0:10

Welcome to Unexplained Extra with

0:12

me Richard McClain Smith, where

0:15

for the weeks in between episodes, we look at

0:17

stories and ideas that, for one reason or

0:19

other, didn't make it into the previous show.

0:22

In the last episode, the Homecoming,

0:25

we relived the extraordinary story

0:27

of Travis Walton, who, after going missing

0:29

for five days in nineteen seventy five,

0:32

reappeared with the incredible claim that

0:34

he'd been abducted by what he believed

0:36

were beings from another planet. Regardless

0:40

of what we choose to believe about the story,

0:43

it remains one of the more well known and

0:45

to many plausible accounts of

0:47

a supposed encounter with the UFO. This

0:50

is perhaps surprising considering how

0:53

Travis's story relies purely on

0:55

anecdotal evidence. In

0:57

comparison, most other well known

1:00

and similarly highly regarded stories

1:02

of alleged UFO encounters,

1:04

such as the supposed Roswell crash, the

1:07

Rendelsham Forest incident, and more

1:09

recently, the US Navy flight footage,

1:12

has either pictorial or video evidence

1:14

to accompany it. Many

1:17

say that if a genuine alien spacecraft

1:20

really had appeared on Earth, who would

1:22

be incontrovertible photographic

1:24

or video evidence to prove it, and

1:27

yet there are countless videos

1:30

and photos purporting to reveal

1:32

exactly that. More

1:34

often than not, however, they are dismissed

1:37

as cases of mistaken identity or

1:39

simply fakes. In

1:41

reality, unless a craft were

1:43

to land on a busy high street in full

1:46

view of a live news broadcast

1:48

and collectively witnessed by everyone you

1:50

knew, any photo or video evidence

1:53

could easily be dismissed. Perhaps

1:56

that is, with the exception of one

1:58

photo. For

2:05

many years, the British government, when

2:07

pushed to answer questions about the UFO

2:09

phenomenon, would routinely respond

2:12

that there was no intelligence interest in

2:14

such things, and by extension,

2:17

the government had no interest in them

2:19

at all. Eyebrows

2:21

were raised, however, when in May two

2:23

thousand and eight, the British Ministry

2:25

of Defense released a series of top

2:28

secret files to the National Archive,

2:30

which included a host of reports

2:32

of UFO sightings stretching back

2:35

to nineteen seventy eight. Over

2:38

the next few years, as more files

2:40

were released, it would become apparent

2:42

that not only had the British government

2:44

been keeping a keen interest in the phenomena,

2:47

but that they had been since the nineteen

2:49

forties. In

2:51

order to do this, a team of civil

2:53

service staff were tasked with collating

2:56

and in some cases, following up on

2:58

alleged sightings of UFO. In

3:01

nineteen ninety one, a new member

3:04

joined the team.

3:06

Nick Pope, had previously worked

3:08

in the Royal Air Force Operations Room

3:10

during the nineteen ninety Gulf War as

3:13

a member of the Defense Intelligence Staff

3:15

for the British Ministry of Defense. There,

3:18

his job was to read through drafts of books

3:21

that were being written about the conflict to

3:23

make sure there wasn't any top secret information

3:26

that could be detrimental for British intelligence.

3:29

With British operations in the Gulf winding

3:31

down in nineteen ninety one, Pope

3:34

was moved to another department in which

3:36

his main responsibilities involved

3:38

executing various tasks relating

3:40

to the non operational activities

3:43

of the Royal Air Force. A

3:45

key element of this role, as stipulated

3:47

on Pope's website, nick pope

3:50

dot Net, was keeping tabs

3:52

on any unidentified aerial phenomena

3:55

reported to the department and to

3:57

analyze if such phenomena posed

3:59

a threat to national security. On

4:03

Pope's first day in his new office,

4:05

having been shown to his desk, He

4:07

looked up to see an unusual poster

4:09

stuck to the wall. The image

4:12

appeared to be an enlarged photograph

4:14

of the British countryside, with

4:16

a large, dark colored, diamond

4:18

shaped object appearing to hover

4:20

in the sky, while to the right

4:22

of it, Pope could make out what

4:25

appeared to be a fighter jet traveling

4:27

at speed. Asking

4:29

his colleague opposite about it, the

4:32

colleague replied that it was indeed

4:34

a photograph taken in August

4:36

nineteen ninety by two members

4:38

of the public walking in an area

4:40

in the middle of Scotland known as Calvin.

4:44

The pair claimed they came across it suddenly

4:47

and watched it hover silently for a few

4:49

minutes until a Harrier fighter plane

4:51

arrived and flew past it a few times,

4:54

after which the object shot

4:56

straight up into the air and accelerated

4:59

away at a colossal rate. The

5:08

photo had been sent to the national newspaper,

5:11

the Scottish Daily Record, before

5:13

being passed on to the Ministry of Defense.

