Birmingham UFO Group Case Report
Author: Dave Hodrien
Last Updated: 18/01/2018
Sighting Details
At 7.12am on the morning of 25th November 2017, Paul Crowther and his partner Avril were sitting on the bed chatting and having a morning cup of tea. Paul was sitting facing the bedroom window and the curtains had already been opened. The window overlooks Burnside Park. It was a frosty and dry morning with a completely clear sky. Due to the time of year the sun was only just starting to come up.
Aerial map of Burnside:
Suddenly from the East, a glowing orb of light with a greenish tint to it came into view through the window. It was quite bright and immediately drew Paul’s attention. The object appeared to be about 1000 feet high and roughly 300 feet from their location. There were no visible markings on the object and no trail behind it.
Witness drawing of the orb:
The object was moving very quickly, faster than an aeroplane would fly at. It was on a gradual descending trajectory heading to the West. It flew behind the trees visible on the far side of the park. It was still in sight over the roofs of the housing when it suddenly seemed to change course to a South Westerly direction and then vanished. Either the light on it had gone out, or it had disappeared into the distance to the South West.
Photograph of the sighting location with drawing of the movement path added by the witness:
The object had been visible for no more than 5 seconds Due to the brief length of the sighting Paul did not have a chance to grab a camera and film the object. Nor did he have time to alert Avril to the presence of the object, so she did not witness it.
Sighting Analysis
This is an intriguing sighting, but one which some may easily dismiss as a meteorite. These sometimes have a green glow to them as they burn up in the atmosphere. The object that Paul saw was moving very fast on a straight and slightly descending path. And indeed a meteorite was reported at this date and time by numerous other witnesses across the UK (Click here for a Mirror article about the incident)
However there are a number of aspects of this sighting which do not fit with this explanation. Firstly Paul did not see a trail of any kind. Meteorites usually have a visible trail behind them as they move across the sky, and witnesses of the meteorite which did fall at the time mention seeing "bits flying off behind it". They also describe hearing a "loud whooshing sound", yet Paul informed me the object made no noise at all. Also, and perhaps most importantly, he saw the object change course just before it vanished from sight. A meteorite would not change its angle of travel in this manner. When I asked Paul about his thoughts on this he said the following:
“I honestly do not feel it was a meteorite. There was something about the way it moved, and the photo I sent may not have done the actual movement the justice it deserves. Just before it disappeared toward the South West, there was a slight dip in its movement, at an angle, and then it disappeared. Also, there was without a shadow of a doubt, no tail visible. It was the absence of a tail that got my curiosity going. It's difficult to explain but I just feel that this was something other than a meteorite.”
If the object was not a meteorite, then what else could it have been? It was moving too quickly to have been a distant aircraft or helicopter and the appearance does not really fit with this. Also Paul says that they often have a police helicopter and air ambulance fly past their house and it is possible to hear the sound of the rotor blades. The UFO appeared to be silent. It was also much too fast to have been a glowing LED balloon caught on an air current. It therefore remains unidentified, and the idea that it was potentially an advanced craft of some kind cannot be completely ruled out.
Copyright Dave Hodrien 2018