The Salthill UFO encounter took place on a cold Sunday morning in Galway, on the 23rd of February 1986. (When I first wrote this down in 2016 I was convinced that this was the only time that I had seen something that didn’t belong in our skies. It was later proven that this was not the case.)

An Unexpected Adventure

The 1986 experience kicked off an unexpected adventure, one that took me from the hills of Salthill to the icy shores of Greenland.

The pleasures of life in Galway were simple. For me, one of the finest was walking along the coastal promenade: “the prom,” as everyone called it. My neighbours in Fairlands Park had a boisterous ten-month-old puppy named Rocky, and I often took him out to burn off some of that boundless energy.

That morning was a fine one: after a spell of rain, the skies had cleared to a mostly blue expanse, bright with sun. A crisp layer of frost still clung to the grass in the field.

“Come on, Rocky,” I said, tugging at his leash. “Let’s get a move on before the weather changes its mind.”

It was about eleven o’clock when we began making our way up the hill on Dalysfort Road toward Salthill Beach.

The sky was a patchwork of moody grey and brilliant blue, and I was trying to guess whether we’d get soaked. As I tilted my head back, scanning the clouds, something caught my eye.

The Cigar-Shaped Object

Framed perfectly between the rooftops of a row of houses a solid, grey, cigar-shaped object hung silently in the air. It was utterly still. Rocky, meanwhile, was far more interested in a promising-looking patch of grass.

I didn’t have my 35mm camera with me, a fact I’d regret for years. The object seemed to be hovering a mile or two away, just above the rooftops, as motionless as myself, as I stood there contemplating it and looking for a “rational” explanation.

“It looks like a Zeppelin,” I finally murmured to myself, and dismissed the idea that I was seeing a UFO.

So, I continued the walk. And I kept the object in my sights. Due to the change in perspective, a house and some trees slid in front of it, temporarily, for few seconds, blocking my view.

Naturally, I expected the object to reappear on the other side as we cleared the obstruction.

But it didn’t. The patch of sky where it should have been was empty.

Searching for Answers

“Hold on a minute,” I said, turning around. Rocky looked up at me, confused. I walked back to the exact spot where I’d first seen it. Nothing. The sky was just sky. A slow-moving blimp would still be there, or at least nearby. This was just… gone.

It had vanished in a matter of seconds. I paced back and forth three more times in disbelief. Rocky started whimpering, having had quite enough of this strange game of back and forth. We carried on our walk.

Down at the Salthill promenade, we turned left at the corner store. The green across the road was buzzing with activity. In spring 2016 a full-blown festival was underway. At the seafront, I scanned the wide-open sky one more time. Clear.

Seeking Witnesses

A question crossed my mind: could others have seen the same object as me? I overcame my naturally shy nature to quiz a few people milling about:

“Have you just seen a blimp or any balloons in the sky here?” It felt like being a market researcher. I just got shrugs and shakes of the head in response

I’d already given up hope of finding anyone else to ask when I spotted my friend, Jim, who owned the local amusement arcade. “Jim, good to see you!” I shouted over the noise of a live band. “What’s all this then?”

“College Week, Eric!” he grinned. “Or Rag Week, depending on how much of a mess they make. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Not a ghost,” I said, lowering my voice. “More like… a blimp? Did you see anything up there in the sky? Big, grey, cigar-shaped?”

Jim laughed. “The only thing I’ve seen in the sky is my profits from the slot machines. You’ve been working too hard, mate.” He gave me a funny look, and we left it at that. College week carried on and came to a close on the 1st of March.

Galway Advertiser archive, 27th February, 1986 pg. 21:
“COLLEGE Week is in full swing at the moment. Tonight is a fancy dress Rock ‘n Roll night at Leisureland with John Keogh and Full Circle.“

From this, College week 1986 ran from Sunday, February 23, to Saturday, March 1, 1986. There are no other records for the timing of College Week in 1986.

A “thank you” goes to the archivist of the Galway Advertiser.

Headlines

About two weeks later, I went on another walk to Salthill promenade. I went inside inside the Western House corner store to buy cigarettes. Scanning the magazine rack, a headline suddenly jumped out at me:

“UFO flap reported over Irish coast and England”. My heart hammered in my chest. I grabbed the magazine and read the article right there and then. It turned out I wasn’t the only one who had seen strange things that week.

It was a small piece of a much larger puzzle.

