A folklorist and senior lecturer in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University, Dr David Clarke advised The National Archives on the Ministry of Defence UFO files released from 2008 to 2013. On the first release, 1.7 million downloads came in the first few days. He also revisited older cases. With Andy Roberts, he argued in 2013 that the Solway Firth Spaceman was Annie Templeton, whose dress had been overexposed to white. He called the Cosford Incident a classic case of misinterpretation. In 2022 he tracked down the Calvine photographer, and he leans towards a secret aircraft as the explanation.
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Pro earlyFolklorist, author of Strange South Yorkshire (1990) and a 2006 study treating the episode as a ghost panic
Pro earlyFolklorist who documented how Vyner's version shaped the legend
Pro earlyResearcher who checked the official log ADM 53/11664
Pro earlyPolice-Constable on duty with Johnson in Marsh Lane
Pro earlyResearcher who traced the growth of the Spring-heeled Jack legend
Folklorist who argued all the sightings were misidentifications
Pro earlyHistorian who framed it as the earliest British government UFO inquiry
Folklorist at Sheffield Hallam University, author of The Angel of Mons (2004)
Folklorist who wrote on the vanishing regiment legend
Sheffield Hallam University researcher who worked on the National Archives releases and wrote the main rebuttal
Historian who obtained the report's release in 2001
Pro earlyHistorian who obtained the Working Party report and interviewed Hubbard in 2002
Historian who researched the case in the National Archives files
Researcher who brought the witnesses on the record
UFO files researcher who described the MoD's general position at the time of the release
Pro earlyHistorian who identified Project Moby Dick balloon 175
Researcher, co-author of the 2001 hoax analysis
Researcher who summarised the Special Branch files released in 2005
Researcher who interviewed the aircrew and controllers
Pro earlyResearcher who reinvestigated the case in Fortean Times (2005)
Researcher; co-proposed the U-2 explanation, ranked the report in his Top 10
Researcher and consultant to The National Archives for the 2008 release
Sheffield Hallam University researcher who identified the fragments at the Science Museum in 2018
Researcher who documented the case and later met Birch
Folklorist and UFO researcher who proposed the Annie explanation
Pro earlyResearcher who investigated the photo, the MoD files and the Woomera story
Historian of the UK government UFO files at Sheffield Hallam University
Folklorist and researcher who supplied background for the FOTOCAT review
Commentator on the 2011 release of the MoD files
Historian who later interviewed Cassie and wrote about the case
Researcher who analysed the Board of Inquiry file and the fabricated transcript
Pro earlyFolklorist who wrote about the case in "Heads and Tales" (2012)
Pro earlyResearcher who obtained the Special Branch file and interviewed Crowe
Researcher and author of The UFO Files
Pro earlyResearcher who wrote up the case from the released MoD files in 2017
Co-author of the 2011 Fortean Times reassessment
Sheffield Hallam University researcher who obtained the MoD files
Pro earlyResearcher who documented most of the accounts
Sheffield Hallam University researcher who advised The National Archives on the 2008 release and called the case one of the few that remained unexplained
Pro earlySheffield Hallam University researcher whose Freedom of Information work led to the 2008 MoD file release
Pro earlyAuthor of The UFO Files, published by The National Archives in 2009
Pro earlyFolklorist at Sheffield Hallam who interviewed the witnesses
Sheffield Hallam University researcher who found Lindsay and published the print in 2022
Historian; covered the case in The UFO Files (2009)
Pro earlyResearcher who documented the case from the MoD files
Researcher and author who reconstructed the case from MoD files and argued it was misinterpretation
Pro earlyGuided The National Archives podcast on the August 2009 release
Pro earlyResearcher who revisited the MAFF/ADAS report in 2014
Pro earlyConsultant to The National Archives and Sheffield Hallam lecturer who commented on the 2009 release
Researcher and UFO files consultant to The National Archives who wrote up the Boston Stump incident
Journalist and researcher who reconstructed the case from police logs and interviews and obtained the RAF report under Freedom of Information
Pro earlyJournalist and researcher who investigated the case and obtained official records
Pro earlyGuided viewers through the February 2010 National Archives UFO file release
Researcher and historian who helped publicise the report in 2006 and later tracked its loss and un-redaction
Co-author of the independent study, consultant to the National Archives
Folklorist and senior lecturer in journalism at Sheffield Hallam University; adviser and spokesperson for the release programme, 2008 to 2013
UFO researcher quoted by the AP on lantern sightings
Sheffield Hallam University researcher who publicised report 2013086 and set it in context
Folklorist and researcher who framed the case as a 'visual epidemic'