UFO Over Galway Bay: The 1986 Salthill Encounter
Special Guest Column by Erich Habich-Traut
Greece, October 2025 – Editor’s Note: Erich Habich-Traut, the founder of The Contact Project ( https://contactproject.org/ ) has just finished a series of articles about his Galway Salthill sighting. In his submission, the Tuatha Dé Danann’s arrival through Galway Bay connects Ireland’s oldest legends with his own 1986 sighting and the cosmic spectacle of Shoemaker–Levy 9 striking Jupiter. Cairns, geoglyphs, and folklore encode a continuum of memory that links earth and sky. Their story remains one of return, reclamation, and cosmic alignment.
The Salthill UFO encounter occurred on a cold Sunday morning in Galway, 23 February 1986. When I first recorded the event in 2016, I believed it was the only time I had witnessed something that did not belong in our skies. Later, however, I realized that was not the case. The sighting unfolded in Salthill, but the object itself hovered out over the Claddagh.
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.
Life in Galway was simple. For me, one of the greatest pleasures 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. Although a cold spell persisted, the sky was a wide blue expanse, bright with sun and dotted with a few clouds. The grass in the field was still covered in a crisp layer of frost. The air was invigorating and fresh.
“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 and the weather in Ireland are notoriously changeable, so I examined the sky to check for any signs of rain. As I tilted my head back, scanning the clouds, something caught my eye.
THE CIGAR-SHAPED OBJECT RECONSTRUCTION
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 regretted for years. The object seemed to be hovering a mile or two away, just above the rooftops. I stood motionless, contemplating it and searching for a “rational” explanation.
“It looks like a Zeppelin,” I finally murmured to myself, dismissing the idea that I was seeing a UFO.
I continued walking, keeping the object in sight. 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. The object was gone.
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 in disbelief, willing it to reappear where it was before. But no cigar. Rocky whimpered impatiently. Finally, we carried on.
Down at the Salthill promenade, we turned left at the Western House corner store. The green across the road buzzed 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 WITNESS
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 headshakes in response
Then 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.
From The 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, we know 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.
Thanks go to the archivist of the Galway Advertiser.
HEADLINES
About two weeks later, I went on another walk to Salthill promenade. I went inside Western House corner store to buy cigarettes. Scanning the magazine rack, a headline jumped out:
“UFO flap reported over Irish coast and England”. My heart pounded. I grabbed the magazine and read the article right there and then. It turned out I wasn’t the only one who had seen something strange 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.” The book cites the Sunday Mirror as source.
From Galway, the Irish Sea lies less than 200 miles away, an easy distance for any aircraft or UFO.
DIFFERENT PHENOMENA
My own sighting that day at 11:00am in Galway, Eire, is not the same luminous fireball reported later that night. They are separate events, both occurring on the same date – 23 February 1986. What the Ministry of Defence UFO files (DEFE 31/174/1) do confirm is that other sightings were indeed logged that day, reported by airline crews, motorists, and air traffic controllers across the UK and Ireland.
THIRTY YEARS LATER
I had banished this memory for nearly 30 years. In 2016 I reengaged and reconstructed what I had seen that day in 1986, close to Mutton Island in Galway.
Reconstruction MUFON #82139, the Mutton Island lighthouse is in the background.
I reported the UFO to MUFON (Case #82139) and tried to recall every detail. Studying Google Maps, I noticed odd circles on Claddagh Beach. They reminded me of the X-Files episode “Biogenesis.” Wait, hadn’t I seen these before, in 1999?
DISCOVERY OF THE CLADDAGH CIRCLES
Indeed, I had photographed one for my website Virtual Galway and asked locals about them – no one knew.
Photograph taken from Claddagh beach in 1999.
How strange. Since no one knew what these were, I wondered if these circles were perhaps a new type of “permanent crop circle” – remnants of the 1986 sighting. I felt very hopeful. The mystery of these circles lingered in my mind. Their perfect geometry and unexplained origin seemed almost otherworldly, as if they were a message left behind.
A POSSIBLE ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONNECTION
After some research they began to remind me of the Miami circles, remnants of prehistoric roundhouses discovered in Florida. Eager to get to the bottom of this, I contacted the archaeological department at the University of Galway. I wondered if perhaps there was some overlooked archaeological significance.
