The United Kingdom’s National Archives has announced that 18 documents pertaining to UFOs that were withheld from release alongside thousands of other UFO documents in 2013 won’t be released until after the UK’s general election in June. UFO researchers are hoping that the twice-delayed papers will contain new information on the 1980 Rendlesham Forest incident, an event that occurred over the course of two nights that involved military personnel from the nearby Bentwaters Royal Air Force base.
Speaking to the German website Grenzwissenschaft-aktuell, a National Archives spokesman announced that, "Due the upcoming election here in the UK and the rules relating to government departments during the pre-election period, the files will not be released until after the election. We are working to ensure that the files are ready for release as soon after this period as is possible, hopefully around the middle of June."
Although the political parties participating in the election have temporarily suspended campaigning in light of the recent terrorist attack in Manchester, no postponement has been announced for the June 8 election itself.
UFO investigators expect that the documents will include material from 1971-76, 1996-2000 and 2004. However, UFO investigator Nigel Watson is skeptical that the withheld documents will prove to be the smoking gun many are hoping for.
"Getting the majority of the documents into the public domain was a slow process, which was mainly due to the efforts of Dr David Clarke, Principal Research Fellow at Sheffield Hallam University," explains Watson. "I’m reliably informed that these remaining files contain duplicates of documents already made available to the public.
"It seems very unlikely they will contain anything like the type of evidence UFO supporters yearn for, like crashed saucers or interviews with aliens."
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