Early 1980s - Cheadle – White Orb Sightings

Chairman Dave
Oct 19
3 min read

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report

Author: Dave Hodrien

Release Year: 2019

Last Updated: 19/10/2025

Note: For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used

On Halloween 2019 “Jake” got in touch via the BUFOG website sighting report form to go over a repeated sighting he experienced back in the early 1980s. Unfortunately, we only have limited information at present as he did not respond to my further inquiries, but this case report covers what is known about the incident

Sightings Details

In the early 1980s (Jake is unaware of the exact year) he witnessed five or six lights forming a pattern in the sky to the North East over what was at the time known as Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) Cheadle, and now known as Woodhead Hall.

He claims to have not only saw them once, but on three or four separate nights over a two-week period!

Jake says that the final sighting of the lights particularly stuck in his head, because one of the lights flew within close proximity of his own house. He says it passed to the left of his property no further than half a mile away. Jake describes the orb as a “bright milky white light, with no noise, no vapour trail.”

As he observed the orb he felt like it knew that he was watching it. He has no idea why he felt this way as it was not in his immediate vicinity nor did it slow down or change course.

Sightings Analysis

This is an intriguing series of sightings. The fact that Jake saw them numerous times over a fortnight suggests that he was living/regularly visiting Cheadle at the time, which means that the lights would have been to the North East, as the below map indicating the position of Woodhead Hall in relation to the town shows:

Due to the year they took place a flight of drones can be ruled out, these were not used until decades later, even by the military. The fact that they moved into a specific formation rules out drifting inflatables catching light from the ground. The witness also gives the impression that they hovered still for a while once in formation (although does not expressly state this)

I would have suggested that they were a formation of distant helicopters, especially considering the fact that the location served a military purpose at the time. However, the witness stated that on the final sighting he saw one of the lights much closer up. Surely if it was as he said only about half a mile away he would have noticed other navigation lights such as red/green lights or a flashing strobe if it was a helicopter?

Below is a diagram showing the standard navigation lights of a helicopter:

It is possible that they were helicopters, and the one that went past his house was further away than he believed it to be, too far to see independent navigation lights. At distance the sound of the rotor blades would also have diminished.

Or there is the possibility that these truly were something more anomalous. It is quite rare for UFOs to make a re-appearance over the same vicinity on numerous separate dates. However, as it was an active military facility at the time they could have been interested in what was taking place there, and returned to it over numerous nights for monitoring purposes. It is hard to say for certain, especially without further information from the witness.

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