BBC - A 1974 'UFO incident' in the Berwyn Mountains, dubbed the Welsh Roswell, was dismissed as an earthquake and a meteor combining, official files show.A huge bang and a brilliant light in the sky were seen over north east Wales and there were later claims a spaceship crash was concealed.
Comparisons were drawn with Roswell, New Mexico in 1947, where it is claimed an alien crash was concealed
A Ministry of Defence investigation said there was no Welsh UFO.
The files show it was explained a noisy earth tremor coinciding with a meteor burning up in the atmosphere.
A search and rescue team was scrambled from RAF Valley on Anglesey, but found no wreckage on the mountainside.
The MOD investigation found that there were five other reports of UFOs seen over the UK at about 10pm on 23 January 1974, when the Berwyn Mountains incident happened.
Three sightings were in the Home Counties, one in Lincolnshire and another in Sussex.
Witnesses reported seeing a bright light in the north west whcih seemed to fall towards the horizon.
It is certain to the minds of both my friends who came with me and to me that we were visited by an object that evening”
An expert who undertook independent research into the Berwyn Mountains incident for the British Astronomical Society reported that a "fireball" was visible over most of the UK that night.
Sightings were received from Somerset, Norfolk, Manchester and Edinburgh, the files notes.
The fireball descended from about 120km in the sky to about 35km before disintegrating over Manchester, the expert found.
Brynmor John, who was then junior RAF minister, explained the official position in a letter to Dafydd Elis-Thomas, then a local MP, in May 1974.
Mr John wrote: "As suggested by the descriptions reported, it seems the phenomena could well have been caused by a meteor descending through the atmosphere burning up and finally disintegrating before it reached the ground.
"Such a hypothesis would also explain the absence of any signs of impact.
"It has also been suggested that at 8.32pm that evening there was an earth tremor in the Berwyn Mountains which produced a landslide with noises like detonation.
"The latter aspect is however outside the field of this department," Mr John added.
But the MoD's conclusions did not convince all those who witnessed the "Welsh Roswell".
The files also include a letter from one local who wrote: "That 'something" came down in the Berwyn Mountains on that night I am certain.
"It is certain to the minds of both my friends who came with me and to me that we were visited by an object that evening."
NOTE: "Welsh Roswell...dismissed as an earthquake and a meteor combining." Wow...that's some coincidence! Honestly, after all the hoopla about British MoD deciding to disclose UFO files, it seems that the flow of information is suddenly slowing or being altered. I have to wonder if something really is in store for us in the near future. Below are some previous postings on the Berwyn Incident...Lon
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Originally posted 7/2/2008
New 'Welsh Roswell' Witness Emerges After 34 Years
dailymail - One of Britain’s greatest UFO mysteries deepened last night after a new witness emerged after 34 years.
The Government allegedly covered up the “Welsh Roswell” incident, in the Berwyn mountain range in 1974, after scores of residents reported a massive tremor, strange lights in the sky and “Men in Black” scouring the area.
Claims that aliens crash-landed and their bodies were then transported by the Ministry of Defence to the top-secret research base Porton Down in Wiltshire were dismissed by Whitehall officials.
But suspicions about what really happened were re-ignited in May this year when hundreds of MoD documents about UFO sightings were released, with none containing any details about the Berwyn incident, reviving rumours of a cover-up.
Now, fresh evidence by retired gamekeeper Geraint Edwards, of Llandderfel, Denbighshire, has reopened the debate.
He told the makers of a new Channel Five documentary, which is being broadcast tonight, how he stood in amazement as a flying saucer hovered for 10 minutes above the mountains before it disappeared into space at impossible speed.
He said: “It was definitely a flying saucer. It was a pity I didn’t have a camera because it was there for at least 10 minutes, just hovering.
“We were on the way down to play darts when something caught our eye in the south-east, so we stopped.
“It looked like a rugger ball, but the ends of it were more pointy.
“When it took off, it just went like lightning on the same line as it hovered.
“It hovered back to the mountain, and (then it was) gone.
“I wrote it down in my diary. It was 6.45pm on the Friday night.
“If we were coming back from the pub, people would be saying, ‘they’ve had one or two (drinks)’ but we were going to the pub.”
