From flashing fidget spinners to floating tanks: Newly released files reveal the bizarre-looking craft spotted in Britain’s skies
Ministry of Defence dossier reveals UFO probes dating from the 70s to the noughties and they're jam-packed with strange goings on
MYSTERIOUS flashing lights, a fidget spinner shaped UFO and a bulbous floating tank.
These are just a few of the incredible sightings kept hidden by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) which have just been released to the general public.
Several files from the government's "UFO desk" were released in 2009 and 2013 and were available to browse online.
Of these, 18 were withheld - sparking conspiracy theories that the government were holding something back.
But last week the MoD quietly made all but three of these missing files available, long after they were due.
They include various UFO sightings and investigations from around the UK between the 1970s to the early noughties, including a report called the "Turnberry Vor Incident", "The Wash" sightings and the notorious Rendlesham Forest phenomenon - often referred to as Britain's Roswell.
The files are filled with mysterious eyewitness accounts as well as hilarious doodles of flying saucer-style objects - both terrifying and laughable.
There are pictures sent in by children, including a "9-and-a-half" year-old from Dyfed, Wales who drew a bulbous flying saucer which they claim was 30 inches in length.
Several requests from pupils hoping to learn more about UFOs feature, too.
But many of the reports come from what the ministry describe as "credible witnesses" - often police or military staff.
One includes a detailed light system with eight cylinders flashing pink on one side and blue on the other.
One case detailed in the dossier is the mysterious "Turnberry Vor Incident" of 25 March 1999, which is yet to be solved.
The documents reveal several bright lights in the sky were investigated over Turnberry airfield - in an area of Scotland now famously taken over by Trump's luxury resort.
Defence bods checked all RAF flying schedules and analysed radar data for the evening - but could not figure out what the object which was spotted by "credible witnesses" had spotted.
There's also a detailed analysis of the famous UFO sighting at over the Wash near Skegness which sparked huge media attention.
In the early hours of 5 October a rotating UFO was seen over the coast by both Skegness and Boston police officers as well as several members of the general public.
The case was later concluded to be "celestial objects" or light reflecting off a Church tower, but a stern letter addressed to the former Secretary of State claims that the UFO had been on several military radars for more than seven hours - but RAF jets had been ordered to do nothing.
Employees got a good laugh from one witness, who promised they "hadn't had a drink all day" or were not "taking any drugs" when they spotted an intruder in the skies.
They spotted lights, "white like a star" as he and his wife travelled to Wighton, Norfolk.
The dossier is jam-packed with internal letters addressing how to quell the public at a time when UFO conspiracies were at an all-time high during the 1980s.
Employees suggested creating UFO pamphlets after they were inundated with sightings from across the country - and struggled to respond to each and every one.
The internal communications show how they referred to UFO theories as "claptrap" but did not want to look like they were challenging "the sincerity of UFOlogists".
Files show how names of high-profile UFOlogists or UFO hunting groups were added to MoD lists.
One such person of interest was Georgia Bruni, an author who was assessed by the ministry before appearing at a charity bash for ex-servicemen.
An inquiry into whether they might be seen to be endorsing Bruni's book on the Rendlesham Forest incident - where she alleges US agencies were covering something up - was taken up before they allowed her to take part.
The Rendlesham Forest incident: Britain’s most famous UFO sighting
The Rendlesham Forest incident took place in December 1980 over several nights.
On December 26, 1980, military personnel at the twin bases of RAF Bentwaters and RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk saw a strange light in Rendlesham Forest, which lies between the two bases.
Three men were sent out to investigate and two of them encountered a small, triangular-shaped craft.
One man, Jim Penniston, got close enough to touch the side of the object.
He and another of the airmen present, John Burroughs, made sketches of the craft for witness statements.
Two nights later Deputy Base Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt and his team then encountered the UFO.
He said later: "Here I am, a senior official who routinely denies this sort of thing and diligently works to debunk them, and I'm involved in the middle of something I can't explain."
Despite an MOD investigation, the Rendlesham Forest incident remains unexplained.
Following years of mounting pressure, officials promised earlier this year that the remaining files would see the light of day.
True to their word, they handed them over to the National Archive, Kew, West London, so the general public can take a look.
But the absence of an announcement and lack of online records sparked theories the government has made it deliberately difficult to get a hold of them.
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