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UFO highlights guide 2013

The National Archives · 12 pages · text from the file's own layer

This highlights guide from The National Archives describes the tenth and final release of Ministry of Defence UFO files: 25 files with 4,400 pages covering the MoD UFO desk from late 2007 to its closure in November 2009. It explains how to use the PDF bookmarks and summarises key stories. These include the briefing that recommended closing the desk, a public disclosure campaign, a sharp rise in sightings linked to Chinese lanterns, and reports sorted by location.

file contains the story of a former national serviceman who recalled watching an
unidentified „blip‟ on radar at Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, in 1953. The blip was
over the English Channel and moved at a speed four times that of normal jet aircraft
at that time (DEFE 24/2455/1, p147). At DEFE 26/2623/1 p198 there is a sketch of a
„UAP‟ (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) spotted from the ground as it appeared to
cross the path of an airliner near Portsdown Hill, Portsmouth, in December 2007.
This sighting was referred to MoD by a NATO official for investigation. The RAF
studied radar tapes and identified the „UAP‟ as possibly one of a number of light
aircraft flying at lower altitude to the airliner in the same area.
UFO Sightings at UK Landmarks
The files contain reports of UFOs spotted hovering opposite the Houses of
Parliament in February 2008 (DEFE 24/2623/1, p113), above Blackpool pier in
October 2008 (DEFE 24/2456/1, p.186-90) and another sighting spotted near
Stonehenge in January 2009 (DEFE 24/2451/1).
Sighting reports by geographical location
Highlights
A caller to MoD UFO hotline reports that he has been „living with an alien‟ in Carlisle
for some time (DEFE 24/2625/1, p.123)
A Cardiff man claimed a UFO abducted his dog, car and tent whilst he was camping
with friends in 2007 (DEFE 24/2623/1, p. 167);
A Coventry woman saw „two orange balls‟ hovering in her back garden in July 2008
after her Springer Spaniel „unusually ran back in‟. Frightened by what she saw, she
locked the door and reported her sighting to the UFO hotline: „She said what do
these things want and could she and her dog be contaminated‟ as a result of the
experience (DEFE 24/2625/1, p58-59).
A letter from a schoolchild in Altrincham to MoD UFO desk shows a flying saucer
with an alien pilot waving goodbye. The letter says: „….me and my father have seen
little aircraft in the sky – 2 little lights dancing around each other…please send a
letter telling me the answer…I have the right to know‟. The UFO desk sent her a bag
of „RAF goodies‟ (DEFE 2457/1, p 66-67).
And finally, a woman in Poole, Dorset, reported seeing „a bright white fireball‟ that
entered her house through her kitchen window on 4 August 2009. The fireball fell
into a carrier bag and was followed by „blinding white sheet lightning‟, but no trace of
any burns was found in the kitchen (DEFE 24/2462/1, p 43).

Cases discussed

About this file

Document, cited by the archive. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 12 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.