Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 02/10/2020 Last Updated: 04/02/2026   In September 2020 I was contacted by a lady from Kings Heath named Marian. She was interested in learning more about BUFOG, but when asked if she had ever seen anything herself she informed me of a stunning experience she had witnessed back in the early 1970s while living in Warminster, Wiltshire.   Warminster has for many years been known as a UFO hot spot after a wave of sightings from the 1970s and 80s, and it’s where I had my own UFO sighting back in 2009 while at Cradle Hill on a sky watch. However Marian’s experience involves something else entirely – a daylight sighting of a landed craft and beings!   Incident Details   In her early 20s Marian used to live on Princecroft Lane with her mother on the Western side of Warminster. At the time there were a number of grass-covered fields to the South West between Princecroft Lane and Masefield Road. These fields no longer exist and have since been built over.   Aerial map of Princecroft Lane indicating Marian's house and the area where the fields used to be: Marian cannot recall the exact year when the experience took place but believes it was between 1972 and 1974. She does however remember that it occurred on a Friday evening in early summer time. It was just before 6pm and she and her fiancé were preparing to go out for the evening. Marian went upstairs to get ready. She entered the bedroom and walked over to the window to draw the curtains.   Due to the time of year it was still light outside, and a pleasant clear evening. She glanced out over the fields which lay beyond the end of the back garden of the property. It was now that she noticed a grey coloured object down on the ground in the nearest field. It was about 150 feet away from her location. It looked like a flattened disc with a raised dome in the centre, and appeared to be about 15 feet across. As she was upstairs she was looking down on the object at an angle.   Marian had an interest in the UFO subject at the time and was aware that Warminster was known as a hot spot. She immediately realised that the object was a landed craft. Her fiancé had some binoculars, and Marian kept them in the room just in case they ever observed anything. The binoculars happened to be on the bed at the time, so she quickly grabbed them to take a closer look at the craft. Marian informed me that even though there was a camera in the house at the time, there was unfortunately no film in it.   She stared through the binoculars at the craft for about 2 minutes. There were no visible markings, lights or windows. Suddenly she watched a ladder appear from the near side of it. Then one by one three beings descended to the ground. They looked identical to one another and were about 3 feet in height. They appeared to be unclothed. Unusually, their skin was a fluorescent green colour and they appeared to be semi-translucent. It was possible to partially see bones and internal structure through them. They did not appear to be emitting any light.   Through the binoculars they were close enough to make out facial features. They had elongated black slit-like eyes, very flat noses and ears which seemed to go into the sides of the head rather than protrude.   The beings started to walk around on the grass close to the craft. They had a strange bobbing motion as they moved. There was seemingly no pattern to this movement. Marian watched them for a further two minutes. She was a little startled and frightened by what was taking place, as of course she had never seen anything like this before.   As she was beginning to get scared, she decided to look away for a few seconds and call out to her mother and fiancé to come and see. When she looked back the craft and its occupants had completely vanished! Her mother and fiancé entered the room and asked what was going on. Marian said to them “I’ve just seen something near to the garden!” She then proceeded to tell them what she had witnessed. Her mother believed her as she too knew about Warminster’s connection with the subject, but her fiancé felt that she must have imagined it.   Due to his reaction to her experience Marian did not immediately head out to the location in the field where she had seen the craft and beings, and instead went out for the evening as planned. However the next day she walked over to the field on her own. There was no sign there had ever been anything there, no depressions in the grass or burn markings. She did not contact anyone else at the time about what had happened, but it made a lasting impression on her.   Incident Analysis   If the experience happened as Marian describes then this appears to be a genuine landing of an ET craft. Obviously there is no physical evidence to back up her claims, as with most cases we only have the testimonial evidence to go on. However the primary reason Marian got in touch with me was to learn more about our group meetings and membership. She came across as trustworthy and was not interested in making any money from her story. She had not gone to any newspapers and was not aware I would write this case report until I mentioned it. It is very unlikely that she mis-identified something mundane as a landed craft and entities. She observed them through binoculars for a number of minutes. And surely if it was something else in the field it would not have vanished when she briefly looked away, but would still have been present.   The beings which Marian observed have some aspects which fit with them being Greys – including the short height, the shape and colour of their eyes. However the translucent fluorescent green skin is very unusual indeed. There may be other cases on record which match this description, but I have never directly investigated any other incidents which involved beings of this type.   The fact that both the object and beings did disappear so suddenly is a mystery in itself. There are plenty of cases where UFOs observed in the air have vanished extremely rapidly, and this often appears to occur when the witness happens to look away. This suggests that in some cases they may be aware they are being observed and use the opportunity to leave the area. However in this case the craft was on the ground and the beings were outside of it walking around. It would have been very difficult for them to re-enter the craft and leave the area in the short amount of time that Marian looked away. There is of course the possibility that they cloaked themselves to be hidden from sight.   Due to the significance of the location and the fact that many other sightings had gone on there around that time (and continue to do so) this could well have been a witnessed craft and its occupants on the ground. As with many experiences, this really comes down to whether you feel the testimonial details and my thoughts on the witness are enough evidence to support its reality.   Copyright Dave Hodrien 2026

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Year: 2020 Last Updated: 02/02/2026   Note: For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used   In early July 2020 while browsing a UFO-themed channel I came across a message on Facebook from a lady who I shall name “Kelly”. She mentioned a sighting she had back in 2007 over Huddersfield. I reached out to her via Facebook Messenger to learn about what took place in more depth.   Sighting Details In the summer of 2007 Kelly was staying over at her mother’s house on Manor Rise, Skelmanthorpe, West Yorkshire for a few days.   Aerial map of Manor Rise The front of the house faces North North West in the direction of Emley Moor. In the distance the Emley Moor Transmitting Station communication mast is clearly visible from the front room window of the property. Kelly’s mother “Dorothy” suffers from Neuralgia and so used to sleep in the front room. She would often wake up during the night in pain.   Photograph of Manor Rise with the communication mast visible in the distance  On this particular night Kelly was sleeping upstairs. Dorothy woke her up at around 2am saying that there was a strange ball moving around in the sky and she had come and see it. Kelly got out of bed and went downstairs with her. Dorothy pointed out of the patio doors in the direction of the communication mast.   Looking through the glass she immediately saw what her mother was referring to. In the distance around the area of the mast she could see a fast moving orb of light. It was white with a hint of blue around the edges. It was hard to judge how large it was.   The orb was initially moving back and forth across the sky on a level flight path. It was a dry, still and mostly clear night. There was some light cloud, but even when the object moved behind this the white glow from it was still visible. Kelly says that they had to turn their heads left and right to keep of it “like people watching a game of tennis.”   After a couple of minutes it seemed to move a little closer and started moving in a triangular shape at a very fast speed, making instantaneous changes in direction.   Photograph of Emsley Moor communications mast Kelly and Dorothy both stood there in amazement discussing what it could be. They knew it was moving far too rapidly to be a plane or helicopter. Due to how rural the location is they felt that it was extremely unlikely to be a laser light, and it was visible in clear patches of sky where there was seemingly no cloud for it to bounce off.   Several minutes later Dorothy suggested they should go and grab a torch, then go outside and try to signal to it. However, Kelly was concerned due to not knowing what it was, so asked her mother not to proceed.   They continued to watch the orb dart across the sky for a further 15-20 minutes. Sadly, neither of them had a camera with film in it, and Kelly says that her mobile phone was only a basic model with no camera. After this time, they then noticed an aeroplane in the distance. The plane started moving in the direction of the object. It then seemed to start to descend in the sky until it was flying much lower than planes would usually be seen at.   Dorothy said “Planes never go that low.”  Kelly pointed out that if they could see it then the pilots of the plane must surely be able to also see it.   A moment later the orb suddenly shot towards their location an incredible speed. Over the neighbouring houses it performed another instantaneous turn and shot away to the North East in the direction of Wakefield. It was gone in a brief moment, leaving them bewildered at what they had just witnessed.   Aerial map showing the estimated flight path of the UFO The plane continued on the same course it had been travelling on, passing through the area of sky where the orb had previously been. As it got closer they could hear the familiar sound of its engines.   Due to the fascinating aspects of the sighting neither of them could go back to sleep and they stayed up for the remainder of the night. Kelly recalls seeing the sunrise at around 5am.   Later in the day Dorothy told her husband “Michael” about it, but Kelly feels that he did not believe them. They listened on the radio, and bought the local newspaper but there were no other reports of the object, possibly due to the time of night that the incident occurred at.   Thinking back to what happened Kelly has often wondered whether the object knew that the plane was approaching it and that’s why it suddenly moved away. She also wonders if the pilots had seen the orb or even reported it.   Sighting Analysis   Due to the manoeuvres the object performed this is a very impressive sighting. It was clearly performing controlled movements so a lit inflatable like a white LED balloon can immediately be discounted. The instant turns put an aeroplane out of the picture. As the witnesses themselves observed, the object was moving far too rapidly to have been a distant helicopter.   As they also stated, a laser light or narrow search light coming up from the ground is very unlikely. There was no visible beam of any kind, and if it was a laser it would have needed to reflect off the base of the cloud layer, yet there were clear patches of sky where it could still be seen. There are establishments up on Emsley Moor which would have such a light.   Drones are capable of performing fast and sudden changes in direction. However, the incident occurred in 2007, a number of years before they were commercially available. Also the speed at which the object finally left the vicinity was much too fast for a drone or other remote controlled model. Despite the appearance of the object not giving us any clue to its actual structure, I feel there is definitely the possibility that this was an advanced craft of some kind, possibly of non-human origin.   Unfortunately due to her ill health I am unable to speak with Dorothy about this incident, however I would like to thank Kelly for allowing me to publish the details of what happened, and have no reason to doubt her story.   Copyright Dave Hodrien 2026

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date:  24/01/2026 Last Updated: 01/02/2026   Note: For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used for some witnesses   In November 2025 I was contacted by a 62-year-old lady named Kelly from Maryland who provided some brief details on a number of previous contact-related experiences she has had. Through further E-Mail correspondence I was able to delve into these experiences in more depth and gain a complete picture of what took place.   Out Of The Crib   In the early 1970s Kelly lived with her parents “Steven” and “Margaret”, older brother “Paul” and younger sister “Beverley” in a house on Seanor Road (known as Route 601 at the time) which lies between Windber and Seanor, Western Pennsylvania.   Aerial map of Seanor Road Back then Kelly shared a bedroom with Beverley. One day when Beverley was only 2 years old Margaret put her in the crib for a nap. Later on she went to check up on her. When she entered the bedroom she found that it was in disarray. The crib had been pulled out from the wall on an angle and the heavy carpet next to it was bulged up, like it had gathered up as the crib was moved. When Margaret checked the crib she found that it was empty.   Panicking, she started to look around the room. She then found Beverley under the bulge in the carpet fast asleep. It was a complete mystery as to how she had managed to get out of the crib.   In recent years Kelly has looked into contact experiences and wonders if her sister had been taken and then put back down at floor level instead of back where she had previously been.   While this cannot be ruled out, it is of course possible that her sister somehow managed to clamber out, push the crib around trying to get back in, before crawling under the gathered up carpet and dropping back off to sleep.   When I asked Kelly about this possibility she said “The carpet was a large piece of stiff carpet. It was not a traditional rug. It seems unlikely that it would have bulged easily. My sister was a hearty child and it is possible that she was able to escape the crib and push it away from the wall, but what a strange thing to then crawl under the stiff carpet and fall asleep. The way it bunched it formed a tunnel so maybe she crawled into it.”   Ouija Board Conversation   In March of 1972, when she was 9 years old, Kelly’s grandmother sadly passed away. Several months later her grandfather was planning to move in. He began bringing his wife’s old belongings over to the house in boxes. On a particularly rainy day Kelly and Paul were bored. Margaret suggested they take a look through their grandmother’s old things to see if they found anything interesting.   They decided to take her up on this. Looking through the boxes they came across a Ouija Board. Asking Margaret about it, she informed them that it would answer questions when they touched the planchette, and that it operated through an energy circuit made by their bodies. Viewing it as nothing more than a board game, Kelly and Paul decided to try it out in the living room.   Initially nothing happened, but soon the planchette started moving around and seemingly answering questions, beginning with yes or no, but then spelling out words. Kelly asked it who she was going to marry. It spelt out a couple of unfamiliar first names.   