it depressing that West Lothian Council has seen fit to establish a tourist trail to the site in Dechmont Woods (“Tourists are out there: UFO trail launches”, 1 October). The exploitation of the Loch Ness monster myth at Drumnadrochit is similarly depressing.

Is this collective escapism? Would people rather believe exotic stories than face mundane reality?

At Dechmont, where a stone marks the spot (it once had a plaque but that was stolen), the site is now unrecognisable as the one that confronted Robert in 1979. Tree growth has turned it into a dark forest clearing of no particular interest.

Anyone wanting to know what actually happened there can find an account in my book The UFO Mystery Solved. Robert did not invent his account and did not recant it. He had an unusual experience that he interpreted in the only way he knew. STEUART CAMPBELL Dovecot Loan, Edinburgh