Written by Dave Smith
On 24 January, 1974, a very strange incident occurred in the Berwyn Mountains. According to documents released by The National Archives (TNA) in 2010, UFO enthusiasts called it the “Welsh Roswell” and insisted that one evening in 1974 an alien craft crashed in North Wales and the government secretly removed dead extra-terrestrial bodies. The documents describe how residents of Llandrillo to the northwest of the Berwyn mountains, first reported strange lights streaking across the sky. Then as the night wore on the villagers heard a colossal explosion and felt a tremor ripple through their homes.
Conspiracy theorists later claimed that roads were sealed off and people kept away from the site after the incident. Alien bodies were said to have been taken to Porton Down biological warfare centre for analysis. This prompted comparisons with Roswell, the 1947 incident in which, conspiracy theorists claimed, the US military recovered an alien spacecraft and its occupants in New Mexico.
Further files at TNA describe how the Ministry of Defence initially struggled to explain the Llandrillo incident. RAF Valley’s Mountain Rescue Team was scrambled in response to the reports of an explosion and a large fire on the mountainside. Some witnesses described seeing a “bright red light, like a coal-fire red. Large perfect circle. Like a big bonfire. Could see lights above and to the right and white lights moving to bottom.”
Although the police and the RAF team began their search shortly after the incident, nothing was found. The search carried on through the night until it was called off just after 2pm the next day. A further MoD file shows the authorities did receive “a number of reports of an unusual object seen in the sky just before 10pm on the evening in question”. The officials conceded that a bright light apparently descending to the earth’s surface was seen in many parts of Britain.
The military thought that it was most likely a meteorite which enters the Earth’s atmosphere and burns up. The Whitehall file adds that “a private investigation done on behalf of the British Astronomical Society concluded however that the meteor may in fact have disintegrated over Manchester, and that its appearance was preceded at 8.32pm by an earth tremor in the Berwyn mountains with which it had no connection”.
Unsurprisingly, this official explanation failed to convince many subsequent correspondents to Whitehall’s now disbanded “UFO unit”. As one witness wrote: “That ‘something’ came down in the Berwyn mountains on that night. I am certain we were visited by an object that evening.” Officially Whitehall has always been “open-minded” on the existence or otherwise of alien life, merely saying that no evidence for it has ever been established. Alien abduction is officially described as “a non-issue”.
It is unlikely that the meteorite that was witnessed actually impacted in the Berwyn Mountains, or anywhere else for that matter. Had it done so, the resultant crater would have been huge. Pat Evans, a district nurse in Llandderfel and her daughters gave a very coherent interview that can be found on You Tube entitled “Berwyn UFO Incident (Alleged UFO Crash)”. It can be summarised as follows:
Pat and her daughters, who were also trained in first aid, drove onto the mountain to see if they could help. From a vast, elevated expanse of heather moorland, the Berwyn range stretched away to their left, a row of sleeping giants. The girls became afraid. What if there were bodies, blood? At the wheel, Pat remained stolid until she got her first clear look at the mountaintops. Then she stopped the car in disbelief. Sitting on the shoulder of the closest peak, Cadair Berwyn, was a round, brilliantly illuminated reddish-orange ball. They sat watching it, aghast. At one point, Pat opened her window, but there was no sound. The object had no perceivable windows or doors; it was just a well-defined and uniformly coloured reddish-orange circle that sat on the mountainside and glowed, like a huge, spherical ember. Then, Pat noticed smaller white lights around it, vehicle lights, perhaps.
The large circle changed colour several times before their eyes, from red to yellow to white, then back to red. They watched it for what felt like ten or fifteen minutes, before Pat decided to drive home. It was clearly not a plane crash, and it appeared that other people were already at the scene. They drove home mystified.
Slightly different in timing from other facts quoted above, declassified MoD documents suggest the incident was caused by the combined effects of an earthquake and a meteor that was widely seen over Wales and northern England at the time. The then Institute of Geological Sciences reported that a magnitude 3.5 earthquake was felt at 8.38pm that night over a wide area of North Wales. As for the unusual lights seen by witnesses, these may have been a combination of the meteor and the phenomenon known as earthquake light, associated with seismic events. I am inclined to agree with MoD’s analysis but some witness reports, chiefly Pat Evans’s, are very intriguing. As for alien encounters and cover-ups, I suggest that these are the product of over-active imaginations. Google “Berwyn UFO” for lots more.
