Welsh UFO Sightings 1989

Doreen Doak, a retired 'strict teetotaller' who lived at Queens Villas, Ebbw Vale, said: "At about 1am, when all the street lights were off and it was pitch dark, my front room was suddenly filled with light. I looked out of the window and saw a huge ball of fire over the mountain by Beaufort Road. It was the size of the sun and level with my house.

It spiralled down, landed on the playing field behind the Territorial Army building, and fizzled out on the ground. I would expect to see a burn mark on the field where it landed. I couldn't imagine the TA men carrying out operations on New Years Day. But for a horrible moment - these things flash through your mind - I thought it was something trying to land on the building. I'm surprised that no one else saw the light."

Joan Hodges, 66, of Curre Street, Cwm: "I saw the light in the early hours of Sunday morning. I sleep in the back bedroom of our house, facing the mountainside, and at about 01:45am my bedroom wall was suddenly lit up. At first I thought it was a flash of lightning, but when I looked out of the window I saw a huge streak of light. It was going down towards Aberbeeg and travelling fast.

I was terrified. It reminded me of the war days when the searchlights would be in the sky tracking down enemy planes. It was almost on the ground, and so bright. It was that big that its light showed up all the grass and the trees. I told my hubbie about it and he said, 'You've actually seen a UFO.'"

Chris Holloway of Garden City, Ebbw Vale, was looking out over the Garden Festival site from her window with her daughter Louisa. She rang the Gwent Gazette at the beginning of February: "I'd forgotten about it, but after reading about the lights in the paper, I wondered if I had seen the same thing. We saw weird bright lights flashing across the sky, they were coming from Cwm.

There were streaks of white light, but not like lightening, as these were more vivid flashes, rather than the light breaking across the sky. My husband said that it could be because of the changes in temperature. It was a little bit unnerving when you saw it at first. I haven't seen it again after that night and no one around here has said they saw it. Maybe we were lucky to look out and catch it when we did."

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MOD FILES
January 7th, 14:35
Blaenavon

A witness who, according to Gwent police, 'appears in full control of faculties' was in the their back garden on a fine clear day when they saw 'two pencil shaped rockets with fire trailing'. They seemed as high as regular commercial aircraft and were travelling in a straight line, south to north. The sighting lasted 30 seconds and was reported to police.

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MOD FILES
January 16th
Llandudno

Witness saw a 'very bright yellow orange object trailing sparks, about the size of the sun.' It appeared to be lower than usual aircraft height.

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MOD FILES
January 19th
Pontypridd

Witness saw a UFO shaped 'like a shell and flat fronted with numerous lights and no sound at all.'

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PRESS
January 19th, 16:30
Ebbw Vale

A long streak of light was seen in the sky over Ebbw Vale, seemingly travelling towards Tredegar. An eyewitness phoned the Gwent Gazette who subsequently asked readers (26/01/89) to write in with their own sightings.

"A group of lights went across the sky. It seemed to turn and disappear towards Tredegar. I was really shocked. I told my mate, Neil Morgan from Hilltop, about it. We went up to Scotland the next day, so we didn't see the Gazette's report on it. When we came back and saw it in the paper I realised that that's what I had seen."       

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PRESS
Wednesday February 1st, 07:30
Sageston, Pembrokeshire

Edward and Irene Ward of Hoyland Drive, Haverfordwest, were driving to Tenby swimming pool. As they turned off the main A477 road, at Sageston, passing RAF Carew Airfield, they saw: "....a round silver coloured object, very high up, moving through the sky. It then stopped in front of us, but still high up, before darting across the sky over Kilgetty, then over the coast, followed by its appearance, once again, overhead, at fantastic speed - as if in a blink of an eye."

Source: 'Haunted Skies' John Hanson citing a Haverfordwest newspaper 7 February 1989: 'Close Encounter For Local Couple.'

