The Schoolyard

Summary

Radio Rental: "The Schoolyard"

Release Date: February 6, 2026
Host: Payne Lindsey (Tenderfoot TV & Audacy)
Main Theme:
This episode of Radio Rental delves into one of Britain’s most famous UFO encounters—the 1977 Broadhaven Primary School sighting in Wales. Through documentary storytelling and first-hand witness testimony, the show explores the boundaries between skepticism, reality, and the possible paranormal, all told with the show’s trademark eerie ambiance and surreal 1980s video shop fiction.

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Episode Overview

• Story Focus: First-person account of a mass UFO sighting by children at Broadhaven Primary School in Wales, exploring themes of skepticism, memory, and unexplained phenomena.
• Tone: Candid and reflective, with flashes of curiosity, paranoia, and the otherworldly, grounded by the witness’s skepticism and matter-of-fact storytelling.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Setting the Scene: The School and the Sighting

• [00:38] The first witness recounts the ordinary school atmosphere and his initial skepticism about UFOs:
  • “The school was very much like a small family. It was only 125 pupils. We were all close. It was a nice atmosphere to grow up in.”
• Bad weather kept some students inside, but those outside at lunchtime begin reporting seeing a "flying saucer."
• Despite persistent reports, the headmaster dismisses claims as a joke, matching the skeptical POV of the narrator.

2. Personal Experience: Confronting the Unbelievable

• [02:00–03:41] The witness describes breaking personal skepticism after seeing the object himself:
  • “I stepped over the primitive fence and as I got one foot over it literally rose up from behind trees. I froze… it was about 45ft long, silver… What I'm seeing in front of me is real. I've got something in front of me that shouldn't exist but does.”
• He experiences an unsettling, alien “thought” urging him to leave, not out of fear but “like a caution.”
  • Quote [03:44]:
    • UFO Witness: “Something that wasn't mine. There was a suggestion there that I should leave the area.”

3. The Aftermath: Silence and Shock

• [04:35–05:19] The group’s odd, silent reaction on the taxi ride home:
  • “We should have been talking. We should have been excited, but it was like we were just staring blankly ahead, going home.”
• Upon arriving home, the shock clears and he immediately tells his mother:
  • “I just said, I’ve just seen a flying saucer. I mean, my mother knows me. There was no disbelief.”

4. Investigation and Witness Corroboration

• Returns to the site with his mother and later a local reporter, Hugh Turnbull—find signs of physical disturbance (broken branch, damaged telephone pole).
• [06:08–08:13]
  • Headmaster pulls all witnesses aside, isolates them, and has them each draw what they saw under exam conditions.
  • All students create nearly identical depictions—a “silver scar [cigar] shaped object, a dome... with a red light on top.”
  • Quote [08:14]:
    • UFO Witness: “It pretty much confirms that we all saw the same thing.”

5. Media Frenzy and Authority Involvement

• [08:19–09:06]
  • The story reaches the press and quickly goes national; school is besieged by media.
  • Headmaster receives calls, becomes overwhelmed.
  • Children are interviewed, their drawings and accounts reviewed by RAF and US naval base staff, who neither confirm nor deny but validate the children’s sincerity.

6. Revisiting and Reflecting: Enduring Mystery

• [10:02–11:11]
  • Multiple witnesses confirm the “cigar-shaped object with a dome and orange/red light.”
  • The primary witness wrestles with the implications and shifting beliefs:
    • “Over the years … sometimes I’m sure it’s aliens. Sometimes, I’m sure it’s not.”
    • “Some of these objects seem to be showing the ability to dimensionally change… like disappearing in a puff of logic. They don’t seem to operate on the same physical plane as conventional aircraft.”

7. Skepticism, Wonder, and Unanswered Questions

• [12:12–12:31]
  • The witness is candid about desires and doubts regarding the UFO’s true origin:
    • “Perhaps there is a desire in me that I would like it to be aliens or an interdimensional species.”
    • Payne Lindsay: “But it’s been 50 years.”
    • UFO Witness: “Yeah. And absolutely nothing.”

