1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:04,560 Speaker 1: Hello, This is Richard mclin smith here. Unexplained. Season seven 2 00:00:04,640 --> 00:00:07,960 Speaker 1: has now finished, but we'll be back on Friday, September 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:12,080 Speaker 1: sixth to begin season eight. In the meantime, I'm replaying 4 00:00:12,200 --> 00:00:15,960 Speaker 1: some of my favorite episodes from the archives. I'm currently 5 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:19,479 Speaker 1: working on an adaptation of Unexplained for TV as a 6 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:23,080 Speaker 1: standalone drama in its own right. The idea is to 7 00:00:23,120 --> 00:00:25,680 Speaker 1: create a story and a world all of its own, 8 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:29,400 Speaker 1: while also drawing on many of the incredible stories that 9 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:32,840 Speaker 1: have featured in the show. However, if I was going 10 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 1: to take one story and adapt it for TV, I 11 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:39,640 Speaker 1: always felt there was something quietly compelling about the following 12 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:44,159 Speaker 1: episode that was perfect for television. The other world of 13 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:47,879 Speaker 1: Welsh mythology, known as an Oven, is said to be 14 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:52,880 Speaker 1: populated with a vast array of creatures, including fairies and serpents. 15 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:56,320 Speaker 1: It is also said that there is one place, more 16 00:00:56,360 --> 00:00:59,600 Speaker 1: than any other where the bridge between our world and 17 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:05,319 Speaker 1: there is at its thinnest. That place is the Berwin Mountains. 18 00:01:06,520 --> 00:01:11,800 Speaker 1: This is Unexplained, Season five, episode ten, in the Shadow 19 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:26,640 Speaker 1: of the Mountain. The Berwin Mountains have always been a 20 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:31,800 Speaker 1: liminal place, a place caught between worlds where prehistoric humans 21 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:35,920 Speaker 1: once roamed and bizarre tales of high strangeness are woven 22 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:40,160 Speaker 1: into the land. Caught between the Welsh wilds of Snowdonia 23 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:42,840 Speaker 1: to the west and the border lands of Wales and 24 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:45,600 Speaker 1: England to the east. It is a place where myth 25 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:50,560 Speaker 1: and magic simmer beneath the surface, where fact and fiction blur, 26 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:56,360 Speaker 1: hinting at something more. All cultures talk of other worlds, 27 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:00,360 Speaker 1: places beyond the one we know, and Welsh mythology is 28 00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:05,480 Speaker 1: no different. Often, such places like Kerr, the Sumerian land 29 00:02:05,520 --> 00:02:09,440 Speaker 1: of the Dead, or Hades of Greek mythology, are distinctly 30 00:02:09,480 --> 00:02:13,360 Speaker 1: separate from the realm of the living. These were depictions 31 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:17,320 Speaker 1: of the afterlife, lands that only the dead could truly inhabit. 32 00:02:18,160 --> 00:02:21,120 Speaker 1: The other world of Welsh mythology, or ar Noon, as 33 00:02:21,160 --> 00:02:25,480 Speaker 1: it is known, is something quite different, not so much 34 00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:31,400 Speaker 1: another plain, but another dimension, coexisting with ours and populated 35 00:02:31,440 --> 00:02:36,720 Speaker 1: with other living creatures existing in their own right. Ar Noon, 36 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:41,240 Speaker 1: also called anothern thought to derive from the Welsh word 37 00:02:41,639 --> 00:02:46,000 Speaker 1: meaning deep in English, features prominently in the four branches 38 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:50,000 Speaker 1: of the Mabinogi, a collection of stories in prose dating 39 00:02:50,080 --> 00:02:53,480 Speaker 1: back to the eleventh century, considered to be the earliest 40 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:57,320 Speaker 1: of its kind in British literature. In the First Branch, 41 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:01,360 Speaker 1: ar Noon is depicted as a paradisical land, ruled over 42 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:04,760 Speaker 1: by a king named our Own, and located somewhere in 43 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:07,840 Speaker 1: the Kingdom of DevD, a former region of what is 44 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:13,960 Speaker 1: now southwest Wales. In the ancient poem prethee Anoven the 45 00:03:14,040 --> 00:03:18,399 Speaker 1: Spoils of anothern thought to have originated sometime around nine 46 00:03:18,480 --> 00:03:22,320 Speaker 1: hundred see an early iteration of the mythical legend, King 47 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:26,880 Speaker 1: Arthur travels across the sea to this mysterious place. There 48 00:03:27,280 --> 00:03:30,400 Speaker 1: during his quest in search of a magical cauldron, we 49 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:34,320 Speaker 1: learn that Arnoun is also home to a race of fairyfolk, 50 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:39,280 Speaker 1: and in the Welsh epic Cadgothi, in which the magician 51 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:43,840 Speaker 1: Gwydion does battle with King Arone of Arnoun, the citizens 52 00:03:43,840 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: of the mystical land are depicted as something altogether different. 