Britain releases 15 years of UFO documents

The British National Archives has released 15 years worth of UFO documents from the Ministry of Defense that include explanations for sightings ranging from advertising gimmicks to meteors, Reuters reports.

In one incident in 1995, two men in Staffordshire reported seeing an alien with a lemon-shaped head emerge from a hovering UFO and tell them, "We want you; come with us."

The news agency says the 609 sightings in 1996 are up from 117 in 1995 and coincide with the rise in popularity of the X Files TV show and release of the alien blockbuster film Independence Day.

The files (from the ministry, not Fox Mulder or Dana Scully) contain more than 4,000 pages. Most sightings are explained as bright stars, meteors, artificial satellites or balloons. About 10% are listed as unexplained, which include "insufficient information" for a judgment.

One series of widely reported sightings was explained as an airship advertising the launch of a Ford automobile, Reuters says.

The most intriguing document involves Britain's best known UFO incident, the Rendlesham Forest sightings of 1980 in which American Air Force men saw a series of mysterious lights.

Although the Thatcher government dismissed the incident, a letter from a former chief of defense staff in 1985 warned it not to be so cavalier, Reuters says.

"The case has puzzling and disquieting features which have never been satisfactorily explained ... which continue to preoccupy informed sections of the public," the letter said.

Click here for a look at the newly released files.

(Image from NBC)

Posted by Doug Stanglin at 10:54 AM/ET, August 18, 2009 in Europe, Health/Science, Human interest, Offbeat, Politics, Science, Space

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