Secret Retrievals, Cover-Ups, and Recovered Entities: UFO Crashes from the Welsh UFO Files

While it is perhaps not the first location that comes to mind when considering UFO crashes, Wales, in the United Kingdom, has had more than its fair share of claims of downed vehicles potentially from another world. In fact, some of these Welsh UFO crash cases are some of the most thought-provoking and detailed on record.

One of the most recent alleged UFO crashes occurred in the small town of Pentrych, just outside of Cardiff in Wales, in early 2016. Moreover, more than just a crash in the Smilog Woods, claims surfaced that military aircraft intentionally downed the apparent otherworldly vehicle before recovering it and covering up the entire episode. Even more remarkable, the events were witnessed by multiple people from different locations, and there are even suggestions that the military had to have had some kind of prior knowledge of the UFO’s appearance. Indeed, the case is one that is full of intrigue and perplexion in equal measure. Although it might be easy to dismiss the claims as an overreaction to something more terrestrial, several Freedom of Information Acts have managed to shed a little light on the incident and also offer a little more credibility to the claims.

According to the report, as well as multiple posts on social media as the events were happening, at around 2 am in the early hours of February 26th, 2016, multiple residents of Pentrych were woken by the sound of multiple helicopters and other low-flying aircraft, seemingly right over their respective properties. What’s more, as well as the cacophony of aerial vehicles, several bright, penetrating lights shone through peoples’ windows, suggesting that something out of the ordinary was taking place.

Within moments, many of those awakened had taken to social media to protest their annoyance, while others placed calls directly to the police. A transcript of one of those calls reveals the caller stated that there was “a helicopter flying very low (and) it has come around seven or eight times. It’s not like a police helicopter; it’s a big double-engined one!” Another caller insisted that the helicopter was flying so low it was causing their house to shake. Other callers told of hearing loud bangs coming from directly outside their properties, with one even stating that one of the aircraft had hit their chimney. As this chaos unfolded over the usually sleepy town, many residents began to venture outside to see just what was happening. When they did, they reported seeing more than just helicopters. It appeared as though some kind of full-scale military operation was taking place, with vehicles overhead and on the ground and activity everywhere.

By the following morning, it appeared some kind of briefing had been issued to local and national media platforms, as they reported that the disturbance of the previous evening was nothing more than a “military training drill” involving the Air Force and the army (Exercise Chameleon). Needless to say, given the scene many residents of the town had witnessed with their own eyes, a collective feeling grew that what they had seen was a lot more than a mere training drill.

Just one of the witnesses that night was Caz Clarke, who would eventually write of her experience in the book The Pentrych Incident: The Greatest UFO Cover-Up of Modern Times with Gari Jones. Ultimately, she claimed that not only did something more than a training exercise take place that evening over Pentrych but that the military was actively suppressing and covering up the incident. She stated that she “witnessed everything” that night and that she was (and is) willing to “take a lie detector anywhere for anyone” who might doubt her. Rather than a training exercise, the focus of the military’s attention that night was a strange pyramid-shaped UFO that was making its way overhead. It is interesting to note that on the night in question, there were several reports to police of a strange object or strange lights moving over the town. Could this have been the object that Caz Clarke claimed she and many others had seen and that the military was seemingly pursuing?

Clarke, though, went even further in her investigation and conclusions of the case. She insisted that the military appeared to have had some kind of prior warning or intelligence of the futuristic vehicle’s arrival, stating that the military “had a spotter plane in the air for two days” in anticipation of it. This was also witnessed by her neighbor, Dave, who claimed that he and Caz not only witnessed the spotter plane but also a second plane that would arrive at the same time each day and then “take over” the watch, circling the same overhead route while the first plane presumably returned to base. It was this observation that led to Caz and Dave being camped out in a field beneath the circling place on the night in question, placing them with perhaps the best view of the events that subsequently unfolded.

It was as the pair were watching the plane that Caz first noticed a strange red light appear a short distance away, just above the trees. She and Dave turned their attention to the light, watching as “one red light had turned to three red lights that were the very pinnacle of an enormous pyramid!” Perhaps even more enthralling is her observation that this pyramid-shaped object “came through a black veil into our world,” perhaps suggesting that rather than merely arriving from space and entering our atmosphere, it arrived through some kind of portal or wormhole, something that Clarke’s fellow writer agreed with. Moreover, when the craft was fully visible and fully upright, it “fired a bright green object” out of the top, which had the appearance of a “big bright green star!”

