18/07/1982 – Grimsby – Lit Disc Sighting
Birmingham UFO Group Case Report
Author: Dave Hodrien
Release Date: 28/04/2022
Note: For reasons of anonymity psedonyms have been used for some witnesses
In late March 2022 a lady named Virginia Dodsworth got in touch with me via Facebook Messenger in response to a case report I had released which reminded her of her own sighting. I arranged to speak with her soon afterwards to go over what happened in depth. Below are the details of this fascinating and unrelated incident.
Sighting Details
Back in 1982 when Virginia was 17 years old she used to live on Wellhome Road, Grimsby along the Northern edge of People’s Park. She would regularly head across the road to the park to hang out with her friends.
Early evening on 18th July she was at the park with her boyfriend at the time, “Jim” and another friend “Claire”. It was approximately 6.30pm. It was a pleasant evening but due to the time of day the park was largely empty of people. They were sitting on the back of a bench at the South East corner of the lake and chatting (the particular bench has since been removed).
On the opposite side of the path to the South were several tall trees, and beyond these the main open area of grass. Virginia suddenly noticed a bright white glowing light in the sky over the Southern edge of the park visible between the trees. The object was moving on a level and straight course from East to West. It caught her attention because of how bright it was, it looked different to how a distant aircraft would usually appear. It seemed to be moving around 100 mph and at a height of at least 200 feet, although this was quite hard to judge.
As it reached the right of her vision, the light suddenly began to arc around and head towards her and her friends. As it approached the actual appearance of the object began to come into view. Virginia was amazed to see that it was a matte dark grey coloured disc-shaped craft. It was around 40 feet across and Paracetamol pill shaped, with an extending lip at the base. Around the centre was a line of rectangular shaped windows. The white light was coming from two bands of lights situated at the top and base of these windows. These lights seemed to be rotating anti-clockwise around the craft.
The craft continued to approach, slowing down as it did. It eventually ended up hovering over the small area of grass between the other side of the path and the nearby trees, roughly 25 feet away from them. They were now looking up at it at a very steep angle. In the base of the object appeared to be three circular holes/markings in a row. These were surrounded by a circle of what looked like black-coloured cable.
The witnesses were astounded and sat there staring up at it. Virginia says she was not at all frightened by it, she was more excited at its presence. She felt that the occupants aboard the craft had connected with her mind, realised that she was observing them and had approached on purpose for this reason. She got up off the bench and walked towards the object waving her hand in a friendly greeting.
There was seemingly no direct interaction from the craft. It hovered there silently for about a minute. Then suddenly without warning it shot away to the South East over the top of the trees. It then swiftly changed direction and continued to fly away to the South West extremely rapidly. Virginia estimates it was travelling at over 500 mph. Within a couple of seconds it had vanished into the distance!
The three witnesses were astonished at what they had just seen. They soon headed back to their respective houses. When Virginia arrived home she told her father, who was an experienced police officer, all about what had happened. He fully believed her, and asked her to do a drawing of the UFO. Unfortunately she did not retain this drawing.
Virginia was fascinated by what had occurred, and it was responsible for an on-going interest in the subject. However both Jim and Claire were more afraid of what had happened. Jim kept asking her not to mention the sighting to anyone. After a while he refused to talk about it with her. Virginia says that she did not know Claire very closely and only saw her a few times after the experience. Whenever they met she did not bring up the incident. She sensed that like Jim she did not want to discuss it. Unfortunately she did not keep in touch with either Jim or Claire so I am unable to speak with them about the sighting.
Sighting Analysis
This appears to be a stunning daylight multiple witness sighting of an advanced craft. The below map from 360 radar confirms that the area does not lie within an airway, nor is it within controlled airspace:
This means that the object is unlikely to have been a misidentification of an aircraft taking off or coming in to land, but an untracked aircraft cannot be ruled out. However its appearance, lighting and lack of any sound point away from it being a normal aircraft of any kind.
The extremely rapid manoeuvres it performed put a large lit inflatable or remote controlled model out of the question. The witnesses observed it at close proximity for a period of time, making mistaken identity of a mundane object improbable.
Unfortunately none of the witnesses had a camera on them at the time and the incident took place decades before smartphones existed. It is also unfortunate that Virginia did not keep in touch with either of the two other witnesses, meaning we only have her testimonial evidence to go on at present. In the investigation she came across as trustworthy and was able to accurately point out the location it took place and take me through precisely what took place without hesitation.
The craft certainly appeared to be under intelligent control. It changed its course and halted a short distance from the witnesses. While this could have just been coincidental, it certainly appeared to have been done on purpose. The way in which it suddenly left the vicinity at an extreme speed also indicates it was under intelligent control and had advanced propulsion capabilities. If it had occupants, it is unknown if they were aware that Virginia was observing them or not. She felt that they had telepathically detected her presence and this is why they had changed course and approached, but there is no way to confirm this.
Due to the fact that this incident took place in daylight hours there is the possibility that there were other witnesses who have yet to come forward. If any further details come to light this report will be updated as necessary.
Copyright Dave Hodrien 2022