Behold the Sky: Full of Such Mischief, British U.F.O. Files Say

The year was 1977. Above the tiny island nation of Grenada, big things were happening in the sky. Sir Eric Gairy, the country’s prime minister, was convinced that the objects he thought he was seeing were hostile alien aircraft from outer space.

The British government did not share Sir Eric’s conviction that, as he put it, “persons from outer space are studying us, or perhaps living among us as earthlings.” A “ridiculous proposal that will only bring the United Nations into disrepute,” was what one British official called the prime minister’s campaign to persuade the United Nations to form an agency to investigate U.F.O.’s.