Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 31st January 2023 Note: For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used On 29th January 2023 I was contacted on the phone by a lady who I shall name “Jane”. She wanted to report a sighting of some unusual coloured lights which had been seen several days earlier. After going over the details with her I felt that the lights were very likely down to a drone show / laser projection (still to be confirmed). However we then discussed a previous experience which had occurred in either the spring or summer of 1978. Due to various aspects of what was reported this incident seemed far more anomalous. Sighting Details Back in 1978 Jane and her husband “Derek” lived in a block of flats on Windmill Lane, Smethwick. One day in either spring or summer they had gone to visit friends who lived on a road to the West of their location. They left their friends late in the evening and began to make their way back home on foot. The fastest route back home took them through Victoria Park. It was around 9pm and already quite dark, but there was nobody else around and they did not feel like they were in any danger. As they walked East along the main path across the park, Jane suddenly noticed a strange object hovering over the trees on the far side of the park, just off to the right of where the exit gate was. It appeared to be about 200 feet up and approximately 30 feet across. The object appeared cigar shaped, but more raised in the middle, with a line of multi-coloured lights around it which were very bright. This fact combined with the low level of lighting made it quite hard to see the colour of the main body of the object. Jane pointed it out to Derek and they began looking at it for about three minutes as they slowly walked towards it along the path. Unfortunately neither of the witnesses had a camera with them so were unable to attempt to capture it on film, and there was nobody else in the park due to the time of day. When they got closer they could see that the object was in fact disc-shaped with a flattened base that had another circle of lights near to the edge. There was no sound coming from it whatsoever, and it remained motionless in the sky. At this point they began to slow to a halt as they realised how unusual the object was. They stared up at it for a few seconds, quite un-nerved by its presence. At this moment Derek decided he’d had enough of the situation and blurted out “Bloody hell let’s get out of here!” Both he and Jane began to run along the remainder of the path. As they reached the metal gate on the far side of the park, they were at the closest point to the object, and it was up off to their right still hovering in place. They looked up at it as they passed through the gate. At this precise moment, and without any warning, the object instantly accelerated and ascended vertically at an incredible speed! It was gone from sight in a brief moment due to the distance. The couple continued running away from the park until they realised the object was not going to come back, at which point they slowed back down and made their way home. Derek’s Statement While speaking with Jane about the incident she handed the phone over to Derek and I was able to ask him directly about what he remembered from the event. He stated the following: “It looked round with lights on it. It was like a hat. It was longish, and then like a raised part or dome, with a skirt around it. Like a disc. We ran to the gate as we were so scared of it. When we looked up it flashed away and it had gone.” As you can see Derek’s statement confirms that his recollection of it was extremely similar to Jane’s, and it was obvious to me that they were describing a real incident which had occurred. When he handed the phone back to Jane she said that she was happy he had decided to speak with me as she thought he would have been too embarrassed to discuss it with me, again a sign that this was something which had deeply affected him, but not something he wanted to gain any kind of personal glory from. Sighting Analysis This is a truly stunning close encounter with a disc-shaped UFO. Due to its appearance most mundane explanations can be ruled out. It was clearly a structured solid object so unusual atmospheric phenomena can be immediately ruled out. It was not an aeroplane as it was able to hover in the same spot for numerous minutes. It was clearly not a helicopter as both the shape and the lighting did not fit this at all, and when close to it they surely would have heard the sound of the rotor blades. 360 Radar indicates that Victoria Park lies within controlled airspace: It also indicates that it does not lie within an airway for any airports: While these maps are of course modern it is probable that the same applied back in 1978. A novelty hot air balloon or other large inflatable could have been a possibility, however this can be ruled out because of the stunning vertical ascent which the object performed. This sudden manoeuvre certainly implies that the object was under direct control. It was much too large to be a radio controlled model, and this sighting took place decades before drones were commercially available. In our extended phone call I found both witnesses to be very believable about what they had seen, and do not believe they are fabricating the sighting in any way. With mundane explanations discounted for one reason or another I can only conclude that this was a genuine sighting of a disc-shaped craft which possessed advanced manoeuvring capabilities. I have investigated many other sightings of disc-shaped UFOs before, some of which have had a strikingly similar appearance to what was described here. I would like to thank both Jane and Derek for having the bravery to share the details of their experience after so many years. If you have any further information about this incident please get in touch. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2023

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Ian Jones Release Date: 29/01/2023 Last Updated: 30/01/2023 Tim Quick is a member of BUFOG Truthseekers Facebook community group. He made contact to say he had a sighting, which got him interested in the subject. The sighting: Occurred in 1975. Tim was 8 years old. The time of year: June or July. The place: Close to Croxton, a small village in Staffordshire, UK, between Loggerheads and Eccleshall, on the B5026. In a pub car park. The time of day: Dusk. The weather: Fine, warm and no clouds in the sky. Tim says it was a nice summer’s evening, very calm and quiet. Context Tim’s original, brief report, says: “My mother, cousin, nan, aunty saw it, it was at a place called Croxton on the Shropshire, Staffs border not far from Eccleshall, this was when you could drink and drive my father took us out in the car grandfather and family, pulled up at a pub, now a private house, father and grandfather went in the pub for a drink!” The Sighting “The rest of us were sitting in the car when my mother said ‘Bloody hell what is that?’ It looked like it took off from about 300 yards away, looked like a stretched out rugby ball very bright same colour of a light bulb, it came right over the car very low. I ran in the car shouting get in the car but my rest of family were watching it go over us, it shit me up I tell you, I’ll never forget it! Then it disappeared over the trees!” More Details I discussed the sighting with Tim and he was able to provide more details about what happened that evening. After Tim’s mum shouted out to the others in the car, everyone got out and looked up at the object. Tim thinks it may have risen up from behind a wooded area in the distance (see on the map). At first, Tim says they thought that it might be landing close to them and his mum shouted to him to get back into the car for safety. He describes it as “light-bulb white” in colour, so bright that it hurt his eyes to look at it directly. The light seemed to come from inside the object, and was not a reflection from the sun. There was also a low, humming, whining sound as it moved over them. Tim reckons it was about 300 to 400 metres high as it flew over their car. The underside was visible and Tim says he couldn’t see any windows, or other details on it. He estimates it was at least 40ft long and 20ft tall, like a stretched out rugby ball and moved in a straight line. It’s speed was no more than 25 to 30 mph. He thinks that it may have been visible for about 5 minutes altogether. There is a small, wooded area is to the North of where the pub was, and the object headed in a South-East direction, disappearing from view behind some trees, towards Eccleshall. Tim says at the time he wondered whether it was searching for something. There was no-one else around at the time and no cars went past the pub. Afterwards Tim says he was scared when this happened. His mum and the others in the car were shocked. They told his dad and grandad about it when they emerged from the pub, but it was not taken too seriously by them. He doesn’t think the incident was mentioned much afterwards in the family and he has not discussed it with anyone before. Since then, Tim says he has had no further sightings, or other unusual experiences, although he has a telescope and enjoys looking at the night sky. Analysis Based on the reactions of Tim and his family members in the car, they definitely saw something they found surprising/shocking that evening. However, most of those who were present are no longer alive, and he says his cousin has only a vague memory of something happening that day. There is, therefore, no way to corroborate this account. Tim did not remember the name of the pub, which is not surprising given his age at the time, but it was called the Vernon Yonge Arms. It later changed to be an Indian restaurant and is now a private house. The small copse from where the object seemed to rise up behind is of ancient origin and is still there, in the middle of a large agricultural area devoted to mixed crops and dairy farming. The straight-line distance from that copse to the pub is between half and one kilometre. There are no houses, or industrial developments, in the direction of the copse and beyond it, including small airstrips. The only real possibilities for any military explanation would involve RAF Tern Hill 9 miles to the West, or the Swynnerton Training Camp, about 5 miles to the East. This was a Royal Ordnance Factory, dealing with munitions, during World War Two and until 1958. Since then, it has been a Military Training Camp. There has never been an airstrip there. Newcastle-under-Lyme is the nearest large settlement and is about 25 miles away to the North East, while Stoke-on-Trent is about 5 miles further away in the same direction. To the South East, Stafford is about 11 miles away. Over 35 miles away there is the Whittington Military Barracks, which during the 1970s provided basic training for new army recruits. Telford is over 20 miles to the South West. This seems to be an area of the country that has not changed much over the years. Conclusion This is an historical sighting from nearly 50 years ago, so it is impossible to research the case in depth, but it is interesting and should be recorded. Given that Tim and the others saw this object up close and the description of this object as being an elongated rugby ball shape, and the relatively slow speed at which it moved, it was not an aircraft. The type of noise it made also rules out any sort of helicopter. Balloons do not have bright white lights in the way described and drones were not invented in the 1970s. There are no indications of weather-related possibilities, such as ball lightning, and certainly no astronomical events would explain this sighting. There are no alternatives that I can think of to explain what this object could have been. Therefore, my conclusion is that it was an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO), or to use a more recent term an Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP). Copyright Ian Jones 2023

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: James Brodie Release Date: 24/01/2023 This is a report for a number of interactions that have been experienced by Claire who is a regular member of the BUFOG Truth Seekers Group. I have got to know Claire over the last year and I found her to be personable and quite knowledgeable regarding the UFO and Paranormal phenomenon. In my initial conversations with Claire, she was also able to share with me that her father (who sadly passed 2019) reported that he had had a number of contactee experiences (which he was very reluctant to discuss). This sets an interesting backdrop for Claire’s own experiences. As always, I base my analysis on the information provided and then I follow up with my own conclusions. The first instance that Claire shared with me was a UFO experience that she shared with her mother. Both Claire and her mother were able to share their experience sharing the same level of detail. Claire was a teenager and was on work experience in Leamington Spa which is in Warwickshire UK. She had just finished and was walking over to her Mum's workplace so she could get a lift home. Claire recalls this was in May 2003 and it would have been around 5:10pm on a mild warm mid-week evening with a clear sky. They were stood in the car park of Warwick District Council which was based at Riverside House on a road called Milverton Hill. Claire wasn’t sure who saw it first, but they looked up at the sky and saw an object they proceeded to watch for around 10 minutes. They had to leave the car park to pick up Claire’s younger brother, but they chose a route that would enable them to keep an eye on the object as go to their intended location. They believe they observed the object for around 20 min in total. The object was said to be silver in colour and appeared to be very shiny and metallic in nature. The shine was potentially the object reflecting light from the sun. The object was in a south easterly direction, and it was difficult to gauge how far the object was from Claire and her Mum but they estimated from the map that the location of the object might have been near Daventry. It appeared 1 or 2 cm in the sky but they estimated that the object must have been quite large in size and was cigar shaped. It would move from left to right, as well as up and down, speeding up and slowing down within milliseconds, and making 90 degree turns at the blink of an eye. It also appeared to change size from large to small and back again, but this may have been caused by the object rotating. Recently Claire was speaking to a friend who is interested in the paranormal and retold her what she had seen as a teenager, and it