1999-2003 - Erdington - Flying Triangle Landing

Birmingham UFO Group Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 01/04/2010

For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used

Introduction

Craft referred to as Flying Triangles have been seen many times over the last couple of decades. There have been waves of sightings reported in numerous countries around the world. In many of these sightings, including some which I have previously looked into, the craft are only seen at a distance. However this report covers a stunning case where a Flying Triangle was seen at extremely close proximity by two witnesses. The incident contains many aspects, some of which suggest that more than just a sighting may have taken place. As well as the main sighting, the report also covers a number of other incidents, including a possible second sighting of the same craft.

Background

The witnesses, Carl and Simon, were living on Holly Lane in Erdington, Birmingham, at the time of the incident. Running alongside part of Holly Lane is an area of wasteland referred to as “the tip”.

Map of sighting location:

Many years ago the area used to be brickworks, but was then levelled and covered in grass. There was a number of dirt paths across the area, and people would often use the area for walking their dogs. Today the tip is heavily overgrown so it is much rarer to see people crossing it. Carl had a pet dog named Champ which he would walk numerous times a day on the tip. At the time of the incident, both Carl and Simon smoked. Simon’s parents were not aware of this fact, so to keep things this way they used to take Champ for a walk as an excuse for having a cigarette. They would sometimes do this very late at night. It was under these circumstances that they were out of their houses on the night of the incident.

Photograph of the tip as it appears today:

Sighting Details

Carl cannot remember the exact year which the sighting took place (for a very valid reason which will be explained later). He says he must have been between the age of 21 and 25, which would mean the incident took place between 1999-2003. He believes it took place between 11pm-1am. It was a warm, still and clear night. Due to the weather conditions we may assume the incident took place in spring/summer, though this is not known for definite. Carl and Simon were outside with the dog. Carl doesn’t remember whether they had walked Champ over the tip or not, but he assumes they must have. His first recollection of the incident is of him and Simon standing on the corner of the junction between Holly Lane and Holly Dale Road.

Carl and Simon suddenly noticed some lights in the sky above the trees at the far side of the tip to the East. There were three lights in a triangular shape. Carl remembers them being red in colour. At first both witnesses assumed it was an aeroplane. Bu as they watched, the lights began to move from side to side a short distance. The movement looked erratic rather than smooth, as though the lights were shimmering left and right. The object was moving in a slow speed in their general direction.

Photograph of the tip from where the witnesses were standing in the direction which the UFO was first sighted:

Drawing by Carl of how the UFO looked at a distance:

As the object got closer, they could make out a black triangular shaped body around the lights, and it became clear that it was a single solid object – a craft unlike any known conventional aircraft. They also now noticed a central larger light on the underside of the craft evenly spaced between the red lights. Carl believes this was either a white or yellow colour. The witnesses stood in amazement as the craft approached their location. They realised it was completely silent and had no visible means of propulsion. As it got close to the road, the craft began to descend in altitude. At this point, Carl says the lights may have changed to an orange/golden colour. The witnesses began to get un-nerved by the proximity of the craft, and crossed Holly Dale Road to the opposite corner. Champ stood motionless by their side.

Aerial photograph of sighting location with position of witnesses marked:

The craft reached the edge of the tip and continued to slowly descend until it was hovering over the road, about ten feet off the ground. It then slowly turned until one of its points (Carl assumes the front) was facing them. At this point they realised that it was aware of their presence. They were about 40 feet from the craft, and due to street lighting could had a clear view of it. Carl says the craft was about 25 feet wide by 10-15 feet in depth. There were no visible markings or openings on it at all, it was simply a jet black triangular shape, with a flat base and angles converging to a point at its top. The corner lights were still visible even when it was down low over the road, although the central light could no longer be seen. This perhaps mans that the corner lights were jutting out from the main body of the craft or wrapped around the corners. Or perhaps they were so bright that their glow could still be made out. Carl says that they were within a stone’s throw of the craft, and if it had been a car they would have been able to give the make, model and registration number – it was that close to their position.

Drawing by Carl of how the craft looked up close:

Drawing by Carl of light configuration on underside of craft:

Photograph of the stretch of road that the craft hovered over, with a drawing of how it looked added on top:

As the craft halted over the road, it began to make strange sounds. Only Carl remembers it making these sounds, Simon does not remember it making any sound at all for the duration of the sighting. Carl describes the sounds as a deep pulsing humming noise similar to the sound of a didgeridoo. This noise continuously altered in pitch and tempo. Thinking back to the incident, Carl realised that he recognised the sounds and had heard them at other times (see later).

The witnesses stood still and stared at the craft for what seemed like a couple of minutes. Carl feels that the experience was very personal, and that it was aware of them as they were watching it. Both him and Simon were awestruck by the craft, and at no point thought about knocking on any of the house doors to get anyone else. Neither of them had a camera, and back when the incident took place mobile phone cameras were relatively new. Carl cannot remember whether his phone had a camera on it or not, but even if it did he did not think about using it at all.

