Churchill demanded UFO briefing: secret files
AFP - Wed Feb 17,
7:14 pm ET
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LONDON (AFP) – Hundreds of UFO sightings
by Britons, including one who developed a skin condition after a
supernatural encounter, emerged in files out Thursday which also
show Winston Churchill's interest in the issue.
The most unusual of the newly declassified Ministry of Defence files tells how a man in Ebbw Vale,
south Wales, claimed his car was surrounded for five minutes by a
"tube of light" in 1997.
The man, who reported the incident to police, was sick the next
day and also developed a mysterious skin
condition.
"First sighting seemed like a massive star moving towards the
car," the previously top secret police report said.
"Having stopped the car and switched the lights off, the light
encircled the car, remaining for perhaps five minutes.
"(The man) was able to walk through the light which was very
bright. There was no sound, no aircraft or helicopter noise, and
besides feeling ill (he) was very frightened."
The newly released files span 6,000 pages and cover the period
1994 to 2000.
They were released alongside another file dating back to 1952
which showed then British prime minister Winston
Churchill requesting a briefing on UFOs from
his secretary of state for air.
"What does all this stuff about flying
saucers amount to? What can it mean? What is the truth? Let
me have a report at your convenience," he wrote.
In the reply, Churchill was told that alleged UFO sightings
could be explained by earthly phenomena such as optical illusions,
mistaken identification of planes, birds and balloons and
deliberate hoaxes.
The more recent files detailed reams of other UFO spottings.
A policeman said he saw one flying over Chelsea
Football Club's Stamford Bridge ground in southwest London
in 1999, while a man in Birmingham, central England, saw a blue
triangle hovering over his garden late one night in 1997.
That alleged alien craft flew off quickly, leaving behind a
"silky-white" substance on nearby treetops which the man collected
in a jam jar.
One UFOlogist, David Clarke of Sheffield Hallam
University in northern England, said the latest files showed
how the shape of reported flying saucers had changed in recent
decades.
This could be linked to sci-fi television shows and films like
"The X Files" and "Independence Day", he
said.
"One interpretation could be that the latest advances in
technology may be influencing what people see in the sky," he
said.