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the shared experience:
  • “All of those illustrations depicted the same object… his kids had seen something. It totally blew his mind and he didn’t know what to think.” [07:15]
• On the unspeakable, irresistible urge to leave:
  • “Something that wasn’t mine. There was a suggestion there that I should leave the area.” [03:44]
• On the paradoxes of the phenomenon:
  • “Some of these objects seem to be showing the ability to dimensionally change… disappearing in a puff of logic… don’t seem to operate on the same physical plane.” [11:19]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:38]: Childhood and school context; first student sightings
• [02:00–03:41]: Personal encounter with the UFO
• [03:44]: The unexplained compulsion to leave
• [04:35–05:19]: Silent taxi ride and telling his mother
• [06:08–08:13]: Group witness drawings; headmaster’s reaction
• [08:19–09:06]: Media and military attention
• [10:02–11:11]: Audio of additional witnesses; reflection on the event
• [11:12–12:39]: Philosophical takeaways and lingering doubts

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Final Thoughts

Radio Rental’s "The Schoolyard" delivers a chilling, deeply human account of a mass UFO sighting—balancing immediate experience, skepticism, and wonder with the atmospheric storytelling the series is known for. The episode stands out for its unfiltered witness testimony, the eerie sense of shared reality, and the lingering enigma, leaving listeners questioning what’s really out there, decades on.

Transcript

[Payne Lindsay]

You're listening to a Tenderfoot TV podcast. Hey, guys. Payne Lindsay here. This special episode is brought to you by High Strange, a new podcast from Tenderfoot TV where we investigate UFOs, paranormal encounters and the people who experience them firsthand. Go check out High Strange right now on your podcast app.

[UFO Witness]

I was 10 at the time. I was coming up to 11. The school was very much like a small family. It was only 125 pupils. We were all close. It was a nice atmosphere to grow up in. It was a horrible day. It was drizzly. It was murky. It wasn't a good day for being out. Lunchtime came around. Thought I'd rather stay in and read a book than go out in that weather. But some of the kids went out. I was a very voracious reader at that time. The end of lunchtime they came in. Groups of them were saying that they'd seen something out in the playground. A number of them were saying that they'd seen an object. They were describing it as a flying saucer. It didn't seem like they were having a joke. It really didn't. They actually sounded like they meant it. But I am a total skeptic. I have no belief system. I don't believe in UFOs that simple as that. The teacher at the time was the headmaster, Ralph Llewell Allen. He dismissed it as a joke. The headmaster was dismissing it as some wind up that was going on, some joke that they were trying to play. We finally broke up at the end of school. I'm still not believing it. There's no way that flying sauce is gonna be happening around Pembrokeshire. Twinal Bell went at the end of. I went up to the top of the school to see if I could actually see anything. Investigate a bit closer. I stepped over the primitive fence and as I got one foot over it literally rose up from behind trees. I froze this thing. It was about 45ft long, silver. It was just rising from behind the trees vertically. No sense of repulsion at all. What I'm seeing in front of me is real. I've got something in front of me that shouldn't exist but does. Yeah. I have no problem with accepting that somewhere out in the cosmos there might be other life. But I didn't think it was visiting. I was looking at this thing. Was going to stand here and watch it for as long as I could. And that's where the weirdness sort of starts. There was a thought in my brain, I should leave.

[Payne Lindsay]

What do you mean a thought?

[UFO Witness]

Something that wasn't mine. There was a suggestion there that I should leave the area.

[Payne Lindsay]

So it wasn't like instinctual response.

[UFO Witness]

No, no, no, no, no. I had absolutely no fear at all. The moment that I appreciated what I had in front of me, I had that thought I should leave. It wasn't to run away out of fear. It was more like a caution. Please leave the area. I've been told to get away. I did run. Something that didn't come to me until a few years later. I can remember getting in the taxi and the journey home. The journey home was done in complete silence. All of us, including the taxi driver, didn't say a word.

[Payne Lindsay]

Wouldn't you guys be talking about this crazy thing you just saw?

[UFO Witness]

That's the weird thing. I was in a car with another two witnesses. A group of us had just seen a flying torture a ufo. We said nothing at all. Why? I don't know. We should have been talking. We should have been excited, but it was like we were just staring blankly ahead, going home. The taxi dropped me off about 10 minutes later. I got out the taxi and the moment I saw my mother, it was like, oomph. Mum just saw a ufo. It was like suddenly I'd switched back on again.

[Payne Lindsay]

What'd you tell your mom?

[UFO Witness]

I just said, I've just seen a flying saucer. I mean, my mother knows me. There was no disbelief. The moment I said it, she instantly saw that I was being truthful. We went back down to the school that night to have a look. Obviously, by then it got dark, it was February, saw nothing at all. Following day, we went back with a local reporter called Hugh Turnbull, who worked for the Western Telegraph. We went back down the school again, investigated the area in which I'd seen the object.

[Payne Lindsay]

What'd you see?

