May 1999 – Hong Kong – Grey In Pod Incident

Birmimgham UFO Group Case Report

Author: Dave Hodrien

Release Date: 07/01/2013

This truly bizarre incident involves the close observation of what looked like a Grey ET by many witnesses. Although it could well have a mundane explanation it is still a worthwhile case to report. The details below have been taken from a detailed letter and drawing passed onto me via a BUFOG member, who is friends with of one of the witnesses. 

For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used

Incident Details

In May 1999 James was on a business trip to Taiwan, Hong Kong and a few cities in mainland China. He was travelling with a work colleague Chris. Their first stop was in Taichung in Taiwan where they stayed for a week. After this they flew into Hong Kong. Before work began on the Monday they had the weekend to explore the city. They were staying at the Royal Pacific hotel on Canton Road in the Tsim Shat Sui district.

Photograph of the Royal Pacific Hotel:

It was the first day of the weekend and they decided to go to the Golden Arcade near to the Sham Shui Po MTR station to look for PC components they could take home with them. They set off along Canton Road towards the Tsim Shat Sui underground station on Nathan Road, which was about 5-10 minutes walk.

Aerial map showing the location of the hotel (A) and Tsim Shat Sui underground station (B):

It was a typically busy day in the city with bustling people everywhere. As they approached the station they noticed a very large crowd of people that appeared densely packed around something. This crowd was at least 9 people deep and drew James’ attention. He wondered if something bad had happened or if the people were watching a street performer. Whatever it was, it was drawing a lot of peoples attention.

Chris was anxious to get to the underground station, but James’ curiosity got the better of him and he walked over to the crowd to see what they were all looking at. He managed to push his way through the people. And then his breath was immediately taken from him as he saw what everyone was looking at.

On the road about 15-20 metres from his position was a smooth ovoid shaped “pod” mounted on a flat base. It was about 2 metres in length, one metre in width and 1.5 metres in height. The pod was transparent like glass but seemed to be less reflective than glass would usually be. Inside the pod was a being in a reclined lying down position. It was green-brown in colour and shaped like a Grey, with an oversized head and black eyes. It was about 1.5 metres in length. The being was not moving at all. It was unclothed and was lying on a yellow coloured material. On the far side of the pod James could see a ring of other people who all appeared in awe and shock at what they were looking at.

Photograph of the incident location:

Witness drawing of the being and pod:

James looked around and saw a policeman who was standing a little closer to the pod than everyone else. He appeared to be stopping people from getting closer to it. He had a nervous look on his face and held a walkie talkie close to his chest as if he was expecting to receive a message at any moment.

His gaze returned to the being inside the pod. He stood and watched it for about 5-10 minutes, trying to rationalise what he was witnessing. What was it doing there? Was it real or just a model? If it was real was the being alive or dead? If it wasn’t real then who put it there and for what reason?

After watching it for a while James realised he had to return to his colleague and continue his journey. He lef the circle of onlookers none the wiser to what was going on. He told Chris all about what he had seen as they made their way to the station.

The following week when he arrived back in the UK, James checked on the internet to see if he could find any further information about what he had seen, but he could not find anything.

Incident Analysis

Due to the level of detail given in the letter I am convinced that the witness saw what he says he did. There are a number of possibilities which could explain what took place. These can be summarised as follows.

1) It was some kind of stunt for a hidden camera show.

2) It was a practical joke set up by an unknown individual or individuals.

3) It was a model or prop designed for a movie or museum which had accidentally fallen off a vehicle onto the road.

4) It was a real ET being either dead or asleep in a pod of some kind.

The most important question to ask though is whether it was real or a model. There are a number of extremely valid reasons for why it was more than likely a model rather than an actual ET. Firstly it occurred in broad daylight in the middle of an extremely busy city. If it was a real ET and had been placed there in the pod during the night then it would have been discovered soon afterwards as it was in the middle of the road blocking the traffic. The authorities would soon have been informed of its presence. Soon after this the area would no doubt have been cordoned off by the military or police so nobody would have been able to get anywhere near it, or even removed from the area and taken away elsewhere. It is extremely unlikely that the only presence of authorities in such a scenario would have been a single police officer. Also news of the incident would soon have spread and it is very likely it would have been written about online and in newspapers. The fact that when James returned home he could find no mention of the incident online suggests that no operation of this magnitude took place either before or after he was present at the location, which points towards it being a model rather than an actual ET.

You would also have to consider why the ETs would drop off one of their own in a pod in the middle of a road in full sight of everyone. It was clear that that pod was not a craft which had crash landed, as there was no debris or signs of impact around it. In most cases ETs act in a covert manner, and when people have seen them it is usually while alone or in more remote locations rather than the middle of a highly populated city.

The experience of coming across such a thing just lying there would certainly have be impressive for the witnesses involved, so I am not surprised that James considers that the being may have been real. It is clear from James’ letter that being and pod it was in were extremely convincing, so if it was a model it was a very well made one. Therefore it is unlikely it was nothing more than a practical joke set up by a random member of the public.

However it is far more probable that it was set up on purpose as a stunt for a TV show, perhaps with hidden cameras to see how the public would react. This show would have been given clearance beforehand to place the model where it was located in the middle of the road. It is logical that they would have chosen an extremely public location, such as the middle of a capital city in broad daylight, as this would attract more attention from passers by.

Although James was unable to find anything about the incident online (or I while investigating the case) it is possible that it formed part of a TV show, just not one which was subsequently uploaded to the internet. At present I feel that this is the most likely explanation for what took place.

If you can shed any further light on this incident please get in touch.

Copyright Dave Hodrien 2013