Stuart Piggot’s paper, linked to below, mentions there were rich silver mines in the 17th century on the SE slope of Cairnpapple Hill. Martin’s folklore about a ‘silver man’ on the SE slope is thus put in a different light? The location just seems a bit of a strange coincidence. Is the story a modern reworking of a different older story, the ‘silver’ element translated into something more space age? Or is it even a modern version of a subterranean mine fairy-type creature?