53 00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: They were wide moored beasts bearing a hundred heads and 54 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:58,080 Speaker 1: black groined toads bearing a hundred claws, or in other cases, mottled, 55 00:03:58,240 --> 00:04:02,040 Speaker 1: ridged serpents with a hun hundred souls trapped inside the 56 00:04:02,080 --> 00:04:06,800 Speaker 1: folds of their skin. Are Noon is variously depicted as 57 00:04:06,840 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: being located on an island or somewhere deep in the earth, 58 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:13,720 Speaker 1: with a small number of gateways to this other world 59 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:18,039 Speaker 1: said to be scattered across the four corners of the land. 60 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:22,599 Speaker 1: Over time, however, it became increasingly associated with the North 61 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:28,480 Speaker 1: of Wales. Writing in Wales and Arthurian Legend, Roger Loomis declares, 62 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:31,960 Speaker 1: in Arthur's time and before that, the people of South 63 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:35,920 Speaker 1: Wales regarded North Wales as pre eminently the land of 64 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 1: the fairy. In the popular imagination, that distant country was 65 00:04:40,560 --> 00:04:45,080 Speaker 1: the abode of giants, monsters, magicians, and all the creatures 66 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:49,280 Speaker 1: of enchantment. Out of it came the fairies on their 67 00:04:49,400 --> 00:04:53,960 Speaker 1: visits to the sunny lands of the South. And curiously, 68 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:56,880 Speaker 1: there is one place more than any other where, it 69 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:00,320 Speaker 1: is said, the bridge between our world and theirs. At 70 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:06,600 Speaker 1: its thinnest. That place is the Berwin Mountains. You're listening 71 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:18,920 Speaker 1: to unexplained, and I'm Richard McLean Smith. In the evening 72 00:05:18,920 --> 00:05:22,520 Speaker 1: of May tenth, nineteen seventy three, a young couple were 73 00:05:22,520 --> 00:05:25,600 Speaker 1: sitting in a car in Pike Hill, near Oldham, in 74 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:29,240 Speaker 1: the northwest of England, when a strange craft came into 75 00:05:29,320 --> 00:05:33,839 Speaker 1: view in the sky. The couple described it as being 76 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:38,119 Speaker 1: like a helicopter, complete with an exaggerated dome shaped top 77 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:42,039 Speaker 1: and beams of red, green and white light shooting out 78 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:45,800 Speaker 1: from underneath it. They watched it hover for a moment 79 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:49,760 Speaker 1: over the hill before it rotated slowly, shot up to 80 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:54,440 Speaker 1: one hundred or so feet and then disappeared. Around fifty 81 00:05:54,520 --> 00:05:57,799 Speaker 1: similar sightings were seen over the next few months across 82 00:05:57,800 --> 00:06:02,080 Speaker 1: central and northwest England. They were always the same, a 83 00:06:02,120 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 1: helicopter seen moving slowly but with purpose, as if it 84 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:11,560 Speaker 1: was looking for something. With no official record of anything 85 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:14,679 Speaker 1: flying in the areas at the time, local police forces 86 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:18,320 Speaker 1: speculated that the mysterious craft was likely part of a 87 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:23,680 Speaker 1: criminal enterprise running iliced errands from London. Others suggested the 88 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:28,599 Speaker 1: helicopters were in fact delivering undercover CIA operatives drafted in 89 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:31,800 Speaker 1: by the UK government to try and destabilize the British 90 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:35,960 Speaker 1: trade union movement. It had been a fraught few years 91 00:06:36,120 --> 00:06:39,239 Speaker 1: as the government battled with rising inflation and a global 92 00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:42,560 Speaker 1: oil crisis, in turn bringing them into conflict with the 93 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:46,680 Speaker 1: National Union of Miners overstagnating wages in the coal industry. 94 00:06:47,839 --> 00:06:51,480 Speaker 1: After a series of strikes and stalemates, with coal power 95 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:55,479 Speaker 1: accounting for roughly two thirds of the country's electricity. The 96 00:06:55,520 --> 00:06:58,839 Speaker 1: government made the drastic decision to impose a three day week, 97 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 1: restrictly the use of electricity to only three consecutive days 98 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:07,919 Speaker 1: of the working week. It was for many an unsettling 99 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:12,720 Speaker 1: and unusual time that seemed to manifest even more unusual events. 