His former neighbour, Pat Evans, a district nurse who gave a detailed eye-witness account of the phenomenon at the time, moved abroad to escape the mass attention she attracted from the media, UFO investigators and scientists.
But Mr Edwards has decided to speak out for the first time about his close encounter on February 15, 1974, for tonight’s television programme re-examining the evidence.
Three weeks earlier, on January 23, the villages of Llandrillo and Llandderfel, near Corwen, were rocked by a tremor measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale.
Reports of unexplained strange coloured lights and objects in the sky immediately afterwards and unusual military activity in the following weeks fuelled speculation that a UFO had crash-landed.
Sceptics maintain the explanation was an unlikely combination of an earthquake which struck Wales at the same time that a meteor shower passed overhead, and that “Men in Black” who residents reported seeing were actually seismologists researching the quake.
They also insist Pat Evans, who saw a “bright orb, the size of the Moon” with twinkling around the edges, was actually looking at a lamp carried by poachers on a nearby mountainside.
The absence of any material on the incident from the newly released MoD documents in May has roused suspicions from other eye-witnesses.
Farmer Huw Lloyd, 48, who was a teenager at the time, said: “Whatever it was, it was kept quiet. And things that have happened have been covered up.”
Retired North Wales Police Assistant Chief Constable Elfed Roberts, who was a sergeant at the time of UFO incident, was rushing to Llandrillo moments after the tremor with his superior when they saw the mysterious lights.
He said: “As we were driving, all of a sudden we saw this green light in the sky ahead of us and it seemed to be an arcing light, but it was very sudden, totally unexpected, different to anything ever seen before.”
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Originally posted 5/15/2008
New Information On Berwyn UFO Incident
dailymail - Documents have surfaced which could shed new light on one of North Wales' greatest UFO mysteries.
The Berwyn mountains incident in 1974 has remained an enigma ever since, with reports of lights in the sky, an earthquake, claims of a crashed object and a cover up afterwards.
In fact some claim a UFO crashed, and “bodies” were retrieved and taken away by soldiers.
Now the Daily Post has acquired official documents showing how police were bombarded with calls and eye witness accounts of the strange event.
The “Welsh Roswell” incident happened one dark winter’s night on January 23, 1974, in the Berwyn Mountains between Bala and Corwen.
Families in the villages of Llandderfel and Llandrillo were settling down to watch TV, an explosion was heard and the ground shook. It measured 3.5 on the Richter scale.
As people ran from their houses, fearing another tremor, they saw a blaze of light on the mountainside above.
A local nurse, who believed an aircraft had crashed, drove to the site and saw a pulsating orange and red glow on the hillside and other lights.
Police converged on the area and emergency services were put on standby.
Searches were undertaken but, surprisingly, officially nothing was found.
Gwynedd Police received a number of reports that night from people claiming they had seen a UFO. The documents give a fascinating insight into what went on.
l Gwynedd Police Constabulary Major Incident Log – explosion – 21.10pm PC receiving 999 calls of UFO.
l A witness who saw an object on the hillside said in a statement: “Saw bright red light, like coal fire red. Large perfect circle. Like a big bonfire. Could see lights above and to the right and white lights moving to bottom. Light changed colour to yellowish white and back again.”
l A message in a police log said: “There’s been a large explosion in the area and there is a large fire in the mountainside. I am speaking from... and can see the fire where I am.”
l Telex message to chief constable Gwynedd constabulary. 22.00pm approx 23/1/74: Saw bright green lights, object with tail – travelling west. Saw about Bangor direction – dropped down.
l At approx 10pm on 23/1/74: Saw a circular light in the sky at an estimated height of 1,500 feet. This object exploded and pieces fell to the ground. Mr ...... estimates the pieces would have fallen into the sea between Rhyl and Liverpool.
UFO researcher Russ Kellett has studied the event and is convinced something extraordinary happened.
He said: “There is conclusive evidence because of other documents I have that mention these objects on that night from Newcastle down to the Home Counties up to Coventry being seen in the sky.
“Five witnesses who were there on that night, who I know through a friend, said there was a crashed craft by the side of the road near Llandrillo.
“It became known as the Berwyn Mountains incident because there were two objects that came down at two separate locations.”
UFO sightings across the UK from 1978-1987 were released in eight MoD files to the National Archive yesterday.
Berwyn UFO Incident: Combination of an Earthquake and Meteor?
