The government took the threat of UFOs so seriously in the 1950s that UK intelligence chiefs met to discuss the issue, newly-released files show. Ministers even went on to commission weekly reports on UFO sightings from a committee of intelligence experts. The papers also include a wartime account claiming prime minister Winston Churchill ordered a UFO sighting be kept secret to prevent “mass panic”. The files show reports of UFOs peaked in 1996 – when The X Files was popular. The Joint Intelligence Committee is better known for providing briefings to the government on matters relating to security, defense and foreign affairs. But the latest batch of UFO files released from the Ministry of Defense to the National Archives shows that, in 1957, the committee received reports detailing an average of one UFO sighting a week.
The files also include an account of a wartime meeting attended by Winston Churchill in which, it is claimed, the prime minister was so concerned about a reported encounter between a UFO and RAF bombers, that he ordered it be kept secret for at least 50 years to prevent “mass panic”. Nick Pope, who used to investigate UFO sightings for the MoD, said: “The interesting thing is that most of the UFO files from that period have been destroyed. “But what happened is that a scientist whose grandfather was one of his [Churchill’s] bodyguards, said look, Churchill and Eisenhower got together to cover up this phenomenal UFO sighting, that was witnessed by an RAF crew on their way back from a bombing raid. “The reason apparently was because Churchill believed it would cause mass panic and it would shatter people’s religious views.” Reports of sightings of UFOs peaked in 1996 in the UK. According to the files, there were more than 600 reports in 1996, compared with an average of 240 in the previous five years. NOTE: The above image is a rendering.
