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A cold winter's night in south Wales back on February 26, 2016, was anything but ordinary in one Welsh town, some say.

In a scene worthy of an episode of the X-Files, multiple witnesses reported seeing a huge UFO and other lights - along with military planes, helicopters, a chase, explosions, shaken buildings, damaged trees and wreckage in Pentyrch.

An apache helicopter landing with its cockpit on fire, weird snow, and mystery men in white overalls were other reported sightings.

The activity was explained by the authorities as an Armed Forces exercise known as 'Chameleon', as was reported at the time .

But many still believe it was something out of this world, claiming to have spotted unidentified lights which did not conform to the normal idea of a military aircraft.

It echoes one of the most famous alleged UFO incidents of all time at a ranch in Roswell, New Mexico, when the US military is claimed to have captured a crashed flying saucer. The military has always said it was simply a conventional weather balloon.

'It was no exercise'

Recalling the events of that day more than two years ago, one witness, Caz Clarke said she could "categorically state it was no exercise".

"I will take a lie detector anywhere for anyone but what I witnessed will stay with me for the rest of my life," she said.

"What is more, the military knew they were coming and had a spotter plane in the air for two days waiting for 'the event'.

"When it came, four planes chased the "green" object whilst the spotter plane circled approximately six red oval objects, which formed a pyramid shape. Several red spheres hovered silently above the fields until the helicopters came."

Another witness, Mike Henbury, claims to have seen a red pulsing light, followed by two more to form a triangle descending from the clouds.

Mr Henbury said: "It looked very large indeed. I don't think it touched down totally but about 10 to 12 feet from the ground it lit up fully, showing the full outline of it, then it dimmed down."

(Image: Michael Hopkins) (Image: Michael Hopkins)

He added that black, red and green orbs emerged from it "as if they were dancing and moulding into one pulsing from red to green slowly".

Witnesses told the Swansea UFO Network they spotted a red light to the west above, and beyond the line of trees that marked the field's western extremity.

It was followed by other red lights that formed the outer edges of a huge triangle standing upright, tilted to the right, with a convex, rather than straight lower edge.

They said they did not see it 'arrive' but rather it just appeared in front of them, with a suggestion it travelled inter-dimensionally.

A small green-lighted object emerged from the top of the large structure, witnesses claimed, adding that the lights were so bright it was difficult to see their individual shape.

(Image: Caz Clarke)

Witnesses explained that a the green object emerged from the top of the large one, four military planes arrived, two from the direction of RAF St Athan and two from the direction of Cardiff.

The green object flashed or strobed three times and headed off to the north-west towards Llantrisant and the aircraft chased it, they claimed.

It has also been recalled how the apache helicopters approached low across the fields from the south, in a pyramid formation. They were so low that the witnesses could see the grass being disturbed beneath them.

(Image: Adrian White) (Image: Swansea UFO Network)

The large object then dipped to the right, turning on its axis, witness accounts claimed, adding that it descended below the tree line, but due to the trees having no leaves, the witnesses could see through them, and that as the object was turning on its axis, it was descending into the field to the north of where it had initially appeared.

As the object neared the ground, the bright red lights towards the bottom of the craft became brighter and changed to street-light orange. They gave off so much light that the sides of the craft were illuminated, showing a pyramid shape to it.

They told the UFO Network members that the lowest lights became really bright, almost white/orange, and released several fingers of light arcing down to the ground, like coloured lightning.

The red lights then went out and the large object was no longer visible.

The location of Wales' 'Roswell'

(Image: Google Maps)

Pentyrch lies on the southern slope of Garth Mountain, known locally as 'The Garth'.

The summit is just above the village to the north and is surmounted by a bronze age burial mound, on top of which is a trig-point at 1,007 feet.

Swansea UFO Network recently visited the spot of the sighting, guided by Caz Clarke.

'Something unusual happened there'

The group claimed to have discovered electromagnetic residue which they said was evidence something unnatural occurred.

(Image: Adrian White)

"We went up to the top of Garth Mountain itself which gave a good view and you can see right across where it took place," Swansea UFO network co-founder Emlyn Williams said.

"We went to the site and there is a strong EM residue in the core location to the place the UFOs were spotted. It's physical evidence something unusual happened there."

Swansea UFO Network said it was always looking for new reports of UFO sightings, and encouraged anyone with information to contact them via their website, http://www.sufon.co.uk