100 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:18,520 Speaker 1: On January fifteenth, nineteen seventy four, police forces throughout Central 101 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:21,239 Speaker 1: and North England were put on alert for a rogue 102 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:25,680 Speaker 1: helicopter seen moving about in the area. Three days later, 103 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 1: police received a report from an anonymous caller of a 104 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:33,120 Speaker 1: single bright light seen moving over the moors to the 105 00:07:33,160 --> 00:07:38,800 Speaker 1: south of the peak district, but nothing is found. Perhaps 106 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: it is only in hindsight that we might determine these 107 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:45,520 Speaker 1: sightings to have any significance, when in fact such fleeting 108 00:07:45,520 --> 00:07:49,920 Speaker 1: accounts were little more than over active imaginations tapping into 109 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:54,240 Speaker 1: the nation's troubled psyche at a time of such unsettling uncertainty. 110 00:07:55,160 --> 00:07:59,200 Speaker 1: But soon upon the slopes of the Berwin Mountain's highest peak, 111 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:04,880 Speaker 1: something substantial would take place, a strange and mysterious event 112 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:16,800 Speaker 1: that remains to this day unexplained. In the evening of Wednesday, 113 00:08:17,160 --> 00:08:21,920 Speaker 1: January twenty third, nineteen seventy four, Anne Williams was settling 114 00:08:21,960 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: down to watch TV when she spotted something in the 115 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:30,840 Speaker 1: darkness outside her front room window. Williams lived in brough Dinham, 116 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:34,160 Speaker 1: situated at the northern edge of the Berwin Mountains, where 117 00:08:34,160 --> 00:08:37,160 Speaker 1: its rolling foothills could easily be seen from out the 118 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 1: back of the house. It was a reasonably clear sky 119 00:08:40,520 --> 00:08:44,120 Speaker 1: that night, a wash with stars, but only the slightest 120 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:47,800 Speaker 1: hint of the new moon visible. But what Anne had 121 00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 1: seen was a bright light high up above the hills 122 00:08:51,760 --> 00:08:54,640 Speaker 1: that was steadily dropping down from out of the sky, 123 00:08:55,840 --> 00:09:00,920 Speaker 1: a lengthy golden tail shooting out from behind it. She watched, 124 00:09:01,080 --> 00:09:04,800 Speaker 1: stunned for what seemed like minutes as it fell closer 125 00:09:04,920 --> 00:09:09,319 Speaker 1: and closer toward the ground, pulsing as it went, until 126 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 1: finally it disappeared behind the hills. It was followed by 127 00:09:14,240 --> 00:09:18,800 Speaker 1: what sounded like an explosion, and then the ground began 128 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:24,480 Speaker 1: to shake. Police Sergeant Gwynn Williams was at home a 129 00:09:24,520 --> 00:09:27,120 Speaker 1: few miles to the north in the town of Corwen 130 00:09:27,640 --> 00:09:32,000 Speaker 1: when he heard the explosion. Too. Moments later, he felt 131 00:09:32,040 --> 00:09:35,360 Speaker 1: the floor shift underneath him and watched with alarm as 132 00:09:35,360 --> 00:09:38,760 Speaker 1: the walls began to shake. Rattling a large mirror that 133 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:43,439 Speaker 1: was threatening to jump off its chain. Seconds later, Williams 134 00:09:43,480 --> 00:09:45,720 Speaker 1: was out of the house and running into the street, 135 00:09:46,440 --> 00:09:50,840 Speaker 1: convinced that a lorry must have crashed near by. Outside, 136 00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:53,760 Speaker 1: Williams looked in vain for any sign of an accident, 137 00:09:54,120 --> 00:09:57,840 Speaker 1: but saw only the deathly quiet of the street, then 138 00:09:57,880 --> 00:10:01,200 Speaker 1: the sound of another front door opening, and then another, 139 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:04,560 Speaker 1: as more and more neighbors appeared in their doorways with 140 00:10:04,679 --> 00:10:08,280 Speaker 1: a mixture of fear and confusion in their faces as 141 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:13,200 Speaker 1: they looked out towards the mountains behind him. Following their gaze, 142 00:10:13,640 --> 00:10:18,320 Speaker 1: Sergeant Williams turned to see a soft yellowish glow cresting 143 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:22,079 Speaker 1: a distant peak. It hung there for a moment before 144 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:27,160 Speaker 1: it faded away and the night returned down. At the 145 00:10:27,200 --> 00:10:31,280 Speaker 1: Gwynedd Police station in Colwyn Bay, six officers and three 146 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:34,760 Speaker 1: support staff frantically worked the phones as more and more 147 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:40,360 Speaker 1: calls came in. One officer on duty calling avant Landithlo 148 00:10:40,400 --> 00:10:44,079 Speaker 1: also reported hearing the huge explosion and that lights were 149 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:47,839 Speaker 1: flashing on the slopes of Cader Bronwyn, another of the 150 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:53,160 Speaker 1: Berwin's peaks. It was his belief that something had just 151 00:10:53,320 --> 00:10:59,000 Speaker 1: crashed onto the mountain with police opening a major incident lock. 152 00:10:59,559 --> 