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MOD FILES
Saturday February 11th, 09:30
Beaufort, Ebbw Vale

Very fine clear day. A husband and wife, together with their daughter, from Blaina, were in their car at the top of Beaufort Rise, near Ebbw Vale. The driver (man) saw a silver-coloured cylinder-shaped object at bout 30 degrees elevation, 200-300 feet in altitude.

It was pointed at one end, stationary and rotating slightly. Duration of sighting: 5 seconds.

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PRESS
March 15th

A flash of light on the mountain between Mountain Ash and Aberaman was reported by two separate witnesses to police in Aberdare. Despite severe weather conditions a search was made, assisted by RAF helicopters from West Wales and Devon. Checks with the Civil Aviation Authority showed no missing aircraft, but a foot search with dogs was made by police on Thursday before closing the inquiry.

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CONTACT
May, early evening
Llandudno

Early one Monday evening, Douglas Haig Hughes, aged 68, from Queen's Road in Llandudno Junction, an ex-RAF gunner of five years in World War Two, was strolling along Ffordd Maelgwyn with his wife, Catherine. They then saw a grey cylinder-shaped object in the sky.

Douglas said: 'A cylinder-shaped object approached from the Glan Conwy area about 600 ft up and proceeded towards Llandudno. It was massive in diameter. I could see it with my naked eyes. 

It appeared at first to be moving at about 45 to 55 miles per hour. Then it slowed down and flashed a bright red light, like an infra-red light, from the window of the cylinder onto us. 

We didn't feel anything. When the light went out, it travelled on towards Llandudno. It was definitely not from this earth. We have been trying to get an aircraft for years and years that doesn't make a noise. There was no noise at all with this. 

I used to be very sceptical about such things, but what I saw on Monday convinced me beyond doubt that there is life on another plant.'

A spokesman for RAF Valley, Anglesey, said: 'We haven't been flying any planes over the last three days.'

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MOD FILES
June, between 01:30 and 2:00
Crumlin

Fine and clear. A husband and wife at home saw two large brightly illuminated circular objects, spaced some distance apart, but appeared to be joined by a row of brightly lit spots, low in the sky over Trinant - Penyfan Pond area, about two miles distant.

It was not moving but appeared to be hovering. They did not report it at the time for fear of ridicule, however the man reported it to Blackwood Police Station on 8 July 1989.

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MOD FILES
July 3rd
Colwyn Bay

Witness saw a cigar shaped UFO with orange lights at each end. It was very noisy. The sighting lasted ten minutes and was reported to the police.  

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MOD FILES
Friday July 14th, 22:34
Bridgend

The witness was in Bridgend and saw an object slightly east of north at 8 – 10,000 ft. It was holding a steady position in the clear sky which had a full moon. At a distance of 6 miles, it was described as being cone shaped and displayed a steady white light, with a blue/green/red flashing light. The duration of the sighting was 20 minutes.

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MOD FILES
July 16th / 17th / 18th, 21:50
Bridgend

Witness saw a large round object with rings around it, bright blue and red lights. They watched it with the naked eye and through binoculars for 20 minutes, and reported the sighting to police.

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PRESS
July
Llanthony

Newspapers excitedly reported that 98 crop circles had been discovered on hilltops in Llanthony. ...It turned out they had been cut by the landowner to encourage the grouse population! For more on this and other Welsh crop circles I've got a dedicated post HERE.

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MOD FILES
Monday August 7th, 21:40
Ystalyfera

A family in Ystalyfera observed an oval-shaped object with silver, red and white flashing light, moving steadily from east to west. The duration of the sighting was two minutes. They reported it to the police.

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PRESS
Saturday August 12th, 01:30
Morriston

A strange dome shaped object was seen moving through the night sky above Morriston.

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MOD FILES
October, 23:00
Canton, Cardiff

Slightly misty conditions. The witness was in the rear garden of home in Canton and observed two large white or orange lights, from separate sources, one following the other. They were moving north to south, fast and steady, overhead. Duration of sighting: 2 to 3 minutes.

