On August 4, 1990, an unidentified flying object was seen
hovering in daylight near the town of Pitlochry in Scotland.
Eyewitnesses stated that the diamond shaped object hung in the sky for
about 10 minutes as two military aircraft made a series of low-level
passes near it.
Almost three weeks later on August 24, hundreds of tourists and
local residents observed formations of luminous spheres for over 30
minutes in the sky near the German city of Greifswald, located close to
the coast of the Baltic Sea.
In November of that year, a triangular object was seen by numerous
witnesses passing over Saint-Germain in the Champagne-Ardenne region of
France. The object moved slowly at low altitude and emitted beams of
light towards the ground before eventually speeding away.
All three events have many common factors, most notably that each
one remains unexplained to this day. But one - the Greifswald incident
- is the odd one out. This is because official documentation on the
Pitlochry and Saint-Germain sightings collected by British and French
governmental agencies are now available to the public after France and
the UK took decisions to open up their UFO files.
Some of the truth is out there
The British and French governments are among a select few in Europe
to have declassified previously top secret files and experts believe
that, while they may currently be in the minority in revealing their
documents, they are certainly not alone in having recorded sightings.
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Germany refuses to say whether it has any UFO files
"The French released their UFO files through their space agency in
2007, Britain is mid-way through a 3-4 year program of revealing theirs
under the Freedom of Information Act, while the Norwegians and the
Danes have already released some files as have the Italians," Nick
Pope, a former investigator of UFO reports and sightings with the
British MoD and an expert on the topic, told Deutsche Welle. "The UFO
phenomenon is a global phenomenon; there are unquestionably sightings
all around the world so all European countries will certainly have had
UFO sightings."
Germany is one of the many European countries which have not
declassified their UFO files. In fact, the German government refuses to
even admit that it has any UFO files despite the fact that independent
organizations record, on average, between 50 and 100 sightings a year
in the skies over Germany.
Germany among those remaining silent on UFO phenomena
"Germany has a high level of UFO sightings," Robert Fleischer, the
coordinator for the German Initiative for Exopolitics, told Deutsche
Welle.
He said that, since 1974, over 500 so-called "real" UFO cases -
reported sightings that, after careful consideration by specialized
experts, cannot be related to any conventional information - have been
recorded.
"However, there has never been any official recognition by the
German government relating to UFOs or UFO activity," Fleischer added.
"So if the Germans were to open any files relating to UFOs, all we
would find out is that they pass all their information to the
Americans."
Most UFO cases reported over Germany were only revealed when US
files were made public. Germany's lack of UFO research is possibly due
to the fact that "the US assumed that role after the end of World War
II, although the Germans have never officially acknowledged this or any
interest in UFOs," he said.
European governments aware of unexplained sightings
So what do the files made public by the likes of France and Britain actually tell the public about the UFO phenomenon in Europe?
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The files don't claim to have proof of extra-terrestrial life
"What these files don't say is almost more important than what they
do say," said Nick Pope. "What they don't say is that we have proof
that any of these things are extra-terrestrial. What they do say is
that European governments have consistently had these things reported
to them, sometimes by reliable witnesses such as police officers and
pilots."
Most of the sightings turn out to have conventional explanations,
like the misidentification of all kinds of aeronautical and
astronomical phenomena, but most European governments which have
conducted investigations have found that about five percent of the
cases cannot be explained, added Pope.
While neither Nick Pope nor Robert Fleischer could guarantee that
the initial European declassifications would eventually pressure all EU
governments into opening their files, they both agreed that the
revelations made public by those countries willing to divulge
information could only improve research into a phenomenon that they
believe is an issue for every nation.
Partial declassification giving subject more credibility
"I think this disclosure will lead to a greater understanding of the
UFO phenomenon," said Pope. "The release of these files shows that
governments do have information and if they liaise with each other, we
may get further down the line to explaining this mystery because they
all have a little piece of the puzzle. Unfortunately liaison is not
common in this field."
However, the declassification may be discrediting some common UFO myths and lend credibility to sighting claims.
"When you read about sightings in governmental files from all around
Europe with testimonies from military pilots, commercial airline
pilots, and radar reports which show these things performing maneuvers
and speeds that are way beyond our capabilities, it changes the nature
of the debate from an underground anomaly to a mainstream issue," said
Pope,"and that has to be a good thing."
Author: Nick Amies
Editor: Kate Bowen
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4783950,00.html