00:11:03,080 Speaker 1: A flurry of calls went out to nearby Raf Valley 153 00:11:03,120 --> 00:11:08,160 Speaker 1: Airfield and air traffic control towers, while local ambulance services 154 00:11:08,480 --> 00:11:19,920 Speaker 1: were put on high alert. In Flanderfel village. Just prior 155 00:11:19,960 --> 00:11:23,200 Speaker 1: to the explosion, Pat Evans was sat in her living 156 00:11:23,320 --> 00:11:26,880 Speaker 1: room with her daughters Diane and Tina, enjoying the latest 157 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:30,600 Speaker 1: episode of alf Garnet sitcom Till Death Us Do Part. 158 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:34,760 Speaker 1: It was just after eight thirty pm when she got 159 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:36,720 Speaker 1: up to make a cup of tea in the kitchen 160 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:41,040 Speaker 1: and was also startled by the huge bang, with the 161 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:45,280 Speaker 1: ground shaking beneath her. A distressed Diane and Tina shouted 162 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:48,120 Speaker 1: through from the living room what the hell was that? 163 00:11:48,520 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 1: They asked. Running outside, the three of them looked out 164 00:11:53,280 --> 00:11:57,480 Speaker 1: across the hills but found only the usual still night air. 165 00:11:58,679 --> 00:12:01,920 Speaker 1: But as numerous neighbors began appearing in the street, each 166 00:12:01,960 --> 00:12:04,880 Speaker 1: sharing their own account of the bizarre event, it was 167 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:08,760 Speaker 1: clear to Pat, an experienced nurse, that some kind of 168 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:13,600 Speaker 1: aircraft had just crashed. Realizing how long it would take 169 00:12:13,679 --> 00:12:17,040 Speaker 1: for any help to arrive, Pat jumped onto the phone 170 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:19,640 Speaker 1: and spent the next hour trying to get through to 171 00:12:19,679 --> 00:12:23,960 Speaker 1: the police to offer any help she could. In the meantime, 172 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:28,559 Speaker 1: the sightings coming in to Gwyned Police station were beginning 173 00:12:28,640 --> 00:12:33,320 Speaker 1: to get a little more unusual. One witness described seeing 174 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:37,520 Speaker 1: a bright red light like coal fire emanating from the object, 175 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:41,000 Speaker 1: as well as lights above and to the right, but 176 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:43,920 Speaker 1: also a light moving to the bottom of it that 177 00:12:44,080 --> 00:12:48,160 Speaker 1: changed from white to yellow and back again, while another 178 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:50,840 Speaker 1: clain to have seen what looked like a large fire 179 00:12:51,160 --> 00:12:56,280 Speaker 1: burning on the mountainside. Finally, at roughly nine point thirty pm, 180 00:12:56,559 --> 00:12:59,760 Speaker 1: Pat was eventually patched through to Colwyn Bay Police station, 181 00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:02,600 Speaker 1: where she was thanked for her offer of help and 182 00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:05,680 Speaker 1: invited to drive up to the potential crash site to 183 00:13:05,679 --> 00:13:10,040 Speaker 1: see what she could do. Pat replaced the receiver and 184 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:12,960 Speaker 1: looked across to Diane and Tina, both of whom were 185 00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:17,680 Speaker 1: also trained in first aid. Right she said, let's get 186 00:13:17,679 --> 00:13:27,559 Speaker 1: in the car. As Pat and her daughters made their 187 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:31,720 Speaker 1: way up through the narrow, winding country lanes, as the 188 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:35,600 Speaker 1: darkling Berwin Mountains loomed up above them to the east, 189 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:39,520 Speaker 1: Diane and Tina were suddenly gripped with fear at what 190 00:13:39,559 --> 00:13:42,839 Speaker 1: they were about to find. A light rain had begun 191 00:13:42,880 --> 00:13:45,680 Speaker 1: to fall as Pat did her best to reassure them, 192 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:48,520 Speaker 1: keeping one eye on the pitch black lane as she 193 00:13:48,600 --> 00:13:53,600 Speaker 1: feverishly scanned the horizon for any sign of the downed plane. 194 00:13:53,679 --> 00:13:56,679 Speaker 1: It was approaching ten PM when the car reared up 195 00:13:56,720 --> 00:13:59,360 Speaker 1: into the top of the hills and the road began 196 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:03,719 Speaker 1: to level out all about them. What in daylight had 197 00:14:03,760 --> 00:14:07,760 Speaker 1: been a vibrant, snow topped moorland seemed now like a 198 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:13,600 Speaker 1: vast ocean of black underneath the star filled sky. There, 199 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:17,240 Speaker 1: said one of her daughters, suddenly pointing out the windscreen 200 00:14:17,600 --> 00:14:22,080 Speaker 1: toward a strange, diffuse light in the distance. It seemed 201 00:14:22,120 --> 00:14:25,200 Speaker 1: to be emanating from the slopes of Cadder Berwin, the 202 00:14:25,280 --> 00:14:29,760 Speaker 1: mountain's highest peak, like a giant, hazy ball that was 203 00:14:29,800 --> 00:14:34,720 Speaker 1: glowing and pulsating. As Pat recalled later, there were no 204 00:14:34,840 --> 00:14:38,640 Speaker 1: flame shooting or anything like that. It was very uniform, 205 00:14:39,440 --> 00:14:43,560 Speaker 1: round in shape, and there were other smaller lights