Suddenly Champ bolted, and ran back across Holly Dale Road past the craft towards Carl’s house. Carl was very reluctant to follow as this would mean getting uncomfortably close to the craft. Soon after this happened, the craft began moving again without warning. It began to rise in altitude at a diagonal angle until it was directly over the roof of Carl’s house. It was literally a few feet over the chimney top. Here it once again stopped moving, and remained stationary for at least a minute.

Photograph of the house over which the craft hovered:

After this it started moving again to the West, and was lost from view behind the house. Behind the houses is a garden allotment area, and it was in this direction that the craft was heading. The witnesses ran down Holly Dale Road to where they could get a clear view of the area. But when they checked they found that the craft had completely vanished. Carl is not sure if it had flown away extremely fast, or if it had just flown somewhere else out of sight, but it was gone.

Photograph showing witness view of the garden allotment area from Holly Dale Road:

Aerial map showing the complete route the craft took during the sighting:

Forgotten Experiences

After this, Carl cannot remember anything that happened. He assumes that they must have both walked back home and gone to bed. The following morning, both witnesses had completely forgotten the entire incident had taken place. They met up later in the day but had no recollection of it and did not discuss it with each other at all. They continued to regularly walk the dog over the tip but never once thought about what they had seen or experienced any unusual emotions.

On a number of occasions after the incident when Carl approached the tip with Champ, suddenly Champ would drop to the ground, start whimpering, and refuse to go any closer. Carl never understood this behaviour, but looking back it seems probable that Champ either remembered or sensed what had taken place, and was frightened to go where the craft had initially been located.

It was only when Carl and his family moved out of the house on Holly Lane a number of years later that the incident came back to him. He is not sure of how this recollection happened, but he came to the realisation that him and Simon had seen the craft and had then forgotten all about it. He got in touch with Simon and reminded him of the incident, and then he too remembered what had happened.

Other Encounters?

When Carl remembered the strange sounds the craft had been making while it was over the road, he realised that they were familiar to him and that he had heard them at other times too. He recalled a number of times where he had been in his bedroom on his own and heard the noises. On some of these occasions he feels his girlfriend should have also been in the room but he doesn’t remember ever seeing her there.

Sometimes he had been lying down in bed at night, other times he was sitting on his bed during the day. The sounds would resonate through him and make his body vibrate. He also remembers that these sounds would lull his senses and put him into a confused state of mind. Carl says he is a very nosy person, and would almost certainly have checked to see where the noises were coming from, but he never did this and just remained still, listening to the sounds. He finds this very strange indeed.

As he had forgotten the incident with the craft for a number of years, Carl is unsure whether these other incidents occurred prior to or after the sighting. He feels that he must have been visited by the same craft at other times, but has no other memories of these events. He is not aware of whether there was any missing time involved, however as some of these experiences occurred at night-time, if there was missing time it is unlikely he would have known.

A Second Sighting

On an evening in September 2009 around 7pm, Carl was in the back garden of his house on Warwick Road, Tysley. There was nobody else at home at the time, and he was hanging out some clothes to dry. He happened to glance up into the sky, looking to the North towards Birmingham centre. He noticed what appeared to be three red lights in a triangular pattern, hovering stationary in the sky. They were quite distant, but he immediately became un-nerved by the lights and assumed that they may be the same triangular craft.

Aerial map showing location of sighting:

He only watched them for a few seconds, before deciding to head outside the front of the house onto the pavement where there would be other people around. This made him feel a lot less venerable. When he again checked for the lights he could no longer see them and assumed they were now hidden out of sight behind the housing. Satisfied that the lights had not got any closer, he remained outside for a minute before heading back indoors. Carl cannot be certain this was another sighting of the same craft, but feels that it may have been.

Other UFO Sightings

Carl has had two other UFO sightings in his life. Several years ago he used to work at Land Rover in Solihull. He would often go for a break outside with his work colleagues. One clear night they were looking up at a star-filled sky. Suddenly they all noticed three or four white lights appear. They looked liked stars and appeared to be at very high altitude. They were not in an organised formation, but were cluttered around one another and completely motionless. Several seconds went by, then suddenly another white light appeared close to the other lights, and then moved at a very fast speed between them. They then all vanished simultaneously.

On another occasion after the Flying Triangle incident (Carl cannot remember when exactly), Carl witnessed three white lights in a line. The middle one suddenly began moving. It appeared to drop down below the other two, then went into reverse and moved back up.

Carl feels that these sightings were completely unrelated to his experience with the triangular craft, and does not feel that there were in any way personal to him, he was just at the right place at the right time.

Sighting Analysis

Carl certainly appears to be speaking about a real experience, and I fully believe that he is telling the truth about what him and Simon saw. I have visited the sighting location with him on a number of occasions, and asked him to repeat the story of what happened numerous times. He is fascinated by what he has experienced, and because of the sighting has become very interested in the subject of UFOs.

There are realistically only three explanations for what took place. Either it was a very clever hoax, a secret military craft of some kind, or it was extraterrestrial in origin. The object seemed much too large to be a hoax, and it seems very unlikely that someone would be able to make a model of such a size with a completely invisible and silent means of propulsion. Carl says that it looked solid rather than flimsy and hollow, so I do not believe for one moment that it was some kind of remote controlled model or inflatable.

