Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 31/08/2010
Introduction
Mark Rathend (name changed for privacy reasons) first got in touch with me via E-Mail in early May 2010 after I sent out an advert about the BUFOG Contactee Support meetings. Mark has experienced numerous events throughout his life that could well be ET related. His experiences focus around two impressive incidents – a close encounter with a UFO with which contact appears to have taken place, and a visitation by a glowing entity a number of years later. This report will cover each of his experiences in detail, and includes numerous maps and location photographs.
The Rocking Chair
Mark used to live at a house in Dagenham, Essex with his parents. There used to be a rocking chair at one side of his bedroom. For many years, this chair used to often rock of its own accord. It would do this most nights, usually after his mum had put him to bed and he was lying awake in the room. Nobody else ever saw the chair do this, it would only do it in Mark’s presence. He felt it was strange but was never really frightened by it. It continued to happen right up to when his parents decided to throw the chair away.
Obviously this may have nothing to do with ET contact. Perhaps it had a mundane explanation such as a regular draught of air. Or perhaps it was paranormal activity of a different kind. I mention it here because contactees often experience ghost like activity around their homes, often in their own proximity. So however unlikely, there is still the possibility it is related.
23rd November 1996 UFO Incident
Mark’s sighting of a UFO and possible contact took place back in 1996 when he was 23 years old. His girlfriend Sarah, who he would later marry, lived in the same town on Cornwallis Road. On 23rd November Mark had gone round to see her. At 7.30pm he decided to leave for home. Sarah asked him if he would like to call a taxi but as it was a pleasant evening he said he’d rather walk. It was a warm, clear evening, and the sun was just starting to set. At the time Mark used to live with his mother on Ivyhouse Road. The route home lead him along Parsloes Avenue, which runs along the edge of Parsloes Park. It was quiet and there were very few people about.
Aerial map showing the location of Cornwallis Road (A), Parsloes Avenue (B) and Ivyhouse Road (C):
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Photograph of Parsloes Park:
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As he walked along the road, he decided to cross over onto the side adjacent to the park. As he did so he noticed a strange object hovering over a small patch of trees a short distance into the park. The object was just above the trees, about 50 feet off the ground. It appeared to be cigar-shaped and was medium grey in colour. Mark estimated it to be about the same size as a double decker bus. It had a smooth shiny surface with no markings on. Along the side of the object was four rectangular windows. These windows were dark and Mark could not see anything through them. At either end of the object was a flashing red light, which were slowly strobing. These lights were not bright enough to light up the surrounding area under the object.
Aerial map of Parsloes Park showing position of where the UFO was situated:
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Photograph of the patch of trees over which the UFO was hovering:
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The object was hanging motionless in the air above the trees. Mark had no idea what it could be. He thought at first it was some kind of balloon, but soon realised it could not be. He was both awestruck and frightened at the same time. But he was inquisitive enough to want a closer look. He entered the park and began walking towards the patch of trees over which the object hovered. He walked for about 15 seconds and got near to the trees, but did not feel comfortable with walking right underneath where the object was as he thought it may be dangerous in some way. He also felt that it was aware of his presence.
Suddenly without warning the object took off vertically into the sky at an incredible speed and was very quickly lost from sight. Then almost immediately, Mark found himself back on Parsloes Avenue. He noticed that it had got a lot darker, and felt very unusual. He had no recollection of how he got back to the road, his last memory was of watching the object depart, and then a strange sensation of moving backward.
Mark looked back to the patch of trees, but the object had not returned. Looking around he noticed a man in the park walking his dog. He ran up to the man and asked him if he had seen the object hovering over the trees as well, but he had not. The man gave him a strange look before continuing on his way.
Mark decided to head for home. He was very confused, but knew that something strange must have taken place due to the sudden shift in lighting conditions. This was confirmed when he arrived home and he checked the time. The walk between Cornwallis Road and Ivyhouse Road used to take him about half an hour, but it was now 9 o’clock so there was about an hour he could not account for. His mother was worried and asked him why he had taken so long to come home, but Mark did not tell her about what had happened.
Later in the evening, Mark found a scar behind his left ear, which hurt when he pressed on it. He had no recollection of how he had got this marking, but had never noticed it before so assumed it must have been linked to what had occurred. He also noticed a strange indescribable taste in his mouth. He stayed up for most of the night thinking about what took place.
In the weeks following the incident, Mark had flashbacks in which he was looking down at the park from a height just above the tree-line. These flashbacks began about two days after the incident. They would occur both when he was awake, and also while he slept. They would feel more real than a normal dream, and he would wake up in the night feeling extremely anxious and frightened. The scar behind his ear hurt for a number of days before healing. The strange taste in his mouth was present for a number of weeks but finally went away. He no longer gets the flashbacks but still gets anxious at night and sleeps with the light on when he is alone.
Prior to the incident Mark had no interest in UFOs at all. But afterwards he began to look into the subject, and the more he read, the more he realised that he may have experienced ET contact. He soon decided to get in touch with the late UFO researcher Tony Dodd. A while after this he came across the ACERN website and got in touch with contact specialist Mary Rodwell, who advised him of ways of coping with the fear he was feeling regarding the incident.
