Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 09/05/2022 In March 2022 I decided it was time to organise another sky watch, as it had been a good while since we’d held one. Our original destination was Barr Beacon in Walsall, but after discussing the event with Nath and Luna Lockley it was discovered that they had also organised a sky watch for their group UPRISING UFO & Paranormal Investigation at Cannock Chase on exactly the same night! We decided that rather than hold two sky watches on the same night at different locations it would make the most sense for us to join forces. And so it was that on the evening of 30th April 2022 many members of both BUFOG and UPRISING all headed out to Cannock Chase for a joint sky watch! The chosen location for the watch was an open area of land just North East of the War Cemetery, and West of the German Military Cemetery in Brockton. We initially met up at Aspen Car Park, before making our way along the path to the South East to reach our base of operations. The first couple of hours went by really fast. Camp chairs were set out. Snacks were distributed. Nath and Luna held a very extensive raffle. I went over some local UFO sightings that had taken place over the years, including some I’d directly investigated. Nath then did the same for ghostly incidents. At about 10.15pm many of the sky watchers, myself included, decided to have a walk down to the borders of Cannock Chase War Cemetery. By this time the sun had fully set. It was overcast, with no stars visible in the sky, but was dry and extremely still. Others stayed behind to continue to socialise and watch the (admittedly cloud-covered) sky. Between 10.30 - 10.45pm numerous people who had remained at the field witnessed an orange orb of light in the sky. Interestingly there are a number of discrepancies in their accounts including the direction, manoeuvres the object performed and time it occurred. The initial witness to report the incident to me was Catherine who was present on the watch with her husband Mark. I found out about it in discussion with her on the following day. By the time we had returned from the walk to the cemetery Catherine had already left, and the remaining witnesses did not mention it to me on the night. Catherine stated the following about the incident: “I did see an orange glowing light. It looked to be falling quickly in an arc behind or in the trees in the direction you'd gone off on the walk. So wondered if it was something to do with that? By the time I'd gone 'oh' Mark looked but there was no sign of it. I heard people behind me discuss it too.” I asked her whether she thought a meteorite (shooting star) could have been responsible, to which she replied: “I've only ever seen white, tiny ones before. This was bigger, and definitely appeared orange. It could have been something huge miles away, or smaller and nearer.” The orb was also witnessed by BUFOG Investigator James Brodie and his friend Ian. Here is James’ more detailed written statement about what took place: “About 10.25pm I was looking up at the sky. We had the forest to our right. If you looked directly ahead, you would come to the path which would take you to the car park to the left. I was scanning the sky, and I noticed a couple of small pinpricks of light. When I first saw the small lights, I assumed that it may have been drizzle illuminated from the ground light into the sky, which would give an initial impression of the light being in the sky, rather than the drizzle simply being illuminated as it fell. I spoke with my colleague and asked whether he had noticed anything else in the sky and he thought he had seen a couple of small lights in the sky. However, I couldn’t rule out the possibility of auto-suggestion from myself and then my friend simply witnessing the same phenomena. Another 5-10 min passed and my friend and I both saw an orange luminous light in the sky. It appeared to be quite high in the sky and it appeared to blink in and blink out. We watched the sky and were trying to understand whether it was being obscured by the cloud, as there was heavy cloud cover at the time. From my recollection, the light appeared to rapidly change direction in the sky before disappearing. When discussing this with my colleague, he suggested that it may be cloud cover obscuring its movement, however, I felt it had quite quickly changed direction. We both have apps on our phones which let us know in real-time whether there is anything in the sky. We were both able to confirm there were no flights in the area and this was backed up when later we saw another low moving light which we were able to confirm was a commercial flight. I was aware on that night that there was the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter which would both appear as bright stars. Neither were visible due to the cloud cover and would have been the wrong colour. The light or orb itself was fully luminous and was bright orange in colour. To the naked eye it appeared to be a few inches in size, but it was difficult to estimate what its actual size was relative to its height in the sky. There was no associated noise or visible markings. We did not experience any electromagnetic interference. One other point of note which may or may not be relevant is that at the time of the sighting I had been ‘asking out’. That is to say quietly in my mind, is anything out there? Will you show yourself? When I spoke to a couple of people I was aware that they had been doing the same thing (but that was independent of each other). We felt we could discount any possible ground illumination as there were no other light sources or street lights in that area in the direction we were observing. We can discount the object as anything like a Chinese lantern due to a change in direction and there was little wind at the time. We can also discount the international space station as it wasn’t in the vicinity of the time. Another possible suggestion could be ball lightning, but again that seems unlikely due to the perceived change in direction. I then remarked to another member of the sky watch team, Rachel, that we may have seen something. Who I believe then went on to the see light in her own right.” I spoke with Rachel, a regular attendee of Birmingham UFO Group. She sent the following written statement about the incident: “I was sitting on my chair looking in the direction of the cemetery as I was watching the lights of the torches as you guys were walking to the cemetery. I then heard James and Ian talking about seeing something orange although I can't remember exactly what they said. I then turned 180 so the car park was on my left and the path we had walked to get to our site was in front of me running left to right (and the cemetery was behind my right side). I moved to see what they were referring to and I then saw an orange orb shaped light floating. It was in the direction of the break in the tree line where I could see lights from a nearby residential area but the orb was much brighter and closer than the distant lights I could see. The orb was to the right hand side just before the treeline started again. I stood up to look at it for a few minutes and saw it appear to glow slightly brighter it seemed to have a darker centre and slightly lighter around the edge then it just faded out quickly and it was gone. There was no sound and I didn't see any movement only the fading. Not long after someone shouted about a white light coming from the opposite direction. Me, Ian and James were all standing as we had started to chat about what we saw and James said to Ian to check his app to see what the white light was as there was no noise however as it got closer we heard it and Ian then told me that it was a plane as shown on his flight radar app. I'm not sure of the time of that flight exactly but seeing the orb must have been between about 10.30pm and 10.45pm as I was sending texts to Amanda about the apps and points that Ian and James were telling me about so I wouldn't forget them. My texts started at 10.46pm.” As you can see, there are numerous discrepancies between the three different accounts. The most obvious of these is the direction the orb was seen in. Catherine stated that the object had been seen to the South in the direction of the cemetery. She provided the following photographic overlay which shows two possible positions it was situated over the tree line, and its trajectory: However it is clear from both their initial statements and later discussion that both James and Rachel believe that the orb was situated to the North East at the right of the gap between the trees. The below photograph I took on the night shows this gap: I contacted Catherine to discuss this discrepancy with her. She confirmed that it was definitely slightly to the right from where she was sat. Next it is apparent that the witnesses who provided statements all remember seeing the orb perform different manoeuvres. Catherine saw it appear and immediately perform a sharp angled descent in an arc and vanish from sight (as can be seen on the photographic overlay). James recalls it performing darting manoeuvres for a number of seconds. Rachel remembers it being stationary and just dimming after a period of time. While it is possible that Rachel merely didn’t notice the erratic movements, the sharp descent which Catherine witnessed seems wildly different. Lastly, both James and Rachel recall seeing the orb prior to the appearance of the commercial aircraft which Ian tracked on Flight Radar 24 mobile phone app (I also tracked this same flight using the app while down the cemetery. As expected it looked like a glowing white light until it got close enough to see the other navigation lights, nothing like the orange orb which was witnessed). In speaking with Catherine, she remembers overhearing James, Ian and Rachel discussing the plane before she saw the orange orb to the South, implying that it was a separate sighting not the same incident. I feel that all of these discrepancies are enough to propose that one of two things took place. Either the orb was seen by James and Rachel to the North East, it then vanished for a period of time, before re-appearing briefly to the South and descending rapidly. Or there were two completely separate objects that just happened to have a similar appearance to one another and were both seen within a similar period of time. So what could the orb/orbs have been? While they had the colour of a sky lantern, I would agree with James that it very improbable this was the explanation. Lanterns tend to drift very slowly on a slow course. They can sometimes waver, or get buffeted around by air currents, but it was an extremely still night, so a lantern would have floated very gradually and performed no sudden fast movements. The downward arc which Catherine observed would definitely not fit in with a lantern in still weather conditions. While lanterns do fall to the ground when they go out, by this point they would no longer be glowing. The object which James, Ian and Rachel observed was definitely not a tracked commercial or private aircraft, as this was confirmed using Flight Radar 24. 