Documents reveal county UFO sightings

6:14pm Monday 20th October 2008

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UFOs were spotted eight times in Oxfordshire over a six year period, the latest Government 'X-file' documents reveal.

According to documents released today, strange crafts, shafts of light and other unexplained objects were sighted on numerous occasions over the county between 1986 and 1992.

Those reporting sightings included a constable based at Oxford's St Aldate's police station.

The sightings came to light after previously classified files were released to the National Archives by the Ministry of Defence.

Oxford's own UFO expert Michael Soper, from Marston, said while he thought the documents were a useful resource, they posed more questions than answers.

Mr Soper, spokesman for the Contact International UFO research group, said: "The information contained in the files is great as it allows us to fill in the gaps in our own data.

"But the responses from the MOD have not been included, which means there are still events that haven't been explained. It would be nice to see the findings they came to."

The UFO expert said there had been a number of other incidents in Oxfordshire that had failed to make the official documents.

He added: "We've had much more activity, but it just hasn't got through to them.

"In the late 1980s, there were some parts of Oxfordshire where we were getting two reports a month.

"I have personally contacted the MoD and given them sightings that haven't appeared in these documents."

In May the MoD released other so-called 'X-files' on UFO sightings throughout the UK between the late 1970s and the mid-80s, which also detailed sightings in Oxfordshire.

Mr Soper claimed UFOs might not all be from other planets.

He said: "There are definitely different versions of Earth.

"It could be we are being visited by people who have managed to create the technology to travel between dimensions."

He said these sightings continued the county's long standing history of UFO visits, which date back to the 19th century.

He said: "Oxford has a long history of UFOs. In 1888, astronomers reported spotting a luminescent light hovering over the city, which then zoomed off.

"There are certain places in Oxfordshire that seem to attract things like this.

"It's not the first time and it won't be the last time we are visited."

For more information about local UFO sightings, visit the website nationalarchives.gov.uk/ufos