appeared to trigger a memory in her friend when she suddenly remembered seeing a similar object moving in the same direction as Claire which was moving low in the sky during the daytime and it actually went straight over her house but this happened back in October 2021. Apparently, the sudden recollection was quite disturbing as she couldn’t understand why that had only come into her mind at that point and why had she originally forgotten about it? This was also witnessed by the friend’s neighbour, and I will see whether I can follow up the report with the two additional people, to see if any more information comes to light. Another experience Claire had was she was driving through Leamington Spa with her mother and Claire happens to have a severe phobia of insects. She felt something brush past her neck and had to stop the car to investigate what it was she had felt, worrying that it would be a spider or an insect of sorts. When they pulled over, they could find no evidence of any insects in the car, but her Mum said that she had seen an orb come through the window and had brushed past Claire and wondered if that is what she had felt. They have since tried talking through what happened, but her Mum no longer has any recollection of the event. Claire doesn’t have a lot of childhood memories due to some form of trauma, but she does recount that she experienced a number of very vivid experiences when she was younger, which she has always been unsure as to whether they were dreams or something else. She reported that on multiple occasions a hooded figure would walk up the stairs and enter her room. She was sure that the figure wasn’t human and once it was in the room everything would go blank. It used to terrify Claire as a child and it happened frequently. As a child she described the figure as being tall and skeletal in nature or a stick-like figure. Claire has since performed some of her own research and listened to similar experiences and she feels this figure seems very similar to that witnessed by those who have encountered Mantid beings or beings like a Mantis insect. Claire and her father were close and, on the night, he passed, (although Claire didn’t know he had passed until the next day), she reported experiencing a strange phenomenon which described as “blood trying to push through her abdomen”. She was concerned that she may need to call a doctor as it felt that there was something stuck or clotting and she was getting a pulsing sensation. She later found out that her father had passed that night from a massive pulmonary embolism. Claire explained that her father had had a serious biking accident which led to later health complications later in his life. Claire had a dream premonition of her dad’s bike accident 2 weeks before it happened and tried to warn him not to ride his bike again to no success. Her dad spent a lot of his time in his garden looking up at the sky and reported seeing frequent objects which included seeing a large black triangle in the sky and frequently seeing orbs towards the bottom of the garden. After Claire’s father had passed, she found correspondence between her father and a neurologist who was investigating a potential neurological issue with her dad. As part of that correspondence her father disclosed, that he had had abductee experiences, but also disclosed that Claire and her brother had also had similar experiences which came as a massive surprise to Claire as that had never been disclosed to her nor did she have any recollection of this herself. It is worth noting that Claire had never disclosed to her father or anyone else in her family about her regular childhood ‘nightmares’ with the tall skeletal being. It is also worth mentioning that Claire’s father chose not to share any more information with his children I believe as a form of protection. From a purely reporting perspective it is obvious that there is some form of associated trauma which in my mind adds affirmation that a number of events must have happened to trigger such a response. Her father lived in Northampton, and I know from a previous report I made around the same area, there was reports of a large black triangle that moved silently in the sky. Unfortunately, from a reporting perspective, there aren’t any dates or time which makes it very difficult to follow up or make an empirical conclusion other than relying on the provenance of Claire and my personal judgement on Claire’s reliability as a witness. The final experience is a dream which Claire, her mother and brother have all had. They only recently learnt of these shared dreams through a chance conversation between them all. I have included Claire’s own experience verbatim which is as below. “I remember it vividly. What was particularly strange about it is that it was like a snapshot of a playback. What I mean by that is it didn’t have a start or an end - the dream 'started' and 'ended' almost ‘mid-scene’, so I never got to see how it ended. I don’t know why I used the word ‘playback’ but it felt very real, like it was on a timeline from the past or future. Make of that what you will. I haven't had the dream for a number of years. I couldn't be precise as to how old I was when the dream started but if I had to take a guess, I would have been about 13 years old and it recurred occasionally until I was around 26 years of age. I am now 33 years old. The recurrences grew less frequent as I got older. In the dream I am in the spare room of the house I live in now, and the view from the window is as it is now. As an aside, this house has been our family home since I was 4 years old. My mum and brother also lived here until mum sold it onto me when I was 25 years old, when they moved into a property that my mum had inherited. In fact, the spare room is what used to be mine and my brother's shared bedroom for many years. It's dark and at night time. The room looks out onto the entrance road to our cul-de-sac and a number of surrounding houses which slope up a small gradient. Me and 'my family' are very frightened. The odd thing is I can’t remember ‘who’ the family are but I feel like I am an adult in that family. We have deliberately turned off all of the lights in the house as if we are trying to hide from something, something that is looking for any life. We are very frightened and have this feeling that if we were to be found, something very bad will happen... perhaps we will be taken against our will? We have the bedroom blind cracked open slightly and are peeping, looking at the dark night sky, ducking down low so to keep out of view. It's the objects in the sky we are frightened of... a good number of UFO crafts with beaming search lights shining down on the houses from the sky, moving around as if looking for something. We know they are looking for life - for people. As they come closer, we feel a sense of panic, we decide to close the bedroom blind to stay hidden, and I instruct one of the family members to close the bathroom blind too. The search lights don't appear to be able to penetrate solid buildings so we hope as long as we stay hidden, we cannot be found. We all bunker down in the room and sit tentatively in waiting, whilst these strange unearthly craft head towards the direction of our house, and hope that these craft will simply pass over with us unnoticed. We do not know what will happen next, we also don't know if they will find us some other way.” I would say normally, it is difficult to include dreams in any form of serious empirical evidence and normally I would say the same applies here. However, having had different accounts of the dream from different people, there are striking similarities and the narrative of the dream is shared between the family members. There is an argument to suggest that maybe they had discussed the dream at some point and then are retelling the experience independently but have been influenced by each other. However, considering the evidence of paranormal and UFO activity throughout Claires family it is highly possible that they have had a shared experience of some sort. The challenge of investigating Claire’s experience have been that I wasn’t able to get a firm series of dates for events, so I could then try to independently verify. That means my analysis must come from speaking with Claire and her family. First of all, I have absolutely no doubt that Claire believes what she has seen and I believe that she is genuine in her reporting. Without doubt there has been abductee or contact experience throughout her family and potentially there is a lot more that Claire herself isn’t aware of. There is potential that some thought of regressive technique could be used to delve deeper into her childhood experience. However, that always comes with an inherent risk and shouldn’t be taken likely. Even if we were able to get more information, there is no guarantee that that information would be wholly reliable. As is often with these sorts of cases, it appears that the UFO encounter then appears to trigger paranormal behaviour and I believe that to be the case here as well. I would be interested to find out whether there are other family members who have also had similar experiences to see how far the connection runs through the family. One of the other stand out details for me is that the contactee experience might be with an insectoid race of beings which in itself is unusual and warrants further investigation. I am incredibly grateful for Claire to have shared her experiences with me and I believe this is a case that will require additional investigation. Copyright James Brodie 2023

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 23/12/2022 Last Updated: 03/01/2023 In early December I released a case report on Facebook covering a historical sighting of some white orbs seen over Kings Norton, Birmingham. In response to this report I was contacted by a man named Danny Lemon from New Zealand who claimed to have seen something similar earlier in his life while living in the UK. I arranged a video call via Facebook Messenger to go over what took place. Sighting Details It was June 1976, a summer Danny remembers well because of the extreme drought which took place. He was 16 at the time, and living in Reading, South England. At the time he had a part time job as a dishwasher at a hotel on the outskirts of Henley-on-Thames, a town 9 miles to the north of Reading. He recalls that there had been a number of reports of UFOs seen across the South of England in the newspaper (Unfortunately he did not keep any of the articles and I have been unable to track down any of them online). He was fascinated by these reports, and wished that he would have a sighting of his own. Incredibly, the following evening, he did! It was 5.30pm and he and his work mate Howard were riding their mopeds North along Wargrave Road, one of the main roads that leads between Reading and Henley. It was a pleasant, still and sunny evening. There were a few other vehicles on the road but it wasn’t particularly busy. They were just south of Wargrave, with Howard taking the lead. Danny happened to glance up into the sky to the East, and was amazed at what he saw. There was a cluster of really bright white orbs travelling North-North-Eastward. The objects seemed to be moving at quite a pace across the sky. As they moved they seemed to dance around one another. Intrigued by the objects Danny honked his horn in an attempt to draw Howard’s attention, but unfortunately he was too far ahead of him and he did not hear. Instead of continuing to follow him, Danny decided to pull up at the side of the road and watched the objects. He happened to be approaching the entrance to The Piggott Church Of England School, so pulled over and stopped. Howard did not notice and continued on his way. On the far side of the road were open fields, giving a great view of the sky. The objects were still present and moving fast to the left, slowly getting more distant as they did. It was hard to judge their altitude or exactly how far away they were, but they were at an elevation of about 25 degrees and Danny thinks they were between 300-400 feet up. There were at least six of them and they all looked identical to one another, brightly glowing white orbs. They were not in an organised formation but as they moved they oscillated around one another in circles, seemingly under intelligent control. They appeared to be moving extremely fast, much faster than aircraft would fly at. They also seemed to be completely silent, although they weren’t particularly close so this could have been due to the distance. The glow coming from them was so bright that they imprinted on his vision so when he briefly looked away from them for a moment he could still see the shape of them, similar to staring at a lightbulb for too long. It took the orbs about 45 seconds to reach the distant horizon and vanish from sight. Nobody else on the road seemed to have noticed the objects, if they did then they did not stop to observe them. Danny was astounded at what he had just witnessed. He felt sure that the objects had not been aeroplanes, helicopters or drifting inflatables reflecting sunlight. There was nothing else left to do but to get back on his moped and continue his journey to work. When he arrived he excitedly told Howard about what had taken place. It quickly became apparent that he had not noticed the objects at all. Their shift at the hotel ended at 9pm. Danny does not recall telling his father about the sighting when he arrived home. He says that his relationship with him was a little strained at the time. He says that over the years he has told very few people about the incident, mostly due to the stigma of the subject. However it has remained with him and led to a big interest in UFOs. Sighting Analysis This is an interesting sighting and I can see why Danny was intrigued by the objects. Due to the oscillating movements the orbs were making I feel that aircraft can be ruled out from the off. Aeroplanes would not be able to perform such manoeuvres in the first place, and a formation of helicopters would have no reason to move around each other in this manner. As this happened back in the 1970’s drones can also be ruled out, as this was decades before they became commercially available. Birds can sometimes reflect sunlight and appear as silver or white orbs of light. However flocks of birds tend to follow one another in longer swooping arcs rather than roll around one another. It was clear weather so the objects could not have been ball lightning, and earth lights only tend to appear in rural locations and are usually seen to drift slowly. The objects cannot have been meteorites seen during daylight hours as these do not circle around one another. One explanation which is worth considering is that the orbs were a number of balloons reflecting sunlight. Danny believes that the objects were self-illuminated as they all appeared exactly the same brightness, and this brightness did not alter as they moved across the sky. He also believes that they were moving too quickly to be drifting inflatables. However it was hard to judge the exact distance of the objects, and therefore also hard to judge how fast they were moving. They did not move to the horizon in only a few seconds, Danny watched them for almost a minute, so they could conceivably have been closer and slower than they appeared to be. While the movements of the orbs appeared intentional, balloons can sometimes get caught in air currents and drift in loops around one another as they drift along. The objects did not perform any movements which would definitely indicate intelligent flight, such as suddenly coming to a halt or performing any right angled turns. However, from Danny's description, the objects were extremely bright which could suggest that they were self-illuminated rather than merely reflecting sunlight. It is entirely possible that the objects were advanced craft of some kind, especially given the fact that there had been a number of sightings around the area in the days leading up to the incident, and that Danny had this sighting very soon after wishing for it. However this could have been merely down to coincidence, and I feel that based on the information provided balloons cannot be entirely ruled out as the explanation. As it is impossible to confirm this so many years on, whether you feel that this is what was seen is going to be down to personal opinion. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2023