They then asked whether their mother would have more children. Over numerous questions posed to the board they were told that she would have triplets, one would die at birth, but their mother would name the remaining children Neil and Prudence. It then went into various details of things they would do in their lives.   It was nearly dinner time so they decided to stop. But just before they did they asked for the surname of a family friend who they only knew the first name of. The name it gave sounded incorrect. They knew that the lady was German-Irish, yet the surname it gave sounded Italian.   Later on they informed their parents of what had taken place. Margaret was surprised when she was told what the board had stated, as in her childhood she had apparently picked out those names as potential names for her future children.   When they asked Steven about the surname they had been given he confirmed it was correct, as the lady had married an Italian and changed her maiden name. Steven was concerned by what had taken place, and soon afterwards hid the board away so they could not use it again. Kelly says that years later after he had died they found it stashed in the back of a wardrobe.   Your thoughts on what took place here depends on your personal views regarding Ouija Boards. It has been proven that it is possible to subconsciously make boards spell out words without realising that the planchette is being directly pushed. The board appeared to be incorrect regarding some of the information it provided. Kelly has never gotten married (though later on did know two people with the same names as the board had spelled out). Nor did Margaret have any more children.   However, the surname of the family friend was apparently accurate even though she was certain her or her brother did not previously possess this knowledge. There is of course no way to prove that they had not heard it somewhere before, but it is certainly intriguing.   Greys Visitation   Several weeks after playing with the Ouija Board Kelly woke up during the night for an unknown reason. She immediately realised it was quiet which means her parents and brother must have gone up to bed. She opened her eyes and looked around. It was quite dark in the room but light enough to still make out furnishings. She realised that her eyesight was fuzzy, something which would not normally happen. She reached up and rubbed her eyes but the blurriness remained. The whole room seemed enveloped in a golden brown haze of light particles.   She tried to focus her eyes on the dresser three feet away from the foot of the bed. As she was focusing she began to notice movement in the space between the dresser and the bed. She saw what appeared to be long skinny arms making gestures.   She then realised these arms were attached to a number of beings standing near the base of the bed. There was a group of them on the left, and an individual one on the right. They had large oval-shaped heads with what she initially assumed was huge dark and hollow eye sockets. They appeared to be unclothed. The beings looked alike but were various sizes, with one noticeably larger than the others, and the individual one on the right particularly short.   The beings reminded her of very large ants. She did not know it at the time but they were what we now call Greys. She only made this association many years later when she looked into the contact phenomenon. They did not appear to be fully solid, but instead seemed to be almost ethereal like they were made up of TV static.   Witness drawing of two of the translucent Greys Kelly thought to herself “What is this?”  She closed her eyes, expecting them to be gone when she re-opened them, but when she did she found that they were still present. She tried this a number of times to no effect. Disturbed by the continued presence of the beings she called out to her parents, but they did not come to her aid.   Witness drawing of the Greys at the foot of the bed  Kelly had a religious upbringing. When she was younger a man at her church said to her that if she was ever afraid she could call on Jesus for help. She recalled this advice so said in her mind “Ok Jesus! I have no idea what is going on but I am afraid! So, whatever you are going to do, please do it!”  However, the beings still remained present. She temporarily pulled the blanket up over her head but this also had no effect.   At this point the short being on its own walked around the right side of the bed and approached her. It then leaned towards her as if making the gesture of kissing her. At this point she realised it’s eyes were not hollow sockets, but were extremely black in colour.   The being then began moving its arms like it was tucking in the blankets of her bed (It was not physically doing this, it just appeared to be imitating these movements). She associated this with her dead grandmother. She wondered if this being was in fact her grandmother, and this is how people looked after they had died.   The short being stepped away and returned to the group near the foot of the bed. Then they all faded away, leaving nothing but the darkness of the room. After a short while Kelly felt safe again and dropped back off to sleep.   The following evening when she was helping to set the dinner table she remembered the incident. She said to her parents “I had a strange thing happen last night, I think grandma visited me.”   Margaret responded saying “Oh! Is that why you called us? We heard you but we had just gone to bed and were hoping that you were just having a bad dream and would go back to bed. I would not put it past your grandmother if she did visit.”  This meant that the incident must have happened around 11.30pm, as this is the time her parents would generally go to bed.   Kelly was a bit bewildered by her response so asked “What do you mean?” Margaret said that her grandmother was into some ‘strange things’. She mentioned numerous books that she had found with her belongings. Kelly inquired further about the books. Her mother said she could read them when she was older. But Kelly was intrigued and wanted to find out more, which sparked a new found interest.   After this incident Kelly says that she found it hard to sleep for a good while. She would regularly get up and go to the doorway of her parent’s room for comfort, something her mother still recollects. Unbeknown to her parents she would also walk to the doors of the property and ensure that they were locked.   In summer, the next time she visited the local library with her family, she found a section covering topics such as the paranormal and cryptozoology. However, when approached the librarian to take them out, she told her they were unsuitable for her and steered her towards the children’s section instead.   Looking back at the incident, Kelly associated the visit by the beings with the fact she had done the Ouija board a number of weeks previously. However, other than their timing proximity there is nothing inherently linking these two events.   Recognisable Odours   A number of years later Kelly’s grandfather “William” passed away. From that point onwards both her and Margaret would occasionally smell an odour, not always at the same place in the house. Kelly says that one time she even smelt it when she was away from the house and visiting New York City.   The smell was earthy, though not unpleasant. It reminded them of William after he had been working outside all day.   On numerous occasions Margaret informed her about smelling the odour, but Kelly never told her that she had smelt it too at other times. She does not really know why.   Kelly says that on other occasions she would also smell moth balls and lilac, a smell she associated with her grandparent’s linen closet. She would usually smell this in the spare bedroom of the house, but occasionally elsewhere too.   Another Visitation?   Recently while talking with her mother about unusual things that went on at the house during her childhood, her mother informed her of another experience which may be contact related.   She said that one night she woke up to the sound of movement coming from the living room. She heard footsteps walking towards her bedroom. Then a group of what looked like elderly Amish people came into the room. Some of them were fully visible, others she could only make out their heads. They stood there silently staring at her. Despite this un-nerving situation, she was not afraid of them.   While it may be easy to interpret this as ghostly apparitions, there is also the possibility that this was what is known as a screen memory, and that these were in fact ETs masking their true appearance and visiting her in this form for an unknown reason.   Oval of Light   In the late 1980s Kelly was a student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania.   Aerial map of Indiana University campus One night between late spring-early summer 1986 she was walking back to the student Halls of Residence from Cogswell Hall at 2am (Kelly is sure of the time of year because she remembers not wearing a coat at the time).   Aerial map of Cogswell Hall Photograph of Cogswell Hall  She began walking with her ex-boyfriend “Martin”, who she had only recently separated from. The Halls of Residence are situated South East of Cogswell Hall. Aerial map indicating Cogswell Hall (A) and the student Halls Of Residence (B) with walk route It was a slightly hazy night, but relatively clear. However, because of the number of streetlights in the area it was hard to see the stars. They began walking South along South 11 th  Street. As they reached the brow of the hill overlooking the Halls Of Residence, Kelly suddenly noticed that Martin was looking up at something in the sky as they walked.   Photograph from the brow of the hill on Grant Street She looked up and saw what looked like a stationary oval-shaped glowing light. She thought to herself that a broken beam of light could possibly explain this shape, so looked down to see if there were a new business opening below them that may have been shining a search light up into the sky. There was no sign of this being the cause of the light.   Witness drawing of the oval-shaped light After staring at it for a number of seconds she had a strong feeling that the light was a glowing object which was aware that she could see it. At this moment it appeared to flip over 180 degrees and then instantly vanished!   Drawing of the two witnesses observing the oval light in the sky Martin asked “Did you see that?” She confirmed that she had. Then he asked “Did it feel like it knew you saw it?” Kelly confirmed that she had too had felt this way about it. Thinking about what had just taken place they walked the rest of the route to the Halls of Residence in silence.   Looking back at the experience, Kelly is still fascinated by what occurred. She says that while a search light cannot be entirely ruled out there are numerous aspects pointing away from that explanation. The light was quite bright and clear, yet there was no visible beam. She believes it was a clear night, so there would have been no clouds for it to bounce off. It was 2am in a small college town, and there were no night clubs or other lively venues in the vicinity which would have been shining search lights.   Kelly has remained friends with Martin and says that he has always insisted there was a mundane explanation for it. She also says that he would not be interested in speaking with me about it, as he does not believe in UFOs or the paranormal.   Vanishing Board   Kelly had another incident involving Ouija Boards in the summer of 1987. She and another friend “Simon” were on their way to a party. As they walked Kelly talked about her experiences. Simon was interested and wanted to see something with his own eyes. He suggested “Maybe if we buy a Ouija Board and it works it would help me understand these things that happen to you?”  Despite feeling a little concerned that Ouija Boards were evil and not to be messed with she agreed to this idea.   When they arrived at the party Simon suddenly exclaimed “Look! A Ouija Board! We do not have to buy one!”  Kelly looked to where he was staring. She was amazed to see a Ouija Board leaning up against the wall of the hallway outside of the apartment where the party was taking place! They picked it up and took it in with them.   After socialising at the party for a while Simon suggested trying out the board. They set it up and tried asking the board some questions, but unlike what had happened with her brother nothing took place. Kelly wonders if it was because of her feelings towards using Ouija Boards, feelings that had only developed in more recent years.   When it was time to leave the party, Simon asked the host of the party “Hey! Where do you want us to put the Ouija Board?”  They responded saying “That’s not mine. You brought it!” Simon explained  “It was leaning up against the wall in the hallway when we got here!” The host said “You should probably put it back where you found it!”   Following this proposal, they exited the apartment, placed the board back against the hallway wall, then briefly headed back inside to say goodbye. When they stepped back out into the hallway a moment later the Ouija Board had vanished! It was quiet and there was nobody else around outside. They were both confused as to how it could have disappeared in such a short space of time.   While this disappearance may have seemed bizarre at the time, it cannot be entirely ruled out that someone had quickly walked along the hallway (maybe the owner of the board), noticed it and taken it with them, but due to its links with previous experiences I have decided to still include it in the report.   Smoke Detectors Kelly's sister Beverley owns a house on S Main Street, Woodsboro, Frederick County, Maryland. In the early noughties Kelly visited her sister at the property.    Aerial map of S Main Street Beverley owned a number of smoke detectors but had not had a chance to install them, and they were lined up on a desk at the top of the stairs. Kelly was walking by the desk when suddenly they made a chirp sound one at a time in order.   Her brother-in-law came home for lunch and asked her things were going. She informed him about what had happened. He was confused by this and said to her “Kelly, there are no batteries in the smoke detectors! We took them all out! We have all new batteries, and three of the detectors are new." Later on Kelly went and checked the desk and sure enough found that the batteries were lying separately to them. Experiencers of contact often report electrical disturbances in their proximity. However there should have been no way for the detectors to have made any sound at all if they were not powered, suggesting that something more supernatural in nature occurred here. Haunted Apartment   By 2019 Kelly had moved to an apartment block on Overlook Terrace, Inwood, New York.   Aerial map of Overlook Terrace She believes this apartment block is haunted. She would sometimes hear unusual sounds through the walls coming from elsewhere in the block.   Photograph of the apartment block When she spoke with her neighbours about these sounds they informed her that they were consistent with people who had previously died there rather than current residents. However, they were never specific regarding what they meant by this.   A Grey Returns   One night she settled down in bed to drop off to sleep. She closed her eyes, but then something in her mind told her to re-open them. When she did she saw a Grey leaning over her. It looked the same as those she had seen in her bedroom as a child, but this time it was opaque and appeared to be solid. It had smooth white coloured skin.     It appeared to be silently conversing with something else out of sight behind her at the head of the bed. From its gestures Kelly felt that this unseen presence was enticing the Grey to touch her on her forehead, a request it seemed to follow up on. It reached its skinny arm out towards her. As its fingers reached her forehead it immediately exploded into particles and disappeared, leaving her alone in darkness.   Annotated drawing of the being   Kelly has no idea why this Grey returned to her on that night, and she has not encountered it since, at least to her knowledge.   A Familiar Sound   In early 2025 Kelly decided that her apartment in New York was not working out so well and she wanted to move to a new place. In the interim Beverley offered her the chance to move in with her and her eight-month old daughter at their house in Maryland. The move took place in February.   