360 radar confirms that the area is not within any airways: It also confirms that the area lies within controlled airspace: These two aspects greatly reduce the possibility of the orb(s) being untracked aircraft. These aspects aside, the appearance and noted sudden movements also make it extremely unlikely for any of the sightings to have been a distant aircraft. While it could be argued that it would possible for a drone to perform such manoeuvres, James feels that the movements were too rapid, and he owns a drone himself so is very familiar with what they are capable of. Drones also tend to have bright red or white lights on them, not orange. It was also extremely quiet at the location with very little noise pollution, so a drone would likely have been audible, even at a distance. It seems obvious that the object or objects were only present in the sky for a brief period of time. From the statements provided it is clear that the orb(s) appeared only briefly before vanishing. Although an orange-coloured meteorite could potentially have explained the orange light which Catherine saw, it would not be able to perform the sharp darting manoeuvres which were observed by James and Ian or stationary hovering reported by Rachel. This short length of time is also the main reason why no photographs or video footage was taken. Obviously some people on the watch had either smartphones or cameras with them. But by the time the witnesses would have even thought about capturing the object on camera it had vanished from sight. If it had remained for a more extended period of time then we may have had some footage to examine. While earth lights can sometimes be orange in colour, they are not known to appear in the vicinity, and tend to drift slowly. Ball lightning tends to be white or blue-white in colour, and would only appear in stormy weather conditions, so cannot be the explanation. Here are James’ conclusions on what took place: “When there are a group of people together, ‘willing’ to share a group experience especially if they are inexperienced, there is a danger that there can be a group hallucination where people feed off the story or reaction of one another. However, we don’t believe this is the case in this instance. I only spoke to Rachel and it wasn’t until most of the group had left, that people had independently reported seeing an orange light. I can confidently discount any astronomical influence due to the cloud cover. I can also discount any commercial flights as there weren’t any at the time. What also discounts it is a drone or Chinese lantern was the unusual movement pattern. The luminosity of the object was also interesting as it was self-lit and very bright. Planes and drones tend to have flashing lights and this light was solid. On the above basis, I believe this to be an Unidentified Ariel Phenomenon and will require further investigation. What gives this an edge is that multiple people saw it independent from one another.” Looking at mundane explanations, I feel that a deliberate hoax like a silent flare seems the most probable. The sky watch was advertised online and on West Midlands radio, so it is conceivable that someone may have headed to the area intentionally to trick the sky watchers. However even this explanation comes with multiple issues. Firstly the two locations the orb was observed were quite far apart from one another, yet the sightings seemed to only happen minutes apart. Unless there were numerous groups of people individually launching flares at different locations, it seems unlikely that those responsible would have been able to move between the locations quickly enough. Even then, flares tend to drift slowly down to the ground over a number of seconds, they do not perform erratic manoeuvres or descend rapidly. It was also extremely quiet at the location and nobody else was seen or heard in the vicinity. A parked car was observed alongside the cemetery, and obviously it would be possible for someone to sneak around the outskirts and purposely launch fireworks or flares to trick those present on the sky watch, it genuinely felt like we were on our own out there. With most mundane explanations not fitting what was observed, and remaining possibilities impossible to verify, technically the object or objects remain a mystery… one or multiple UFOs observed during a UFO sky watch! Copyright Dave Hodrien 2022

Birmingham UFO Group Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 07/05/2022 Note: For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used for some witnesses In late March 2022 I released a case report on a disc-shaped UFO sighting from Marlborough. I posted a link to this report on various Facebook pages. Anne Holland, a lady from Belfast, is a member of one of these pages. When she read the report she was deeply shocked by the similarity of what had been seen to something she herself had witnessed back in 1979. She got in touch with me to report this similarity and how the report had affected her. When she was ready to speak in April we went over her own experience in depth, in addition to two other previous sightings. This report covers all three incidents, which appear unrelated to one another. 21st December 1979 – Lit Domed Disc Back in 1979 Anne lived in the Divis Flats on Falls Road close to Divis Tower, Belfast. The tower still stands today but the flats have since been demolished and replaced with a housing estate. On the afternoon of 21st December about 3pm she was sitting in the living room of the flat and watching TV with her baby son Keith who was 2 years old at the time. At the time there was a lot of trouble with the IRA so she was watching the news for any updates. After the news finished she stepped outside onto the 2nd floor balcony of the flat. It was a very dull day with complete cloud cover. She happened to look up into the sky to the North, and was amazed to see an unusual object. It was like two silver-grey coloured domes stuck together back to back. Around the central rim were red, blue and yellow lights, and there was also a white light on the top of the object. The entire object appeared to be rotating in a clockwise direction. It appeared to be at least a mile away beyond Crumlin Road. If it was indeed at that distance it must have been quite large in size, at least 40 feet across. It was moving to the East on a straight and level course. It seemed to be moving extremely slowly, possibly as low as 5 mph, too slow for an aircraft to fly at. Anne knew it was something unusual and associated it immediately as a UFO. She lifted up Keith so he could see it too. She had no camera in the flat so no way to record what she was seeing. She lifted up her son so he could see it too. They both watched it for about 4 minutes. After this time, Anne wanted to get a closer look at it, so decided she would exit the flat and start approaching its location on foot. She headed down the stairwell and began walking past another block of flats near to her own. However she then noticed that there were British soldiers walking along Falls Road. At the time it was dangerous to approach them so she decided to cancel her plans. As she was outside of the flat she then decided to walk to a local butchers. At ground level she was unable to see the UFO any more as it was blocked by the buildings. When she entered the butchers, the shop owner noticed Anne and stated “You look like you’ve seen a ghost!” Anne responded saying “I think I’ve just seen a UFO!” The butcher asked her “Are you serious?” to which Anne replied that she was. The butcher was interested to see where it was to see if he could see it too. They both stepped outside the shop and Anne pointed into the visible sky to the North. After a moment they both witnessed the object suddenly shoot up into the sky at a 45 degree angle! It moved extremely rapidly and disappeared from their sight in seconds. After witnessing this amazing spectacle they walked back into the shop. Anne remembers just buying some mince and not discussing what they had just seen, which looking back at the situation seems really strange to her. The following day she was around her parents’ house and told them about the sighting. They did not really question her too much about it. While they were there Anne remembers Keith was looking through a shopping catalogue and started pointing at the pictures of a spinning top toy. She did not buy it from the catalogue but later noticed one in a nearby shop so bought it him for Christmas. Looking back at what took place, Anne wonders if the spinning top reminded him of the shape of the UFO and this is why he liked it. About a year later the butcher who had witnessed the UFO with Anne was sadly shot dead. Nobody ever claimed responsibility for the crime. After this took place Anne’s father warned her not to talk about the UFO with anyone else. Anne feels that he associated the death of the butcher with the incident, although it is very unlikely that they were in any way linked. This is a very interesting sighting of what could have well been a genuine advanced craft. Anne was very familiar with how distant helicopters looked as she would regularly see military helicopters in the area due to the troubles at the time, and it seemed to be moving much too slowly to be an aeroplane. The colours did not match normal navigation lights either. 