Parallel Sightings at about the same time

“Charles in UFO Riddle”
On 23rd February 1986: according to the Sunday Mirror, Prince Charles was flying over the Irish Sea in a RAF VC-10, returning from the USA. The pilot reported a glowing red object to Shannon air traffic control that had lit up the cockpit. The Ministry of Defence confirmed there was no danger. Other aircraft in the area reported the same object.

• Miles Johnston, an investigator in Belfast, saw a red fireball with a tail over the Irish Sea on 23rd February and reported it to Armagh Observatory. This account appears in “Northern UFO News, number 118” from 1986.
• In his book “Extra-Terrestrials Among Us,” George Clinton Andrews recounts the Prince Charles incident. Prince Charles is quoted as saying, “I felt I was in the presence of something outside our knowledge or control,” though the book cites tabloid sources.
• Five witnesses reported nocturnal lights over the Irish Sea during this period (the website that held this reference is offline 13.09.2025).

From Salthill, Galway, the Irish Sea lies to the east, less than 200 miles away – a distance any aircraft or UFO could easily cover in minutes.

30 years later

I banished this memory for almost 30 years. In 2016 I reengaged and reconstructed what I had seen that day in 1986, close to Mutton Island in Galway. I would soon discover that this spot had a history of strange sightings.

When I revisited my 1986 Salthill UFO sighting in 2016, I reported it to MUFON for the first time. Trying to remember as much detail as possible, I decided to remotely investigate the beach over which the object had been hovering.

I was surprised to find on Google maps various odd circles. They reminded me of the X-Files episode “Biogenesis.” I measured them.

Wait, hadn’t I seen this before, on Claddagh beach in 1999? I remembered having taken a photo of one of these circles from the ground, for my website “Virtual Galway.” I remembered walking around Claddagh beach at the time, asking numerous people if they knew what these circles were. I didn’t get an answer.

Were these circles maybe a new type of “permanent crop circle,” so to speak? I was very hopeful.

In 2016, after some research, however, they began to remind me of the Miami circles, remnants of prehistoric roundhouses. Therefore, eager to get to the bottom of this, I contacted the archaeological department of the University of Galway, to find out if they had any information on these circles.

Within two hours Dr. Sherlock (that’s really his name), the Director of the Galway Archaeological Field School, responded: the structures were designed by Martin Byrne and Padraig Conway as part of the ‘Solas Atlantis Galway 1993’ art project. I thanked Sherlock, telling him that I had actually contacted the archaeologist Martin Byrne 5 days before.

I also mentioned that I had linked the circles to a UFO sighting, and that Martin was probably laughing all the way to the pub about that:

I wrote that email in jest. How could Martin have any information on unidentified flying objects, right? Surely, there was no connection of an art installation to any cosmic conundrum?

Then, the creator of the circles, Martin Byrne, got back to me. He had named the circles “Solas Atlantis“, apparently from Old Irish solas (“light, brightness”), related to solus (“light”) in Latin. Source of light was originally always the sun (sōl).

Martin said that this was an environmental art project loosely inspired by native American medicine wheels, Irish megalithic art, and the projected sewage plant on Mutton Island.

What Martin Byrne didn’t mention explicitly was the connection of his art installation to the origin story of the Irish people, the legend of the Tuatha De Danann.

The Tuatha Dé Danann came in great ships like clouds, that flew through the air and brought with them magical items, for instance a sword of light (light-sabre, anyone?) They were God-like beings, sometimes called “the shining ones”, immune to ageing and sickness, with the abilities of healing and shape-shifting. They brought civilization, arts and advanced skills to Ireland. The legend of the Tuatha was written down in the eleventh century, well before George Lucas wrote Star Wars.

Was it here, over Galway Bay, that the mythological Tuatha Dé Danann arrived in dark cloud ships and landed on a mountain further inland?

In a sense, the Salthill UFO sighting and connected events are a verification of the Southern route…

intermission:
The Tuatha Dé Danann as Ancient Astronauts: From Galway to Cong

The legends of the Tuatha Dé Danann read less like an ordinary migration tale and more like the memory of an extraordinary descent. In ancient astronaut interpretations, these figures are seen as otherworldly beings whose arrival reshaped Ireland’s landscape and whose legacy survives in the great stone monuments scattered across the island. Where later ages saw impenetrable cairns and massive tombs, the myth supplied an answer: they were built by gods who came from the sky.