Because of what happened there previously with the smoke alarms Kelly wondered if anything else unusual would take place. Sure enough, several nights after she moved in, something did. Kelly noticed a sound coming either from either the attic or a closet just as I she closed her eyes to go to sleep. It sounded like chirps from a smoke detector. She could not determine the precise location it was coming from so did not go to investigate. The following nights she again heard similar sounds. Then about a week into her stay she sometimes started to notice it only when she entered the bedroom before she even lay down. The sound would take place roughly every 50-60 seconds but not at entirely regular intermissions. She would never hear it during the day time. Kelly asked her sister about the sound. Her sister said that she did have smoke detectors set up, but they had relatively fresh batteries in them so should not be making any low battery warning sounds. Kelly wondered whether the house was haunted and the same entity that had activated the alarms many years before remembered her and was playing games with her. It is odd that the sounds seemed to be localised, only heard by Kelly and only at particular times of day. If the sound was coming from one of the smoke alarms surely it would have continued into the day time and been heard by Beverley as well as Kelly? They should also be able to have located which one was making the noises. There is a possibility that it was echoing from somewhere outside of the property, maybe on the side of the house where Kelly's bedroom was positioned.   The Tall Man   One night she had gone to bed but the door of the adjoining bathroom was open and some light was coming in through the window.   Suddenly a tall thin man appeared over by the doorway near the foot of the bed. He had dark dishevelled hair, a receding hairline, beard and moustache. He had pale white skin and appeared to be in his mid-30s. He was wearing a dark blue T-shirt and even darker blue coloured trousers. The man was almost opaque but a little transparent. The man began walking across the bedroom. He did not look towards her or make any indication that he was aware of her presence. After several seconds he faded away completely.   Although Kelly cannot entirely dismiss the idea that she imagined it, this does not seem likely due to the amount of time she observed the man for, and the fact she had experienced similar things before.   Machine-Like Being   On another night in June/July she was lying on her back in bed. It was about 10:30pm and she had not yet dropped off to sleep. She lay there praying and contemplating her future.   Suddenly off to her left she noticed something crawl up onto the bed. This was just visual, there was no sense of anything of any weight physically pushing down on the mattress. Whatever it was then crouched over her.   The being had a machine-like appearance, almost like its face and body had been put together out of joined pieces of metal. It reminded her of artwork by the famous Swiss artist H.R. Giger. Example art piece by H.R. Giger: It was about the same size as an adult human, and appeared to have a muscular body frame. The entity looked down at her. Kelly felt that it expected her to be frightened, but she was not. Witness drawing of the unusual being As with previous occasions she called on Jesus for help and immediately the being vanished, leaving her lying in the darkness.   Woodsboro is believed by many of its residents to be haunted. Kelly’s neighbours have asked her how the ghost materialises in her house. This has got her wondering whether this strange being she observed was actually a spirit manifesting in an unusual way.   Feline Spirit   Kelly still lives at the property, but Beverley has since moved out and only uses it during the day to run her business from the front room. Kelly shares the house with her sister’s three pet cats. One has bushy tan-coloured fur. The other two are its siblings - a female calico and a male grey tiger.   One day in 2025 Kelly was in one of the upstairs rooms with the tan-coloured cat. Kelly decided to head downstairs. As she did she suddenly heard movement coming from the room she had just left. The staircase descends through a rectangular opening with a railing. Photograph of the staircase railing Looking back up through the gaps in the railing she saw the tan-coloured cat dart very quickly along the landing. She then saw the hind legs and tail of another cat backing away and hissing! This cat appeared to have short black-and-white fur. She was confused as it looked different to the other two cats, and she also thought they were downstairs at the time.   Despite this she dismissed it, assuming that she must be mistaken. She looked away and continued walking downstairs. When she entered the living room she found other two cats sitting there staring at her with wide eyes! There was no way they could have somehow ran past without her seeing.   Soon afterwards Kelly informed Beverley about the other cat she had seen. Her sister confirmed that she used to own a black-and-white cat, but it had since passed away. Kelly was convinced that what she had seen was an apparition of this previous pet.   Since this incident there have been numerous times when the cats have run past her as if being chased by something unseen. While this could just be down to animal behaviour, Kelly wonders if they are observing the black-and-white cat. On two occasions the cats have looked like they have been staring at something invisible walk to the foot of the staircase. She has then heard the stairs creaking like something walking up them.   At night Kelly closes her bedroom door to keep the cats out as otherwise they all climb up onto the bed and keep her awake. However, there have been a number of times when she has felt pressure similar to a cat sitting on her, or felt the pillow/mattress get depressed like there is a cat in the room. On one occasion she felt something jump onto her pillow from the window sill, and then jump down onto the floor. She even heard a thump when it hit the floor, but she was certain there were no cats in the room.   On 18 th  January 2026 she was taking a light nap. On this occasion one of the other cats was also curled up on the bed. Suddenly she felt a second cat climb up onto the side of the bed. She opened her eyes expecting to see one of the other two cats but there was nothing there. She then sensed what felt like a cat walk across the bed and jump off the other side.   Conclusions   Kelly has had an impressive amount of varied experiences. The visitations by Grey beings which Kelly has encountered on numerous occasions, including at a point in her life where she had not looked into the subject, confirm that she is has experienced contact. If the sighting of the glowing light which she observed with her ex-boyfriend was indeed a craft, it does not appear to have interacted directly with her in any way.   It is unknown whether the many paranormal incidents she has also witnessed at various locations are in some ways related or not, however the majority of experiencers do also report incidents of a paranormal nature.   It is interesting seeing how Kelly’s religious upbringing has reflected on her views about what has taken place throughout her life. While you may not personally agree that contact has any links at all with religion or the afterlife, there are still so many unanswered questions, so this remains a possibility.   I would like to thank Kelly for sharing the details and drawings of what has taken place. It is good to get her experiences down on official record, and I hope that she keeps in touch moving forward from this point.   Copyright Dave Hodrien 2026

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Ian Jones Release Date: 06/11/2025 The Sighting: Occurred on Sunday, 17th September 2023 Reporter: Paul Michael Tongs-Richardson Time of Day: Approximately 9pm The Place: Greenfields Road, Kingswinford, Birmingham, DY6 8EW Experience Details “It was about 9.00pm on a Sunday evening. I had just let my two dogs out and while I was waiting for them I noticed a pulsing light in the sky. At first I thought it was a drone or helicopter. I realised after about a minute it wasn't moving. There was no noise that I could hear coming from it but it was quite a distance away. As you look from my viewpoint in Kingswinford the light was in a north east direction. There is a lot of air traffic from Birmingham airport that go over our house and also light planes and helicopters from nearby Bobbington (Wolverhampton) airport. After watching it for a couple of minutes I thought 'I need to film this', grabbed my phone and managed to film 3 x 30 second videos. The light didn't move or fly off in any direction it just seemed to vanish in a few seconds. I would say the whole event was about ten minutes but its hard to say. I am sure that there is a reasonable explanation to the light. I do have an interest in UFO's and the paranormal, that's why its taken me a couple of years to come forward as I have always thought that people would think I am desperate for a sighting and would claim anything is a contact experience. I won't be upset if you have a rational explanation but it would be good to hear your view on the footage.” I asked Paul for some more details about what he had seen and he responded: Q1: When you saw it with your own eyes, did it look the same as in the video? Were there any differences at all in how it looked? "No difference at all as I remember. It was very odd, no noise at all. It was a really quiet Sunday evening. Like I stated I am familiar with the Birmingham airport traffic and it definitely wasn't a plane. At first I thought a drone but it seemed to high." Q2: If you extended your arm out in front of you was it as big as your thumbnail, for example, or a 5p coin, etc? "A 5p coin." Q3: What was it's approximate elevation in the sky - if vertically above you is 90 degrees, where was it? "From my standing if vertically above is 90 degrees I estimate it to be 70 degrees." The Video Footage Below are the three videos which Paul managed to film: Below is a cropped still of the orb: The videos show a distant, pulsating white blob. It is not possible to make out a shape behind the light. It is impossible to work out how far away it is and therefore also how big it might be. Location Information Kingswinford is a town of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley on the edge of the West Midlands. It is 21 miles (34km) north-west of Birmingham and 5 miles (8 km) west-southwest of central Dudley. It’s also about 8 miles(13km) south-south-east of Wolverhampton. Paul’s house is indicated by the large X-shape in the bottom left of the map below: He reports that he saw the light in the north-east direction, which would be looking roughly towards where the WHITE SUN symbol is positioned. Further on in that direction there is a large green open area. It includes Kingswinford Community Centre, the 2488 Kingswinford Squadron ATC (Air Training Corps) and a football pitch, surrounded by trees. The community centre is about 400m (about a quarter of a mile) away. It closes at 17.00 each day, so it is unlikely there would have been any activity at around 21.00 on that Sunday. I checked when the ATC has it’s meetings, which are only on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 19.30 to 21.30, which rules anything they might have been doing. Beyond that area, in the same direction but on the other side of the High Street (A4101), is King George VI Park, about 800m (about half a mile) away, which is also a large green open area. Himley Hall and Park is about 3miles (5km) away. In the far distance is Beacon Hill, which is 237m (780ft) high. There is a helicopter pad on Russell’s Hall Hospital roof, but that’s more to the east of where Paul reported seeing the light. Observation conditions for Sunday 17th September 2023, from about 20.30 to 21.30. Sunset was at 19.11 that day and the moon had dipped below the horizon before 20.00. Therefore, it was dark at the time of Paul’s sighting. There were no other particular astronomical events that night. The nearest weather stations, with historic weather data records available for Kingswinford, are Wolverhampton and Birmingham. Timeanddate, for Wolverhampton, has the following data about when Paul saw this light: The temperature at about 21.00 was 16*C. There had been light rain before about 19.00, which had ceased. At around 21.00 there was passing cloud, but not at low levels. Wind speed was 10-11 kph (6-7mph) from the south-east Weatherspark has more data for Birmingham about cloud conditions: Around 21.00 cloud cover up to 488m (1,600ft) was mostly clear, at 671m (2,200ft) it was partly cloudy and at 823m (2,700ft) it was mostly cloudy. Wind speed at 10m (32ft) was 4kph (2.5mph) and at 100m (330ft) was 6-7kph (4mph). Visibility was about 8-9km (over 5miles). Together, these readings agree that there was hardly any cloud cover at lower levels in the area and it was a calm night, with no strong winds and good visibility. Experience Analysis Aircraft have red and green and white pulsing lights and do not stay stationary in the sky. The closest large civilian airports are Birmingham Airport 18 miles (29km) to the east, East Midlands Airport is 42 miles (67km) to the north-east and Nottingham Airport 54 miles (86km) to the north-east. Each of these major airports is too far away to be linked to this sighting. The much smaller and nearer civilian airport is Wolverhampton Halfpenny Green Airport, which is in Bobbington, near Stourbridge, West Midlands. This is about 5 miles (8km) to the north-west of where Paul’s house is in Kingswinford, which it is in the wrong direction from where his sighting was. There are 4 flying schools, a helicopter operator/school, a microlight school and resident aircraft located there. In September, Wolverhampton Halfpenny Green Airport operates under summer hours: 0900 to 1800 GMT. Any flights outside these hours require Prior Permission (PPR) from Air Traffic Service (ATS), and that must be arranged during those normal hours. There is little activity outside the times when the airport is open – known as after-hours flying – and requires a special permit. So, these activities were not happening. The one possible exception is that the Police Helicopter may still operate at any time to the airfield. The closest military airports are RAF Cosford 12 miles to the north-west, RAF Shawbury 40 miles to the north-west, RAF Brize Norton 57 miles to the south-east and RAF Syerston 80 miles to the north-east. Each of these airports is too far away, and/or in the wrong direction, to be linked to this sighting. There are no other air defence radar sights, etc, nearby. Helicopters are noisy, even at a distance, especially in calm air conditions, so Paul would have expected to hear one. Also, they have green and red pulsing lights. Gliders don’t fly at night, have no lights and it wasn’t windy enough to keep one stationary for nearly 10 minutes. Balloons are not self-illuminating, with pulsing lights. It is difficult to see what type of event would include the sort of individual light described here. It didn’t look like a laser light. Inevitably, the possibility that it was a drone needs to be considered, because these are used a lot, for all sorts of reasons, legally by commercial organisations and hobbyists and illegally by some hobbyists and “bad/foreign actors”. Drones must not be flown within restricted airspace, such as near airports, military bases, prisons, royal palaces or nuclear facilities, without permission. For example, Wolverhampton Halfpenny Green Airport has a permanent Flight Restriction Zone (FRZ) around it as shown below: This zone applies primarily to drones and other small, unmanned vehicles (SUVs), but it reflects broader airspace protections around the airport. The FRZ around Wolverhampton Halfpenny Green Airport is defined as follows: Circular Zone: A 2 nautical mile (3.7 km) radius centred on the airfield, extending up to 2000 feet above ground level (AGL). Runway Protection Zone: A 5 km (2.7 nautical miles) long by 1 km (0.5 nautical miles) wide corridor along the extended centreline of each runway, also extending up to 2000 feet AGL. The