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SUMMER 1976 - BISHOPSTON, GOWER

Fine sunny day.

Richard Thomas from Morriston was about 11 to 13 at the time and thinks it may have been in 1976 or 1977 (born in 1963).

He was visiting his auntie who lived off Bishopston Road in Bishopston. He often stayed with her during the long summer holiday. Her house was located at the end of a short lane opposite the Spar shop in the village.

The house backed on to a field known as Leighton Jones's field (or Carnival Field) which is on the west side of Bishopston Road. One summer's day Richard was in the field, just on the other side of his auntie's garden fence. He was alone and he can't remember there being any animals in the field.

He was looking west down the field and towards the Bishopston Valley when a movement caught his eye. He watched as an orange-yellow ball, about the size of a beach ball, 18 inches in diameter moved, inches above the ground, across the field from his right to left (NNE to SSE) about 30 yards away in the middle of the field. It seemed to have a spikey, serrated edge to it and the orange-yellow colours were slowly swirling as it moved.

It moved gently and slowly on a straight and even course from the direction of St. Teilo's Church, straight across the field towards Wellfield Road, the road to the south.

There was no sound or smell associated with the object but Richard could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He said it was 'a lovely thing to see' and he stood transfixed to the spot while it gently continued across the field, taking about a minute to get to the other side, when it simply disappeared through the hedge and out of sight. He told his auntie about it but 'felt silly'.

Photo: Black dot is witness - arrow shows the approximate location and movement of the ball (thanks to Mike Maunder for graphic)

Source: SUFON Files: Richard Thomas interviewed by Emlyn Williams 14 May 2017