Within two hours Dr. Sherlock (that’s really his name), the Director of the Galway Archaeological Field School, responded: the circle structures were designed by Martin Byrne and Padraig Conway as part of the ‘Solas Atlantis Galway 1993’ art project. I thanked Dr. Sherlock and added that I had already contacted archaeologist Martin Byrne five days earlier. In my message, I even joked that Martin was probably laughing all the way to the pub, since I had linked the circles to a UFO sighting:
Erich Habich <████████@gmail.com> Tue, Mar 22, 2016 at 9:32 PM
To: Rory Sherlock <████████@galway████████████████████.com>, Martin Byrne <████@gmail.com>
Hello Rory, thank you very much for the information.
5 days ago I actually emailed Martin Byrne asking if he knew about these structures.
Unfortunately, he didn't respond. He probably laughed all the way to the pub, since I linked the circles to an UFO sighting.
Maybe Martin Byrne has some information on that?
Just kidding.
Thanks, Eric
I wrote that email in jest. How could Martin have any information on unidentified flying objects, right? Surely, there was no connection between an art installation and any cosmic conundrum. But I would soon discover that this spot had a mythology of strange sightings. Curiosity turned into anticipation as I waited for Martin’s reply, wondering if there might still be a hidden story behind the art. The intersection of art, and my own experience was becoming increasingly compelling, drawing me further into the web of Galway’s mysteries.
THE ARTIST RESPONDED
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.
Martin said that this was an environmental art project, loosely inspired by Native American medicine wheels, Irish megalithic art, and the proposed sewage plant on Mutton Island. The artwork was a dialogue between the ancient and the modern, the natural and the constructed.
CONNECTING ART AND MYTH
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 Dé Danann. These were not mere mortals but old pagan gods, recast as magical heroes by medieval monks in the Irish origin story, the Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of Invasions).
THE LEGEND OF THE TUATHA DE DANANN
Two traditions describe their arrival: by the Northern or the Southern route. I focus on the Southern route, with the landing at Galway, as it aligns with my UFO sighting – unlikely as that may sound. The Southern version was especially popular in the 18th and 19th centuries, supported by antiquarians who recorded local folklore. Sir William Wilde, father of Oscar Wilde, described it extensively in his 1867 book Lough Corrib: Its Shores and Islands. The tales painted vivid pictures of ships emerging from the clouds, mysterious artifacts, and beings beyond comprehension.
PRESENT DAY: A MYTHIC LANDING SITE
As I explore these legends, I can’t help but draw parallels to what I have witnessed. The line between myth and memory feels thinner than ever.
The reconstructed position of the UFO was the Claddagh, near the site of Martin Byrne’s “Solas Atlantis” geoglyphs.
Could it be that the legends preserve some distant truth? The convergence of my sighting, the site of the circles, and the mythic landing place seems almost too coincidental. I see the landscape itself as a tapestry, woven from stories, memories, and mysteries waiting to be uncovered.
GODS FROM THE SKY
The Tuatha Dé Danann came in great ships like clouds, that flew through the air, bringing magical treasures: a sword of light, a healing stone, and more. They were God-like beings, “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.
Was it over Galway Bay, that the mythological Tuatha Dé Danann arrived in dark cloud ships, (maybe burned some of them), and then landed on a mountain further inland?
The position of my 1986 sighting – over the Claddagh, near Byrne’s Solas Atlantis – makes me wonder. The border between what I have seen and what the legends describe feels blurred, as if the past and present were in quiet conversation across Galway Bay.
To follow the trail of the Shining Ones, we must turn from Salthill’s vanished sky-ship to the Southern route of legend – Galway Bay to Cong, where myth and mystery converge.
UPDATE 25.SEPT. 2025:
To make sure that there was better evidence for UFO sightings on the 23rd of February 1986 than a tabloid article in the Sunday Mirror, I made several FOI requests, regarding Irish and British UFO sightings for that day.
The National Archive replied to me with the Ministry of Defence UFO files (DEFE 31/174/1), showing a series of unusual reports across the British Isles.
20:30 (Ayr/Maybole, Scotland): motorists saw a glow above cloud, a bright flash, and a descending orange trail.
21:50 (Shannon, Ireland): an American 747 captain reported a brilliant apparition that illuminated his flight deck. RAF Lyneham Ops logged the report and circulated it to Air Force Ops and Defence Intelligence (DI 55).
No unusual weather was noted. Prince Charles’s aircraft was in the region, the official record suggests the pilot of his aircraft witnessed the same phenomenon reported by airline crews, motorists and ATC staff.
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CONTACT:
Erich Habich-Traut
