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I me about their colour and movement, they were j not aireraft lights or lireballs. They were simply unidentifiable. As the moming wore on, the calls

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Part 3 Multipie matchmg

1    Read the text opposite quickly and tick the sentence which most accuraiely describes the vvriter’s opinion about UFOs.

a He definitely doesn’t believe in them. b He definitely believes in them. c He has an open mind about them.

2    Read the text again carefully, and for questions 1-15. choose irom the reports of UFO sightings (A-D). Tlie reports may be choscn morę than once. In which reported sighting

1    did a witness claim that aliens madę contact with him?

2    did witnesses claim to see three alien spacecraft?

3    did the UFO apparently injure the witness?

4    was the witness working at night when he saw the UFO?

did a witness see a UFO from the building in

which he was working?

did the witness report seeing an alien on a

spacecraft?

did an animal get kiiled or injured?

did a member of the witness’ family report the

incident?

did the witness realise that what they had seen wasn*t a UFO?

did a witness claim that a UFO had moved at high speed’

did people advise the witness not to say anything about what hed seen? did a witness contact Nick Pope the moment he saw the UFO?

did the witness hear the UFO before it became vi$ible?

did the UFO appear above a sports field?

did reports of a sighting come from a number ot

places?

' Iśthere anybody out there?

Between 1991 and 1994 Nick Pope worked at the Britlsh Ministry of Defence lnvestigating UFOs. He received 2-300 reports each year, of which around 90% could ś be explained. For the other 10% he could find no rational explanation...    ;

Sighting A

The lirst cali came from a police officer. He and his colleague had been on a routine patrol the night before and had seen a UFO. The oflicer was often on 10 duty at night and was used to the sights and sounds of the darkness. But what he and his colleague had seen was like nothing they had come across before. This was no shooting star, no meteor. Two bright lights, with a third, fainter one. were flying 15 in perfect formation across the sky. I ąuestioned the officer carefully over the phone. From what he told

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7

Most sightings had occurred between 1 and 1.30 am with particular concentration at 1.10 am. One of the sightings was from a man with vast experience of aeroplanes and mathematics. He had watched 2s the objects flying Iow over the coast and had timed their passage between two points on the shoreline; he was able to calculate their speed at about 1,100 mph.

Sighting B

There is usually a delay between a sighting and 30 when a witness decides to contact someone

'official*. In the case of the 'Capital' sighting. things were rather morę immediate. The cali came from Capital RadJo's headąuarters in London and the voice was very excited. The caller was staring out 35 of his window, giving me a commentary on a UFO . about to land in Regenfs Park. There was hysteria in his voice. Tt's almost down ... it Iooks a bit like - like a big kitę, but it can't be. It's down! It's down! My God, people are gathering around it....’ There 40 was a pause. The voice seemed less strained, less panicked. ‘It can't be a kitę, can it? Oh, the people are putting it back in a box. It is a kitę. Sorry for having wasted your time.' He hung up. Goodness knows what agonies he had gone through in 45 those fow mad minutes! Goodness knows how embarrassed he is at the memory of it.

Sighting C

In the eatly hours of 29'“ Octobei 1993, something took place which I was utterly at a loss to explain. The witness was a young naval officer trained in 50 careful observation. He saw a bright object glowing eerily in the sky as it hovered silently over a football pitch behind his home. Its shape was cłearly

that of a disc and it appeared solid, with rows of different-coloured lights. The witness claimed that 55 he received telepathic messages, telling him not to X be afraid. The craft's lights had by this time gone out and it hovered in front of a set of goalposts. A large bird, presumably a rook or crow, flew close to the object, then fell to the ground. The officer ran __

60 to wake his faznily, who saw the bird on the ground but no sign of the craft. Even the bird had gone* by the next morning. The officer was confused by. -' ' what he had seen and reported the incident to the police the next dayoThey in tum contacted me. The 65 officer’s superiors at the college allegedly told him to keep ąuiet. I suspect the advice was well meant, to shield him from ridicule. I was unable to come up with any explanation.    _v    \

Sighting D

In 19921 received a letter from a woman whose 70 husband had been walking in the hills four years earlier, photographing the scenery. The sky was elear, the air still. The woman said that her husband reported a deep rumbling sound ahead of him and above, and saw a huge black craft moving towards 75 him, its body saucer-shaped but with two bat-like wings. It hovered for about five minutes, close, enough for the witness to see that the main part of the craft had two decks. He could even make out a smali figurę, wearing some kind of helmet,

80 through the Windows on one of the decks. The craft flew slowly directly overhead, no morę than 50 feet above the ground. Instlnctively he threw himself to the ground and as the shadow passed over him, he felt a burning sensation. When he got home, he 85 discovered that his clothes had been singed. No explanation was ever found.