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What Happened to the Berry Head Record?

The Brixham and Berry Head story is useful less as proof than as a lesson in how local UFO anecdotes survive without primary records.

On this page

  • The reported coastal sighting
  • The missing Coastguard documentation
  • How to weigh local memory against archives
Preview for What Happened to the Berry Head Record?

Introduction

The Berry Head story is one of Devon’s more useful UFO cases precisely because the record is missing. The reported incident is simple enough: on 28 April 1967, a dome-shaped object was said to have hovered over Brixham for about an hour, with later summaries adding that it was seen from HM Coastguard’s Berry Head station. But the strongest modern document connected with the case is not a sighting report. It is a 2020 Freedom of Information response from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency saying that the relevant Berry Head CG12 station record is no longer held. [WhatDoTheyKnow]whatdotheyknow.comWhat Do They KnowWhat Do They Know

Overview image for Berry Head That gap does not prove the sighting was false. It does mean the case should be treated as a fragile local UFO tradition rather than a well-documented official incident. For Devon’s wider UFO history, Berry Head matters as a cautionary example: a dramatic anecdote can survive in online lists, local memory and retellings even when the primary Coastguard paperwork that would let researchers test it has disappeared.

Audio Recording of Witness's Terrifying UFO Sighting | UFO Witness | Travel Channel

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The reported coastal sighting

The usual version places the event at Brixham, on the south Devon coast, around noon on 28 April 1967. Later retellings describe a dome-shaped object at about 1,600 feet, visible for roughly an hour, sometimes with the striking detail of a “door” on its side. A personal recollection posted in 2017 repeats the same core details and adds that the writer also remembered the event from childhood in Brixham. [particular writes of passage]paulstamp.meOpen source on paulstamp.me.

The case also appears in modern paranormal catalogues in a much thinner form. The Paranormal Database lists “Domed Craft” at “Brixham (Devon) - Skies over town”, dated 28 April 1967, and says the craft hovered for around an hour before disappearing. Significantly, that entry marks the source as “Needs Review”, which is an important warning against treating the listing as a primary record. [paranormaldatabase.com]paranormaldatabase.comThe Paranormal DatabaseThe Paranormal Database

This is why the Berry Head angle became so attractive to later readers. A Coastguard station on a headland overlooking Torbay sounds like the kind of observation point that might have produced a disciplined, time-stamped official log. Berry Head itself is a prominent headland in front of Brixham, now better known to visitors as a National Nature Reserve with wide views across Torbay and surviving Napoleonic fortifications. [Torbay Coast & Countryside Trust]countryside-trust.org.ukTorbay Coast & Countryside Trust Things To Do BrixhamTorbay Coast & Countryside Trust Things To Do Brixham

The problem is that most accessible versions of the story are not independent witness statements. They are summaries of summaries. The same handful of details — Brixham, 28 April 1967, dome-shaped object, one hour, Coastguard station — recur, but usually without a scan of the original Coastguard log, a named duty officer, a contemporaneous full witness statement, or a traceable Ministry of Defence case file attached to the claim.

Berry Head illustration 1

The missing Coastguard documentation

The decisive modern document is the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s 23 October 2020 response to a Freedom of Information request asking for “the report or log from the 28th April 1967 at Berry Head coastguard station” relating to sightings made that day. The agency’s answer was that it did not have the requested information. [WhatDoTheyKnow]whatdotheyknow.comWhat Do They KnowSighting of UFO Berry Head April 1967 - a Freedom of Information request to Maritime and Coastguard Agency - WhatDoTheyKnow…Published: April 1967

The response gives a practical records-history explanation. Berry Head Coastguard station was attached to MRCC Brixham, the Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre. When MRCC Brixham closed on 31 October 2014, Berry Head Coastguard moved sites; the old MRCC Brixham site retained only an unmanned remote access radio station holding radio equipment, with no remaining documentation there. The agency said most old information no longer useful at the site was disposed of on 31 October 2014. [WhatDoTheyKnow]whatdotheyknow.comWhat Do They KnowWhat Do They Know

The form-name detail is particularly important. The MCA stated that remaining Berry Head information was in the CG19 station log, which replaced the previous CG12 station record documentation in 1975. In this case, the earliest information in the CG19 log dated only from 1976. The key sentence is blunt: “The CG12 record from Berry Head is no longer held by HM Coastguard.” [WhatDoTheyKnow]whatdotheyknow.comWhat Do They KnowWhat Do They Know

That answer narrows what can responsibly be claimed. It is fair to say there is a reported 1967 Brixham/Berry Head UFO sighting. It is not fair to say that the accessible Coastguard archive currently confirms the sighting in detail. The alleged official observation may once have been logged, but the known FOI trail says the relevant Berry Head record is no longer in HM Coastguard’s possession.

