Birmingham UFO Group Report Author: Dave Hodrien Originally forwarded by Richard Hall Release Date: 26/07/2011 Last Updated: 03/09/2024   Sighting Details   It was 7.30-7.45pm on a clear sunny evening in August 1980. The sky was mostly clear other than some light high level cloud. Mike Millward was out walking his dog on Walmer Road recreation ground in Pakefield, Lowestoft, Suffolk.   Mike was on a path that ran alongside the old track way. Suddenly the dog started to act unusual, like it was worried about something. It was staying close to a nearby hedge and looking around. It was now that Mike noticed an object off to his left above the tree line of the track way.   He saw what looked like a deep red coloured glowing orb. It was at an altitude of about 200 feet to the West of him, and about 2500 feet from his position. At first he thought it must be the sun, but then realised it was too small, and the setting sun was visible off to one side. He was puzzled by the object and so stood there watching it.   The object hovered above the trees for quite a while without moving. Then suddenly it descended rapidly behind the trees and moved off to the left. Mike could still see the red glow through the trees as it went. It then once again stopped for several seconds. After this it ascended back up above the tree line.  It hovered for a short while then shot away to the North at an extremely fast speed. It was gone from sight within a second! In total Mike had watched the object for between 2-3 minutes.   Mike tried to continue his walk but the dog refused to walk down the access road to the old golf course, and even tried to slip its collar to avoid being dragged down there. In the end Mike retraced his steps back home. However even back home the dog appeared distressed and wouldn’t settle down.   The following evening Mike again took his dog out on the same route and the dog was totally fine, even when walking round the golf course where the UFO had been seen.   Sighting Analysis   This is a very impressive sighting due to the astounding manoeuvres the object was seen to perform. It was clearly under control, making sudden direct movements between periods of time where it remained completely motionless, before finally flying away at an incredibly fast speed. If it had not made these manoeuvres I may have put the object down to a Chinese lantern, that said this did take place back in 1980, way before lanterns became widely available. The movements it performed also put other mundane explanations such as a drifting lit inflatable out of the question.   Also these manoeuvres seemed too direct for it to have been atmospheric phenomena such as an earth light. It was the wrong colour to have been a helicopter, and was also completely silent. It is unlikely to have been a radio controlled model, it was daylight so the whole object could be seen, it was a self-luminescent orb or sphere, with no visible signs of propulsion.   The fact the dog became agitated by the object is again a good sign that it was something unusual – animals have often been reported acting strange when in close proximity to ET craft. The fact the dog was fine the following evening suggests that the cause of its distress had been the object and not something else.   As you can see there are numerous aspects of this incident which point towards it being a genuine UFO. Due to the apparent small size of the object it was probably un-manned and was there for monitoring or observational purposes.   Copyright Dave Hodrien 2024

Birmingham UFO Group Report Author: Dave Hodrien Originally forwarded by Richard Hall Release Date: 07/08/2011 Last Updated: 03/09/2024   This report covers an unusual case. Rather than see a UFO up in the sky, the witness had a close encounter with a small orb of glowing light. It is unknown whether or not this was ET related, but it is certainly worth reporting either way.   Sighting Details   In 1975 or 1976 Iain Forbes was 19 years old and working at a tanning yard called Russell’s Tanyard in Hitchin (It has since closed down). The tan yard used to be located on High Street. Early in the afternoon he was inside and working on a setting out machine. It was bad weather outside and drizzly.   Suddenly a yellow-green coloured orb of light emerged from the wall several yards off to his left. It appeared to be made out of glowing energy and was semi-transparent. The object was about the size of a football. It was hovering about 4 feet off the floor. The orb began to drift across the room heading behind him. It was moving about walking pace. Iain turned around to follow its movement. While he was watching it he was not frightened, instead he felt completely at ease about the presence of the object like it was nothing out of the ordinary. He also felt a sense of familiarity like he recognised it from somewhere. There were other people in the room at the time but they were not looking the right direction to see it and Iain did not get their attention. The orb continued for about 10 yards across the room. Then it changed direction and started heading back towards the wall it had emerged from. When it reached the wall it seemed to merge into it and was gone. Iain did not tell anyone about what he had seen as they were busy.   Sighting Analysis   This is certainly a fascinating incident. The object seen could not have been caused by sunlight reflection coming in from outside through a window as it was a cloudy day. As it emerged from a wall and re-entered it this suggests it was not solid but some kind of glowing energy. Could it have been unusual atmospheric phenomena such as ball lightning? This is a possibility but the weather was not stormy, it was just cloudy with light rain.   If it was something out of the ordinary, what could it have been? Perhaps it was something supernatural but spirit energy of some kind and not ET related. However there are a number of signs that it could have been ET in origin. The way in which Iain felt completely calm about the presence of the orb has been commonly reported by contactees and UFO witnesses on many occasions. This seems to be something which is done on purpose, probably so that they will encounter little resistance to whatever they wish to do.   Iain also felt a degree of familiarity when he saw the orb, it was like he knew what it was and it didn’t bother him. This is interesting as this is often reported in UFO sightings, especially where actual contact is involved. It appears that the ETs have a way of relaxing the individual so theyt are at ease with what is taking place. Is this evidence that the orb was ET related in some way? Whatever the orb was, it certainly seems to have been something highly unusual.   Copyright Dave Hodrien 2024

Birmingham UFO Group Report Author: Dave Hodrien Originally forwarded by Richard Hall Release Date: 17/08/2011 Last Updated: 02/09/2024   Note: Actual witness names not provided   Sighting Details   At about 1pm on 12th June 2001, “Thomas” and his wife “Natasha” were in their home at Codsall, Wolverhampton. It was a bright sunny day outside with very little cloud. Natasha was looking out through the double glazed patio doors when she noticed a strange object in the sky to the East.   The object was about 10-15 feet in diameter. It was black in colour with no visible markings or lights. It was a flattened triangular shape. It appeared to be only a couple of feet thick. There was a faint yellow glow coming from one side. The object was slowly descending in altitude. It was about 180-200 feet from her location.   Natasha called her husband to come and take a look at the object. By the time he had also approached the patio doors, the object had disappeared from sight behind a large oak tree. They continued to watch and after a moment it started to rise again and became visible again above the tree.   The object was slowly ascending with a pronounced rocking motion, tipping back and forth. It did not ascend vertically but instead rose in a spiralling motion covering an area no bigger than 50 feet. The witnesses were amazed by what they were seeing. They watched the object for 10 minutes until it was out of sight. Thomas grabbed his 10x50mm binoculars and continued to watch the object through them.   When it reached a high altitude, it suddenly stopped ascending and moved away towards the North East on a straight and level course. He watched it for several more minutes until it disappeared from sight.   Sighting Analysis   Thomas believes that what he and his wife witnessed was an experimental military aircraft of some kind that had malfunctioned. However I am not so sure that it was either this or a genuine ET craft. It was clearly not a conventional aircraft of any kind. It was much too thin to have been a piloted aircraft, whatever its origin. So if it was military then it would have been an unmanned drone. However these almost always have visible propulsion methods such as engines or propellers. Also it seems unlikely that the military would fly such an unusual object in populated residential areas in the first place, if it was secret it would only be flown in remote or privately owned locations.   