Birmingham UFO Group Report
Author: Dave Hodrien
Release Date: 14/10/2012
Introduction
While most contact related cases I have looked into have come from the UK for obvious reasons, I have also occasionally investigated cases from elsewhere in the world. This particular case took place at a very unusual location indeed.
When Steve (name changed for reasons of anonymity) was 36 years old, he lived at Lake Toba in Northern Sumatra. The lake is actually a flooded dormant volcano which last erupted 75000 years ago. Steve lived on the large island in the middle of the lake.
Aerial photograph of Lake Toba:
A lot of the residential housing in the area is made up of Batak houses. These are unusual shaped wooden houses on stilts, which raise the house about 4 feet off the ground. They have very distinctive curved roofs. Inside the houses are open plan, and it is possible to see right up to the roof from the ground floor. It is said that this is where the dead ancestors of the area reside, and there are celebrations held where offerings are given to these ancestors. It is inside one of these houses that Steve’s experience took place.
Photograph of some Batak houses:
Experience Details
It was an evening in January 1999. At the time Steve was staying in his girlfriend’s brother’s rented Batak house. Things were not going well with his relationship and he was planning to leave in the morning. It was around 6 pm and just starting to get dark. Steve was in the house alone. Suddenly he heard a loud bang sound, and the whole of the house vibrated. The noise sounded like wood colliding. He was wondering what had caused the noise and vibrations when it happened again a further two times! Steve assumed it was his girlfriend messing around. He shouted out telling whoever it was to stop. It then happened one more time. He checked outside there was nobody anywhere nearby. It was still relatively light; the sun was just starting to set. There was no wind or rain, and nothing which could have been responsible for the sounds he had heard and vibrations he had felt through the house. He did not want to ask any of the locals if they had also heard the noises as he didn't want to cause any undue concern, so he went back inside.
Soon after this Steve decided to go to bed. A while later he suddenly woke with a start. He was lying down in bed facing to the left. He had the distinct feeling that someone was standing behind him inside the house alongside the bed. He also sensed an uncomfortable pain at the base of his spine.
He wanted to roll over to take a look, but did not want the person to know that he was awake. It was very dark but h felt that he would still be able to glimpse who was present. So he pretended to shift in his sleep and then began to turn over in the bed. As he turned he saw directly above him a large bright white head floating in the air just below the start of the roof. It appeared to have two dark “pits” of black where the eyes should have been, and a nose, but no visible mouth. He stared at the face and it faded away. As it did so, the pain in his spine also diminished and went away completely.
Steve got up out of bed and put the light on. He checked the clock and found that it was about 10pm, which surprised him as it seemed later. He walked around a while, annoyed at himself for being frightened of what he had seen. In the end he decided to go back to sleep. When he awoke in the morning, and headed out to the restaurant to meet up with his girlfriend, he noted that he felt un-naturally tired and drained of energy. Considering the amount of sleep that he had this was unusual.
Experience Analysis
The two incidents which took place throughout the evening are both quite intriguing. There is no way of knowing if they were connected in any way, but it does seem odd that they would both occur so closely to one another.
The banging noise and vibrations that Steve felt through the house in the early evening sounds very unusual indeed. If it had occurred just once it could have been put down to something large colliding with the house, perhaps a piece of debris which then rolled away out of sight, or a vehicle which crashed into it and was then driven away. However it occurred 4 times, and when Steve went outside to check there was nobody around and nothing swinging near to the house which could have been colliding with it numerous times. There was no wind so the noises and vibrations could not have been caused by weather conditions. However it is possible that they were caused by the house starting to subside or collapse. Maybe one of the foundation pillars was beginning to break under the weight of the house but then eventually settled into a new position. This is the only mundane explanation I can think of which could explain this incident.
When Steve awoke in the night he sensed a presence behind him in the house, and also felt a pain in his spine. Both of these things have been reported before by contactees, indeed the feeling of a presence is very common indeed. They can also be side effects of experiencing sleep paralysis; however it does not appear that this was occurring here as Steve found that he could move absolutely fine when he tried.
The face which he saw is very interesting. From his description it sounds more like some kind of vision rather than a solid physical head floating above him. Steve did not see the head immediately after waking, so it does not sound like it was brought on by a dream that he was just waking up from. He lay in the bed a while before deciding to roll over. The pale complexion of the face and dark “pits” for eyes do sound similar to the features of a Grey. Perhaps the “pits” that he describes were actually large black-coloured eyes. Steve also mentions that no mouth was visible. Again this would fit in with the description of a Grey. These beings have a very thin mouth with no lips. Sometimes this is described as just a thin slit, other times it is not noticed at all. I have asked Steve to draw a picture of how the head looked and if I receive it I will add it to this report.
Could this have been a visitation by a Grey, and this was how it decided to appear to Steve? Or perhaps it was a vision brought on by a previous experience, such as an abduction he had just been returned from. These beings are quite elusive and many contactees have spoken of seeing them fade away when they have been observed. Some may feel this is evidence that they are just being seen in the mind of the individual, but I would argue that it is possible they are physically present in the room but then shift into a different dimension when they are discovered. Another possible explanation is that the head was some kind of ghostly apparition. If so this would fit in with the local legends of the area regarding the ancestral spirits!
In the morning Steve remembers feeling extremely tired even though he had slept for many hours after the incident had taken place. This is a commonly reported side effect of being abducted. Whether this is relevant to the experience or not is unknown, but it is still worthy of note.
I feel that although the incidents which took place may have had mundane explanations, there is still certainly the possibility that Steve experienced an ET visitation while alone in the house, and may have even been abducted prior to or following this visitation.
Copyright Dave Hodrien 2012