FRZ is always active, regardless of time or day. Drone Operations within the FRZ, as noted by Wolverhampton Halfpenny Green Airport: You must obtain permission from the airport’s Air Traffic Control (ATC) or Flight Information Service Officer (FISO) to fly any drone within the FRZ. This includes all drones, regardless of weight, size, or purpose. Flying within the FRZ without permission is illegal under UK aviation law (CAP393) and may result in prosecution. Kingswinford is well-outside of the FRZ for it’s local airport. Given all the above information, it is not likely that a drone was associated with the nearest airport to Paul’s viewing point. However, outside of the FRZ could someone have been operating a drone? The weather conditions were good for someone flying drones that night. The basic Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) regulations for flying drones include: Night drone flights are permitted in the UK with no specific time-based prohibitions Visual line of sight must be maintained and no flying above 400ft. Drones must be equipped with lights visible from at least 3 miles (5km). It is mandatory to have a steady GREEN light. Avoid flying over people, or congested areas Commercial operators need explicit CAA authorization for night operations All standard drone restrictions and no-fly zones still apply during drone night flights In addition to these regulations, some drones use red or white flashing lights to help pilots distinguish front from back, particularly at night and during complex manoeuvres. White flashing lights are also commonly used to increase visibility to other airspace users, especially in low-light or congested environments, and both of those factors apply here. Visual Line of Sight is actually somewhere between 500m and 2km at night. Many night-time drone flights are suspected covert surveillance near sensitive sites like RAF bases and US airbases. That does not seem to apply here, because there are none locally. Some drones may be used by foreign actors for espionage or intelligence gathering over military and critical civil infrastructure. Not sure how likely that might be in this area – what critical civil infrastructure is there? Probably a lot! Civilian hobbyists and legal operators also contribute to night-time drone activity, sometimes causing misidentification and public alarm. This cannot be ruled out completely in this case. Drones can be fitted with cameras and it is a popular reason for flying them. I have not found any other local reports on that day, or for a few days before/after it. If it had been a larger object, seen by Paul from a long way off, it might have been seen by more people. If it was a smaller object, seen close up to Paul, there is less likelihood of anyone else seeing it, because it would be less noticeable. Other Sightings There was only one other UFO sighting I have discovered that was reported on the same date and around the same time - 17 September 2023 at around 8.45pm – a long way away in Birtley, Tyne and Wear. The report doesn’t include that it was a flashing white light, or how big it was. Conditions: Overcast night Description: A bright light was observed moving very fast beneath the cloud layer. The object was visible for about 20 seconds. It made no sound, and the witness stated it could not have been a fast jet. The light was lost behind tree cover, appearing slightly lower than 3-meter-high trees from the observer’s perspective. The witness noted this was the second time they had seen a similar object, with the first sighting occurring about a month earlier. Summary It was a small, flashing, white light at an indeterminate distance, but probably less than 2km (1.25miles) These are the most difficult to analyse, because there is no way to extract more details from the images on the videos. One point against it being a drone is that it should have had a steady, green light visible. The white, pulsing, light could have been located on the front of the drone, so that the pilot could see the front of the drone and control it’s direction of flight better. If that was the case and the drone was pointing towards Paul, perhaps the flashing white light was obscuring the green one? It hovered for around 10 minutes. Many drones have cameras fitted and are used to take pictures, or videos, of the ground below. This could need some slow manoeuvres, including hovering, to be carried out. Also, from Paul’s perspective the light could have been moving, slowly, in a straight line towards, or away from him, and it would have been hard to see that. There are plenty of open spaces in the direction Paul saw this light for someone to be flying a drone. It disappeared suddenly. Battery life in drones varies, but could be a factor here, especially as it was using a bright strobe light. It may have drained power and had to descend suddenly, or it was obscured by going behind a tree, or building, etc. Conclusion If it wasn’t a drone, then I don’t see how any other, rational explanation, could apply. So, it was most likely a drone, but it’s impossible to rule it out as an Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon (UAP). That’s the conclusion I have come to, based on the information available. If anyone has information about this sighting, please do contact BUFOG, because I’d be happy to revisit the case and update it. Copyright Ian Jones 2025

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 01/02/2026   In early January 2026 a lady named Pauline got in touch with BUFOG via our experience report form to inform us about a UFO she had both observed and recorded in March 2025. After examining the photographs and videos which she sent to me I got in touch via phone to go over the details of what took place.   Sighting Details   On the evening of 28 th  March 2025 Pauline had her sisters round to visit at her house on Main Road (B4084), Cropthorne, Worcestershire. It was a clear, still but cold evening. Due to the time of year the sun had already set.     At 8:08pm her sister Elaine stepped outside the back door of the house for a cigarette. She suddenly called out “Come and see this Pauline!”   Pauline went outside to join her. Elaine pointed up into the sky. In the distance high up in the sky was a stationary white glowing orb of light. They watched it for a short while before she called out her other sisters Jackie and Sue to come and see also.   Suddenly the orb moved a short distance across the sky before coming to a halt again! They continued to watch and it carried on in this fashion – hovering motionless a while before moving in a direction before stopping, while remaining roughly in the same area of the sky. Over time it seemed to get brighter and larger, potentially moving closer.   The witnesses headed over to the outside garden bar and grabbed a drink while continuing to watch the orb. After a short while Pauline decided to take some photographs and short pieces of video of it.   According to Pauline the object remained for about half an hour. After this time, it moved in the usual way but then seemed to vanish. It did not make a re-appearance.   Photographic & Video Analysis   Below is the first photograph Pauline took of the orb visible in the sky over the roof of the garden shed:   Here is the second photograph where she attempted to zoom in on the object:   Below are the two short videos Pauline took:     I have no reason to doubt that the photos and videos are real, but it is important to verify this, especially given how easy it now is to create fake photographs and video footage using CGI or AI. I asked Pauline to send me the photos and videos directly from her mobile phone to E-Mail. then utilised an online Exif metadata viewer in order to see the hidden metadata behind them. Below is the metadata extracted from the first photograph as an example: When images or videos are modified using editing software the metadata changes in lots of different ways. If an image/video is created using build software it's metadata will also be wildly different. While it is possible to modify metadata this is quite challenging to do accurately and most people are not even aware it exists. So it is possible to analyse the metadata to aid in confirming authenticity. In the above screen grabs I have highlighted certain metadata values. Picasa is the standard image storage software utilised by iPhones. Various values mention Apple Computer Inc, again pointing towards the image being genuinely shot on an iPhone. Similar metadata can also be seen in the other image and videos, and I am satisfied that they are real and un-tampered. As you can see the object just looks like a bright white point of light, most likely due to the distance. The different shades seen within it in the second zoomed photograph are an image artefact caused by the brightness of the light against the dark background. Sadly in the two short videos she took Pauline did not manage to capture any movement of the object, so we only have her testimony to go on regarding what it was doing throughout the sighting.   Sighting Analysis   There are numerous possible explanations for white orbs of light seen in the sky after dark. It could not have been a satellite as these move on a continuous straight path across the sky.   Pauline informed me that the object was situated to the South South East. Looking on the Stellarium application for the location, date and time in that direction and at the elevation on the video it can be seen that there are no bright stars/planets at that position:   Also, while the movements it performed were unfortunately not captured, Pauline testified to the fact that the object was occasionally moving, which rules out a star/planet as the explanation.   As the sighting lasted for an extensive period of time it is very unlikely to have been a white coloured LED balloon. Over that amount of time even in still conditions there would likely be noticeable drift, not the sudden darting movements observed.   Examining the video footage I do not believe it was a distant hovering helicopter. Even when far away it is usually possible to see the regular beat of the white strobe light, and this is not apparent from the video footage.   However, one explanation which cannot be fully ruled out is that the object was a distant drone with white lights on it. At distance these lights can bleed into one making it look like a singular glowing orb. The sudden manoeuvres described by Pauline certainly sound like movements a drone would be able to perform. That said, when I suggested this as a possibility, she did mention that her husband owns a drone and she has seen how this looks after dark at a distance, and says it does not look the same.   Without me being able to confirm the drone theory at present (unless the pilot actually gets in touch) the sighting will likely remain a mystery. I would like to thank Pauline for getting in touch and sending BUFOG the footage to include in this report.   Copyright Dave Hodrien 2026

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 24/04/2025 In March 2025 I was contacted by a man named Gary Freeman via the BUFOG website to inform us about a historical UFO/UAP sighting he and his wife at the time Suzanne had. This report covers what took place.   Sighting Details   On the evening of 10th October 1990 Gary and Suzanne drove to the NEC for a Billy Joel concert. After the show they walked back to their car and got back on the road to head for home, with Gary driving and Suzanne in the passenger seat. It was a mild and dry night. Gary cannot recall whether it was cloudy or not.   They began heading North West along the M6 motorway. At approximately 11.30pm they were between Junctions 8 and 9 close to the RAC rescue centre, RAC Bescot. Due to the time of night there was only very light traffic on the road.   Aerial map of the M6 indicating the position the witnesses were at Photograph of the M6 Gary was checking the left side mirror when suddenly through the passenger window he saw a brightly glowing white cigar-shaped object appear in the sky to the South West at an elevation of approximately 45 degrees. It reminded him of a fluorescent light tube. He pointed it out to Suzanne.   The object was stationary and positioned at a sharp angle, at roughly 10 o’clock position. It was hard to judge how far away it was, but it looked quite large in size, about 50% of the width of the window. They both stared at it while continuing to drive along the motorway.   Photograph of the sighting location in the direction the UFO was situated After about 10 seconds it suddenly began shrinking down to the size of a star, then disappeared. Neither of them could explain what they had just witnessed. They discussed what it could have been as they continued their drive home.   The following morning Gary mentioned the sighting to his work colleagues. However they did not seem to be surprised. Some girls in the office informed him that the BBC had reported on the morning radio multiple UFO sightings around the Birmingham area on the previous night. Gary is unsure whether the other objects reported by people looked the same as what he and Suzanne had seen.   Sighting Analysis   Due to the shape and apparent size of the object seen this is certainly an intriguing sighting. Due to the proximity of the sighting location to Birmingham International Airport (roughly 5 miles away) I asked Gary whether he felt it may have been an aircraft with its landing lights on. He does not believe this was the case because he has previously lived close to Manchester and Liverpool airports so is familiar with how planes look at a distance after dark. Aerial map showing the sighting location (A) and Birmingham International Airport (B) In addition to Gary’s familiarity with aircraft, there are other reasons for why it was unlikely to be a plane. If it was a plane, the sharp angle of the object in the sky means that it would have had to have been performing a turn. However it appeared stationary for the entire duration of the sighting. If it was turning in the sky, some movement would surely have been noticeable within the ten seconds it was observed for?   Also even though the bright landing lights of a plane can obscure other navigation lights at a distance, if it was plane it would have had to have been quite close to have taken up half the width of the passenger window in the sky. If it was close, other red and green lights or white strobe lights would have been visible to the witnesses.   Drawing indicating normal navigation lights of a passenger jet If it was not an aeroplane, what else could it have been? It was the wrong shape for a stationary helicopter, and once again other navigation lights would have been noticeable.   Even though it appeared to be within the atmosphere, we must consider objects out in orbit. Gary cannot recall whether it was a clear night or not. However it was too large and the wrong shape for a satellite moving towards them and catching the sun’s rays temporarily. Meteorites are only visible for a few seconds at most so cannot be the explanation. Nor could it have been the International Space Station as this was not in orbit until 1998.   A large lit inflatable would have remained visible in the sky. The sighting obviously occurred decades before drones were commercially available so this possibility can also be discounted.   With alternative explanations addressed, there remains the possibility that the object was a genuine advanced craft of possible non-human origin. I have investigated many cases of glowing cigar-shaped objects before. We will likely never know whether the other sightings reported by the BBC were of the same/similar objects, but this cannot be ruled out.   Copyright Dave Hodrien 2025

Unfortunately due to the heavy snowfall that occurred earlier this month we had to cancel the first planned meeting of 2026. However we're hoping lightning can't strike twice, and we should have better luck for our February meeting, set to take place on Thursday 5th February at 7.30pm. We will be joined for the first time by Andy Russell, a clinical psychotherapist who has got actively involved in a large London-based contact support group. He will be discussing some of the fascinating cases he has looked into as well as how they have shaped his views on the abduction phenomenon. See you at Hot Shots, 100 Crosswells Road, Oldbury, Birmingham B688HH.

