"I remember nothing after that, until I arrived home."
Conspiracy theories and people who staunchly believe seemingly impossible or outrageous things are often faced with a lot of criticism and counter-arguments from non-believers.
But speaking to David, a now-52-year-old from Scotland, one thing that stands out is just how open minded he is - so much so that he welcomes the challenge to prove his belief wrong.
Advert
That belief being that this kind, softly spoken gentlemen, has been abducted by aliens.
Until someone can disprove that he wasn't beamed up by a UFO before being probed and returned to Earth hours later, he is steadfast that it happened - despite being ridiculed by friends and family for more than three decades.
It is 1993, and a young David Paton has just finished his shift working in the kitchen of a restaurant in Kinross, Scotland. The 22-year-old embarked on his journey home - one that he has done countless times before.
Advert
"I used to drop the second chef in Dunfermline because he didn't have a car, and it took him hours to get home on the bus, so I just dropped him off in the car as it was quicker and easier," he explained to UNILAD.
"I was driving onto a fairly new dual-carriageway, it had only been open a few months and I remember driving down the slip road onto the dual-carriageway... and I remember nothing after that, until I arrived home."
Interestingly enough, Paton described the unearthly encounter as a 'weird experience'. You and I would probably characterize it as terrifying.
Maybe he's been desensitized in the 31 years since it happened, but it has only encouraged him to delve deeper into the unknown, spurring him on to join UFO Identified, a UK-based group with its own database of sightings.
Advert
He meets these like-minded individuals once a month in Manchester, UK and even goes out on 'night watches', where the group's experts help paranormal-junkies like Paton understand what they are seeing in the sky.
While the group is yet to identify a UFO from one of these watches, it gives its members the opportunity to talk about the supernatural without being mocked.
It's provided an outlet for Paton, who continues on to us with his story: "My mom always waited up for me, I always told her she didn't need to but you know what moms are like, especially when boys are that age.
Advert
"She said, 'where the hell have you been?', and I said, 'what do you mean where have I been? I've just finished; finished at half past 10, dropped the second chef off at 11pm, and I've come straight home, I haven't been anywhere else'.
"She said 'David, it's half past three in the morning, where have you been?', and I've got no idea where that missing time has come from."
Ever since that night, those missing four-and-a-half hours have bewildered Paton. Searching for an explanation, he came up with the conclusion that he was abducted by aliens almost immediately.
This is despite his claims that he wasn't all that interested in UFOs and aliens until that day.
Advert
The father-of-one said: "I've never really had any any interest in UFOs or anything, I was always interested in space, sort of getting into space and what space was like - I was always interested in it, but no sort of mention of UFOs or anything like that."
Paton, who now lives in Manchester, explained how when he told his friends about his theory they just laughed it off, as did his family.
But still to him, the most credible explanation for the missing time is that he was visited by aliens, and that is why he has challenged someone to prove his belief wrong.
The Scotsman is now actively trying to speak to a regression therapist, a type of psychotherapy in which recipients are guided through traumas buried in their subconscious, but he explained finding one has proven difficult.
"I would just love to find out whether it was an abduction or whether it was anything else - even if it was something as benign as falling asleep at the side of the road," he added.
"I would just like to know what happened to me in those four-and-a-half hours."
UNILAD's new Stripped Back series is released from September 23 and focuses on conspiracy theories, featuring interviews with believers, experts and others impacted by the claims.
Topics: Aliens, UFO, Scotland, Space, Conspiracy Theories
Joe Yates