Britain's defense ministry releases its final UFO files

Doug Stanglin | USA TODAY

Newly declassified UFO files show that the British ministry of defense decided to shut down its public UFO hotline in 2009 because it had produced "no defense benefit" and no evidence of extra-terrestrial beings in more than 50 years.

The 209 files and approximately 52,000 pages released by The National Archives of Britain on Friday also included reports from the public on strange lights and even alien abductions. It is the final batch of UFO files in a series that the National Archives has released periodically.

One key document finally explains why the ministry suddenly pulled the plug on its UFO hotline in December 2009.

A briefing prepared for then-defense minister Bob Ainsworthy by the RAF Air Command one month earlierhad recommended that the MoD "should seek to reduce very significantly the UFO task which is consuming increasing resource, but produces no valuable defence output."

The briefing said that in more than 50 years "no UFO sighting reported to [MoD] has ever revealed anything to suggest an extra-terrestrial presence or military threat to the UK" and "there is no defence benefit in [MoD] recording, collating, analysing or investigating UFO sightings."

The ministry found that investigations into purported UFO sightings, even from more reliable sources, "serve no useful purpose and merely divert air defence specialists from their primary tasks."

The ministry predicted that shutting down the hotline would draw "negative comments" from ufologists but that any campaign they might mount to get it restored would be "vociferous, but short-lived."

The documents, however, show that the government was sensitive about how it handled the move, noting that the MoD deliberately refrained from raising the issue with other government to avoid any future charges of an international collaboration and conspiracy.

From 2000 to 2007, the documents show, the ministry received an average of 150 UFO sightings annually, increasing to 643 in 2009, which had made the workload "unmanageable."

The ministry said sightings tended to cluster during summer months when people were more likely to be outside walking their dog, enjoying family barbecues or relaxing in hot tubs.

Among them:

•A number of people said they were "amazed," "stunned," or "frightened" by formations of orange lights generated by the release of Chinese lanterns.

•UFOs were reported to be hovering near the Houses of Parliament in February 2008 and near Stonehenge in January 2009.

•A man in Cardiff claimed a UFO abducted his dog, car and tent while camping

with friends in 2007.

•A letter from a school child asked for the truth about UFOs after she had seen some strange lights. The letter included a drawing of an alien in an UFO waving. The document said the UFO desk sent her a bag of RAF "goodies" in response.

•A woman in Dorset reported seeing a "a bright white fireball? that entered her house through her kitchen window in August 2009. The fireball fell into a carrier bag and was followed by „blinding white sheet lightning?, but no trace of any burns was found in the kitchen, according to the documents.