By Kelly Eve

Published at 21:43, Wednesday, 19 August 2009

THE story of a ‘Toblerone- shaped object’ in the skies above Annandale was reported to the Ministry of Defence’s special UFO investigation unit in 1994, it was revealed this week.

It was among 800 UFO reports made to the MoD between 1981 and 1996, the records of which were released by the National Archives on Monday.

The Dumfriesshire incident described how a driver, on a dark night in the middle of a storm, saw the object.

When he climbed into his car, drove to the field where he thought it had landed, his vehicle broke down and his torch refused to work.

Unable to find the object, the man went to the police who could not explain the mystery. It was then passed to the MoD’s UFO investigation unit.

Other tales revealed include stories of attempted abductions, sightings of aliens and flying saucers.

The files are part of a three-year project by the MoD and the National Archives, aimed at opening up the records to a worldwide audience.

Dr David Clarke, a UFO expert and journalism lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, said: “It’s evident there is some connection between newspaper stories, TV programmes and films about alien visitors, and the numbers of UFO sightings reported to the MoD.

“Aside from 1996, one of the busiest years for UFO sightings reported to the MoD over the past half century was 1978 – the year Close Encounters of the Third Kind was released.

“Obviously, films and TV programmes raise public awareness of UFOs and it’s fascinating to see how that appears to lead more people to report what they see to the authorities.”

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