Birmingham UFO Group Case Report
Author: Dave Hodrien
Release Date: 18/06/2024
In early June 2024 I released a case report covering a Flying Triangle sighting in Christchurch. I shared this report in a number of Facebook groups I am part of. In one group a lady named Emma commented on the post that she had experienced something similar a number of years ago. I got in touch with her to go over the incident via phone. In going over the details it became apparent that the object was also witnessed by her father and younger sister.
Sighting Details
The incident happened in the summer months of 2002, when Emma was 15 years old. At the time she lived with her family on Braddon Road, Loughborough.
On the evening of the sighting, their pet cat Tigger had not returned home. Emma informed me that he would always come back home for his dinner around 5pm. She got worried and decided to walk around the local neighbourhood and look for him. As it was now between 10-11pm and fully dark she asked her father to come too. Her sister "Lumi", who was 10 at the time, came out onto the front lawn of the house to wait for their return.
There is a bridge on Braddon Road which passes over Black Brook, a tributary which joins the River Soar to the North. The family lived very close to the Western end of this bridge. Emma and her father decided to walk to the edge of it and call out for the cat, as there are lots of bushes down near the edge of the stream where they thought he may be. It was a pleasant evening with the stars visible above, but there were no other pedestrians or passing vehicles at the time.
Emma suddenly heard a low humming noise coming from the sky. It did not sound like a normal aircraft or helicopter so she looked up. Approaching their position from the South West was what appeared to be a black equilateral triangle-shaped object visible against the night sky. At each of the three corners was a round orange light. There were no other lights visible on it.
She had never seen anything like it before so exclaimed “What the heck is that?” Her dad then also looked up and saw the object. It appeared to be at a height of about 800-1000 feet (a bit higher than a patrol helicopter would fly at). If it was indeed at this height, Emma estimates that it was approximately 15 feet across. It seemed to be flying quite slowly, around 40 mph and travelling on a straight course.
They both watched the object approach and fly directly overhead. It then continued on the same path travelling away to the North East, skirting the edge of the town before moving away over rural fields. It was visible for a number of minutes before it disappeared into the distance. Sadly neither of them had a smartphone or camera on them at the time so could not attempt to photograph or video the UFO.
After it had disappeared they both agreed that it had not been a normal aircraft of any kind. They walked back home and shared the news of their sighting with Emma’s mother, although she seemed sceptical of what they’d witnessed.
Although Tigger did not return the rest of the evening, he fortunately came home the following day. Emma checked online to see if she could find any civilian or military aircraft which looked the same as what she had seen but was un-successful.
Sister’s Testimonial Statement
At the time of the incident Lumi was standing on the front garden of the house waiting for her sister and father to return. She recalls also seeing the triangular object pass overhead as it moved off in the direction of the bridge. I spoke with her via Facebook messenger and she provided the following short statement:
“I was in my front garden as I was waiting for my dad and sister to come back from finding the cat. Above mum and dads house was a big black triangle shape thing with orange lights in all three corners. It was hiding in the clouds then disappeared."
Unfortunately due to medical reasons Emma and Lumi's father can no longer recall the incident so is unable to provide a statement.
Sighting Analysis
This is a very interesting multiple witness sighting. After speaking with Emma in depth about it, and also receiving a testimonial statement from Lumi, I have no doubt that the object was seen as they reported. But what could it have been?
It could not have been a normal aircraft or helicopter due to both its shape and lighting. Although there are military jets which are black and delta-shaped, none of them are equilateral. On top of this, both civilian and military aircraft possess white (static and strobing), red and green navigation lights, not just orange lights as the witness reports. Below are diagrams showing standard aircraft lighting:
At the time of the sighting drones were not commercially available and it seems too large for this to have been the explanation. While it would be possible for someone to construct and fly a large remote controlled model it seems unlikely to be the explanation here, although that cannot be ruled out entirely in this instance as the object moved on a level and straight flight path away into the distance and did not perform any advanced manoeuvres.
Emma stated that she could see the solid body of the object between the three lights, and they remained a constant brightness, so three Chinese lanterns drifting in formation can be ruled out. Also lanterns are silent, and would not have made the low humming sound which was heard. A specially lit inflatable drifting on an air current also seems very unlikely due the noise.
While hot air balloons are generally light bulb shaped and are flown in daylight hours, novelty triangular-shaped hot air balloons do exist, and there is the potential for them to be flown after dark. However hot air balloons glow orange after dark due to the burner flame, which would have been visible in the centre of the object. They are also required to display special navigation lighting after dark, a white strobing light which hangs below the basket. Again this light would have been visible to the witnesses.
There are numerous issues with the idea that this was a top secret military aircraft of some kind. If such a secret craft existed, why would the military fly it over a densely populated urban area in full sight of people? Also craft of this type have been reported all around the world for many decades, so if it is military in origin, who’s military, and why have no validated whistle blowers come forward in all this time to speak of this hidden project?
With most mundane explanations ruled out, if the object was not some kind of large lit remote controlled model then there is certainly the possibility it was a genuine Flying Triangle craft. I have investigated many other cases of similar objects, some of which have had identical lighting to what Emma described.
I would like to thank Emma and Lumi for openly going over this incident and providing these details. This is also not the only UFO sighting they have had. They also had a later sighting of a glowing white orb. Click here to go to the case report on this incident.
Copyright Dave Hodrien 2024
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