back to article MoD begins full UFO-files public release

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has begun releasing its voluminous files regarding unidentified flying objects, aerial phenomena, possible alien visitations etc. The documents will all become available to the public via the National Archives over the next three years. UFOs of various kinds have been sighted and reported to …

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  1. Mr Bear
    Alien

    Wouldn't it be easier

    Wouldn't it be easier to just watch the X-Files but imagine it's John Steed and Emma Peel investigating?

  2. David
    Happy

    Do we really need to be told by the Government?

    Why to release now such document to the public? We are ready and we know the goverment plans to stage alien invasion.(to reinforce the NWO?)...sad whistle-blower videos have already been removed from youtube (watch?v=8YDByy484ZQ).

  3. Robert Long
    Thumb Up

    Congratulations

    ...on the most accurate use of the word "bumf" I've seen in years.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Ah, yeah, but...

    Any fule kno that they'll keep the really juicy bits back as ultra-black secret documents.

    Seriously, though - prepare for a whole load of tedious weather balloon spottings and incompetence. Never presume a conspiracy where good old fashioned incompetence and idiocy is a far more adequate explanation.

  5. Andrew
    Coat

    Obviously to scare up some hype.....

    .......cause everyone to get hooked up on the potential of extraterrestrials living in the country then whip up this fear to support the national ID database!

    Mines the one with matching tinfoil hat and gloves...

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    re: Congratulations

    Robert Long wrote:

    "...on the most accurate use of the word "bumf" I've seen in years."

    Ditto.

    It ain't an alien spacecraft unless you can see the blue glowing mud dried on the landing gear, the dents around the docking port/airlock and expired registration sticker in the window.

    (...took me years to get that damn mud off...)

  7. ImaGnuber

    sprites, spirits, gods

    Just do the usual conspiracy* theory routine and assume that when a gubmint document states "No. Never" it should be read as "Yes. Always" etc.

    *Conspiracy Theory: The modern equivalent to attributing natural phenomena to sprites, spirits, gods and so on.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Black Helicopters

    Support Our Troops DVD

    Surely the MOD should be releasing these on DVD through Asda/Woolworths. Make some money that way

    "UK X Files Vol 1 by The MODSquad - £9.99 - all proceeds go to support our troops in the war zones!"

  9. Paul
    Alien

    I love...

    the MODs reply to the argument that there is a world wide cover-up.

    Basicly "we are very flatterd that people think we could organise somthing like that, but we cant"

  10. Aron A Aardvark
    Alert

    Classification of released docs?

    Anyone know what the highest level of classification of these docs is? If previous releases are anything to go by, there ain't nothing released beyond the category formerly known as Secret. Everyone knows that the real goodies are at Super Duper Double Quadtuple Secret Level.

    BTW, Rendlesham happened on a USAF base. We've all seen the UK MoD docs pertaining to that case but what happened to the USG's docs?

  11. Elmer Phud
    Alien

    Conspiracy

    So, why are they releasing the info now? Simple, it's to provide a SMOKESCREEN to cover up other things that are going on that they don't want us to know the TRUTH about. (big letters to denote evangelistic importance)

    Actually, the history of UAM's (Unidentified Ariel Manifestations) is rather interesting as the reports of sightings change with technology. We've had angels, airships and flying saucers, I wonder what's next that they're not telling us about. Need to have new transportation system, flying De Loreans and and Yogic Flyers are sooooo last century.

    We demand to know what it is they are not telling us - or rather we demand they keep saying there's nothing so we can say there's a cover up. Can't have the buggers coming clean, it will ruin a whole industry based on FUD.

  12. Spleen
    Happy

    @Elmer

    Unidentified Ariel Manifestations? Is that when you've drunk too much on your fishing trip and you start seeing redhead mermaids, or is it when you dream about being beamed into an alien spaceship and when you wake up all your clothes are completely spotless?

  13. GremlinUK
    Thumb Up

    Conspiracy theories

    I always thought that the greatest argument against government organised conspiracy theories was that if you look at the gross level of incompetence displayed by government in every-day matters (like info-sec, or economic management), what makes you think they could lock down information so completely that nobody credible ever leaks it.

    As Fraser said, "Never presume a conspiracy where good old fashioned incompetence and idiocy is a far more adequate explanation."

  14. Elmer Phud
    Happy

    UAM's

    Thanks Spleen, I had an idea I'd got it wrong. I could try and wriggle out of it by saying it was deliberate in order to mimic the usual crap spelling by conspiracy theorists but I was distracted by blue flashing lights outside my window - It was just a bunch of El Ron's aliens popping by to see how the master race is getting on. I hope that's clear now.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What if

    Gordan Brown said that they didn't exist ?

  16. Chris Hunt
    Alien

    Notable absentee

    What? No comment on this story from amanfrommars?

  17. Steve
    Flame

    This is disgraceful!

    Just because they are aliens, the government thinks it can pass their personal data around with wild abandon. Migrants have a right to personal privacy too.

    Won't somebody think of the (alien) kids!?

