The truth is out there
2006-08-10 07:14
London - A British couple on Wednesday owned up to being behind a stunt that convinced hundreds of people in northeast England that aliens were among them and ended with police and defence chiefs involved.
Paul McKinney, 28, and Emma Henfrey, 30, released floating lanterns into the night sky to celebrate a move into their new home in the coastal town of Seaham, last month.
Images of the orange and white glowing orbs later appeared in local newspaper the Sunderland Echo and led unidentified flying object spotters to contact police and the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
After initially keeping quiet because of the fuss, McKinney told the newspaper on Wednesday: "It was an awesome experience to watch these lanterns float up and away and we never thought for a second that people would think that they were aliens.
"I wasn't going to say anything because I thought it was quite funny, but then my cousin saw something in the Echo about the MoD investigating so I thought I better tell."
The lanterns - made from a plastic bag, copper wire and a paraffin cube which glows as the fuel burns - look like small hot air balloons and sell on the internet for about £10 each.
The packaging warns they can be mistaken for UFOs.
An MoD spokesperson said they were "delighted" to have cleared up the mystery.
The government department routinely investigates UFO sightings, but only to establish whether British airspace has been "compromised" by unauthorised or hostile aircraft.
Declassified MoD files released in May this year revealed that none of the numerous "unidentified aerial phenomena" reported over Britain in the last 30 years was a flying saucer.