An early encounter with the UFO phenomenon.
- Do any of you share stories of blackouts in the 1960s? This was when they were widespread, and one was even used in the TV program Heartbeat.
- Well, I had my own encounter at the age of 12 in the village where I lived called Dunvant, outside Swansea, South Wales. This was in 1956.
- One evening, in the dark, cold winter months when we Boy Scouts played team games in the village hall, the village suffered a blackout. A number of us were returning home. We lived on the other side of the village up a steep hill, at the foot of which was a railway bridge. A few of us carried torches. Most were met by their caring parents; while mine stayed at home, normally ensconced in front of the telly, and would hardly notice me when I went indoors.
- We talked loudly as we went up the hill, and stopped for me to cross to the other side of the road for the long walk home along the bumpy lane, carrying my torch.
- Before leaving the others, I turned round to say goodbye when I noticed a slowly flashing red light just above a prominent hill, behind the houses on their side of the road. It stopped hovering and took off at high speed over the village, leaving a trail of light indicating that it was hopping in an arc to another point much further away from us. Suddenly, another light replaced the original one and also hovered there for a matter of seconds before taking off in the same direction.
- Simultaneously, the earlier flashing red light could be seen moving, until we were soon partially encircled by hovering, arcing flashing lights, streaking across the night sky. As this was continuing, I could hear a female parent commenting loudly on these aerial events, and drawing the attention of the others to them.
- Silence settled on the watching group, and we could see the nearest flashing red light being reflected off the grassed surface of the hill, for the limited time that the object above was stationary. This went on endlessly, until we grew tired of watching these aerial antics, and went our respective ways. It was never reported by any of us, there being such scepticism of these types of sightings at that time (and now), and no one was prepared to be ridiculed.
- I believed that, since it could not conceivably be explained, it had to be an advanced method of ground analysis of deep minerals by someone with superior technology. I would have loved to know who or what was controlling these unmanned objects, which made no effort to hide their presence.
- Since this only happened before digital cameras were invented, I believe that these aliens live amongst us, look like us, and forewarned their brethren.