Berwyn Mountain UFO: The Welsh Roswell
When the Berwyn Mountain UFO was spotted in 1974, it got local villagers talking – but could an alien spacecraft really have crash-landed in North Wales?
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Many UFO buffs are more than familiar with the Roswell incident, where an extraterrestrial spacecraft is alleged to have crashed in New Mexico. What you might not know is that Wales has had its own Roswell, often humorously dubbed the ‘Roswelsh Incident’.
More commonly known as the Berwyn Mountain UFO incident, it all began in the evening of 23rd January 1974. Local residents felt sudden earth tremors and heard what sounded like an explosion. After emerging from their homes to investigate, the villagers saw peculiar lights in the sky.
The ‘official’ verdict is that this usually quiet area of northern Wales had simply been struck by an earthquake before a meteor passed overhead. However, there’s good reason to believe that something much more extraordinary happened that fateful night.
The Berwyn Mountain UFO incident in a nutshell
The tremors and disconcerting ‘bang’ noise are thought to have occurred around 8:30pm that evening, as per reports from locals. One of those locals, Huw Lloyd, was interviewed about his own experiences for the third episode of Ancient Aliens’ 12th season.
Though only 14 years old at the time of the Berwyn Mountain UFO incident, Huw was able to recall events in immense detail decades later. ‘I was at home with my two sisters and my neighbour, basically watching television, and there was, like, a thud.’
He added: ‘The next thing, the whole place started shaking quite violently, like an earth tremor. We were all a bit stunned. We had never experienced anything like that before.’ Whatever it actually was, neighbours were soon ringing to say they had also experienced it.
Huw noted: ‘My parents weren’t at home, they were in the next village and they’d felt it there as well.’ Speculation was rife that a plane had crashed. Later that evening, Huw was taken to within sight of where the craft had supposedly landed – and saw the distant area pulsating with otherworldly light. However, he was not allowed to get any closer to it.
What makes this the ‘Roswelsh Incident’?
You might not need reminding what happened (or, should we say, is said
to have happened) with Roswell, but here’s a recap anyway. In July 1947, news broke that the US military had recovered remains of a ‘flying disc’ near the city of Roswell.
The military later reported that this claimed spacecraft had actually turned out to just be pieces of a weather balloon. However, many UFOlogists have dismissed this as a mere cover story. Theorists allege that genuine extraterrestrial technology was found at the crash scene and subsequently taken to the famed Area 51.
Could something similar have happened in northern Wales? It has certainly been suggested. According to British authorities, no spacecraft (or even aircraft) remains were actually found where the Berwyn Mountain UFO is often alleged to have crashed.
This is a bizarre revelation, as it does not explain the spookily pulsating light thought to have been seen by Huw Lloyd and other witnesses. It also runs counter to reports of other startling sightings that night. For these reasons, many UFOlogists doubt that the Berwyn Mountain UFO incident can be entirely explained by earthly phenomena.
Witness statements defy easy explanation
In the late Noughties, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) started declassifying its ‘UFO files’. In 2010, documents released by the National Archives revealed how the MoD sought to explain the Berwyn Mountain UFO incident.
According to the files, a private investigation launched at the behest of the British Astronomical Society suggested that the UFO was a disintegrating meteor. This could explain why even a search and rescue team apparently failed to find any craft or large impact crater at the alleged crash site.
However, the files also mention some witnesses claiming to see what they described as a ‘bright red light, like a coal-fire red. Large perfect circle. Like a big bonfire. Could see lights above and to the right and white lights moving to bottom.’
Some theories state that the Berwyn Mountain UFO was indeed retrieved – and taken away to Rudloe Manor. This Wiltshire manor house is often cited as ‘Britain’s Area 51’, as it is known to have long been the hub of MoD investigations into UFOs. Could subterranean tunnels beneath Rudloe Manor have housed the Berwyn Mountain UFO itself?
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