The manuscripts describe them arriving in “ships that flew through the air,” a phrase that resonates uncannily with modern visions of spacecraft. They brought with them shining artifacts of immense power – tools or technologies that early chroniclers could only describe as magical treasures. Their arrival story functions as a mythic technology-transfer: beings descending from above, demonstrating feats of construction and energy beyond the scope of any human community of the time.

The Southern Route through Galway

In this retelling, their landing at Galway Bay takes on the quality of a controlled descent. The Claddagh becomes a liminal zone, the chosen beachhead for their craft. From there, they did not disperse aimlessly; instead they advanced inland in formation, following the River Corrib into the vast inland sea of Lough Corrib (Oirbsean). Each landmark became etched with their presence: Galway linked to a maiden of their retinue, Maigh Cuilinn named for their navigator, the lake consecrated to the sea-lord Manannán, perhaps remembered as a commander.

Knockma as a Signal Hill

The imposing limestone mass of Knockma (Cnoc Meadha) rises along their route. Crowned with ancient cairns, it becomes in this reading a natural command post, a hilltop transformed into a beacon or observation point. Later folklore remembered it as the seat of Fionnbharr, king of the fairies, but in the ancient astronaut perspective it recalls the elevated stations from which the newcomers might have surveyed or directed their activities.

Cong and the Cairns of Moytura

The culmination of their advance is at Cong, the battlefield of Moytura. Here the legends place their great war with the Fir Bolg. Ballymacgibbon Cairn, massive and unopened, could be read as a repository or installation; Ecohy’s Cairn, bound to a fallen king, may in fact mark a burial with cosmic significance; Daithi’s Cairn, vast like the monuments of Sligo, forms part of a great terrestrial network. These are not random tombs but nodes in a prehistoric system, aligned with myth and memory.

A Landscape Reforged

What emerges is a cognitive map transformed into a sacred grid. Galway Bay, Corrib, Knockma, and Cong become stages in a procession of beings from beyond. Their story sanctifies the land, but it also encodes memory of technology and power beyond ordinary human means. Whether remembered as gods, fairies, or ancestors, the Tuatha Dé Danann fit within the wider pattern of ancient astronaut lore: those who descended from the skies, forged landscapes into symbols, and left behind monuments too great to forget.

In a more modern context, the Claddagh, Galway’s oldest district, was selected as the site for the “Solas Atlantis” environmental art project, which created geoglyphs and Medicine Wheels inspired by Irelands megalithic designs, highlighting its role as a nexus. From the Claddagh beach, one can see both the cairn-dotted landscape of the Burren and the ancient stone forts of the Aran Islands, making it a symbolic bridge connecting the urban present to the monumental past.

Creating map of the arrival of the Tuatha DeDanaan,

Name,Latitude,Longitude,Type
Claddagh (Galway),53.269037,-9.056382,Landing
Cong,53.555384,-9.289087,Battlefield
Poulnabrone Dolmen,53.0426,-9.1373,Neolithic
Knockma (Cnoc Meadha),53.48186,-8.96054,Cairn
Knocknarea (Maeve’s Cairn),54.2589,-8.5746,Cairn
Heapstown Cairn,54.095,-8.34855,Cairn
Labby Rock,54.090495,-8.312838,Portal Tomb
Shee Lugh (Moytura),54.089,-8.345,Cairn
Sliabh an Iarainn,54.092275,-7.973237,Landing
Lough Arrow,54.05656,-8.33593,Lake
Lough Allen,54.096,-8.075,Lake

The Arrival of the Tuatha Dé Danann – Southern Tradition (Galway → Cong)

1. Galway Bay / Claddagh — First Sight of Ireland

• Coordinates: 53.269037, –9.056382
• Event: The fleet of the Tuatha Dé Danann appears out of sea-mist, entering Galway Bay and beaching near the Claddagh.
• Mythic detail: Here they perform the ritual burning of their great ships — symbolically severing ties to the Otherworld.
• Interpretation: This act need not mean the destruction of every vessel; rather, it marks their irrevocable settlement. Smaller craft (or magically preserved ships) could still carry them inland.
• Archaeological echo: Across the bay, the Poulnabrone Dolmen (53.0426, –9.1373) and other Burren tombs anchor this landfall in a Stone Age landscape.

