IS THERE extra-terrestrial life out there? And if there is, did it visit Crumlin in 1998?

New files released this week show one man claimed to the government that he, his wife and his daughter saw a six-mile high space station hovering over his garden.

The man even drew a diagram of the craft to help the mandarins at the Ministry of Defence identify the object.

The document was published by the National Archives as part of its latest round of UFO file releases - which also included reports of sightings of objects and lights over Cwmbran and Pontypool in 1982.

A man whose address is stated as “near Crumlin” wrote to the Ministry of Defence to report details of an object he said his famiy witnessed on May 9 1998 at 9.40pm.

“My daughter was in the garden with her dog and came rushing in, saying look at the sky quickly,” he wrote.

He said he and his wife went out to get a better look.

“The red, green and white lights were pulsing as a heart beat would in an anti-clockwise direction. I would describe the object as being a space station,” the man wrote.

The craft was six miles high, he claimed, and said it had appeared to his daughter for at least a minute.

Crumlin’s UFO spotter described the object as having an inner circle and a grey outer structure, highlighted by lights that shone out from the centre.

An officer at the Ministry of Defence took the time to write back to the man a polite letter, confirming that the details had been forwarded to the department that deals with such sightings in London.

“Thank you for taking the time and trouble to forward these to us,” the officer wrote.

1982 saw many sightings

A CLUSTER of reports of unidentified flying objects over the skies of Gwent were made to MOD officials in 1982.

Officials received three separate reports on the same day that year - September 30th - all claiming to have seen unusual lights hovering over the Cwmbran and Pontypool area.

At 9.30pm a white object with a blue flashing light was spotted from outside Pontnewydd Infants School, while at the same time a narrow green band of light was seen from Golf Road, New Inn.

The same night two white flashing objects were seen from St Augustines Road, Griffithstown.

Two further reports of lights over Cwmbran and Llavihangel Gobion, near Abergavenny, were also made during the month.

A letter by the MOD to the individual who had requested the information said the department does not carry out investigations beyond establishing whether there was anything of “defence concern”.