Case file · Retrieval claim
Berwyn Mountain
A Welsh 'crash' night — lights, tremors and a military presence, dubbed 'the Welsh Roswell'.
1974 CE · 52.90, -3.46 · status: disputed
The sceptical view
An earthquake coincided with a meteor shower and poachers' lights; no craft evidenced.
The researched reading
An earthquake, a bright meteor and poachers’ lamps on the same night. The case is well explained.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A known natural phenomenon | 50% | A magnitude 3.5 earthquake was recorded at 8:38 p.m. and felt widely across north Wales. |
| Something known, misidentified | 30% | A bright meteor was widely seen at almost the same time, and the lights on the hillside were later identified as poachers’ lamps. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 6% | A crash and recovery story grew from rumour and retelling. |
| A poorly understood natural phenomenon | 4% | Earthquake lights are poorly understood and could explain some glow. |
| Secret human technology | 3% | Claims of a military recovery have no evidence. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 3% | Nothing unexplained remains once the earthquake and meteor are counted. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 2% | Not needed to explain the event. |
| Undetermined | 2% | The share a generic explanation had beyond what has been shown for this case: it fits many cases like this one, but has not been demonstrated for this one. |
Official position: Declassified Ministry of Defence documents attribute it to an earthquake and a meteor.