Dirgelwch UFO Mynydd y Berwyn
Wedi’i ysgrifennu gan Dave Smith
Ar 24 Ionawr 1974, digwyddodd rhywbeth od iawn ar Fynydd y Berwyn. Yn ôl dogfennau a gafodd eu rhyddhau gan Archifau Cenedlaethol y DU yn 2010, roedd selogion UFOs yn ei alw’n “Roswell Cymru” ac yn mynnu bod llong ofod estron wedi dod i lawr yng ngogledd Cymru un noson ym 1974 a bod y Llywodraeth wedi mynd â chyrff estroniaid meirw oddi yno’n dawel bach. Roedd y dogfennau’n disgrifio sut y bu i drigolion Llandrillo yng ngogledd orllewin y Berwyn sôn yn gyntaf am oleuadau rhyfedd yn gwibio ar draws yr awyr. Yna, wrth i’r noson fynd yn ei blaen, clywodd y pentrefwyr ffrwydrad anferthol a theimlo dirgryniad daear yn eu cartrefi.
Hawliai damcaniaethwyr cynllwynion fod ffyrdd wedi’u cau a phobl wedi’u cadw draw oddi wrth y safle ar ôl y digwyddiad. Roedd sôn bod cyrff yr estroniaid wedi’u cludo i ganolfan rhyfela biolegol Porton Down i’w dadansoddi. Arweiniodd hyn at gymharu’r sefyllfa â Roswell, y digwyddiad ym 1947 lle’r oedd damcaniaethwyr cynllwynion yn honni fod milwyr yr Unol Daleithiau wedi dod o hyd i long ofod a’i hestroniaid yn New Mexico.
Mae rhagor o ffeiliau yn yr Archifau Cenedlaethol yn disgrifio sut y bu i’r Weinyddiaeth Amddiffyn gael trafferth egluro digwyddiad Llandrillo. Galwyd Tîm Achub Mynydd yr Awyrlu o’r Fali yn ymateb i’r adroddiadau am ffrwydrad a thân mawr ar y mynydd. Disgrifiodd rhai weld “golau coch llachar, fel coch tân glo. Cylch mawr perffaith. Fel coelcerth fawr. Gallech weld goleuadau uwch ben ac i’r dde a goleuadau gwyn yn symud i’r gwaelod.”
Er i’r heddlu a thîm yr Awyrlu gychwyn chwilio yn fuan ar ôl y digwyddiad, ni chawsant hyd i ddim. Parhaodd y timau i chwilio drwy’r nos nes rhoi’r gorau iddi ychydig ar ôl 2pm y diwrnod wedyn. Mae un o ffeiliau eraill y Weinyddiaeth Amddiffyn yn dangos bod yr awdurdodau wedi cael “nifer o adroddiadau o wrthrych anarferol yn yr awyr ychydig cyn 10pm ar y noson dan sylw”. Fe wnaeth y swyddogion gyfaddef bod golau llachar i’w weld yn dod i lawr am y ddaear wedi’i weld mewn sawl rhan o Brydain.
Roedd y fyddin yn meddwl mai’r achos mwyaf tebygol oedd meteorit yn dod i atmosffer y Ddaear ac yn llosgi. Mae ffeil y Llywodraeth yn ychwanegu bod “ymchwiliad preifat wedi’i wneud ar ran Cymdeithas Astronomegol Prydain wedi casglu y gallai’r meteor fod wedi chwalu dros Fanceinion, a chyn iddo ymddangos, fod dirgryniad daear wedi bod am 8.32pm ar Fynydd y Berwyn, oedd heb unrhyw gysylltiad ag o”.
