High Strange – Episode 03: Exam Conditions

Podcast by: Tenderfoot TV & iHeartPodcasts
Date: February 20, 2026
Host: Payne Lindsay
Main Guests: Dave (Broadhaven primary witness), Dave’s mother, Rancher from Oregon (segment)

Episode Overview

This episode continues High Strange's deep dive into mysterious encounters, focusing on a celebrated mass sighting at a Welsh primary school in the 1970s — the Broadhaven UFO incident — before expanding into the wave of bizarre events and subsequent contamination from hoaxes that followed. The episode examines themes of collective memory, social trust, skepticism, and how extraordinary events are investigated, explained, or lost to ridicule. In the final segment, the show explores cattle mutilations in the US, setting up contrasts between physical evidence and ephemeral, subjective accounts.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Broadhaven Primary School Sighting: Firsthand Memories

• Dave’s Recollection (03:13–09:15):

  • At age 10, Dave, a voracious reader and skeptic, recounts his classmates’ excitement during lunch break: "They were describing it as a flying saucer. It didn't seem like they were having a joke...they actually sounded like they meant it." (03:41)
  • Despite initial disbelief, Dave investigates and sees a "silver, 45ft long object" rising silently from behind the trees: "I've got something in front of me that shouldn't exist but does." (04:50)
  • He describes receiving an intrusive mental message: "There was a suggestion there that I should leave the area." (06:12) He notes, "It was more like a caution. Please leave the area. I've been told to get away." (06:19)

• Aftermath: Emotional and Cognitive Disturbances (06:42–08:08):

  • The children ride home in "complete silence... didn't say a word" despite the extraordinary experience (07:13).
  • Dave is "switched back on again" only when he arrives home and blurts out his story to his mother (07:40), who believes him instantly.

2. The School's Skeptical Response: 'Exam Conditions'

• Headmaster’s Test (09:42–11:40):

  • The headmaster isolates all 14 claimants, seating them separately and asking each to draw and describe what they saw.
  • All independently draw nearly identical objects: silver cigar shapes with domes and a red light. "The headmaster... went white. All of those illustrations depicted the same object." (10:30)
  • The school faces a press frenzy, with national and then international attention.

• Mother’s Perspective:

  • "I believe they saw something which is not common in the environment." (11:59)

3. Wider Social and Official Fallout

• Official Inquiry (12:10–13:29):
  • Media storm ensues. Military officials (RAF Broady, US Naval facility) interview witnesses, still state “nothing to do with us.”
  • Broadhaven becomes the center of the so-called Welsh Triangle: "Silver scar shaped objects sighted off the Gower Swansea coast. Another one in Larn... The Welsh Triangle." (19:08)
  • Sightings continue and become more dramatic, now involving reports of “occupants.”

4. Escalation: The Silver Suited Figure and Contamination by Hoaxes

• Poltergeist-Like Events & the 'Silver Man' (20:44–22:25):

  • Ripperston Farm incident: a family reports seeing large, faceless, silver-suited beings (“The arms were exceptionally long, their legs were exceptionally long and they definitely didn't have face.” – 21:57)
  • Police consider them the most frightened family they encountered (22:44).

• Hoaxes and Social Noise (23:12–26:23):

  • Ministry of Defence (MoD) inquiry is short-circuited when an adult is spotted in a silver fire-suit, hoaxing as an alien.
  • The region is now awash with pranks (a dislodged bomber fuel tank placed as a fake ‘crash’, others making up stories for tobacco).
  • Dave notes most children remain consistent in their accounts, but "you always get a couple of kids who will jump on a bandwagon." (30:02)
  • The interviewer comments: "This is how real events get buried. Not by disproving them, by surrounding them with stupidity until nobody wants to touch them." (30:32)

5. Enduring Family Belief and Reasonable Skepticism

• Dave’s Mother’s Testimony (Phone Call) (31:28–33:28):

  • She instantly believed Dave, knowing her son’s honesty: "I could always tell if he was telling me a fib or not. But I knew this was genuine." (32:03)
  • Still convinced, noting the story has never unraveled among the witnesses.

