UK UFO Files Released by Ministry of Defence

May 29, 2006 2:28 AM

The UK has released the secret UFO files held by the Ministry of Defence under the Freedom of Information Act.

Their conclusion: Unidentified Aerial Phenomena exist but should no longer be monitored.

US UFO files here and Russian spottings discussed here

Time to break out the foil hats!
posted by dogsbody (29 comments total)

if anyone deletes this thread they will in fact be the real aliens.
posted by psychobum at 2:34 AM on May 29, 2006

Tried downloading the "Excecutive Summary", Adobe PDF Reader sez: "File is damaged".

*dons tin foil hat*
posted by slater at 2:38 AM on May 29, 2006

Time to break out the foil hats!

You say that like you actually take yours off...

Oh, fuck. They got you, huh?
posted by loquacious at 2:45 AM on May 29, 2006

downloads OK for me.... and all my martian friends
posted by missbossy at 2:46 AM on May 29, 2006

This isn't to plan at all.
posted by TwelveTwo at 2:46 AM on May 29, 2006

the most disturbing thing about the execute summary is the inability of some high-ranking officials in her majesty's service to spell "relevant" (cf. the marginalia).
posted by ori at 2:49 AM on May 29, 2006

Tried downloading the "Excecutive Summary", Adobe PDF Reader sez: "File is damaged".

Damaged by aliens.
posted by Mikey-San at 3:10 AM on May 29, 2006

No, aliens wrote it.
posted by IronLizard at 3:11 AM on May 29, 2006

Who then damaged it.

What are they up to?!
posted by Mikey-San at 3:33 AM on May 29, 2006

It opens just fine for me.

They conclude (as far as I can tell) that UFOs are some sort of not-yet-quite-understood atmospheric phenomenon. Not aliens, and not worth studying further, as there's no military application.
posted by EarBucket at 3:38 AM on May 29, 2006

They conclude (as far as I can tell) that UFOs are some sort of not-yet-quite-understood atmospheric phenomenon. Not aliens, and not worth studying further, as there's no military application.

That's what we tell them to think.
posted by substrate at 4:37 AM on May 29, 2006

Not worth monitoring as there's no military application.

That's because the Americans signed the exclusive technology contract with the Greys back in the late 50's.
-----
How did the term "belief on UFOs" come to automatically mean "belief in space alien visitation", with all the attendant foil hat and trailer park baggage?
posted by Enron Hubbard at 5:18 AM on May 29, 2006

That's what we tell them to think.

No, that's what they want you to tell them to think!
posted by spazzm at 5:28 AM on May 29, 2006

I bet the reptoids think you sarcastic guys are real funny.
posted by fleetmouse at 5:55 AM on May 29, 2006

I poked around on that UK MOD Freedom of Information site and found there are more documents about UFOs than about the USSR, Soviet Union, and nuclear topics combined. What's wrong with this picture?
posted by rolypolyman at 6:21 AM on May 29, 2006

Funny, not long ago, the release of these documents would've been huge news. Nowadays, if it isn't codified information about the supposed descendents of Jesus, no one's interested - remarkable that the current post-religion faith-requiring fad is even sillier than the little grey chaps (in the sense that it's demonstrably paranoid drivel, rather than paranoid drivel that may or may not be true!).
posted by jack_mo at 6:40 AM on May 29, 2006

Finally. Now I can shed this annoying human skin I've been wearing for the last fifty years!
posted by zaelic at 6:48 AM on May 29, 2006

Presumably there are more FOIA requests for UFO stuff than USSR stuff rolypolyman?
posted by matthewr at 6:54 AM on May 29, 2006

George W. Bush
posted by obeygiant at 7:29 AM on May 29, 2006

By keeping the debate focused on whether or not UFO's exist, questions of the nature of UFO's have been kept out of the public conversation. Do they exist? Yes, we knew that already. What are they? We haven't really begun to ask.
posted by tomharpel at 7:37 AM on May 29, 2006

Who cares about some lights flitting about in the sky?

Everyone who knows anything knows that our planet only has a little over 6 years left. Time will stop at the winter solstice, December 21, 2012 AD, when the Mayan Grand Cycle is completed. This explains why the government psychics can't see anything beyond 2012.

Come on, dogsbody. Get some priorities. ;)
posted by BeerFilter at 7:51 AM on May 29, 2006

I used to be interested in UFO trivia until I realized that even if aliens from another world were visiting Earth on the sly, it would have absolutely no effect on my life in any meaningful way.

Unless they blew up the Empire State Building or something dramatic like that (and even then, there is nothing meaningful I could actually do about it).
posted by moonbiter at 8:17 AM on May 29, 2006

We used to have constitional rights. After 12/12/12 everything changed.
posted by zaelic at 10:51 AM on May 29, 2006

What are they? We haven't really begun to ask.

Actually, lots of people have begun to ask, and come up with a fascinating spectrum of totally conflicting theories and speculations. That's the fun part. There's everything from "They really are aliens from another planet" to the cryptoterrestrial hypothesis ( advanced hominids who evolved here but who are so divergent from us we can no more comprehend or even apprehend their existence than gorillas can comprehend our existence). My personal favorite is that many UFO sightings and abduction experiences are the manifestation of various types of temporal lobe seizures. People with temporal lobe epilepsy exhibit, among other symptoms, feelings that they are being stalked by malevolent entities, missing time, and report awakening at night feeling surrounded by strange threatening intruders.
posted by slatternus at 9:01 PM on May 29, 2006

the cryptoterrestrial hypothesis

Ooh, that's new to me. I like it. Makes me wonder about those DMT pixies.
posted by jack_mo at 5:23 AM on May 30, 2006

Wow - the Mi-Go have really got you clutching at straws haven't they?
posted by longbaugh at 5:56 AM on May 30, 2006

Well there's always exposure to plasma, though that usually results in religious experiences.
posted by dreamsign at 8:58 AM on May 30, 2006

Wow - the Mi-Go have really got you clutching at straws haven't they?

If it's good enough for Majestic-12 ...
posted by moonbiter at 10:06 PM on May 30, 2006

Yeah, rolypolyman. And why is there so much thinking about totally hypothetical life from other planets when endangered species blah blah... Kinda like being pro-life and pro-death penalty, huh?
posted by salvia at 1:09 AM on May 31, 2006