'Take That's giant 60ft tour robot' spooks locals

A giant 60ft (18m) robot that is thought to have dominated Wembley Stadium during a Take That tour 15 years ago, has been spooking walkers and drivers in Wiltshire.

The huge mechanical man, described as a "creepy fella" by one local resident, has been spotted "lurking in the trees" in the village of Compton Bassett near Calne.

Robbie Williams sold his seven-bedroom mansion in the village a few years ago and it is thought the giant robot - the centrepiece of Take That's 2011 Progress Live tour - was left behind.

Sarah Spencer, posting on the Calne in Photographs Facebook group, said: "When I first saw it I had to turn around and go back to see what I thought I'd seen."

The massive squatting mechanical man was first spotted hiding in the bushes by Kristina Bowen, as she was driving the "pretty way" home to Calne.

"Something caught my eye. I thought: 'what's that?'. I've driven up and down that road many times and have never spotted it before," she said.

"So I stopped the car and there he was - this giant humanoid sitting in amongst the trees, looking down into the field."

She said the giant figure must be "absolutely massive" to be able to spot it from the road.

"It must be as big as a house," she said.

"It caught me completely off guard but I was intrigued. I thought someone had built a Wicker Man."

And she was not the only one. Posting her "weird" sighting on Facebook, the post not only attracted scores of likes but comments as well.

Jane Collett, described the giant apparition as "spooky" when she spotted it the day before and Goldie Bates, posted that she was "well shocked" by it.

Matt Hayes, commented that when he rode past it he thought he was "seeing things".

While Liz Neve, posted that the first time she saw it she also "wondered" if she had imagined it.

"It's such a perfect location as it just seems to emerge from nowhere - and then as you drive alongside it, it seems to withdraw back into the foliage," she wrote.

"[But] I was concerned that the locals might be building up to a re-enactment of the Wicker Man."

But with no known plans for a restaging of the 1970s cult horror film in the village, it is thought the mechanical structure is a relic of Take That's 2011 sell-out tour.

Progress Live was the first time the group had toured as a five-piece since 1995.

And the centrepiece of the extravagant £15m stage set was a giant animatronic man, nicknamed Om.

Standing 100ft (30m) tall when fully erect, Om was designed to lower band members on to the stage on its giant palms.

But at a gig in Manchester, its mechanics failed leaving singers Mark Owen and Howard Donald trapped 10ft above the stage. Ladders had to used be rescue them.

Following the tour, according to the Daily Express, Om was bagged by Robbie Williams - destined for the grounds of his Los Angeles home.

But instead, it seems, Om ended up tucked away in the trees on Williams' former Wiltshire estate in Compton Bassett.

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