We must also take into account the fact that the object descended to such a low altitude in the first place. If this was a craft of some kind which was malfunctioning, surely it would have continued to descend and crashed into the ground or landed? Why would it descend so low and then suddenly find a way to keep aloft?   There are some aspects which lead me to wonder if the object was some kind of unusual kite or remote controlled model. The fact that it was very thin, not overly large, rocked as it ascended, and ascended in a spiral tends to point towards this possibility. Perhaps the reason the object ascended in a spiral was that it was riding on thermal air currents, in much the same way that a hand glider gains altitude. The fact that once the object was at high altitude it moved off on a straight course could suggest it was under control, but alternatively it could have just been caught in another current moving in a North Easterly direction. If it was light weight it would be easy for it to drift in these currents and create the impression it was under control. Perhaps the fact the object was rocking back and forth was because it was being buffeted in the air.   Black triangles are one of the more commonly reported types of UFO. However they are usually much bigger in size and perform direct and sometimes extremely fast manoeuvres. If it was a genuine craft, then I feel it is unlikely to have ascended in a spiral pattern, craft of this type have often been reported as having the ability to ascend straight upwards. True, it could have been damaged in some way, but I feel that on this occasion, a mundane explanation is probably more likely.   Copyright Dave Hodrien 2024

Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 03/12/2008 Last Updated: 03/09/2024 Note: For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used In most contact encounters there appears to be no interaction with the witnesses, they are merely observers of something extraordinary. However occasionally there can be actual contact with beings and communication on numerous different levels. Sometimes these experiences can have a profound and long term effect on the people involved. This seems to be the case with "Emily", who earlier in her life had a fascinating encounter with what she believes was an extraterrestrial intelligence. Her experiences were quite unusual and have had an impact on her life ever since.   The Experiences   Emily believes her experiences began towards the end of 1974 when she was 29 years old. At this time in her life something strange began to happen. She felt she was being surrounded by a strong force of some kind, and that this force was causing her to think more about the spiritual side of her life. At the beginning of February 1975 she began to experience symptoms usually associated with pregnancy, but Emily knew that she wasn’t pregnant. This lasted for several days and then stopped. Were these events in some way linked to what was to come? Or did they just have a mundane explanation? Either way, things were about to take a much stranger turn. On the evening of February 23rd she suddenly began to feel feverish and went to bed. About 2-3am she awoke to what seemed to be someone turning the bedroom door handle. The kids were in the bedroom with her and her husband was away so she knew it wasn’t them. She was a little afraid so remained in bed. Next there was a single loud knock on the door. Shortly after this she saw directly in front of her a small silvery ball of light at the foot of her bed at eye level. She thought to herself “What is that and where on earth did it come from?” She checked the window to make sure it was not light coming through or reflected from it but the curtains were fully closed. The light began to change shape, becoming longer and longer until it resembled a vertical strak of light, emitting a bluish-white glow. It moved along in front of the bedroom wardrobes. It seemed to be keeping its distance from her, which she attributed to some form of intelligence, as if it were aware of her presence and did not want to alarm her. She then noticed another similar light at the bedroom door. As the initial light reached this other light it seemed to join up with it and then disappeared. She then fell into a deep sleep. A couple of hours later she woke up with a heavy pain in her stomach and lower back as if she was about to give birth. After a while this pain slowly subsided and she went back to sleep.   In the morning she thought about the lights she had seen and wondered what they were. She told her husband and friends, and they believed she had had some sort of vision. However she found this difficult to comprehend and thought there may be another explanation. Four weeks later in the early hours of March 24th she suddenly woke up and felt the need to look around her room. She saw two small balls of yellowish-red light to her right, closer to her than the previous time. One was positioned above the other one. She sat up in bed, curious as to what they were. Watching them she said out loud “I accept your presence. What do you want?” There was no reply but again she sensed that they were some form of intelligence. The upper ball of light disappeared. The other one slowly floated right up to her face shining in her eyes. It backed off a short distance then performed the same action again. After moving back a second time it then appeared to put on some sort of display, brightening and dulling like a twinkling star. During this it appeared a bluish-white colour similar to the first time she saw the lights. It then moved away towards the wardrobes and disappeared. Emily still believes it to be the most supernatural thing she has ever seen. After the light disappeared a peaceful feeling came over her, which lasted most of the next day.   Two weeks later she began to experience a feeling of warmth emanating around her waist. This feeling came and went at various times. She had a dream that seemed to explain this warmth. In the dream she felt like she was connected to a universal higher power related to light and energy.         She would not see the lights again until June. Again in the early hours of the morning she was awakened from her sleep. This time a light appeared on the wall of her bedroom. It appeared in the shape of a vertical bar of bluish-white light with a ring of light around the outside of it. She watched it disappear and reappear a while before dropping off to sleep. At this time she was not aware of the lights significance.   Early morning on October 18th she awoke to see a light in her bedroom once again displaying the shape of a bar with a ring around it. She felt it was trying to show her something of profound spiritual significance, and that she had to find out what it meant.             After her encounters with the lights, the feeling of heat radiating from inside her continued. Over time it moved up the centre of her back. Two years later she finally plucked up enough courage to visit her GP and discuss these feelings. He could provide no answer to either the lights or the heat, other than to say she seemed to be mentally stable. Over time the feeling of heat moved up to the top of her head, and then down onto her face and throat. After searching for answers in various books, Emily came to the conclusion that these feelings of pain/heat were the awakening of latent energy within her body, the opening of some of her seven major Chakras Centres.   Emily also believes that some form of telepathic communication began after her experiences, where she would receive words or information directly into her mind. In early 1985 she received three words that were constantly impressed upon her against her wishes – atom, alchemy and transmutation. She tried to ignore this but found she could not, and in the end decided to start reading up about the meaning of these words in science books. Later she received another telepathic message telling her to relate the science of the atom to herself and that she would come to understand. She also received telepathically two geometric symbols – a circle within a triangle, and a triangle within a circle.   After all the years that have gone by Emily now feels she understands her place in the universal cosmos. She believes that the opening of her Chakras was the direct result of her experiences with the lights, and that this in turn heightened her sensitivity and telepathic abilities.   