A New Mural for the Warminster Thing

A massive shout-out to our listener, Claire Mullin, who tipped us off about something wyrd and wonderful happening in Warminster! She let us know that an incredible new mural has appeared in the town, celebrating its bizarre history with UFOs, so we had to go and check it out.

For those who don't know, back in the mid-1960s, Warminster became a hotspot for UFO sightings. The whole thing kicked off with a mysterious "banging" or "rasping" sound, and it was local journalist Arthur Shuttlewood who first wrote about "The Thing" that was terrorizing the town. After that, the sightings of strange lights, hovering crafts, and inexplicable aerial phenomena just took off, turning Warminster into the UK's capital of high strangeness.

The new mural, created by local artist Paul Boswell, really captures that history. The 20m-long spray-painted artwork, which was funded by a community Facebook group, features flying saucers, strange creatures, and a portrait of Arthur Shuttlewood himself. Paul, who grew up in the area, even mentioned he used to go UFO spotting on Clay Hill as a teenager hoping to be "taken away by aliens!"

And the timing couldn’t be better, because this month there's a UFO conference scheduled in the town to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first sightings. The organiser, Stuart Dike, and retired detective and UFO archivist John Hanson were both at the mural unveiling. It’s a chance for local enthusiasts and experts to celebrate Warminster's strange legacy and discuss a mystery that, 60 years on, is still part of the town’s identity.

If you’re a fan of our show, you've got to go and see the mural. It's a fantastic piece of art and a great nod to a classic British enigma.

If you want to hear our full deep dive into the story, you can listen back to Episode 23 where we covered the Warminster Thing in detail.

Have you seen it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!