| Solway Firth Spaceman | |
|---|---|
 Photograph by Jim Templeton | |
| Vital statistics | |
| First reported | 1964 |
| Last reported | Similar creature spotted in Australia, 1964 |
| Other names | Solway Spaceman |
| Similar creatures | Unnamed creature in Australia, 1964 |
| Countries |  United Kingdom
|
| Regions |  Cumbria
|
| Habitats | Not applicable |
| Validity | |
| Status | Unlikely |
The Solway Firth Spaceman is the name attributed to an unknown figure seen in a photograph taken by local resident Jim Templeton.
Description[]
The Templeton family was on a casual trip to the small English town of Burgh by Sands, when they headed to a nearby unnamed marsh area. The photographer took three photographs of his five year old daughter. When these photographs were later developed, they showed what appeared to be an astronaut wearing an all-white jumper and a helmet with a black visor appeared behind Templeton's daughter. Jim Templeton had not recalled anyone being in the shot when the photos were taken, including his wife, so he returned them to the nearby Kodak store to ensure that an employee had not tampered with them - which it was concluded that it hadn't.
The photo was widely spread across the world, especially in the United States, but it received little acknowledgment in the United Kingdom, with the exception of Cumbria, the county where the sighting took place. When a group of UFOlogists from Cumbria asked the British Ministry of Defense to investigate the Solway Firth Spaceman, however they denied any serious work into it as the photo was of "no interest" to them. It may be considered that the Solway Firth case is responsible for a large amount of UFO related sightings in Cumbria, as the total number of UFO reports in the town skyrocketed after the Solway Firth case, and northwestern England remains a hot-spot for UFO encounters to this day.
Likely Explanation[]
While the Solway Firth Spaceman photograph has never been officially debunked, it is likely that the photograph is a simple mis-identification. Templeton was with his family that day - including his wife who was wearing a bowl-cut haircut and a light blue dress the day the photograph was taken. It may be likely that the "helmet" of the spaceman was actually her hair cut, and the spacesuit would be her blue dress, which was overexposed due to weather conditions and the poor quality camera used. If one looks closely, multiple intricate details can be seen on the "spaceman," including obvious sleeves and a hole near the neck. The arms of the spaceman make it appear like it was actually facing away from the camera - which is the perfect angle for Templeton's wife's long hair to be seen.