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UFOs In the UK
Old Cases, New Data

By Nick Redfern
US Editor in Chief
Phenomena Magazine
12-1-4
 
While recently reorganizing many of my old UFO files, I came across a whole batch of cases and reports that I had investigated a number of years ago, but that I had never publicized. But upon reflection, I feel that due to their content, a number of them are worth bringing to the attention of the Phenomena readership.
 
 
Case 1:
 
Throughout the course of 1971, the British Ministry of Defense, by its own admittance, received almost four hundred UFO reports ñ a figure that remained unsurpassed until 1977. There are indications, however, that it was not just the MoD that was undertaking investigations into unidentified aerial activity during that year.
 
It was shortly after midnight on a Saturday night in August 1971, and a courting couple in a car on the cliff-top at Joss Bay, Broadstairs, Kent, had a close encounter of a kind that they certainly did not anticipate when they drove to the site. According to Keith Young and his girlfriend Linda Catt, the first thing that struck them as being odd was a "glowing red ball" that could be seen over the Channel and that was moving "at great speed" in their direction.
 
According to Young, "A huge glowing ball suddenly appeared from the direction of the sea. It seemed to be making straight for us. It seemed to be only a few feet away when there was an explosion. It was a miracle that nobody was hurt." Indeed, local residents stated, the explosion was heard at a distance of no less than three miles.
 
Interestingly, according to the Kentish Express newspaper, a host of official bodies took note of what occurred: Kent police officers visited the scene; the coast-guard launched an inquiry into shipping activity at the time; and the Royal Air Force checked for any possible aircraft movements. All drew a blank.
 
"In view of the mysterious nature of the incident we can only log it as an unidentified flying object," said a police spokesperson. But, in this case, there was another player too: the British Atomic Energy Authority.
 
Further information obtained by the Kentish Express revealed that the Atomic Energy Authority was launching "a full scale investigation" that would possibly involve scientists from the Harwell facility inspecting the scene of the encounter.
 
Whether or not Harwell did have a role to play in this particular episode is still to this day unclear; however, the newspaper learned further that in the days that followed the mysterious event, Atomic Energy Authority personnel "were busy collecting statements from eye-witnesses" in the vicinity.
 
The tone of the article suggested that the object might have been some form of rare natural phenomenon (although it should be noted that the AEA had ruled out lightning as the cause). What was perhaps the most illuminating aspect of this case, however, was that the Kentish Express discovered that the AEA had in its employ "officers with special responsibility" who were mandated to conduct such investigations.
 
This, of course, raises an important question: how many more incidents of a UFO nature was the Atomic Energy Authority involved in? One? Ten? A hundred? The possibilities ñ and the implications ñ are endless.
 
Case 2:
 
It was at approximately 8.30 p.m. on an autumn evening in 1985 and a father and son were driving across the Cannock Chase (a densely packed and huge forest that dominates Staffordshire, England) towards the town of Rugeley, having visited the nearby town of Penkridge to purchase a motorbike.
 
All was normal until they approached one particular area of the Chase that the military uses as a shooting range. As they rounded a bend in the road, both the father and son were shocked and amazed to see sitting in the sky at a distance of around one hundred feet and at a height of no more than one hundred and fifty feet, a large, black triangular-shaped object that was lit up by a series of three lights attached to its underside.
 
They screeched the car to a halt, jumped out and stared in awe at the incredible spectacle. For a moment, the object simply hung there in utter silence above the silhouetted trees of the forest, and then without warning shot away at an incredible speed. Both father and son looked at each other and then raced back to the car and headed home to Rugeley.
 
On arriving, the father breathlessly telephoned Rugeley Police Station to report what had occurred. Interestingly, the police responded immediately and two uniformed officers arrived on the doorstep post-haste. Detailed witness statements were taken from the two men who, significantly, were informed by the officers: "You know, you should never have got out of the car."
 
Precisely why this should have been the case was never made clear; however, the police did admit that a report on their close encounter would be forwarded to the Ministry of Defence for analysis.
 
To this day, no explanation has been forthcoming as to why police at Rugeley responded with such speed to the report; however, the possibility that the police action was prompted by other, similar reports on the night at issue, or that the object was being test-flown by the military, must be given some consideration.
 
Case 3:
 
In that same month, an equally curious and somewhat disconcerting UFO event occurred at the aforementioned Staffordshire town of Penkridge. In this particular case, the prime witness had previously served as a military policeman with the British Army in Egypt.
 
At approximately 5.00 a.m. on a weekend morning and along with a friend, the man in question had driven to Penkridge to take part in a "duck-shoot" at a river that was situated on farmland at Penkridge. All was normal until around 5.30 a.m.
 
Suddenly, the man caught sight of a light in the sky that appeared to be moving in his direction and across the fields on the opposite side of the river at a height of what he estimated to be approximately three hundred feet.
 
He watched carefully and with mounting concern as the light came to a complete halt above one particular field and proceeded to fire a beam of light down to the ground. As it did so, the man was able to see illuminated in the beam of the object a herd of cows that were blissfully munching away on their breakfast of grass.
 
Astonished by what he was seeing, the man leapt to his feet; as he did so, however, three smaller lights came out of the larger one ñ two "swept off" and one, to his horror, headed straight for him!
 
"Don't point your gun, whatever you do!" the man told me he said to himself. And so what course of action did he take? He made a run for it! Clearing a fence of not inconsiderable height, he ran to his friend who was busy at the car and blurted out what he had seen. Both decided to head back to the scene, but the lights had vanished. As for the cows, they were still eating breakfast, seemingly oblivious to all that had taken place.
 
The above-cases are just three of approximately 50 that I found within some of my older files that have never seen the light of day; however, they add an intriguing body of evidence to the collective UFO mystery. From time to time, I'll post more of these to the site for public consumption.
 
Copyright 2004 Phenomena Entertainment LLC. All rights reserved.
 
http://www.phenomenamagazine.com/0/editorial.asp?aff_i
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