5:17

Having been analyzed by the RFS

5:19

Joint Air Reconnaissance Intelligence Center,

5:22

it was deemed that whatever the object

5:24

was in the picture was there when

5:27

the photograph was taken and

5:29

was estimated to be about twenty five

5:31

meters in diameter. It

5:34

was, as Nick Pope claims his colleagues stated,

5:37

quite simply, the best photographed their department

5:40

had ever received of a UFO. Ordinarily,

5:44

the instinct of Pope and his colleagues when

5:46

presented with such a photograph was

5:49

to get to the bottom of which earthly nation

5:51

the UFO had been developed, by what

5:54

they were doing flying it in British airspace,

5:57

and how could the British get their hands

5:59

on the technology? On

6:01

this occasion, however, the intelligent

6:03

staff were stumped. Pope

6:06

claimed that during one briefing on the

6:09

UFO phenomena in general, his

6:11

colleague at one point drew attention

6:13

to the diamond shaped object in the photo,

6:16

and, pointing to the right, said it's

6:18

not the Americans, then,

6:20

pointing to the left, it's not the

6:22

Russians, then, moving

6:25

his finger above the object, said

6:27

and that only leaves. The

6:31

photograph remained on the wall until

6:33

nineteen ninety four, when it was unceremoniously

6:36

removed by Pope's head of division. After

6:39

a series of similar UFO sightings

6:41

in the early nineties, suspicions

6:43

were raised that the US Air Force was secretly

6:46

testing prototype aircraft in British

6:48

airspace. However,

6:51

after being confronted with this accusation

6:53

in Parliament, British Defense ministers

6:55

were forced to reveal that the US government

6:58

had assured them that neither the Airforce

7:01

or any other US body we're conducting

7:03

such tests over Britain. Are

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8:18

Pope has suggested that his head of division

8:20

confiscated the photo not because

8:22

it was a craft from outer space, but

8:25

because he didn't believe the assurances from the

8:27

US and as such thought

8:29

it might be of use to the Ministry of Defense.

8:33

Either way, according to Pope,

8:36

neither the photograph or the negatives,

8:38

which were also handed over to the Ministry

8:40

of Defense by the Scottish Daily Record

8:43

newspaper, have ever been seen

8:45

since. In

8:48

two thousand and eleven, the mod

8:50

files relating to this incident were

8:52

declassified. The following

8:55

has taken verbatim from National

8:57

Archives file d e FE

9:00

twenty four forward Slash one

9:02

nine four zero UFO

9:04

Reports with redactions. UFO

9:09

Incident, Saturday, fourth August

9:11

nineteen ninety Location,

9:14

Calvin, Scotland,

9:16

twenty miles north of pit Lockery, off

9:18

the A nine time

9:21

nine p m approximately. Description

9:25

large diamond shape UFO hovering

9:28

for about ten minutes before ascending

9:30

vertically upwards at high speed during

9:33

sighting. Ri F aircraft believed

9:36

to be a harrier made a number of low

9:38

level passes for five to six minutes

9:40

before disappearing. Off witnesses

9:45

one name redacted, the other unidentified.

9:49

Additional information. A

9:51

number of color photographs taken by

9:53

eye witness were passed to ri F

9:56

Petrevi and Scottish Daily Record.

9:59

Original Nega Tis also passed

10:01

a Daily Record weather

10:04

main cloud base ninety five thousand

10:07

feet dropping down to fifteen thousand

10:09

feet during showers. Wind

10:11

was west to southwest ten to fifteen

10:14

kilometers, temperature of fourteen

10:16

celsius occasional showers

10:20

minutes taken from fourteenth September

10:22

nineteen ninety. Under

10:24

Secretary of State for the Air Force may

10:27

wish to be aware that the Scottish Daily Record

10:30

may run a story regarding an alleged

10:32

sighting of a UFO near pit

10:34

Lockery in early August. Such

10:36

stories are not normally drawn to the attention

10:38

of ministers and the Ministry of Defense and

10:41

the Press Office invariably responds

10:43

to questions along well established lines,

10:46

emphasizing our limited interest in the

10:48

UFO phenomenon and explaining

10:50

that we therefore do not have the resources

10:52

to undertake any in depth investigation

10:55

into particular sightings.

10:57

On this occasion, however, the Mood

11:00

has been provided with six photographic

11:02

negatives of an alleged UFO by

11:05

the Scottish Daily Record and has

11:07

been asked for comments, almost certainly

11:09

for inclusion in the forthcoming story.

11:12

For this reason, it is felt that the Undersecretary

11:15

of State be made aware of the background

11:17

and the line adopted by the Deputy Director

11:20

of Public Relations in responding

11:22

to the newspaper. The photographs,

11:25

which were received on the tenth of September,

11:27

are alleged to have been taken near the A nine

11:30

road at Calvin, north of Pitlochry,

11:32

on the evening of August fourth. They

11:35

show a large stationary diamond

11:37

shaped object, past which

11:40

it appears a small jet aircraft is

11:42

flying. The negatives have been

11:44

considered by the relevant staffs, who've

11:46

established the jet aircraft is a Harrier

11:49

and also identified a barely visible

11:51

second aircraft, again probably

11:54

a Harrier, but have reached

11:56

no definite conclusion regarding the

11:58

large object. It has

12:01

also been confirmed that there is no record

12:03

of harriers operating in the area

12:05

at the time at which the photographs are alleged

12:07

to have been taken. The negatives

12:10

have now been returned to the Scottish Daily

12:12

Record in

12:14

consultation with the RF's Deputy

12:16

Director of Public Relations, it

12:19

has been agreed that the attached line

12:21

to take should be used in responding

12:23

to the Scottish Daily Record. These

12:25

are consistent with the position adopted

12:27

in the replies to the many public and occasional

12:30

parliamentary enquiries on the subject

12:32

of UFOs. The

12:35

defense lines to take are as follows.

12:38

Have looked at photographs, no

12:40

definite conclusions regarding the large

12:42

diamond shaped object, confident

12:45

that jet aircraft is a harrier jump jet,

12:48

have no record of harriers operating

12:50

in location at stated time or date.

12:53

And finally that there have been no other

12:55

reports received by MOD of

12:57

unusual activity or sightings at location,

13:00

date or time. If

13:03

pressed on who in the MD studied

13:05

the pictures, reply all

13:08

citing reports, including on occasion,

13:10

photographs and drawings received

13:12

by MOD, are referred to the staff

13:15

and the Department which are responsible for

13:17

Air Defense of UK, who

13:19

examine them as part of their normal duties.

13:25

Thank you to Mark town End for suggesting

13:28

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