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20 OCTOBER 1982 – SWANSEA

3 PM. John Ferris, a photographer of heol Maes-Y-Cerrig, Loughor was sipping coffee in a city centre store restaurant when a young woman pointed up to the sky and drew his attention to an object.

“It was an oval shape about the size of a small house with what looked like flames shooting out from the top.” It ‘fired’ over the Townhill area of Swansea.

“I grabbed my camera and fired off the last shot on the film with my zoom lens. I didn’t think anything would come out. It was a very overcast and dull day and whatever this thing was it was very bright. I’m mystified. I don’t know what it is, but I know it is a shot in a lifetime. Someone else must have seen it.”

Ferris used 35 mm black and white film with his Pentax ME Super camera with 210 mm zoom lens. His photograph was enlarged 170 times to show Pantycelyn Road, Townhill, with the object just behind it.

Swansea police said they had no reports of any UFO sightings, but Gower weatherman John Powell said conditions were right for a ball of lightning. It had been a stormy day.