I have decided to try to post some different things on my blog in the run up to Hallowe'en which all have a mysterious, spooky or autumn theme. My first post, I should have posted yesterday, is about a 40 year mystery I heard about for the first time last night when watching a BBC 2 programme about the Scottish Islands. There was a couple of minutes devoted to the disappearance of Peter Gibbs from the island of Mull on Christmas Eve 1975. The short piece piqued my interest and I discovered a recent radio 4 programme also dedicated to the mystery.
The bare bones of the story are that Peter Gibbs a world war 2 fighter pilot decided to take a light plane out for a circuit of an airfield on Mull on Christmas Eve, never to be seen alive again. The air field is unique in that it is attached to a hotel and many people drinking in the bar, witnessed Peter setting off and there was an extensive search for him when he didn't return from what should have been a short trip. Four months later his body was found on a hillside by a shepherd, his body showing no obvious signs of injury that you'd expect from a plane crash. The plane has never officially been found although a similar one has been found in the Loch at Mull.
The Radio 4 programme is part of a series presented by Steve Punt called Punt PI. Those of a certain age (like me) will fondly remember Steve Punt as being part of the Mary Whitehouse Experience comedy line up along with Hugh Denis, Rob Newman and David Baddiel. Talking of which, only a few minutes ago I was talking to my Mum about handbags and we still refer to bag worn across the body as a "milky milky bag" because of the Hugh Dennis character Mr Strange or Milky Milky in the Mary Whitehouse Experience. I can never wear my bag like that - not after at age 17 a boy in Doncaster shouted "Milky Milky" at me for wearing my handbag across my body! Thanks Mary Whitehouse Experience!
Any way back to the Mull Air Mystery, the Steve Punt programme is actually very good once you get used to Punt's whimsical style. I particularly like the interviews with old locals who spin yarns about farmer suddenly remembering that they heard a plane fly over their house all those years ago! Steve Punt even speaks to the police pathologist who covered the case and Gibbs' son. There are no satisfactory answers to the mystery at the end of the programme. So you can make your own mind up about it.
Any way that's my first mystery for my little series running up to Halloween. I'm definitely also going to cover the Loch Ness Monster, Black Shuck the demon hound, the haunted pound shop in Biggleswade (ha ha), The history of Halloween, Pumpkin growing lore, a seasonal recipe and I may even post a spooky short story I've written!
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