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Year: 2018 Last Updated: 15/01/2026   Note: For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used In September 2018 I was contacted by a man who I shall name David. He wanted to discuss a number of interesting incidents he had experienced over the years. This report is the resulting documentation from that conversation.   Rectangular UFO Sighting   In 1990 when David was 10-11 years old he lived at Westwood in Peterborough. One day he was standing on a path in the open park situated between Westwood and Highlees Primary School which he attended at the time. David cannot remember whether it was a weekend, or whether it was a week day but school had ended. He just recalls that he was on his own.   Aerial map indicating Westwood (A) and Highlees Primary School (B) He happened to glance up into the sky and noticed a strange object. Directly overhead he saw a rectangular shaped yellow coloured object. It had a square shape at one end making it look similar to the shape of a van. The object looked quite flat, and about 500 feet up.   Photograph of Westwood park David estimates it was quite sizeable, about 150 feet across. It hovered motionless and silent in the air. He stood there and watched it for an extensive period of time.   At one point a lady walked past. David pointed it out to her saying “Look at that!”  She replied by saying “Yeah, what is that?”  However after clearly not identifying what it was she continued on her way once again leaving him alone. After a long while, at least half an hour after first spotting it, he got bored of looking at it so decided to walk away with it still present in the sky. A short while later when he checked for it he found it was no longer there.   This is quite a bizarre sighting due to the shape and colour of the object. It was clearly not an aeroplane, hand glider or parachute as it hovered still for an extensive period of time. It did not have the right appearance for a yellow-coloured helicopter, and he surely would have been able to hear the rotor blades. Drones were not available until decades later.   It seems like it was stationary for too long to have been a novelty inflatable. A novelty hot air balloon is a possibility, but I find it odd that neither David or the lady were able to identify it as such. Surely the basket would have been visible in the middle of the base. Another possibility is that it was much smaller than it appeared to be, and was in fact a tethered kite of some kind, being held aloft in a continuous air current.   Abduction Memories?   Around the same time period as the yellow UFO sighting, David recalls an unusual dream he had while at the dentist and under anaesthetic for an operation. While asleep he could feel and see “spider-like” figures standing around him. He looked down at the floor and it looked like glowing green squares. During the investigation David asked his mother about this incident. She informed him that she remembered him talking about seeing spiders.   While this is intriguing there is not much to link this to recollections of a previous abduction experience. It could just have easily been a vivid dream which he experienced while unconscious.   Channel Hopping   Back in the early 1990s David's family owned an old style television set which required manual pressing to change channels. In 1993 the TV set began to switch channels by itself on a near daily basis. David’s mother seemed convinced that it was the ghost of her father being mischievous.   While these events could have a paranormal explanation, it is also possible that the TV was just malfunctioning. David did not mention whether it continued to do this until they got rid of it or whether it occurred for a period of time and then noticeably stopped.   Scissors   One day when David was between 14-16 years old there were some scissors left on the table in the living room. For an unknown reason he picked them up, even though he had no intention of using them. He just felt compelled to do so.   At the time he was watching Prisoner Cell Block H on television. About 10 minutes after he had picked up the scissors there was a scene in the episode where the camera zoomed in to someone picking up a pair of scissors! David wondered if he had predicted this scene in his mind and this is why he had picked them up previously.   Although this is not out of the question, as sometimes experiencers do have precognitive visions or premonitions of seemingly mundane things, it is possible that this was just a coincidence. He did not see a vision of the scene in his mind, he merely picked up the scissors and then something similar happened on the TV.   Moving Ornament   In 1996/97 David moved to a flat on Axiom Avenue with his mother and sister.   Aerial map of Axiom Avenue By now they had a new television set (maybe fed up of the previous one changing channels). On top of this they had an ornament of the cartoon dog Snoopy in a lying down position.   Example Snoopy ornament (possibly the same type)   One day he was watching TV when the ornament suddenly flew off the top of the TV towards him. It seemed like it had been forcibly thrown rather than just fallen off due to vibrations from the TV speaker. He put the ornament back up.   However, from this point onward it began to happen on other occasions, sometimes multiple times in a single day, and sometimes when his mother or sister were also present. The ornament always came forward across the room, never away or off to one side.   The incidents were so bizarre and un-settling that in the end the family decided to get rid of it. David did not think to try setting up a camera to capture it happening on video.   Shadowy Figures   David informed me that both his mother and sister had experiences in which a dark figure tried to grab and pull them out of bed in the middle of the night, although he provided no further information on these particular incidents.   The fact that they were grabbed implies that this may have been visitations by beings rather than ghostly entities, although malevolent spirits cannot be ruled out of course.   Precognitive Visions   David wasn’t the only one to apparently see things in advance of them happening. He informed me of numerous incidents where his mother had claimed to have had precognitive visions of certain events. These events include an earthquake which occurred in the vicinity, the World Trade Center disaster, and a bike accident. He did not provide details on how far in advance of these incidents she had these visions.   Flying Triangle   Back in 1998 David used to go and play football at Castor Lodge AstroTurf football pitch on Splash Lane every Tuesday evening between 9-10pm. This was a substantial distance from home but he used to enjoy the weekly walk. One Tuesday he was on his way to the location. It was approximately 8pm and a clear evening.   Aerial map of Castor Lodge football pitch As he began to walk North along Cranford Drive, opposite the T-junction with Axiom Avenue, he heard what he initially thought an aeroplane to the North East.   Aerial map of Cranford Drive indicating the position of the witness He looked ahead and off to his right. Behind the two storey house situated on the T-Junction he could see a black triangular shaped object, partially hidden by the roof of the building. The sound he had heard initially had now stopped. It hovered motionless in the air. David thought to himself “What is that? How come it’s not flying past?”   Photograph from Cranford Drive of the house which was partially blocking the view of the UFO After 30 seconds it started moving and emerged over the roof of the house. It was a solid black triangular shaped craft with a small white light at the base of each corner, and a red circle in the centre of the base. This circle had an unusual look to it, almost like it was made of flowing liquid. The craft was only about 40 feet off the ground. It was at least as big as a large truck, possibly about 30 feet across. It approached until it was over Cranford Road ahead of him and then halted. It then remained in this position for around 5 minutes.   David looked up at it diagonally fascinated by it. It almost felt like time had stood still. He would have expected vehicles to drive on past, but does not recall seeing any. Sadly he had no camera on him to attempt to photograph or video it.   After this time the craft suddenly shot away to the East extremely rapidly out of sight. There was no slow build up of speed and no shockwave or sound when it departed.   Shocked and excited, David wanted to tell someone about what he had just seen. There were no other pedestrains in the vicinity at the time. He decided to run South, East along Atherstone Avenue, then North along Cottersmore Close and enter The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints, which he attended at the time (The church is now situated on Cumberland Avenue).   Aerial map showing the route the witness ran to where The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints used to be situated (B) When he entered the church there was a boy there, roughly 10-11 years old. The boy looked at him with a funny expression and said “You’ve seen it too haven’t you?” He asked the boy what he meant. The boy claimed to have also seen the same craft hovering directly over his head before entering he church. He said that he was scared it was going to take him. His mother, who was also there at church, had apparently not seen it, and had tried to convince him that it was not alien in origin.   After chatting with the boy David left the church and walked to Castor Lane Care Home Country Court for football. He arrived about 9pm. He informed some of the other players about what he had seen but they did not believe him and dismissed the incident.   Aerial map indicating where The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints used to be situated (A) and Castor Lane Care Home Country Court football pitch (B) Later on that evening he got banned from attending football there again by the organizers, who claimed he had insulted the other player’s religious beliefs by claiming to see a UFO. David says this was very unfair because at no point did he claim that what he saw was alien, he had just told them about what it looked like and how it moved.   Assault Premonition   One day in 2008 David was out in the town when he saw a police officer speaking with a man on a bike. For some reason he suddenly had the feeling that the police officer’s life was in danger. He had no idea where this feeling came from as the man did not look threatening in any way. He did not warn the officer because he had no evidence to suggest that the man he was speaking with was in any way dangerous.   About 20 minutes later he was walking past the same area. He saw the police officer restraining the other man on the floor. He had not seen what took place, but clearly something bad had gone on to provoke such a reaction.   Unexplained Sound   By 2017 David had moved to Blackpool. One day he heard a vibration-like sound while upstairs in his flat. It sounded like it was coming from an electrical socket out on the landing, but when he went to check he found that it was actually coming from outside. He exited the flat and could hear that the noise was emanating from a disposed wooden cabinet.   As he walked towards it the sound immediately ceased. He opened up the cabinet but there was nothing inside which could have accounted for the sound.   While experiencers do sometimes hear strange sounds which can be related to contact or paranormal in nature, it is just as likely that this sound was coming from elsewhere and just echoing in a way which made it sound like it was coming from the cabinet.   Conclusions   David has had some impressive UFO sightings, especially the Flying Triangle he saw back in 1998 He has also experienced a number of other things which can sometimes be related to contact, such as the paranormal activity at his house in Peterborough, and possible premonitions, he has not had any confirmed visitations or abductions. It is possible that the strange dream he had at the dentist was contact-related, but there is no definite link, such as the presence of recognisable beings seen in other cases.   Therefore, it cannot be confirmed whether he has experienced contact up until this point or not. It is however good to get these fascinating incidents down on record.   Copyright Dave Hodrien 2026

Due to expected heavy snowfall later on, this evening's BUFOG meeting has now unfortunately been cancelled. Richard Freeman's planned dragon talk will be rescheduled to later in 2026. Apologies for the late notice.

