Thousands of UFO papers released by the Ministry of Defence show aliens shun St Albans

LOCAL residents fearing an alien invasion may be able to sleep a little easier now that official documents on unidentified flying objects show that the St Albans district is definitely not a hotspot for out-of-this-world visitors.

UFO files released by The National Archives contain thousands of pages detailing a plethora of multiple sightings in a huge range of areas including Kent, Essex, North Wales, North Yorkshire and Scotland.

But Hertfordshire appears to feature little by comparison, with reference only to UFO sightings over places near St Albans such as Welwyn Garden City, Hertford, Bushey, Stevenage, Hatfield and Kings Langley.

According to one report in the early hours of Sunday August 1, 1976, “three uniformed officers saw a UFO over the Buncefield Oil Terminal” in Hemel Hempstead. The police apparently “observed [it] for several minutes.”

The 35 files contain the largest release of documents so far by The National Archives. Covering the years 2000 – 2005, they boast over 8,500 pages of UFO sightings and reports, colour photographs, drawings, RAF investigations, unusual radar detections, parliamentary briefings and the government’s policy on UFOs.

They are available to download for free for just a month from The National Archives. So you’ll have to be quick if you want to find out more about the House of Lords debate on UFOs and a flying saucer hoax that was treated as a potentially real alien invasion of the UK with four police forces, bomb disposal units, the army and the MoD’s intelligence unit all mobilised in response.

• During 1996-97 the workload of the UFO desk at the Ministry of Defence increased by 50 per cent due to media interest in the subject around the 50th anniversary of the Roswell incident, resulting in a UFO hotline being set up for members of the public to report sightings to.

• The archives show witnesses reporting UFOs describing flying craft of all shapes and sizes in an array of colours, from dull black to vibrant orange, with some round like a beach ball, triangular, balls of fire, cigar-shaped or just plain “unusual.”

• One caller was recorded on a report reassuring the hotline that they had “not been drinking.”