Sightings2009

UK sighting reports triple in 2009 amid sky lantern craze

Name: UK sighting reports triple in 2009 amid sky lantern craze
Start: 2009
Location: United Kingdom

When: 2009
Where: United Kingdom
Sources: 2 public sources

A sky lantern; the 2009 lantern craze coincided with a tripling of UK sighting reports Moyan Brenn from Italy, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Ministry of Defence logged 643 UFO reports by late November 2009, triple its usual yearly count and second only to 1978 among recent years. Released files show many sightings were Chinese lanterns, and the surge fed the decision to close the MoD's UFO desk.

Sources

OfficialUFO files highlights guide (tenth and final release, DEFE 24, 2013) (opens in a new tab)The National Archives (UK) / 2013
OfficialUFO reports in the UK (MoD sighting reports 1997-2009) (opens in a new tab)Ministry of Defence (gov.uk) / 2007-12-04

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Where it fits

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