The truth is up there: how the Pentagon gave hope to Britain’s UFO spotters

People arrive at the Golden Lion in Todmorden and, rather than heading for the bar, walk upstairs to the attic room — haunted, I’m warned — and sit in a circle. This is not a seance: in the middle of the room stands Oscar, the group’s mascot, an 18in silver alien figure with black oval eyes. This is a meeting, convened by Colin Lyall, 63, secretary of the local UFO club, to discuss extraordinary events. After seven decades of discrediting sightings, the US military has recently confirmed that UFOs are a subject of concern. Its report did not find proof of alien visits to Earth but — this is the important bit for believers — nor did it rule them out.

In Todmorden, a windswept

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