Welsh UFO Sightings 2001

 

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UFOWATCH
Saturday January 6th, 18:00
South Wales

Jonathan Jones (15) saw a star-like object far away moving very slowly in an irregular fashion. Then it stopped and quickly disappeared. Duration of sighting: 30 seconds. 

After a short time it shot off, at a speed you wouldn't believe. We travelled on, and saw strange lights again, a few miles down the road towards Ruthin. They were moving around the area. I am trying to rationalise what we saw. I thought it was possibly a light signature from a stealth aircraft. It was extremely manoeuvrable. It seemed to be able to stop and go at will in the air and moved at great speeds.'

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Saturday January 27th
Cockett, Swansea

A 36-year-old supervisor, working the night shift at a local government-run home in Swansea, reported seeing something strange in the sky. 

‘The residents were settled and I was watching television in the lounge,’ he said. ‘The curtains were ajar when my attention was brought to this object by the intensity of its light. I saw a bright emerald green globe with a pale green haze around it. 

When it reached the summit of the hill it looked approximately half the size of a house. There was no sound to it whatsoever and later in the night we could hear planes flying overhead. The sky was perfectly clear as it was a very frosty evening. 

I called to my colleagues just as the object moved extremely quickly over my location before gaining altitude and dropped out of sight over the hill at Cefn Coed. It was too late for my colleagues to catch even a glimpse of it. I felt foolish. 

I am a sceptic, but have never seen anything like this before. Although I wanted to tell, I was worried people might make a big joke about it, but couldn’t help keep one eye out of the window for the remainder of my shift.’ 

 

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MOD FILES
Wednesday February 7th, 19:40
Caernarfon, North Wales

Witness was sitting in his stationary car in his yard when he saw what looked like a shooting star in the clear night sky. It was a green colour with red on the side. Then it started to come towards him, so that he worried it was going to crash into him. The sighting lasted around 5 seconds and the witness reported it to RAF Valley.







Feb 7th, 19:45
Amlwch, Anglesey, North Wales

 

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MOD FILES
Monday February 12th, 19:30
Trehafod, Pontypridd

One bright object. Looked star shaped. Rose fast in the sky and then disappeared. The witness was walking dog on the hill above Trehafod and saw a bright star-shaped object rise fast high up into the sky, which then disappeared. It had come from an area far off towards Llantrisant direction from the observer's location (south). Duration of the sighting: approximately 5-10 seconds. There was no sound. It was seen by at least one other person. (SUFON summary)

 

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MOD FILES
February 18th, 20:10

 

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MOD FILES
March 1st, 10:00
Holyhead, North Wales

Witness, an aeronautical engineer, saw what looked like a bright star, pulsating red and green. Witness watched it with the naked eye and through binoculars, and out of curiosity reported it. The report notes that the port controller at Holyhead also witnessed it.

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NUFORC
Wednesday 28th February
Caldicot

Witness saw a flashing white light which tapered out then reappeared in a completely different part of the sky, 'as if it were attached to a huge pendulum.' The sighting lasted around 5 minutes and was reported to NUFORC on 18/05/2001:

"flashing white light taperingout as it moved then reappearing in a completely different part of the sky, as if it was attached to a huge pendulum."

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SUFON
March 23rd, 19:30
Pontypridd

"After having been visited by our nephew, RJ, my wife and I were seeing him to the door, when upon opening, my nephew exclaimed, 'What is that?' The open view from my front door in Graigwen, includes the Eglwysilan and Meio mountain ranges. 

Stepping outside, we observed an orange light travelling down the Eglwysilan mountain, at a leisurely speed and momentarily stopping over the Mynydd Meio range at Upper Boat, then a second or two later instantly shot off in a south-westerly direction at great speed. 

The object on that trajectory would have passed near the northern slopes of the Garth Mountain. The night was clear and calm with no noticeable breeze."

Witness, an amateur astronomer, was in the back garden of a house in Townhill, Swansea, when they observed a bright white light resembling a satellite approach from the south over the Bristol Channel, heading north, when it stopped. It was then approached by another which travelled around the first and then went away at 20 degrees west of north. There was no sound. The first one remained in the sky until 1 AM. There were other people present, but they were not spoken to.

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May 14th
06:50
Porth Rhondda

One tennis ball sized object. Was round at the front and had a triangular back. Was rainbow coloured and very bright. 6.50 AM. Clear sky. A husband and wife, at their home in Porth, Rhondda, together with their milkman, saw a ‘tennis ball’ sized object, described as being round at the front, with a triangular back, rainbow-coloured and very bright. It was higher than a plane and was moving in a northerly direction at an elevation of about 45 degrees. They saw it for about 5 seconds, as it crossed approximately three roof-top lengths in their field of view. There was no sound or smell associated with it. (SUFON summary)

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NUFORC
Wednesday May 30th
Wrexham

Witness watched a large bright light come from the south, then stop for around 30 seconds before carrying on in an arc heading NNE. The object then began to climb rapidly until it was no more than a pinprick of light, before disappearing. The sighting lasted around 6 minutes and was reported to NUFORC on 01/06/2002:

"Large bright light rapidly climbing in an arc into a pinprick then vanishing. Large bright light seen coming in from South. Stopped for about 30 secs then carried on in an arc heading North North East. Object the began to climb at a rapid rate finally ending up as a pinprick then vanishing by Ursa Major."

