Britain Thursday released 35 previously classified files documenting sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by the military and members of the public dating back to the 1950s。
The files contain around 8,500 pages which mainly cover the periodfrom 1997 to 2005 and include photographs, drawings and descriptions offlying saucer sightings, as well as letters the Ministry of Defense(MoD) sent eyewitnesses in response to their accounts。
Policemen, a soldier, a Royal Air Force (RAF) officer and members ofthe public report sightings of objects including a "chewy mint shapedsolid craft" and aerial objects resembling a "ring," a "jellyfish" anda "silver voile spin top."
In one account a man said he believed he had been "abducted" byaliens in October 1998 after seeing an unidentified craft hover overhis London home and finding he had gained an hour of time in theprocess。
"It was a large cigar-shaped vehicle with big projectiles on each side like wings," he told the MoD。
"It seemed to have two very bright lights at the front and a whitelight flashing round and round underneath... As you can imagine, I feltquite shaken."
The MoD wrote to the man informing him that the object was probablyan airship, adding that the time he had gained was probably the resultof the clocks being put back one hour on the night of his closeencounter。
Another file released by the National Archives reveals how the RAFwas inundated with calls one morning in 1967 after residents ofsouthern England awoke to find six small beeping UFOs lying in aperfect line from the Isle of Sheppey to the Bristol Channel。
A bomb disposal unit blew up one of the UFOs, another was airliftedto the southeastern village of Aldermaston and both the army and theMoD's intelligence unit were mobilised for what was considered a real"alien invasion."
It was later discovered that engineering students at FarnboroughTechnical College had constructed and positioned the UFOs in a bid toraise money for charity。
"It does raise some questions about what really would happen if atany time in the future there was some kind of instant -- would we beprepared?" said David Clarke, author of "The UFO Files" and consultantto the National Archives' UFO project。
The files are available to download free of charge for one month at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ufos。
英国于本周四解密了35份军方和民众提供的有关不明飞行物(UFO)见闻的绝密档案，这些见闻最早可追溯至上世纪50年代。
此次解密的档案有近8500页，主要来自1997年至2005年，包括UFO相关照片、图画、飞碟文字描述、以及英国对目击者的答复信件。
目击者包括警察、士兵、空军、以及普通民众。有人声称见到“薄荷糖形状的坚实飞行器”，还有人称发现“指环”、“水母”状不明飞行物，顶部还有“银纱”回旋。
在某起事件中，一名英国男子称，他曾在1998年10月看到一架不明飞行物在他伦敦家中上空盘旋，随后便遭外星人“绑架”，事后发现自己“又回到一个小时前”。
他告诉英国：“那是一个巨型雪茄形状的飞船，两边各有一个机翼状推进器。”
“飞碟前端好像发出两道亮光，一道白光围绕底部闪个不停。你可以想象一下，我都吓呆了。”
给这名男子回信称，他看到的可能是一艘飞艇，至于为何时间停滞，可能是在他遭遇UFO当晚手表慢了一小时。
英国国家档案管解密的另一份资料写道，1967年某天清晨，英国皇家空军被电话铃声淹没。英格兰南部地区多名居民来电称看到6架小型UFO。它们发出蜂鸣声，排成一列，从谢佩岛向布里斯托尔海峡飞去。
拆弹部队炸毁其中一架UFO，另一架则被空运至东南部奥尔德马斯顿村。当时英国和情报部门都做好准备，应对“真正的外星人入侵”。
事后发现，这起恶作剧的幕后黑手居然是范堡罗科技学院的一名工程系学生，他希望籍此为慈善机构募款。
英国国家档案馆UFO项目顾问、《UFO档案》作者戴维·克拉克说：“这的确反映出一些问题，如果将来某个时刻突然遇到外星人，我们准备好了吗？”
解密文件在英国国家档案馆网站上可免费下载(www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ufos)，时效为一个月。