Now completely entranced with the scene that was playing out before them, they watched as the curious craft continued to move across the sky, giving the impression at one point that it was about to land. As it moved, it “ejected a hand of lightning, not thin lightning, but thick like fingers” from the underside. At the same time, as witnessed by Dave, several bright green orbs were ejected from the top of the object. It was as this was happening that the pair first noticed the arrival of three heavy-duty military helicopters, each flying at an extremely low altitude.

Even stranger, following the helicopters, were two mysterious red “barrel-shaped” objects, each the size of a small car, that appeared to move in complete silence. Stranger still, as they moved, the exterior of these objects appeared to be moving like it was “turning in on itself like a cake mixture” being stirred. One of these objects came to a sudden stop no more than 20 feet away from Caz. Without thinking, she suddenly raised her arm and waved at the object. She later recalled that she had the distinct feeling that it was “scanning” her before going on its way. Whether it is a coincidence or not, within 24 hours of the encounter, Clarke claims her hair had “turned white!”

After the objects had gone on their way, Caz and Dave, as well as several other neighbors who were also now viewing the events, turned and headed in the direction of Caz’s home, a walk of around 30 seconds. It was as they were walking back that a “huge explosion” suddenly filled the night. Clarke later described this explosion as being “so loud (and) so big” that it “shook people awake in their beds!” Incidentally, according to data from the British Geological Survey, a “seismological anomaly” was recorded in the Pentrych area at the time Caz Clarke claimed the bizarre incident was unfolding. The following day, the story took another interesting turn.

Multiple media platforms ran reports of the alleged incident, largely taken from an original source from the WalesOnline website. Several hours after these reports appeared, Caz received a phone call from a mystery person. This caller asked Caz who she had spoken to about the events of the previous night and how she had done so (was this by electronic communication or speaking to them directly, for example). Although she was a little cautious, she agreed to meet the person to discuss the matter further.

When she did speak with this person directly, it became clear to Caz that he wasn’t simply a person with an interest in UFOs and was likely there unofficially representing the military or other authorities. The conversation quickly turned to this mystery person asking Caz if she was “worried about what might happen” to her or her family because of her statements and insistence on what she had seen. She was even told that a “fatal car accident” could easily be arranged. She was also asked if she had any photographs or video footage of the alleged events, to which she replied, honestly, that although several people had attempted to do so, they quickly discovered that “all of their phones were dead!”

Ultimately, Clarke was insistent on what she had seen, even stating several years later on the television show UFO Conspiracies that “these things are real, our military knows they are real, (and) our military are actively pursuing and shooting these things down!”

Caz Clarke, though, was far from the only person who was happy to speak about the surreal events they claimed to have witnessed. Mike Henbury, for example, told WalesOnline that he saw a “red pulsing light” before two further lights came into view in a triangular formation. Moreover, he also claimed to have seen multiple green and red orbs ejected from the strange craft, which moved “as if they were dancing and molding into one, pulsing from red to green slowly!”

Other witnesses also recalled seeing the object seemingly purposely make its way toward the woodland, moving in a manner suggesting that it was attempting to land. A moment later, the lights went out, and a moment after that, a huge explosion occurred. Also worth noting is that several of the other witnesses noted that the object, whatever it was, seemed to appear overhead from out of nowhere, perhaps once more suggesting that some kind of portal or wormhole was utilized.

Later that same day, Caz and several of her neighbors ventured into Smilog Woods in an attempt to locate the supposed crash site. It didn’t take them long to arrive at the apparent location. There, in front of them, they found “60-foot trees that had been snapped in half mid-trunk!” Moreover, these broken trees went in for some distance in front of them. They ventured into the snapped trees, eventually arriving at what appeared to be the impact location. Here, several of the trees contained clear white burn marks on them, and a “pungent smell” was evident in the air. Even more interesting, radiation levels at the location were measured at 1.2 EMF (the safe range is between 0.2 and 0.4).