360 radar confirms that the probable location of the UFO does not lie within any airways: It also confirms that it does lie within controlled airspace, lowering the possibility of an untracked aircraft being responsible: Obviously these two mappings are modern, it is not possible to confirm if this was the case back in 1979. However the speed that the object departed the area puts out of the question that it was a normal aircraft. This manoeuvre also means that it cannot have been a lit inflatable covered in Christmas lights or a remote controlled model, and the sighting took place decades before drones were utilised or commercially available. It was also too large in size to be a drone. As the sighting took place in daylight hours it is possible that there were other witnesses to it elsewhere in Belfast who have yet to come forward. Autumn/Winter 1999 – Disc Silhouette & White Orb By 1999 Anne had moved to a house on Brookmill Way in North Belfast. The road is on a hill with a view to the South over the rest of the city. Keith now lived nearby on Horseshoe Court. One evening in late Autumn or early Winter, Keith’s partner at the time had come round for a chat. It was about 9pm she was about to leave and Anne was just showing her out. They stepped outside the front door a few paces. It was a really clear evening and due to the time of year the sun had fully set and the stars were visible. Suddenly something large passed overhead. Keith’s partner asked “What the bloomin’ hell is that? Something just passed over!” They both looked up into the sky. Just south of their position was a round dark shape which was blocking out the stars as it moved. It was hard to tell the precise altitude but it appeared to be thousands of feet up and about twice the size of a jumbo jet. There were no lights or markings visible on it. They watched the object continue to travel slowly to the South on a straight course. Unfortunately neither of them had a camera with them, nor were there any in the house which Anne could have gone and grabbed. As it was after dark it is unlikely anything would have come out anyway. After about 30 seconds a bright white orb of light appeared off to the East of their location, seemingly hovering over Belfast Lough. It was completely motionless and no other lights were visible. At this point Anne decided to contact Keith via phone and inform him about what was going on. He immediately ran down from Horseshoe Court to meet them. A few minutes later he showed up. The black disc-shaped object was no longer visible due to the distance but the white light was still present over the Lough. A neighbour was putting out her bins and also noticed the orb. She approached them asking “Do you see that? What is that?” The witnesses continued to watch the white orb for up to 30 minutes. Suddenly without warning it shot straight upwards at an incredible speed! It was only visible a couple of seconds before it had ascended to such a height that it could no longer be seen. Because of what had happened back in 1979 both Anne and Keith had an interest in the UFO subject. The way the object departed reminded her of the glowing object in the infamous Jerusalem’s Mount videos that she had seen online. Unfortunately these videos were proven to be hoaxes, although Anne was not aware of this at the time. She remarked on the similarity to her son. News report showing a short clip of one of the hoaxed Jerusalem’s Mount UFO videos: They were all shocked at what had taken place. They headed back inside the house and sat and discussed the incident for a long period of time. This is very much a sighting of two parts, which may or may not have been linked. The disc-shaped sillouette which was seen certainly does not sound like a normal aircraft. If it was then it is likely navigation lights would have been seen, and even if it was flying dark the shape would have been more defined. And just like the previous sighting location, 360 radar confirms that the area does not fall within any airways but is in controlled airspace: However a large inflatable of some kind such as a hot air balloon or blimp cannot be ruled out, although as it moved away the shape would have probably become apparent, even if it looked like a disc as it passed overhead. The white orb of light seen hovering over the Lough remained motionless for an extensive period of time, so was clearly not an aeroplane. Nor could it have been a distant helicopter or lit inflatable because of the extreme speed that it ascended after hovering motionless. Drones were commercially available in 2007, so there is the possibility that it was a drone, with the lights blurred into one due to the distance. This could conceivably have been suddenly flown straight upwards, giving the appearance of a larger object ascending extremely fast. However, the light appeared to be hovering over Belfast Lough. If it was indeed in that location this means it was at least 4 miles away, and would have to have been significantly larger than a drone. That said, it is hard to accurately judge distance of aerial objects, especially after dark, so maybe it was smaller and closer than it appeared to be. Winter 2013 – Light Flashes By the winter of 2013 Anne's other son "Thomas" had moved to Mountainview Parade. One evening Anne had gone to visit him and his partner "Sandra". She and Thomas were in the living room, while Sandra put their children to bed. 20 minutes later Sandra came back downstairs and asked them whether they had seen the flash of light. They informed her they had not seen anything. She went and sat over by the window. Approximately another 20 minutes went by when suddenly she exclaimed “There’s that flash again!” As Anne and Thomas were positioned further away from the window they again hadn’t noticed it. A short while later Anne went outside for a cigarette. It was a very cold but clear night, with the stars fully visible. She looked up into the sky at the Orion constellation, which she knew very well. It was now that she noticed something unusual. There was what appeared to be an additional bright star off to the right of Orion’s Belt which she knew should not be there. She stared at it wondering what it could be. Suddenly there was a bright flash of light that seemed to come directly from this “star” and cover the entire sky like a camera flash! This frightened her enough to run back inside the house. She told Thomas and Sandra what she had just witnessed. Intrigued by what was going on, Sandra accompanied her back outside. When Anne looked to the North she saw that the additional white point of light near Orion had now vanished. Suddenly another flash of light occurred, but this time it appeared to be from further to the East. A moment later Thomas also came outside and they informed him another flash had just occurred. He checked on Twitter on his smartphone for information. He found that the local weatherman, Bara Best, had confirmed there was sheet lightning being seen in the area. However this explanation did not seem right to Anne, as the light had seemingly come from the defined point of light, and it was also a clear sky. After watching the sky a while longer with no further activity, she decided it was time to get a taxi home. When she got into the cab the driver exclaimed “It’s a strange night isn’t it?” Anne replied “Yeah. Did you see the flashes?” The driver confirmed that he had. Anne continued “That wasn’t lightning, it came from a fixed point of light in the sky near the Orion constellation.” The driver agreed, confirming that he and others had stood outside the taxi depot watching it. This is an interesting series of events. However despite the fact that it appeared to be a clear night, and that the initial flash Anne saw appeared to emanate from an unidentified star-like light, I feel that sheet lightning cannot be fully ruled out as the explanation, especially as it was officially confirmed by the weatherman. Sheet lightning is silent and can look quite dramatic, and there may have been some light cloud which was hard to spot due to the darkness. Example of a sheet lightning storm: Perhaps the unidentified white light was a satellite travelling towards/away from Anne giving the appearance of being stationary, or even a distant aircraft/helicopter. Obviously it is going to be hard to confirm this either way. Conclusion Anne has had several fascinating and varied sightings. While some of her experiences may potentially have mundane explanations, the sighting of the lit disc back in 1979 is very hard to explain. Its appearance was completely different to a normal aircraft, and the extreme speed that it left the area makes this a highly impressive, if distant, sighting. As with many incidents on record, Anne’s other sightings may possibly be explainable, however they cannot be proven beyond doubt, and there are aspects of all of her experiences which may point towards something more unusual. If you have any information which can shed further light on any of these events, please get in touch with me. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2022

