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By Matthew Moore
Last Updated: 8:40AM GMT 05 Feb 2009<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The number of UFO sightings logged with the Ministry of Defence more than
\ndoubled to 285 last year, a rise described as "phenomenal" by experts. It is the
\nhighest number of sightings in 10 years. <\/p>\n
All the incidents are included in a document released by the MoD yesterday,
\nwhich details the date, time and location of the sightings, along with a brief
\nsummary of the eyewitness reports. <\/p>\n
The Palace of Westminster sighting on Feb 12 is described as follows: "There
\nwas a craft that had green, red and white lights. It was still and static in the
\nsky. It was seen for about an hour and a half." There is no information about
\nwho reported the UFO or what it may have been. <\/p>\n
The MoD only investigates reports of unidentified flying objects that it
\nconsiders may pose a risk to national security, and most of the incidents seem
\njust to have been logged and ignored. One UFO, in the skies over Stroud in
\nGloucestershire on June 2, is recorded only as "a sighting of something". <\/p>\n
Many of the sightings read like the products of overactive imaginations. In
\nScarborough, North Yorkshire on June 11 a member of the public reported seeing
\n"a cork shaped object that glowed like an angel, flew up and over some trees".\n<\/p>\n
Others are strikingly specific, like this description of a UFO seen near
\nBlackpool in Lancashire on Sept 8: "An object, the shape of a chewing gum pack,
\nblack in colour and had three circles of lights underneath it, emitting a dull
\norange light. Was about 150 feet long and 50 feet wide." <\/p>\n
Nick Pope, who used to investigate UFOs for the MoD in the 1990s and is now
\none of the country's leading UFO authorities, said that the doubling of
\nsightings was "statistically extremely significant." In 2007 there were 135
\nreported sightings, and just 97 in 2006. <\/p>\n
"If it was a more modest increase one could say it was due to all sorts of
\nreasons but this is phenomenal," he said. <\/p>\n
"There are some interesting clusters of sightings in the summer where there
\nwere six sightings on the same day, albeit in different parts of the country and
\nwith different descriptions." <\/p>\n
Mr Pope said that the increase in reporting was probably linked to the MoD's
\nrelease of documents from its UFO archive in May, which made headlines across
\nthe world and helped make the phenomenon a mainstream issue again. <\/p>\n
Many of archive documents featured testimonies from policemen and pilots,
\nwhich "sent a message to people that there is nothing to be ashamed of" about
\nreporting a UFO, Mr Pope said. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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