Things turned even stranger several weeks later. Clark noted that a team of field researchers arrived at the location and set up a campsite close to the area of impact. This team appeared to be using some kind of technological device that appeared like an oversized laptop. Even more interesting, Clarke witnessed them “doing a fingertip search” of the field the object had flown over. Of more concern to Clarke, though, was the fact that whenever she or any of the other locals walked past them, “every one of them would stand up and watch you until you were out of sight!” She elaborated that their behavior was almost cult-like.

There were, though, further revelations to come. The location of the alleged crash site is only a short distance from the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, where another witness, a nurse who was on duty on the night in question, claimed to have heard “an extremely loud explosion that sounded as if it had come from outside the hospital” at around 2 am. The nurse also claimed to have heard a “second explosion” several moments after the first one, although she stated that this second explosion seemed to have come from further away.

Of even further interest, when the nurse rushed outside to investigate the apparent explosion, she was confronted with the “smell of sulfur all around” her. She also stated that she “didn’t believe it was a military exercise” she witnessed that night and that she also recalled how there was a seemingly increased police presence and “all roads in the local area were closed!” It is worth noting that Pentrych has only a small police force, so this increased police presence could be another signal that there was some kind of prior knowledge at play.

The more she investigated the bizarre night of February 26th, 2016, Caz Clarke found more witnesses and details. For example, she discovered that almost all of the patients at Royal Glamorgan Hospital on the night in question were “awakened in their beds” by the huge explosion in the early hours. Several even reported seeing thick, black smoke coming in “through the vents and windows!” This explosion was so huge that it even set off multiple car alarms in the parking area and nearby streets.

Clarke’s authoring partner, Gari Jones, also made his own discoveries. Two years after the incident, in February 2018, he sent a Freedom of Information request regarding the events of the 25th into the 26th of February, 2016, during which the military was “conducting an exercise named Chameleon!” In the request, Jones asked four specific questions – why was Smilog Woods closed to the public on the dates in question, who authorized this closure, why were other roads around the location closed during this time, and what was the exact reason for the military presence in Smilog Woods on those dates.

Around a month after sending the request, he received a reply. It stated that “there was no permission granted to the military to close the woodland and public paths and let off explosives in the woodlands mentioned during these dates or in fact any dates, so we have no records!” The response continued, “This type of activity would have required permission!” This response, ultimately, suggests that the claims by the military of a training exercise taking place on the night in question are either false or are an admission of illegal activity. Moreover, even if there was a genuine (and authorized) military training exercise, why would it take place in such a public area in front of multiple potential witnesses?

Other Freedom of Information requests revealed further information. For example, when Jones sought an official explanation for the explosion heard by multiple residents on the night in question, the military finally acknowledged that something did indeed happen that night after changing its version of events several times and stated that the information “fell into the Section 26 category”—essentially, it was “not in the public interest!” Or, put another way, it was classified.

The fact is, there have been several other alleged UFO crashes that have unfolded in Wales. Over 30 years before the Pentrych incident, in Llanilar near Aberystwyth, an event unfolded that is sometimes referred to as “Europe’s Roswell.” Moreover, the case is one that comes with claims of recovered material that, at the time of writing, remains in the possession of UFO researcher and investigator Gary Rowe. The account is detailed in the book UFO Wales by David L. Richards and is, without a doubt, one of the most intriguing cases on record.

According to the account, on a particularly cold morning in January 1983, farmer Eurwel Evans happened upon a curious scene on his land. He saw what he at first was several large crumpled pieces of foil, but that a closer inspection revealed to be material similar to the exterior of a helicopter or small airplane. Suspecting that a small aircraft had crashed in one of his fields, Evans immediately contacted the police. He knew the field was clear of any such debris the previous evening, so he reasoned that the aircraft must have come down during the night.

The police notified the Royal Air Force, which dispatched an investigative team to examine the site and interview Evans. By the time they arrived, Evans had discovered metallic debris scattered across four of his fields. When he explored this debris, it was clear that whatever it was and wherever it came from was out of the ordinary, with parts of the green-gray-colored metal having a “honeycombed” appearance.