dotted 206 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:48,760 Speaker 1: around it too. Pat continued on for a few hundred yards, 207 00:14:49,160 --> 00:14:51,960 Speaker 1: but was unable to get any closer, and it was 208 00:14:52,040 --> 00:14:54,960 Speaker 1: much too far away to attempt and approach on foot 209 00:14:55,160 --> 00:15:00,640 Speaker 1: across the treacherous moorland. Unable to go any further, Pat 210 00:15:00,720 --> 00:15:03,920 Speaker 1: parked up the car and together. The three of them 211 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:07,680 Speaker 1: sat and watched in amusement as the light continued to pulse, 212 00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:12,760 Speaker 1: then changed color from white to red, to yellow and 213 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:16,280 Speaker 1: back again, knowing only that whatever it was they were 214 00:15:16,280 --> 00:15:21,880 Speaker 1: looking at, it was no crashed aeroplane. After watching for 215 00:15:21,920 --> 00:15:25,720 Speaker 1: fifteen minutes, with nothing else to be done, Pat spun 216 00:15:25,800 --> 00:15:36,680 Speaker 1: the car around and returned home. Earlier that night, four 217 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:39,280 Speaker 1: miles away, on the other side of the peculiar light 218 00:15:39,520 --> 00:15:43,080 Speaker 1: witnessed by Pat and her daughters, fourteen year old Hugh 219 00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:46,480 Speaker 1: Lloyd was at home on his parents farm, relaxing in 220 00:15:46,520 --> 00:15:50,800 Speaker 1: front of the TV with his sisters and neighbor Enoch Davies. 221 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:55,440 Speaker 1: Hugh's parents were out for the evening, having heard the 222 00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:59,240 Speaker 1: explosive noise and felt the earth shaking. Like many others 223 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:02,760 Speaker 1: in the vicinity that night, Hugh's first instinct was to 224 00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:06,840 Speaker 1: run outside and check on the animals. Relieved to find 225 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:11,360 Speaker 1: them surprisingly calm under the circumstances, Hugh stood ponderously for 226 00:16:11,440 --> 00:16:15,120 Speaker 1: a moment in the cold air, scanning the surrounding hills, 227 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:20,480 Speaker 1: before making his way back inside. Thirty minutes later, there 228 00:16:20,520 --> 00:16:23,920 Speaker 1: was a knock at the door, and anxious Hugh opened 229 00:16:23,960 --> 00:16:26,760 Speaker 1: it to find what he assumed was a police officer 230 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:31,800 Speaker 1: standing ominously silhouetted in the doorway, while another officer sat 231 00:16:31,840 --> 00:16:35,520 Speaker 1: in a park police car behind him. The man introduced 232 00:16:35,600 --> 00:16:39,000 Speaker 1: himself as a police inspector, explaining that he'd driven up 233 00:16:39,040 --> 00:16:42,640 Speaker 1: from Barmouth to investigate a possible air crash and was 234 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:45,480 Speaker 1: looking for a guide and a farm vehicle to help 235 00:16:45,560 --> 00:16:48,840 Speaker 1: get him close to the site of impact. With a 236 00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:52,560 Speaker 1: mix of trepidation and excitement, Hugh was more than happy 237 00:16:52,640 --> 00:16:56,360 Speaker 1: to offer up his parents' landrover. However, since he was 238 00:16:56,400 --> 00:17:00,320 Speaker 1: too young to drive, neighbor Enoch volunteered to tell them 239 00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:03,880 Speaker 1: up to the farm road. It was only later that 240 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:07,399 Speaker 1: Hugh and Enoch realized how strange it was that the 241 00:17:07,440 --> 00:17:11,320 Speaker 1: officer had arrived only thirty minutes after the explosion, having 242 00:17:11,400 --> 00:17:14,760 Speaker 1: said he'd come up from Barmouth, a town almost two 243 00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:20,399 Speaker 1: hours drive away. A short time later, Hugh, Enoch and 244 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:23,600 Speaker 1: the officers were making their way further up the mountain 245 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:27,879 Speaker 1: through the pitch black, straining for any glimpse of something unusual, 246 00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:33,199 Speaker 1: toward a destination that none were entirely sure of. It 247 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:36,320 Speaker 1: was about twenty past nine when, just as they were 248 00:17:36,359 --> 00:17:39,960 Speaker 1: approaching the end of the public road, Enoch spotted a 249 00:17:40,000 --> 00:17:43,359 Speaker 1: car up ahead, locking the gateway to the farm track beyond. 250 00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:47,800 Speaker 1: After briefly inspecting the vehicle, with no one around to 251 00:17:47,840 --> 00:17:50,920 Speaker 1: claim it, the group swiftly pushed it to the side 252 00:17:50,960 --> 00:18:00,920 Speaker 1: of the road and continued on their way, with Hugh 253 00:18:01,119 --> 00:18:04,840 Speaker 1: taking over driving duties. The land drover continued up the track, 254 00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:09,200 Speaker 1: its bright beams flashing across tufts of snow and heather 255 00:18:09,760 --> 00:18:12,480 Speaker 1: as they bobbled over the rough to rain toward the 256 00:18:12,520 --> 00:18:17,960 Speaker 1: slopes of Caderbronwyn. Despite claiming to be unfamiliar with the area, 257 00:18:18,320 --> 00:18:21,479 Speaker 1: the inspector pointed suddenly to a spot up ahead and 258 00:18:21,560 --> 00:18:25,440 Speaker 1: told Hugh to pull over. It was just approaching ten 259 