Encounters is a new documentary series about UFO sightings, and the small Welsh town of Broad Haven is the subject of the first episode.
Netflix teases: "In 1977, the Cold War was raging, Close Encounters of the Third Kind was in theaters, and a group of boys spotted a cigar-shaped spacecraft rising from the trees beyond their playground. Suddenly, the area surrounding the Welsh coastal town of Broad Haven was gripped by over 450 reports of UFO and alien encounters — the largest mass sighting in UK history.
"As investigators and media dug into the sightings, they realized many bore a close resemblance to tales from Welsh and Celtic folklore, in which faeries are known as tricksters with sinister intent. So, were the otherworldly visitors in Broad Haven a new phenomenon, or had they been there all along, hiding in the sea?"
Here are the major details that happened in Encounters episode 1...
How Broad Haven became an epicentre
In 1977, the small Welsh village of Broad Haven found itself becoming the site of the UK's largest mass UFO sighting, with lots of people claiming they had witnessed something.
This episode opens with a group of men recalling their experience at a school playground, revealing that they had been at school during the time of the sighting.
A local news report claims that "whatever it was had been spotted by local children three times", and that everyone on the playground had rushed to the scene, so there are a number of alleged eyewitness events about this particular sighting.
Following it, another vox pop reveals that more people in the village were witnessing "pretty strange things", which had led people to wonder if it was "mass hysteria" or if something otherworldly was happening.
Astrophysicist and former NASA Research Scientist Dr. Kevin Knuth speaks about the way society tends to dismiss claims of UFO sightings and reveals there are about 15 "serious scientists" in the world dedicated to studying it. He suggests that maybe people don't want to learn the truth as they're scared of it.
We then switch back to focus on the school again, which is a key location in the Broad Haven Triangle. In fact, it's so significant it became international news when 16 different schoolchildren claimed to see a UFO in the sky.
While easy to discredit young children for having an active imagination, they were separated and interviewed, and their stories and sketches proved to be eerily similar to one another, which locals have claimed makes them more credible.
Dave Davies, a former student, is interviewed where he described himself as a bit of a loner and he had chosen to stay indoors and read his book while the others went to play outside. When his classmates returned, they were all saying they'd seen a flying saucer, but Dave didn't believe this.
Eventually, he decided to go and look for himself. He describes seeing a "silver, cigar shaped thing" that had popped up in the sky behind some trees, and he immediately ran away upon seeing it.
Another student, Shaun Garrison, recalls telling his parents who were not judgemental and believed that he'd seen something, with Dave also saying his mother hadn't dismissed these claims.
Dave's mother had called a man named Randall Jones Pugh, a close family friend and retired vet, who acted as regional investigator for the British UFO Research Association and quickly became involved.
The sighting had occurred on a Friday and by the following Monday, it seemed everyone was talking about the sighting. Journalist David Clarke recalls how the press interest in UFOs was increasing in the 1970s, and this case had only fulled that further.
He admits being "obsessed" with UFOs at the time and had joined the British UFO Research Association as an investigator. He adds that "clearly something happened" at Broad Haven, but they don't know what.
The current school headteacher shows the drawings that the children produced, highlighting the similarities between them, but David adds that a lot of them resemble the stereotypical UFO we've seen on TV.
He adds that he knew Forbidden Planet had aired on BBC close to the sightings, and so may have been influenced by that, and that at the time sci-fi had been in their heads because of other projects like Doctor Who and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
They're also situated next to an RAF site so people were also quick to dismiss the claims as simply being new types of aircraft, but there was pushback around this with locals claiming that they were very familiar with the site and knew what sorts of aircraft flew in the area.
In addition to this, the RAF station did receive calls about UFOs which they confirmed they were investigating, so they were well aware of people's interest in the subject.
As well as the local school where the sightings were first reported, a local hotel also became a point of interest with the owner saying there had been sightings in this area too, helping to make up the triangle.
There are also discussions around Welsh folklore, with various stories and superstitions dating back several years, and people started to wonder if what they were seeing was in any way related to this.
The UFOs potential origin
Of course, there were plenty of discussions about how the UFO could have ended up in Broad Haven, with a particular hypothesis examining that it could've come out of the water.
Dr. Kevin Knuth claims that there are documented cases of UFOs ascending from the water which goes all the way back to the 1800s, so it's not a new phenomenon and this might be possible.
Additionally, he claims there have been some spotted under the water too, so these crafts could be able to operate above and below ground level.
Ultimately, they have not yet been able to trace the UFOs origin, but there's no denying that the locals have been impacted by what happened, with some saying it has been a life-changing experience for them and has made them more open-minded.
