June 1975 – Churchdown – Domed Disc UFO Sighting
Birmingham UFO Group Case Report
Author: Dave Hodrien
Release Date: 28/10/2019
On Saturday 28th September I was invited to speak at the Supernatural Fayre in Worcester, a day of paranormal-themed stalls and speaker lectures. After my talk I spent the remainder of the day running a live investigation desk, where I invited attendees to share their UFO experiences. It was here that I met Paula, who shared details of a fascinating multiple witness sighting from her childhood.
Sighting Details
When she was 7 years old Paula went to Parton Manor Infant School on Dinglewell, Churchdown. The school is still there today but Paula says a lot of buildings have been built on the grounds and it looks different to how it did in the past.
One day in early summer of 1975 before breaking up for the holidays she was playing in the school playground with her friends. Paula cannot remember whether it was morning or lunch time break. It was a very pleasant sunny and still day. She looked up into the sky to her right and was amazed to see a domed-disc shaped object. It was roughly 500 feet off the ground and appeared to be a couple of miles from her location. It was about the size of a small aircraft, Paula estimates about 30 feet in diameter. The object was chrome silver in colour and reflecting the sunlight. The main body of the UFO was a flattened disc shape, but on the top was a curved dome. There were what looked like some thin windows or slits near the base of the dome. It was completely motionless at first, and was sitting at an angle of about 10 degrees.
Paula immediately assumed it was a craft due to its appearance. She pointed it out to her friends shouting “Wow look it’s a UFO!” The 20 or so children in the playground all looked up and also saw the object. They ran to the fence at the edge of the playground to observe it. They were just tall enough to see the object over the top of the fence. Everyone was excited at what they were looking at.
The UFO hovered silently for about 6 seconds. Then suddenly without warning it instantly accelerated and shot away at a diagonal to the right. It was lost from sight in about a second. There was no trail or smoke left behind it. Everyone was in awe of the situation and just stared at each other open mouthed. Some of her friends had smiles on their faces, others appeared to be in shock.
Paula cannot remember whether she or anyone else told the teacher about what they’d all seen. However she does recall telling her parents about it in the evening. Her father dismissed it saying “Oh I don’t think so.” She wonders if there may have been other witnesses elsewhere as it was such a clear cloudless day, and as it was warm it is likely there would have been other people out and about.
Sighting Analysis
This is a stunning daylight sighting with many impressive aspects. It is rare for there to be so many witnesses, and how everyone reacted certainly proves that it was physically there in the sky. Even though the witnesses were all children (as far as Paula remembers) the shape of the object, apparent size and incredible manoeuvring capabilities displayed mean that mundane explanations can be discounted. It was clearly not a normal plane or helicopter, and the instant acceleration and speed that it left the area means it cannot have been a blimp, kite or inflatable of some kind.
It instead appears to have been a solid metallic object under intelligent control. I find it quite likely that this was a genuine sighting of an extra-terrestrial craft. I have investigated numerous sightings of objects with a very similar appearance to what Paula reported. This incident has some similarities to the infamous 1994 Ariel School sighting in Ruwa, Zimbabwe, although in that case the UFO actually landed and a being was also observed which communicated with the children. As far as Paula is concerned no communication went on with her encounter.
As to why the craft was there at that time in broad daylight we will probably never know. Due to the time of day and weather it is certainly possible that there may have been other witnesses. There is even the possibility that these other sightings were reported but as Paula was a child she may not have seen the relevant news items or newspaper articles.
Copyright Dave Hodrien 2019