Britain's X Files

By Tina Lofthouse

Flying saucers, close encounters, flashing orbs in the night – and a mysteriously damaged wind turbine in Lincolnshire. Some say there's plenty of evidence that aliens are invading Britain's skies. But are they right?

Yesterday, the MOD released a freshly updated list of all UFO sightings the public have reported. A joint project between the Ministry and the National Achives tallied up a sky-packed 800 accounts.

Two lads said they’d met an alien with a lemon-shaped head who told them, “Come with us”, compelling the pair to leg it (we think it was jolly decent of the alien to learn our language). Another case involved a “sensible lad” and a less decent sounding alien. In 1996, the young man spotted a UFO flying over a cemetery in Cheshire, firing laser beams at the ground. An officer arrived and found several railway sleepers smouldering and heavily damaged. The officer remarked: “It does look rather odd.”

It’s no coincidence that most of the reports were made whenever a big alien invasion film is released, or a UFO-themed TV series is being shown. The year with the most incidents was 1996 – the year Independence Day was released and when The X-Files was at its peak of popularity.

So, is the truth out there? See for yourself as we take a look at 10 hotbeds of UFO activity around the UK, including the spot that was home to the incident now dubbed “Britain’s Roswell”.