623

4.15 AM.

24-year-old Michael Bufton of Green Gardens, Rhayader had just started out on his journey driving a lorry from Rhayader to Shotton Steelworks. He had reached Marteg, a few miles north of Rhayader and was leaning forward in the cab to adjust the station finder on his radio. He glanced up and saw an object hovering a few hundred feet above the vehicle.

"It was almost cigar-shaped and a fair-sized thing, belching orange and red flames. After a short time it veered off and over the top of the mountain in the direction of the top of the Elan Valley."

He stopped the lorry and got out in time to see the craft moving away. Michael had never seen anything like it before and he admitted that he felt reluctant at first to tell anyone about it when he returned home.

"I thought they might think I was trying a leg-pull and they would not believe me - but it was no joke. I was really frightened!"

The police said they had not received any other reports of any such sightings, but were keeping an open mind on the incident.

Source: 'UFO Magic in Motion' Arthur Shuttlewood 1979 pages 102-103 citing 'County Times and Express'

(Welshpool) 27 November 1977.