UFO researchers say the celebrities staying at Gwrych Castle have a good chance of a strange encounter - and they don't mean a "bushtucker trial".

They say the castle has been at the centre of UFO activity for more than 100 years - and that's not to mention the reports of ghosts and big cats.

Investigator Russ Kellett says another researcher recently shared a report of what would now be called a UFO at the castle back in 1892 - making it possibly the first such encounter in Wales.

He says the incident, pieced together from reports from the time, was witnessed by men transporting logs to the coast via horse-drawn wagons.

Russ said: "They were near the castle gates and a light shone down on them from the direction of the castle like a beam from a lighthouse.

"They then heard a humming noise that got louder and louder.

"They then described seeing a metal disc or object going over them and a blinding light.

"The horses and men scattered and did not return until the next day."

The men took shelter at the Bee Hotel in Abergele.

 

Gwrych Castle. Picture: Gwrych Castle / Facebook

Gwrych Castle. Picture: Gwrych Castle / Facebook

 

Russ added: "They didn't have the term UFO then, the witnesses described it as something hellish or demonic. One was reported to have said 'I thought that hell had opened up. We all ran for our lives."

The latest series of I'm a Celebrity, the second to be shot in North Wales, started this week.

Hosted by Ant and Dec, celebrities this year include Louise Minchin, Richard Madeley, Frankie Bridge, and David Ginola. 

Asked if this means celebrities at the castle could see something otherwordly, Russ added: "Hell yes!"

Since 1892, North Wales has been a hotbed of reported sightings from Anglesey to the Dee Estuary.

Last year, North Wales was highlighted as a UFO sighting hotspots as the UK's answer to the X-Files were published for the first time.

Claimed sightings of UFOs received by a now-defunct "UFO Desk" unit within the RAF have been published on the UK Government's website.

The RAF took the decision to wind up the unit in 2009, after concluding that in more than 50 years, no received report had ever disclosed any evidence of a potential threat.

Previously, records from the unit were given to the National Archives, often initially classified before being released after a specific number of years.

But the most recent reports received by the RAF have been placed online following a Freedom of Information Act request.

Members of the public reporting alleged UFO sightings are now directed to their local police force.

The final documented reports from 2009 record 626 sightings in the UK, including four on Anglesey, one in Llandudno, two in Deeside, and two in Gwynedd.

Perhaps the most notorious event is the 1974 Berwyn Mountains incident, dubbed the Welsh Roswell or Ros-Welsh.

On January 23 that year in the mountains close to the village of Llandrillo in Denbighshire there here were reports of objects in the sky and an explosion.

There are tales of alien bodies being recovered from a crashed UFO, a large military presence, and even of people being abducted.

Russ, who runs the www.ufo.uk.net website, says his new book due to be published before the end of the year will reveal what really happened.