2. The Passage Inland — River Corrib and Lough Oirbsean

• Coordinates (southern Lough Corrib): ~53.45, –9.33
• Event: After their landing ritual, the Tuatha Dé Danann move inland via the River Corrib into the vast expanse of Lough Corrib (anciently called Oirbsean, linked to Manannán mac Lir).
• Mythic detail: This inland voyage is described as a fleet moving through an inland sea, carrying the host of gods toward battle.
• Archaeological echo: Shores of Corrib are dotted with cairns, crannogs, and megaliths — prehistoric staging points.

3. Knockma (Cnoc Meadha) — The Fairy Hill of Connacht

• Coordinates: 53.48186, –8.96054
• Event: En route northward, the Tuatha are tied to Knockma, the limestone hill later famed as the seat of Fionnbharr, king of the Connacht fairies.
• Mythic detail: Cairns atop Knockma (including Cesair’s Cairn) link this site to the earliest layers of invasion lore.
• Archaeological echo: Neolithic cairns at the summit, later reused in fairy lore.

4. Cong — Plains of Moytura (First Battlefield)

• Coordinates: 53.555384, –9.289087
• Event: The Tuatha Dé Danann reach Cong, the narrow neck between Lough Corrib and Lough Mask. Here they meet the Fir Bolg.
• Mythic detail: The First Battle of Moytura unfolds across the plains; Nuada loses his arm, King Eochaid of the Fir Bolg is slain.
• Archaeological echo:
  • Ballymacgibbon Cairn (~53.530, –9.280): vast unopened passage grave, linked to the slain of Moytura.
  • Ecohy’s Cairn (Carn Eochaid) (~53.568, –9.270): said to be the burial mound of King Eochaid.
  • Daithi’s Cairn (~53.628, –9.225): immense cairn further north, reinforcing the sacred battlefield landscape.
  • Stone circles, standing stones, and other cairns cluster around Cong and Cross.

Map 2: The Northern Tradition (Sligo)

This tradition is based on 20th-century scholarly analysis, which argues that a mistranslation moved the site of the First Battle of Moytura to Cong. This perspective holds that both great battles occurred in County Sligo, a region with an unparalleled concentration of Neolithic monuments that provide a fitting backdrop for a race of master builders.  

Route and Key Locations:

Arrival Point: Sligo Bay While not explicitly stated as a landing point, the concentration of the most significant and earliest Neolithic sites around Sligo Bay, such as Carrowmore and Knocknarea, makes it the logical entry point for this tradition.  

Heartland of Danann Activity: Instead of a linear route, this tradition proposes that the entire Sligo region was the primary center of the Tuatha Dé Danann’s power and the locus of their conflict with the Firbolg.

Key Archaeological and Mythological Sites:

The traditional site of the Second Battle of Moytura is located on the plain of Kilmactranny, east of Lough Arrow and in the shadow of Carrowkeel. The geographical coherence of the Second Battle’s location lends strong support to the argument that the First Battle also took place in Sligo.  

Myth and Mystery: The Arrival of the Tuatha Dé Danann

The story of the Tuatha Dé Danann arriving in ships that landed on a mountain is most prominently featured in the Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of the Taking of Ireland). This collection of poems and prose recounts the mythical origins of the Irish people.

According to these accounts, the Tuatha Dé Danann – a race of god-like beings with mastery over magic and craftsmanship – arrived in Ireland under a shroud of mystery. The texts describe them coming in “dark clouds” or “flying ships,” which enveloped the land in shadow for three days. The striking image of a people making their initial appearance on a mountaintop enhances the mythical nature of their arrival.

Reclamation, Not Refuge

Their journey is best understood as a reclamation of ancestral lands rather than a flight to asylum. Some scholarly interpretations draw parallels between the story of the Tuatha Dé Danann and the biblical narrative of the Israelites returning from exile.

The Book of Invasions
§55-64: The Tuatha de Dannan
https://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/lebor4.html

The Four Jewels of the Tuatha Dé Danann
https://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/jewels.html

… and the lasting folklore of the Tuatha Dé Danann is that they will return. In fact, some folk prophecy states that they will return for one last great battle, some end-of-the-world scenario, some apocalypse, and that they will be victorious.

I have made several FOI requests, regarding Irish and British UFO sightings for 1985-1986 and I will update this page when they are released (date of writing 27.August. 2025). This is regarding the Prince Charles UFO and Shannon ATC. More information is on Facebook.