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Last week, the UK's Ministry of Defence and National Archives released a huge portion of their UFO files online. The 6000 page collection contains reports and investigations from 1994 to 2000.

Several pages are filled with evidence, commentary and correspondence pertaining to the "Rendlesham Forest Incident", Britain's answer to Roswell, including original written testimony from USAF security policemen who reported a UFO landing outside the perimenter fence at RAF Woodbridge, Suffolk, in December 1980.

According to the report, three servicemen were sent to investigate strange lights in the forest near the airforce base. When they arrived they saw a conical metallic object, suspended in a yellow mist, hovering over a clearing in the trees, with a pulsating blue and red circle of light above. One of the men testified that the object was warm to the touch. He made copies of the many symbols on its surface. Another eye witness claims to have seen triangular landing gear on the object which left three impressions in the ground that were visible the next day.

Like Roswell, the events at Rendlesham stirred up controversy. The story was made public three years later when a story headlined UFO lands in Suffolk – and that's official was published in the tabloid newspaper News of the World, on 2 October 1983.  It was based on an account by former US airman Larry Warren using the pseudonym Art Wallace.

Later it was discovered that the UK Ministry of Defence had extensive files on the incident, which contradicted the official government position that the incident posed no threat to national security and that there would be no further investigations into the matter. For the British public it had the marks of a cover up.

Years after the incident they were still demanding answers. In a letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair, dated 27 June 1997, someone – all names and addresses have been blacked out – asks:
"Whatever happened to the reports they filed and what was the official reaction and response in Whitehall? Even if these are bizarre natural phenomena, they need investigating, and I think the British public deserve to know what it is they are seeing in our skies. Following please find enclosed two case reports, which I think are representative of the scope, nature and seriousness of the phenomena."

When the Rendlesham files were eventually released in 2001 they were disappointing. They consisted mostly of internal correspondence and responses to inquiries from the public. The case had never been taken seriously by the MoD.

On page 220 of a file called DEFE 24/2011, there is a copy of a message that reads: "To ..... Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. From ........ Co-ordinators, Southern Unexplained Research Group.

The files can be accessed at ufos.nationalarchives.gov.uk.

Pic: The Terrace Cafe, Royal Terrace, Southend-On-Sea. Jim Linwood, flickr.com. Uploaded on July 16, 2009. Note the "UFO" in the top right hand corner.