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Year: 2020 Last Updated: 29/10/2025   Steve Edwards is an experiencer with a military background who has served in the Armed Forces. He first got in touch with BUFOG in June 2020 to discuss a number of varied experiences which had occurred throughout his life. This case report documents these experiences and my analysis of them.   Spinning From The Sky Back in 1988 when he was 9 years old Steve lived with his family on Bradmoor Road, Bromborough, Liverpool.   Aerial map of Bradmoor Road One night between 10-11pm he stepped outside into the back garden to look up at the stars. It was a very pleasant, still and clear night. He immediately noticed a strange sound coming from the sky directly overhead.   It sounded like a metallic whirring noise, very different to the rotor blades of a helicopter or jet engine. He stared up into the sky but could not see anything. After about 20-30 seconds the sound suddenly became quieter like whatever it was coming from had moved further away.   Steve continued to stand staring up at the sky. Roughly 20-30 seconds later the sound became loud again. It began repeating this pattern, going quiet and then getting louder.   After listening to the noise for several minutes Steve decided to call his mother through the open back door of the house saying “Come outside and listen!” . She joined him outside the back door. At first she could not hear the sound but after listening a while she did. At this point she became nervous of it and said “Come on, get in, get in”   Steve agreed with her request and they both headed inside. He has no idea how long the sound continued for, but never heard it again while at the property.   This is an intriguing incident. Even though Steve was only a child at the time, the fact he later served in the armed forces means he is familiar with the sounds normal aircraft and helicopters make. If it was such a noise he would have realised this later on in his life, but it still continues to mystify him.   It was a clear night so there were no clouds for any aerial object to hide behind. Steve says it certainly sounded like it was overhead some of the time rather than echoing from elsewhere. However, it does sound like he was close to the back door of the house meaning his view of the sky could have been partially blocked by the house.   Maybe it was hidden just out of sight. This incident occurred decades before drones were commercially available. But perhaps it was a remote controlled model of some kind. Of course there is the possibility that the noise truly was coming from an advanced craft of some kind, one which was invisible to the naked eye.   Stairs   The following year after hearing the strange sound in the sky, Steve began to get a recurring dream about being dragged up the stairs by an unseen force. This would happen quite regularly, sometimes multiple nights in a row.   In the dream he found himself on his own standing in the kitchen of his house. He would look through the open doorway of the kitchen at the staircase. At the top of the stairs he would see a dark mass of indeterminate shape. He would feel a force coming from this mass pulling him towards it. He would try to resist but it was difficult to walk away from it, almost like walking through treacle.   Sometimes he would manage to fight against it and enter the living room. At this moment the dream would end. On other occasions the force would be too strong and would drag him up the stairs. As he was dragged he would hear his grandfather (who lived with him at the time) shouting out for help. He would look up into the blackness expecting to see something waiting for him but there was never anything visible.   He would then wake up terrified and on his front, actively pushing up away from the pillow. Sometimes after waking he would call out to his mother, or get up and then spend the rest of the night in her bed. Steve says that in total he thinks he had this dream about 50 times over the next two years before it finally ceased around age 11.   While this could have been nothing more than a vivid recurring nightmare, it is interesting that it involved him being pulled somewhere against his will. There is the possibility that this dream was contact-related potentially brought on by recollections of one or more abduction experiences, although there is nothing directly linking it with contact.   Cloaked Figure   In 1999 Steve served a six month tour in Kosovo. During this tour he was unfortunately wounded and sustained injuries. He was treated for these injuries in the Duchess of Kent Military Hospital on Horne Road, Catterick Garrison, North Yorkshire (The hospital is no longer in use).   Historic photograph of Duchess Of Kent Military Hospital One night in 2000 while he was recovering in the hospital something disturbing occurred which literally changed his life. The ward he was on was comprised of one long corridor with 5/6 rooms on one side and the ward office and toilet/shower room on the other. According to Steve his bed was in the far left of one of the rooms.   About 11pm Steve went to his room to lie down on the bed out of boredom. He did not feel particularly tired so wasn’t planning on sleeping. He lay on it in such a manner that he was on his back with pillows propping him up at around 30 degrees. The room lights were off due to the time of night. Only the emergency lights were left on, making it able to distinguish objects at the other side of the room.   After a couple of seconds of lying down he suddenly became aware of a tall figure leaning over him. It was between 7-8 feet in height and was wearing a hooded black cloak which covered its entire body. No facial features were visible. The figure had manifested in a way he had never experienced before, it was just not there one moment, there the next.   At the same time, he realised he could not move apart from his eyes. The figure was looking directly down at his torso, leaning awkwardly from the base of its back with its arms by its side. After a few seconds there was a bright flash of light in his mind and he immediately lost the ability to see. Within the flash was an image of some large and pale coloured arms. On one of the arms was a a tattoo-like printing of a rod/staff with a snake wrapped around it in a clockwise direction.   After the image disappeared Steve found that he could move again and the entity was nowhere to be seen. He made a conscious decision not to tell anybody because of the nature of where he was, he thought it could frighten the other patients or nurses.   Aerial map of the site where Duchess of Kent military hospital used to be situated The following night at around 11pm he went for a shower. On leaving the shower room he could see down the corridor a small group of people outside his room. As he approached the group he realised it was comprised of a few nurses and another soldier that was staying in the same room as him. He immediately noticed that the soldier was in a severe state of shock – he had dilated pupils, pale skin and trembling hands. He also noticed another nurse inside the room, sweeping around with a red filter torch.   The other soldier went on to say that while Steve had been in the shower he had witnessed a long cloaked and hooded entity leaning over his empty bed! Steve realised that the nurse with the torch must have been doing a sweep of the room attempting to look for it.   Steve was shocked upon hearing what the other soldier said. He had not told him or anyone else about what had happened on the previous night. The fact that this other patient had also seen the same entity cemented it as a real experience rather than just something he had imagined.   This is a fascinating and un-nerving account. The symbol Steve saw on one of the pale arms in his vision sounded reminiscent of the “Rod of Asclepius”, the staff of the ancient Greek God Asclepius, a deity of medicine and healing:   This is intriguing considering the location he was in at the time. Was this merely a coincidence, or was it something Steve was previously aware of forming part of the vision for one reason or another?   If it wasn’t for the follow on experience that the other soldier appeared to have had I would have put Steve’s initial experience down to sleep paralysis. During this state it is common for people to see shadowy figures in their vicinity which sometimes lean over them or sometimes even press down on them. It is believed by many that this is a product of the mind trying to explain the reason for why it is not possible to move.   However, the fact that the other patient saw the same entity once again leaning over Steve’s bed as it had done previously seems to suggest that it was not caused by sleep paralysis. This could well have been a repeated visitation by a being. Perhaps on the second occasion it was expecting to find Steve there again hence why it was leaning over the empty bed. I have dealt with quite a number of cases where ETs have been seen to wear dark hooded cloaks, and it is also common that people are paralyzed during contact experiences.   Glowing Orbs   Within weeks of the repeated sighting of the cloaked figure, Steve, alongside his step-father, would have a close encounter with several UFOs.   On the evening of the sighting Steve stepped outside the back door of his step-father’s house. There was sporadic clouds in the sky but it was quite pleasant. Looking down the back garden he noticed a luminous blue glowing orb. It was hovering completely still in the air.   Steve stared at it a short while before calling his step-father to come and take a look. He had no camera on him at the time, and did not think about asking his step-father to bring one with him. They both continued to watch the orb. Then suddenly it shot across the sky extremely rapidly and appeared to enter a cloud. It did not reappear on the other side.   A number of seconds went by and then a second similar orb came into view where the first one had initially been seen. It was almost like time had reversed and it was the same scene repeating a second time.   The second orb again began moving towards the cloud. But this time it performed a right angle turn, and approached until it was right over their heads before halting! At this point Steve’s step-father became frightened of what was taking place and went back inside the house. Steve was less concerned so remained outside.   The second orb moved away out of sight. After a short while a third orb also appeared travelling on a separate flight path. A minute later, after it too had departed, Steve decided to head back in.   This is an intriguing sighting. They were clearly not normal aircraft due to the manoeuvres observed by the two witnesses. The incident occurred over a decade before drones were available. Due to the colour of the orbs it is unlikely they were sky lanterns, these tend to be an amber orange. However, I do wonder if the orbs were three blue LED balloons (or other lit inflatables) drifting on conflicting air currents. These could have caused them to hover still, move across the sky or make sudden changes in direction.   Conclusions   Steve has had some interesting experiences. Although some of them could be put down to dreams or mis-identification of mundane things, his experience in the hospital with the cloaked being and subsequent return visit witnessed by someone else (who I am sadly unable to speak with) is truly fascinating.   The closeness of the sighting of the orbs and the visitations at the hospital is also worth considering. Was this merely coincidence or were the two experiences linked in some way? We will unlikely ever find out for certain.   Copyright Dave Hodrien 2025

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 28/10/2025   Note: For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used and certain location details have been omitted   In July 2025, “Simon” got in touch with Birmingham UFO Group requesting guidance regarding hypnotic regression following an unexplained incident that occurred on 31st October 2024.   The event involved he and his wife “Emma”, and took place during their return journey from St Albans to their home near Redbourn. Following his initial contact, I obtained in-depth statements from both witnesses. Their consistent testimonies, supported by verified timestamps, provided a clear foundation from which the case could be examined in greater depth.   At first, the case appeared to involve a simple navigational anomaly. However, further investigation revealed a complex sequence of spatial and temporal irregularities with no immediately apparent conventional explanation.   Incident Details   On the evening of 31st October 2024, Simon and Emma travelled to The White Hart Hotel, located on Holywell Hill, St Albans, to meet friends’ “Jerry” and “Fiona” for a meal followed by a Halloween ghost tour of the hotel. The White Hart is reputedly haunted, but it was purely a social outing.   Aerial map of The White Hart Photograph of The White Hart Simon parked the car in a nearby private car park further just off of Holywell Hill and walked to meet their friends at approximately 6:15pm. The evening was clear and calm.   After dining and completing the ghost tour, the group left The White Hart at approximately 8:30pm. Simon was confident of this time because he had taken a photograph at the entrance, which recorded the exact timestamp on his phone. For privacy reasons, this image is not included in the report, although it has been verified.   They then walked roughly four minutes to The Snug, a nearby bar on French Row.   Aerial map indicating the walk from The White Hart to The Snug Photograph of The Snug It was quiet in there so they were able to get served quite fast. They stayed for one drink before departing at around 9:20pm. Simon and Emma then walked back to their car through Vintry Garden. Up to this point, the evening was entirely ordinary. Neither witness reported excessive alcohol consumption or any unusual sensations before beginning their drive home.   Aerial map indicating the walk from The Snug to where the car was parked At approximately 9:30pm, Simon and Emma left St Albans, driving North-North West along Redbourn Road (A5183). Simon was driving; Emma sat in the front passenger seat. They passed several land marks on their journey home including a Shell petrol station on the left-hand side of the road.   Aerial map indicating the journey from St Albans to the petrol station   Aerial map of the petrol station As they passed the station, Simon noticed a light off to the right, glimpsed peripherally. At the same moment, Emma remarked on the petrol station’s newly installed electric vehicle charging points, brightly illuminated in neon blue.   Photograph of the petrol station with the recharge points visible at the back Her comment carried particular context: in previous years, the couple had leased an electric car for a period of several years but never installed a home charging point. Charging had always been inconvenient, relying on public facilities nearby. Seeing the new chargers, Emma expressed surprise and mild frustration that such facilities had only recently appeared.   Distracted by her comment, Simon looked left toward the chargers. When he looked forward again, the light on the right was no longer visible. However, he did notice a car approaching the roundabout ahead, approximately one hundred yards in front, travelling from the direction he was about to head towards.   Shortly afterwards, Simon turned right at the roundabout on the south-eastern edge of Redbourn to continue north-east along Redbourn Road. Within seconds, he experienced a sudden and peculiar sensation, almost like a brief blackout or momentary lapse, as if his head had been sharply moved side to side. Although brief, it was strong enough to leave him unsettled. He made no comment to Emma but found it distinctly unusual.   Aerial map showing the position on Redbourn Road where Simon felt the odd sensation   Photograph of this location on Redbourn Road As they continued along the road at an estimated speed of around 45mph, they passed a side turning on the left. Emma curiously asked what was down there. Simon replied that it was “probably something to do with British Telecom,” noting a BT van parked nearby. (This van appears to be there quite often as it has been captured on Google Street View) Aerial map of the side turn on Redbourn Road Photograph of the side turn with parked BT van visible Simon continued driving along the road. The car was now roughly half way between where the side turning had been and where the next roundabout was situated. Aerial map indicating the position on Redbourn Road where the car now was Photograph of the location at this point of the journey Moments later, they realised something was wrong. Without warning, they were no longer on Redbourn Road, but on a narrower, unfamiliar lane. Startled, Simon slowed the car and said “I don’t know where we are!”   His vision became blurred and distorted. I asked Simon what this was like, to which he responded “It was like I had two pieces of glass in front of me, one on each side going into a point with water running down the outside making everything sort of moving and blurry.”     