00:18:25,480 --> 00:18:28,160 Speaker 1: p m when the four of them stepped out into 260 00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:31,159 Speaker 1: the freezing air on the lookout for any sign of 261 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:35,160 Speaker 1: the apparent crash sight, and that's when they saw it, 262 00:18:36,560 --> 00:18:39,280 Speaker 1: a strong white light down on the edge of the 263 00:18:39,359 --> 00:18:43,520 Speaker 1: valley below, glowing like a halo above a small patch 264 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:47,520 Speaker 1: of woodland. The group watched it for a good fifteen 265 00:18:47,600 --> 00:18:50,960 Speaker 1: seconds before the inspector ordered them back into the car 266 00:18:51,440 --> 00:18:55,440 Speaker 1: and ordered Hugh to try and get them closer. They'd 267 00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:58,399 Speaker 1: barely made a few hundred yards, however, when a sharp 268 00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:02,399 Speaker 1: hiss came through the inspector radio, followed by a voice 269 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:06,320 Speaker 1: instructing him to leave the mountain and return first thing 270 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:10,679 Speaker 1: in the morning. It was odd, thought Hugh that they 271 00:19:10,680 --> 00:19:13,800 Speaker 1: would decide to turn back then, having got so close 272 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:16,720 Speaker 1: to what they'd been looking for, but with no desire 273 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:20,040 Speaker 1: to argue, he turned the land, drove around and headed 274 00:19:20,080 --> 00:19:23,600 Speaker 1: back to the farm, passing a police car on the way. 275 00:19:24,000 --> 00:19:26,960 Speaker 1: Hugh pulled up and the officers talked for a moment 276 00:19:27,359 --> 00:19:30,479 Speaker 1: before that car also turned and followed them back to 277 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:34,960 Speaker 1: the farm. With Hugh and Enoch returning home, the police 278 00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:40,320 Speaker 1: headed off back down the mountain. That night. A three 279 00:19:40,320 --> 00:19:44,120 Speaker 1: man crew was also dispatched from the Arif Valley Mountain 280 00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:49,600 Speaker 1: Rescue Team, arriving in Flandithlo just after midnight. However, after 281 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:52,520 Speaker 1: speaking to local police, the team were asked to stand 282 00:19:52,560 --> 00:20:02,960 Speaker 1: down until the following morning. Back at precisely eight thirty 283 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:07,280 Speaker 1: eight p m. Just over three hundred miles away in Edinburgh, Scotland, 284 00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:11,840 Speaker 1: the Global Seismology Unit of the Institute of Geological Sciences 285 00:20:12,119 --> 00:20:16,439 Speaker 1: picked up an unusual reading a tremour emanating from the 286 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:20,280 Speaker 1: region of the Berwin Mountains, registering between three to four 287 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:24,480 Speaker 1: on the Richter scale. The following morning, as news of 288 00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:28,600 Speaker 1: the strange event began to circulate, a journalist contacted the 289 00:20:28,640 --> 00:20:33,520 Speaker 1: institute's senior scientific officer, Doctor Roy lilwall asking for his 290 00:20:33,640 --> 00:20:36,800 Speaker 1: thoughts whether it was a meteor that had crashed into 291 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:41,320 Speaker 1: the mountain. Doctor Lilwaugh was taken back in surprise at 292 00:20:41,359 --> 00:20:45,920 Speaker 1: the suggestion, since any meteor causing that larger tremour would 293 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:48,720 Speaker 1: have had to have been several tons in mass, and 294 00:20:48,760 --> 00:20:52,120 Speaker 1: as such would have left little doubt that it was responsible. 295 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:57,760 Speaker 1: The Raf Valley Rescue team set out at first light 296 00:20:57,840 --> 00:21:00,879 Speaker 1: the following morning and were joined by a small group 297 00:21:00,920 --> 00:21:04,760 Speaker 1: of local police officers. With a fresh dusting of snow, 298 00:21:05,160 --> 00:21:08,120 Speaker 1: the search party made their way toward the spot where 299 00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:11,000 Speaker 1: Hugh and the inspector had been searching the night before. 300 00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:16,000 Speaker 1: Despite the assistance of two aircraft carrying out a photographic 301 00:21:16,080 --> 00:21:19,439 Speaker 1: survey of the area from above, they find nothing to 302 00:21:19,520 --> 00:21:23,320 Speaker 1: account for the mysterious events of the night before, and 303 00:21:23,440 --> 00:21:27,400 Speaker 1: shortly before two point fifteen pm the search was called off. 304 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:31,520 Speaker 1: By this point it had also been determined that no 305 00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:35,720 Speaker 1: aircraft was spotted on radar descending into the region, and 306 00:21:35,880 --> 00:21:41,480 Speaker 1: none officially at least had been declared missing elsewhere on 307 00:21:41,520 --> 00:21:45,680 Speaker 1: the mountain. That morning, doctor Ron Madison and Deniron Evans, 308 00:21:46,280 --> 00:21:50,720 Speaker 1: scientists from nearby Keele University, encouraged by reports of a 309 00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:54,840 Speaker 1: possible impact of a celestial object, stumbled across the moor 310 00:21:55,000 --> 00:22:00,399 Speaker 1: in search of meteor fragments. However, despite uncovering signs