MoD opens X-Files on hundreds of 'close encounters' with aliens

Attempted abductions, scrambled fighter jets and flying saucers over Glastonbury are among the hundreds of dramatic reports of close encounters released by the Ministry of Defence today.

From aliens with lemon-shaped heads to laser beams being shot to earth, the MoD and The National Archives have released approximately 800 sightings from 1981 to 1996.

"We want you, come with us," one alien apparently told two terrified Staffordshire boys after appearing from under a hovering UFO.

The boys, whose faces glow red from the spaceship's incredible heat, run for their lives and report the incident to police.

It is just one of countless mysterious reports released as part of a three-year project between the MoD and The National Archives, aimed at opening up the records to a worldwide audience.

This fourth instalment consists of 14 files of sightings, letters and Parliamentary Questions - 4,000 pages in total.

The records feature papers relating to the famous "Rendlesham Forest" sightings, often described as "Britain's Roswell", and the MoD's final position statement on the incident.

Other highlights include:

• More than 30 sightings of bright lights over central England in just six hours in March 1993. Witnesses included police officers and military personnel and the Assistant Chief of the Air Staff was briefed. It was later discovered that most of the sightings were caused by a Russian rocket re-entering the earth's atmosphere.
• The Belgian Air Force scrambling F-16 fighters to intercept UFOs reported by police officers and others. A report of the incident, in March 1990, confirms the F-16s obtained "lock-ons" with their radars, but could not explain what caused the phenomena.
• Numerous sightings over Scotland as Bonnybridge became the UFO hotspot of the mid-90s.
• A report of wailing noises and mysterious lights being beamed on to a cemetery in Cheshire in July 1996. Investigations discovered four smouldering railway sleepers, one with a hole burnt through it.

Many of the UFO reports in this tranche were filed in 1996, the year Hollywood blockbuster Independence Day was released which also coincided with the growing popularity of the X-Files TV series.

Experts believe this goes some way to explaining a spike in UFO sightings - from 117 in 1995 to 609 in 1996 (MoD statistics).

Dr David Clarke, a UFO expert and journalism lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, said: "It's evident there is some connection between newspaper stories, TV programmes and films about alien visitors and the numbers of UFO sightings reported to the MoD.

"Aside from 1996, one of the busiest years for UFO sightings reported to the MoD over the past half century was 1978 - the year Close Encounters of the Third Kind was released.

"Obviously, films and TV programmes raise public awareness of UFOs and it's fascinating to see how that appears to lead more people to report what they see to the authorities."

:: Original police reports including sketches made by the boys in the Staffs incident can be viewed at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ufo