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Ian Jones Release Date: 13/12/2022 Date of Sighting: Tuesday, 12th July 2022 Time of sighting: 2.50am Place: Wildfell Road, Acocks Green, B27 7DY, Birmingham, England The witness wishes to remain anonymous, so will be referred to as the observer. Context Wildfell Road is a twisty road, joining the B4514 (Oulton Boulevard East) with Gospel Lane, both of which meet at the Warwick Road (A41). The property where the object was observed from is within the red line in the below map: The observer’s description of the sighting: “So, in the early hours of this morning, around 2.50am, I was on my way back to bed, I opened the curtains to allow more air flow as it's been hot. We live under the flight path of Birmingham International Airport and the window faces more or less the South East and the Airport is off to the left in an Eastern direction. Upon opening the curtains there was a large white light in the East, I thought it might be Venus but it was way too large and there was cloud cover, no stars were visible. After watching for a few seconds my hubby woke up and just before he looked at it, it turned red and shot up and stopped. It looked like a red triangle, and it chased a smaller white light that may have been an aeroplane that moved off to the left, but it looked pale and fuzzy. It then moved back to the right and it was blinking in and out without moving. We watched for a few minutes and it was moving left to right, still with the light fading in and out. It suddenly turned green and then moved quickly upwards in the sky, when it stopped it turned red and was triangled shaped again. We watched for what seemed a long time until it eventually flashed and faded away. I don't know what this was, we have live here for 25 years and we have helicopters, planes etc. of all descriptions flying over us all the time. The object was a distance away but it must have been large as it disappeared behind the houses opposite us. This was nothing like I've seen before. It so strange and I can't explain it. I didn't get any pictures as my phone was downstairs.” Here is a map showing the proximity of the sighting location to Birmingham International Airport: The observer added two photos indicating where the light was seen and a dot to show the rough size. The first photograph, below, shows the view at night, with a white dot added to it to show approximately where the light was seen. The observer added: “The light was pure white and it moved slightly. But then it turned red and I could just make out a triangle shape. It followed another, smaller white that could have been an aeroplane as it looked like the airport flight path. It moved from left to right. Then suddenly turn green and shot upwards, stopped and turn red again. We watched it for what seemed ages, it disappeared behind the houses, came out and gradually faded out. It was about the size of a 5p with my arm extended and it was low cloud cover so it was not Jupiter which was in sky around this time. I looked out the following morning at Jupiter and it was half the size of the object we saw.” The second photograph, below, shows the same view during the day, again with a white dot added to show where the light was seen. These photographs show that the view from the bedroom window is restricted by houses and tall trees. They do not have a clear view of the horizon and this means they can only see objects that are higher up in the sky. The object they saw, as indicated on the photos, was probably about 45 degrees above the horizon. Analysis of the Sighting The information below is obtained from online sources. Weather Conditions Sky – Almost cloudless Wind – From the SE at about 3-4 mph Temperature – about 19 degrees Centigrade Humidity about 70% Overall, it was a warm, calm, fairly clear night. Therefore, there was no thunderstorm, or lightening in the area, which rules out ball lightening as an explanation. Astronomical Situation The Moon had just set at 02.45, so was not visible by the time of the sighting. Dawn was at 04.27, so it was still fairly dark. Sunrise was later still, at 04.49, so there was no possibility of the sun’s rays being a factor in this sighting. Venus was about 10 degrees above the NE horizon, so it was in a different direction to the observed lights. Also, the houses and trees in the near view from the window would have got in the way of seeing it at all. Mars was about 27 degrees above the Eastern horizon, low visibility, but again it was probably blocked from view by the nearby houses/trees. Jupiter was about 34 degrees above the SE horizon, good visibility, but small. Saturn was over the Southern horizon, highest at 03.34 at 22 degrees, low magnitude, so not in the same direction as the object observed and again not easily seen. The observer said there were no stars visible. Overall, given the low altitude above the horizon of these planets, they would not have been easily seen in a built-up area as this is, because the nearby buildings and trees would obscure the view of them. Also, planets do not move around, or change colour, in the way the observed object did. Aircraft Activity Birmingham Airport is about 5 Km away from Acocks Green, in an E/NE direction. The main runway is in a roughly NW-SE direction, which is at right-angles to the line of sight from Wildfell Road. Aircraft taking off, or coming in to land, would fly across the observer’s line of sight in a straight, slowly ascending, or descending line, either from the right to left, or left to right. At 02.50 on a Tuesday there is not usually much air traffic around, in the early summer months. The 12th July is not yet the peak time for holiday flights, as schools do not break up for the summer holidays until two weeks later, the last week in July. The two maps below show what aircraft were in the air at 02.50 and 02.57 that morning, which is the approximate time period for this sighting. The reported size of the light seen is that of a 5p coin at arm’s length, which is quite big. However, it is not clear how far away the light was during the time it was seen. It was probably too big to be one of the aircraft described below. The first map below, obtained via Flight Radar 24, shows that there is an aircraft flying towards the airport, approaching from over Coventry, which is some distance away on the far side of the airport from Acocks Green to the right. This could have been the other, pale, fuzzy while light that the observer saw at first near the main lighted object, especially if it was seen through some low, thin cloud. It seems unlikely that this would be the main object that was seen if it was incoming from that direction, because it could not have been making such unusual aerial movements on its approach to landing. The second map, below, shows that there was one aircraft in the Birmingham area at 02.57. It was approaching the airport from the north-west and was over the other side of Birmingham, around Erdington, which is to the left from the observer’s viewpoint. This does not fit in with the description of what observed. Coming in from that direction it would have appeared to be getting larger in size and could not have been making the unusual movements she reports. Other Possibilities The airport can only monitor tracked aircraft. If aircraft and other craft do not have tracking available, or it is switched off, then they are effectively invisible to the airport radar systems. The unusual movements of the light that was observed are not typical of aircraft, regardless of size, especially when they are so close to a major airport. A helicopter is a possible candidate for what was seen. Helicopters are able to fly horizontally and then stop, hover, change direction, fly upwards and downwards. They have very bright white, red and green navigation lights on them. Red is on the left, green is on the right and white is at the front. There are also white lights on either side of the tail and a red one in the centre of the tail. Depending on the helicopter’s orientation, the most visible light will vary in colour. It could have been a police helicopter engaged in a search pattern. This would have meant it flying first one way, for example right to left, at which time the red light would have been most obvious. Then, flying in the opposite direction, the green light would have been most obvious. So the object would appear to change colour. Flying towards the observer, the white light would be most visible. The lights either flash, or rotate, so it would look like they are blinking in and out. A police helicopter could well be out flying, doing this sort of thing, at that time of day. However, helicopters do not usually appear triangular-shaped. Also, they are loud, especially at that time of the morning, so the observer would have been able to hear something, especially with it changing speed and height so often and given that it was a calm and clear night. There was no sign of a searchlight directed towards the ground. It would have been operating much closer to the airport, so that may be unusual, given the restricted use of airspace near there. There was little wind at this time, so the speed of movement of the object does not suggest inflatable/drifting objects (for example lanterns, blimps, LED balloons) as an explanation. Neither does the way it made sudden direction changes horizontally and vertically, or the changes in speed, or how it appeared to change colour. The very early time of day makes it less likely that the object was a drone. It would not be a commercial drone at that time. Individuals with drones would not find it easy to fly one in low-light conditions, because the onboard camera/s would not be able to see much in the dark and maintaining safe line if sight control of one would be difficult in a built-up area like Birmingham. Then, they do not change colour from white to green to red and back again; their lights do not flash, or blink. Also, it is illegal to fly the things anywhere near the airport. If the main object observed was a drone, helicopter, or UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena), and it did, initially, follow an aircraft towards the airport, it would be a near-miss concern for the aircraft involved. The pilot/s would have to report it. I have checked with the UK Airprox Board, which produces and publishes a report about such incidents it has referred to it. There were no such incident reports for this date, or any other, in July over Birmingham Airport. I have checked in the local press for that period, but have not found any reports there of unusual lights in the sky. Conclusion It could be that what was seen was a helicopter, but it is not possible to be certain, because the light did not behave entirely in the way a helicopter might and it was close to the airport. As it is not certain this is the explanation, it remains an unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP). It would be helpful to have any other reports linked to this sighting, because that would provide more evidence on which to make a proper, definitive conclusion about it. Copyright Ian Jones 2022

