British tabloid apologizes to aliens for Scientology link

When British tabloid the Sun published last weekend a story about an eerie UFO sighting near the British Scientology headquarters, a letter from a lawyer told the editors they'd made a mistake.

And so naturally, they apologized — to the aliens.

[ Related: Holy smokescreen! The Atlantic pulls Scientology post after backlash ]

The piece published on June 8 documented an airplane incident from December 20, 2012 that the UK Airprox Board had assessed in a recent report.

Pilots flying above the national Scientology headquarters saw "flat silver discs" that appeared to be hovering slowly, according to the report. The pilots suggested they might be toys.

"Flying saucers over British Scientology HQ," the headline read, the tag "Exclusive" splashed in uppercase. The story tied the case to the revelation on Dec. 31, 2012, that Scientologists had carved a message to aliens in the desert of New Mexico.

The idea, perhaps, being the aliens had seen the message after all, and decided to visit. But they mixed up the directions after a long flight and landed in the wrong country. Maybe they were trying to catch a flight to New Mexico on a Boeing 777.

[ Related: Scientologists' alleged 'alien space cathedral' found ]

Whatever the theory, the Church of Scientology's easily-provoked lawyers didn't like it, apparently, and so the Sun published an apology that will surely appease them.

Now let's play nice everyone.