Incidentally, this first investigative team was more than cordial with Evans, gladly informing him that the debris was not from any of their vehicles and that they, too, were perplexed as to what it was. However, a short time later, a second team from the Air Force arrived at the farm. This team was made up of uniformed and non-uniformed officers and were much more aggressive in their treatment of Evans, with some even claiming they worked for the Ministry of Defense. This second unit immediately cordoned off the fields, and temporary floodlights were set up to allow the team to work through the night in retrieving the wreckage, which they did, systematically removing every single piece (although, as we shall see, there were several pieces that they failed to recover). For his part, Evans later described the scene as being like “something out of a James Bond movie!”

Several weeks after the incident, the Ministry of Defense released an official statement regarding the wreckage. They offered that their analysis of the material had determined it to be “unidentified,” although there was no further information offered, including any details of any follow-up studies. Furthermore, they reiterated that not only was none of their aircraft missing or unaccounted for, but that there was no radar evidence that an aircraft had ever been in the region.

Although only one newspaper covered the incident, and even then only one article, in the January 23rd, 1983 edition of The Express under the headline, Strange Debris Out Of The Sky, it was enough to bring the case to the attention of UFO researcher and investigator, Gary Rowe. Along with a small team of investigators, he quickly made his way to the small village in order to speak with Evans. They also undertook a search of all four of the fields in the unlikely event that the military unit had left any debris undiscovered. Much to their surprise, they had, as the team uncovered several pieces of the metallic exterior.

Rowe quickly went about having the recovered debris tested. Although these tests would also prove inconclusive, they would determine that the material contained something similar to duralumin, a lightweight but extremely strong material that is used in aircraft. Also of interest, the green-gray color was the result of an applied substance similar to paint. Armed with this information, Rowe returned to the farm to consult once more with Evans. However, he was informed that the main crash site (an area of trees on the land) had since been placed off-limits to the general public, including Evans, by the Forestry Commission.

Even more bizarre was the Forestry Commission’s action on the said land, which saw them destroy and uproot almost all of the trees there. Their response to Rowe’s query of their action was simply that storm damage had placed the area off-limits. Rowe pressed the issue with the person at the Forest Commission he was speaking with, insisting that their action was most unusual. The person on the other end of the line agreed before stating that it was, but “this is what he had been told to say!”

It wasn’t long before Rowe himself received a visit from several “mysterious men” following his discovery and analysis of the left-behind debris. They were insistent that Rowe hand over this debris, something he said he couldn’t do as it was spread across several different locations among several different people. Furthermore, these people had been given very specific instructions – essentially, if anything was to happen to him, or if the wreckage somehow went missing, each was to come forward with their respective piece of wreckage and tell all that they knew. Seemingly admitting defeat, at least for the time being, the mysterious men left. Rowe didn’t see them again. He did, though, notice that his mail was clearly being “intercepted” for several months following the visit.

Whether the mystery material was debris from a vehicle from another world or whether it belonged to a top-secret military aircraft remains open to debate. It is interesting to note, though, that large areas in and around Aberystwyth have substantial underground tunnel networks. These tunnel systems were utilized by the military as storage space during the Second World War before being abandoned. Might we ask if these subterranean networks, at least some of them, weren’t entirely abandoned and were perhaps home to top-secret aviation developments? Or might we even consider the suggestion by some researchers that the area along the Welsh coast – where Aberystwyth resides – is home to an extraterrestrial base? Might this speculative alien facility stretch a little further inland?            

Just short of a decade earlier, yet another alleged UFO crash occurred in Wales, this time in the Berwyn Mountains. According to the official explanation, on the evening of January 23rd, 1974, in Llandrillo, an earthquake measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale occurred at the exact same time a meteorite crashed into the Berwyn Mountains. To many of the residents of the area, though, there was little doubt in their minds that what crashed into the mountains that evening was more otherworldly – and mechanical – than a meteorite.

Reports at the time suggested that at around 8:30 pm on the night in question, the area around the Berwyn Mountains rumbled violently. Many in the area felt certain they had just heard an explosion. When many of them looked outside moments later, many reported seeing an orange glow about halfway up the mountainside, seemingly confirming their initial assessments. Moments later, the police switchboard and those of the other emergency services were swamped with calls from concerned residents. It was only years later, in 2008, following leaked documents, that it was revealed that many of these reports specifically stated that the witness had seen a UFO moments before the alleged earthquake.