recent 311 00:22:00,440 --> 00:22:03,560 Speaker 1: disturbance on the surface of the soil, with the snow 312 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:09,280 Speaker 1: continuing to fall, their efforts also came to nothing. Later 313 00:22:09,359 --> 00:22:13,040 Speaker 1: that night, in the village of Gebowen, located just to 314 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:16,320 Speaker 1: the east of the Berwin Mountains across the border in England, 315 00:22:16,920 --> 00:22:20,200 Speaker 1: resident David Upton had just stepped out his back door 316 00:22:20,560 --> 00:22:23,440 Speaker 1: when he noticed an unusually bright object in the sky. 317 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:27,960 Speaker 1: After grabbing some binoculars from inside and yelling for his 318 00:22:28,040 --> 00:22:30,600 Speaker 1: sister and mother to join him, the three of them 319 00:22:30,640 --> 00:22:33,120 Speaker 1: took it in turns to keep tabs on the object. 320 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:36,560 Speaker 1: It was only when they raised the binoculars to their 321 00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:39,119 Speaker 1: eyes that they were able to make out the shape 322 00:22:39,119 --> 00:22:42,479 Speaker 1: of it, like a disk that appeared to be split 323 00:22:42,560 --> 00:22:49,320 Speaker 1: into four distinct colors, red, green, yellow, and purple. After 324 00:22:49,359 --> 00:22:53,959 Speaker 1: ten minutes spent observing it, the object eventually disappeared behind 325 00:22:53,960 --> 00:23:04,040 Speaker 1: a cloud. Over the next few days, as confusion reigned 326 00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:07,679 Speaker 1: amongst local residents as to just what exactly had taken place, 327 00:23:08,240 --> 00:23:11,600 Speaker 1: six strangers slowly began making their way through the many 328 00:23:11,720 --> 00:23:15,800 Speaker 1: local villages, keen to get first hand eyewitness accounts of 329 00:23:15,840 --> 00:23:20,760 Speaker 1: the event. Traveling door to door, the individuals introduced themselves 330 00:23:20,920 --> 00:23:24,359 Speaker 1: as part of a British geological survey team and spoke 331 00:23:24,440 --> 00:23:28,120 Speaker 1: to over two hundred locals, asking what exactly they'd seen 332 00:23:28,240 --> 00:23:31,480 Speaker 1: or heard, and whether they'd been alarmed or frightened by 333 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:36,359 Speaker 1: the experience. Taking together the size of the seismic activity, 334 00:23:36,800 --> 00:23:40,040 Speaker 1: the sightings of a burning object seen falling from the sky, 335 00:23:40,640 --> 00:23:44,399 Speaker 1: and the lack of aircraft debris, scientists eventually came to 336 00:23:44,440 --> 00:23:48,240 Speaker 1: the conclusion that the explosion and resulting tremor had been 337 00:23:48,280 --> 00:23:51,119 Speaker 1: the result of an earthquake, which, in a feat of 338 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:55,520 Speaker 1: extraordinary coincidence, just so happened to occur at precisely the 339 00:23:55,560 --> 00:23:59,760 Speaker 1: same time that a meteor had fallen from the sky. 340 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:03,800 Speaker 1: Many sightings of peculiar light seen on the mountains that 341 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:07,960 Speaker 1: night were later passed off as witnesses confusing the lamps 342 00:24:07,960 --> 00:24:10,920 Speaker 1: of a group of poachers whose abandoned car had been 343 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:17,439 Speaker 1: found by police with something more otherworldly. Before long, however, 344 00:24:17,800 --> 00:24:22,159 Speaker 1: British eufologists were beginning to question the likelihood of those explanations, 345 00:24:22,840 --> 00:24:27,600 Speaker 1: and more strange stories were beginning to crop up. Reports 346 00:24:27,640 --> 00:24:30,760 Speaker 1: of soldiers entering a local farm yard surely after the 347 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:34,520 Speaker 1: explosion was heard requesting to use the phone because their 348 00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:38,400 Speaker 1: radio receiver had broken, despite the fact that no military 349 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:41,080 Speaker 1: personnel was said to have been involved in the search 350 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:46,119 Speaker 1: that night, and one man, Ken Houghton of better Surcoid 351 00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:49,680 Speaker 1: in North Wales, claimed to have watched what he described 352 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:53,920 Speaker 1: as a luminous sphere roughly five hundred feet across, traveling 353 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:58,000 Speaker 1: at speed at around fifteen hundred feet, dropped straight down 354 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:08,480 Speaker 1: into the sea. It was some months later when prominent 355 00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:12,600 Speaker 1: UFO researcher Jenny Randalls, who would later become director of 356 00:25:12,600 --> 00:25:17,879 Speaker 1: the British UFO Research Association or BOUFORA, received a peculiar 357 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:21,800 Speaker 1: package in the post, consisting of a typed letter and 358 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:24,320 Speaker 1: a cassette tape. It had been sent to her by 359 00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:29,720 Speaker 1: a mysterious organization calling itself the Aerial Phenomena Inquiry Network 360 00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:34,720 Speaker 1: or ARPEN for short. The letter outlined the alarming suggestion 361 00:25:34,960 --> 00:25:37,679 Speaker 1: that what had crashed in the mountains that night was 362 00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:41,359 Speaker 1: actually a flying saucer, and both it and its crew, 363 00:25:41,440 --> 00:25:45,159 Speaker 1: described as tall humanoid aliens, had been extracted from the 364 00:25:45,200 --> 00:25:48,439 Speaker 1: area by a specialist ARP and team who arrived at 365 00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:52,280 Speaker 1: the scene soon after. After loading the tape into her 366 00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:56,399 Speaker 1: cassette player, Randalls sat and listened to the bizarre contents, 367 00:25:57,040 --> 00:25:59,800 Speaker 1: beginning with an introduction from a man with an American 368 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:05,119 Speaker 1: accent calling himself J. T. Anderson, Supreme Commander of Arpen. 