Drawings & Shape Explanations   The below explanations are what Emily has come to believe are the reasons for the shapes the lights took on the numerous occasions that she saw them, and the symbols she received telepathically:   February incident – Ball of light becomes vertical streak Symbolised the beginning and the end. In it’s vertical position it is then possible to create any other shape/form from it, in the same way that energy can change it’s form. March incident – Two balls of light, one positioned above the other The balls of light themselves symbolised orbital completeness. Their formation symbolised “as above, so below” – a message that the human race is not alone in the cosmos, and that we and the ETs are all part of the same universal energy. June & October incidents – Vertical bar of light with ring around it There are two explanations for the shapes seen – a physical explanation and a spiritual explanation. In the physical explanation the vertical bar represents a group of individuals (both contactees and extraterrestrial beings) working in harmony to pass on the complete truth to the rest of the human race. During this time they will receive universal protection, this is what the ring of light represents. In the spiritual explanation, the circle represents different universal dimensions, and the vertical bar represents a doorway through which the mind can travel to access these dimensions. Telepathic symbols – Circle within a triangle, and triangle within a circle Emily believes these represent universal equality, that on a universal level all things are related and equal. Conclusions   In searching for answers for all of this, it is quite hard to speculate as Emily’s experiences are so unusual. They involve a combination of factors, which may or may not be extraterrestrial in nature. In regards to the various lights that she saw, there could be numerous possibilities. Emily states that she felt unusual/feverish before sighting the lights for the first time. Were they some form of hallucination or dream brought about as a direct result of illness? Emily claims that the curtains were fully drawn in her room, but was she mistaken? Perhaps the lights were simply caused by a light source outside of her window. However this would not explain the later sightings which appeared to be hovering close to her face and performing manoeuvres in the room. Could the lights have been caused by electrical phenomena such as ball lightning? There are numerous documented cases reporting ball lightning appearing as small bluish-white or yellowish glowing orbs of light which slowly drift around. But this would not explain how the lights changed shape in front of her eyes. There is the possibility that the lights were phenomena of another kind altogether, such as spirit energy. Or were they, as Emily believes, an extraterrestrial intelligence that was trying to make contact with her?   As for the feelings of pain and heat that she experienced at various times, could these have been caused by an illness of some kind, or were they really linked to the light encounters? It seems too much of a coincidence that they started around the same time in her life. Also, according to her, she did visit both a GP and a psychiatrist who both declared that she was fit, both physically and mentally. Whether or not you believe these feelings were caused by the opening of her body chakras is going to be down to your views on this topic, so it will not be covered in any more depth here. It is hard to speculate about the telepathic communications Emily has stated she received. Were these imaginary or real? Could they have been brought on by her willingness to search for answers to her experiences or was a genuine non-human influence at work?   Emily certainly believes that her experiences were extraterrestrial in nature, and it has changed her life profoundly in many ways. She still searches for answers to what happened, and wonders what the future has in store for her. I am sure you agree it is a very interesting case. BUFOG will keep you informed of any further developments. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2024

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 06/08/2024 In June 2024 I was contacted on Facebook by a man named Anthony Spears. He had viewed one of my previous case reports on a Flying Triangle sighted over Christchurch, and wanted to report that he had also had a triangular-shaped UFO sighting very close to this location, one which was seemingly being intercepted by the military. I got in touch with him to discuss this incident via Messenger video call. In doing so I also discovered he had witnessed two other incidents while living in Portland as a child. These incidents have been written up as separate case reports (links towards the end of this one) Sighting Details Unfortunately Anthony cannot remember the precise date of the event. He is aware that he was between the age of 19-21, meaning that it took place between 2001-2003. He also stated that it happened around 7pm and that it was fully dark, so it could not have been in the summer months as it would have still been light at this time. Back then he was living with his parents in Christchurch, however the incident occurred on the outer edges of Bournemouth, several miles to the West. He would often travel to Tesco Extra on Riverside Avenue in Bournemouth to stock up on food. On this particular evening he and his parents Peter and Sylvia were in their friend Andrew’s car. Andrew was driving, Anthony was in the passenger seat, and his parents were in the back. It was a clear, dry and still evening. They had turned into the car park and were driving along it towards the front of the store looking for a place to park. Anthony was staring straight forward at the time out of the front window. All of a sudden three large white lights in a equilateral triangle formation came into view, travelling the same direction they were, but at a much faster speed. The lights remained constantly aligned to one another, and Anthony was convinced that they were attached to a singular triangle-shaped black/dark coloured object, although the main body could not be seen due to the lack of light in the sky combined with light pollution from the shopping store itself. The object looked like it was at quite a low altitude. Anthony estimates it was “about the height of a 10 storey block of flats above the roof of Tesco.” If his estimation is correct, this means it would have been around 130 feet up. It was moving quite fast, at least 100 mph. Judging by the distance between the lights and height that it appeared to be it was about 50 feet across. There was seemingly no sound coming from it (at least audibly within the car) as it flew along on a straight and level course. Anthony did not have enough time to react or grab his smartphone, he just stared at it transfixed. Andrew was looking around for a space so did not see it, nor did his parents due to having a reduced view from the back seat of the car. Within five seconds it had vanished from sight beyond the roof of the store. Anthony has a vague recollection of asking “Did anyone see that?” But before anyone had a chance to answer him there was an extremely loud roaring sound coming from above them. Suddenly a jet flew over the roof of the car at low altitude, heading in the same direction as the object. The noise as it passed over was tremendous, and Anthony even contemplated the idea of it being a sonic boom. Everyone in the car of course heard it and watched as it flew away to the North East. Anthony does not recall many details about it except that it was a grey colour and had a red light on it. He immediately exclaimed “That was a UFO, that was what that was just chasing!” Andrew and his parents of course queried him about this and he explained to them what he had just witnessed. Anthony was amazed at what he seen. Andrew parked up the car and they entered the store. Inside Anthony overheard some of the staff at the customer services desk talking about the sound of the jet, so they had clearly heard it from inside the store. He did not approach them to tell them about the UFO. Sylvia's Testimony Although Sylvia did not actually get to see the UFO or jet herself, as she was in the back seat of the car, she was still present at the time. She provided the following testimonial statement to back up the details provide by Anthony. "I missed it. I couldn't see. I was dozing as we had been on long journey. Anthony was stunned and said 'Did anyone see that?' I asked 'See what?' and he responded 'It just went over the car park!' I heard the aeroplane noise. It sounded like a jet going really fast. When we lived in Portland we would see lots of military aircraft so I was familiar with the sound. I heard the jet go over but didn't see it." Sadly Peter has since passed away so I am unable to speak with him. However Sylvia's testimony clearly supports the details passed on to me via Anthony, and also re-affirms that there was a jet in the area at the time. Sighting Analysis There are numerous fascinating