July 1947 — Andrew Cherry watched a disc hover over an Edinburgh bus stop, close enough to see a humanoid occupant at a control panel. thinkaboutitdocs.com.
THINK ABOUTIT UFO|UAP & ENTITY ENCOUNTER REPORT
1947: Andrew Cherry‘s Edinburgh Sighting: A Close-Range Occupant Encounter
At 5:30 in the morning in July 1947, 22-year-old Andrew Cherry was waiting at his usual bus stop near St. Johns School on Baileyfield Road in Edinburgh, Scotland, when a disc-shaped object with a large, glass-dome-like observation window descended to hover roughly 300 feet above him. Close enough to make out real detail, Cherry saw a humanoid figure inside, seated or standing beside a control panel. He took in the craft’s rough, “like rough diamonds” metallic texture, an orange-yellow glow he initially took for sunlight reflection, and a low, smooth hum accompanied by what looked like flames escaping the disc. Within seconds, the object tilted, spun, and vanished over the Fife coast — leaving behind one of the more detailed close-range occupant sightings in this archive’s entire 1947 record.
Date: July 1947
Sighting Time: 05:30
Day/Night: Early morning daylight
Location: Baileyfield Road, near St. Johns School, Edinburgh, Scotland
Urban or Rural: Urban
No. of Entity(‘s): One
Entity Type: Humanoid occupant, seen seated or standing at a control panel inside the craft
Entity Description: Humanoid figure in dark clothing; no further physical detail (face, height, or build) preserved in the located sourcing
Hynek Classification: CE-III (Close Encounter of the Third Kind — an animate occupant observed at close range within the object)
Duration: Seconds — the object departed quickly after being observed
No. of Object(s): One
Description of the Object(s): Disc-shaped, with a large glass-dome-like observation window through which the occupant and control panel were visible
Shape/Size/Color of Object(s): Disc-shaped; rough, “like rough diamonds” metallic surface texture; orange-yellow coloration, which Cherry initially attributed to sunlight reflection; a haze around the object he associated with its energy source
Distance to Object(s): Close range vertically — hovering approximately 300 feet overhead
Height & Speed: Approximately 300 feet altitude while hovering; departed with a sudden tilt and spin at unspecified speed
Number of Witnesses: One (Andrew Cherry)
Special Features/Characteristics: A low, smooth hum associated with flames appearing to escape the disc; a haze around the object attributed by the witness to its energy source; abrupt tilt-and-spin departure
Case Status: Unexplained
Source: Ron Halliday, UFO Scotland
Source Status: PLAUSIBLE — a named witness with a specific, consistent account preserved in a dedicated published compilation of Scottish UFO cases; single-witness, with no independent corroboration located.
Summary/Description: Andrew Cherry, waiting at a bus stop in Edinburgh, saw a disc-shaped object with a glass-dome observation window hover about 300 feet up, close enough to see a humanoid occupant beside a control panel, before the object tilted, spun, and disappeared over the Fife coast within seconds.
Related Cases: No directly connected case has been identified. It sits within this archive’s broader July 1947 record of European and American sightings — see this archive’s July 1947 Part 1 monthly index.
Detailed Report
At 5:30 in the morning, sometime in July 1947, 22-year-old Andrew Cherry was standing at his usual bus stop near St. Johns School on Baileyfield Road in Edinburgh, Scotland. A disc-shaped object descended into view and came to hover at an estimated altitude of about 300 feet directly above him. The craft featured a large, glass-dome-like observation window — and through it, Cherry could see a humanoid occupant, dressed in dark clothing, positioned seated or standing beside what appeared to be a control panel.
Cherry took in several distinct details during the encounter. The craft’s exterior had a rough, textured surface he compared to “rough diamonds.” Its coloration was orange-yellow, which he initially assumed was simply sunlight reflecting off the metal — though the early-morning hour and close range left him uncertain of that explanation by the encounter’s end. A haze surrounded the object, which Cherry associated with whatever powered it. He also heard a low, smooth humming sound, which he connected to what looked like flames escaping from the disc.
The encounter ended abruptly. The object suddenly tilted, spun away, and disappeared over the Fife coast within a matter of seconds, giving Cherry no opportunity to observe it further or note its ultimate direction of travel beyond that general heading.
RESEARCHER’S NOTES
Why This Case Is Taken Seriously
- A named witness with a specific, internally consistent account: Cherry’s description ties together visual, auditory, and thermal/energetic details (the texture, the haze, the hum, the apparent flames) into a coherent single narrative rather than a vague light-in-the-sky claim.
- Close-range occupant detail: A visible humanoid figure at a control panel, seen through a window at a specific altitude, is a rarer and more specific class of claim than a distant disc sighting.
- Preserved in a dedicated published compilation: Ron Halliday’s UFO Scotland is a specialist regional compilation, not a general-interest anthology, suggesting some vetting standard was applied before inclusion.
- Self-aware uncertainty: Cherry’s own qualification of the orange-yellow color as possibly “sunlight reflection” — rather than asserting it confidently as an inherent feature — reads as the kind of honest hedging a genuine witness offers, not an embellished retelling.
- What the record does not include: A second witness, any physical trace, or further detail on the occupant’s appearance beyond “humanoid” and “dark clothing.” This remains a single-witness account with no independent corroboration.
The Cherry case is one of this archive’s more detailed close-range occupant sightings from 1947, precisely because of its internal consistency and the witness’s own careful hedging on ambiguous details. This archive lists it as Unexplained, direct that it rests on one witness’s account alone.
Close enough to see a humanoid occupant in dark clothing, seated or standing beside a control panel.
From Ron Halliday’s account, in UFO Scotland, of Andrew Cherry’s July 1947 Edinburgh sighting.