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 08/12/2022 Last Updated: 12/12/2022 In November 2022 I was contacted by a lady named Julie Goldsmith from Kings Norton, Birmingham, via the BUFOG website. She had recently watched an episode of Unsolved Mysteries on Netflix. The episode was about a stunning multiple witness incident which occurred over Lake Michigan in 1994. There were aspects of the incident which had similarities to a sighting she had back in the mid 1970s. With a renewed fascination in what occurred she decided to get in touch to inform me about it. Sighting Details Unfortunately Julie cannot recall the exact year the sighting took place, but believes it was between 1975 and 1978 when she was 10 to 13 years old. She knows she would not have been any younger than 10 as otherwise she would not have been able to have seen clearly above her bedroom window sill. However she is certain that it took place in the winter months, between November to February, as it was fully dark by 9pm and she remembers there were no leaves on the trees at the time. Back then she used to live on a cul-de-sac named Beech Hurst. It was between 9-10pm and she was standing in her bedroom with her mother Brenda having a chat. They were standing by the window of the room which had slats on it, but these were not closed at the time. Outside it was a clear and dry night and the stars were fully visible. Julie suddenly noticed three bright white orbs of light to the East in the patch of sky visible over a nearby copse of trees. The lights were quite close to one another and in a horizontal line. They looked a little brighter and larger than the stars. They definitely appeared to be in the atmosphere but it was hard to judge their distance. Julie estimates that they were over the area of Walkers Heath Park, about a mile away. All of a sudden the right most orb suddenly shot upwards at a sharp angle to the right before instantly stopping again! At this manoeuvre she remarked “Oh wow! Look at that!” This drew the attention of her mother who asked what she was looking at. Julie asked her “Did you see that light?” Her mum asked where it was and Julie pointed out the three orbs in the distance. Brenda remarked “I think it’s an aeroplane” to which Julie responded “I don’t think aeroplanes move that quickly.” Both Julie and her mother continued to watch the three orbs. About 10-15 seconds went by and then without warning the two other orbs suddenly moved at exactly the same moment. The left orb shot quite far up and to the left, and the central one shot down and to the right but by a shorter distance. Both Julie and Brenda remarked “Oh my goodness! What on earth is that?!” They wondered if the orbs were a strange light reflection on the slats of the window, but quickly confirmed that they were not by closing and re-opening the slats. The orbs were clearly objects present in the sky. They started to excitedly talk about what they could see. About 20-25 seconds went by and then the orbs moved again! This time all three of them moved at once, moving into a vertical isosceles triangle formation. The witnesses continued to watch, fascinated by the orbs. This behaviour continued for about 3-4 minutes, with every so often the orbs moving into different positions, usually at the same time. Then suddenly all three orbs blinked out at once. Julie and Brenda continued to watch for quite a while to see if they would return, but they did not. The following day they checked the Evening Mail newspaper to see if anyone else had reported seeing the orbs but there was nothing. They discussed the incident for several days. Brenda advised Julie not to talk about it at school as she was worried she would be laughed at. For Julie the sighting spurred an interest in the UFO subject, and she soon subscribed to a magazine called Unexplained. Several months after the sighting she discussed it again with her mother and suggested that they might have witnessed several UFOs. Her mother mentioned that the area of Primrose Hill to the East, close to Walkers Heath Park, was a known UFO hot spot, although Julie does not know why she thought this. Brenda’s Testimony Julie informed me that due to her frailty, her mother would not be able to speak with me directly, but she would gladly get in touch with her and ask her to provide a written statement. Below is her response which was received via E-Mail and forwarded to me: “Yes, I do remember watching those lights with you. But not too clearly. I thought about them quite a lot later on. But I began to think as time went on, with greatly increased air-traffic, it could have been something to do with police helicopters. The fact is, we took them seriously at the time. I wish I could remember more details about our sighting, but it did happen, and they stayed for some minutes. Were there 3 or 5 lights? They were certainly very bright. Again, it was in the evening, and fairly dark. I’m thinking 9 pm?” Soon after receiving the E-Mail Julie spoke with Brenda on the phone, and apparently remarked that several years later she saw very similar lights in the sky again, in exactly the same position as before. Sighting Analysis Sometimes the manoeuvres observed during UFO sightings are just as important, if not more important, than what the objects actually looked like. Obviously these objects were quite distant so we have no way of knowing if they really were entirely glowing, or simply had one or more bright lights on. However the movements which the objects were seen to perform put most mundane explanations out of the picture. I feel that it is unlikely the objects were merely bright stars, and that the sudden movements were an illusion created by patches of cloud, which could not be observed against the sky, coincidentally hiding and revealing stars at the same moment. While such a thing could potentially be responsible for a single movement of a point of light, this continued for a number of minutes, with movement of multiple orbs, sometimes at the same moment. In addition to this, Julie seemed quite adamant that she had seen the objects physically move, not just blink off and back on. She also recalled that it was a clear night. The objects were clearly under intelligent control due to the way in which they hovered motionless and then suddenly moved, often at the same time. They also all vanished at the same moment. This means they cannot have been lit inflatables or other natural phenomena such as earth lights (which only tend to occur in rural locations anyway). They stopped moving for extensive periods of time so cannot have been aeroplanes or micro lights. Despite Brenda’s thoughts that the lights might have been related to police helicopters, they clearly moved much too quickly for that to be the explanation. Several search lights hitting the base of clouds and being suddenly moved to different positions could potentially create a similar effect. These could conceivably also be switched off at the same time too. However Julie mentioned the fact she could see the stars, so therefore there would not have been any cloud for search lights to bounce off. Usually the glow of the beams themselves would be partially visible, especially at a distance. The objects also sound too bright and defined to have been search lights, and I do not feel this is an adequate explanation for what was seen. If this was a modern sighting I would immediately have suggested several drones as a possibility, as these have the capability of performing sudden darting manoeuvres. However this incident took place in the mid-1970s, decades before drones were commercially available or utilised by the police or even military. This fact makes this sighting truly anomalous. At the start of the report I mentioned that Julie got in touch because of the similarities between her sighting and the one covered on Unsolved Mysteries (Season 3, Episode 2). The controlled manoeuvres she and her mother observed were somewhat similar to those seen during the Lake Michigan case of 1994. In this case numerous objects were seen on radar moving suddenly at the same time to different positions in the sky. If you have any information regarding Julie and Brenda’s sighting, or have ever observed something similar please get in touch. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2022

Birmingham Contact Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 23/11/2022 Note: For reasons of anonymity certain specific location details have been ommitted In late October 2022 a man named Tom Stewart commented on one of my uploaded case reports, remarking on the similarity of the UFO sighting it covered to one of his own. I got in touch with him via Whatsapp to discuss these similarities. In doing so I became aware that not only had he had a second UFO sighting earlier in his life, but he also had a fascinating contact-related experience as a child, and a possible discovery of an alien implant. Tom now lives in Adelade, Australia, but spent his childhood living in Hamilton, Scotland. When I initially contacted Tom, I found out that he had already reached out to another researcher, Glen Richardson, about these earlier incidents. I got in touch with Glen and he was happy for me to discuss these incidents in depth with him and include them in this report. As you will see, they involve quite extra-ordinary claims, but you are encouraged to read the evidence both for and against them before making up your mind about the validity of the case. Abductions in the Neighbourhood This case begins in late 1960 or early 1961 while Tom was only 8 years old. At the time he was living on Bradshaw Crescent in Hamilton, a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The road is L-shaped and joins with Belhaven Road at the Southern end, and Clarkwell Road at the Eastern end. He shared a bedroom with his two sisters, Anne, who was 7 at the time, and Jackie who was 12. He slept on a normal bed, while his sisters shared a bunk bed. One night he awoke in the early hours of the morning. He did not have a clock in the room so does not know the exact time, but it was still fully dark. However there was a strange glowing white light covering the ceiling, which is probably the reason why he woke up. His sisters remained fast asleep. He realised the light was coming over the top of the closed curtains. He initially thought that it had snowed outside, and the moonlight was reflecting off it. The light was bright enough for his room to be lit up. He got out of bed and walked across the room to the window, which faced to the South East and overlooked the back garden of the house. When he opened the curtains to take a look outside he was astounded by what he saw. It was a clear and still night outside, with no snow on the ground. There, level with his bedroom window, was a glowing oval-shaped craft. It was hovering completely motionless roughly ten feet away from him. It appeared to be at least the size of a large car, perhaps 15 feet across by 7 feet in height. There were no markings or windows visible, it just looked completely smooth. It reminded him of a glowing white egg. There appeared to be no sound coming from it, at least none that he could discern through the glass. He only stared at it for a few seconds before stepping back away from the window in fear. The curtains dropped closed again, but he could still see the light coming from the object on the ceiling of the room, so he knew it was still outside. He stood in the room thinking about whether he should go and get his parents or wake his sisters up. He thought that if he went to get his parents they would not believe him, and he didn’t want to frighten his sisters so left them asleep. The white light remained. Slowly his initial fear was partially replaced with an interest in the strange object outside. He crept back to the left side of the window and pushed the edge of the curtain aside just enough to be able to see what was going on. The craft remained still for a further minute. Then suddenly it smoothly and slowly moved to the right towards the back of the nearest house, 8 Belhaven Road. Here it stopped again. The upper bedroom window of the house was completely obscured by the craft. It remained there for about 5 minutes. Then without warning it moved again to the next house along, before stopping again. Following this pattern it slowly but surely move all around the houses in the square of gardens. At some houses it would only stop for a minute, at others it would remain there for about 5. Tom wondered why it kept stopping at the houses, it was like it was observing each in turn, but he could only really see the back of the object at this point due to the angle he was looking at it. After a while the craft was now to his left and moving back towards him along the houses to the North East. He moved to the other side of the window to continue to watch it. He was now viewing it at an angle which afforded him more of a view of what was going on. As the object came to a halt a doorway folded forward from the front of it, forming a flat platform. At this point it became abundantlyclear that this was a glowing craft of some kind. He was then shocked to see a number of short beings emerge, lit up in the light pouring from the craft. There was four to six of them, and they were all wearing black hooded robes which seemed to go right down to their feet. They were about 3 feet in height, and looked quite stumpy in appearance. The beings were floating in the air. They drifted across to the bedroom window of the house, which like his own had closed curtains. The short beings hovered outside the window for a minute, almost like they could see inside through the curtains. They then suddenly moved forwards in unison, literally passing through the window and surrounding wall and vanishing from sight! A minute later the emerged again. This time they were now facing him and he could see their faces. The being’s faces looked quite ugly and lumpy, with a pig-like nose and what appeared to be sharp pointed teeth in their partially open mouths. It was hard to tell the exact colour of their skin, but it looked dark. They were not alone. Between them was a boy floating on top of a flattened bench-like structure in a lying down position. Tom did not recognise the boy, even though he lived on the same road. There were a couple of beings on either side of him, one in front by his head and another down by his feet. They all floated back over to the open platform. At this point the structure the boy was on came to rest on the platform, and the short beings seemed to enter the object and vanish from sight, leaving him lying there alone. Now another being emerged from the craft. This one looked quite different. Tom could see it from a near-side on perspective initially as it stepped out onto the platform. It looked very slender and about 5-6 feet in height. It was unclothed and had pink coloured skin. Its head was large and smooth, with dark bulbous eyes and a slit for a mouth. The being looked rather insectoid to him, and reminded him of a Praying Mantis. As it emerged its legs bent backwards like an insect. It now stepped off the edge of the platform, seemingly into thin air. It then proceeded to move around the edge of the platform staring at the boy, like it was performing an examination of some kind on him. In its hand was a silver coloured pen-like instrument which it would reach out and touch him with numerous times. After this, the taller being re-entered the craft. The short beings emerged again, then floated back over to the house again with the boy between them. They once more disappeared into the wall, and then emerged after a short time without the boy. Lastly they too then floated back into the craft. The door lifted back into the front. The craft now moved again and ended up hovering outside his own bedroom window. It was now apparent that there were three round windows in it, which had not been visible up to this point. In the windows he could see a number of beings. In the left window was a hairless pink-skinned being sitting at a console of some kind. It had its back turned to him and its head was bent forwards staring at something. It looked shorter than the being which had emerged to perform the examination and more smooth-skinned. In the second window was a similar being but this one was facing him. He could see it had large black eyes and was not wearing any clothing. The final window was clear. Tom assumed that the taller being was sitting to the right of it out of sight. The being facing