• Personal Reflections After 50 Years (33:35–37:33):

  • Dave’s theorizing evolves: extraterrestrial, interdimensional, hidden earth intelligence—all considered. “A lot of it makes no sense... an intergalactic visitor be coming here to look at primary school kids?” (36:03)
  • “If suddenly declassified documents... said sorry, it was one of ours, I would be happy with that. But it's been 50 years... and nothing.” (37:03–37:33)

6. Broader Narrator Reflection: The Drift from Agency to Autopilot

• Narrator’s Monologue (38:00–40:26):
  • Reflects on how systems, belief, and skepticism work: “You lose control in small handoffs... Until suddenly you look up and realize a lot of your life is running on autopilot.”
  • Cautions against “drifting,” paralleling how consensus around strange events ebbs away over time.

7. Segue to Physical Evidence: Cattle Mutilations

• Oregon Rancher’s Story (40:26–44:15):
  • Details the discovery of two mutilated bulls—surgically removed testicles, penis, and tongue; no blood/fight/struggle marks.
  • Observes surgical precision: “Whoever's doing this understands anatomy. I mean, surgical precision... At no point in my life have I ever experienced anything like that.” (43:44)
  • Introduces theme of physical traces vs. ephemeral, witness-driven events.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “There was a suggestion there that I should leave the area.”
  — Dave, describing a foreign, cautionary thought upon seeing the craft (06:12)
• “The headmaster went round, gathered up the pieces of paper, started looking... and went white. All of those illustrations depicted the same object.”
  — Dave, on the corroborating drawings done under 'exam conditions' (10:30)
• “This is how real events get buried. Not by disproving them, by surrounding them with stupidity until nobody wants to touch them.”
  — Interviewer, on the effect of hoaxes and ridicule (30:32)
• “If they had lied, somebody would have spilled the beans by now, and this has never, ever happened. They still tell you exactly what happened... all these years later.”
  — Dave’s mother (32:30)
• “If suddenly declassified documents... said, okay, it was one of ours, I would be happy with that... But it's been 50 years and nothing.”
  — Dave (37:03–37:33)
• “You lose control in one big moment. You lose it in small handoffs... Did I actually choose this, or am I just going along with it because it's easier? ...We just need to stay awake inside it.”
  — Host/Narrator, reflecting on agency, belief, and the drift into autopilot (38:00)
• “Whoever's doing this understands anatomy. I mean, surgical precision... At no point in my life have I ever experienced anything like that.”
  — Rancher on bull mutilations (43:44)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• [03:13] – Dave recounts the original Broadhaven sighting
• [06:09] – The strange, intrusive “suggestion” to leave the area
• [09:42] – School headmaster isolates witnesses under exam conditions
• [10:30] – All children independently draw the same object
• [12:10] – Global media and official investigations descend on Broadhaven
• [18:29] – Wave of sightings; the 'Broadhaven Triangle' is born
• [20:44] – Ripperston Farm; the escalation to occupant encounters
• [23:12] – Hoaxers muddy the waters; official inquiries collapse
• [31:28] – Dave and his mother discuss belief, memory, and family trust
• [33:35] – Dave’s present-day thoughts: still no satisfying answers
• [38:00] – Host’s broader meditative reflection on belief and control
• [40:26] – Rancher’s chilling account of cattle mutilation in Oregon

Conclusion

This episode masterfully reconstructs the Broadhaven school sighting and the explosive aftermath, spotlighting both the emotional intensity and the skepticism that shape such events. Through engaging firsthand testimony, it explores the mechanics of group witness, the corrosive effects of ridicule and hoax, and the search for meaning in phenomena that resist tidy explanations. The narrative’s pivot to physical evidence in later cases raises the enduring challenge: are we dealing with mass delusions, something stranger, or evidence radically misunderstood? High Strange continues to embrace curiosity and doubt in equal measure, asking listeners to withhold easy conclusions — but never to shy away from the questions.