1979 - St Helens, Merseyside - Orb & Disc UFO Sightings

Birmingham UFO Group Report

Author: Dave Hodrien

Last Updated: 25/09/2015

Introduction

I met Andrew at UFO Truth Magazine Conference 2015. He informed me of a stunning repeat UFO sighting he had back in 1979 in his home town of St Helens. After liaising with him further it became apparent he had also had previous UFO encounters. This report covers his key sightings.

Blue/White Orb Sighting

In 1979 Andrew was 15 and in the final years of secondary school. Around this time he informs me that both he and his friends had numerous UFO sightings of anomalous glowing orbs of light. One evening in the summer months a particularly impressive sighting of one of these occurred.

It was around 7pm and a very pleasant and still evening. Andrew was at the playing field of his school, St Cuthberts, playing football with two friends. To the __ it was possible to see the tops of the towers at Bold Power Station. He happened to look in that direction and noticed a small orb of light hovering over one of the towers.

Aerial map of St Cuthberts playing field:

Aerial map showing St Cuthberts (A) and the location where Bold Power Station used to be (B):

The orb appeared to be flashing blue then white in quick succession, and at first was completely stationary. It hovered for several minutes without moving. Andrew pointed out the UFO to his friends. Suddenly without warning the orb descended in altitude a short distance then immediately shot straight upwards extremely fast. It was only visible for a moment before it was lost from sight in the sky!

Photograph of Bold Power Station:

Andrew says that many of the sightings of glowing orbs took place around Bold Power Station. He also says that his father-in-law used to work at the power station, and that he once told him that whenever these orbs of light were reported by the public they would experience a loss of power. It appeared that these objects may have somehow been draining energy from the station.

Lit Disc UFO Sightings

On a Tuesday evening in September 1979 Andrew was out playing football with his team at Derby Hill Youth Club on Derbyshire Hill Road (He knows it must have been a Tuesday as this is the day they would play each week). It was a clear and dry evening with very little cloud cover.

Aerial map of Derby Hill Youth Club football pitch:

Andrew was standing by the edge of the pitch alongside two other older players. The older boys remarked to each other that there was an object up in the sky. Overhearing them Andrew looked in the same direction. At an angle of about 60 degrees in the sky was what appeared initially to be an extremely bright star.

As they watched, the witnesses realised that the “star” was moving slowly on a straight path. One of the older boys remarked that he had seen something similar before. He had rang someone up and they had informed him that it was likely to be a satellite.

The trajectory took the object across their line of sight from right to left. As it got nearer to them it became clear that the object was in the atmosphere rather than out in orbit. Andrew could make out more detail. It appeared to be an elongated disc shape, with fin-like protrusions facing upward on the rear end. He believes the colour of the object was dark grey. On the base of the object was a collection of multi-coloured lights in no discernible pattern. It was about 40 feet in length and quite obviously a solid structured object.

Drawing Andrew found online which is representative of what he saw:

The UFO was travelling at a height of about 500 feet. It was travelling quite slowly, perhaps between 50-70 mph. The witnesses commented on it as it flew past. By the time they had realised it was something unusual it was already leaving the area, so there was no point in calling anyone over. Also nobody had a camera with them at the time.

Once it had left the area David decided to get changed and then began walking home. At the nearby shop he met a couple of girls. One of them asked him to meet her by the shop at 9pm. He agreed to her request then returned home. Later on headed back out to meet with her as promised.

By now the sun had set but it was still dry and still. He met up with the girl and they decided to go for a walk on a low hill alongside Fleet Lane known as The Duckeries. She wanted to get Andrew somewhere private for a kiss.

Aerial map of The Duckeries:

Photograph of The Duckeries:

This area was in the direction that the UFO which he had witnessed earlier had travelled away in. They reached the top then began to look around. Looking back in the direction he had approached the location Andrew suddenly became aware of a dark object in the sky. It had a cluster of multi-coloured lights on it. Due to the time of evening it was not possible to see the exact shape of the object.

The UFO was making an odd rocking movement in the sky, tipping back and forth. Andrew describes it as being similar to a “spinning coin losing momentum”. He was convinced that this was the same object he had seen earlier in the evening. For a couple of minutes it performed this manoeuvre. Then it slowly began to come to a halt. Once it had stopped the spinning/rocking it then began to move in the direction of the witnesses.

It approached on a steady pace at around 50 mph. Once it was closer Andrew could hear a low humming sound coming from the object, similar to an electrical generator. It slowly flew past the witnesses and onward across the sky until it was lost from view. The girl he was with at the time wasn’t particularly interested by the UFO but it left a lasting impression on Andrew.

The following day at school he told his friends about what he had seen. At this point he found out that others in his class had also observed the UFO around 9pm, and some had even seen detail such as a cockpit.

Conclusions

The sightings which Andrew had back in 1979 are certainly intriguing. While the flashing orb of light did not look particularly impressive the manoeuvres it performed mean it cannot have been a balloon catching the sunlight or radio controlled model. It also suggests that the object was under intelligent control.

The UFO seen twice on the evening in September was also very interesting. It was clearly not a helicopter or normal aircraft, yet did seem to be under control. Andrew is convinced that both the sightings were of the same object. Its movements were too unusual to have been a large lit inflatable, although it was certainly a solid structured object.