National Geographic Channel to investigate the world of UFOs

Many UFO sightings have been dismissed as the products of unreliable witnesses or hoaxes. But a few are harder to explain. UFO Alien Invasion retells and reconstructs incidents from all over the world in a series which begins next month on the National Geographic Channel.

With the help of a panel of experts, all the evidence is tested as the show unlocks the mysteries of our skies that defy understanding. We also question do the governments of the world know more than they ever reveal to us?

National Geographic Channel will look at stories from the past and present: Australia 1978, pilot Frederick Valentich and his plane go missing without a trace and his last communication to the air traffic control is, “Melbourne, that strange aircraft is hovering on top of me again, it’s hovering, but it’s not an aircraft’’ followed by a 17 second unidentified sound. The plane is never recovered. Norway 2009, Army officer Kristoffer Rokoczy is driving to the army base the sky is pitch black, then a white and blue circling light appears, a call to security confirms there is no activity planned on the base, if it’s not military then what is it?

Some of the stories featured are a bit closer to home. Deep within the walls of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) the British government has investigated UFO sightings for over 50 years. Few know more about this secret research than former MOD operative Nick Pope, who investigated UFO’s sightings to determine if they were a potential threat. The summers of 2008 and 2009 were incredibly busy for the MOD in relation to UFO reports, many of which involved orange balls of light, which were pouring in from all around the country. Barrie Mills is a journalist who witnesses these orange balls of light and photographs them, within a day his photo has gone viral.

Then the MOD think they have finally solved the mystery of the orange lights… 200,000 Chinese lanterns are released each summer in the UK. This turned out to be the explanation for most of the sightings. The number of these reports and requests for information proved too much for the MOD UFO project to handle and in 2009 the Government UFO desk was closed down, with it noted that “Chinese lanterns killed the ministry of defence UFO project”.

But others reject the lantern theory. When these orange lights endanger the lives of a police helicopter pilot, Chinese lanterns are blamed again. But eye witness Steven Toozer is adamant that what he saw and the footage he took cannot be explained by lanterns; “What we’re looking at now is just a normal Chinese lantern and as you can see that colour is just orange and yellow but the footage I’ve got is all different colours so that just proves again that it’s not a Chinese lantern.”

However, most of the UFO sightings cannot be explained this simply… with military fighter jets as witnesses, mysterious illnesses when lights appear in the sky destroying a village and unaccountable disappearances. All is not what it seems…

UFO Alien Invasion premieres Friday 31st October 9pm on National Geographic Channel