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MOD FILES
Monday June 25th, 21:00
Llanelli, Wales

Witness saw a large black disc shaped object which then changed to an oval shape. It had no accompanying sound or smell, but moved at 'lightspeed' in a westerly direction. Witness reported the sighting to Swansea Police via Mumbles Station.

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MOD FILES
July 18th, 21:15
Milford Haven, South West Wales

A family, outdoors in Hakin, Milford Haven, saw eight star sized objects, with lights that were red, white, blue and yellow. Six of them were following two. There was no sound or smell. The sighting lasted 30 minutes and they reported it to Contact International, who then submitted it to RAF West Drayton.

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MOD WALES
August 4th, 00:40 - 00:50
Port Talbot, Wales

Witness, a keen UFO watcher, and her husband saw 'two large shining golf ball like objects' from their back garden in Port Talbot. The objects came in over the beach, moved down from the cloud layer, hovered, then moved back into the clouds. They made a camcorder recording of the object and reported their sighting to South Wales Police, RAF St Athan, ATC Cardiff Airport, and ATC Swansea Airport.

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MOD FILES
August 16th, 21:30
Newport

Another anonymous witness submitted a report to NUFORC for that day, on 15/09/02, claiming they had been watching the sky in Abersoch when they saw a large orange oval shaped object high up in the sky, surrounded by six smaller objects. Something then came from the large oval and hit one of the smaller objects, causing it to disappear.

"I was in Wales on holiday, lying on the grass watching the stars with my friend, and i happened to see this orange bright oval shape really high in the sky, a plane could never reach taht distance because it was above the clouds (it woz a clear night) but this large orange oval shape was surrounded by 6 in a circle, and i watched as they hovered for about 5-10 mins and then i saw something come out of the lafge orange oval shape and hit 1 of the smaller crafts, and the craft that was hit disappeared, I was freaked out((NUFORC Note: Date is approximate. Source elects to remain anonymous. PD))"

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SUFON
Sunday August 19th, 02:00
South Beach, Tenby

Witness thinks date is correct. Between 2 and 3 AM. Sarah (21) was with four friends (two female, two male) and had been out to a night club in Penally and decided to walk back to Tenby as there were no taxis available. They went via Kiln Park (holiday park), through the sand dunes and arrived at South Beach. As it was a warm summer night her friends decided to go for a quick dip in the sea. Sarah decided she didn't want to walk the rest of the way wet and cold, but would just sit in the dunes and wait for her friends. But something else was bothering her:

"So I was sensible - it just didn't feel safe. I sat in the dunes at the top of the beach with some of the clothes my friends had shed while they went into the water. I could just about see them from where I was (maybe 25 ft away) and could hear that they were in the water. It must have only been a minute or so later that I became uneasy - I felt like I was being watched and began to wish that I had gone in the sea with them! Just then what I thought was the moon coming from behind a cloud lit the area."

She looked up, expecting to see the moon but was taken aback to see light like moonlight was coming from an object above them. She couldn't see a shape to the object and described it as being like a bright star, at a high altitude. It wasn't intensely bright, but like looking at a large bright star. There was no noise and the object shone a wide beam of light like a torch down onto the beach. It illuminated an area of beach and sea encircling about 30 metres, Sarah being on the landward side of it. Where her friends were in the water was about in the centre of the circle. Except they weren't.

"I suddenly realised at this point that I couldn't see or hear them in the sea - I was alone on the beach! I could still hear the waves and could also feel that I was alone! A panic came over me - I began to sit up to try to see them and blinked my eyes to strain to see them in the sea. I felt if I moved any more I would be in danger. Just then in one second the light was swallowed up into the object above and I could hear and see my friends again in the sea. I remember feeling relief."

The object then moved from above them in sharp fast zig-zagging movements towards the east over Carmarthen Bay. As it moved it stopped for milliseconds at each point of the zig zag, before it suddenly shot straight up into the sky at high speed.

"My friends took a few more minutes in the sea before I could hear them coming back up the beach - I was saying to them, 'did you see that light? What was it?' as they approached and, 'didn't you see the light when you were in the sea?' - they all seemed really unaware and unconcerned. I was getting ratty with them as they were so blaze about what I was saying to them - they didn't even want to listen. It was all very odd! We all continued to walk to Tenby with me keep asking them 'what did you do in the sea? Where were you? I couldn't see you!' But still it was all shrugged off. We got to Tenby and after waiting at one of the friend's house while a taxi arrived for us girls they all continued in a very odd manner - not really there."

The next day all seemed well and Sarah continued to ask the two girls about what had happened and what had they seen. They just said they remembered me asking about what had happened but that they just went in the sea. To this day, if Sarah asks the two girls about that night they are very blaze and say, 'Oh yeah - that's the night we all got abducted!' 

