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21/12/1979 to Winter 2013 - Belfast - Disc-shaped UFOs, White Orbs & Light Flashes

Birmingham UFO Group Report

Author: Dave Hodrien

Release Date: 07/05/2022


Note: For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used for some witnesses


In late March 2022 I released a case report on a disc-shaped UFO sighting from Marlborough. I posted a link to this report on various Facebook pages. Anne Holland, a lady from Belfast, is a member of one of these pages. When she read the report she was deeply shocked by the similarity of what had been seen to something she herself had witnessed back in 1979. She got in touch with me to report this similarity and how the report had affected her.

When she was ready to speak in April we went over her own experience in depth, in addition to two other previous sightings. This report covers all three incidents, which appear unrelated to one another.


21st December 1979 – Lit Domed Disc


Back in 1979 Anne lived in the Divis Flats on Falls Road close to Divis Tower, Belfast. The tower still stands today but the flats have since been demolished and replaced with a housing estate. On the afternoon of 21st December about 3pm she was sitting in the living room of the flat and watching TV with her baby son Keith who was 2 years old at the time. At the time there was a lot of trouble with the IRA so she was watching the news for any updates.


Aerial map of Falls Road indicating the location where the Divis Flats used to stand
Modern photograph of Divis Tower, with the housing estate beyond it

After the news finished she stepped outside onto the 2nd floor balcony of the flat. It was a very dull day with complete cloud cover. She happened to look up into the sky to the North, and was amazed to see an unusual object. It was like two silver-grey coloured domes stuck together back to back. Around the central rim were red, blue and yellow lights, and there was also a white light on the top of the object. The entire object appeared to be rotating in a clockwise direction.


Witness drawing of the UFO

It appeared to be at least a mile away beyond Crumlin Road. If it was indeed at that distance it must have been quite large in size, at least 40 feet across. It was moving to the East on a straight and level course. It seemed to be moving extremely slowly, possibly as low as 5 mph, too slow for an aircraft to fly at. Anne knew it was something unusual and associated it immediately as a UFO. She lifted up Keith so he could see it too.