Secret 'X-Files' Of UFO Sightings Released
UFO sightings and an "alien abduction" are detailed in thousands of close-encounter documents released by the National Archives.
Previously classified documents reveal the UFO phenomenon was discussed at the highest level of government worldwide.
In December 1977, the Government used its influence to talk down a call by Grenada president Sir Eric Gairy for a UN agency to conduct research into alien sightings.
About a year later, the House of Lords held a debate on the subject of UFOs, the files show.
One of the documents describes a "War of the Worlds" incident in 1967 that was treated as a potentially real alien invasion of the UK.
The RAF was flooded with calls from the public reporting six small "flying saucers" discovered in locations in a perfect line across southern England.
Four police forces, bomb disposal units, the army and the Ministry of Defence's intelligence branch were all mobilised.
But it later emerged the saucers were a 'rag-day' hoax by engineering students from Farnborough Technical College.
Another file tells of a family capturing on film flashing red and white lights zig-zagging their way through the sky in 2003.
Police officers, including a helicopter team, also witnessed the 20 to 30 lights over Bromley, Kent, and reported the incident. Radar checks revealed nothing unusual.
The documents read: "A policeman sent to investigate confirmed the sighting. Objects were moving faster than any man-made aircraft."
In another case, a man told the MoD he believed he had been beamed up by an alien craft from his home in Barnes, southwest London.
He described having a glass of milk in his garden on a night in October 1998 and "after a few moments I heard a distant roar of engines getting louder and louder".
The man said he was terrified as a huge "cigar-shaped vehicle" appeared over his house and said it felt like he had gained a whole hour.
"I am now beginning to wonder if I was abducted," he told the MoD, which replied that the clocks had gone back the night before.
The files also detail the Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and letters from "persistent enquirers" that led to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) opening up its files.
Dr David Clarke, author of the book The UFO Files, said since the introduction of the FOI Act, questions on UFOs were the top three most popular FOI requests received by the MoD.
He said: "You can see from the files that I wasn't the only one interested in the subject, with the phenomenon discussed at the highest level of government right across the globe."
In 1978, the RAF was bombarded with claims that a UFO was zipping across the sky as witnesses described a mystery orange cigar-shaped object with lights covering its base.
An investigation revealed the sightings coincided with the re-entry of space debris into the Earth's atmosphere.
The 35 files contain 8,500 pages of UFO sightings and reports, colour photographs and drawings, RAF investigations, unusual radar detections and - for the first time - documents on the Government's policy on UFOs.
The documents are available to download for free for a month from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ufos.
UFO sightings and an "alien abduction" are detailed in thousands of close-encounter documents released by the National Archives.
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| MoD Releases Thousands Of 'X-Files' |
Previously classified documents reveal the UFO phenomenon was discussed at the highest level of government worldwide.
In December 1977, the Government used its influence to talk down a call by Grenada president Sir Eric Gairy for a UN agency to conduct research into alien sightings.
About a year later, the House of Lords held a debate on the subject of UFOs, the files show.
One of the documents describes a "War of the Worlds" incident in 1967 that was treated as a potentially real alien invasion of the UK.
The RAF was flooded with calls from the public reporting six small "flying saucers" discovered in locations in a perfect line across southern England.
Four police forces, bomb disposal units, the army and the Ministry of Defence's intelligence branch were all mobilised.
But it later emerged the saucers were a 'rag-day' hoax by engineering students from Farnborough Technical College.
Another file tells of a family capturing on film flashing red and white lights zig-zagging their way through the sky in 2003.
Police officers, including a helicopter team, also witnessed the 20 to 30 lights over Bromley, Kent, and reported the incident. Radar checks revealed nothing unusual.
The documents read: "A policeman sent to investigate confirmed the sighting. Objects were moving faster than any man-made aircraft."
In another case, a man told the MoD he believed he had been beamed up by an alien craft from his home in Barnes, southwest London.
He described having a glass of milk in his garden on a night in October 1998 and "after a few moments I heard a distant roar of engines getting louder and louder".
The man said he was terrified as a huge "cigar-shaped vehicle" appeared over his house and said it felt like he had gained a whole hour.
"I am now beginning to wonder if I was abducted," he told the MoD, which replied that the clocks had gone back the night before.
The files also detail the Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and letters from "persistent enquirers" that led to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) opening up its files.
Dr David Clarke, author of the book The UFO Files, said since the introduction of the FOI Act, questions on UFOs were the top three most popular FOI requests received by the MoD.
He said: "You can see from the files that I wasn't the only one interested in the subject, with the phenomenon discussed at the highest level of government right across the globe."
In 1978, the RAF was bombarded with claims that a UFO was zipping across the sky as witnesses described a mystery orange cigar-shaped object with lights covering its base.
An investigation revealed the sightings coincided with the re-entry of space debris into the Earth's atmosphere.
The 35 files contain 8,500 pages of UFO sightings and reports, colour photographs and drawings, RAF investigations, unusual radar detections and - for the first time - documents on the Government's policy on UFOs.
The documents are available to download for free for a month from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ufos.
