1960s – Worcester – Lit Black Cylindrical UFO Sighting
Birmingham UFO Group Case Report
Author: Dave Hodrien
Release Year: 2024
Last Updated: 15/10/2026
In March 2015 a man from Worcester reached out to Worcester News to report a black cylindrical UFO he had both seen and captured on video. Here is a link to the initial news article which was released via the website:
Worcester News reached out to me for a statement. I analysed the testimony and video and determined that the object was most likely a distant solar airship. The newspaper released a second article covering my analysis and conclusion on 2nd April:
In September 2023 I was contacted by a man named Richard Hull via our website’s contact form. He had read the second Worcester News article, and claimed to have seen a similar object decades earlier. I reached out to him via E-Mail to discuss the incident in more depth.
Sighting Details
Richard cannot recollect exactly when the sighting occurred, but says it was around the “Warminster Thing” era (referring to the famous series of UFO sightings and other anomalous phenomena which occurred around Warminster in Wiltshire in the mid-60s to early 70s)
He says that he was around 11 years old at the time. He and his sister were staying with their grandparents on 7 Avon Road, Worcester. It would have been either June/July time or around Christmas as these were the times of year they would have visited.
They went to bed around 9pm in a front-facing bedroom of the property. During the night Richard was awoken by something which sounded like someone continuously dragging a tree along the road (He did not check a clock so is unsure of exactly what time of night).
His sister did not stir from her sleep and he decided not to wake her up. His bed was aligned alongside the bedroom window. He sat up, opened the curtains, and looked out of the window to see what was going on.
It was a clear night, with no mist or rain. There appeared to be no pedestrians around due to the time. There was nothing visible down at ground level, but ahead of him around 130 feet away from the property at an elevation of 35 degrees he saw a black coloured cylindrical/cigar shaped object, with squared off ends and what looked like round portholes along it emitting yellow coloured light. It was quite low down, Richard estimates about 90 feet up. It seemed quite sizeable, about 90 feet across if it was at the position it appeared to be.
It soon became obvious that the object was slowly moving. It was slowly turning, ascending and moving away from his location. Richard watched it for about 4 minutes. As it slowly turned away he looked at the furthest away 'porthole' expecting to see a bulkhead, but there was nothing, just yellow light.
Eventually it vanished into the distance and was no longer visible due to the darkness. As it moved away the dragging sound also dispersed. After it had gone he called out for his grandparents and told them what he had seen, but they didn’t believe him. As it was the middle of the night he eventually settled back down and went off to sleep.
Sighting Analysis
This is a fascinating sighting, especially considering when it took place. As the dragging sound seemed to disperse along with the object it seems clear that it was the object making the noise.
In 2015 I believed the object reported to the Worcester News was a solar airship because of its colour, shape, apparent size and movement patterns. However this clearly was not the explanation for what Richard saw.
Firstly, solar airships were not available back in the 1960s, they are much more recent invention. The glowing portholes along the object rules out an inflatable as the explanation. Lastly, an inflatable would have been silent, not make the strange dragging sound which was heard by the witness.
The same arguments apply to a novelty hot air balloon, and this would also be required to hang a flashing safety light from the basket after dark, which was clearly not seen by the witness. The object was not a normal aircraft or helicopter. Its appearance. lighting and the sound it was making are all completely different.
While some kind of specially constructed model cannot be ruled out, as the object did not perform any advanced manoeuvres, it seemed quite large in size, and you would also have to question why someone would fly such a model in the middle of the night with very little chance of it being seen by anyone.
There is certainly the possibility that this was a genuine sighting of an advanced craft of some kind, potentially non-human in origin.
Copyright Dave Hodrien 2026
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