There is the possibility it was a secret military craft of some kind, but again this seems unlikely for a number of reasons. If it was, why would they fly it right over one of the most populated cities in the UK, let alone descend closely to multiple witnesses. There would seem no reason for doing this, nor for the strange sounds that only Carl heard being emitted from the craft. The craft displayed highly advanced flight capabilities. It was able to hover and move silently, descend and take off slowly, and also appeared to vanish without trace. These are characteristic of many sightings of UFOs, not just Flying Triangles but of other types such as discs and saucer-shaped craft. Despite this, Carl believes that it was more likely to be military than alien. You may feel the same, but I believe that this was a genuine Flying Triangle sighting, and that many if not all of these craft are extraterrestrial in origin. It is possible that the military have built their own based on alien technology, but in this case I feel it was not one of these for the reasons described above. Flying Triangles vary in size – there have been some sightings of craft larger than a football field! In the 1990s there was a wave of sightings of craft of this type in Belgium, during which the craft were even seen to move around under the water and emerge from the sea. There are also a number of sightings where Grey-type entities have been seen next to landed Flying Triangles, which may well mean that they are linked with this particular species of ET.

Possibility Of Contact

There are a number of signs that suggest that Carl may be a contactee, one who is currently mostly unaware of this contact. The triangular craft that him and Simon witnessed certainly seemed to be interested in them in some way. Not only did it descend to the road, but it also turned towards them. I do not believe these movement patterns were just coincidence. It looks as though it approached their position for a reason. It then began to make highly unusual sounds, sounds only Carl remembers hearing. Could these have been some form of communication directed personally at him? If so it is possible the craft was there to interact with Carl, and the fact that another witness was present could have been regardless.

Thinking back to the incident, Carl remembers hearing the sounds on a number of other occasions while in his bedroom. He also remembers the sounds putting him into a drowsy/confused state of mind. The sounds made his whole body vibrate. All of these aspects I find very interesting indeed. The fact that he had heard the noises at other times suggests that he has been visited by the craft (either the same or of similar type) either before or after the sighting incident. Many contactees, including others I have personally investigated, have reported hearing strange sounds such as pulsing humming noises, beeps and clicks. Vibrations that pass through the body are also commonly reported, sometimes though not always accompanied by paralysis. These events appear to be signs that a contact experience is taking place or about to happen. The noises that Carl has heard both during the sighting and at other times, may well have preceded other events which he is currently completely unaware of.

The fact that the sighting of the craft was forgotten about by both the witnesses for a number of years is also extremely interesting. In most cases when a UFO is witnessed, even at close proximity, the individuals involved fully remember the incident and can describe it in detail. However repressed memories are extremely common in cases involving contact. Missing time can be an indication of this, in other cases flashbacks or nightmares can reveal some details of what has taken place. Both witnesses had no recollection of the event, even when they revisited the location of the incident many times afterwards. Years later when Carl did remember, and then reminded Simon too, memories of what had taken place came flooding back. But something more may have taken place, something which still remains blocked out.

The sighting of the red lights in September 2009, could be another indication that Carl has been visited by the craft since the incident. There is no indication that the craft approached or interacted with him in this instance, but this does not mean that it definitely did not take place.

Another intriguing possibility suggested by Carl is that his girlfriend or another family member may be a contactee rather than himself. It is interesting that the craft hovered directly over his house before moving away from the area, even though Carl was down on the street corner. Also he mentions that during the other incidents where he heard the sounds, his girlfriend should have sometimes been present, but he does not remember ever seeing her. Could these sounds have been used to lull him while she was being taken and experiencing contact instead?

As you have probably noticed, I have not yet had a chance to meet up with Simon to hear his version of the events of the night. I hope to meet him soon to get his side of the story, which I am sure will be quite similar to Carl’s, other than the fact that he did not hear any sounds coming from the craft.

Attempted Regression

On Sunday 21st March, Carl was regressed around my house by hypnotherapist Rob Tudge, who assists me with investigations involving contact. However due to anxiety or state of mind, Carl could sadly not be hypnotised. He went over the incident again, but was remembering consciously and simply closing his eyes rather than being properly under. He hopes to try again after a short while, as he sincerely wishes to know if anything else took place during this incident.

Conclusion

This is an absolutely stunning close encounter with a craft likely to be extraterrestrial in origin, and one of the best we have yet had reported to the group. The type of craft seen, with the corner lights and larger central light, has been seen many times before all around the world, though not usually at such close proximity. There are many mysterious aspects to the sighting which we have yet to find an answer for. Why did it approach the witnesses? Why did it make strange sounds that only Carl could hear? Why did it hover over the roof of his house? Why did both witnesses forget the incident afterwards? In time we may find out answers to these questions. Perhaps Carl and Simon will learn more about what they experienced, either through future regressions or by other means. But whether they do or not, this remains a fascinating sighting and one which defies most alternative explanations.

This report will be updated with any additional information as and when it becomes available.

Copyright Dave Hodrien 2010