One particularly interesting report stated that the witness had seen “a bright red light, like coal fire red” on the mountainside, as well as a “light above and to the right” and several “white lights moving to the bottom!” Perhaps even more interesting is a report from an on-duty police officer, which read, “There’s been a large explosion in the area, and there is a large fire in the mountainside. I can see the fire (from) where I am!” As time went on, despite the insistence that the events in question were nothing more than a freak occurrence of an earthquake and a meteorite strike at the same time, many people continued to speak of what they had seen that cold January night in 1974. One such person would be nurse Pat Evans, who would find herself in the center of the action.

Realizing she was a nurse, a local policeman had directed her towards the mountains in case her skills could be of use. It was as she was driving there that she noticed what appeared to be strange lights going up and down the mountain. To begin with, she assumed these lights belonged to rescue teams. However, the closer she got to the mountainside, the more she could see how attempts to negotiate the terrain in the dark would be treacherous at best. Moreover, these lights appeared to move in a bizarre and unnatural way. Stranger still, about halfway up the mountain, Evans could see a ”pulsating orange glow!” Years later, in 2010, she stated that this object (if that is what the orange glow was) “couldn’t have gotten there any other way apart from being flown there!” She added that she had no doubt the object “had to be a UFO of some sort,” elaborating that it was “moon-like, but without windows or doors!”

At the time, Evans’ two teenage daughters were in the car with her. Realizing both were becoming uneasy and even frightened by the strange events, she decided to turn around and head home. Decades later, she offered that she had “no idea what it was” and that she “just wished we’d stayed to see what the end result was!”

While Evans’s claims are intriguing, it is perhaps the research and investigation of Margaret Fry that provided many of the details of just what happened that evening. Fry spoke to multiple residents at the time, whose descriptions of the night’s events suggested a drastically different picture than that offered by officialdom.

There was a local hotel manager, for example, who told Fry that for multiple evenings following the incident, she noticed more and more people talking about how the military had “sealed off the area!” Furthermore, there appeared to be a sudden increased American military presence. Two long-haul lorry drivers also revealed intriguing accounts. As they were driving back from Lincolnshire in the hours immediately before the event, still hoping to arrive back in time to catch “last orders” in their local pub, they witnessed a bizarre cigar-shaped object hovering close to the surface of Bala Lake (the same location, incidentally, where it was claimed the epicenter of the “earthquake” had been recorded).

They watched the object for several moments before continuing on their way, the promise of a drink before closing time still their main priority. However, when they finally arrived, they were more than dismayed to find the public house doors shut. They banged on the door, thinking there must have been some kind of mistake. It was only when they consulted their watches a few moments later that they discovered it was after 1 am, over two and a half hours later than they thought it was. What happened during that missing time episode remains a mystery.

Several days after the incident, a family was driving around 20 miles from the Berwyn Mountains when they noticed a strange humming sound coming from somewhere nearby. Moments later, a distinct saucer-shaped object passed by the front of their vehicle. It moved over the treetops before disappearing from sight.

The incident remained largely a mystery, seemingly dismissed by officialdom for several decades before leaked documents and declassified files entered the public arena concerning the alleged crash of an otherworldly vehicle in the Welsh mountains. It was discovered, for example, that there were several reports of anomalous aerial vehicles around the United Kingdom around the same time as the Berwyn Mountains incident. There were, though, other sources of information concerning the encounter.

Just over 20 years after the alleged crash, in 1996, an anonymous whistleblower approached UFO researcher and author – and one-time police detective – Tony Dodd with information about the incident in the Berwyn Mountains. Although Dodd certainly didn’t betray his source and reveal his identity, he stated that he had performed multiple extensive background checks on them, and they appeared to check out. The source claimed that they had been a soldier at the time of the incident and had been a part of the retrieval operation. What’s more, his testimony again suggests some kind of prior knowledge on the part of the authorities concerning the incident.

According to what the former soldier told Dodd, several days before the apparent crash, his unit received orders to move from their undisclosed location at a barracks somewhere in the south of England to Birmingham. From there, they received orders to proceed to Chester, and finally, they were transported to Llangollen. Once there, they were told to await further orders. The source claimed that many of the unit believed they were going to take part in a surprise live drill. Of course, they would soon find themselves in the middle of truly remarkable events.