him suddenly lifted its arm and waved at him! Despite being a little scared at everything that was taking place, Tom instinctively lifted the curtain a bit and waved back. Then immediately he thought to himself “What am I doing?” and quickly pulled the curtain closed again, though not fully. He was as much fascinated by the craft and strange beings as he was frightened of them. He was concerned that the craft was going to turn, the doorway open and the short beings emerge for him, but this did not happen. Instead it moved on and once again started to go around the housing in an anti-clockwise direction. This time the houses it stopped at for longer periods was different than the first time. Tom assumed that it was taking different children from different homes each time, although most of the time it was not possible to see this taking place. At one point while it was over on the far side and passing along the houses on Clarkswell Road it suddenly shot vertically extremely fast out of sight. Tom wondered what was going on but then heard the noise of a bus or truck driving along the road. Once it had driven away and the sound of its engine vanished the craft suddenly shot back down to where it had been, and then continued on its path. Tom claims that he watched the craft for up to two hours as it moved around the neighbourhood numerous times, seemingly abducting different people. It was hard to say whether they were all children, but the ones he was able to see always were. In the end he says that he actually went back to bed with the craft still visible outside, mostly due to being extremely tired at this point. The following morning it was unsurprisingly nowhere to be seen. Tom did not tell his parents or sisters what he had witnessed. He thought that they would not believe him and would either say he was lying or would put it down to a bad dream. Nor did he go round to any of the neighbouring houses or tell any of the children from his road what had taken place. He kept the entire incident to himself for many years. Later on he did tell his sisters for a very specific reason, discussed later on in the report. Tom knows how incredible this series of events sounds, and he is aware that many people reading about it will think he has just made it up. We unfortunately only have his word to go on at present. He did not take any photographs or videos of what took place, or draw any pictures of what happened at the time. He has not kept in touch with any of the friends he knew from his neighbourhood who may have been directly involved. The only family members he ever spoke to about the event were his sisters. Unfortunately he no longer speaks with his elder sister Jackie. I asked whether I could get in touch with Anne to see if she remembered him mentioning what happened, According to Tom she could not remember anything and was unwilling to speak with me directly. It is also important to note that the beings reported are somewhat reminiscent of those witnessed by American experiencer Whitley Strieber. His description of the very short beings is very similar indeed, right down to the clothing which they were wearing. The Greys which Whitley interacted with were unclothed and had flesh coloured skin, just like those reportedly seen by Tom. However these similarities are not something which he has tried to cover up for fear of not being believed. He voluntarily informed me that he had watched the movie of Communion a number of years ago, and that this was the closest depiction of what he remembered seeing as a child. And if the beings reported by Whitley were real (as many including myself believe they were), then why wouldn’t other people around the world have also seen them? There are also some unusual aspects which Tom mentioned which suggest he is being honest about what happened. For example, he informed me that the round windows of the craft were only visible when it came back round, when he first saw it he said that there were no windows present at all. If the story was fabricated surely he would have stated that they were visible from the off? If the incident did indeed take place as Tom says it did, then this was clearly not a mundane object, but an ET craft with occupants, and he bore witness to a series of abductions of people from nearby buildings. It is interesting that the windows of the craft were not initially visible to him. It is possible that at this point they were round the other side of it, and it had turned by the time it came back round. Another possibility is that they had been intentionally opened by the beings themselves, perhaps to observe him or let him know they were there. The short stumpy beings Tom reported are quite rare and not often seen. They are sometimes referred to as “blue dwarves” due to the usual colour of their skin, although this could not be seen clearly by Tom at the time. As mentioned, they were reported by Whitley Streiber, but a number of other abductees have also encountered them, including some I have investigated directly. The tall being which emerged from the craft sounds very much like a Mantid. Sometimes these beings have green skin or even carapaces like an insect, but on other occasions look more Grey-like in appearance. Due to the fact that memories are often blanked out with contact, in some cases entirely, it is unknown whether or not Tom himself was examined by the beings. It seems logical that he may have been due to what took place at the other houses. Perhaps it happened to him (and maybe his sisters) initially, and when he awoke in the room he had just been put back in his bed. Next year something would happen which suggested that this might have been the case. An Extracted Implant? A number of months after the abductions incident, Tom began to develop pain in the left side of his abdomen which would come and go. His mother took him to the GP, who informed him that there was an infection in his appendix, but it wasn’t dangerous so there was no need to immediately go for an operation. However as the months went by the pain got more and more severe. In the end he began to take days off school because of it and his GP decided it was time to have it taken out. He was booked in to University Hospital Hairmyres in East Kilbride, Glasgow. When he went in for the operation he was knocked out using chloroform as back in the 1960s this type of operation was quite significant and involved a long cut to the abdomen. As the operation was performed Tom found that he could not see or feel anything, but could hear what was being said. At one point during proceedings he heard the doctor call the nurse over to take a look at something. He then seemed to imply that something unusual had been found inside him near to where his appendix had been, and that they were going to try and remove it. They then attempted to extract whatever it was. At this moment Tom felt a sudden burst of intense pain and began involuntarily convulsing. He could hear the doctor and nurse panicking, not knowing what to do. Suddenly, as quickly as it had started, the pain ceased. He then became aware of a glowing white light coming down from above him. He felt himself lifting up towards this light. As he did so the light became more and more intense, until he turned away from it to shield himself from the glow. When he did so he realised he could see his surroundings. He found himself up near the ceiling of the operating theatre and looking down over himself lying on the table! He could see the doctor and nurse desperately trying to resuscitate him. At one point he watched something shiny fall out of the doctor’s pocket and roll under the sink in the room. In the end they seemed to give up and resign themselves to the fact that he had passed away. Tom was horrified as he knew that he was still alive. He could not say anything but found that he could blink his eyes. He started to do so to get the attention of those in the room and show them that he had not died. When he did so he immediately found himself back in his body. In the end the nurse happened to notice him and called the doctor back over. He heard the doctor lean in close and say that everything’s cool, they were now going to stich him up and take him back to the ward. He does not know what happened next, it is possible they knocked him back out again with more gas. When he came round he found himself in the bed of a recovery room with a nurse sitting alongside him. He slowly recovered over a period of hours. Eventually he found he could speak again. He was intrigued about what had taken place during the operation and asked the nurse whether he could speak with the doctor who had performed it. At first the nurse ignored his requests, but after repeatedly asking her she went and got him. At this point the nurse left the room and Tom seized the opportunity to tell the doctor what he recollected from the operation. When he told the doctor that he could hear what was taking place, the doctor initially didn’t seem to believe him. However as he began to describe what he had heard he could see the doctor’s face was looking more and more concerned. He then went on to tell him that when he had started convulsing he was watching what was happening from above. In an attempt to confirm to the doctor that this had happened he mentioned that he had seen the object fall out of his pocket and roll under the sink, and asked him to go to the operating theatre and check. The doctor agreed to do so. Several minutes he returned to the room. Tom asked him “Did you find it? Was it where I told you it would be?” The doctor responded by telling him that it was a silver coloured pen that had fallen out of his pocket. He was amazed that Tom knew about this. Next Tom asked him “You found something inside me. What was it?” The doctor confirmed to him that he didn’t know what it was, and that he’d never seen anything like it before. They had found it after they had removed his appendix. Tom asked “How do you think it got there?” The doctor informed him that was not something he had swallowed, and his body did not seem to have rejected it. There were no obvious signs of injury on his skin, so he was completely baffled by its presence. When Tom heard this he thought back to what had happened that winter night at his home. He decided that he must have been examined too, even though he could not remember it, and that the beings must have placed it inside him. He then decided to tell the doctor about what he had seen. He is not sure of whether he believed him or not, but after telling him he left the room. A short while later he was moved back to a bed in the main hospital ward. However due to the seriousness of what had happened, he had to remain there for an extended period of time. His family would come to visit him regularly as he slowly recovered. Several weeks went by. Then one day both of his parents turned up by his bedside with worried looks on their faces. This was quite unusual as most of the time only his mother would be present, so he suspected something significant was about to occur. His parents told him that he would need to have a second operation. When Tom asked why they told him that they had been informed by another doctor that a couple of swabs had gone missing, and they were worried that they had accidentally been dropped inside him during the operation. Tom did not believe that this was true. He thought that it was something to do with the object they had found inside him and that they now wanted to extract it. He told his parents that what this doctor had told them was nonsense, and that they should ask to speak with the doctor who performed the initial operation. Later on they returned to his bedside and informed him that they were unable to speak with the original doctor, but this new doctor had then gone on to say that a watch must have been dropped inside him. Later still they said that they had been informed that he must have swallowed a coin as a child. The story details kept changing. Tom continued to refuse to go for the operation. He informed his parents that there was something else going on with this and everything was not as it seemed, but unsurprisingly they did not believe him. In the end he was forced to go for the second operation. He initially assumed that he was being taken somewhere just to get an injection, but after being sedated he was wheeled into an operating theatre. In the room were about six surgical staff. However in addition to these were up to ten men in smart suits off to his right. He thought to himself “What going on here?” A man behind him put a mask over his mouth in order to knock him out. He brushed it aside, not trusting what was going to take place. The man tried again. Once more he pushed it aside. This continued in the same pattern a short while, but every time he was taking a couple of gasps. In the end he became really drowsy and could night fight back anymore. The head doctor leaned on in really close to his face. He smiled at him and said “That’s it, you may as well put he mask on take a couple of breaths and it’ll all be over.” Tom had no fight left in him so agreed, and very quickly blacked out. When he came round he found that he was in a bed on a breathing machine. Shocked by the situation he panicked and had to be restrained. He thinks that at this point he may have once more been sedated. It took him a while to get used to being on the machine. He believes he was on it for a number of weeks. In the end he recovered enough to be taken off it. He had grown so used to it by this time that he was scared that he would not be able to breathe without it. However in the end his parents came and informed him that it was no longer a requirement. After this he was moved back to the ward. It took Tom a number of months to fully recover from whatever had occurred. During this time, occasionally the older doctor who had performed the second operation would sometimes come onto the ward. Whenever Tom saw him he would shout abuse at him, as he was convinced that he had only performed the second operation to get hold of the unusual object that had been discovered. The other hospital staff and his parents told him to calm down but he would ask them to bring him over so they could have a conversation. One morning Tom woke up to find the older doctor standing right by his bed. The doctor started apologising for how he had been treated during the second operation. He then produced a small jar filled with a clear liquid. Floating in the liquid was a small object which Tom could not initially see very clearly due to its size. The doctor said that this was what had been taken out from him and that he could have it back if he wanted. Handing him the jar, Tom took a closer look