The Great UFO Cover Up? : Berwyn Mountains, Wales, Jan 1974

mirageman
The Geological Survey report (link click here) seems to conclude that it was an earthquake...
Although there seems to have been over an hour and a half where lights were being seen in the skies.

You can read Musson’s published paper here
adsabs.harvard.edu...
and two follow-up letters here
articles.adsabs.harvard.edu...

The first letter explains that a very bright fireball was seen an hour and a half after the earthquake but was unrelated to it.

As so often happens in UFOlogy, coincidental events are being combined by the Believers in an attempt to make the story seem more mysterious, when they are in fact easily explicable when taken individually.

I have finally tracked down a readable copy of the Marine and Coastguard letter released under FOI that confirms there was a 'photoflash' operation taking place in the Irish Sea on the same night the Berwyn incident occurred. It is dated 2nd April 2000.



Personal details have been removed.

It seems to be written on original official headed paper in an italic font. The person who released the information does not state what records were referenced to confirm this information.

It does indicate that something else was going on involving the military on 23rd Jan. 1974. Maybe the exercise was at least partially to blame for some of the lights and explosion(s) heard that night? Maybe there is even more to the story?

That is of course if the letter is genuine. The MCA have stated in later years that they could find no record of it nor the details of a military exercise in the area.

Fascinating thread - thanks for posting. I had read bits and bobs on this before, but not in as much detail as this.

Operation photoflash sounds interesting - leans me more towards some kind of military operation (secret testing?) that went wrong - though I understand that Woomera Test Range has been used since the end of WWII for that kind of thing.

hrmmm www.ufo-mystery.co.uk...

I see a bit of plagiarism in the original post here.

a reply to: -Blackout-

Quite the opposite actually

Scott Felton, in his very thorough investigation into the 23rd January 1974 incident, yesterday published his critique of the new book "The Berwyn Mountains Incident Revealed."

The book was published on 24th April 2014. The author is Steven Lumley, and the content is based on Russ Kellett's research.

Having just recently obtained the tidal data for that evening in January 1974, Scott proves very convincingly that the Operation Photoflash story is improbable, and thus Russ Kellett's theories are flawed.

Critique by Scott L. Felton

Nick Pope endorsed the book and Scott refers to this endorsement in his review of the book on Amazon.

Scott Felton reviews "The Berwyn Mountains Incident Revealed"

a reply to: scryfa


Thank you for that information scryfa. I will take a look at that book and read Scott Felton's comments as well before commenting on both at a later date.

The original Geological Survey team report does reference a military operation from the Liverpool Daily Post which was reported the day after the event.

......(Liverpool Daily Post 25 Jan 1974 p1). It was now further suggested that many people, especially in the Isle of Man, had actually seen an RAF photo-flash night bombing exercise. It was also noted that many of the light phenomena were reported after the tremor (Liverpool Daily Post 25 Jan 1974 p1).

Source: click here

Of course that does not mean that any military exercise had anything to do with a UFO.

a reply to: mirageman

Thanks for your response, mirageman.

We are currently examining the alleged letter from the MCA and will be publishing results of the findings in the not-too-distant future.

The tidal data obtained from the University of Bangor is included in Scott Felton's critique at:

Xpose UFO Truth

Regards,

scryfa

a reply to: scryfa

Well I did download the kindle version of that book (it's a bit short on content at less than 100 pages). Although I haven't read it all yet (somehow I doubt it will take long!) I have already come up with another problem in the story of a UFO battle with the UK military it is promoting.

Chapter 3 - Operation Condor ..........

Russ points out “What is interesting is that aircraft from RAF Chester are going up and down towards the cross-over point as if they are being guided as to where the UFO actually is...... But the aircraft from RAF Sealand have come down from the north and end up in front of the UFO. The UFO is now trapped.

Source : The Berwyn Mountains Incident Revealed - Steven Lumley

Note that “RAF Sealand” is the correct name for the then RAF base as technically it’s in North Wales (not the nearby English city of Chester).

The problem with all of this is that RAF Sealand did not have any aircraft stationed there (never mind combat aircraft). After 1963 it became a communications centre and also supported a repair and maintenance function (which still operates there to this day, under contract, now the RAF have officially closed the base).

The only aircraft stationed at RAF Sealand were gliders at the time. Hardly the type of aircraft that would be engaging with UFOs off the British coastline and defending the nation.

I've doubted Russ Kellet's take on story from the outset but I think Scott Felton's critique adds a final nail to the coffin.

