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Close encounters of the alien kind
By Ian Mason
The truth is out there for extra-terrestrial enthusiasts now the National Archives has released secret Ministry of Defence files on eyewitness accounts of UFOs.
Several sightings in Richmond were reported between 1997 and 2007 and anyone interested can view the documents for the first time by downloading them from the National Archives website.
According to the files, Twickenham is the borough's hotspot for alien encounters, with four recorded sightings, compared with two in Richmond and one in Teddington.
Richmond Scientific Society secretary Dr John Bradbury said there was a "strong argument" for the existence of alien life.
He added: "There are so many possible planets where it could exist.
"Extra-terrestrial intelligence is very likely.".....
TOP-SECRET UFO dossiers from the Government's very own X-Files have revealed how an Islington resident's close encounter with the third kind has stayed buried for more than 20 years.
Hidden files documenting every UFO sighting in Britain from 1978 to 2002 were released by the Ministry of Defence last month - and an extra terrestrial incident in the skies above Finsbury might have left one Islington man murmuring "EC1 - phone home" in disbelief.
At 10.30am on September 29, 1985, a physics lab technician from Highbury saw "a long thin silver/white object with two fins at the back" hovering 500 yards away above Shoreditch Church.
The man - whose details have been kept secret to protect his identity - reported seeing the mysterious craft "moving very fast towards the City" in "bright sunlight". The sighting lasted for 10 minutes and was backed up by a second witness from Hornsey.
The Highbury resident was so spooked he reported the incident to the MOD's Air Force Operations at 6.30pm that night - but the details were stamped Top Secret and have remained unearthed until now.
A similar sighting of a "very bright object" made of "a smooth, highly-polished metal" hovering above Regent's Park had been reported just nine days earlier.
Paul Southcott, of New North Road, Islington, a member of the UFO Supernatural Study Group, said: "It all happens at once.
"In the mid-90s we had about 80 reports of all sorts of different types of craft within the space of a month from Hackney and Islington. I'm surprised there's only one reported [in the files].
"They're probably sitting on hundreds but you only get what they want you to hear - there's no such thing as freedom of information."
He added: "You get what we call 'UFO fright'. People feel stupid talking about it to people like me. They could have been living with this for 10 years but then something like this comes out and people come out of the woodwork."
Have you seen a UFO? Did you witness the Shoreditch and Finsbury sighting? Call the Gazette newsdesk on 020 8342 5777 or e-mail nlnews@archant.co.uk.
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My attention was drawn to this glimering object due to the fact that although there were many airplanes in the skies, this was the only one that glimmered. When i got my cam and zoomed in i noticed the strange lighting of the object. It was flying at very high altitude and unlike the planes it did not leave any trails.
London UFO 07/April/08
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WANSTEAD and Woodford is fast getting a reputation for spooky skies after yet ANOTHER apparent UFO sighting.
This time the Guardian was contacted by businessman Simon Brody, 36, who says he saw a mysterious grey object in the sky while he was in his garden playing with his young son.
He said it looked "exactly the same" as the sighting which we reported last week flying near Charlie Brown's roundabout, Woodford Green, and was moving at rapid speeds towards the same area.
Mr Brody said: "I've never seen anything like that at all and I probably never will again.
"I was out in the garden with my little boy and I saw something out of the corner of my eye.
"It just darted across the sky - it was exactly the same as the man in your story described it.
"It was grey and looked quite large, but it was moving too fast to be a plane.
"I ran to look to see if I could see it again but it had disappeared.
"I don't know what it was, but I think it would be naive to say there isn't anything else out there in space."
Paint shop worker Bradley Gross, whose sighting the Guardian reported last week, welcomed the news that he was not the only to have apparently seen the object.
"That's absolutely excellent, I'm very glad because some people have been caning me about it, so now I can say to them it wasn't just me."
"It's quite freaky really" he added.
The apparent sighting is just the latest in a string of reported sightings in western Redbridge.
In February the Ministry of Defence (MoD) urged for calm when there was another sighting near the Winston Churchill statue in Woodford Green, but they have since said they are not investigating further "unless there is evidence of a potential threat."
One MoD Spokeswoman said: "we are scanning the skies all the time for security reasons, so the chances of a member of the public seeing something that we don't know about are remote."
3:24pm Tuesday 17th June 2008
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