The strange cases revealed in Britain's 2013 UFO files
Have aliens really descended upon British shores? In 2013, the UK declassified dozens of files outlining various UFO cases and how they were investigated.
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Are we truly alone in the universe? It’s a question that has popped up time and time again over the centuries, with UFO enthusiasts constantly scrambling for clues.
So, there was naturally excitement when, in the 2010s, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) publicly released thousands of its own ‘X-Files’. These declassified documents detail many activities undertaken by a now long-defunct UFO research programme once led by the MoD.
The UFO files released in 2013 are especially tantalising. The eye-opening encounters highlighted in these documents include the Rendlesham Forest incident - but what else do the 2013 files reveal?
Ahead of the new Sky HISTORY series Britain's X-Files, we take time to explore these files and see what answers they reveal.
Why did the MoD close its UFO desk?
In 1997, the MoD set up a hotline enabling the public to report UFO sightings directly to the UK Government. However, the MoD’s UFO desk and hotline were both closed in November 2009.
Why? The answer can be found among the 25 UFO files published by The National Archives in June 2013. For decades, the MoD collected and analysed UFO sighting reports as a matter of routine. In the Noughties, the MoD was getting about 150 of these reports per year.
However, the department received double the usual figure in 2008 — and triple the year after. These sharp increases diverted a disconcertingly large amount of attention away from what the MoD considered to be more important defence matters.
While the UFO desk’s demise will have disappointed many ufologists, they can now enjoy reading about fruits of the MoD’s labours in this area. So, what are the most jaw-dropping revelations in the 2013 tranche of UFO files?
Any new details about the Rendlesham incident?
The files cover the UFO division’s activities from late 2007 to November 2009. However, the documents do not only touch upon UFO sightings reported during this two-year period. They also record the MoD’s exasperated response to requests for information about Rendlesham.
The Rendlesham incident took place in December 1980, when US servicemen stationed at RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk reportedly saw otherworldly lights above Rendlesham Forest. In 2008, the MoD insisted that it ‘had little interest in the matter at the time and even less interest now. Put simply, we consider the incident closed.’
As the supposedly extraterrestrial lights were only seen at night, it has long been suggested that many of them were simply bright stars. Others may have originated from a nearby lighthouse, as has also been speculated. The scarce concrete evidence of alien visitation at Rendlesham helps to explain why the MoD did not perceive the incident as a national security matter.
UFOs caught on radar
Again, though the 2013 files largely focus on reports made between 2007 and 2009, not all of the alleged UFO encounters have been dated to this period.
One case in point is the occasion in 1993 when a UFO was tracked on airfield radar at RAF Lyneham. A similar story from decades earlier saw radar at Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, register an unidentified ‘blip’ in 1953. The UFO responsible was soaring at unprecedented speed over the English Channel.
A camper’s dog is abducted by a UFO
Not all UFO encounters are just a case of strange lights or other phenomena dancing around the sky. Some people have even reportedly been abducted by aliens. One such case is the Todmorten UFO mystery, which tells the story of a West Yorkshire policeman being brought into a peculiar spacecraft.
Humans apparently aren’t the only earth species targeted, either. In one story from 2007, a Cardiff man’s camping trip went awry when a UFO snatched his car, tent and dog. The MoD advised the man to contact the police, as kidnap and theft are criminal offences.
Are Chinese lanterns to blame for many UFO sightings?
Chinese lanterns are essentially small paper balloons illuminated by a small fire through an opening at the bottom. Given their popularity at social occasions during the late Noughties, they could also feasibly explain the sharp uptick in contemporary UFO reports.
Journalist and lecturer Dr David Clarke was instrumental in bringing the UFO files to public notice. Dr Clarke believes that Chinese lanterns had been ‘released by people at parties and weddings’ and subsequently ‘reported, photographed and published in the newspapers’. This, in turn, ‘encouraged more people to report these things’.
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