(I'm hoping to find a more clear version of this to embed... still trawling the files at the moment!)       

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PRESS
Tuesday October 24th, 05:00
Pontypool

Husband and wife, Glyn and Toni Edwards were in the attic bedroom of their home in Pontypool when they saw an unexplained and very bright object in the sky above the town. Glyn Edwards, a 39-year-old music teacher, said:

"I got up to have a drink of water and saw the ball of light moving north to south along the valley. It was a clear night and we have a view of the entire valley from our attic bedroom. The object was travelling at a very slow speed - far too slow for it to be a plane or helicopter but what I found more striking was the fact that the object made no noise of any kind. Noise carries a long way at night in the valley but we heard nothing, the object did not make a sound."

Glyn's wife, Toni, a local school meals organiser, also described the sighting:

"I saw very bright lights like searchlights trained on trees. It was moving so slowly that the object was almost static. Also it was completely the wrong shape for a plane."

The couple contacted the South Wales Argus after reading about the sighting by the three boys in Cwmtillery (2 November 1989). They said:

"From the description the boys gave it was the same object that we saw, it moved the same way. I certainly cannot explain what we saw", Mr Edwards added.

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PRESS
Thursday November 2nd, 17:30
Cwmtillery

A disc-shaped object with a flat base and domed shape, which was glowing white was seen flying very fast and at a low altitude, making a circuit around the valley.

It was witnessed by three schoolboys - Lee Holt, Sydney McLoughlin and Carl Jones, who were playing by a nearby lake in Cwmtillery. They saw a bright light coming down the hillside, and one of the youngsters Lee Holt drew a picture of the object. "It was really low in the sky, clipping the tops of trees. It circled above our heads a number of times then flew off really quickly," Lee Holt stated.

"It was silver and disc shaped with a domed top with luminous lights and about the size of a car but it made no noise" Lee added. A few minutes later it vanished. Then a huge fireball came down by a nearby farm. "We had been really scared because we thought that whatever the object was had come to take us away," Lee added. Lee Holt's mother Melinda told the paper that the boys had been terrified when they arrived back at her home shortly after the sighting.

Source: www.deltapro.co.uk citing L. Williams-Davies - NUN 162 / 'UFO Wales' David L. Richards 2012 page 79 citing 'South Wales Argus' 9 November 1989.

 

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November, evening
Beacons Reservoir, Brecon Beacons

Early evening - just got dark. Clear. Janice was driving with her great Niece, Katie (11) and great Nephew, Tim (5) from her home in Leamington Spa to the childrens' home in Neath and was driving south on the A470, passing the Beacons Reservoir, just south of Story Arms. They saw a possibly disc-shaped object which displayed large red, green and white lights, behind the car. Janice stopped the car and got out to get a camera from the boot, while the object hovered about 100 feet up and to the rear right of the car. But, due to the fear displayed by the children she thought better of it and drove off. They did not see the object again, but not long after they had re-started, a blue flash of light was visible across the landscape ahead of them which lasted a few seconds, which Janice thought was maybe connected to the object.

Source: Full report by David Hodrien of Birmingham UFO Group, who later married the Katie in the report: http://reported-sightings.blogspot.co.uk/2007/01/november-1989-brecon-beacons-multi.html

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MOD FILES
November 18th, 17:40
Severn Bridge

The witness, who had no prior interest in UFOs and was medically retired from the RAF, was driving a tanker in thin fog. They saw a bank of white and yellow(ish) lights heading towards the Severn Bridge. They were very low flying, about headlamp height, and seemed to keep pace alongside the tanker, coming to within 12 feet of it. The witness reported the sighting to an American Ufologist and, later, to the RAF.

 

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SUFON
Winter 1989-1990

Brecon Beacons  

The witness was with family members and saw a silent black triangular craft with three red lights on each side and one at the rear as it moved at a very slow speed and twisting through the air.

Source: SUFON files.