369 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:08,639 Speaker 1: It was followed by a series of TV and radio 370 00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:14,240 Speaker 1: broadcasts about UFOs, spliced in with terrified voices warning about 371 00:26:14,280 --> 00:26:19,480 Speaker 1: the dangers of UFOs and their hostile nature. Over the 372 00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:24,240 Speaker 1: next few years, as the UFO idea gained traction, Randall's 373 00:26:24,240 --> 00:26:27,520 Speaker 1: interest also grew, so much so that she even moved 374 00:26:27,520 --> 00:26:30,360 Speaker 1: to the area in the nineteen seventies to find out 375 00:26:30,400 --> 00:26:35,680 Speaker 1: more for herself. There she encountered locals who claimed, despite 376 00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:39,199 Speaker 1: written evidence to the contrary, that there actually had been 377 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:43,919 Speaker 1: a military presence on the mountain that night. In the 378 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:49,000 Speaker 1: early nineteen nineties, Margaret Frye, working for the bufora magazine, 379 00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:53,639 Speaker 1: interviewed nurse Pat Evans about that most peculiar of knights, 380 00:26:54,760 --> 00:26:58,120 Speaker 1: But this time there was a new detail in her story. 381 00:26:59,480 --> 00:27:01,960 Speaker 1: Shortly after seeing the strange light at the top of 382 00:27:02,000 --> 00:27:05,760 Speaker 1: the mountain, Pat allegedly now claimed that she and her 383 00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:10,040 Speaker 1: daughters were confronted by soldiers. Having told her that the 384 00:27:10,119 --> 00:27:13,520 Speaker 1: road was closed, Pat was ordered to turn round and 385 00:27:13,640 --> 00:27:19,000 Speaker 1: leave the area immediately. Shortly after the article was published, 386 00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:23,200 Speaker 1: a panicking Pat called Margaret, demanding to know why she'd 387 00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:27,200 Speaker 1: added this extra detail to her story, because she hadn't 388 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:32,320 Speaker 1: said anything of the sort to her. Confused, Margaret consulted 389 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:35,399 Speaker 1: her notes from the interview and was surprised to find 390 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:41,439 Speaker 1: clearly written there Pat's recollection of the soldiers. Worried that 391 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:44,359 Speaker 1: she might have got something wrong, she then spoke to 392 00:27:44,400 --> 00:27:48,440 Speaker 1: another researcher who'd accompanied her to the interview. She was 393 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:52,480 Speaker 1: also convinced that Pat had indeed included this in her story. 394 00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:57,359 Speaker 1: Could they both have imagined it somehow, some kind of 395 00:27:57,440 --> 00:28:02,200 Speaker 1: wish fulfillment, perhaps, while, as some have suggested, had Pat 396 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:07,320 Speaker 1: felt suddenly compelled and perhaps persuaded to retract this detail. 397 00:28:08,800 --> 00:28:12,720 Speaker 1: To this day, Pat maintains that it was never part 398 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:21,919 Speaker 1: of her story. Unexplained as an AV Club Productions podcast 399 00:28:22,400 --> 00:28:26,560 Speaker 1: created by Richard McLain Smith, all other elements of The podcast, 400 00:28:26,680 --> 00:28:32,520 Speaker 1: including the music, are also produced by me Richard mclin smith. Unexplained. 401 00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:35,919 Speaker 1: The book and audiobook, with stories never before featured on 402 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:39,640 Speaker 1: the show, is now available to buy worldwide. You can 403 00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:44,240 Speaker 1: purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones, and other bookstores. 404 00:28:44,960 --> 00:28:48,000 Speaker 1: Please subscribe to and rate the show wherever you get 405 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:50,800 Speaker 1: your podcasts, and feel free to get in touch with 406 00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:54,240 Speaker 1: any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on 407 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:57,040 Speaker 1: the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of your own 408 00:28:57,080 --> 00:28:59,680 Speaker 1: you'd like to share. You can find out more at 409 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:03,440 Speaker 1: un Explained podcast dot com and reach us online through 410 00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:08,320 Speaker 1: Twitter at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com, 411 00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:10,719 Speaker 1: Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast