Birmingham UFO Group Case Report
Author: Dave Hodrien
Release Date: 23/10/2023
In May 2023 a man who lives on Brandwood Park Road, Kings Norton, Birmingham named Martin Dean got in touch with BUFOG via our Experience Report Form to inform us of a possible missing time incident involving both him and his sister which had occurred a couple of days previously.
Incident Details
Early afternoon on 29th April 2023 Martin and his sister took their pet dog Alfie out for a walk around the neighbourhood. It was a clear and sunny day with a mild temperature. They decided to use a route they were familiar with which leads along the tow path of the nearby canal.
They walked South East along the tow path for about 500 metres before leaving it to join onto Shelfield Road. This leads back up a short distance to Brandwood Park Road, which they planned to walk along to get back home.
The next thing both Martin and his sister remember is of being at the end of the path which leads down to the front door of the house. They had completely forgotten the entire return walk from Shelfield Road! However they did not realise this at the time. Martin said that “it didn’t seem unusual. There was no ‘How did we get here?’ feeling. We just carried on, spoke to a neighbour that came out, then went inside.”
After arriving home Martin took Alfie out into the back garden as he usually likes to go out there a while after a walk. He wandered around the garden with him a while, then decided to bring him back in.
As he was closing the back door it suddenly occurred to him that he couldn’t recall how he and his sister had got home after leaving the canal. Discussing how this felt, Martin said “It wasn’t like when you are on public transport and you're daydreaming and suddenly realise that you are near your station but there is still a vague sense of the passage of time and what you had been thinking about. The only thing I can liken it to was having anaesthetic. That feeling of one minute you are in the theatre and it feels like you close your eyes, open them straight away, and you are in the recovery ward.”
As this was dawning on him he started to wonder if the situation had a medical explanation, perhaps the onset of dementia. His sister could see that he was troubled as he was standing still for a moment with his hand on the door handle. She asked him what was wrong but he brushed it off as nothing.
However as the afternoon progressed Martin could not stop thinking about what had happened. Later on he decided to ask his sister about what she remembered. He didn’t want to lead her in any way, but, knowing that his sister likes to talk while they are out walking, he asked her if she remembered what they were talking about as they made their return to the house. He was hoping that if she did recollect this it would jog his memory in some way.
But after thinking for a moment she shook her head, and said “I can’t remember!” in a slightly bemused tone. Martin then asked her if she could remember anything at all about coming back down the road. Looking more concerned she confirmed that she could not remember anything. She just said that she recalled leaving the tow path and starting to walk towards the main road. Then she remembered being at the end of the path outside the house. Later she said that if he hadn’t bought it up she wouldn’t have realised at all.
Incident Analysis
This bizarre event is quite hard to explain in mundane terms due to the fact that it involved multiple people. If just Martin had forgotten the return walk home it could easily have been put down to daydreaming or just forgetfulness because of the regularity of what was going on. But his sister also appeared to have completely forgotten about what took place, a fact which certainly seemed to concern her as it did him. It seems far too coincidental that both of them would randomly forget the same period of time.
Martin says that it would have usually taken between 15-20 minutes to walk back home after leaving the canal. They usually walk slowly as the dog spends time sniffing around. Even though they were familiar with the route, you would expect them to have some memory of the second half of the walk,
I have investigated numerous contact cases involving periods of missing time. Sometimes the missing memories return later on or are triggered by something specific, other times they seem to have been permanently wiped from the individual’s mind. Despite the fact that neither Martin nor his sister recall seeing, hearing or feeling anything unusual which could point towards a contact experience, it cannot be fully ruled out as a possible explanation for what took place.
So far I have only been able to speak with Martin about the incident. I hope to speak directly with his sister in due course to hear her side of events. If I am able to do so, her testimony will be added to this report.
Copyright Dave Hodrien 2023