The MCA did check one nearby line of evidence. It located the CG12 station record for Beer Coastguard station, dating back to 1 January 1960, but found no mention there of the sighting. The agency added that this might simply be because Beer is some distance from Berry Head. [WhatDoTheyKnow]whatdotheyknow.comWhat Do They KnowWhat Do They Know

Police Officers Describe UFO Encounter (1967)

Channel: Frontline by ITN · Views: 399.7K · Uploaded: November 2022 · Length: 2 minutes 12 seconds

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Why the gap matters more than the legend

Berry Head is not best read as a “lost proof” case. It is better read as a records gap case. In UFO history, that distinction matters. A lost or destroyed record can leave a report unresolved, but it also removes the very detail needed to test whether the object was unusual, misidentified, exaggerated, or later embellished.

The National Archives’ public guide to UK UFO reports helps explain the wider pattern. It says the Ministry of Defence kept UFO records from the 1960s onward, and that many reports were of shapes, lights and flashes that could often be explained. It also notes that before the 1960s, the MOD destroyed UFO material after five years, and that reports were retained after public interest increased. [The National Archives]nationalarchives.gov.ukThe National Archives UFO reportsThe National Archives UFO reports

That national context does not answer the Berry Head question directly, because a Coastguard station log is not the same thing as an MoD UFO file. But it shows why British UFO archives are uneven. Some records survive because they became part of MoD correspondence, Parliamentary business or defence files. Others remain in local, operational or newspaper channels and can vanish when station paperwork is replaced, moved, or judged no longer useful.

The Berry Head case sits in that uncomfortable middle ground. It has enough local and online afterlife to be remembered, but not enough surviving primary documentation to be weighed like the better-known North Devon “flying cross” case later in 1967, which reached Parliament and attracted official comment. Berry Head’s evidential value is therefore not in proving an extraordinary object over Brixham. It is in showing how quickly the evidential floor can drop away beneath a story that sounds official.

Berry Head illustration 2

How to weigh local memory against archives

A fair assessment should neither dismiss the Brixham witnesses out of hand nor upgrade later retellings into documentary proof. Local memory can preserve real events, especially striking ones seen by several people. But memory also compresses, borrows and standardises details over time, particularly when a story is retold in paranormal lists or anniversary posts.

Three questions help keep the case in proportion.

What is the earliest recoverable source? A contemporary Torbay or Devon newspaper report would be more valuable than a modern web summary. A named Coastguard log entry would be stronger still. At present, the accessible record trail is strongest for the later absence of the Berry Head station record, not for the original observation itself. [WhatDoTheyKnow]whatdotheyknow.comWhat Do They KnowWhat Do They Know

Are the details independent or copied? The one-hour duration, dome shape and Coastguard reference recur in several modern versions, but repetition is not the same as corroboration. The Paranormal Database entry is explicitly marked “Needs Review”, while other modern summaries are brief and unsourced or semi-sourced. [paranormaldatabase.com]paranormaldatabase.comThe Paranormal DatabaseThe Paranormal Database

Would the alleged observation have generated other records? A daylight object over Brixham for around an hour might plausibly have produced local press reports, police logs, harbour or aviation notes, Coastguard paperwork, or MoD correspondence. The absence of an easily accessible Coastguard log does not rule those out, but it means the case depends on finding parallel records rather than leaning on the missing station book.

This is also where 1967 itself matters. Britain saw a charged UFO atmosphere that year, including a notorious September hoax in which aircraft engineering apprentices planted fake saucers across southern England. That episode mobilised police, bomb disposal, RAF helicopters and MoD intelligence before being exposed as a practical joke. [The Guardian]theguardian.comOpen source on theguardian.com.

The hoax was not the Berry Head sighting and should not be used to debunk it by association. Its relevance is narrower: it shows that 1967 was a year in which flying-saucer stories could travel fast, attract official attention, and become part of a wider climate of expectation. In that atmosphere, a coastal sighting could be remembered vividly even if its paperwork later vanished.

Where do UFOs come from? (1967) | RetroFocus

Channel: ABC News (Australia) · Views: 129.3K · Uploaded: January 2021 · Length: 7 minutes

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What can be said responsibly now

The most careful wording is this: a UFO sighting was reported over Brixham on 28 April 1967, with later accounts linking it to Berry Head Coastguard station, but the surviving public evidence is thin and the relevant Coastguard station record is not held by HM Coastguard. That makes it an unresolved archive problem, not a confirmed close encounter.

The official records gap slightly weakens the case as evidence for an unusual object, because it removes the best route to checking time, bearing, weather, witness roles, instruments used, and whether any ordinary explanation was noted at the time. It also weakens claims that the Coastguard observation can be cited as a firm official confirmation. The 2020 MCA response confirms the record trail problem, not the UFO. [WhatDoTheyKnow]whatdotheyknow.comWhat Do They KnowWhat Do They Know

At the same time, the gap does not erase the local story. The Brixham report still belongs in Devon’s UFO history because it shows how coastal sightings are preserved: partly through local memory, partly through paranormal catalogues, partly through later online retelling, and partly through the negative evidence of an official request that found the key station record missing. For a county with busy sea horizons, headlands, aviation routes and strong local press traditions, that is a useful lesson.