On the night of January 23rd, almost immediately following the “earthquake,” the five-man unit received orders to head to Llandderfel. There was already significant activity on the ground when the unit arrived, and they still fully expected to be put into a live drill situation. Instead, they were instructed to load two oblong crate-like boxes onto their heavy-duty military truck. Moreover, they were given strict instructions to ensure the boxes remained shut for the duration of their journey – the Porton Down facility in Wiltshire. Although perplexed by the whole situation, not least their strange orders, the unit set off to their destination. When they stopped halfway there, however, to obtain refreshments and use the facilities, they were approached by a man wearing plain clothing and brandishing a “high-level military ID!” The man ordered each of the men to get back in the truck immediately and proceed with their journey. Furthermore, they were ordered to make no further stops for any reason along the way.

Upon arriving at Porton Down – a top-secret facility said to be involved with chemical and biological experiments, including biological warfare and decontamination procedures - their cargo was unloaded and taken to a hangar-like room where they were placed behind several blurred but perfectly transparent screens. According to what the mystery source told Dodd, several scientists approached these boxes and opened them. Inside each one was a “grey alien” creature. Each was inside some kind of decontamination chamber. The unit looked on in shock and amazement as the two creatures were moved out of the chambers, showing how frail they were. Incidentally, rumors swirled around the facility that at least one of the aliens was alive. Needless to say, the unit, as well as the entire facility, received orders to never speak of the incident, not even among themselves. They were, essentially, to forget it had ever happened.

In more recent times, in late 2018, further leaked documents surfaced courtesy of UFO researcher Russ Kellett. Not only did Kellett have several files in his possession regarding the incident in January 1974, but also a map that detailed the presence of an extraterrestrial base in the same region. Although many, even in the UFO community, have approached the claims with caution, they are still worth examining here.

Kellett claimed to have received the map from a witness to the mysterious incident in the Berwyn Mountains who, along with four friends, saw the events unfold in their entirety. The mystery witness claimed that they heard the explosion ring out on the night in question and immediately jumped in their car and drove to the area where the explosion appeared to have come from. They saw a strange object near the mountain, but before they could get a detailed look, they were told to move along by several members of the military.

Kellett claimed that he took possession of the map and documents after he was approached by the mystery person following a UFO lecture he had given in the early 2000s. Ultimately, the information, contained in the documents, combined with Kellett’s own research into the incident, suggested that the crash in the Berwyn Mountains was one of “military provocation!”

One of the documents in question was an apparently leaked official file of the Martine and Coastguard Agency (MCA). According to this document, an official RAF exercise took place off the North Wales coast only hours before the alleged UFO crash, with “at least 80 flashes” being witnessed during the exercise. Was this an attempt to elicit a response? Were the RAF not taking part in a mere exercise but actively attacking an underwater extraterrestrial facility?

Kellett stated that, in his opinion, “There is no doubt there is an alien base under the sea on the North Wales coastline,” adding it was likely “where they build all their crafts!” He then asked just “why the military want or need to light up the sea with 80 photoflash bombs if they weren’t looking for submersible objects?” He further offered that he believed “they knew there was a base under the sea, and they did it to light up the area so they know where to attack,” before adding that it “just seems like too much of a coincidence that this took place on exactly the same day as the Berwyn Mountains incident!” Ultimately, Kellett stated his belief that this RAF mission “kicked off one hell of an incident!”

According to what Kellett further learned, following this RAF operation, three extraterrestrial vehicles suddenly emerged from the water. One of these was immediately shot down and sank beneath the waves, while another headed off into the distance and escaped to an unknown destination. The third object, though, headed inland, eventually being brought down over the Berwyn Mountains.

With the release of this information into the public arena, more and more people came forward claiming to have witnessed the strange events of that cold January night in 1974, many of whom gave their statements to Kellett directly. One of these witness statements came from a group of fishermen who insisted that they had seen several “flying saucers” emerge from the waters off the North Wales coast on the same night as the alleged crash in the Berwyn Mountains. Even more remarkable, given Kellett’s leaked documents, the fishermen stated that one of these objects was “attacked” by a Royal Navy ship in the region and brought down to the icy waters.