Looks like the stories featured in this book will be featured on Coast to Coast AM tomorrow night/Monday morning depending on where you are in the world.

Berwyn Mountains UFO Incident

Date: 08-10-14

Host: Dave Schrader

Guests: Russ Kellett, Steven Lumley

British UFO researcher and abductee, Russ Kellett, and fellow UK UFO journalist Steven Lumley (book link) join Dave Schrader (email) for the entire program to discuss an amazing 1974 encounter at sea between UFOs and the Royal Navy, an ambush by RAF fighter jets, and dozens of Army personnel helping to conceal the evidence of a downed UFO and what happened to the otherworldly visitors from the recovery.


Source : www.coasttocoastam.com...

Could be interesting!

a reply to: scryfa

I see the analysis of the "MCA Letter" that Mr. Kellet has been using as proof has now been posted on your website.

Link : fierycelt.tripod.com...


I tend to agree with the findings. I believe this letter is a fake because I too made comparisons with other MCA letters (via Google) and the format seem incorrect. As to who faked it and why? I do not know.

Of course the other point I have already made is that the letter is written, oddly, all in an italic font. This is very atypical for any of HM Government Departments and major business in the United Kingdom. Perhaps there was already a clue there?

Of course the other major problem I have with this story I have already mentioned is that the book promotes an air battle with UFOs. It clearly mentions aircraft from "RAF Chester" (there is no RAF Chester) intercepting the UFOs. "RAF Sealand" is the correct name for the base ,which is just outside of Chester, in Deeside across the Welsh border. I was fairly certain the base had never had any RAF combat aircraft there in the 1970s and so have checked out whether this was fact with someone I know who actually worked there. It was used for Communications, by the ATC (Air Training Corps) who flew gliders at the time and also as a maintenance workshop for the electronics used in RAF aircraft. It was never capable of being a home to modern jet fighters.

So Kellet's story fails on a number of levels.

There is of course the mention in the local version of the Liverpool Daily Post on the 25th January 1974 (cited earlier) which mentions a "photo-flash night bombing exercise" . This could well have been the spark for an idea which led to this speculative tale of a UFO Battle with the RAF and Royal Navy and the capture of aliens in the North Wales countryside.

Anyway I'll give the C2C AM episode a listen over the next day or so. It's available here (for C2C insiders).

www.coasttocoastam.com...

If anything interesting comes up then I'll update the thread.

I`ve always felt that the nurse saw more than what she is telling,perhaps she was threatened to keep her mouth shut about all that she saw.

She went into the mountains to provide aid to what she assumed was a plane crash.After she gets there she sees lights and then just drives away without even attempting to get closer to the lights to provide aid to the "crash victims" of what she thought was a plane crash.
She said she left when she realized that the rescue crews couldn`t possibly be there yet, she didn`t wait for the rescue crews? or go closer to the lights to provide aid until the rescue crews got there?

I think she did go closer to the lights she saw,I think she saw things which she isn`t allowed to tell about.

a reply to: mirageman

Scott Felton, myself and several other associates listened to the Coast to Coast broadcast.

Yes, the alleged Coastguard and Maritime Agency Letter page is up on our site.

The above page actually forms part of the new Berwyns sub-site that will be devoted entirely to dismantling this entire hoax:

THE BERWYN MOUNTAINS UFO MYTH DISMANTLED

Regards,

scryfa

originally posted by: Tardacus
I`ve always felt that the nurse saw more than what she is telling,perhaps she was threatened to keep her mouth shut about all that she saw.

She went into the mountains to provide aid to what she assumed was a plane crash.After she gets there she sees lights and then just drives away without even attempting to get closer to the lights to provide aid to the "crash victims" of what she thought was a plane crash.
She said she left when she realized that the rescue crews couldn`t possibly be there yet, she didn`t wait for the rescue crews? or go closer to the lights to provide aid until the rescue crews got there?

I think she did go closer to the lights she saw,I think she saw things which she isn`t allowed to tell about.

From what I've read Pat Evans (the nurse) got thoroughly fed up of all and sundry calling her and knocking on her door demanding answers as to what she saw. Some were less than polite and this meant she distanced herself somewhat from the case.

If you go to the post here in the thread : www.abovetopsecret.com...

There is a video which about 3 minutes in has a short interview with Pat and her daughters from the 1990s. If she did see anything beyond a huge orange glow and small lights flickering on the mountainside then she has never expanded on that story.

