Birmingham UFO Group Case Report
Author: Dave Hodrien
Release Date: 13/09/2023
Note: For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used
In September 2023 I spoke with one of mine and my wife’s friends, “Rebecca” about a couple of incidents while discussing the subject of UFOs. The first of these involved a potential period of missing time which was experienced by herself and her mother back in 2008.
Incident Details
Rebecca is unaware of the precise date when the incident took place, but feels that it was early summertime. She was 32 years old at the time, and lived with her children in a house at Dymchurch, Kent. Her mother “Natalie” lived nearby. On the day in question, she and Natalie had driven East along the coast to Dover to pick up a TV cabinet.
It was between 1-2pm and they were on their return trip, with a view to be home by 3pm so Rebecca could pick up her children from school. This was a route they were very familiar with and had driven many times before. The route led West from Dover along the A20 until they reached Folkestone. They would then join the M20 until they reached Hythe. After this they would leave the road and take country roads South West through various villages until they reached Dymchurch.
The weather was pleasant and sunny but not particularly hot. They were on the A20 and about two thirds of the way towards Folkestone. There were lots of other vehicles on the road heading in both directions. Rebecca was chatting with her mother about cooking Spaghetti Bolognese.
All of a sudden she felt strange, a tingling sensation like static electricity. At the same time she looked out of the passenger side of the windscreen and realised she did not recognise the surroundings. They were no longer on the A20 motorway! They appeared to be travelling along a much narrower country road barely wide enough to pass other vehicles on, with trees and fields either side of it.
As she thought to herself “Where are we?” Natalie pulled over and stopped the car. It was at this moment that she knew that her mother had also realised what had happened, at precisely the same moment as herself. They both sat there in silence staring out of the windows.
Rebecca broke the silence by asking “What’s going on?” Natalie replied “I don’t know!” She asked “Where are we?” Again her mother replied “I don’t know!”
They sat there in the parked car for about five minutes, after which her mother said “We’ve got to find out where we are.” She started driving the car along the road again until she saw some signs which pointed back to Folkestone junction. It took quite a while to reach the junction and get back on track with their journey. From this length of time this took they estimated that they had ended up about 15 miles North of the A20, with no explanation at all as to how they got there.
Even though they would usually join the M20 at this point, they felt uneasy about doing so after what had taken place, and decided instead to avoid the motorway for the rest of the route home and travelled along quieter lanes until arriving home.
As they continued their drive Rebecca began to get a very strong headache. She mentioned this to Natalie, and she too confirmed that she too also had the same.
Once back at her mother’s house, Rebecca checked the clock and found that it was not yet 3pm so they had got back roughly the time they’d expected to, taking into account the additional drive time to get back to Folkestone. She helped her mum unload the TV cabinet and then went to pick up her kids from school.
She and her mother’s headaches lasted for the remainder of the day and only subsided after they had both gone off to sleep and woken the following morning.
Incident Analysis
This is a truly fascinating and mysterious event, and one which cannot be easily explained away. If Natalie was driving an unfamiliar route involving numerous turns then this could have been put down to her accidentally taking a wrong turn somewhere and ending up where she didn’t expect.
However both Natalie and Rebecca had driven this route many times before, it was their trusted way of driving back from Dover. In addition to this they were on a main road. In order for them to have ended up where they did they would have had to have purposely left the A20 at some point via a junction, yet neither of them has any memory of doing so.
There is the mental state known as “Highway Hypnosis” (sometimes referred to as White Line Fever). This is something most drivers have experienced at one point or another, and is where it is possible to “zone out” and drive along a road or roads without remembering doing so. However in this situation the individual would instinctively drive the way they were intending to drive and not deviate from this route.
Other factors which point away from either of these two explanations are the fact that Rebecca and Natalie appeared to realise they were no longer on the A20 at exactly the same moment, the tingling sensation which Rebecca felt at the same time as this realisation, and the strong headaches they both developed afterwards.
I have investigated numerous cases involving abductions from vehicles. In these incidents the driver will often come round to find themselves either driving or parked up on a different road to which they were on previously. The implication is that in some instances the vehicle is also taken, and there are cases on record where this very much seems to have been what happened. Perhaps this is what occurred here.
If so this might explain the sudden feeling of static electricity that Rebecca felt. Perhaps this feeling was from a nearby craft or whatever energy was used to return them to the ground. Headaches are also a common after effect of contact, again suggesting that they may have been taken. If so then this could not have been for very long, as they were still back home in time for Rebecca to pick up her children.
If we assume that this is what happened here, then there is the issue that the incident took place on a sunny afternoon in a busy location. You may ask how this would be possible without other drivers on the road being aware of it. Surely if this was observed by anyone else nearby they would have reported it to someone? But there are often unusual elements of time distortion with contact. Perhaps other nearby drivers did see it occur but had their memories wiped. Or perhaps time itself was halted and they were unaware of the sudden disappearance of the car.
One thing that is certain is that the incident left a lasting impression on both Rebecca and her mother. She informed me that Natalie is quite sceptical of the world of UFOs and the paranormal, however she is clearly troubled by what took place even to this day. She says that sometimes her mother brings it up in conversation, asking “Remember that time when we were abducted?” depsite being largely sceptical of the subject as a whole.
I absolutely trust Rebecca’s testimony of what took place, but the mystery of what happened remains. I am awaiting a testimonial statement from Natalie which should be added to this report in the near future. If you have any information which may shed some light on this please contact me via the BUFOG website.
Rebecca also had a (probably unrelated) sighting of a Flying Triangle in 2015. Details on this will be released soon.
Copyright Dave Hodrien 2023