A UFO Enthusiast is appealing for information from anyone who was watching the skies over Wrexham on one particular night in 1974 and who may have witnessed a very strange event.
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| ©Evening Leader |
| Was this an alien space craft? North East Wales has become a hotspot for UFO sightings |
Russell Kellet, a writer for Flying Saucer Review, the world's longest running UFO magazine, is particularly interested in finding out what, if anything, happened on the Llandegla Moors on the night of February 7 1974.
According to Russell, the alleged incident occurred just 15 days after the famous 'Berwyn Mountains Incident', often referred to as the 'Welsh Roswell'.
The Berwyn Mountains incident is one of the most famous British "UFO sightings".
According to reports, on the evening of January 23, 1974, there were a number of calls made to police from across the North West of England, reporting a peculiar formation of green lights flying through the night sky.
Later, at about 8.30pm, an unidentified, disc-shaped object is alleged to have been seen falling from the sky and crashing into the Berwyn mountain range near Llandrillo.
At precisely 8.38pm, a minor earthquake, measuring 4.5 on the Richter Scale, was recorded and was felt in Wrexham, Chester, Liverpool and even Manchester and the Isle of Man.
Police attended the scene of the "crash", apparently expecting to find a stricken aircraft.
What they did find remains a mystery.
The incident has become the subject of much debate over the decades that have followed.
According to some reports, a convoy of army trucks passed through Chester that night and made their way to the site, immediately putting a cordon around the area and warning the police and crash investigators to stay away.
On January 25, under the headline "Mystery Tremor", the Wrexham Leader reported that "Men catching hares on the mountainside above Llandrillo, near Corwen, may have triggered off the hunt for a meteorite that began in the village yesterday morning.
"For police and RAF rescue experts now believe that the tremors that shook the village and a 60 mile area of North Wales last night and the lights seen on the mountain seconds afterwards were a coincidence.
"One theory is that the lights were caused by men hunting hares.
"The RAF search team leader, Flt Sergeant H Oldham, aged 31, said that they were unlikely to resume the hunt unless military information suggested another reason for the lights.
"Dozens of calls from as far away as Cheshire and the Isle of Man jammed police switchboards, reporting tremors strong enough to 'shake' houses.
"There were no reports of damage and no aircraft were reported missing."
Some enthusiasts have pointed to the statement of a "witness", a nurse who lived in the area and allegedly described seeing a huge object crash land, causing non-human bodies and debris to be scattered across a vast area, before being told not to say anything further "in the interest of national security".
The incident that Russell is particularly interested in finding out about happened a couple of weeks later on Febuary 7.
According to Russell, he has heard reports that a UFO was actually engaged and destroyed by another aircraft over Llandegla
He said that he was also privy to information that the military had, contemporaneously, set up a temporary HQ in the area.
Russell is also interested in a more recent incident - near Llangollen - on December 17, 2000.
He claims that there was a report of an aircraft crash-landing near the Horseshoe Pass made to police that day but later refuted as a hoax.
Russell, however, claims to have spoken to a man who, had been walking his dog on the pass that day and came across a "military blockade", and who was told he could not go any further.
Anyone who thinks they might have any information, regarding either "event", that could be interesting or useful to Russell, can contact him on 0560 2826901.
Other UFO sightings from across the region
On July 24 of this year there was a massive debate over a UFO sighting near Borras.
A number of Wrexham residents had seen the strange flying objects, which were filmed by Leigh Williams and his girlfriend, Lynn Jones, of Borras.
A worker from Acton, who posted a comment on the Evening Leader website, said: "I am a patrol and response officer for the Wrexham area and saw these lights while I was attending an alarm call at Acton school. These, to my belief, are unexplained.
"There is no way this was a hoax, as I would not have seen them from Acton area if they were.
"In addition, they were very high up in the air and there's no way anyone can control anything from that distance.
"There were several 'floating' in the sky in a pack, at first I thought they were helicopters or similar, however, there was no sound what so ever. Very strange and I would identify these as an unidentified flying objects. (Not saying they were aliens but definitely unexplainable)."
There were a number of explanations put forward, including the suggestion they were Chinese lanterns set off at a wedding or a party that night.
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In 2006 the Evening Leader's sister paper in Denbighshire, the Free Press, reported "the latest in a string of UFO sightings in the county".
On the evening of October 4, Sally Gavin, of Llanynys, spotted a very bright white flashing light just above Moel Famau Country Park.
She said: "It grew wider and wider and consisted of three lights which flashed on and off like Christmas tree lights before disappearing. I called a friend who lives in Gellifor and would have a better view and he confirmed he, too, could see the red light."
Five people, including Sally's brother-in-law, saw the strange light and reported the details to North Wales Police, who told them it might have been caused by the Army or someone out hunting.
Sally, however, was sure this wasn't the case.
She said: "It definitely wasn't a plane or a helicopter. The lights were far to big and bright."
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In July 2006 Barry Davies, 49, was left "mystified" after watching a strange object over the Dee estuary near Flint.
Barry was at his partner's house near Flint Castle at 11am on Saturday, when his sister phoned, claiming a strange object was flying overhead.
Grabbing binoculars, he saw a large object, which he described as a 'long black sausage', flying over the Dee towards the Wirral.
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According to MOD records there was a report of a UFO over Wrexham on March 30, 1998, at about 11.20pm.
It was described as a "large, square-shaped, very bright object. Blue-ish with lights around it. There was a humming sound and a nasty smell".
You would think if you had the technology to fly halfway across the galaxy, you would have the technology to avoid splattering yourself into some field somewhere.
I just don't "get" all of these UFO crash reports.