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 28/04/2022 Note: For reasons of anonymity psedonyms have been used for some witnesses In late March 2022 a lady named Virginia Dodsworth got in touch with me via Facebook Messenger in response to a case report I had released which reminded her of her own sighting. I arranged to speak with her soon afterwards to go over what happened in depth. Below are the details of this fascinating and unrelated incident. Sighting Details Back in 1982 when Virginia was 17 years old she used to live on Wellhome Road, Grimsby along the Northern edge of People’s Park. She would regularly head across the road to the park to hang out with her friends. Early evening on 18th July she was at the park with her boyfriend at the time, “Jim” and another friend “Claire”. It was approximately 6.30pm. It was a pleasant evening but due to the time of day the park was largely empty of people. They were sitting on the back of a bench at the South East corner of the lake and chatting (the particular bench has since been removed). On the opposite side of the path to the South were several tall trees, and beyond these the main open area of grass. Virginia suddenly noticed a bright white glowing light in the sky over the Southern edge of the park visible between the trees. The object was moving on a level and straight course from East to West. It caught her attention because of how bright it was, it looked different to how a distant aircraft would usually appear. It seemed to be moving around 100 mph and at a height of at least 200 feet, although this was quite hard to judge. As it reached the right of her vision, the light suddenly began to arc around and head towards her and her friends. As it approached the actual appearance of the object began to come into view. Virginia was amazed to see that it was a matte dark grey coloured disc-shaped craft. It was around 40 feet across and Paracetamol pill shaped, with an extending lip at the base. Around the centre was a line of rectangular shaped windows. The white light was coming from two bands of lights situated at the top and base of these windows. These lights seemed to be rotating anti-clockwise around the craft. The craft continued to approach, slowing down as it did. It eventually ended up hovering over the small area of grass between the other side of the path and the nearby trees, roughly 25 feet away from them. They were now looking up at it at a very steep angle. In the base of the object appeared to be three circular holes/markings in a row. These were surrounded by a circle of what looked like black-coloured cable. The witnesses were astounded and sat there staring up at it. Virginia says she was not at all frightened by it, she was more excited at its presence. She felt that the occupants aboard the craft had connected with her mind, realised that she was observing them and had approached on purpose for this reason. She got up off the bench and walked towards the object waving her hand in a friendly greeting. There was seemingly no direct interaction from the craft. It hovered there silently for about a minute. Then suddenly without warning it shot away to the South East over the top of the trees. It then swiftly changed direction and continued to fly away to the South West extremely rapidly. Virginia estimates it was travelling at over 500 mph. Within a couple of seconds it had vanished into the distance! The three witnesses were astonished at what they had just seen. They soon headed back to their respective houses. When Virginia arrived home she told her father, who was an experienced police officer, all about what had happened. He fully believed her, and asked her to do a drawing of the UFO. Unfortunately she did not retain this drawing. Virginia was fascinated by what had occurred, and it was responsible for an on-going interest in the subject. However both Jim and Claire were more afraid of what had happened. Jim kept asking her not to mention the sighting to anyone. After a while he refused to talk about it with her. Virginia says that she did not know Claire very closely and only saw her a few times after the experience. Whenever they met she did not bring up the incident. She sensed that like Jim she did not want to discuss it. Unfortunately she did not keep in touch with either Jim or Claire so I am unable to speak with them about the sighting. Sighting Analysis This appears to be a stunning daylight multiple witness sighting of an advanced craft. The below map from 360 radar confirms that the area does not lie within an airway, nor is it within controlled airspace: This means that the object is unlikely to have been a misidentification of an aircraft taking off or coming in to land, but an untracked aircraft cannot be ruled out. However its appearance, lighting and lack of any sound point away from it being a normal aircraft of any kind. The extremely rapid manoeuvres it performed put a large lit inflatable or remote controlled model out of the question. The witnesses observed it at close proximity for a period of time, making mistaken identity of a mundane object improbable. Unfortunately none of the witnesses had a camera on them at the time and the incident took place decades before smartphones existed. It is also unfortunate that Virginia did not keep in touch with either of the two other witnesses, meaning we only have her testimonial evidence to go on at present. In the investigation she came across as trustworthy and was able to accurately point out the location it took place and take me through precisely what took place without hesitation. The craft certainly appeared to be under intelligent control. It changed its course and halted a short distance from the witnesses. While this could have just been coincidental, it certainly appeared to have been done on purpose. The way in which it suddenly left the vicinity at an extreme speed also indicates it was under intelligent control and had advanced propulsion capabilities. If it had occupants, it is unknown if they were aware that Virginia was observing them or not. She felt that they had telepathically detected her presence and this is why they had changed course and approached, but there is no way to confirm this. Due to the fact that this incident took place in daylight hours there is the possibility that there were other witnesses who have yet to come forward. If any further details come to light this report will be updated as necessary. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2022

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 04/04/2022 In late March 2022 Sheila Winnall, an elderly lady from Knowle, got in touch with me via Facebook Messenger about an impressive UFO sighting she had back in the 1960s. As she lived in the local area I decided to drive over to visit her to discuss the incident face-to-face. This report is based on her detailed recollection of the incident. Sighting Details Back in 1966 Sheila was 24 years old and lived in Kings Norton. On a day in late summer she and her 3 year old son had gone round to stay at her parent’s house on Pitclose Road in West Heath. It was between 7-8pm. Her parents were downstairs at the time. Sheila had just put her son to bed. As it was a pleasant and dry evening outside she decided to look out of the front bedroom window (something she would do regularly). When she did so she immediately became aware of two objects hovering in the sky to the South East. The sun was low in the sky but due to the time of year it had not set. The house lay on a corner of the road, with a view to the houses on the opposite side of the street. In the sky visible beyond these houses she was amazed to see two rectangular shaped objects. They were positioned one above the other. They had a similar appearance, but the lower object looked significantly larger than the other. It was impossible to tell whether this was because it was closer or actually bigger in size. The main body of the objects was dark in colouration, possibly dark grey. Along both of the objects was a line of brightly glowing round white lights or windows, giving them the appearance of two floating train carriages. They appeared to be at quite low altitude, approximately 50 feet off the ground. Sheila thinks they were quite close, within ¼ mile of her position. If they were indeed at this distance she estimated that the lower object was about 25 feet across by 7 feet in height. Sheila had previously looked into the UFO subject and immediately felt that these objects were alien craft. With this realisation she felt that they were aware she was looking at them. She began to back away from the window, calling out for her parents at the same time. There was a camera in the house, but sadly she did not have it to hand, and she was too amazed by the presence of the objects to think about taking a photograph in the first place. Sheila stared at the objects for at least several seconds, which felt much longer at the time. Then without warning they both instantly accelerated and shot away into the distance to the South East! They had vanished from sight in less than a second. This extreme manoeuvre confirmed to her that what she had just witnessed was highly unusual. As her parents had not come up, Sheila ran downstairs and told them all about what she had just seen. They seemed to believe her, and her father was particularly interested. Between the years of 1964-1967 a number of murders of young girls took place in the area of Cannock Chase. Prior to Sheila’s sighting, her father had reported seeing a suspicious parked car close to a local park. A couple of days later some police came round to interview him about this vehicle, and during their discussion he apparently mentioned the UFO sighting to them. According to Sheila the police mentioned that they themselves had seen things over the area of Clent Hills, although there was no sign that these other sightings were related to what Sheila had seen. Sighting Analysis This is a truly stunning sighting of what appear to have been two intelligently controlled craft. Their appearance puts most mundane explanations out of the question. They were clearly not normal civilian or military aircraft of any kind. It is also worth noting that the area is not within any airways, as confirmed by 360 Radar: It also lies within controlled airspace, reducing the possibility of the objects being untracked aircraft: While these maps are of course current, it is likely that the same applied at the time of the incident (although there is no easy way to confirm this). The sighting took place decades before drones existed, and the objects again looked nothing like drones. They were structured with straight edges and multiple independent lights along them, so natural explanations such as meteorites or earth lights can be discounted. Blimps do not have glowing lights along them and tend to be oval in shape. Large lit novelty inflatables would have been a somewhat unusual possibility, if it wasn’t for the fact that the objects both accelerated into the distance at an incredible speed. This immediate and seemingly deliberate manoeuvre suggests that the objects were under powered and intelligent control. It is unknown if the objects were aware that they were being observed by Sheila or not, although I have investigated many cases in the past where UFOs have disappeared at very opportune moments suggesting that they are sometimes aware of witnesses in the vicinity. As this incident took place mid-evening and the objects were quite large in size there is the possibility that they were also observed by other people who are yet to come forward. If you have any information about this historical case please get in touch. It is great that Sheila has finally reached out to get the details of this incredible sighting down on record. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2022

