Thaindian News

London, August 06 (ANI): Bookmakers have been asked to cut the chances on bets that aliens exist after it emerged that Winston Churchill ordered a cover-up of a Second World War encounter between a UFO and a RAF bomber.

As a result of the claims, made in files released by the National Archives, William Hill was forced to slash the odds on bets that aliens exist.

Also in the files were details of a row between a gambler and Ladbrokes, which the Ministry of Defence intervened in.

William Hill reported a surge of people placing bets on whether there was extraterrestrial life after claims were published about the former Prime Minister fearing public “panic” and loss of faith in religion about the war incident.

Betting officials said they slashed the odds that David Cameron, the Prime Minister or Barack Obama, the US President, would admit the existence of aliens within a year from 100/1 to 80/1. One gambler even placed a bet that will see them win more than a million pounds if any such claims are proved.

“We have had loads of calls. There are thousands of believers out there many of whom are putting their money on an imminent announcement,” the Daily Mail quoted a Hill’s spokesman as saying.

According to newly declassified files on UFOs, released online by the National Archives, Churchill allegedly banned reporting of the “bizarre” incident, off the east coast of England, for half a century amid fears disclosures about unidentified flying objects would create public hysteria.

He is said to have made the orders during a secret war meeting with US General Dwight Eisenhower, the then commander of the Allied Forces, at an undisclosed location in America during the latter part of the conflict.

The allegations involving Churchill were made by the grandson of one his personal bodyguards, an RAF officer who overheard the discussion, who wrote to the Ministry of Defence in 1999 inquiring about the incident after his grandfather disclosed details to his family.

After investigating the claims, an MoD official said there was no evidence to support the claims as all “UFO files before 1967 were destroyed after five years” due to insufficient public interest. This was supported by a Cabinet Office official.

The UFO files also disclosed that the MoD intervened in a dispute between a gambler and Ladbrokes, after the betting agency refused to pay out a bet that aliens existed.

The gambler, whose details were redacted, placed a 100-1 bet with the bookmakers that “aliens would be found on earth (dead or alive) before the end of the century”.

He placed the wager in 1990 as part of double “paired” bet on that year’s football World Cup with the bookmaker’s Lower Briggate branch in Leeds. The bet was never paid. (ANI)