Birmingham UFO Group Case Report
Author: Dave Hodrien
Originally forwarded by Richard Hall
Release Date: 17/08/2011
Last Updated: 13/11/2024
Sighting Details
Just before 2am on the 1st January 2011, Lee was outside his house in Lowestoft, Suffolk. He glanced up into the sky and noticed a glowing object at quite low altitude. It appeared to be vertical rectangular in shape and was glowing a bright blue colour. Lee estimates it was about the size of a bed side table, so no more than a few feet across. The object was moving on a slow course across the sky.
After a while the object slowed down to a halt. It then suddenly changed to a bright red colour. After this it continued on its way. Lee watched it for up to 15 minutes until it was out of sight.
At the time he thought he was watching nothing more than a well made Chinese lantern, but later on when lying down in bed he wondered whether it was ET in origin and had been searching for something.
Initial Report
On 26th January Lee posted details of his sighting on the Gumtree website. Below was his posting:
“On January the 1st at around 2 a.m. above my back garden a colour changing chinese lantern floated above the back of some houses in Lowestoft. It was a standing up rectangular block shape. In the sky it was a bright blue colour. It then seemed to stop, change to red and then continue floating away into the distance. The stopping could of been the wind or perhaps the changing of the colour effected my vision somehow. I had been watching loads of orange chinese lanterns invade the sky at 12 a.m but was really impressed with this solitary one. Whoever created it can you contact me. It was stunning.”
He did not get any responses to this.
Sighting Analysis
The object that Lee witnessed was definitely not a Chinese lantern. These are lit from inside and do not change colour, and are generally a fiery amber colour, sometimes appearing yellow or deep orange-red.
However it is extremely likely that what he did see was a colour changing LED balloon. These are electronically lit inflatables that are sometimes remote controlled and can be set to change colour. The fact that the object was seen shortly after New Year reaffirms this explanation, it was an LED balloon that someone had launched in celebration of the turn of the year. Other things which point towards this explanation are the small size of the object, the lantern-like shape and the slow drifting manoeuvres it made.
The fact that it stopped before changing colour, and only did so once, could point towards it being under remote control. Or perhaps it was set to change colour on a timer and was just coincidence that it slowed right down at that moment.
I am suitably confident that this sighting can be explained away as an LED balloon, and although I cannot say this 100% it is very likely that this was the cause.
Copyright Dave Hodrien 2024
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