A SWINDON UFO expert has welcomed the release of Government papers on strange sightings in the skies.

Chris Williams, lead investigator at Swindon UFO Research, said he hoped the archive papers would encourage more people in Swindon to report any odd occurrences.

More than 4,000 pages of UFO files, relating to reports from 1993 to 1996, were released by the Ministry of Defence last week.

The papers revealed several sightings around Wiltshire, including a report from RAF Lyneham in 1993 of a bright white light in the sky that split into three and travelled faster than a tornado.

Chris said he expected files for the late 1990s to include even more Swindon references.

“After the X-Files became popular in the mid-90s the number of reports went up quite a lot,” he said.

“We get an awful lot of sightings.”

The Swindon group has an average of three sightings a week reported, according to Chris.

All sightings are investigated by the team. Chris said: “A lot of them can be explained straight away.

“Sometimes it’s chinese lanterns, sometimes it’s connected to RAF Lyneham.

“Very often what people are seeing can be explained by their state of mind at the time.

“What we do is investigate whether there is a rational explanation behind the sightings, and 99 per cent of the time there is.”

But Chris said it was important for people to feel comfortable in reporting what they see.

He said: “We all see things we can’t explain and people should not feel embarrassed to report those.

“If these papers raise the public’s awareness of sightings then it is a good thing.”

Chris said he hoped the publicity generated by the Ministry of Defence papers would increase interest in his paranormal conference, Weird 09.

The event, which will be held in Warminster on Saturday, August 29, and Sunday, August 30, will feature ufologist Dr David Clarke, who campaigned for the release of the papers.

Chris said: “It’s very exciting to have him at the conference and I’m sure people will have a lot of questions for him.

“We are hoping to bring a future Weird event to Swindon because I think there will be a lot of interest.”

For more information on Weird 09 go to www.mystical-county.org.uk.

To find out about Swindon UFO Research go to www.sufor.org.uk.