Nid yw’n syndod bod yr eglurhad swyddogol hwn wedi methu â pherswadio nifer o ohebwyr ar ôl hynny â hen “uned UFOs” y Llywodraeth. Fel yr ysgrifennodd un tyst: “Fe ddaeth ‘rhywbeth’ i lawr ar y Berwyn y noson honno. Rydw i’n sicr bod gwrthrych wedi ymweld â ni ar y noson.” Yn swyddogol, mae Llywodraeth Prydain bob amser wedi bod â “meddwl agored” am fodolaeth bywyd estron neu ddim, gan ddweud yn unig nad oes unrhyw dystiolaeth ar ei gyfer wedi dod i law erioed. Mae herwgipio gan estroniaid yn cael ei ddisgrifio’n swyddogol fel “mater dim byd”.
Mae’n annhebygol fod y meteorit a welwyd wedi taro Mynydd y Berwyn mewn gwirionedd, nac unrhyw le arall o ran hynny. Pe bai wedi, byddai’r ceudwll ar ei ôl wedi bod yn enfawr. Rhoddodd Pat Evans, nyrs ardal yn Llandderfel, a’i merched gyfweliad trefnus iawn sydd i’w weld ar YouTube gyda’r teitl “Berwyn UFO Incident (Alleged UFO Crash)”. Mae modd ei grynhoi fel hyn:
Gyrrodd Pat a’i merched, oedd hefyd wedi’u hyfforddi i roi cymorth cyntaf, at y mynydd i weld a allent helpu. Roedd ehangder bryniau grugog y Berwyn yn ymestyn draw ar y chwith iddynt, fel rhes o gewri ynghwsg. Daeth ofn ar y merched. Beth os oedd cyrff, gwaed? Wrth y llyw, roedd Pat yn dal yn ddigynnwrf nes iddi gael ei golwg glir cyntaf ar y copaon. Yna, stopiodd hi’r car mewn anghrediniaeth. Ar ysgwydd y copa agosaf, Cadair Berwyn, roedd pelen gron yn fflam o olau orengoch. Eisteddent yno’n ei gwylio, mewn dychryn. Ar un pwynt, agorodd Pat ei ffenestr, ond nid oedd unrhyw sŵn. Nid oedd unrhyw ffenestri na drysau i’w gweld ar y gwrthrych; yr unig beth i’w weld oedd cylch clir â chyson o olau orengoch ar ochr y mynydd yn tywynnu, fel marwor enfawr, crwn. Yna, gwelodd Pat oleuadau gwyn llai o’i amgylch. Goleuadau cerbydau, efallai.
Newidiodd y cylch mawr ei liw sawl gwaith o flaen eu llygaid, o goch i felyn i wyn, ac yna’n ôl yn goch. Buont yn ei wylio am gyfnod oedd yn teimlo fel deng neu bymtheng munud, cyn i Pat benderfynu gyrru adref. Roedd yn amlwg nad damwain awyren oedd hi, ac roedd yn ymddangos bod pobl eraill eisoes wedi cyrraedd yno. Bu iddynt yrru adref mewn penbleth llwyr.
Ychydig yn wahanol o ran amseru i’r ffeithiau eraill sydd wedi’u nodi uchod, mae dogfennau’r Weinyddiaeth Amddiffyn sydd wedi’u digelu’n awgrymu bod y digwyddiad wedi’i achosi gan effeithiau cyfun daeargryn a meteor a oedd wedi’i weld gan nifer yng Nghymru a gogledd Lloegr ar y pryd. Yna, dywedodd Sefydliad y Gwyddorau Daearegol fod daeargryn maint 3.5 wedi’i deimlo am 8.38pm y noson honno dros ran fawr o ogledd Cymru. O ran y goleuadau rhyfedd a welodd tystion, efallai fod y rhain wedi bod yn gyfuniad o’r meteor a ffenomenon o’r enw golau daeargryn, sy’n gysylltiedig â digwyddiadau seismig. Rydw i’n tueddu i gytuno â dadansoddiad y Weinyddiaeth Amddiffyn, ond mae adroddiadau rhai tystion, yn enwedig Pat Evans, yn ddiddorol iawn. O ran achosion o ddod i gysylltiad ag estroniaid a chynllwyni i’w cuddio, byddwn i’n awgrymu mai gormod o ddychymyg sy’n gyfrifol am hynny. Chwiliwch am “Berwyn UFO” ar Google i weld llawer mwy.