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    @Chris Hunt

    I would assume amanfrommars is off at the national archives website trying to find any reference to the day he was left here by his mates on Mars.... they couldn't understand him either.....

  19. anarchic-teapot

    re: Classification of released docs?

    Ever since the monumental non-release of the Jack the Ripper investigation archives, I've always had a sneaking suspicion that the documents classified as super-secret and Not For Release Ever, No Really, We Mean It would only reveal (a) mind-numbing incompetence, or (b) text so windy, boring and devoid of information that it would make 'Swann's Way' seem only marginally less snappy than 'Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy'.

  20. Matthew
    Coat

    @Elmer Phud

    I seen a suspicious aerial on the room of my neighbours house....

  21. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
    Black Helicopters

    Infinite Conspiracy Nesting Alert!!

    The nice thing about conspiracies is that for every conspiracy exposed, there is another deeper conspiracy -> YES!! Recursion without terminating condition!

    Anyway, all AEMs/UFOs are just manifestations of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

    Pastafarians RULE!

    Chpper because there is no FSM icon (shame!!)

  22. Danny
    Black Helicopters

    They're coming to take me away

    The trouble is the alien craft have some sort of sensor which can detect and avoid credible witnesses, which is why only nutters see them. For instance I saw one, I drove right underneath it on a road so famous locally for sightings that someone put up a homemade 'low flying UFO' road sign. I'm not sure what it was but it had rather disappointing halogen headlights. Maybe inter-galactic boy racers come here for the Halfords accesories. I never reported it or mentioned it to people as I worked at an airport and wanted to keep doing so. The craft appeared to be stationary and it also seemed capable of sudden acceleration. I assumed and still assume it was some sort of large UAV being tested and the joystick pilots were just having a bit of fun freaking out yokels on country roads.

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Alien

    no coverup here, really; just move along

    Can anyone say "BLUEBOOK"?

  24. Luther Blissett

    @Elmer @Spleen @Elmer

    Elmer, when you can't trust the government's spinning disks, your subconscious is what you should trust. Unidentified Ariel Manifestations are precisely what we should be looking out for.

    Tho you may not know it, hard (real hard, as in scientific) evidence now exists for a Tree of Life that joined heaven and earth in the past. A Tree that was the ladder and playground of "spirits of light". There is some reason to think related phenomena will make a reappearance (quite apart from fake alien battle fleets). Have you counted sunspots recently? No? That's because there aren't any to count, and some are wondering why. (And no, that's not because the Alien Greys are not rubbing them out as soon as they appear).

  25. we are all ignorant

    only nutters like these....

    "More than 10,000 sightings have been reported, the majority of which cannot be accounted for by any ‘scientific’ explanation, eg that they are hallucinations, the effects of light refraction, meteors, wheels falling from aeroplanes, and the like…. They have been tracked on radar screens… and the observed speeds have been as great as 9,000 mph.

    I am convinced that these objects do exist and they are not manufactured by any nation on earth. I can therefore see no alternative to accepting the theory that they come from an extraterrestrial source.”

    Air Chief Marshall Lord Dowding, Commanding Officer of the RAF during WWII.

    "I have frequently been asked why a person of my background—a former Chief of the Defence Staff, a former Chairman of the NATO Military Committee—why I think there is a cover-up (of) the facts about UFOs. I believe governments fear that if they did disclose those facts, people would panic. I don’t believe that at all. There is a serious possibility that we are being visited by people from outer space. It behoves us to find out who they are, where they come from, and what they want."

    Admiral Lord Hill-Norton, British Royal Navy, former Chief of Defence during a videotaped interview for the Disclosure program.

    "The reported operating characteristics such as extreme rates of climb, manoeuvrability (particularly in roll), and action which must be considered evasive when sighted… lend belief to the possibility that some of the objects are controlled…”

    General Nathan Twining, Head of Air Material Command (AMC), 1947.

    "Reliable reports indicate there are objects coming into our atmosphere at very high speeds and controlled by thinking intelligences.”

    Navy Admiral Delmar Fahrney in a public statement during 1957.

    "Behind the scenes, high-ranking Air Force officers are soberly concerned about UFOs. But through official secrecy and ridicule, many citizens are led to believe that unknown flying objects are nonsense.”

    Former CIA Director, Roscoe Hillenkoetter, public statement, 1960

    You're right Danny... Buncha nutters.......

  26. Anonymous John
    Coat

    They're going about this all wrong.

    "The MOD admitted today that a laptop containing 100 years of UFO data has been stolen."

    Doesn't that sound far more plausible?

    Mine's the one with three sleeves.

  27. feargal halligan
    Black Helicopters

    @ we are all ignorant

    YES, nutters like those, Mr. Pompous.

    Are we supposed to believe that high ranking military officials are immune to bizarre and unfounded beliefs? Apart from recommending books like Jon Ronson's "the men who stare at goats" to temper your evangelistic fervour about people who run the military...

    Try asking any army officer in a western country how much of a clique religion can be, and how turning up at services can influence your rank.

    Just because we can't identify something doesn't mean it's either important or interesting... honestly.