aspects to this dramatic sighting. The lights could not have been three other jets flying in formation as if so surely Anthony would have heard their engines just as he did with the latter jet. Also they would have logically looked somewhat similar, and their shapes would have been visible against the sky. Drones only became commercially available in 2013. While three drones with white lights flying in a triangular formation cannot be entirely ruled out, it seems unlikely. Anthony says the white lights were quite large in size, prominent and bright. Due to the fact they traced a path from above the car right over the roof of the store and away beyond it, several searchlights bouncing off clouds can be ruled out. Also Anthony says that it was a clear night, and the only reason the stars were not visible was due to the light pollution coming from the store. The lights were clearly moving at quite a fast speed, so white coloured LED balloons or other lit inflatables travelling on an air current can be ruled out. This speed, and the size of the lights means satellites can also be discounted. I agree with Anthony that it seems more likely that the lights were attached to a singular larger object, one which could not be seen due to the darkness of the sky. If so then there is certainly the possibility that this was a genuine sighting of a Flying Triangle craft, one of the more commonly reported types. I have investigated many sightings of similar objects before with exactly the same lighting. If it was a genuine Flying Triangle then the jet flying after it would make sense. Could Anthony have witnessed an actual attempted military intercept taking place? If so, from where was this jet launched? There are a number of RAF bases in this area of England, including MOD Boscombe Down 50 miles to the North, RAF Odiham 70 miles to the North East, Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton 50 miles to the North West and RNAS Merryfield 60 miles to the North West West. Bournemouth is on the South coast and the object was heading inland on a North North East course when witnessed, but it could have easily changed direction prior to this time. Unfortunately due to the age of the incident, and the fact that we do not have a precise date for it I will be unable to raise a Freedom Of Information Request with the Ministry Of Defence to attempt to find out whether a jet was flown within the vicinity at this time, and if so for what purpose. The loud sudden noise which Anthony, his friend and parents heard was very likely just the sound of the jet engines at low altitude, and not a sonic boom. The jet was chasing the UFO at around the same speed, and both were seemingly moving far too slowly to break the sound barrier. This occurs at around 750 mph, and at low altitude the shockwave would have shattered the windows of the shop and vehicles. Also both objects would have only been visible for a couple of seconds at most. Due to the way in which Anthony has described the incident to me I have no reason to suspect he has made this incident up. He says that outside of his own family he has kept the incident to himself until quite recently due to fear of ridicule, so I am grateful that he has finally come forward with the details, even if it is not possible to make many further checks regarding the incident. If you have any further information relating to this experience please get in touch. As I mentioned near the start of the report Anthony has had two other childhood sightings while living in Portland. A formation of orange orbs which was also witnessed by his parents, and a silver coloured sphere which was seen by him and a friend. Click here to go to the orange orbs report, or here to go to the silver sphere report. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2024

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 06/08/2024 In June 2024 I came across a Facebook post regarding a Flying Triangle sighting a man named Anthony Spears had experienced. I reached out to him on Messenger expressing an interest in the incident. We arranged a video call to go over it in depth. During this call Anthony also revealed he had experienced two previous sightings, the first of which had made a massive impact on the lives of both him and his parents. This report covers this initial childhood sighting in depth. Links to the reports on his two other sightings can be found towards the end of it. Sighting Details In 1989 when Anthony was 7 years old he lived with his parents in a house on Coronation Road, Portland, Dorset. Portland is famous for its annual fair which has taken place near to Chesil Beach for the last 200 years in late October to early November. One day in late October Anthony had visited the fair with his parents Peter and Sylvia. It was dusk, around 6pm due to the time of year, and they were on their way back home. They were at the Southern end of Verne Common Road and had just started ascending the gradual hill towards Harbour View Road. There were no other pedestrians around at the time, it was quite quiet. The only nearby illumination was from the street light they had just walked past. Anthony can’t recall who saw them first, but one of his parents suddenly stated “Look at that up there!” Everyone looked up into the sky and were amazed at what they saw. A short distance to the West of them at a very high elevation were what appeared to be five glowing orange orbs or spheres. The objects had clearly defined edges with no halo around them. They were arranged into a symmetrical V-shaped formation, and were moving very slowly along heading in a Easterly direction. However rather than flying with the central object at the front of the formation it was instead at the top, with the other objects spaced equally outwards below it, like an upside down V. They appeared to be completely silent. As they moved on a straight course to the East, passing right over their heads, the objects did not drift from one another at all, and remained constantly bright. Anthony estimates they were moving around 5 mph. During the sighting Anthony and his parents did not talk much, they were transfixed by what they were looking at. Sadly they did not have a camera on them at the time so were unable to take any photographs or video footage. The family watched them for a number of minutes as they slowly moved away on a level and straight course. After this time they entered a small cloud. They expected them to emerge from the other side of this cloud as they were moving on a constant speed, but they did not. They had seemingly vanished without trace. They continued their walk up the hill. It was only when they arrived home that the sighting began to really sink in. Sylvia immediately drew a colour picture of what they had witnessed while it was still fresh in her memory. Anthony had kept this drawing and was able to provide a scan of it for me. The sighting made a lasting impact on both Anthony and his parents, which later on would lead to a fascination with the UFO subject. Sylvia’s Testimony Sadly Anthony’s father Peter has now passed away. However I was able to speak with Sylvia on a later video call to hear what she recollected. Below is her testimonial statement on the incident. “I remember it like it happened yesterday. We was coming back from the beach 'cause they had the fair on 31st October for Halloween. We were walking back up to the top of the hill. It had just turned dark, sun was just setting. Could still see the clouds. That's when we saw five orangey-peach lights, big lights, over our heads moving really slowly across the sky. We watched for ages until they disappeared behind a little puffy cloud. We waited until they came out of the other side but they didn't they just vanished. They were something we had never seen before. They looked like glowing balls of light. They were moving across the sky in a formation. There were five lights in a diagonal pattern. no change in brightness, kept in exactly the same pattern. Absolutely amazing. We didn't have a camera, couldn't take a picture. We looked at them for at least five minutes. They went directly over our heads. No sound as well. I always wanted to believe in UFOs but after that it proved it for me." I asked Sylvia if she knows what sky lanterns are. In response to this she said "They definitely weren't those. They were too large. The colour was different, like a pinkish-orange colour. They remained in formation and did not drift in position from one another." Sighting Analysis Anthony has always thought of the orange orbs as round lights on a singular large object. Because of the way the orbs were all moving together at a constant speed and direction I can see how he could have ended up with this impression. However in going over the details with him, viewing his mother’s drawing and obtaining testimonies from them both, I feel it is more probable that this was