A town in Wales became convinced a UFO crashed in their town 50 years ago

26 January 2024 , 10:10

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People are convinced the incident was Britain's version of Roswell (Image: Getty Images/Science Photo Library RF)

On a cold, dark January night the residents of a small town were settling down when they were interrupted by the ground suddenly shaking - before a light appeared above.

Terrified, people ran from their homes in Bala in the Berwyn Mountains of Wales believing they had been hit by an earthquake. Instead, they became witnesses to an incident which became known as the Welsh Roswell - Roswelsh. On the night of January 23 1974 “something came down” in a blaze of light over the homes of the town’s residents. Children already in bed were woken by the loud bang. Whatever it was caused the Richter Scale to jump to 3.5.

One woman described looking out of her window and seeing “something large” being loaded into the back of a truck. She also recalled soldiers in the area.A witness said at the time: "It was a bright red light, like coal-fire red. It was a large perfect circle. Like a big bonfire. I could see lights above and to the right and white lights moving to bottom. The light changed colour to yellowish white and back again.

Gwynedd Police Constabulary's major incident log for that night confirmed calls made regarding a UFO sighting in the area as well as an explosion at around 9pm. Officially, local search and rescue teams were sent to the area believed to have been hit but no wreckage was found. Unofficially, some people claim whatever was found in the area was secretly removed. Whether it was a test plane or something from another world is not, and may never be, known for certain.

Berwyn Mountains, the site of the 1974 'Welsh Roswell' incident (MEDIA WALES)

In a letter to North Wales MP Dafydd Elis Thomas in May 1974, then-junior RAF minister Brynmor John said: “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."

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The claims seemed to be confirmed in 2010 when a release of declassified documents by the National Archives from the Ministry of Defence explained the night’s events as a combination of an earthquake and meteor shower. The British Astronomical Society reported a “fireball” was seen the same night in Somerset, Norfolk, Manchester and Edinburgh. Despite the official version of events, many people are certain Bala was the location for ET arriving on our shores.

Antony Clements-Thrower