at the object. It was black in colour, and cylindrical. It was no more than 10mm long, possibly less. At one end of it there appeared to be three prongs. Half way down one side was an elongated L-shaped extension. It was very peculiar indeed. However despite its odd appearance Tom did not believe this was really the object that had been taken out of him. He became convinced that the doctor had switched the actual object with this one, and that he was being shown this just to keep him happy. He handed the jar back to the doctor telling him he didn’t want it. He reminded him that he had lied to his parents multiple times, and that he would therefore not be giving back what he had performed the operation to obtain. The only people who would have been able to validate whether it was the same object were the doctor and nurse from the initial operation, but he never saw them again for the remainder of his time at the hospital. Over the following months he slowly recovered until he was finally allowed to head back home. A number of months later Tom recalls that many children from his neighbourhood, including his sisters, were asked to visit the hospital for a check up. The reason given for this was an apparent outbreak of Scarlet Fever in the area. This would not have been suspicious if it wasn't for the fact that Tom himself was not asked to attend. Thinking back to the abductions he saw taking place, and the subsequent operations he then had to endure, he wonders if someone knew what had taken place and were checking other children for implants. As he had already had his removed there would have been no reason for him to head back in. Could the object found inside Tom have been an alien implant placed inside him during the previous incident without him being aware at the time? Perhaps it was not meant to be removed and was attached to him in some way, and this is why he started convulsing when they attempted to do so. In speaking with Tom it is clear that he feels some kind of cover up took place regarding the object. Looking back at the incident he believes that the second doctor who lead the follow on operation was not who he said he was, and that this operation was done specifically to obtain the object inside him. It is implied that the men in suits standing in the operating theatre were Men In Black. It does seem that the object was removed during this operation, as the doctor willingly brought it to him in a jar. Tom believed at the time that this was not the object and that it had been switched, but I am not so sure. The object in the jar was very peculiar in shape, and I find it more probable that this was the actual object, and that the doctor had no clue what it was. Perhaps the men in suits standing in the operating theatre were nothing more than other staff or medical students invited to observe what was taking place. It is important to remember that Tom was just a child at this time, so perhaps misinterpreted what was taking place. It does seem odd that Tom’s parents kept being told different reasons for why the second operation needed to happen, but maybe they had left something inside him accidentally and were trying to shirk responsibility to prevent getting into trouble. Most implants tend to be silver in colour and smooth spheres/elongated objects with no extensions. However in some cases they have found to be covered in black membranes, so maybe this is why the object looked this colour. Tom willingly decided to give the object in the jar back to the doctor, so we have no way of knowing for sure. Tom’s account of his out-of-body experience during the first operation is also fascinating. It is quite common for people to experience OBE’s while under anaesthetic during medical operations, in fact I myself experienced one when I was 14 and having some dental work done while knocked out with gas. Many people close to death have also reported seeing a bright white light, just as Tom describes. It appears that he only just pulled through, no doubt the reason for his extended stay in hospital. One thing we both thought might shed some light on what took place was Tom’s medical records. Tom initially suggested that I should reach out to the hospital. However I informed him that he would need to contact them personally about this as they would definitely not send them to anyone other than himself. On 16th November 2022 he sent them the following E-Mail message: They responded, but unfortunately confirmed that the records had been destroyed as they were from so long ago: Tom next attempted to contact his Primary School to see if they have records of him not attending school for the periods he was at the hospital: Again he received a response from the headteacher, but unfortunately once more no records existed due to haw long ago the absence occurred: It is a shame that Tom’s records were no longer available, and I could see that he was genuinely upset about this fact. While it is debateable as to what these records may or may not have confirmed, the fact that he reached out to both the hospital and school shows that he is open to aiding my investigation into the incident, which can only be seen as a good thing if considering the authenticity of his claims. Reflective Sphere Sighting By the time Tom was 17 he had moved with his family to Australia. It was the summer of 1970 and he was out camping at Hancocks Lookout, a shooting range and camp site to the North West of some hills known as Flinders Ranges in Wilmington. He was there with his older sister Jackie, and her partner Steve. Their visit to the location was at an end. Early on the morning, around 4.45am they set off towards Port Augusta, a city to the North West. Steve drove, Jackie was in the passenger seat and Tom was in the back. It was a clear morning but the sun had not yet come up. There were very few other vehicles on the road. At around 5.05am they were heading North West along Spear Creek Road which joins Augusta Highway, the main road which leads to Port Augusta. The desert landscape in the area is very flat with little vegetation, which provides substantial views in all directions. They suddenly noticed a circular glowing light in the distance to the West. It appeared to be hovering over one of the buildings of Port Augusta Power House, the main power station for the city. The building the object was over had lit stairwells up each side which were glowing yellow. The object hovering above was the same colour, and it appeared to be reflecting the lights below. Tom estimates it was at an altitude of about 60 metres (240 feet). As Steve drove along the road they watched the object slowly move to the left. It then suddenly descended straight down to about 10 metres off the ground! It then continued heading to the left. Tom believes that as it did so it was actually moving away from them to the West across the estuary. It appeared to follow a road on the other side which Tom says was lined with wooden shacks, although these are either no longer there or cannot be easily seen from above. It then suddenly shot back up to 60 metres and headed back to the East until it was over the Power House again. As they continued their journey they watched it perform this pattern of manoeuvres multiple times, almost like it was looking for something. Around 5.30am the sunrise appeared over the tops of the hills to the East. As it did so the object glared intensely bright reflecting the sun’s rays. A short while later it had stopped reflecting the sunlight as brightly, and looked almost like a bubble. They continued to keep their eye on it as they continued their journey, until they entered Port Augusta and it was lost from sight behind the buildings. Tom says they stopped in Port Augusta for some breakfast and by the time they were back on the road and left the city there was no sign of the object. Seeing the UFO reminded Tom of what had happened to him as a child. Soon afterwards he spoke with Jackie about the abductions experience. He informed her that she might have been taken but had the memories removed. He recommended that she should get herself checked out by a GP just in case there were any implants or internal damage. However he does not think she ever acted on this. This is an intriguing sighting. It was quite distant so it is unknown if the object really was spherical in shape or whether it just appeared that way. The sudden descents and ascents which the object abruptly made seem to suggest that it was not a distant helicopter, and this sighting occurred decades before drones. It was certainly moving in a controlled manner, so a drifting reflective inflatable of some kind can be put out of the question. It is a shame that the witnesses did not try to get closer to the Power House in order to observe the object more closely. As mentioned before, Tom is no longer in contact with Jackie or Steve, so I am unable to speak with them directly about the incident. White Spheres Sighting One day in the summer of 2020 Tom was around his daughter Renee’s house in Hackam West, Adelade. His daughter was out shopping. He had arranged to meet his son Mark at the house. It was between 1-2pm and he was sitting in the back garden waiting for him to arrive. It was a very sunny and warm day, so Tom had his sunglasses on. Due to the heat there was a white mist coming off the sea to the West. There were also quite a number of wispy clouds. Tom happened to glance up into the sky to the West. All of a sudden he noticed what appeared to be a small white sphere in the sky at quite high altitude. It seemed to be heading in a Southerly direction at a very fast pace, much faster than a distant aircraft would appear to fly at. It appeared to be over the the area of Christies Beach. Tom was intrigued by the object and got up, then stood up on a chair to continue watching it. Suddenly the object either came to a stop or dropped to a much slower speed. It then continued moving to the South much slower than it had before. As it moved across the sky to the left Tom heard a car pull up on the front drive. He was expecting it to be Mark, but instead it turned out to be Renee back from the shops earlier than expected. When she entered the house he called her out to come and see the object. However she wanted to first put away the shopping. By the time she had come outside the object had disappeared into one of the wispy clouds. Tom explained what he had seen but because she had not seen it herself she was not particularly impressed. He waited to see if it would emerge from the cloud but it did not. Renee then went inside to get a couple of drinks. Suddenly the object was visible in the sky again. It seemed to be about 1 km to the West over the sea. Tom yelled “It’s back! Come out and see!” Renee came back outside and asked where it was. But when Tom pointed right at it in the sky she could not see it. He was mystified by this as it was clearly visible to him. He then suggested swapping sunglasses with his daughter. They did so and at this point found that the object was only visible against the mist filled sky through Tom’s Polaroid shades (he informed me he likes to go fishing and these make it easier to see the fish underwater). His daughters were not Polarioid, and when he put those on instead he was unable to see the object. Renee immediately exclaimed “Oh wow!” Tom asked her what it was doing. She informed him that it was just sitting there. She then said that she could see a second similar object coming in from the left and travelling North towards the initial one. Tom was a little frustrated that he could no longer see what was going on. According to his daughter the second object approached the first, and then they started dancing around one another. Then it moved back to the left until it was out of sight, and the remaining object began slowly spiralling in an ascending arc until it vanished due to the distance. This is again a distant but interesting sighting. However I do wonder if the objects seen could have been two distant inflatables, such as white or silver coloured mylar balloons. These could have conceivably drifted in shifting air currents and performed the various manoeuvres seen. The spiralling motion performed by the initial object towards the end of the sighting certainly sounds like an inflatable caught in a rising air current. They also did not appear to be particularly large in size. Tom says that Renee will get in touch with me soon to discuss the incident. She is awaiting a new mobile phone and once this arrives I have been instructed to get in touch with her via Whatsapp. Her testimony will be added to this report in due course. Conclusions Tom homas has had some quite varied experiences, some obviously far more significant than others. The incident which he witnessed from his bedroom window as a child (and perhaps was even directly involved in) sounds almost too incredible to be true, something which Tom is clearly aware of. He says that many people reading this report will likely not believe what he says took place. There are also some very odd aspects to it. Obviously we only have his testimony to go on. I am unable to speak with his sisters and according to him he did not tell anyone else about what had taken place (even if he had done, he has not kept in touch with anyone who lived in his neighbourhood back then). We discussed the incident in great detail and Tom answered all my questions without pause. Also it should be noted that he is not seeking any fame or fortune by sharing the details of what happened. He has not attempted to sell his story to a newspaper and has very little to gain from spending the time to discuss it with me in depth. Your views on this particular incident will likely shape your views on the entire report, as if you believe he has fabricated this experience then he could logically have done the same for his other experiences too. However, if his testimony is truthful then this clearly represents a fascinating multiple abduction incident which was directly witnessed for an extended period of time, something which is very rare in the world of ufology. The possible implant extraction which took place relatively soon afterwards may indicate that Tom was abducted and has missing memories regarding what took place. The doctor confirmed to him that something unusual had been found, and the object brought to him in a jar sounds far from normal. Whether you believe that it really was an alien implant and that there was some kind of cover up regarding its extraction is going to be down to personal interpretation of the details. It is a shame that the hospital records have been destroyed, but the fact that Tom was happy to reach out to them (and subsequently his old school) in the first place shows he is serious about trying to get evidence to support his claims. Both of the UFO sightings Tom experienced were quite distant, and both involved multiple witnesses (although due to circumstances I am unable to speak with most of them, and have not yet been able to discuss the Adelade sighting with Renee). As with the previous experiences he went into extremely good depth over what took place, assisting me with locating specific road names where necessary. I have no doubt that they occurred as reported, and while mundane explanations cannot be entirely ruled out, both incidents have some intriguing aspects. I would like to thank Tom for spending the time to go over these incidents, creating the numerous drawings scattered throughout the report and reaching out to the hospital in an attempt to retrieve his medical records. If you have any information about any of these experiences please get in touch. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2022

