Welcome to my website
I am a Research Fellow in Journalism at Sheffield Hallam University where I specialise in teaching media law and investigation skills. Before I entered academia I worked as a news reporter for The Sheffield Star and Yorkshire Post and spent four years working as a Press Officer in local government. My Ph.D is in Folklore and was completed at the National Centre for English Cultural Tradition, University of Sheffield, in 1999. Since 2008 I have been working with The National Archives (TNA) as their consultant for the ongoing release of the UFO files created by Britain's Ministry of Defence. My latest book, How UFOs Conquered the World: the history of a modern myth, was published in 2015.
Snopes.com – Rumour has it…- Is the Mandalay Bay Security Guard ‘Missing’? October 17, 2017
- Is Trump Spending More Taxpayer Dollars on Personal Travel than Obama Did? October 17, 2017
- Did a Mandalay Bay Hotel Worker ‘Vanish’ After Giving an Interview? October 17, 2017
- Are Hurricane Maria Survivors Getting ‘Skittle Meals’ From The Government? October 16, 2017
- NASA Confirms Existence of Earth’s Second Moon? October 16, 2017
- Magonia Blog
- NOT-SO-ORIGINAL SINS October 16, 2017
- BIG IN JAPAN October 13, 2017
- AND WAS JERUSALEM BUILDED HERE IN ASHTON-UNDER-LYNE? October 9, 2017
- FROM COMICS TO THE COSMOS October 6, 2017
- INTELLIGENCE QUOTIENT October 2, 2017
- Mark Pilkington & John Lundberg – Folklore & Deception in the UFO Age
- Mirage Men in The Guardian August 18, 2014
- Mirage Men Double Disc DVD June 16, 2014
- UFOs and F-14s over Iran May 2, 2014
- We have lift off! March 27, 2014
- Mirage Men revealed by Greenwald? February 25, 2014
- Bob Sheaffer’s Bad UFOs
- At Longe Last - Tom DeLonge's Dramatic UFO Announcement!! October 11, 2017
- Another Nonsensical "Explanation" for the Kecksburg Incident September 14, 2017
- A Skeptic on "UFO Classified" September 12, 2017
- Shadow Chasing August 30, 2017
- MUFON Unravels August 1, 2017
- The Skeptic magazine
- Ooops! TWO errors in previous message! October 1, 2015
- October Spookiness! October 1, 2015
- Empirical Sex Talk on Dacryphilia, tonight October 1, 2015
- Little Atoms 393 – Timothy Snyder & Black Earth September 30, 2015
- Ash Pryce on "How to talk to the dead" @ Greenwich SitP, 7:30 pm, 7/10/15 September 30, 2015
- Charles Fort Institute Blog
- Exciting news from Mr X August 13, 2016
- The First Forteans: The Light of Other Days August 11, 2015
- Edinburgh Fringe 2015 August 5, 2015
- A Baby Boy! August 5, 2015
- Fortean Approaches to the Study of Religion May 6, 2015
- Curt Collins on saucers in pop culture
- Hocus Pocus: The Roswell Slides Return October 2, 2017
- UFO Origins: Saucers That Time Forgot & The Outer Limit September 23, 2017
- The Cash-Landrum UFO Prime Suspect: The CH-47, Army Chinook September 15, 2017
- General John A. Samford's 1952 UFO Disclosure August 2, 2017
- UFOs, Sea Serpents, Ridicule and Disinformation July 17, 2017
- Andrew May’s Forteana blog
- Pseudoscience and Science Fiction October 9, 2016
- Astronomical debunking October 2, 2016
- Contradiction - the All-Video Murder Mystery September 25, 2016
- Sacred Porn September 18, 2016
- Astronomical computers (old ones) September 11, 2016
- Paul Kimball’s The Other Side of Truth: Don’t believe, don’t disbelieve. Think
- Halifax gets Haunted! September 29, 2017
- Haunted Extra, Vol. 1.01 - Queen's County Museum Revisited August 17, 2017
- 2017 East Coast Paraconference - Remote Viewing Panel August 15, 2017
- 2017 East Coast Paraconference - August 11, 12, 13 August 6, 2017
- Haunted - Cooper's Inn Outtake #2 August 3, 2017
Tag Archives: UFO files
The UFO Files: Our Man in Sheffield
I spent two decades on the trail of the UK Ministry of Defence’s cache of secret UFO papers. But little did I know that my FOI campaign triggered off a mole-hunt among the spooks – and a probe to discover … Continue reading
UFO Files exclusive: Cold War spyplane incident
The release by Britain’s Ministry of Defence of 15 of its last remaining UFO files at the UK’s National Archives has revealed details of a stunning Cold War close encounter witnessed by the entire crew of a US Air Force spy-plane. Formerly secret … Continue reading
Farewell to the ‘mystical astronaut’: Edgar Mitchell 1930-2016
Edgar Mitchell, the sixth man to walk on the moon who became a celebrity believer in the UFO myth, has died aged 85. The Guardian newspaper once described the retired NASA astronaut as being an unlikely name on the list … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged A Monstrous Commotion, Alan Shepard, Andrew Smith, Apollo 14, Daily Mirror, Daily Star, Dr Edgar Mitchell, Ed Mitchell, epiphany, ESP, Gareth Williams, George W Bush, Gordon Brown, Huffington Post, Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS), Kerrang!, Lee Spiegel, Loch Ness Monster, Lord Hugh Dowding, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Ministry of Defence, MoD, Moondust, NASA, Nick Margerrison, RAF, Richard D. Hall, Roswell UFO crash, sixth man on the moon, The Guardian, The National Archives, The Sun, UFO files
Leave a comment
Portillo’s State Secrets: Mysteries
The BBC2 series Portillo’s State Secrets unearths previously classified documents from The National Archives, revealing fascinating facts from Britain’s past. The episode on 26 March covers ‘Mysteries‘ and I have compiled this blogpost for The National Archives to accompany the … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged 'Dear Boss' letter, BBC, Britain's Roswell, British UFO Files, First World War, Frank Power, HMS Hampshire, hoax, Jack the Ripper, John Major, Kitchener's coffin hoax, Lord Kitchener, Lt Col Charles Halt, Michael Portillo, Rendlesham forest UFOs, Ripperology, Scotland Yard, Sir Bernard Spilsbury, State Secrets, The National Archives, UFO files, unsolved mysteries
Leave a comment
UFO files – saved!
After six decades of official indifference UFO records have been finally recognised by Britain’s Ministry of Defence as being ‘historically significant’. MoD’s ‘Guidance for Record Reviewers’, lists files on ‘unidentified flying objects‘ alongside those concerning nuclear testing, Special Forces and … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged archives, Brussels, Freedom of Information Act, gun camera film, ICA, International Council on Archives, Julian Hennsessy, Merlyn Rees MP, Ministry of Defence, Public Record Acts, Sir Robert Grigg, The Foreign Office, The Guardian, The National Archives, UFO desk, UFO files
Leave a comment
The UFO Files Rebooted
The second edition of The UFO files was published by Bloomsbury on 13 September 2012. You can order the book from Amazon here or via the publisher’s website here. The National Archives press release on the book can be found … Continue reading
UFO Files make waves
The release of the ninth collection of MoD UFO files by The National Archives continues to make news across the world. On the first day of the launch (Thursday, 12 July) the website received almost 60,000 visitors – an uplift … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged bbc news, BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Daily Mirror, Huffington Post, Lee Spiegel, Ministry of Defence, Richard Norton-Taylor, Sanchia Berg, Sky News, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, The National Archives, The Sun, UFO files, USA Today, Voice of Russia
Leave a comment
