The truth is out there - Martians may well have invaded Kent!

Men in suits at the Ministry of Defence have dusted off their archives and revealed a host of spooky goings-on in the county.

Kent's own X-files have been unveiled for the first time, and they make for fascinating and fantastical reading.

Dating back over decades, the files lift the lid on reported UFO sightings for the first time.

Among the alleged extra-terrestrial sightings are some dubious 'visitations'.

These include:

~ patrons outside the Walnut Tree pub near Tunbridge Wells in 1982 repeatedly reported sightings of red and green flashing but stationary lights in the sky - heading towards Gatwick!

~ a year earlier a man was driving along the A2 towards Chatham when he saw a bright light strike the ground and burst into 'smaller stars'. Strange, until you hear it is November!

But more mysterious is the sighting of a long, silver cylindrical object with no visible signs of wings seen glowing white over Cranbrook in January 1984.

Or what about the three separate sightings of four lights in the sky between Linton and Staplehurst in September 1984 that split into two pairs and moved off in opposite directions at great speed, turning red as they did so ?

And who could argue with the description of what appeared to be a genuine flying saucer near Maidstone, in February 1982, when a driver and passenger spotted “at least 12 pink/white lights, the size of four helicopters and disc-shaped”.

But according to the MoD, people shouldn’t expect the arrival of the ‘mother ship’ any time soon.

Independent experts examining the alleged UFO reports for the MoD have concluded there is a rational explanation for every sighting, such as aircraft lights or natural phenomena.

However, the reports are only assessed to see whether UK airspace has been compromised by hostile or unauthorised military activity – not to try and establish if aliens really are out there.

The official, if ambiguous, line from the MoD is that the department “has no interest or role regarding UFO matters and does not consider questions regarding the existence or otherwise of extraterrestrial life forms.”

All the X-files released so far can be seen at www.nationalarchives.gov.uk.

The MoD will be adding more files once they have been reviewed to the national archives over the next three years.