Birmingham UFO Group Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 02/11/2022 On Sunday 23rd October 2022 I spoke at the LAPIS UFO & Paranormal Conference up in St Annes, Blackpool. On the same day there was another fascinating talk by crytozoologists Jackie Tonks and Richard Freeman. Towards the end of the conference Jackie approached and informed me that a number of years ago she had an interesting UFO sighting. A few days later I contacted her via phone to go over what happened in more depth. Sighting Details Jackie used to live in Chudleigh Knighton, a village in Devon. She rented a cottage on The Chapelry right opposite St Pauls Church. One early morning in June of either 2012 or 2013 she was awoken by a constant low buzzing sound. The noise was quite unpleasant and made her feel a little nauseous. She could feel it vibrating through the bed. She realised the noise was coming from outside. Getting out of bed, she pulled back the curtains of her bedroom window. It was around 4.30am and the morning sun had come up. The weather seemed to be clear and dry. Across the road to the South she noticed that there was a strange localised mist around St Pauls Church. Through this mist she could see a stationary red glowing oval-shaped light which appeared to be hovering near the left side of the roof of the church, around 35-40 feet off the ground. The glow of this light could be seen through the mist. Intrigued by the light and the strange sound which seemed to be coming from it, she decided to step outside the house and approach it. She was wearing her pyjamas and some socks, and felt that this was enough clothing to go and investigate. Stepping outside she walked across the back patio and down the steps which led to the road. There was nobody else around due to the time of morning. As she crossed the road the sound became louder. It was clearly coming from the glowing red light. It was so strong that it began to affect her middle ear and make her feel slightly giddy. The mist was completely covering the left side of the church, but was also starting to spread across the road. As she crossed the road she entered the edge of it. She noted that it not only looked unusual, but it also was not damp on her skin. It reminded her of dry ice or the mist made by an air diffuser. On the far side of the road she walked along the flint wall to the left a short distance to get a better view of the red light near the church roof or just beyond it. The open gate of the church was a short distance to herleft, but due to her attire and how giddy she was now feeling she did not enter the church grounds. She stared at the light for between 10-15 seconds. It was completely motionless and seemed to be about 100 feet away from her position. Suddenly without warning it completely vanished! At the same moment the low buzzing sound also immediately stopped. In place of where the light had been there was an oval-shaped area of mist which was now clear. After several seconds this had been naturally filled back in. Mystified by what had just taken place Jackie remained standing by the wall. Over the next 3-4 minutes the mist dissipated, much faster than a natural mist would usually do so. The impression was that it had been linked directly with the red glowing object. With nothing else left to do Jackie walked back to her house. Her socks were now damp from standing on the road, so she took them off. Her mind was too active to go immediately back to bed, so she made herself a cup of coffee. After staying up a short while thinking about what had happened she decided to try and get some sleep. In the morning when she first woke up she remembered what had taken place and wondered if it had been a strange dream. However when she went downstairs to the kitchen she found her wet socks by the door, and a half drunk cup of coffee on the kitchen surface. This clarified that the incident was real and had taken place. Later in the day she asked her neighbours if they had heard or seen anything during the night but they informed her they had not. It is likely that they slept through the noise, as if they had woken up to it they would no doubt have been as intrigued by it as Jackie was. Sighting Analysis This is an extremely interesting series of events with some truly fascinating aspects. Firstly we need to need to ascertain whether the sound was coming from the glowing object or whether they were un-related. Obviously when Jackie first noticed the light from her bedroom window there was no way of telling this. As she walked across the road the noise became noticeably louder and started to affect her more, meaning that it was coming from the same direction the light was situated in. She had never heard anything like it before, and did not hear it again any time while she remained living at the address. And when the light vanished the sound also immediately stopped. It would seem like an extremely unlikely coincidence for two un-related things to stop at precisely the same moment. I will therefore assume that the sound was coming from the object. It also appears that the mist was coming from the object. The fact that when the object disappeared there was a noticeable hole visible indicates that it had been within it. Also the fact that the mist dissipated so quickly after the object had gone suggests that it was being created by it. Jackie mentioned that it looked un-natural and also did not have the usual dampness to it, again pointing away from it being weather related. Let’s assume for a moment that the mist was natural and just happened to dissipate rapidly and soon after the object left the vicinity. The object remained motionless for a period of time so it cannot have been an aeroplane or micro light. Also there would likely have been other navigation light colours coming through the mist such as green or white. Other navigation lights would also be expected if it was a helicopter hovering close to the church, and any red light seen would not have been oval in shape. A red glowing inflatable such as a red LED balloon would very likely have drifted even in relatively still conditions. The sun rises in the East, not the South West, so Jackie cannot have been viewing the morning sun through the mist and mistaking it for an object. While drones sometimes only have red lights which could conceivably bleed together into an oval shape through the mist, there are two aspects of the incident which point away from any of these mundane explanations. Firstly the sound was nothing like that of an aircraft, helicopter or drone. Jackie says that when she worked in Plymouth she used to park very close to where helicopters would land and take off from Derriford Hospital. She also informed me that there is a holiday park called Finlake close to Chudleigh Knighton and she would regularly see and hear micro lights which had taken off from it. Also her friend's father owned a micro light and would sometimes fly it right over their heads for fun. So she is extremely familiar with how these sound at close proximity. She has also flown a drone before and knows the buzzing sound that this creates. Obviously if the red light had been coming from some kind of lit inflatable there would have been no sound at all. In addition to this, none of these things would have instantly vanished without trace. They could conceivably have flown away from the location, but in doing so surely Jackie would have noticed the light slowly fade away rather than just blink out? Whatever the object was, it appeared to have been present at one moment and then gone the next, and the fact that there was an oval-shaped “hole” left in the mist indicates that it was situated within it rather than further away. Conclusion There are just too many unusual aspects of this incident for it to be easily dismissed as something mundane, even if the buzzing sound, glowing light and mist were all to be considered separately from one another (which evidence points towards not being the case). I feel it is probable that this was a genuine close encounter with an advanced craft of some kind. Due to the oval shape of the red light, it is likely that the entire craft was glowing red rather than it being a light attached to it, although as it was never seen clearly this cannot be confirmed. I have investigated many cases where craft have vanished suddenly, and numerous cases where a low frequency buzzing/humming sound has been heard. The presence of the mist seemingly being ejected from it is more unusual, although I’m sure there are similar cases on record. Perhaps it was interacting with the air around it in some way which led to the formation of the mist. It is a shame that nobody else appeared to have heard or sighted the object. This was probably due to the time of morning that it occurred. Obviously it is still possible that there were other witnesses who Jackie did not manage to speak with. If you have any information relating to this fascinating incident please get in touch. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2022

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 26/10/2022 In October 2022 I received details of a historic case from the witness involved, Susan Millard, via the BUFOG website sighting form. She was prompted to get in touch because of the similarities in manoeuvring capabilities of the object she saw with those from another recent case report I’d uploaded. I gave her a ring to go over the incident in depth. Sighting Details Susan believes the sighting occurred in early summer of either 1978 or 1979 when she was 35/36 years old. She had gone out to Stratford-Upon-Avon for the day with her family. It was very warm, clear and sunny, with only light cloud in the sky. Near to the main town there is a path which runs alongside the River Avon. They were sitting in deckchairs near to this path nearly opposite the Royal Shakespeare Theatre on the far side of the river. As it was a nice day there were many other people around. Lying back in her deck chair Susan had a good view of the sky overhead. Suddenly a small white shape came into her vision from the left. She was wearing sunglasses and initially assumed it was a light reflection in them. However when she took them off she saw that there was a round object at high altitude at about 80 degrees elevation. It was either white in colour or reflecting the sunlight. What made it particularly interesting was the speed it was moving at. It appeared to be very high up, yet was moving much too rapidly for an aeroplane. Within several seconds it had travelled quite a distance across the sky and was directly in front of her, almost overhead. It now suddenly came to an abrupt halt. It remained there for about 4 seconds. Then it seemed to briefly reverse, heading back to the North for a short distance. Again it halted, then started heading in the direction it had initially been travelling. As it continued across the sky it reached a small cloud. It went behind this cloud and was lost from sight for several seconds, but then emerged from the other side. At this point it suddenly began performing looping manoeuvres, moving around, into and out of the cloud. These movements were quite rapid and certainly seemed to be intelligent in nature. It was like it was almost dancing around it. Susan could barely believe what she was looking at. She turned to her family, pointed the object out and asked “Do you see that up there?” But none of them seemed to be able to see it. When she looked back at the sky herself the object seemed to have vanished without trace. It is possible that it had disappeared the exact moment she drew their attention to it. She continued to watch the sky for a short while afterwards but the object did not reappear. Sighting Analysis Obviously in this case the most interesting thing about the object was the way it was moving rather than its appearance. According to the witness it was quite distant, so therefore there is no real way of saying what shape or size it was, or even whether it was actually white in colour or reflective. However it could not have been a distant aeroplane due to the fact that it stopped moving at various times and even reversed its direction without turning in an arc. Nor could it have been a helicopter as it moved much too rapidly for this. There would also have been no real reason for a helicopter to have performed the manoeuvres observed. This sighting took place in the 1970’s, decades before drones were commercially available. It was clearly moving too rapidly for a drifting inflatable. While balloons can get caught in air currents and buffeted around by the wind, from the witness’s description I feel this explanation can be discounted. I asked Susan if she felt it could have been a bird swooping around in the sky. She informed me that this was very unlikely indeed. She said that it seemed to be at too high altitude for a bird, and also the movements it performed were clearly controlled, and not at all like the random swooping turns of a bird. It is unlikely we will ever discover exactly what was observed here, but as it took place on a sunny day in a busy location there is the possibility that there may be other witnesses out there who have yet to come forward. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2022

For all you video gamers out there, the UFO Video Games page of the site has now been extensively updated. Not only has the library been brought bang up-to-date (making it very likely the biggest collection of UFO themed games on the Internet), but the games have now been split into different genres so you can easily locate what you are looking for. Go take a look at the updated page here, and if you have any suggestions for additions feel free to get in touch!