[UFO Witness]

There was a broken branch. Telephone pole had been dislodged which had just been recently repaired. The cross piece on the actual pole had been knocked at about 45 degrees. They couldn't really put it down to anything other than something knocking into it. There was no reasonable explanation for anything that we'd seen. By Monday morning, the national press were already phoning the school. Monday morning we got into school instantly. The headmaster pulled all of the ones who had claimed to have seen the UFO to one side and isolated us, about 14 of us. He then put us in exam conditions, sitting apart from each other with him observing, gave us all a piece of paper and said, I want you to describe and draw what you saw. We all drew the UFO that we'd seen. A brief description of It Then once we'd finished, the headmaster went round, gathered up the pieces of paper, started looking at the pieces of paper and went white. All of those illustrations depicted the same object. His kids had seen something. It totally blew his mind and he didn't know what to think. They all depicted a silver scar shaped object, a dome that covered the middle third of the craft with a red light on top. We all drew the same object. No collaboration whatsoever, no social media, no Internet, nothing.

[Payne Lindsay]

What does that tell you?

[UFO Witness]

It pretty much confirms that we all saw the same thing.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

Something strange came out of the skies and landed in the Welsh village of Broadhaven. It was spotted three times by children from the local school. I've just been on the phone to their headmaster. I know that 16 children saw it. And do they all see the same thing, do you think? I got them to draw and write what they saw with similarity between all their descriptions. And do you believe it?

[Additional Witness]

I believe they saw something which is.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

Not common in the environment.

[UFO Witness]

Media all around the world. TV crews arriving from everywhere.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

The children say the object had a large dome, it was cigar shaped and was silver in color.

[UFO Witness]

It sort of dawned on us at that time that this was something a little bit more serious than. Senior officers from RAF Rordy and the US Naval facility wanted to talk to us and find out what we'd seen. They looked at the illustrations we'd done, chatted with us as a group. They basically said, we have no idea what you've seen. We can categorically state it has nothing to do with us, but we honestly believe you've seen something. The phones were being left off the hook at the school. The headmaster was completely losing his will to live. We weren't trying to sensationalize it, we were just saying what had happened. If you can find the old clip. I think the old clips are still on YouTube and all.

[Additional Witness]

My friend Pelletier was trying to find a way over the stream and I was looking at the bushes up the top of the trees and then.

[Payne Lindsay]

Was that you?

[UFO Witness]

That was me. I remember that bloody top and that haircut that was in the school playground.

[Additional Witness]

The spaceship, it looks a cigar shape.

[UFO Witness]

With a dome on.

[Additional Witness]

Had yellowy orange to red light on the top of it. In Baldhaven in Wales, some extremely interesting pictures. Some of the things they told me they couldn't have known about. Impossible. My friend Philippe here was trying to find a way over the stream and I was looking at the bushes up the top in the trees and then suddenly this silver cigar shaped object seemed to pop up from behind the bushes, trying to take off. Then it disappeared again. Were you frightened at the time? Yes.

[Interviewer/Reporter]

Now we got some young people in the studio who claim to have had encounters of their very own.

[Additional Witness]

We just rang off, we were so scared.

[UFO Witness]

If there was a whole logic in the whole phenomena, it'd be a lot easier to pin down where you think this is coming from. Over the years, as I've been researching, I've been led down certain paths where I'm thinking, yeah, it's definitely aliens. It's got a bit. Yeah, yeah. And then all of a sudden there's, oh, no, it's not. It's not aliens. Some of these objects seem to be showing the ability to dimensionally changed. In some ways, it's almost like disappearing in a puff of logic. They don't seem to operate on the same physical plane as conventional aircraft. Unfortunately, my. My knowledge of quantum mechanics isn't good enough to actually sort of get down on this. But, I mean, don't think I haven't tried. Perhaps there is a desire in me that I would like it to be aliens or an interdimensional species or something like that.

[Payne Lindsay]

Why?

[UFO Witness]

Because it confirms that there's a greater universe out there. However, if suddenly declassified documents were made available from the mod or something that says, okay, sorry, it was one of those, I would be happy with that.

[Payne Lindsay]

But it's been 50 years.

[UFO Witness]

Yeah. And absolutely nothing.

[Payne Lindsay]

If that story stuck with you, there's a lot more waiting for you. Go check out High Strange right now on your podcast app. If you haven't heard the first season yet, you can go binge it. Season 2 of High Strange just dropped and is released every Friday. Thanks for listening and supporting, Tenderfoot. And don't worry, radio rental will be open again very soon.