The Berry Head case therefore works best as a caution beside Devon’s more documented 1967 material. It asks a simple but important question: when a UFO story depends on an official log that no longer exists, how much weight should later readers give it? The honest answer is limited weight — enough to record the claim, not enough to treat it as established.

Berry Head illustration 3

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Endnotes

  1. Source: whatdotheyknow.com
    Title: What Do They Know
    Link: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/sighting_of_ufo_berry_head_april/response/1663671/attach/3/Response%20Letter%20ID3573.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1

  2. Source: paranormaldatabase.com
    Title: The Paranormal Database
    Link: https://www.paranormaldatabase.com/reports/ufodata.php?pageNum_paradata=1

  3. Source: whatdotheyknow.com
    Title: What Do They Know
    Link: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/sighting_of_ufo_berry_head_april
    Source snippet

    Sighting of UFO Berry Head April 1967 - a Freedom of Information request to Maritime and Coastguard Agency - WhatDoTheyKnow...

    Published: April 1967

  4. Source: publications.parliament.uk
    Link: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201213/cmselect/cmtran/writev/coastguard/m13.htm

  5. Source: hansard.parliament.uk
    Title: uk Unidentified Flying Objects
    Link: https://hansard.parliament.uk/Lords/1998-10-14/debates/2465cab9-cc68-431d-a829-c88f4d507610/UnidentifiedFlyingObjects

  6. Source: paranormaldatabase.com
    Link: https://paranormaldatabase.com/devon/devodata.php/1000?pageNum_paradata=2

  7. Source: ia601405.us.archive.org
    Link: https://ia601405.us.archive.org/28/items/B-001-014-055/B-001-014-055.pdf

  8. Source: archives.gov
    Link: https://www.archives.gov/research/topics/uaps/rg-collections

  9. Source: paulstamp.me
    Link: https://paulstamp.me/2017/07/

  10. Source: countryside-trust.org.uk
    Title: Torbay Coast & Countryside Trust Things To Do Brixham
    Link: https://www.countryside-trust.org.uk/visit/brixham/

  11. Source: nationalarchives.gov.uk
    Title: The National Archives UFO reports
    Link: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/explore-the-collection/explore-by-time-period/postwar/ufo-reports/

  12. Source: theguardian.com
    Link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/03/alien-invasion-hoax-fooled-ministry

  13. Source: Wikipedia
    Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berry

  14. Source: Wikipedia
    Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brixham

  15. Source: cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    Link: https://cdn.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents/the-ufo-files-extract.pdf

  16. Source: nationalarchives.gov.uk
    Link: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/ufos/

  17. Source: discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk
    Link: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/record?catid=1772222&catln=6

  18. Source: nationalarchives.gov.uk
    Title: Website search results: ufo UFOs · Help with your research
    Link: https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/search/results/?_q=ufo

  19. Source: theguardian.com
    Link: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2007/may/03/spaceexploration.military

  20. Source: theguardian.com
    Title: ufo sightings x files
    Link: https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2009/aug/17/ufo-sightings-x-files

  21. Source: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
    Title: mca foi and eir disclosure log january to june 2021.ods
    Link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/620505b5d3bf7f3149a3e136/mca-foi-and-eir-disclosure-log-january-to-june-2021.ods
    Published: june 2021

  22. Source: GOV.UK
    Title: major search after reports of cliff drama in torquay
    Link: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/major-search-after-reports-of-cliff-drama-in-torquay

  23. Source: GOV.UK
    Title: hm coastguard rescue coordination centre contact details
    Link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hm-coastguard-rescue-coordination-centre-contact-details

  24. Source: GOV.UK
    Title: ufo reports in the uk
    Link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ufo-reports-in-the-uk

  25. Source: brixhamtowncouncil.gov.uk
    Link: https://www.brixhamtowncouncil.gov.uk/places-to-visit/

Additional References

  1. Source: youtube.com
    Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyV-FFU1BQg
    Source snippet

    Berry head coastguard devon ufo Ghost caught on camera in daylight on a Scottish river...

  2. Source: youtube.com
    Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D72mta0yPI
    Source snippet

    Where do UFOs come from? (1967) | RetroFocus...

  3. Source: youtube.com
    Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p9yTJaee6g
    Source snippet

    UFO News: "Rendlesham Incident" Documents Missing in British National Archives -- Report...

  4. Source: youtube.com
    Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuaI9LaR5m4
    Source snippet

    Audio Recording of Witness's Terrifying UFO Sighting | UFO Witness | Travel Channel...

  5. Source: booking.com
    Link: https://www.booking.com/city/gb/brixham-aireborough.en-gb.html

  6. Source: seriouseats.com
    Link: https://www.seriouseats.com/berry-types-what-are-olallieberries-tayberries-loganberries

  7. Source: bto.org
    Link: https://www.bto.org/learn/about-birds/behaviour/bird-behaviour-eating-berries-and-fruit/id-guide-berries

  8. Source: berryworld.com
    Link: https://www.berryworld.com/en-gb

  9. Source: x.com
    Link: https://x.com/BerryHeadCRT

  10. Source: facebook.com
    Link: https://www.facebook.com/berryheadcoastguard/?locale=en_GB

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