Winter 2025 – Hanley, Stoke-On-Trent – Orange Orb Sighting

Chairman Dave
6 days ago
2 min read

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report

Author: Dave Hodrien

Release Date: 04/08/2026

In early August 2026 I spoke with a man named Paul about a stunning incident he witnessed as a child which potentially involved the military intercept of a UFO (Click here to check this out). In our discussion he also mentioned that he had a second sighting in the winter of 2025. This report covers this additional sighting.

Sighting Details

About 10:30pm on an evening in winter 2025 (exact date unknown), Paul decided to walk down to the local Tesco supermarket from his house in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. He approached the supermarket from the North, walking South along Chell Street.

It was a quiet evening and there was nobody else around. Due to the time of year it was already fully dark. It was still and clear, but cold.

As Paul walked along the road, an object suddenly came into view in the sky over the rooves of the houses. It looked like a circular orange orb of light. It appeared to be about the height a kite would fly at, maybe about 40-50 feet.

Paul thought to himself “What’s that?” Due to the fact that the object appeared quite small and it was after dark, he realised his smartphone would be unlikely to pick it up, so didn’t bother trying to film it.

The object moved across the road ahead of him and continued on a straight path until it vanished from sight. Paul continued his walk to the shop.

Sighting Analysis

The object appeared small, low down and was the wrong colour for normal navigation lights of an aircraft. While it could have been a drone, these do not usually have orange coloured lights, and it’s likely that due to the fact it was a quiet night Paul would have heard the buzzing rotor blades if this was what the object was.

The most likely explanation for what was seen was a sky lantern drifting on an air current. Paul did not notice any flickering in the brightness of the orb, but sometimes lanterns do appear continuously bright. The colour of the orb, straight and slow movement path, apparent small size and lack of any intelligent manoeuvres all fit with the lantern explanation. Although an orange coloured LED balloon cannot be ruled out, a lantern seems more probable.

Sky lanterns are less common these days due to the fact that shops have stopped selling them because of the fire risk. However they are not illegal and can still be purchased online, and people may have also stored them from previous years when they were far more popular. I feel this is what Paul most likely witnessed on this occasion.

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