A DEBATE over whether or not a UFO came down in the Berwyn Mountains has been raging for decades.
Now a magazine has brought both sides of the argument about the ‘Welsh Roswell’ together for the first time.
UFO Matrix magazine looks at the theory of Scott Felton, of Conwy UFO group, who is convinced a UFO landed in the Berwyn Mountains above Llandrillo on January 23, 1974.
The article contrasts Scott’s view with that of Flintshire UFO-logist Andy Roberts, who argues there was no UFO that night.
Philip Mantle, editor of UFO Matrix, said: “From time to time we will take a particular incident and put the arguments both for and against it. In this instance I chose the Berwyn Mountains UFO incident. Scott and Andy both know each other and of course have very different conflicting views.
“We simply allow our readers to reach their own conclusions.
“Scott and Andy submitted their features separately and neither knew what the other had written.”
The item by Mr Roberts looks at investigations into the event and witness reports before concluding “until more solid evidence is produced I think the notion that an alien spacecraft crashed in the Berwyn Mountains is redundant”.
He says: “However certain a witness may seem, memory frequently conflates fact and fiction to create a powerful and convincing reality that seems to admit the ‘other’ into the affairs of mankind.”
Mr Felton’s article says his job as a game and water keeper, combined with his interest in the Welsh language, “started alarm bells ringing” when he first read the account by Mr Roberts.
He writes: “I immediately knew his claim that District Nurse Pat Evans and two accompanying daughters had seen a poacher's lamp rather than a landed (or crashed) UFO was completely wrong.
“It was that single point which set me off investigating his claims within the event as a whole.
“I was familiar with not only the Berwyn Range, but its game and wildlife too and I knew that even the most stupid poachers would not be hunting that terrain at that altitude at that time of year.”
Mr Felton goes on to examine other pieces of evidence in the article to support his view that “without question, a UFO landed on Cader Berwyn on the night of January 23, 1974”.
The articles discussing the incident feature in the fourth edition of UFO Matrix magazine, available from branches of WH Smith.
Secret Files
Previously classified documents relating to the incident were released by the Ministry of Defence last August.
Included was a letter, dated February 14, 1974, outlining five separate reports of “unusual objects seen in the sky” on the night of January 23.
According to the letter, these were all in the South of England and all described a bright light falling to earth.
Another document featured an extract from the meteorological logbook of the SS Tokyo Bay, travelling from Port Kelang (Malaysia) towards Southampton.
The report describes “five bodies, spectacularly incandescent... traversing the sky”.
The theory is that, whatever was seen over other parts of the UK that night, eventually crashed into the Berwyn Mountains.
But no firm conclusions can be drawn from the documents and the incident remains a fascinating and frustrating mystery.