UFO close encounters laid bare as ‘X-Files’ released by records office

Super-fast spacecraft and a giant, humming triangle hovering above the house of Michael Howard, the former Home Secretary, feature in the latest release of UFO-related files at the Public Records Office.

Almost 6,000 pages of declassified files are released online today, the majority covering 1994 to 2000. Many sightings contained crude drawings.

Among the most puzzling of reports listed was an object tracked moving at more than 1,000 knots by Prestwick airport in 1999. Equally mystifying were UFO sightings by police over the North Sea near Lincolnshire, and a British Airways 737 that reported a near-miss with a mysterious object in January 1995, while there were more than 600 reported sightings of unexplained objects over what was dubbed the “Bonnybridge Triangle” in Scotland between 1995 and 1997.

By 1996 when these MoD files were compiled, few of the incidents were investigated thoroughly and even the most interesting were simply filed away. This was due to lack of time and resources, as desk officers were distracted dealing with correspondence with UFOlogists and members of the public who believed they were hiding facts about alien visitors.

This does not mean the files contain nothing of interest. This tranche contains a fascinating example of a “Close Encounter of the Second Kind”, the account of a man who suffered an unexplained illness after he was struck by a beam of light from the sky. The identity of the witness – who worked in a funeral parlour at Newport, Gwent – has been redacted from the file. But a two-page report on the case completed by an officer at a RAF base in Wales the morning after the encounter, on 27 January 1997, describes the incident in bare detail.

There's a UFO over Michael Howard's house...

Formerly secret files containing the details of hundreds of close encounters with possible extraterrestrial life were released by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) today.

But perhaps the most telling aspect of the records is their suggestion that the shapes of UFOs spotted in the skies over Britain have changed markedly over the past 50 years, suggesting people's sightings are influenced by what they see in television shows and films.

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Among the more interesting sightings is a large triangular UFO seen hovering above the home of the former home secretary and Conservative Party leader Michael Howard in March 1997. Eyewitnesses said they had seen a "humming" object the size of two passenger planes close to his house near Folkestone in Kent, but an RAF investigation found nothing unusual.

"It was just a huge triangle thing, which was a lot bigger than an aeroplane or anything like that," said one person who saw the object. "It had lights all around the outside, and this disc attached to the back, and a big light on the front. I pulled up to a stop and as I did it shot off." It is unclear whether the UFO influenced Mr Howard's decision to run for the Tory leadership in 2003.

MoD documents reveal UFO sighting over Michael Howard's house

Tory bogeyman Michael Howard was involved in an alien mystery yesterday when files revealed there was a UFO over his house.

Previously secret MoD documents show a huge triangular object was reported hovering above the ex- Conservative leader’s home in 1997.

Mr Howard, who was once accused by colleague Ann Widdecombe of “having something of the night about him”, said he’d been completely unaware of the sightings near Folkestone, Kent.

Churchill demanded UFO briefing: secret files

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The newly-released files span 6,000 pages and cover the period 1994 to 2000.

They were released alongside another file dating back to 1952 which showed then British prime minister Winston Churchill requesting a briefing on UFOs from his secretary of state for air.

"What does all this stuff about flying saucers amount to? What can it mean? What is the truth? Let me have a report at your convenience," he wrote.

In the reply, Churchill was told that alleged UFO sightings could be explained by earthly phenomena such as optical illusions, mistaken identification of planes, birds and balloons and deliberate hoaxes.

But Dr Dave Clarke, unlike quite a few skeptics/debunkers that have been quoted by the media over recent years, has certainly done his homework...

People talk about no evidence. Why do people trust the gov. with spacecraft residue in jam bottles? Wouldn't smart money have a 2nd bottle tucked away for independent private research? And the case where the field was scanned by the ufo. Were no readings taken of that area? I think there is tons of evidence that is either stolen by the gov. or never bothered to be followed up.

Originally posted by Kandinsky
reply to post by sparrowstail

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That Bob White article was actually analysed using money paid by ATS two years ago. I remember the thread well. Bob White is an ATS member. The results weren't good...as in probable origin was Earthly,

Dr Leir is one of the guys presenting dubious claims. I went toe to toe on a thread last year to show that he's *probably* a hoaxer. IIRC I won on points!

Earthly origin doesn't prove that it didn't come from a ufo as White says. Could it not be a recipe put together by "Them" on our behalf? Is it not true that while the elements are earthly the alloy itself is unknown and could not be duplicated? Not to mention the beautiful design and finish on the artifact. And what about the other one found. I doubt there is a relation or connection between the two? And why the shananigans with Los Alomos lab. If it was earthly and easily explained away why wouldn't the lab be up front about it. Their testing is probably the best isn't it?

Because ATS'ers had a debate on Lier still doesn't prove that he is a hoaxer. Plus how can you hoax the patients who are random and unrelated. You are attacking the person and not the facts. There are multiple samples from many different sources and there are great similarities and they are meteorite like with a gray membrane: Explain.

All due respect though. I know these are lofty hopes on my part but so rarely do we see something tangible, I just want to give it its due.

[edit on 18-2-2010 by sparrowstail]

Originally posted by infinite

A letter from senior MoD official Ralph Noyes in which he describes seeing a film of UFOs captured by RAF fighter pilots in 1956. Mr Noyes claims the footage was shown at a secret underground screening arranged for Air Defence staff at the MoD Main Building in 1970.

Infinite -good post.
Heres another interesting statement made by MOD Senior Official Ralph Noyes taken from Dr David Clarke's Website:

Statement from British Air Ministry Senior Official

"Here we had a number of object seen coming in across the North Sea on coastal radar. It looked like a Russian mistake. Jet aircraft were scrambled. The objects were travelling at quite impossible speeds like 4-5000 mph and then came to an abrupt halt near to one of these stations not very high up. Jet aircraft picked them up on aircraft radar. The objects then simply made rings round them."

"Inevitably this led to the sort of enquiry which you would put in hand if you had any military responsibilities. Had something gone wrong with ground radar or with aircraft radar? We experienced pilots going out of their minds? Were people having fantasies? We *had* to investigate cases of that kind. Over the years - although there were not an enormous number of such cases - there were a sufficient number to persuade me, and a number of air staff friends with whom I had to work, that something was going on, sporadically, in British airspace which we could not explain."

"But we did not particularly want to make public statements about that. Not for something that we had no explanation."

Ralph Noyes,Senior Official with British Air Ministry - retired as Under Secretary of State in 1977

www.drdavidclarke.co.uk...

Because ATS'ers had a debate on Lier still doesn't prove that he is a hoaxer. Plus how can you hoax the patients who are random and unrelated. You are attacking the person and not the facts. There are multiple samples from many different sources and there are great similarities and they are meteorite like with a gray membrane: Explain.