Top secret X Files reveal Stansted Airport to be a UFO hotspot

Stansted Airport: a hive of UFO activity - PA

Newly released X Files have named Essex as one of Britain's UFO hotspots with reports of unidentified aircraft dating back more than 70 years.

The documents, which have been opened up to the public for the first time, have pointed to the area around Stansted Airport as being a hive of UFO activity. Reports date back as far as 1940.

The report comes weeks after a UFO was filmed speeding across the sky over a motorway, close to where a BBC reporter spotted another mystery object days later, said a report in the Daily Mail.

The earliest report of unusual activity was made to the Ministry of Defence in 1940 by Emily Crew, 21, who claimed she had seen a huge golden ball in the sky while at a military based where she worked.

"Its skin seemed smooth, like rubber but transparent and I could see something bright and moving inside the object," she said.

There were no further sightings until 1986 when an airport worker, Kim Kingrey spotted a brightly-lit orange orb hovering over Essex. Since then, there are been dozens of sightings by pilots, police and retired firemen.

Nick Pope, a former MoD UFO investigator, is quoted in The Sun as saying that he believed the descriptions in most of the reports ruled out aircraft.

The files will give greater credence to sightings near Stansted airport earlier this month when a white ball of light was videoed darting through the air over the M11 close to the airport and uploaded onto YouTube.

See the ten top places to to spot a UFO.