Despite this, he remained in control of the vehicle. He observed a tall, neatly trimmed laurel hedge on the left, approximately 7-8 feet high, and on the right, an uncut hedgerow separating the road from what appeared to be a field, followed by a line of trees. Among these, he noticed a young, leafless tree before the treeline thickened beyond it.   As Simon drove forward, he saw the headlights of an approaching vehicle emerging from a right-hand bend ahead. It was then that he became aware of how narrow the road was and how fast he was travelling, estimating his speed now to be around 30-35 mph. The lights were extremely bright, obscuring the body of the vehicle and intensifying the sense of confinement within the lane. Simon instinctively moved the car as far left as he safely could to avoid a collision, fighting against the car’s lane-keeping assist system, which resisted the manoeuvre.   The oncoming vehicle passed extremely close, causing Simon to flinch. Almost immediately afterwards, their car entered a sharp right-hand bend. With little time to react, Simon focused entirely on keeping control, using the curb as a visual guide to steer safely through the turn. He later recalled that the curb appeared raised and newly finished, its clean edge standing out in the headlights as he guided the car around the bend.   Exiting the right-hand bend, the road then turned sharply left, leading into a wooded area. Here, the atmosphere changed noticeably. The road was enclosed by dense trees on both sides, and Simon described the surroundings as “quiet and peaceful,” a striking contrast to the confusion and intensity moments earlier. This wooded stretch continued briefly before ending at a T-junction. Still uncertain of their location, he turned left onto a wider road.   After travelling a short distance, he noticed a directional road layout sign on the left-hand side. The sign displayed several local destinations, including Redbourn, but the first name that caught his attention was Southdown. It was a place he had never heard of before, and the unfamiliarity only deepened his sense of confusion. In that moment, his focus fixed on the one name that made no sense to him, and as a result, he failed to register the others, including Redbourn, as they drove past.   They then reached a roundabout and came to a stop, noting that no vehicles were behind them. It was at this point that Emma saw the Redbourn on another sign and pointed it out to Simon.   Realising then where they were and how far they had somehow travelled, Simon exclaimed, “How the fuck have we ended up here?”   Simon recognised the junction from previous journeys to and from Harpenden train station, but it was not a route he used regularly, nor was the name Southdown familiar to him. Although he had passed that particular sign a couple of times in the past, it had never registered as a familiar landmark.   Photograph of the road sign mentioning Southdown Photograph of the roundabout with the sign for Redbourn Aerial map of the roundabout on St Albans Road and direction of approach What confused him most was the direction from which they had arrived. They had not even reached the roundabout on Redbourn Road before the incident occurred. Had they done so, they would have continued straight ahead along it towards Junction 9 of the M1. If, by mistake, they had turned right at that roundabout instead, they would have later approached St Albans Road roundabout from the West. However, they actually arrived from the South, a direction that made no logical sense given their last known position.   Aerial map showing where the car had previously been (A) and where it now was (B) At this position they should have logically taken the first exit towards Redbourn to get back on track and complete their journey. However instead of this Emma said “Let’s go straight over through Harpenden .” (This was a route she had driven in the past so was not particularly unusual). Simon went along with this suggestion, even though he was well aware that this alternative route would add around 6 minutes onto the remaining journey time.   When they arrived home they discussed what had taken place. Like him, Emma could remember the tall laurel hedge, the lamp-post and the left turn at the T-Junction onto St Albans Road.   In the morning Simon was still puzzled by what had happened the night before. He wanted to find out precisely what time they had returned home, so decided to check the CCTV footage from their security camera. He found out that they had arrived home at 10:22pm.   He was certain that they had set off from the car park in St Albans around 9.30pm. He had driven the route home many times before and knew that the journey time in low traffic conditions was 21 minutes. Even with the alternative route home adding approximately 6 minutes to the time they should have been back home around 9.57pm. There was 25 minutes of missing time he could not account for.   Around mid-day Simon tried to contact Jerry via phone to discuss what had happened but he did not pick up. A minute later he received a Whatsapp message from him explaining that he could not chat because he was in a meeting. He asked Simon if he was ok. In response to this Simon briefly explained what had taken place. Below is a screen grab of these messages which Simon provided (censored for anonymity):   Simon could not get the incident out of his mind. A few days later he visited the housing estate to the West of St Albans Road which he and Emma both felt they emerged from. Both he and Emma were convinced that they had turned left onto St Albans Road, which meant that there was only a limited number of roads which they could have “appeared” on. Aerial map indicating the four closest T-Junctions South of the roundabout on the Western side of St Albans Road – West Common (A), West Common Way (B), Maple Cottages (C) and Beesonend Lane (D) He drove around various roads attempting to find the precise position where this had happened, starting with West Common. Driving along the Eastern section of the road, he initially felt sure he had found the right place. The straight section leading up to the T-Junction was heavily wooded on both sides, exactly how he remembered:   The position of this road also made sense, as it was the closest road on the Western side of St Albans Road to the roundabout, and he recalled only driving a short distance between exiting the road and reaching it. However, when he drove further along West Common various things started to look incorrect. He found that the road split into two short cul-de-sacs:   Initially he took a right, drove along the Northern road and turned the car around at the end of it to see if it was the location he recollected. But it became clear that this had an area of grass to the left of it, and housing to the right, completely different to what he remembered:   Also there was no curve to the right, only a curve to the left marked with short wooden posts, which he had no recollection of: Simon felt certain this was not the road the car had “appeared” on. He then drove along the other Western cul-de-sac and again turned around. This looked a little closer to what he remembered from the night. There was a curve to the right and then another back to the left. There were also sections of neatly trimmed hedges to the left (especially near the first curve). However, to the right were more trimmed hedges, not the rural hedgerow he remembered seeing:   The first curve to the right was far less sharp than he remembered it being, and there was no old fashioned lamp-post visible ahead of him as he reached it:   The second curve to the left was again very shallow. It had no raised curb. There was an old fashioned lamp-post visible off to the right here, but it was a short decorative one situated in an area of cut grass, rather than the full sized one he remembered seeing:   As mentioned, the approach to the T-Junction did look correct, with a narrow width and trees on either side:   He then checked the next road further South, West Common Way. Driving along this he did see a tall laurel hedge on the right (which would have been his left if the car was facing the other way of course). But there were also a couple of large stone pillars which he did not recall seeing, and speed bumps on the road, which he again had no recollection of (and would surely have felt when driving over):   There were also no major curves in the main road, just other T-Junctions leading to side roads. Feeling that this was incorrect, he exited the road and continued driving South along St Albans Road. After a more significant distance he came across a third cul-de-sac, Maple Cottages. He checked this but again this did not feel right. There was only a single curve, lots of housing and white fencing:   The last road he decided to check was Beeson End Lane. Simon did not think he had driven that far along St Albans Road before reaching the island, but checked it anyway, again driving along it a short while before turning around for a comparison against his memories.   The road did have a tall hedge on the left, and a lower hedge with farmer’s field beyond it on the right. However, the hedge on the left was not a neatly trimmed laurel hedge:   It also had two curves to the right and then back to the left. But, similar to West Common, the bends in the road had no straight section between them, they just went from one directly into the other. And in front of the first bend was a house behind a tall fence, not an old fashioned lamp-post:   Before reaching St Albans Road there was an additional T-Junction with Burywick, which he had no recollection of:   In addition to the above points, the area close to the T-Junction with St Albans Road was not heavily wooded:   Confused at his lack of success in finding the precise position, Simon next visited the Shell garage and spoke to the man at the counter, informing him that he had passed the station several days before. He asked to check the garage’s CCTV to see if he could find out the precise time he had driven past it. However, the man refused to let him check the footage, possibly suspicious that he was up to no good.   On 11 th  November Simon finally received a response from Jerry via Whatsapp stating that he would give him a call:   The following morning after not hearing from Jerry, Simon prompted him with another message:   Late afternoon on 13 th  November Jerry got back to Simon explaining that he was in hospital waiting for a surgeon and was currently drugged up for an operation: The following morning Simon responded in a jovial manner, prompting Jerry to speak with Fiona and ask her to confirm what time he and Emma left St Albans on 31 st October. Jerry informed him he would ask her and contact him back later:   Early in the evening Jerry sent Simon another message stating the time that he believed they had departed from St Albans (presumably after consulting with Fiona). Simon went over what took place again. Jerry suggested that his drink may have been spiked. It should be noted that this was a joke, and not an actual proposal for what may have taken place. As you can see from Simon's response he took it as intended:   In the following weeks he considered going for hypnotic regression to see if anything else took place that he could not currently remember. He reached out to two contacts, but one was too far away, and the other did not respond.   Ever since then this bizarre incident has weighed on Simon’s mind, which in the end prompted him to get in touch with BUFOG.   Emma’s Testimony   In mid-October 2025 I was able to speak directly with Emma via phone about what she recollects happening on the drive home from St Albans:   “I want to start by saying that I’m not really into the subject that much. But it was a bit weird. We left St Albans and headed for home. The first thing I clearly remember was loads of charging positions in this petrol station because we had an electric car. I said to Simon ‘Oh god, they’ve got loads of charging points now, but we haven’t got the car anymore!   We went round a roundabout and further along passed a side turn. I said ‘I’ve never noticed that before.’ Simon said ‘I think it’s a BT thing’ as there was a BT van parked there.   After that I wasn’t really paying attention. Next thing I know was seeing some lights and Simon holding the steering wheel and saying ‘Fucking hell!’ Next thing I remember really is seeing a light in the middle of a triangle of grass, and another light coming from a house on the right, and a long laurel hedge. We came out and turned left.   At that point we didn’t know where we were. Simon said ‘There’s a sign saying Southdown, I’ve never heard of that before.’ We got to the roundabout. I said ‘There’s Redbourn down there’. We couldn’t work out how we’d got there. It was just strange, really weird. It’s not like we haven’t lived around the area, we have been here a long time. It’s played on Simon’s mind ever since.   I did think it was weird. It was strange as we would have come up that road had we gone right. It was bizarre. We were facing the opposite direction to where we should have been facing. The weird thing is I would have said we’re going the wrong way. There’s no reason we would have gone onto that estate.”   As you can see, Emma’s testimony closely matches what Simon previously stated.   Incident Analysis   This is an absolutely fascinating series of events, some of which cannot be easily explained in mundane terms. It is important to break down what took place and analyse each aspect.   The first unusual thing which occurred that night is the light which Simon saw out of the corner of his eye. Obviously he did not look round at it, and is not even sure whether it was low down or up in the sky, so in itself is not particularly impressive, but there is the possibility that it was related to what would happen soon afterwards. Emma’s testimony backs up the fact that she distracted him by mentioning the electric points at the petrol station.   Next is the odd sensation which Simon felt less than a minute later after exiting the island. It is clear from Emma’s statement that she did not feel this sensation, it was something only Simon felt. This could be put down to a medical explanation rather than something affecting him from outside, for example a brief moment of faintness. However, if this is what it was, it should be noted that Simon confirmed he has never felt anything similar to it, either before or since.   The sudden shift in position of the vehicle is of course one of the hardest aspects to explain. This was clearly not just a case of Simon getting lost, because he was aware of the route home, it was a route they had driven numerous times before. Emma’s testimony backs this up and confirms that it seemed to be a sudden jump, on one road one moment and elsewhere the next.   At present neither I nor the witnesses have managed to locate a definite position where the car “re-appeared” due to differences between what they recollect and the actual roads present in the area. This is something which continues to frustrate Simon. Logically it must have been one of the roads on the Western side of St Albans Road, as both of them recall turning left at the T-Junction onto this road.   During the investigation he drove back out to the housing estate on numerous occasions, even contacting me via video call while out there. Yet despite looking around the vicinity on both sides of St Albans Road he was still unable to locate a precise spot that appeared correct.   Below is a drawing he provided showing his recollection of the route he drove after “re-appearing”, including the road layout, on-coming vehicle and position he recalls the lamp-post being situated:   Emma’s memories of the road layout prior to St Albans Road seem less clear, probably due to the darkness and panic of the situation, and the fact that she was a passenger in the car not the driver. However, like Simon, she recollects seeing a long laurel hedge. She also recalls seeing the lamp-post, but unlike Simon she remembers it being in the middle of a triangle of grass.   The fact that they both recall seeing the old fashioned lamp-post, and the fact that the only road which has such a light is West Common, certainly implies that this was the road they “re-appeared” on. Sections of West Common do indeed have laurel hedges. The lamp-post really is in a triangle of grass, just as Emma recollects. However, the difference in the actual road layout to what Simon remembers driving along is puzzling. After studying his drawing and the layout of the housing estate on Google Maps I initially thought I had worked this anomaly out. On Google Maps it appears that there is a road linking West Common with West Common Way:   However, this is not the case. It is actually two short dead end sections of road, separated by a thin pedestrian path through some trees, as you can see in the below photograph taken from West Common:   I wondered if the car had “re-appeared” at the Western end of West Common facing East, Simon had driven along it, turned right around the initial bend, but then instead of turning back to the left he had driven straight on. It was dark, he was confused as to what was happening and also his vision may still have been blurry at this point, so maybe he did not notice that the road had come to an end and had continued along the path.   