The British government has received thousands of UFO reports over the decades, and Thursday it released the largest amount of documents ever concerning UFO sightings.
The documents, made available online via PDF by the Ministry of Defence and The National Archives, included 6,000 pages from 1994 to 2000. (Click here to see list, download files)
The tales found within cover several elaborate sorts of tales, including a woman's telepathic encounter with bizarre lights, as well as one man's detailed report of a "spherical" object captured on video.
With each report received, the Ministry of Defence often had the same response.
"Our only concern is to establish whether or not they pose a threat to the security of the United Kingdom," stated one letter in 1994.
"Unless we judge that they do, and this has not been the case so far, we do not attempt to investigate further, or to identify whatever might have been seen."
In several cases, the Ministry distanced itself from any theory suggesting alien origin of the objects spotted.
"We are not aware of any evidence that would support the existence of extraterrestrial life," stated another letter.
Sources for the reports include individuals, UFO investigators and sometimes police reports.
The Ministry also explained several sightings in 1994 as being a Virgin Lightships airship.
One of these sightings came from a woman who was driving with her son and spotted something strange through some trees.
"In the brightness of the full moon she saw an elliptical shaped object which was displaying four pairs of white lights at its top, bottom and each end," the report stated.
Another, more bizarre report, suggested the sighting created a "feeling of well-being, as if the object was exuding a sense of 'love and compassion.'"
"A married couple from Brighton were attending a concert at Wembly Stadium, when, at 9.25 p.m., a 'plasma/jellyfish' type of object appeared overhead," the report said.
Since 1959, the Ministry of Defence has received hundreds of UFO sightings each year. According to the documents released, these reports spiked in 1978 with 750 reports. Another 600 were received in 1980.
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UFO sightings - MoD 'blanked out' insults about reports
The Ministry of Defense had agreed to publish its full archive of reported sightings in response to a deluge of Freedom of Information Act requests.
But the once-secret memo, published on its website, reveals "uncomplimentary comments" were edited out.
Comments on international relations and defense technology were also deleted.
Thousands of pages from the department's UFO files have been released through the National Archives since 2008, revealing details of reported flying objects and encounters with aliens.
The newly released memo to ministers and defense chiefs, dated September 2007, discusses how to make the largely "low security classification" information public.
It notes they "include references to air defense matters, defense technology, relations with foreign powers and occasional uncomplimentary comments by staff or police officers about members of the public, which will need to be withheld in accordance with FoI principles."
The Ministry of Defense (MoD) recorded UFO sightings from the end of the Second World War until it shut its special investigation unit on 1 December last year.
Officials feared publishing only part of the information would "fuel accusations of a 'cover-up'," the document reveals.
"Contrary to what many members of the public may believe, MoD has no interest in the subject of extraterrestrial life forms visiting the UK, only in ensuring the integrity and security of UK airspace," it says.
"The MoD is aware of no clear evidence to prove or disprove the existence of aliens, and consequently the files are considerably less exciting than the 'industry' surrounding the UFO phenomena would like to believe."
The fifth installment of MoD UFO files was released last week, revealing reports of a large triangular UFO hovering in the skies above former home secretary Michael Howard's home near Folkestone, Kent, in March 1997.
Read here.
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