FT266


The facts about some of Britain’s best-known UFO myst­eries are revealed in the latest collection of ‘X-files’ released by Britain’s National Archives. A total of 18 files containing 5,000 pages of material were released on 5 August and can be downloaded free of charge from the National Archives website for one month.

They provide a unique historical snapshot of the extra­ordinary beliefs, legends and rumours that were held and spread by ufo­logists around the time of the 50th anniversary of the birth of the subject, in 1997. These files contain hundreds of letters addressed to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and politicians that cover every conceivable UFO and conspiracy rumour circulating just before the millennium: UFO crashes, alien abductions, animal mutilations, demonic entities, crop circles, remote viewing, mind-control and government conspiracies.