five objects travelling in formation rather than a singular object. It was not fully dark, so if there had been a main body around the orbs this would have been visible, yet no such main body was drawn by Sylvia or Anthony. The orbs could not have been aeroplanes or helicopters flying in formation. They were too clearly defined and were the wrong colour for aircraft. Navigation lights of both planes and helicopters are white, red and green, and even at high altitude it is possible to see these. It was not fully dark the shapes of these aircraft would have been visible. The objects were also seemingly moving much too slowly to be aircraft. Lastly it would be logical and most common for a V-formation of aircraft to fly with the central plane/helicopter at the front and the others spanning out behind them (Although it is of course possible for aircraft to fly in any formation they choose). The incident took place decades before drones and LED balloons were available. Five remote controlled models being flown together is extremely unlikely, and the objects seemed too large for this to be the explanation. Hot air balloons are never flown in formation like this. The vast majority of hot air balloons are light bulb shaped, and as it was not yet dark this shape would have been immediately recognisable. There are numerous reasons why I do not believe that this was a launch of five sky lanterns. Both witnesses remarked on the size of the orbs. They were clearly up in the low cloud layer as they were finally lost from view behind one. Low lying cloud tends to usually appear around 5000 feet up, so they were clearly at quite a high altitude, meaning that they would have had to have been quite large. Sky lanterns were not widely available back in the late 1980s. They only became popular in the noughties, and of course have since been largely removed from shops due to the fire hazard (although they are still currently legal in the UK). When caught on an air current lanterns do often follow the same path across the sky, however there would usually be a small amount of drift detected, especially if observing them for several minutes. No such drift was observed with the objects, the retained positioning from one another throughout the sighting. Also lanterns tend to flicker in brightness due to the flame, yet the witnesses reported that these objects were constantly bright. The objects were in a symmetrical pattern which may indicate possible intelligence, although this could of course have been purely coincidental. The way in which the orbs vanished all at the same time while out of sight behind a cloud is another aspect which needs to be addressed. When lanterns burn out they can seem to suddenly vanish, however it is extremely unlikely that all five of them would burn out at the same moment, even if they had been launched around the same time. So surely at least some of them would have emerged from the cloud and still been visible? I feel there is enough testimonial evidence which points away from this sighting being a launch of sky lanterns. With this and other mundane explanations dismissed, I feel there is the possibility that this was a genuine sighting of a formation of glowing craft. I have investigated formation sightings numerous times before, although they are quite rare. Anthony has experienced two other UFO sightings in his life. A couple of years later while still living in Portland he witnessed a silver coloured sphere. Click here to go to the case report. Many years later in Bournemouth he witnessed a Flying Triangle potentially being intercepted by a military jet. For the case report on this incident click here. I would like to thank Anthony and Sylvia for coming forward with the details of these sightings. It is good to get them finally down on record. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2024

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 06/08/2024 In June 2024 I released a case report covering a Flying Triangle sighting from Christchurch. In response to one of the shared Facebook posts detailing this report a man named Anthony Spears got in touch to report his own sighting of a similar object. In speaking with him it became apparent he had also had two previous sightings much earlier in his life while living in Portland. This report covers the second of these earlier sightings. If you’re interested to read about the other sightings too, links to them can be found towards the end of the conclusion. Sighting Details As a child Anthony lived with his parents on Coronation Road in Fortuneswell on the Isle of Portland. Back in 1991 he was 10 years old. His parents would often let him play with his friends at an open grass covered park known as Victoria Gardens, which lies just to the South West. One sunny day in the summer he was down Victoria Gardens with his friend Andy. It was early afternoon, between 1-2pm and they were playing tennis towards the North Western end of the park. There was nobody else present at the time. Victoria Gardens lies on a slope and overlooks Chesil Beach and West Bay to the South West. The weather was dry and warm, with only light cloud in the sky. Anthony happened to look to the West over the bay and suddenly noticed what appeared to be a silver-coloured spherical object. It seemed to be around the height of the low cloud layer, possibly 4000 feet up. He could see sunlight glinting off the top of the object, and shadow underneath due to the curved surface. He pointed it out to Andy stating “What’s that? That’s not a balloon!” They both started watching the object. The sphere appeared to be hovering motionless in the air. Anthony was amazed at how smooth and reflective it appeared to be. After about a minute it began moving slowly across the bay on a straight path heading to the North. They continued to watch it for up to 10 minutes until it had vanished into the distance out over the sea. Once the sighting was over Anthony walked back home and told his parents about what he’d seen. As they had all had a previous sighting of multiple objects just two years previously they fully believed him. Later on he also discussed the sighting with his brother. Thinking back to the sighting Anthony wonders if the UFO had been monitoring goings on at the Ministry Of Defence Magnetic Range at Pulpit Rock on the Southern end of Portland, as this is in the direction it was moving away from. The site, also known as Portland Bill Land Magnetic Facilities, conducts tests based on magnetic measurements. It is positioned in this location because Portland stone is non-magnetic. This combined with the location's remoteness means that the site is free from magnetic disturbance. Sighting Analysis This is an interesting sighting of something which clearly caught the attention of the two witnesses. It could not have been an aeroplane as a plane would have been constantly moving, and the object remained stationary for a minute. It was a daylight sighting, so if it was a helicopter the shape would have been possible to make out, even at quite a distance. Due to the reflection of light and shadow on the object, I agree with Anthony’s viewpoint that it was spherical in shape as opposed to a flat disc. Could the object have been a silver coloured hot air balloon? While most hot air balloons are light bulb shaped, and this shape is obvious even from miles away, there is the possibility that it was a novelty hot air balloon that was spherical in shape. This could of course have hovered still in the sky for a short while before beginning to move. Another possibility that cannot be ruled out is that it was a novelty inflatable of some kind. It seemed to be at quite a high altitude, so could not have been small in size, but a larger inflatable is entirely possible. The object did not perform any manoeuvres which would definitely indicate it was under intelligent control. Perhaps initially it was not drifting relatively still in the air, but then got caught in an air current and began slowly moving on a straight course. Neither of these possible explanations can be confirmed beyond doubt, so there is still the possibility that this was a genuine sighting of an advanced craft. I have investigated many cases of silver spheres before, some of which have performed incredible manoeuvres or remained stationary in stormy weather conditions. So how you view this sighting will be down to your personal interpretation. If it was a genuine craft, then it is entirely conceivable that it had been observing the MOD Magnetic Range at the Southern end of Portland, just as Anthony believes it may have been. There are many cases on record of UFOs being seen in the vicinity of military establishments around the world. As I mentioned at the start of the report, Anthony has had two other sightings. His previous sighting of a formation of orange orbs over Portland can be read about here. To learn about his later sighting of a Flying Triangle in Bournemouth click here. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2024

