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In 1968, The CIA Was Pretty Sure That They Had Spotted Several UFOs Over India

Time for another Bollywood alien flick?
UFO off country road. (Artiste's illustration of imagined UFO.)
Aaron Foster
UFO off country road. (Artiste's illustration of imagined UFO.)

Though according to your favourite Hollywood blockbusters, aliens are always eyeing New York, the Central Investigation Agency (CIA) said in 1968 that there were quite a few hovering over good old India. More accurately, the CIA reported sighting Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) over Ladakh, Sikkim, Bhutan and Nepal in the 1950s and '60s.

According to a report in The Hindustan Times, the details of these 'sightings' have been revealed to the public, thanks to the recent declassification of 930,000 files by the intelligence agency.

The report quotes the CIA documents and says: "One sighting – over Kaski in Nepal on the night of March 25, 1968 – involved a 'blazing object, flashing intermittently' that 'disintegrated'."

It adds, "A huge metallic disc-shaped object with a six-foot base and four feet in height was found in a crater at Baltichaur, five miles NE of Pokhara."

The documents mention having spotted reddish-brown objects emanating white smoke, and rocket-like objects with a trail of yellow-white fire over various parts of Ladakh. Bluish objects, which brightly lit up the surroundings were allegedly spotted over Thimpu, Bhutan.

While some of these were noiseless, others have been reported to have been accompanied by blast-like sounds or thunder-like sound. The CIA's theories about UFOs were later debunked by the US.

In 2012, Indian Army troops reported that they had seen UFOs flying over the Indo-China border. In 2013, they alleged that they have spotted UFOs flying over the line of actual control (LAC) again. They even submitted a report to the defence ministry saying they have spotted at least 100 UFOs for a period of time.

According to a report on India Today, "Reports suggested that these yellowish spheres appear to lift off from the horizon on the Chinese side and slowly traverse the sky for three to five hours before disappearing."

However, then defence minister AK Antony said there was no conclusive evidence of their presence. Later, science research institutes said that they were neither alien-ships, not drones released by China. In fact, these were planets like Jupiter and Venus, which are often visible from high altitudes of Ladakh.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.