Product Description

'What does all this stuff about flying saucers amount to? What can it mean? What is the truth?' Winston Churchill, 28 July 1952.

THE UFO FILES tells the story of over 100 years of UFO sightings, drawing on formerly secret government records at the National Archives. Alongside extraordinary reports by ordinary people it reveals details of official interest and investigations stretching back to before the First World War for although the terms UFO and Flying Saucer were not coined until the middle of the twentieth century, people have long seen things in the sky that they could not explain.

In this remarkable book David Clarke reveals an array of startling stories from possible UFO reports hidden among Met Office investigations of aerial phenomena in the 1920s to the conclusions of Project Condign, the hush-hush British Intelligence UFO study completed in 2000. As well as covering Roswell and Britain's own Rendlesham Forest mystery, Clarke raids the records for dramatic stories of abductions and close encounters, ghost aircraft and crop circles, and UFO reports by civilian aircrew and military personnel.

Dramatic witness statements and interviews many undertaken by the author himself combine with rarely seen photographs, drawings and newly available documents to offer a unique guide to one of our most intriguing mysteries.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38742 in Books
• Published on: 2009-09-09
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 160 pages

Review
`Reveals details about UFO sightings over British skies ... gives new insights into an incident known as "Britain's Roswell" as well as the belief in UFOs by high ranking defence officials'. --Sunday Telegraph--

...it is a rich and varied volume, and one which should grace the shelf of anyone interested in the UFO subject. --UFO Warminster website

One of the few UFO books I could conscientiously recommend to an innocent but curious friend --UFOlogyinuk newsgroup

Based on Britain's own version of the X-Files ... it is a thorough and highly readable trawl through the Files. --Sheffield Star

One of the few UFO books I could conscientiously recommend to an innocent but curious friend --UFOlogyinuk newsgroup

About the Author
DAVID CLARKE is Senior Lecturer in Journalism at Sheffield Hallam University. He has a long standing interest in UFOs and other aerial phenomena, and has worked with The National Archives in promoting UFO material recently released by the Ministry of Defence.

Customer Reviews

A fascinating look at the history of UFOs.
I have to admit that I am strangely fascinated by the UFO myths and legends that have become a part of our cultural folklore. I have no idea what they are or where they come from and remain an interested sceptic.

This book gives a straighforward account of the history of UFOs over the last one hundred years or so. It's an easy read but this isn't a criticism - it gives plenty of detail too with original documentation to back up the evidence collected. What I liked was that the author didn't strive to put across any personal POV whilst giving lots of information allowing the reader to draw their own conclusions. Some other UFO books have proved to be very hard going, almost over-laden with detail as every eye-witness account is described in minute detail, this book manages to be clear and informative but not dull.

For anyone with an interest in the subject I'd recommend this as a welcome addition to the more reputable books available.

UFOs: the Truth?
Can you judge a book by its cover? Is that a UFO or is it just a streak of light? Are what people think are UFOs just naturally occurring phenomena? Well David Clarke explains that UFOs are a wide variety of things, "including bright stars and planets, advertising blimps and balloons, hoaxes, concert lights, meteors and space junk burning up in the atmosphere". The book covers various UK occurrences, such as Rendlesham forest, which apparently was a misidentification of light coming from a lighthouse. There's also a discussion of crop circles, which apparently were all hoaxed by two generations of circle makers, the first of which was two old men called Doug and Dave, who were followed by teams such as the London based team of Rod and John. Skyhook balloons, the U2 spy plane and the Aurora stealth fighter explain the remainder of the sightings.