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 23/03/2022 In late February a lady from Marlborough named Kathie got in touch with BUFOG via our website’s reporting form regarding three very separate and very different incidents. Two of these incidents were witnessed by herself, and the third involved her late father. I reached out to her over the phone to discuss what took place in more depth, and she provided the various drawings you can see throughout this report. Domed Disc In September 1982 Kathie was 33 years old. At the time she lived on Wilcot Road, Pewsey, with her husband Fred and 5 year old daughter Claire. It was around the 20th of the month and in the run up to the annual carnival. It was around 9pm and the family had been down into the town for the day. It was a clear and still evening, a bit chilly but pleasant. Due to the time of year the sun had set and the stars were visible. There was quite a bit of moonlight and street lights so the surroundings were easy to see. They were walking back home and heading westward along the left side of Wilcot Road. The road has a gradual uphill slope to it. Their house was off on a short side road ahead of them and off to the right. The housing on the left side of the street was raised on a grass covered slope, with stepped pathways leading up to the front doors. As they walked along the road they passed a man who was heading down one of these pathways towards the road. A short distance on from this they were walking past a low brick wall. Suddenly ahead of them they noticed an object in the sky visible in the distance over the housing on the left side of the road. The object was disc-shaped and was travelling at a very slow speed in their direction. Kathie exclaimed “Whoa, look! What’s that?” which drew the attention of her husband and daughter. The family stopped walking and began watching the object. As it approached they got a clearer look at it. The object was a dark steely grey colour, which reminded Kathie of the hull of a ship removed from the sea for repair work. It had a smooth surface with no markings. On the top of the disc was a small central dome. Around the central rim were beautiful lights of a variety of pastel colours which seemed to phase into one another. Kathie estimates it was about 25 feet across and at an altitude of about 80 feet. It was moving at around 5 mph and was completely silent. The movement of the UFO was very smooth indeed. Kathie described it as “Very slow and gentle so sleek with no bumps, like someone sliding on ice. It had a lovely smooth and silky way of moving." The witnesses watched in awe as the object flew right overhead. As it did so it then seemed to perform a sharp angled turn and begin travelling North West in the direction of their house. They decided to follow it to keep observing it. As they ran up the road towards the house it disappeared beyond it. Upon arriving home they went out to the back garden expecting to still see it in the sky but it had completely vanished. There was nothing that it could have been hidden behind, it had just gone. Kathie went back inside and immediately decided to ring RAF Upavon, 3 miles to the South of their location. She asked them whether there was any aerial vehicle in the world which could move with no sound, wings or visible means of propulsion. The man she was speaking with informed her that there was not, to which she replied “I think we’ve seen a UFO.” The man did not laugh at this, but instead provided her with the telephone number for BUFORA. Kathie ended the call and then contacted BUFORA to describe what they’d just seen. They agreed to send out an investigator. Several days later a lady turned up and independently interviewed her and Fred about the sighting. She did not tell them what would happen next and after gathering the information simply left. They did not hear anything further about it, and assumed that the details had been stored somewhere. A while later Kathie was speaking to another man in Pewsey. When she told him about the sighting he said that he and some friends had also witnessed the UFO when leaving a local pub called Crown Inn. The pub lies further along Wilcot Road to the West, so the UFO would indeed have flown right past this location. The man did not give many details so she was unable to verify for certain whether this was true or not, but she had no reason to doubt him. Prior to this incident Kathie had not paid much attention to the UFO subject, but the sighting sparked her interest and she started to look into it from this point onwards. This is a fascinating close encounter with what appears to have been a genuine domed-disc craft. It’s appearance certainly puts out of the question any normal civilian or military aircraft, and drones were not available back at the time of the sighting. It was flying at quite a low altitude so if it was making any sound this would clearly have been heard. The object was too large to be a novelty inflatable or radio controlled model. It seems unlikely that it was an unusual shaped hot air balloon due to the presence of the lights around the central rim. The object travelled right over the heads of the witnesses so at this distance they would have been able to see a basket hanging below it if one was present. The way the object vanished in a clear sky is also another interesting aspect, as is the fact that it vanished in the short period of time that the witnesses lost sight of it. This has happened on many occasions, too often to be just coincidental. There is the possibility that its occupants were aware they were being. Mantid Sighting By the 1990’s Kathie had moved to Marlborough. One summer’s day she had been out shopping in Great Bedwyn, a town to the South East. It was about 11am and she was driving back home North West along Forest Hill. The road is in a very rural area and leads through open farmer’s fields and areas of woodland. It was a wonderful sunny and still day. About 1 mile along the road Kathie was just approaching a side road on the left which leads down to a number of houses. At this section of the road there were bushes and trees on either side. However the sunlight was shining brightly through gaps in the branches. Suddenly about 50 feet ahead of her a strange figure stepped out sideways from the bushes on the right hand side, very close to another open track which leads to a gated field. The entire figure was jet black in colour, it was hard to see any details. It was upright and very tall, about 8-10 feet in height. It had a slender body frame with long thin arms and legs. The head looked triangular in shape, wider at the back and coming down to a point at the front. The arms were positioned out in front of it similar to a Praying Mantis. The being was only visible for a couple of seconds. It very quickly retreated back into the bushes, seemingly disturbed by the presence of the approaching car. Kathie did not stop to see if she could spot it again, she just kept on driving, wondering what it could have been. She did not tell anyone else about the incident. Although Kathie had an interest in the UFO subject at the time of this incident she had not looked much into contact. However a couple of years later she was attending a local UFO group. She mentioned the incident to another girl who was there. The girl had a book with drawings of different types of aliens in it. She asked Kathie to look through the book to see if she could find anything similar to what she’d seen. One of the pictures was of a Mantid. When she saw it she immediately realised this is what she’d seen and exclaimed “Oh my god that’s it!” Although Kathie only glimpsed the figure for a couple of seconds she is convinced that it was really there and not just a shadow caused by sunlight through the trees. However she does wonder whether there was a shadow on it at the time leading to it looking completely black. The figure was upright and was extremely tall, so a wild animal or escaped livestock seems to be an unlikely explanation. Due to the height and length of the arms and legs a pedestrian also seems improbable. Could this genuinely have been a Mantid being, and if so what was it doing there? Kathie has always wondered if it had just appeared from another dimension and was surprised by where it had found itself. This is an interesting theory worth considering, although there is no evidence which really supports that this is what occurred. Missing Time In addition to her own sightings, Kathie also went over an incident which happened to her father George Marshall right back in 1938 when he was 11 years old. At the time he lived in Honey Street, a hamlet near to Alton Barnes in Wiltshire. He happened to live in one of the houses opposite to The Barge Inn, a venue which is often used for paranormal events and conferences (one of which I have personally spoken at). The area is covered in open farmer’s crop fields. Every Sunday George used to go out for a walk by himself. This walk would take him through a number of fields on both sides of the nearby canal. One Sunday while out walking he entered a particular field and felt an intense heat. It felt to him like there was an object and figures in the field but there was nothing visible at all. He felt compelled to enter the field, almost as if something was leading him. He then felt the sensation of lifting up into the air. Then suddenly everything went back to normal, although he could still feel heat around where he stood. He continued his walk without further incident. When