As to what she did see is still a mystery.

a reply to: scryfa

Well I did listen to Russ Kellet & Steve Lumley on C2C AM on a rather longer than normal commute today. Ironically I even passed what was once RAF Sealand!.

Listening to Russ was quite an experience, "right yeh!", as he first told us of his abduction stories. Then he seemed entirely convinced with his story of a UFO battle over the land and sea of the North Western corner of the British Isles. He immersed us into it. It seems one UFO landed near a roadside at Llandderfel (this is the village) where nurse Pat Evans lived. Another UFO tried to hide in Lake Bala and the third UFO landed in the Berwyn Mountain range.

Apparently the military were crawling round everywhere, there were hundreds of troops in the area days before the incident. Sadly we have no witnesses on the record confirming any of these stories. Although there are a good number of other witnesses on the record, none of them mention seeing RAF fighters in the skies, a UFO splashing into Lake Bala and certainly no word about a crashed UFO near the village of Llandderfel.

That all said I think it is also fair to say that both Russ and Steve did cover a number of points many of which are buried in this very thread. The evidence is not entirely conclusive that this was just a tremor and a load of bolides.

So if the C2C show gives greater global exposure to this case then all the better. We may one day get closer to the truth.

a reply to: mirageman

I have added the Dave Schrader sound clip and screenshot of the C2C visit to our website.

The show aired my time at 01:00:00 (Eastern) and this particular page on our site was accessed at 00:22:08, 38 minutes before air time.

THE BERWYN MOUNTAINS UFO MYTH DISMANTLED

As one can hear in the sound clip, the words used by Schrader match exactly those written by Scott Felton on that page.

Schrader also visited the fake MCA letter page and the tidal data page which indicates that the tide was out at the time of the alleged warships vs UFOs battle.

Curious is it not that Schrader did not mention the tidal data during the show?

But what are facts when one needs to fill a four-hour time slot, promote a tall story and sell a book?

Regards,

scryfa

a reply to: scryfa

No coincidence.

But I think George Noory would have given the guests an easier ride than Dave Schrader. My own feeling about this is that Schrader posed the questions about the MCA letter and was given the response of "no comment" and a roar of laughter from Russ Kellet when Scott Felton's name was mentioned.

The "photo-flash" operation was however mentioned in the official GS (Musson) survey report. Although that references people further north in the Isle of Man and is merely a suggestion not fact. Maybe this is how the seeds of a hoax began?



Source : adsabs.harvard.edu...

Schrader did also pose questions about why Russ has video footage but chooses not to release it and also about the "UFO metal" he has in his possession. He was subtly throwing in a few challenging points but none of them were really drawing out anything of substance. So I guess he didn't pursue the sceptical angle too much because, at the end of the day, he did have a show to fill and would not want to get under the skin of his guests too much.

It would be interesting to know if Schrader would entertain Scott Felton on the show (assuming he was willing to appear?).

It seems a lot of media companies here in Britain are very reluctant to let Scott have his say for some reason.


Finally I haven't finished the book yet but will do shortly.

a reply to: mirageman

Nick Pope endorsed the Lumley-Kellett book on Amazon, and Scott Felton asked him about this endorsement.

The page containing their dialogue - which includes Pope's reasons for giving support to the book - is on:

Nick Pope's endorsement of Kellett-Lumley book

Regards,

scryfa

a reply to: scryfa

Nick Pope's response is a bit puzzling.He has always been less than keen to elaborate on the Berwyn story.

Here is what he said 4 years ago in an interview.

Question : Have you ever researched or investigated into the events that transpired in the Berwyn Mountains some thirty-five years ago? Can you give us a brief about might have occurred there?

Nick Pope Response : On January 23, 1974, police and RAF mountain rescue teams in Wales responded to reports of a loud explosion and strange lights in the sky, near the Berwyn Mountains. Conspiracy theorists believe a UFO crashed and the government recovered it and covered up the truth. I’ve seen all the MoD documents on this and I’m afraid the real explanation is rather more prosaic. The events were caused by a combination of a small earthquake and a meteor shower, together with some subsequent hoaxing and exaggeration.

Source : www.ghosttheory.com...

Once I've read the book in full I'll post again.

a reply to: mirageman


Further communication with Nick Pope has been established and his response indicates that it is likely he did NOT read the Lumley-Kellett book before endorsing.

He seems to be a tad "vague" about the whole issue.

Nick Pope's endorsement of Kellett-Lumley book

Regards,

scryfa