If so, he could then have ended up joining the fork of West Common Way, would have turned left here driven along until he reached the T-Junction with St Albans Road, and finally turned left onto it. Below is a map indicating this proposed route:   If you compare this to a tilted version of Simon’s hand drawn map the similarity in the layout of the route is clear:   However, I soon realised that there was one glaring issue with this theory. At a certain point along the path I discovered that there is a wooden post, and the gap at this position along the path is clearly too narrow for a car to pass through without crashing into it. In the below photograph the post and available width of the gap can clearly be made out:   The footmark on the Google Maps image indicates that it was taken in April 2023: Simon also confirmed that the post is still there today when I chatted with him via video call. This means that the post must have been there at the time of the incident (unless you assume it was temporarily removed and then put back, which seems unlikely).   On top of this, when I went over this theory with Simon he felt that he would surely have seen the lights from the large house after making the left turn. Although it was dark, it was not very late at night, so it’s likely they would have had some lights on, yet he does not recall seeing any at that position: While this could just be put down to him paying particular attention to the left turn (as he previously indicated), the presence of the wooden post clearly makes this route impossible.   With this particular route dismissed, the most likely explanation is that the car "re-appeared" at the Western end of West Common, Simon drove the car along the length of it until reaching the T-Junction, turned left and then headed North until reaching the island, as indicated by the below aerial map:   Maybe the turns in the road that Simon remembers were actually much closer together and more gradual than he recollects (perhaps they felt tighter due to the speed the car was moving). Both witnesses would have seen the lamp-post off to the right as the car made the second gradual turn to the left. Perhaps the difference in positioning of this in Simon’s recollection was down to the confusion at the time, and the lamp-post being something which particularly stuck out in his mind. If we take the stance that Simon must have driven the car himself to this position, he clearly has no recollection of doing so, so he would have had to have been in an altered state of mind while doing this.   “Highway Hypnosis” is where people can sometimes drive automatically without fully realising they are doing so. This is very common, and can occur when the route is very straightforward and repetitive, such as a long stretch of motorway. It can be seen that the roads of the area involve numerous bends and turns, so this does not apply.   However, it can also occur when the route is very familiar to the individual, which of course is the case here. But in this instance the individual would automatically drive the route that they know. They would not make wrong turns without realising this fact and end up in a completely unexpected location. I therefore believe this possibility can be disregarded.   Could Simon have suffered from a temporary medical issue in which he lost track of where he was driving but still maintained control of the vehicle? This could potentially explain both the strange sensation he got a minute before losing track of where the car was, and the blurred vision he experienced after realising he was on a different road.   If, as I suspect, the car “re-appeared” at the Western end of West Common, then we know that this position is approximately 1.5 miles away from where the car had previously been on Redbourn Road. But it should also be noted that this road is a cul-de-sac. There is no way to enter it via anywhere else other than St Albans Way.   Immediately to the East of the position where the car “disappeared” is open farmer’s fields, there are not many routes which he could possibly have taken. Logically, for the car to have ended up in the “re-appearance” position, facing the direction they were in with the car still in motion, Simon would realistically have had to have driven one of two routes.   The most logical route would have involved him continuing to drive the direction he was already facing. He could have continued along Redbourn Road, turned right onto Redbourn Lane (B487), driven approximately 1.2 miles East along it, turned right at the St Albans Road roundabout, driven South along St Albans Road, turned right into West Common, driven along it until reaching the Western end of the road, performed a U-turn, and then sped the car back up to 40-45 mph: This seems unlikely, but of course could technically still be possible. The alternative route, in which he would have turned the car around, seems even more implausible. In order to have approached West Common from the South via the shortest route he would have had to have continued along Redbourn Road, gone around the roundabout, headed back South South West the way he had come from, taken the first left at the previous island to continue along Redbourn Road, travelled 2 miles South South East to the nearest lane which passes across the fields, travelled another 1.8 miles along this, turned left on Harpenden Road, continued North North West along this a mile, travelled a further 0.5 miles along St Albans Road, turned left into West Common, driven along it, performed a U-turn and then sped the car back up: While the possibility of Simon driving in an altered state of mind may sound like it is worth considering, It’s also important to remember that he was not alone in the vehicle. If he had started driving either of the above routes, surely Emma would have noticed him doing this and realised they were heading away from the direction they needed to go in? Emma specifically pointed this out in her testimonial statement to me. Just like Simon, she too could not recollect the journey to this new position.   The likelihood that they would both suffer from the same lapse in memory for a number of minutes, and then both come round at the same moment from it is extremely improbable. And if we assume that the odd sensation and blurred vision was in any way related to this, then why did only Simon experience these aspects, not both of them? Clearly the idea of the change in position of the car being down to an unusual medical issue (or their drinks being spiked as Jerry jokingly suggested in his Whatsapp message) has numerous issues, so is unlikely to explain what happened here.   Next let’s look at the suggestion that Emma made to drive straight on at St Albans Road roundabout, and Simon’s decision to go along with this. Regarding Emma’s suggestion, she confirmed to me that she would usually head this way from this roundabout. She did not feel any aversion to heading West. Simon was aware that this route would be a bit longer, but informed me that, to him at least, something felt physically off about travelling back West towards Redbourn.   He has considered the idea that he was subconsciously trying to avoid travelling along Redbourn Lane because it would have brought them much closer to where the car had moved position from. Like he was aware that something unusual had taken place and was trying to avoid getting near to the location, even though this meant that their journey home would be longer. I feel that this possibility is certainly worth considering.   Lastly there is the missing time which Simon found out about the following morning. In the Whatsapp message to him on 14 th  November Jerry stated that he and Fiona felt Simon and Emma had left the car park in St Albans somewhere between 9:30-9:45pm. After considering every step of what took place after they left the White Hart at 8:30pm, Simon feels that close to 9.30pm is much more likely. He was familiar with the route home he also knows how long everything should have taken, even accounting for the change in position and alternative route that they drove the remainder of the journey.   There appears to be approximately 25 minutes of lost time (10 minutes at a bare minimum) which cannot be reconciled. This seems too long a period to be mistaken on, and suggests that something else may have taken place which Simon and Emma cannot currently recollect.   This case is extremely compelling, and I have no issues with the many specific details that Simon and Emma have passed on to me regarding what took place. The way that Simon clearly continues to be confused, and is currently unable to definitely confirm where the car “re-appeared”, are clear indications of authenticity. If the incident was fabricated, both witnesses would surely be much clearer about what happened that night. The fact that Simon wants to be regressed to see if he recalls anything else is another sign that he seeks answers to a genuine experience. Emma’s testimonial statement was also provided non-prompted and it was clear she had the same confusion over the events that took place as Simon currently has.   Possible Explanations   Although no confirmed UFO/UAP was seen at the time by the witnesses, it is entirely possible that they (and the car they were in) were abducted, with the memories of this entirely blocked out. I have dealt with similar cases before, and there are other cases of this nature on record which have been researched by other investigators.   The glint of light that Simon initially saw off to his right could have been a craft, but he was distracted by something else so did not look directly at it. Maybe the unusual sensation he felt was this craft beginning to interact directly with him in some way, and the blurred vision he noted later was a result of being put back (although Emma does not recall feeling and seeing these anomalies). Perhaps the car was returned to the nearby vicinity, but not directly at the same position it had been taken from, as has been reported in other cases before.   Another possibility I have considered is what is known as a “time slip”. This is where someone temporarily sees their surroundings change to those from a different point in time, usually the past. There are many cases of supposed time slips on record, and particular researchers who have studied this particular phenomenon in great depth.   This could explain why the road layout and some of the scenery looked different in Simon’s recollection to what is actually there. It could also explain the old fashioned full-sized lamp-post he recalls seeing on the first turn. However, there are some issues with this. Simon physically drove down this road, so it was clearly not just visual. Also the tall and neatly cut laurel hedge he and Emma remember seeing sounds like something modern, as opposed to something which would have been there prior to the housing estate’s existence. Lastly, the time slip possibility can only explain what happened after the car “re-appeared”, it does not explain the other aspects of the incident including the car’s sudden shift in position.   It is possible that further details may be discovered if Simon arranges to go ahead with the hypnotic regression, or if other data sources, such as local CCTV, or local witness reports become available. If so, additional details may be added to this report in due course. For now, what took place remains a truly fascinating mystery. I would like to thank Simon and Emma for openly going over everything across numerous conversations and allowing the details of what took place to be shared.   Copyright Dave Hodrien 2025

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 29/07/2020 Last Updated 28/10/2025   For reasons of anonymity certain location details have been omitted   In early July 2020 Matt got in touch with me to report a sighting which took place on a weekend in June or July of 1992 when he was 9 years old, prompted by the fact that he had come across another BUFOG report which covered a similar sighting from the same city several months after, which he believes may be the same object (see later in report for the link).   Sighting Details   Matt recalls that on the night of the sighting he and his family had just came back from a big party to celebrate his grandparents Ruby wedding. It was the early hours of the morning between 2-3am. They arrived at their home in Newsome, Huddersfield. It was a very clear and cloudless night with the stars fully visible in the sky. Aerial map of Newsome He noticed two white moving lights off in the distance and pointed them out to his mother and father exclaiming “Look, look, UFOs!” His parents dismissed him and responded saying “Shut up Matt, they’re planes!” This is probably exactly what they were.   They went back into the house and Matt went up to his room to get into bed. Before he did though he decided to look out of his bedroom window to see if he could still see the white lights in the sky. They were no longer present. He then looked to his right and that’s when he saw another object to the North North East of his location. The object was diamond shaped and was covered in a variety of pulsing coloured lights.   The object was rotating in a clockwise direction so he was able to see the exact colours and positions of the lights. At each of the four central corners there was a bright light – one red, one green, one blue and one orange. Along each side of the central rim the four colours were repeated with a row of smaller lights matching the four corner colours.   As the object turned the same pattern of flashing of the lights repeated. Firstly one of the four corner lights would dim then light back up. Then the side lights alongside the corner which had dimmed would flash in sequence. The object was drifting around in the air. It appeared to be at the height of about 30 feet. It appeared to be quite close just behind a row of nearby housing. It continued to rotate steadily.   Matt called out for his elder sister Kerry, who was 11 at the time. He said “Kerry, Kerry, come here, there’s a UFO!” His sister thought he was still referring to the white lights and shouted back “They’re just planes!” from her own bedroom. Matt was frustrated at this and briefly turned around to call for her again. When he looked back he initially thought the object had vanished. However he then realised it had ascended by about 100 feet and was now further to the right than it had been.   Suddenly the object descended rapidly, almost like it had switched off and was in free fall. As it fell it appeared to rotate away from his viewpoint. It plummeted down behind some of the local housing and was lost from sight. However it then swooped back up in an arc and came back into view, before instantly stopping. The point which had used to be on the base of the object was now facing towards him.   At this point Matt became extremely frightened of the UFO. He stopped looking at it, closed the curtains, jumped into bed and hid under his duvet cover. He does not recall anything else occurring so is likely to have dropped off to sleep.   In the morning he told his family about what he had seen but they didn’t believe him and told him he must be mistaken.   Sighting Analysis   This is a fascinating sighting due to the apparent shape of the object and variety of lights on it. The rotation of the object and repeated light pattern on it means that it is unlikely to have been a helicopter or lit inflatable. It was hovering quite still in the sky, which means it cannot have been a aeroplane or other light aircraft.   Back in 1992 drones were not commercially available so once again can be discounted. It was clearly an object with artificial lighting in regular positions, meaning it cannot have been caused by earth lights, and these do not tend to appear over urbanised areas anyway.   Similar Incidents   Matt has come across numerous UFO sightings which have been similar to what he witnessed. Firstly there is the BUFOG case report mentioned in the introduction. This sighting took place in September 1992 on the outskirts of Huddersfield. It involved a ring of rotating coloured lights which were red, green blue and white colours. These appeared to be coming from inside a cloud, and after a while suddenly started moving across the sky. Although the witness did not report seeing a diamond-shaped object, the lighting colours reported are similar and Matt wonders if it was the same or a similar UFO.   The case report for this later Huddersfield sighting can be viewed here   Matt also came across a similar sighting from Mississippi on Reddit which again took place in the early 1990s. In this instance both the shape and the colours of the lights matched his sighting accurately:   https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/e761nd/ufo_sighting_in_the_midsouth_early_90s_and_a/ The UFO observed in the famous 1976 Tehran incident was also quite similar to what Matt reported. This involved two F-4 Phantom II jets which approached an object that was visible on radar over Iran. Before losing control of communication and weapons systems the pilots gained visual confirmation. They reported seeing a cluster of coloured lights including red, blue, green and yellow/white. While none of these other incidents are conclusively the same, they are certainly reminiscent of what Matt has reported and could be of similar objects.   Copyright Dave Hodrien 2025