he arrived home his mother asked him where he had been. He informed her that he had just been out on his walk like normal. It was now that she revealed to him that he was two hours late home. He knew what time he had set off on the walk, and was familiar with the route so knew how long it would have taken. There was two hours of time he could not account for! According to Kathie, George never associated it with UFOs at all, he merely just put it down to an odd experience. In the later years of his life he asked Kathie to write a small book about his life. He recounted many stories for her, this being one of them. Below is the actual passage from the book relating to what took place: Kathie says she intended for her and him to head out to the field where the incident took place, but in the end this never happened, so she is unaware of the precise location. This has all the hall marks of a missing time incident possibly related to an abduction which was wiped from her father’s mind. It is possible that the heat he felt was coming from a landed craft which was invisible, along with its occupants. There is the possibility that the incident had a medical explanation and that he had blacked out for a couple of hours, but if this had happened surely he would have recollected waking back up from this. Conclusion These incidents are of course wildly different from one another, and occurred years apart, so I do not feel there is any connection between them. The most impressive is of course her close encounter with the domed-disc shaped UFO, which was also witnessed by her husband and daughter. The appearance, movement and lack of sound all suggest that this was a genuine craft sighting. The being that Kathie saw may have been a Mantid. Its shape was certainly reminiscent of one. However she did only have a fleeting glimpse of it, so there is the possibility that it was a misidentification of something more mundane. If it was indeed a Mantid, this was clearly not an intentional visitation of any kind. It just appears that Kathie may have been in the right place at the right time to briefly see it. Her father’s experience is very interesting and it is great that Kathie managed to capture permanent record of it in the book on her father. The fact that her father knew the route and walked it regularly puts out of the question that he got lost or misjudged how long it would take, and there are some very interesting aspects to the experience. It’s great to be able to get these incidents down on record and I would like to thank Kathie for coming forward with this information. If you have any additional information relating to any of these events please get in touch. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2022

Hi all! At the last couple of BUFOG meetings I've discussed our plans for a sky watch at Barr Beacon in late April. Earlier this week we decided on the date of Saturday 30th April. However it became apparent that our friends and affiliates UPRISING UFO & Paranormal Investigation were planning a sky watch on exactly the same evening. In order to prevent people having to choose between two seperate events, we have decided to join forces! We will now be returning to one of BUFOG's favourite areas for sky watching, the wonderful Cannock Chase! However it will be at a different location to where we have held previous watches. We plan to head to an area of open fields in Brockton, 1 mile North from Cannock. There is a convenient car park we will be able to utilise close to the location. We will also be quite close to the edge of Cannock Chase German Military Cemetery, where ghost soldiers have reportedly been witnessed, so we'll not just be watching the skies this time! You are more than welcome to join us, whether you're part of BUFOG, UPRISING or have never met any of us before. We'll be meeting at the car park at 8.00 pm, and will remain in the area until at least 1.00 am. Check out the below images and the Event here for further details. Aspen Car Park, Brockton, Cannock WS12 4PT Sky Watch Location, Brockton, Cannock

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 09/03/2022 In February 2022 I spoke with a gentleman from Huddersfield named Richard Paul Muir. He had mentioned on Facebook a UFO sighting which he and his wife had experienced while on holiday in Benidorm in 2018. When I discussed this incident with him he also mentioned that he had also been present during a multiple witness sighting in his home town back in the early 1980’s. This report covers this previous incident. Towards the end of the report is a link to the separate case report on the Benidorm sighting. Sighting Details Richard cannot remember the exact year when the incident occurred but thinks it was either 1981 or 1982 when he was 15 or 16 years old. It was around 6pm on a pleasant and warm evening in June. Due to the time of year the sun had not started to set in the sky. He was out at “The Rec”, a small area of open grass between Blackmoorfoot Road and Moorside Avenue on the South East side of the town. He was there with at least 10 other teenagers from the neighbourhood playing cricket. While playing the game, everyone suddenly noticed some blue-white star-like points of light in the sky to the North West. They looked like they were within the atmosphere and hovering over the northern part of Pole Moor. There were at least 7 lights and they were stationary. They were not clustered in any particular noticeable pattern. The witnesses stopped the match for a number of minutes to stare at them. After a while, with the lights still present in the sky, they continued to play cricket. There were other people also present at The Rec who were there to watch the match, including a close friend of Richard’s. He later claimed that he had seen the lights move away to the South West, although Richard did not see this directly. When he arrived back home Richard told his parents about the lights. He claims that the following day in the Huddersfield Daily Examiner newspaper there was an article about them. It seems that other people around the town had also witnessed them. Unfortunately Richard did not retain this article. He has in recent years attempted to track it down but has so far been un-successful. Sighting Analysis The most obvious possible mundane explanation for the lights worth considering is that they were a constellation of stars which for whatever reason were visible in the sky from an early time. However Richard says that this is extremely unlikely. Due to the time of year there was still about 4 hours before the sun would set. Particular stars/planets such as Venus are of course sometimes visible in daylight hours, but it would be extremely unusual to clearly see a group of stars without also seeing them at other points in the sky. If the lights did indeed move away after a while as some witnesses reported then this again would point away from this explanation. Also the lights were clearly impressive enough for witnesses to have reported them to the newspaper. Could the lights have been a formation of aircraft? As they were stationary for an extended period of time this suggests they were not aeroplanes. A drone formation is out of the question as these were not commercially available back in the 1980s. But a formation of helicopters could be a possibility, perhaps performing an exercise over the moor. As the incident took place so long ago, and we do not have a precise date it is impossible to confirm this either way. 360 radar confirms that the sighting location is right on the edge of an airway, however the majority of Pole Moor does not fall within this: Another possibility is a launch of white coloured balloons which were catching the evening sunlight. However Richard and the other witnesses watched the objects for a number of minutes, and some drift would be expected in this time frame, even in still weather conditions. There is a historical archive of Huddersfield Daily Examiner available to read online at https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk. Richard says that he attempted to track down the newspaper article but was not successful. I attempted the same but cannot find any reference to the incident, although I have no reason to doubt that an article was released at the time. If you have any information relating to this multiple witness case please get in touch. Click here to go to the other case report on Richard’s more recent UFO sighting in Benidorm. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2022

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 09/03/2022 In late February 2022 gentleman Richard Paul Muir mentioned on Facebook a UFO sighting he had while on holiday back in 2018. I got in touch to ask him about what happened in more depth. Sighting Details In either between April to May of 2018 when Richard was 52 he and his partner Jill were on holiday in Benidorm, Spain. They were at the Mediterraneo apartments alongside Levante Beach on the south edge of the city. Richard is an avid bird watcher and he informed me that the location is perfect for this, with many sea birds always present in the area. One early evening Richard was out on the balcony of their apartment watching birds through binoculars. Jill was also present. It was very clear weather with not a cloud in the sky. The sun had not yet started to set. Suddenly Jill exclaimed “What on earth’s that?!” Looking towards the South East in the direction his wife was looking, Richard saw an unusual object hovering out over the bay. It was large and cylindrical in shape, similar to a Calor gas canister, and appeared to be vertically positioned. The lower part of it was beige in colour, the upper part more burgundy. At the top of the object there was a golden glow which was changing shape like a fire. Richard estimates that the UFO was approximately 50 feet in height and 15 feet across. The fiery glow at the top seemed to be 2-3 feet in height. The object was motionless in the air, and appeared to be at a height of 1000 feet, roughly half a mile out to sea. He stared at it for about 15 seconds, trying to work out what it was. Jill then suggested he should attempt to capture a photograph of