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 18/06/2024 Las Updated: 12/07/2024 I tend to share released BUFOG case reports across many UFO related groups on Facebook for general interest. In early June 2024 I released a report covering a sighting of a Flying Triangle seen over Christchurch. In one of the groups I posted the report, I received a response comment from a lady named Emma, claiming to have seen something similar over Loughborough, which was also observed by her father and sister. I reached out to her soon afterwards to discuss this incident. After going over the details of this case, she also confirmed she and her sister had experienced a second UFO sighting a number of years later. This report covers the details of this later sighting. A link to the case report covering the Flying Triangle sighting can be found towards the end if you are interested to have a read of this incident too. Sighting Details In 2014 Emma lived in Whitwick. She would regularly walk her dog around Whitwick Park, which was relatively close by. Emma cannot recollect the exact month of the incident, she just remembers there were leaves on the ground so it must have been the autumn. On this particular evening her sister "Lumi" had come to visit. They decided to both take the dog for a walk along the usual route round the park. It was roughly 8pm when they entered the Western corner of the park via Cello Close. Due to the time of year it was already fully dark. There were some clouds in the sky, but stars could also be seen through the gaps between them. There were no other pedestrians around at the time. They began to walk North East along the upper pathway which leads around the edge of the park. The area lies on a gradual slope, and in the distance to the North East Emma could see the tops of the bank of trees which lay beyond North Street. She suddenly noticed a white glowing light coming from behind the trees (which were devoid of leaves). She initially assumed it was the moon and exclaimed “Ooh look, the moon is so low down!” Here sister asked “Where?” and she pointed it out to her. They continued to walk along the path, Emma’s pet dog at their side. Then briefly looking back down the path she suddenly noticed the moon emerge from behind a cloud. She immediately realised the light they had previously seen was clearly something else and said “Hang on a minute, the moon’s there!” They both looked back to the North East in the direction of the white light, which was still present. As they watched they realised that the white light beyond the treeline was slowly gaining altitude. Over a number of seconds it raised up until it was above the tops of the trees. It looked like a glowing ball of white light. Suddenly without warning the object instantly accelerated and shot away to their right in a South Eastern direction! It was gone in just a brief moment and lost from sight. The speed at which it left the area was stunning, and Emma and Lumi were astounded at what they had just watched (As you can see in the below drawing Emma compares it to the "speed of light". Obviously it must have moved much slower than this to have been able to visibly witness its departure at all, this is clearly just a term of phrase). They both asked one another “What was that?” before discussing what it could have been as they continued walking the rest of the route back to Emma’s house. Once they arrived they told Emma’s husband what had occurred, but felt that he did not really believe them. Sister’s Testimonial Statement I was able to speak with Lumi via Facebook Messenger during the investigation. She provided the following statement regarding what took place: “When my sister was at Whitwick we both took dog for a walk and my sister said look it's the moon coming up from the trees. But we looked in the opposite direction and the moon was there, so the light we first saw we have no clue but was odd. The light moved fast towards Bardon Hill.” Sighting Analysis This is a very interesting UFO sighting, primarily due to the manoeuvres the witnesses saw the object perform. While a distant helicopter could have appeared as a white glowing light, and also performed the slow vertical ascent which was observed, it would not be able to fly away at the vast speed that the witnesses then reported seeing. The right angle turn from its initial trajectory, combined with the instant acceleration and extremely fast speed that it left the vicinity, put most mundane explanations out of the question. It could not have been a white coloured LED balloon, other lit inflatable or radio controlled model. Although drones had been commercially released (only for about a year), it covered too great a distance in too short a space of time for it to have been this. Also it was visible through the trees meaning it was a good distance away from their location, at the very least 300 metres, probably further. At this distance a drone would look just like a glowing point of light, like a star. Emma informed me that it looked much larger and brighter than a star, hence why she initially mistook it for the moon. One possible mundane explanation for what was seen is that the witnesses actually saw two objects instead of one. Maybe the white glowing object which slowly ascended moved behind a cloud, and at the exact same moment there was a meteorite which they mistook for the object flying away from the area? Like a star, a meteorite just looks like a point of light, but if it was moving very fast this smaller size may not have been noticeable, they would have just seen something glowing white moving across the sky extremely fast. However improbable this theory sounds it cannot be entirely ruled out. If it was not this then this could well have been a genuine distant sighting of a advanced craft. I have looked into many other cases where extremely similar advanced manoeuvres have been reported, some of which have also appeared as white orbs of light. It is a shame that neither of the girls had enough time to get out their smartphones and start recording the object, but this was a very brief sighting, and they did not realise it was something out of the ordinary until it suddenly shot away. Even so, it is still worth having this case down on record. Perhaps in due course other witnesses to it may come forward. As I mentioned at the start of the report, Emma and Lumi have had a previous sighting of a triangular-shaped UFO, which was also witnessed by their father. Click here to go to the case report on this incident. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2024

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

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 06/06/2024 Last Updated: 11/06/2024 In late April 2024 I was contacted by a man named Robert Peter. He had recently read one of my previous case reports covering a Flying Triangle sighting, and wanted to report that he had seen something similar back in 2021. I arranged a Facebook Messenger video call to go over what took place. Sighting Details Robert enjoys taking photographs of satellites crossing the night sky, so regularly enjoys star gazing from the back garden of his house near to the Meteor Shopping Centre, Christchurch. At 8.22pm on 25th February 2021 he decided to head out into the garden to see if the sky was ideal for photographing. It was a really clear evening, and due to the time of year was fully dark. Robert happened to glance eastward to his right and was astounded at what he saw. Moving towards him was an enormous triangular-shaped object. It appeared to be black in colour and about 200 feet across. The object felt very robust "like a flying building". It had four small but bright lights on it, one at each corner and one in the centre of the underside. The lights were all exactly the same in brightness and an unusual green-blue colour. Robert had never seen lights of this colour before on an aerial object. Immediately he believed it was an advanced craft. He thought to himself "This craft does not belong here." Attempting to explain this thought, Robert says "It was extremely weird feeling I can't explain and I still remember it. My own thought was this craft not just alien but also not from this reality." It was really low down, only a little bit above the tall trees in his garden. As it approached he had the possibility of photographing it on his camera, but initially he stood there transfixed. He could not tell if there was any sound coming from it or not due to the presence of a nearby dual carriageway, but if so this sound would have only been low volume. As it passed overhead it covered most of his view of the sky due to its size. He could feel the pressure in the air which he described as being similar to being underwater. He felt a low frequency