THE truth is out there… somewhere.
Until recently most people were unaware that the Ministry of Defence was researching and investigating the mystery of UFOs.
I worked for the MoD for 21 years, and for much of the early Nineties I was assigned to the UFO project.
It was official policy to downplay the extent of this interest.
MPs, the press and YOU were fobbed off with a glib soundbite that UFOs were of “no defence significance” — the reality was very different.
Behind the scenes, the ultra-secretive Defence Intelligence Staff was involved.
The MoD generated thousands of documents on the subject, some of them highly classified.
A vast archive of cases built up, including sightings from police, military personnel and pilots.
Some UFOs were tracked on radar, and on occasion military jets were scrambled in attempts to intercept these mystery craft.
To say my job was the most bizarre in government would be an understatement. Along the way I investigated UFOs, reports of alien abductions, crop circles and ghost sightings — as well as looking at whether alleged psychics might be able to find out things of interest to military intelligence.
When the UK got its Freedom of Information Act, the MoD received more requests about UFOs than any other subject.
As a result, the Government is having to declassify and release most of its UFO documents — a process which started in 2008 and is expected to end next year.
Nearly 60,000 pages of documents have been released.
So after all these years, what do I actually think about UFOs?
I’m still not sure, but the sceptics have to be right every day — the believers only have to be correct once.
Here are some of my favourite cases from the MoD’s X Files…
— ENCOUNTER in Rendlesham Forest, by Nick Pope, published by Thistle Publishing, £9.99, is out now.
August 1990: Calvine
(main picture)
TWO men hiking near Calvine, Perthshire, saw a huge, diamond-shaped UFO hovering silently in the sky.
The photos and the negatives were sent to the MoD and I had an enlarged copy on my office wall for many years.
Many documents relating to the official investigation have been released but the photos and negatives have mysteriously gone missing – I can understand why conspiracy theorists get suspicious.
May 1957, East Anglia
FIGHTER pilot Milton Torres was ordered to shoot down a massive UFO being tracked on radar over East Anglia.
The object was the size of an aircraft carrier but it sped away before he could fire.
Torres, who was stationed in Kent with the US Air Force, stayed silent for more than 50 years and was only free to discuss this once the MoD released his statement.
I met him afterwards and he was so relieved to speak out. I believe he thought the object was extraterrestrial.
He told me: “I’m so glad I didn’t get to fire – it would have started an interstellar war.”
November 1979, West Lothian
FORESTER Robert Taylor encountered a UFO in woods in Livingston, West Lothian.
He said he saw a large, dome-shaped craft hovering above the forest floor.
Then two small round objects with spikes came out and attached themselves to his trousers. He passed out.
The police treated the incident in Dechmont Woods as a criminal assault and his clothing was forensically examined but no explanation was ever found.
Robert stuck to his story until the day he died in 2007 and had no reason to lie.
November 1980, Todmorden
ON night patrol in his vehicle, PC Alan Godfrey encountered a brightly illuminated UFO “the size of a bus” in Todmorden, Yorks.
He then suffered a period of “missing time”, was hypnotically regressed and came to believe that he’d been abducted and taken on board the craft.
We would often dismiss alien abduction stories, but coming from a no-nonsense cop like Alan such cases made even sceptics think again.
December 1980, Rendlesham Forest
A UFO landed in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, near two American airbases.
There were dozens of military witnesses and MoD scientists found that radiation levels at the landing site were many times normal.
This is the most compelling case in the MoD’s files and documents released include a sketch of the UFO and of strange symbols seen on its hull.
There is now an official UFO trail for walkers to follow through the forest.
April 1984, Stanmore
TERRIFIED residents in the North West London suburb of Stanmore were so spooked by a UFO they called the police.
When cops arrived, they also saw the UFO – round with a ring around it, like the planet Saturn.
One sketched the object in his notebook.
Like military personnel and pilots, police officers are excellent witnesses.
Those of us on the UFO project always used to pay particular attention when they reported UFOs.
October 1984, Waterloo Bridge
DOZENS of members of the public saw a saucer-shaped UFO from Waterloo Bridge in central London.
There is sometimes a misconception that UFOs are only seen in remote rural areas, but the capital is actually something of a UFO hotspot.
I once received a call from an excited witness who told me he had a UFO in sight over central London. When I asked where he was, he said he was in the MoD main building but on a different floor than me.
I quickly went to my window but whatever it was had gone.
November 1990, North Sea
FIGHTER jets were flying over the North Sea when they were overtaken by a UFO. The speed was phenomenal.
There are several such cases in the MoD’s X-Files, but on every occasion when pilots have been ordered to chase UFOs, the mystery craft evaded pursuit.
We sometimes wondered: Russian or Martian?
January 1995, Manchester Airport
THERE was a terrifying near-miss between a UFO and an aircraft over the Pennines on its approach to Manchester airport.
The pilot and first officer of a Boeing 737 en route from Milan saw a delta-shaped craft flash past the aircraft at incredible speed.
Neither the MoD nor the Civil Aviation Authority found an explanation.
There are dozens of other such near-misses in government files.
February 1999, HMS Manchester
A NAVY warship, HMS Manchester, was taking part in a Nato exercise when hundreds of crew members spotted what they believed was a UFO.
The object was also tracked on the ship’s radar off the coast of Norway.
Crew members aboard a Norwegian ship also tracked the object.
When former chief of the defence staff Lord Hill-Norton heard of the incident, he wrote to the MoD asking to see the ship’s log for the period in question.
But he was told: “An unusually strong gust of wind carried it overboard.”
I knew Lord-Hill Norton personally and he was furious and didn’t believe the story about the wind for a moment.
April 2007, Channel Islands
PILOT Ray Bowyer saw a UFO close to the Channel Islands during a flight.
Some passengers saw it, too, and Air Traffic Control tracked “unknown traffic” on the radar.
Bowyer’s official statement included an estimate that the yellow, cigar-shaped object was more than a mile long.
The MoD found out that the object had been in French airspace and passed the buck, declining to investigate further.
Snaps sent in by you
EDDIE MARRIS, 61, of Doncaster, saw this in Vegas in 2009. He said: “It doesn’t resemble any aircraft I know.”
NORMAN JAMES, 68, of Bristol, took this three years ago at home. He said: “It drifted left to right for about a mile.”
ROBERT NEWTON, who lives near Liverpool, took this in April. He says he has filmed numerous alien spacecraft.
MICHAEL RITSON, 64, took this near Chester last week. He said: “ It was the day after the violent storms.”
CAROLE PRICE from Hythe, Kent, spotted this from Levante Beach while on holiday in Benidorm.
IAN RATCLIFFE, 46, from St Helens, Merseyside, said of this sighting last month: “It had leg-like appendages.”