Paranormal: The Village That Saw Aliens

Original version

The BBC North East & Cumbria region started in 1959 (tbc) as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One North East & Cumbria.

BBC One

BBC One North East & Cumbria

Paranormal

Documentaries

Factual: Real Life Stories

Sian Eleri delves into otherworldly mysteries.

Sian Eleri delves into otherworldly mysteries - from Britain's most haunted house to a village visited by aliens. She’s about to uncover extraordinary true stories. Or is she?

The Village That Saw Aliens

BBC Three HD

BBC Three

BBC One Wales

Wales

Simulcast of BBC One Wales in high definition. From 29/01/2013

BBC One Wales HD

BBC One London

London

Formerly part of a wider BBC One South East region. Separated as BBC One London 2001-09-03 following reorganisation of the South East region.

BBC One London HD

The BBC East region started on 1st May 1959 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One East.

BBC One East

BBC One North West HD

BBC One region covering Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

BBC One East Midlands

BBC One East Midlands HD

Formerly part of a wider BBC One South East region that included London and part of the South region. Separated from BBC One London 2001-09-03 following reorganisation of the South East region.

BBC One South East

The BBC South region started on 5th January 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South.

BBC One South HD

BBC One North West

BBC One East HD

BBC One South

The BBC West region started on 1st September 1957 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One West.

BBC One West HD

BBC One West Midlands

BBC One Oxfordshire

BBC One Yorks & Lincs HD

BBC One South East HD

BBC One Yorkshire

BBC One Cambridgeshire

BBC One Channel Islands HD

BBC One Cambridgeshire HD

The BBC South West region started on 20th April 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South West.

BBC One South West HD

BBC One South West

BBC One Channel Islands

BBC One West

BBC One Oxfordshire HD

BBC One West Midlands HD

BBC One Yorks & Lincs

BBC One Yorkshire HD

BBC One North East & Cumbria HD

Simulcast of BBC One Scotland in high definition. From 14/01/2013

BBC One Scotland HD

BBC Northern Ireland region started on 19th April 1955 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One Northern Ireland.

BBC One Northern Ireland

BBC One Scotland

Scotland

Simulcast of BBC One Northern Ireland in high definition. From 24/10/2012

BBC One Northern Ireland HD

Sian Eleri

Rory Jackson

Hannah Horan

Jo Hughes

Amy Quant

Agata Mastalerz

James Pounce

Nathan Carr

Thomas George

Paranormal: The Village That Saw Aliens: Episode 3

Episode 3

BBC Three - Paranormal, The Village That Saw Aliens, Episode 3

Sian Eleri’s investigation takes a darker turn as the sightings spread.

Sian’s mind is blown to discover reports of hundreds of UFO sightings across south Wales. Could they all have imagined seeing the same object in the sky?

Sian is midway into her investigation, and with corroborating eyewitness accounts of cigar-shaped crafts building and now strange orbs of light in the sky that left people terrified, she’s desperate for logical explanations. Multiple people claimed to have seen a pulsating light around Stack Rocks, so she takes a boat out, determined to see the site for herself.

Sian turns to science – can it deliver an explanation for the orbs of light? She heads to Oxford University, where astrophysicist Dr Becky Smethurst demonstrates how plasma can be created by nature. For a few moments, the strange phenomena feel explained, but reality sets in. It doesn’t explain the schoolboys seeing the same object in the sky or hotelier Rosa’s claims of strange figures.

Sian is forced to relook at the evidence. Despite her scepticism, recurring details in the accounts are becoming harder to ignore – eyewitnesses with no connection to each other all reporting radio interference and cigar-shaped craft. What did original investigator Randall make of these connections? Returning to the archive, Sian finds a newspaper clipping which reveals Randall became so disturbed by what he found that he quit the case, issuing a warning to anyone following in his footsteps. Sian is shaken.

Local author Neil Spring, who has researched the case extensively, warns Sian that he’s heard stories of people who have investigated the case receiving strange visits from mysterious figures claiming to be from the government, telling them to stop. And, he warns her, this case is far bigger than Sian realises - it’s not just about a seaside village - it involved hundreds of eyewitnesses spread out across south and west Wales.

Sixty miles down the coast, in Swansea, she meets Natalie, who is convinced that, as a 13-year old, she saw an angular-shaped UFO hovering over her house. The next day, she found a lump on her head. Sian is extremely sceptical – it’s too outlandish to believe. But then she finds another local who said he saw that craft too on the same night.

Needing answers, Sian heads to the National Archives, where she discovers official government documents that have only recently been declassified. She’s speechless to discover pages of reports of other witnesses reporting a strange, triangular-shaped UFO  – exactly as Natalie and the neighbour described – on the same night. The government knew about this sighting. Why did they keep these documents classified? And what did these people see?

A multi-platform service for 16-34s, featuring comedy, entertainment and factual content.

The BBC’s multi-platform service for 16 to 34s, innovating with breakthrough comedy, stand-out entertainment, brave documentary and intellectual factual content.

Sian Eleri investigates a UFO sighting by schoolboys in a Welsh village

A UFO sighting by 14 schoolboys in a Welsh village triggers a wave of reports of close encounters and claims of Britain’s biggest mass sighting. Sian Eleri investigates.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Paranormal

The Village That Saw Aliens

Episode 3

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

BBC One North East & Cumbria

About BBC One