vibration but could not hear any noise. He now thought about recording the object on video, so he grabbed his smartphone from his pocket. He aimed it up at the UFO and attempted to hit record, but because he was busy looking up at it he was unable to accurately start the recording, something which angers him to this day. At the same time he also called his partner on her smart watch. She was inside the house with their young son. However she did not want to come and see. The object moved on a straight and level course, carrying on away from his location until it was lost from sight by the nearby housing to the West. In total he had watched it for about 13 seconds. Once it had disappeared he headed back inside and told his partner what he had just witnessed, but she did not seem to believe him so he did not bring it up with her again. Robert has a motion-sensing night security camera on the back of his house which potentially captured the object passing overhead. Soon after the incident Robert thought about checking the footage of this camera to see if this was the case. However for an unknown reason he then forgot about this idea. The footage remains in the camera for a number of months before being over-written. At numerous time in the months following the sighting Robert thought about looking at the footage, but every time he would then not get round to it and it would slip his mind. This is something which deeply troubles him. He even wonders whether it was some kind of extended mind control which was actively preventing him from checking the footage. It was only later on that he wished he had extracted it, by which time it was of course too late. Another after effect of the sighting appears to have been a new found interest in infra-red and ultra-violet photography, essentially photographs taken outside of the normal visible range of the light spectrum. He seems convinced that there are objects present in our skies but invisible to the naked eye, and hopes to capture these objects. But he also seems genuinely perplexed by this new found fascination. It is not a cheap hobby and he has spent large sums of money on numerous cameras, and additional gear including a selection of aperture filters. Sighting Analysis This seems like a genuine low altitude close encounter with what we commonly refer to as a Flying Triangle craft. Although we only have Robert’s testimony to go on he comes across as an extremely sincere witness and the way that he answered my questions leaves me in no doubt that he experienced what he said he did. The object could not have been a normal aircraft of any kind due to a combination of its shape and lighting. Normal aircraft have white static, white strobe, red and green lights on, not turquoise. Also at the low altitude the object appeared to be the noise of jet engines would certainly have been heard above the noise of nearby traffic. Although novelty hot air balloons can be triangular in shape, there are various reasons why it could not have been one of these flying at low altitude (perhaps just taking off/coming in to land or in trouble). After dark hot air balloons glow orange due to the burners in the central basket which keep them afloat. This orange glow would certainly have been noticed by the witness, especially at low altitude. Hot air balloons do not have extraneous lighting at their outer edges/corners. And even if some kind of lighting were specially attached it is extremely unlikely it would be turquoise in colour. Lastly, in order for hot air balloons to be flown after dark they are required to have special navigation lighting fitted. This is a strobing white light which hangs 50 feet below the central basket. This would clearly have been visible to the witness, yet was not reported. The object was far too large to be a drone, radio controlled model or inflatable with multiple LEDs on, and was definitely a singular large object rather than four small lit objects as it blocked out the stars as its flew overhead. I have investigated many cases of dark triangular-shaped craft before, and I feel that this could definitely have been a genuine sighting, however the colour of the lights observed on this occasion is quite unusual and not often reported. It is a shame that even armed with two ways of photographing/videoing it Robert was unable to for one reason or another. It is unknown whether the fact that he never got round to checking the security camera footage was genuinely some kind of extended mind control or not. I have dealt with cases which seemingly have aspects of mind control in them during the incident itself, but whether this could continue for a number of months without direct knowledge of the witness involved is another matter. It is possible that it just kept naturally slipping his mind due to other distractions. It does seem that his fascination with taking light filtered photographs has come about from the sighting, as he informed me he has never had an interest in this prior to the incident. Perhaps subconsciously he is upset that he was unable to capture footage of the Flying Triangle, and so is trying to make up for this by capturing new footage of a different craft. If you can shed any light on this stunning sighting please get in touch. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2024

Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 03/06/2024 Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk, England has been a place of wonder for those with an interest in the UFO subject ever since the incredible events of 1980 came to light publicly. Over four days, the 26th-29th December, there were many incredible events which took place in the area which involved many military witnesses from the two nearby American-owned Air Force Bases, Woodbridge and Bentwaters. These events included unidentified lights, numerous confirmed landings of physical objects, and even the appearance of non-human entities. As far as places in the United Kingdom go, it is one of the top spots for those passionate about the subject to visit, especially as there have been many other incidents both prior to and after December 1980. Many consider the area to be active to this day when it comes to strange phenomena. So it made sense for Birmingham UFO Group to arrange another camping trip to the area, the first since our 10th anniversary trip back in 2017. This time around we were joined by members of UPRISING UFO and Paranormal Investigation, who have joined us in recent years on numerous sky watches. Earlier in the year myself and UPRISING founders Nathan and Luna Lockley decided on Friday 31st May to Sunday 2nd June as the ideal dates for the trip. Late enough for warmer weather, but prior to the summer holiday period where the campsites in the area would get booked up too quickly. Back in 2017 we had camped at Tangham Campsite, directly in Rendlesham Forest itself. However this was sadly closed since the lockdown, so we had to go with an alternative. We decided on Shottisham Campsite at St Margarets House, several miles South West of the forest. And so it was that in the early afternoon of Friday 31st May I set off with my wife Tasha and friend Ron for Suffolk. I had learnt last time that the journey from Birmingham would be quite extensive, and wanted to arrive well before the sun started to set. We had no traffic issues on the way down and arrived at the campsite about 5pm. The site is quite open, with several long sections to it. After locating our pitches we met up with Nathan, Luna and Gaz before setting up our modestly-sized tents. We then took a walk along a side path to see some of the farm animals owned by the campsite owners, including chickens, goats, pigs and even some alpacas! After returning to the tents, some of us decided to head to the Sorrel Horse, a pub just along the road from the campsite, to get some dinner. There we met up with others from BUFOG including one of our investigators James Brodie. The food was good, if a little pricey. We relaxed and chatted a while before returning to the campsite, and met up at our “base of operations” – an area of grass between mine and Tasha’s tent, and Nathan and Luna’s tent. They had already got a fire pit going, so we joined them with our camp chairs and spent the rest of the evening chatting, toasting marshmallows, and watching Nathan throw odd chemicals on the fire to change its colour to blue and green (looked amazing, but I’m sure inhaling the smoke wasn’t the best of ideas). After it had got fully dark an intermittent white light was spotted in the distance, but it was deemed to be some kind of security light near the ground rather than anything unusual. It was sadly too overcast to see any stars, but everyone had a great time discussing many topics until we decided to call it a night. When we crawled out of our tents in the morning we found our base of operations completely invaded by a number