Birmingham International Airport have responded regarding the object which was witnessed by the gentleman from Marston Green early on the morning of 3rd September. They are unable to provide an explanation for what was seen. The case report has been updated to include their response E-Mail. You can view it here

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 12/10/2022 Last Updated: 17/10/2022 Note: For privacy reasons certain location details have been omitted This case report covers the most recent of three sightings by a man from Marston Green named Steve Wheeldon. Steve primarily got in touch in late September 2022 because of this particular incident, but also discussed his previous sightings with me. This is the only one of the three which he managed to capture on camera. As the previous two sightings appear to be un-related I have written separate reports on them. Links to these other reports can be found at the end of this one. Sighting Details Early morning on Saturday 3rd September 2022 Steve was asleep in his house in Marston Green. He awoke needing the bathroom. It was around 3.45am and still fully dark outside. While awake he suddenly had the thought that he hadn’t locked the back door, so went downstairs to check. As he approached the door he saw an unusually bright point of light through the glass window situated in the sky. Thinking it was a star being magnified by the glass, he opened the door to confirm that it was. He was surprised to see a strange glowing object hovering motionless in the sky to the South West, visible above the roofs of neighbouring houses. It appeared to be situated ¼ of a mile away either directly over Birmingham International Airport, or over the outer edge of it, and at a height of between 500-800 feet. Steve stared intently at the object to see it more clearly. It appeared to be a vertical rectangle or cylinder. There was a stick-like protrusion on each side, and a reddish glow coming from the top. It appeared to be covered in sparkling green and yellow lights. The shape almost reminded him of a human torso with two arms. He had never seen anything like it before. Even more unusual than the appearance of the object was the fact that it was completely still in the sky. It also appeared to be absolutely silent. Steve estimates that it was about 20-30 feet tall if it was indeed in the position he thought it was. He continued to stare at it for about 10 minutes. With the object still present he decided at this point that he wanted to try and capture it on video. However his smartphone was inside the house. In order to get it he would have to briefly stop looking at the object. In the end he decided to risk it, convinced that when he returned to the door it would be gone. Luckily it was still there when he got back. At 3.59am he took a short video of the object. He was surprised to see it looked quite different on camera, so he soon stopped filming. Several minutes later he tried again, this time filming for several minutes. It looked quite different to before, but still not the same as what he could see with his naked eye. Soon after this he tried zooming in on the object using his mobile phone camera. However it wasn’t coming out very clearly, most likely due to the low lighting and distance. At this point he decided to go and get his Nikon camera. He felt that perhaps the zoom lens on this would be able to capture a better image of it. When he returned he was pleased to see that the object was still present. He tried taking a photograph on his camera but was disappointed to see that it didn’t come out very clearly. After this he continued to watch the object, both fascinated and puzzled by its presence. Shortly after 5am, with the object still visible, he decided to attempt to take some other photographs of it on his mobile phone. A while later he saw a plane passing across the sky which did not land at the airport. It looked more like a cargo plane than civilian. He thought to himself that they must have been able to see the object. At around 6am he started to feel extremely tired, and decided to go back to bed, with the object still present in the sky at the same position. Later in the morning, when he awoke, he checked but it was no longer there. For a number of nights following the incident Steve checked to see if it would re-appear, but there was no sign of it. Video & Photograph Analysis The first video Steve took was shot at 3.59am and only for 10 seconds: https://youtube.com/shorts/7DlyQ0rGboY?feature=share As you can see, it looks nothing like what he describes seeing. The object looks like a cluster of up to 5 white lights, with what appears to be a curved line of additional white points of light coming down underneath. There are also several other dim points of light near the top and bottom at certain moments, which are likely to be stars. Here is a still from the video taken at 3 seconds in: Zoomed view of the lighting configuration, with and without edge find: Steve is absolutely puzzled by the main cluster of lights and says that this was not visible at all directly. He says that the lights on the object had a shimmering effect so it might have been this which was captured but not the main body of the object itself. I initially wondered if he had accidentally captured lights near the ground. Steve confirmed that light from the window of a neighbouring house can sometimes be seen through the trees, creating a similar pattern of speckled light. However he also confirmed that the camera was pointed up at a much sharper angle into the sky when this was taken, and at the time of the sighting his neighbour’s light was off. He believes that what the footage shows is the object. Obviously as there is no point of reference due to the lack of light this cannot be confirmed directly from the footage. Several minutes later at 4.03am Steve took this second, much longer video: Movement of the object is down to his attempts to locate and keep locked onto it. Even though he took it from exactly the same position as the previous video it now appears as a singular bright white orb of light. Here is a still from the footage taken at 21 seconds into it: A zoomed view of the orb, and the same image with edge find: Soon after taking the videos, Steve took 5 photographs of the object on his Nikon camera. The resulting images are shown below: It appears that Steve was only able to keep the camera steady on the first of these photographs. In this the object just looks like a bright point of light. In the remaining photographs the glowing curved line is the object stretched out due to a mix of camera shake and extended exposure. Below is a zoomed view of the object from the first image, and a zoomed view with edge find: The first mobile phone photograph Steve took was at 5.12am: In this image the object looks like a curved white light with a rainbow coloured glow around it. Here is a zoomed view of the object and zoomed view with edge find: It is possible that the curve is down to a small amount of camera movement when the photograph was taken, and without this it may have turned out as a white glowing orb of light. This second photograph was taken just two minutes after the last: The lighting level now looks completely different, almost as if the sun is coming up. It is possible to see the tops of some nearby trees. Steve has confirmed that it was still fully dark when this photograph was taken. It is likely that this is down to automatic light enhancement by his phone’s camera, however it is unknown why this did not happen with the previous image. Here is a zoomed view of the object, and one with edge find: The shape of the object is down to camera shake, as can be seen by the blur effect on the trees. Steve believes that if he had been holding the phone steady when he took the shot it would have appeared as a brightly glowing orange orb. The last photograph was taken at 5.17am: Like the first it now appears dark again, which Steve says is much closer to the actual lighting level. Again, here is a zoomed view of the object with and without edge find: As you can see, the appearance is very similar to the first photograph. Sighting Analysis The object which Steve described seeing with his naked eyes sounds very unusual indeed. Here is a close up interpretation of what it looked like including some notes from the witness: It is highly unusual for a UFO to remain motionless in the sky for such an extended period of time. Even though Steve described the object having such a bizarre shape I did initially wonder if he was mistakenly staring at a bright planet such as Jupiter or Venus. To attempt to confirm whether this could have been what he saw, on 6th October I informed Steve of the position Jupiter would be in the sky and asked him to observe it after dark and take some photographs of it. He kindly agreed to do so. According to Steve it appeared exactly as expected – as a bright white orb of light, nothing like what he had seen previously. Here are the photographs he took at 3.51 am, 3.56 am and 4.03 am: The square cluster of lights is light from a neighbouring house window, as discussed previously in the report. Here is a zoomed view of the second photograph, with and without edge find: As you can see, this does appear very similar to some of the photographs Steve took of the object on 3rd September, especially the first of his Nikon camera photos. In checking Stellarium application, it can be seen that both Jupiter and Saturn happened to be to the South West at 3.50 am on 3rd September: Steve did confirm that the direction Jupiter was situated in at 3.50 am roughly matched the direction of the object, however he also informed me that the object was at a higher position in the sky. Much more importantly, it can be seen that between 3.50 am and 6.00 am Jupiter moved slowly to the West and also slowly descended in the sky, as can be seen by comparing the below image with the previous one: Steve confirmed that the object did not move position throughout the sighting, it remained rooted to the same spot in the sky. This, combined with its unusual appearance and the fact that at a later date Steve directly observed Jupiter and confirmed it looked completely different to what he had previously seen points away from it being this or another bright star. Next I looked into the possibility of the object being a drone. While drones can certainly hover motionless in the sky, most commercially available drones tend to have a flight time of between 10 – 30 minutes. However professional more advanced drones can remain airborne for a number of hours. That said the appearance of the object does not fit in with it being a drone. It also appeared too large to be a drone. Steve estimated it was between 20-30 feet in height at the distance it appeared to be. It is hard to judge distances of objects in the sky, especially after dark. But if it had been closer then surely he would have been able to hear noise coming from it? Drones make a particularly loud buzzing sound, as can be heard in the below video: Yet this object appeared to be completely silent. This lack of sound also puts a helicopter out of the question. Steve confirmed that he is used to seeing police helicopters taking off and landing at the airport. Not only did the object look completely different to a helicopter, but at that distance the rotor blades would certainly have been audible. In addition to this Flight Radar 24 confirms that there were no helicopters in the vicinity of the airport at the time of the sighting: While not all aircraft are tracked, it is unlikely that an untracked helicopter would have been hovering near or over the airport for that amount of time. It is extremely unlikely that the object was a lit inflatable of some kind, as over that period of time it would have definitely drifted in the air, even in relatively still air conditions. Even if the object was tethered you would expect to see a small amount of drift, and if there was some kind of tether below the object it was certainly not visible in any of the photographs Steve took, including the one with enhanced light levels. The object could not have been light from a ground structure either. There are no tall buildings or towers in the direction it was observed, and even if there were Steve would be used to seeing the light every night I reached out to Birmingham International Airport to ask if they had anything flying over or nearby to the airport on the morning of 3rd September. They responded to my request with the following: The photographs and videos which Steve managed to take have caused some confusion due to the variety of appearances on show and difference to how it actually looked. But with all of these possibilities dismissed for one reason or another, the object appears to be truly anomalous. As mentioned at the start of this report, Steve has had two previous sightings – an impressive sighting back in 1975, which you can read about here, and another sighting in August 2022, which can be read about here. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2022