Ashley ab Hugh

Ashley ab Hugh was a wealthy Welsh art collector and philanthropist living on the outskirts of Cardiff. Over the course of his life, he collected many non-representational works of art, mostly abstract paintings and sculptures.

Some time prior to 1963, ab Hugh bought an alien artefact at an auction, believing it to be a sculpture, and kept it as the centrepiece of his private art collection. He soon became obsessed with the artefact's moving interior lights, and would sit watching them move for hours at a time. His long-time friend Bill Williams said the artefact drove him mad, and on 13 August 1963 Bill was found tearing strips of flesh off his face and sticking them to the artefact. He died three weeks later from septicaemia.

His estate would later sell the artefact to a cult. This estate also made ab Hugh's private art collection public, opening the Ashley ab Hugh Museum. (PROSE: The Beauty of Our Weapons)