Thinking back on her experience, Sarah said: "I felt that they had tried to include me in this area [illuminated area on the beach] but that I was on the limit of what they could cover with the friends near the middle. The circumference of the light stopped on me if that makes sense. I do remember it well. There were glow worms in the dunes of the beach that night that I have never seen before or after - I remember my friends bought drink cans from a vending machine at Kiln Park. I remember how wet the friends clothes were and how sandy they were and what a long time it took to walk along the beach to Tenby. I remember feeling puzzled and calm about what I had seen and witnessed but not frightened. My concern was for my friends in the sea and how I would get help if I couldn't find them."

Clear sky. One evening Mark Judd was walking along Heol Hermas in Penlan. He had just turned into Crwys Terrace, facing north, with a full moon on his right, in the east. 

He suddenly saw a silver /dull grey sphere moving fast left to right (north-south) just below the moon. 

Duration of sighting was very transient, only about a second. There was no sound and no trail. he had the impression that it was close. 

 Source: SUFON Files: witness interviewed by Emlyn Williams August 2016.

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SUFON
October, 01:00
Cockett, Swansea

One night in October 2001, weather dry and clear. Mark Rayworth, aged 26, was driving his car up Heol-Y-Gors, towards Cockett. 

He saw what he described as a large orange ball, similar to the sun, high up, in the direction of Cefn Coed Hospital. 

He continued his journey up to Townhill, and towards Cockett, where he had a good view of the object. He stated the object was almost as big as the height of the Cefn Coed tower building which was below it. 

As he watched, the object shot up vertically, turning colour to white as it did so, leaving a swirling, quickly evaporating white vortex in its wake.

Source: SUFON Files: Witness interviewed by Steve Drewson 17 March 2016.

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PRESS
Holyhead 

The Portsmouth-registered fishing boat 'Fin Ar Bed' struck an unidentified floating object shortly before 1130 yesterday morning, holing so badly that the three crew were forced to abandon ship and take to the liferaft. The vessel sank within 45 minutes of the collision. 

Holyhead Coastguard received a Mayday call at 1130 on Monday morning. The Fin Ar Bed had been potting in deep water, 15 miles NNW of South Stack off the Holyhead peninsula, when she hit - or was hit by - an object at 53° 34N 04° 47W. A large hole was carved in the side of the hull and she started taking on water quickly. The crew had just enough time to send a Mayday call before abandoning the vessel in liferafts. 

Holyhead Coastguard immediately alerted RAF Valley's SAR wing, requested the launch of Holyhead lifeboat and prepared the Holyhead Coastguard rescue team. The call was also relayed on Ch 16 and several nearby vessels responded with offers of assistance. A rescue helicopter was scrambled from RAF Valley and the three men were winched to safety and taken to Holyhead Coastguard Station where the men were found to be shaken and cold but otherwise well. 

"The three fishing vessel crew were quickly retrieved after their ordeal and were in some ways fortunate in that the weather was reasonable for the rescue with south westerly Force 2 winds, good visibility and blue skies," said David North, Watch manager at Holyhead Coastguard. 

"It is a mystery as to what the vessel could have hit in the water, however it must have been quite substantial to have made such significant damage in quite deep water." Gales have prevented any reconnaissance of the area but everything points to a collision with a lost container. 

Source: Yachting Monthly , 27 November 2001.

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MOD FILES
November 9th, 18:00 - 18:30

Torfaen

Three callers rang Gwent Police to report a slow moving triangular shaped UFO with lights. 

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MOD FILES
November 26th, 11:20
Briton Ferry, West Glamorgan

One silver object, long cylinder hanging from a parachute or balloon, drifting SE. It was very big and very high. Witness reported the sighting to RAF St Athan.

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MOD FILES
December 10th, 18:15
Pontypool, Torfaen

Female witness saw a UFO with the naked eye and through binoculars. There were three bright lights, forming an elongated triangle shape. The sighting lasted around 5 minutes. She reported it to Gwent Police.

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NUFORC
Thursday December 13th
Cardiff

Witness and their neighbour observed what they first thought to be a twin roto helicopter. However as it came closer they realised it was silent and moving too quickly, it now resembled '2 saucers connected by a cigar'. It then changed course and began to gain altitude 'until it was merely a dot in the sky'. The sighting lasted around a minute and was reported to NUFORC the same day:

"2 saucers connected by a cigar. As the light was failing this afternoon in the winter's sky my neighbour and I witnessed a UFO. from a distance it looked like a twin rotor helicopter, but as it got nearer I realized it was silent and moving too quickly. It chnaged course and then began to gain altitude until it was merely a dot in the sky. all of this happened in about a minute. Neither myslef nor my neighbour have ever been beleivers in UFO rumours, but I must say we have both changed our minds!"

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Alan Williams, then MP for Swansea West, intervened on behalf of a constituent who wanted to know if UFO sightings over the Bristol Channel were the result of US test flights. The MOD replied and said they were not.