it. Richard had his camera with him but it was on the balcony table, so he had to briefly cease looking at the object in order to grab it. He was only looking away for 4 seconds but when he looked back the object had completely vanished! There was no clouds it could have drifted behind, it was just gone. Jill had also been looking away at this moment. Both witnesses were amazed at what they had just seen and the fact it had seemingly disappeared in a brief moment. Richard continued to search the sky through his binoculars for a short while, but the object did not reappear. Sighting Analysis This is an unusual sighting with some hard to explain aspects. The object was clearly not a normal aircraft of any kind. It was hovering stationary in the sky which means it cannot have been a plane, and it’s appearance was vastly different to that of a distant helicopter or drone. Upon hearing the description of the object I wondered if it was some kind of lit inflatable or sky lantern, with the glow on the top coming from a flame inside the upper part of the object. This would also explain the colour shift from beige to burgundy. Richard says that due to his hobby of bird watching he is a very good judge of the distance and size of objects seen in the sky. He is convinced that the object was very large in size. He has also launched sky lanterns before and knows how they look at different distances. Therefore it seems unlikely it was one of these. An unusual-shaped hot air balloon also seems unlikely as this would have the glow at the base near the basket rather than at the top. I asked Richard if the fiery glow at the top could have been caused by sunlight glinting off it. He says that this seems unlikely as it was a fiery orange in colour and the sun was not setting at the time. A large lit inflatable of some kind could have been a possibility. However if it was this then how did it manage to vanish in a clear sky over a period of 4 seconds? It was still daylight so even if the fire inside the object had gone out it still would have logically been visible. The hot air from the fire would have been keeping the object aloft but if it had started to descend at this point, it surely could not have dropped 1000 feet in a few seconds? Lanterns can sometimes catch alight and burn up, again making them look like they have vanished, but the brief time Richard looked away again makes this seem very improbable. At present this sighting is anomalous due to both the unusual appearance of the object, and the extremely fast time it took to disappear from view. In speaking with Richard about this incident, he also described having a previous sighting of multiple UFOs alongside many other witnesses at Huddersfield in the early 1980s. As it is un-connected to this sighting I have written it up as a separate case report. Click here to go to this report. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2022

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 28/02/2022 Note: For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used and precise locations omitted In late January 2022 a lady from Carlisle, who I shall call Julie, posted on a UFO related Facebook group about having a number of experiences. I decided to get in touch with her to go over them in more depth. While the majority of her experiences are more paranormal in nature, there are still numerous possible links with contact. This report is the end result of the numerous discussions and messages which occurred over the following weeks. Reptilian Arm In 2000 when she was 12 years old Julie lived in Carlisle with her parents and younger brother. She had her own bedroom in the house, and her parents slept in an adjacent room. She would often spend time reading in bed. She suffered from insomnia and would often stay up quite late into the night as a result. One evening she had got into bed between 8-9pm and was lying in bed reading a book. The main light was on in the room, from an early age she was frightened of the dark so used to sleep with the light on. She suddenly noticed movement down at the base of her bed and looked over the top of her book to see what was there. She was shocked to see an arm sticking up vertically at the far left corner of the bed. The arm was black in colour. For a moment she thought that it must be burnt, but then realised that it was covered in visible scales. It looked more muscular than a human arm. There was no clearly defined wrist. The fingers had pointed white coloured talons on them. Julie was certain that she was fully awake and that the arm was truly there rather than it being just a shadow. She could see it in clear detail. Bizarrely it looked like whatever the arm was attached to was lying down on the floor at the base of the bed and sticking its arm up into the air. As she watched, the arm began moving across the end of the bed to the right! It almost reached the other side of the bed when suddenly it instantly vanished from her sight and was gone. She waited in anticipation expecting it to come back but it did not. In total she had stared at it for about 7 seconds. For an unknown reason she was not frightened of what had just happened, nor did she check down the end of the bed, she just carried on reading her book before settling down to sleep. Looking at this experience it would be easy to dismiss it as pareidolia, possibly just a patch of shadow which reminded Julie of an arm. However after speaking with her in depth about what happened I do not think this was the case. She observed the arm clearly for 7 seconds as it moved across the bed, it was not just a fleeting glimpse. At the time she had no knowledge of the contact subject. However numerous aspects of this incident would fit in with it being a Reptilian, one of the types of beings reported by experiencers around the world. Although quite often green in colouration, other colours are also sometimes reported, and this is not the first time I have had a black-scaled being reported to me. It may seem odd that it would be ducking/lying down and reaching upward into the air in this manner, but sometimes the beings reported by people position themselves in unusual ways, for example lying down alongside people or stretching their arms out in different directions. It is possible it was even presenting itself to the witness, which again would be similar to other cases I have previously looked into. There are other aspects which also link this incident to contact. The way in which Julie acted complacently to what had just happened is very interesting. Surely the usual reaction to such an experience would be to escape from the vicinity, possibly shout out for help, or at least check the location where it had been situated, yet Julie did none of these. She accepted what had happened and then carried on reading. She did not even feel the need to tell her family about it the following morning. There are many cases on record where similar aspects have been reported – people regularly act in unusual ways when experiencing contact. Julie also informed me that within days of this experience she began to feel like something was at the top of the stairs on the landing and was going to come into her room. She does not know why she felt like this, but this feeling was so strong that she moved her bed so she could see through the open doorway at night. It is possible that she has missing memories relating to this experience and was subconsciously remembering that something entered the bedroom. It is also interesting to note that this incident seemed to precede other experiences of a more paranormal nature, as you will see. There is the possibility that it was indirectly related. Paranormal Activity From 2001 onward a number of unusual events began to take place. Julie recalls a number of occasions where she heard loud running footsteps coming up the stairs while she was in her room (which had previously belonged to her cousin Luke). Julie is certain that these footsteps were inside the house rather than an echo coming from next door. She has been partially deaf all her life, and so cannot hear sounds unless they are in her vicinity. Her brother Steve’s room was at the top of the stairs so she would assume it was him coming upstairs, but when she checked there was nobody there. However she would sense that there was a tall shadowy figure standing there, taller than bedroom door. In the following months other things occurred. The shower would switch itself on. There would be loud unexplained clattering noises. Doors would open by themselves. There was even an occasion where a photograph frame turned completely around by itself in the living room in plain sight. Some of these events were also witnessed by Steve and numerous friends. These unusual events did not only take place at their own property. At the time her mother worked at a nursing home. Due to childcare difficulties most weekends Julie and Steve would stay over there sleeping on the sofa. One night Julie awoke to the sound of her brother crying. Her mother was there too and clearly quite distressed. When she asked what was going on Steve said that he had awoken to see the tube of the unplugged Henry hoover at the edge of the room lifting up into the air and moving around. He had called out and their mother had entered the room to see this with her own eyes. It only lay still when she had walked over and pushed it. When Julie was 11 and her brother 13 one of the residents at the nursing home named Dorothy passed away. Several days later Steve went to use the bathroom, which was adjacent to the kitchen. He left the bathroom door ajar giving him a view of the kitchen. He claimed to have seen Dorothy sitting at the dining table. After this incident Julie also started to see things in the kitchen. She would see movement through the crack in the bathroom door. She soon began asking her mother to escort her to the bathroom whenever she wanted to use it. As her brother had witnessed some things over the years I asked Julie if she could reach out to him to see if he would be happy to provide a statement. This ended up in a long text message conversation. Julie sent me many screen grabs of this conversation. For ease of reading