  28. Luther Blissett

    @Anonymous John

    > "The MOD admitted today that a laptop containing 100 years of UFO data has been stolen." Doesn't that sound far more plausible?

    100 years, no. 60 years, definitely. There seem so few UFO reports prior to Roswell that if these started turning up one could assume they were being manufactured for present purposes, not to reveal past history. The explanation for UFO therefore seems connected with events originating at that time and continuing to the present. Events that are public domain. Events like having our own supersonic silver flying machines with night lights and preternatural noisiness...

    You don't suppose alien space ships are like randy dogs, always on the lookout to sniff another of similar general appearance...?

  29. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @only nutters like these....

    lets not always listen to generals they are occasionally wrong

    "They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist..." (General John Sedgwick, battle of Spotsylvania, 1864)-oh for those who don't know that was his last quote!

    not to mention Iraq and WMDs

    which to be honest just about negates someone high up in the modern equivalent of each organisation in each of your quotes

  30. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    There are no aliens.

    The invisible pink unicorn told me so.

  31. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    In all seriousness ...

    and all joking aside, what is the purpose behind the reasoning of releasing this story to the public?

    It all smells like a (not very proficient) exercise in misdirection.

    This kind of shot gets me worried. Not because of the wee green men, but because its an obvious distraction from the big picture.

  32. we are all ignorant
    Go

    My, my.....

    Pompous, rifk. Yeah, they're human, prone to unfounded, and sometimes harebrained ideas. But perhaps they are in a better position to make an assessment than you or I. I am glad you people have all the answers to the universe in your little brains.....speaking of pompous :P Whatever, keep thinking what you like. As will I. Fair enough? Good, k, thx.

  33. we are all ignorant
    Heart

    @Halligan

    Got a beef with organized religion have we? Why you bring that up? This is about U.F.O.'s., don't vent your frustration with Father Feely in this venue. Go to counseling for that....honestly.

  34. Moss Icely Spaceport
    Alien

    Sputnik was...

    ....the first human-alien love-child.

    Beep....................Beep.........................Beep............

  35. Slaine
    Boffin

    100 years of UFO's/UAP's/UAM's

    ... is only scratching the surface of the topic.

    The *term* UFO dates back to the 1940's, Unidentified Arial Phenomena (term used within the wonderful wikiworld of dubious data) have been reported as early as the late 1800's and technically, in 240BC the Chinese documented "Halley's Comet" as such.

    @ we are all ignorant: I don't know about Feargal H, but *I* most certainly DO have a beef with *organised religion* and I enclude the British and American governments in that genre (mmmm, why stop there - Politics is now a faith movement - do you BELIEVE this or that party will act in your best interests? Do you obay the laws that they set out? Do you listen to their sermons?).

    Given that *believing* in UFO's is a matter of faith (until such time as incontravertable evidence comes to light in which case they become a matter of fact, and no longer *unidentified*), the organising of this data release fills me with overwhelming disinterest. Truth be told, if the report was "oh shit, we've lost a laptop full of top shelf secret UFO reports" I'd probably put more credence in it. Am I pessimistic? cynical? ... maybe - but that doesn't make me wrong.

    @ AmanfromMars: hope you find the relatives your looking for; save us a seat my liege, I'm sick of this retarded planet.

  36. Ishkandar

    Shurly this must explain...

    ...the weird thinking and appearance of our current government !! Where do I sign up for the anti-alien guerrilla army ??

    >>Given that *believing* in UFO's is a matter of faith - of course not !! The Vatican-approved astronomer, himself, said there ARE aliens, so it MUST be true !! We can't question the Church, can we ??

  37. Danny

    Aliens are my Brothers

    Apologies for the word nutters, I was applying it to myself preemptively. I was also trying to indicate the sort of person who would expect to be believed relating an unwitnessed extraordinary experience. As opposed to the sort of person who could be beamed up and flown around the galaxy and would still have a logical, terrerstial explanation for it.

    As for tying organised religion into the discussion, the Popes Chief Astronomer recently released 'Aliens are my brothers' speculating that aliens might be free of original sin. This is part of a drive to boost the Vaticans scientific credentials ! It is a timely reminder that each infant who dies is not considered free of original sin. ET good, Elliot bad.

  38. P. Lee
    Coat

    UAM Comments

    Unidentified Ariel Manifestation - is that a bright white light seen at lower temperatures? Is it hypoallergenic too?

    Unidentified Arial Manifestation - Its a font Jim, but not as we know it...

    Mines the one with the dodgy writing on it which has been dry-cleaned...

  39. Slaine
    Paris Hilton

    vatican approved astronomer

    ...not worth putting on the old CV that, mind you, if she paid them enough I'm sure they'd make Paris a vatican approved virgin.

  40. John Werner
    Joke

    Torchwood - Declassified

    I wonder how many references to flying blue boxes and this weird guy calling himself a doctor there will be.

  41. Roger Brown
    Joke

    Terry Pratchett moment

    As Terry Pratchett once remarked in one his novels (sic): it's amazing how good governments are at covering up UFOs when they're so poor at keeping anything else a secret.

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