Another witness came from a television documentary in 2011. Geraint Edwards claimed to have seen a strange saucer-shaped object hovering close to the mountain on the night in question, stating that it was “definitely a flying saucer” and that it was “there for ten minutes!” He elaborated that it “looked like a rugby ball, but the ends were more pointy” and that “when it took off, it just went like lightning!” Several other apparent leaked documents that appeared to support Kellett’s conclusions surfaced via the Aerial Phenomena Enquiry Network (APEN), while, more ominously, veteran UFO researcher Jenny Randles, stated in an article in the Sunday Express that there was a cluster of leukemia cases in the same region as the Berwyn Mountains incident that dated back to the mid-to-late 1970s that could also be connected to the alleged crash.  

It is also worth mentioning the research of UFO researcher and author Nick Redfern, who relays multiple sightings of Black or “Phantom” helicopters in his book A Covert Agenda: The British Government’s UFO Top Secrets Exposed. Not only did Redfern document several sightings of these strange helicopters across the United Kingdom, with many coming from the Derbyshire region of England, between September 1973 and January 1974, but multiple police forces in the north of England received an alert around a week before the Berwyn Mountains incident to “keep an eye out for any unusual helicopter activity!” If there is a connection between these strange black helicopters and UFO sightings, then this might be further evidence of some kind of prior knowledge of the events of January 23rd, 1974. Interestingly or not, following the alleged crash in the Berwyn Mountains, reports of these mysterious phantom helicopters decreased almost immediately.

In the same book, Redfern also documented a truly bizarre incident that took place only weeks after the Berwyn Mountains incident. According to Redfern, an anonymous “bona fide” source who worked with the Central Services branch at the Marconi facility near Frimley arrived at work one morning to the presence of several unknown and high-ranking visitors from the Ministry of Defense. Employees were told to go about their business as usual, which the source initially did. However, she eventually got the chance to speak with a colleague to see what he knew. All he could offer her was that “We’ve had a break-in!” Redfern’s source, however, would continue to see what she could find out, and her efforts were eventually rewarded.

According to what she learned, the previous evening, a security guard going about his usual patrol rounds discovered a strange blue light coming from one of the rooms off the side of the corridor, which held highly sensitive documents, suggesting there was someone unauthorized inside. Immediately sensing something was wrong, the security guard prepared to enter the room and confront the intruder. However, he was greeted with a sight that he struggled to make sense of. There, right in front of him, was a distinctly non-human humanoid figure with a strange blue light positioned on its head, looking through various top-secret files. Even stranger, upon his entering the room, this strange figure simply “dematerialized” right in front of the security guard.

The security guard eventually suffered a complete nervous breakdown and was admitted to a military hospital under armed guard. According to Redfern’s source, no one saw or even heard from the security guard again. In the aftermath of these events, Redfern’s source overhead a conversation involving one of her superior officers. She claimed she heard them say “We have no way of keeping these beings out. We just don’t know what to do next. If they can get in here, they can get in anywhere!”

Were these events connected to the crash in the Berwyn Mountains several weeks earlier? Had some of the recovered debris been transported to the facility in Frimley? Were records of it stored there? And if so, why would entities of an apparent alien race have an interest in them?     

As we can see, then, Wales has had more than its fair share of alleged UFO crashes over the decades, and these are just a small number of the overall UFO encounters on record from this part of the world. While the reasons for this would take an article in its own right to fully explore, there have been several interesting and thought-provoking suggestions as to why this might be. Perhaps the most intriguing of these are the persistent claims that an underwater alien base exists somewhere off the Welsh coast and that there is perhaps some other areas of interest (to the intelligence behind these UFOs) in the Welsh mountain ranges. In fact, in more recent years, in September 2015, a strange object was witnessed hovering directly over the Berwyn Mountains, remaining visible for around 40 seconds. In addition to sightings of objects in the sky, there are multiple encounters of landing episodes and even alien abductions. We might ask just what is of interest to these apparent otherworldly visitors.

We should also keep in mind the recurring suggestions of military involvement in at least some of these events, including the notion of prior knowledge of some of these bizarre encounters. Might they themselves be behind some of these mystery crafts, or could there really be a discreet and unacknowledged battle taking place between various militaries around the world and another intelligence race? Such considerations only serve to make the already layered UFO and alien mysteries all the more nuanced and unpredictable.