of very tame brown and black chickens! We soon realised it was possible to both stroke and pick them up, leading to quite a number of photo opportunities! What we didn’t realise was that they were only there to steal our breakfast…until one of them made off with a piece of bacon we were frying up. After that we were a lot more wary. We had originally planned to visit the location where the infamous Orford Ness lighthouse used to stand, but in the end decided to stay at the campsite and prepare ourselves for the planned afternoon and evening activities. For lunch Tasha and I cooked a BBQ for everyone, which went down a storm. The red hot chilli flavoured jellies I’d brought along for afters didn’t go down quite so well, but there were a few daring takers! Two of the attendees from BUFOG, Amanda and Rachel, then dished out some wonderful themed bracelets and key rings they’d got specially made for the weekend. After some final preparations it was at last time to set off to Rendlesham Forest! Nathan and Luna scouted ahead, and soon after I led a small convoy of cars to Capel St Andrew car park in the middle of the forest. Luckily the weather was on our side – it was a little breezy but above all it was dry. Given the rainy weather earlier in the week this was definitely a blessing. For our first visit I planned to take everyone on a particular route around the forest, which would largely follow the official UFO Trail, but would also deviate at a few places in order to include several other key points of interest. I also planned to read out at each important location a number of actual witness statements to give more context to what took place there. As it turns out, a position really close to the entrance of the car park was the first of these points of interest, so we gathered there, and I proceeded to inform everyone that this was the position where unusual lights were first seen through the trees back on the 26th December 1980. We then began to head East along one of the paths through the forest. It was really picturesque and atmospheric. The rows of symmetrical re-planted pines at certain locations were silent and a little eerie, and I wondered how much spookier they would look later on when returning to the forest after dark. As we walked along the trail, carefully avoiding some small areas of mud, we entered an area with sand-covered paths. Someone had drawn marker arrows with the word UFO and pictures of alien faces, re-enforcing the idea that we were on the right track. Eventually we came to the clearing with the metallic model of the triangular-shaped craft which Jim Penniston and John Burroughs claim to have encountered, the main landmark on the UFO Trail placed there to symbolise what took place. Copious amounts of photographs were of course taken. I also read out some further statements, in addition to informing everyone that the actual landing location was actually at a different point in the forest further to the South. We continued along the trail, but then deviated from it to get a closer look at Capel Green, the open farmland on which the landing of another craft had taken place, as reported by the whistle-blower of the incident, Larry Warren, as well as a number of other military personnel. This event was particularly significant as it also included non-human entities which emerged from the object, as confirmed by Larry’s statement which I read out. Unfortunately there was heavy vegetation close to the fence line, making it hard to see the field, so we decided to continue walking South along the path to see if we could get a better view further down. As it turned out we couldn’t, but we did have some fun climbing over a fallen tree and limbo-ing under another! I also spotted a young deer run across the path at one point. We returned to the official trail and made our way back West into the forest, which led to what was referred to as the “staging area”, where many military vehicles were parked up back in 1980. After some further statements covering what happened here, including the sighting of a fast moving blue light by John Burroughs, we made our way South to the lower edge of the forest, then along to the visitor centre. I’m not certain whether the centre was active or not, but either way it was too late in the day for it to be open. However many of the attendees enjoyed taking a rest on the picnic tables present there. We then made our way back along the trail until finally reaching the East Gate of RAF Woodbridge, the location from which personnel had originally been sent out from to investigate the strange lights. We stayed there a number of minutes to take some final photos, before completing the loop and arriving back at the car park. I think many were pretty relieved to give their feet a rest at last! Some of us then decided to return to the campsite to cook some dinner, while others, myself included, headed to Woodbridge for a pub meal (Decent food, but the pea portion size was comically tiny). By the time we arrived back at camp to meet up with everyone it was already around 8.30pm. Although many decided they’d had enough walking for one day and wanted to stay put, there were enough of us who were up for returning to the forest for some after dark exploration. It wasn’t long before I was back on the road with two other cars following on, once more driving back to Rendlesham Forest, armed this time with some warmer clothing and a torch. We parked at the same car park as before, by which time the sun had fully set and darkness had well and truly set in. I was immediately amazed at how silent the forest was. There were barely any sounds at all. We began heading back along the trail we had walked earlier on towards the UFO model clearing. Everything seemed so still, except for a number of small bats which flew in tight arcs over our heads, briefly caught in the light from our torches and head lamps. As we walked we discussed aspects of the Rendlesham Forest events as well as the subject in general. Some parts of the walk seemed different to me after dark, it seemed to take longer than I remembered to reach the model, but I’m sure this was just from distractions earlier on rather than anything genuinely unusual. The model looked amazing coming up out of the darkness. We hung around the clearing for a good while checking it out once more. All of a sudden by the edge of the clearing I turned my torch and came face-to-face with a Grey being! However it turned out not to be an alien entity, but instead a brilliantly creepy mask brought along by Amanda, much to everyone’s amusement. I read out a couple of case reports covering later incidents I’d directly investigated which took place in the vicinity of the forest, highlighting the fact that activity has continued in the area after the events of 1980. We then made our way along to the Capel Green fence line. However the only non-human life form we encountered on this occasion was a rogue cockchafer which decided to make Amanda’s shoe its new home! There was no way we were going to do the full forest walk a second time, so we began to retrace our steps to the car park, again astounded by the peacefulness of the forest at night. At one point we all stopped and put our torches off for a short while to see if we could hear or see anything. There was a red glow in the sky in the distance to the West, which was probably street lights from Woodbridge reflecting off the cloud. Once back at the cars, we said goodbye to some, while the rest of us made one final hike back along to East Gate. On the walk back to the car I suddenly spotted a bright red light in the distance which only appeared for a moment, but when it re-appeared it became apparent that it had just been the brake lights of a passing vehicle on the road through the forest. The journey back to camp went fine, and we arrived about 1am to find that everyone else had long since retired to bed. I awkwardly settled down trying not to wake Tasha in the process! On Sunday morning I was informed by Nathan that something unusual had been seen by them on the previous evening while we were in the forest. They had spotted and photographed some noctilucent clouds at various positions in the sky, which to the naked eye had appeared a number of colours. I was of course slightly miffed that more had been seen from the campsite than from inside the forest itself, but I’m glad that we went back out there just to experience it after dark with those who were brave enough to join me! We had only booked two nights at the campsite for the trip, so packed up our gear, said our goodbyes and headed for home. Everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy the weekend, and it was great to have returned to such an interesting and important UFO-related location. I’ve no doubt that we will make another trip to Rendlesham Forest in the future. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2024