Mark is sure that the object he saw was some kind of craft, and believes that it was extraterrestrial. He feels that it was too advanced, both in appearance and manoeuvring capabilities, to have been a secret military craft. He is still not aware of what took place during that missing time, and is interested in being regressed to see if he can remember any further details.
Premonition On The Bus
For a time Mark used to work a night shift at Asda in Dagenham. One early morning, when he was on his way back home on the bus, an incident occurred which suggests that he may have been protected from harm.
He was sitting on the bus and nothing appeared out of the ordinary. Suddenly he heard a voice inside his head telling him to quickly move to the other side of the bus. This voice was not his own and he did not recognise it. However he did as the voice asked him. A moment later a brick came flying through the window next to where he had been sitting, shattering broken glass everywhere! It appeared that he had been saved from harm.
Many contactees report having heightened senses or psychic abilities such as precognition. It is possible that Mark had a genuine premonition and was subconsciously aware that he was in imminent danger. He has not experienced any other premonitions, so this appears to be an isolated event. Perhaps rather than something coming directly from him, Mark was being protected by an external presence which made itself known. These are both possibilities which should be considered.
20th July 2004 Being Visitation
It was eight years after the incident with the UFO. Mark and Sarah had now got married, had a daughter and moved into a house on Blake Avenue in Barking.
Aerial map of Blake Avenue:
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The evening of 20th July was just like any other, there was no warning signs that something was about to take place. At 11.45pm he and Sarah went up to bed and soon dropped off to sleep. In the night Mark was awoken by a strange buzzing sound in his head. He was also had a strong feeling of a presence in the room.
He glanced over at the clock and checked the time. It was 1.55am. Mark then looked around the room, and was shocked by what he saw. Most of the room was very dark as the curtains were drawn. But over by the window of the room was a tall glowing being. The being was glowing a golden yellow colour, lighting up part of the room around it. It was about 7 feet high and appeared to be floating a short way off the floor rather than standing on it. It had a slender humanoid form with a large head, essentially the shape of a tall Grey being. However it appeared to be completely made up of light and no specific features could be made out. There was a horrible odour in the room, the likes of which Mark had never smelt before, which he assumed must be coming from the entity.
Mark felt sure that it was an extraterrestrial being of some kind, and was quite frightened by its presence. It did not seem familiar, but he sensed that it was interested in him. He was certain that he was fully awake and not dreaming. He immediately tried to wake up Sarah by shaking her but she would not stir, it was like she had been switched off. The being remained over by the window of the room for about six minutes. Then without warning, it started to slowly drift towards him across the room. When it reached the side of the bed it held out its arms like it was reaching out for him. At this point Mark blacked out. He does not know whether this was due to fear or something the being had done to him.
The next thing he knew, it was the following morning. He told Sarah all about what had happened. She was accepting of what he told her and believed him. When he thought back to the incident, he felt that he had seen the being before, but he could not remember where or when. He also felt that something else may well have taken place after he lost consciousness.
Contactees have often reported being visited by ET beings at night-time, and they have appeared as glowing entities many times before. Many aspects of this incident are classic signs that contact has taken place – the feeling of a presence in the room, the appearance of the being, the fact he could not wake his wife up, the way in which he blacked out when the being approached. The fact that he could move means that this visitation was not caused by sleep paralysis, and Mark was certain that it took place and was not just a vivid dream. He hopes that through hypnotic regression he may find out if anything else took place that night.
Corridors
When thinking or talking about the incidents that have taken place, Mark sometimes experiences a flashback of a location with dimly lit corridors and non-human entities moving around in them. This flashback is always the same like a recurring memory. These still take place and do frighten him, even after so many years. Mark feels that they are of something which has happened to him that have been blocked out, either intentionally or because of the trauma involved with the experience. It is possible that the flashback is a memory of being on board a craft at some point, maybe linked to the UFO encounter or the light being incident, or perhaps from another time all together.
Conclusion
As you can see Mark has had some truly fascinating experiences. It seems probable to me that after his close encounter with the cigar-shaped craft he was abducted, and that currently most of the details of this have been either repressed or blocked for a reason. It is unknown whether the being he saw many years after the experience with the craft was related to this experience or not, but it is certainly a possibility. Perhaps the being he saw was merely observing him or checking up on him. Alternatively he may have been taken on this occasion as well after he blacked out. There may have been other times that he cannot currently remember at all. It is possible that he has been a repeat contactee from an early age, although it does seem more likely that his contact was initiated when he encountered the craft. Perhaps this was by accident, and he was just there at the wrong place at the wrong time. Mark’s experience has similarities to the Travis Walton abduction case of November 1975. Just like Travis, Mark had approached the craft to get a better look at it, and it was then that contact appeared to take place. Another possibility is that the craft was there for Mark and its occupants were fully aware that he would approach it. We will probably never know either way.
Although Mark still suffers from ongoing flashbacks and anxiety attacks, these appear to be related to the experiences discussed above, and there is little evidence to suggest that he is still experiencing contact, although this is not out of the question. I wish Mark all the best for the future and hope that in time he comes to terms with what has happened to him and gains more of an understanding. He has agreed to stay in touch and keep me updated on any further incidents which take place, so this report may be updated. I may also be arranging a hypnotic regression for Mark in the near future, if so any further details which are uncovered will be added here.
Copyright Dave Hodrien 2010
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