I have re-printed it here: J: I'm talking to a guy about some experiences I've had and he's documenting then as part of research. I was wondering if any of our stories matched up. There's one thing I did see but I've only ever told this guy about it and I told Sarah today but it was very strange. So I'm curious. S: There's that fucking shadow thing in Luke’s room. J: Oh I know. S: I used to see granddad Frank all the time. J: Did you ever see something at night? S: I vaguely remember. It had a hat or a hood. But it was huge. What about you? J: Same, it was huge. Like taller than the door. S: Did dad tell what happened to him one morning? J: No? He doesn't tell me stuff like that. Probably because I was always terrified. Dad always denies believing in ghosts to me. S: I must have been around 14 and I'd just woken up. I could hear him talking downstairs. So I went down 10 mins later and he looked at me weird and asked what I was doing. Obviously told him I've just got up and he got dead mad because he'd just sat and apparently had a conversation with me for 20 minutes. J: What the hell? S: Yup. It happened to Nicola when she was pregnant too. I still see shit now but nothing like when we were growing up. J: I remember Nicola talking to you. She thought you were at the window smoking but you were downstairs. S: Oh aye. Me and dad were sat one night and he was on PC. I was watching TV sat on the floor and I thought he was fucking with me by throwing stuff like fag filters at me etc. Then I kept hearing someone whisper my name so I turned round and told him to pack it in. He denied it obviously. Then he must've heard it 'cause he glanced over white as a sheet and asked if I was gonna sleep on the sofa. J: Do you remember at the nursing home that night with the hoover? S: Moving on its own? J: That was some scary shit. The tube was all the way up in the air. S: And Dorothy. J: Dorothy was lovely. Did you see her in the kitchen? I was truly terrified at that place. As soon as we were old enough to stay at home I was so happy. S: Aye. She'd died a few days before and I went to the loo and she was sat at the dining table. J: Mum used to come to the loo with me. I was always too scared. What else can you remember? S: I remember hearing people running up and down the stairs. I remember me crying at nanna's grave and you called me saying you'd seen her in your room. I remember seeing that really tall shadow thing. Photo frames turning round, cutlery clanging about downstairs. I remember the hand I saw vividly. It was black like a reptile. J: I remember speaking to someone when I worked in the pub that used to live in mums house. He said to me "Oh I bet you get a lot of strange goings on." He told me that his baby brother was one of the thalidomide babies that died in the house and they always had strange goings on. Do not tell mum that she will freak out. S: Fuck. J: I know. S: I don't know what to say to that one. J: Yeah. Timothy's mum used to live there and she always said our house had mad shit going on. All my friends thought so too. I always thought it was the landing and your bedroom. But when I moved back into that house and took your owl's bedroom. I realised it was my old room. The one mum is in now. S: It's all the rooms I think. J: She told me she saw that shadow thing in there one night when I was asleep. And she just left me in there because I was asleep and it was just watching. I was like for fucks sake mum. Explains why she always believed me when I told her though. S: It's the reason when I'm there or at even my own house I never shut the bathroom door. J: Do you not? That's weird that. I never shut the bathroom door either Sarah goes mad. I don't even if I'm on the toilet. I need to see out the door. S: I remember sitting with you on a night because you'd seen things. J: I thought you'd forgotten about that. You used to sit on my bed till I fell asleep. S: I remember Rob. J: Oh my god. I had forgotten about that. S: I'd see him too but I knew he wouldn't hurt us so I'd just sit on that computer chair until you fell asleep, then he'd go. J: I remember too. He always looked really happy. But yeah. The amount of stuff that's happened in that house I was glad to move out. My house now is the only place I've felt safe and can stay in alone. S: He'd be sat on your bed but I could never see his feet. I like this house too. J: Same, he never had any. Nothing I saw ever had feet. Weird. Right I need to get sorted for night shift. I'll be scared all night now haha. Love you brother. S: Love you too. You'll have to tell me of anything weird lol. J: Oh I will. I'll message you when I get to work and tell you more. As you can see her brother not only confirms that he too experienced things, he also mentioned things which Julie had completely forgotten about. This can be viewed as evidence that things were actually taking place in the two locations rather than it just being down to Julie’s imagination. In the conversation her brother mentioned Rob. Rob was a family friend who passed away when Julie was 16 years old. In the following months Julie used to imagine him walking into her room at night and sitting on the bed. The feeling was so strong that she began to ask her brother to sit in the room for reassurance until she dropped off. As you can see from the conversation her brother also witnessed this, but in his case physically saw the apparition. The Two Girls In the summer of 2002 Julie began to experience disturbing repeated dreams about two young girls. She would see them tied to a radiator in a warehouse-like location. In other dreams she would see the same girls on fire. These dreams felt very significant to her, so she told her mother Susan about them. This was the summer of the disappearance of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in Soham. Susan was aware of the case as it was all over the news at the time. When Julie told her about the dreams, she became so convinced that there might be a connection with the case that she made an anonymous phone call to the police. On 17th August the bodies of the girls were sadly discovered. It was clear that the murderer had attempted to burn them to cover up the evidence but had not been successful in doing so. This part of the case does indeed seem to have links with Julie’s dreams. However after police managed to track down and arrest the murderer, it became clear that the murders had taken place at his own house, and that the girls had not been kept alive at another location for a period of time. Therefore this aspect of her dreams diverges from what actually took place. Contactees often appear to possess one or more psychic abilities, and premonitions of events are regularly reported. However due to the discrepancies, and the fact that Julie did not recognise the girls in the dreams as Holly and Jessica, it is impossible to say for certain whether these dreams were premonitions or not. Death on the Ward Julie works as a senior staff nurse at a local hospital. Back in early 2016 she was working night shift on the medical admissions ward with another nurse. At around 2 am one of the patients sadly passed away with his family members around him. After a while they left the hospital, leaving Julie and her colleague to prepare and wrap the body. They approached the bed and started to wash down the body, Julie standing on the right side with her colleague further down on the opposite side. The bed was at the end of the ward, and to the left of it was a window. This would usually have blinds during the night, but these had been purposely lifted and the window partially opened as is customary at hospitals in such situations. At some point during the proceedings Julie happened to glance up. She could see the reflection of the ward behind her in the window pane. Suddenly she saw a tall shadowy form over 6 foot in height move along behind her from her left to her right. The shape did not have noticeable arms and legs, it just looked like thick black smoke. At the same moment there was a fast shuffling sound which reminded her of slippers sliding on lino flooring. At the sight of the form behind her she jumped back away from the edge of the bed in shock. This drew the attention of her colleague who then also looked up, at which point she also directly saw the apparition. Both of them immediately ran out of the ward to the corridor outside. They were absolutely terrified at what they’d just seen and remained there for about 15 minutes discussing what had just occurred. After a while they plucked up enough courage to re-enter the ward. The shadowy form was nowhere to be seen. Believing that what they had witnessed was a ghostly apparition of the individual who had just passed away Julie said out loud “We are only trying to help, you need to leave us alone.” They then continued with the task of wrapping the body up in sheets. These sheets were fastened down with tape to prevent them from coming undone, and then finally another sheet was laid over the top. The two nurses left the ward with the intention of filling out a form detailing the death. However they then realised they’d accidentally left the book in the ward. When they first walked back in everything seemed normal. However as they proceeded down the ward the upper half of the wrapped body came into view. They were shocked to discover that the man’s face was now completely uncovered! The top sheet had been pulled back, the tapes had been broken and the other sheets unwrapped! Once again they were really frightened. They knew that it was just them on the ward and there was no way that the sheets would have naturally unfolded in that manner. However despite their fear, their sense of duty took over and they re-wrapped the man’s head before briskly existing the ward again. Just one of these incidents on their own would be hard to explain away, but the fact that these two things occurred one after the other seems to suggest that there was anomalous activity on the hospital ward that night. Recognition The incidents with the dead body in 2016 are not the only unusual things which have happened to Julie while she has been at work. In July 2021 a girl was in the hospital suffering from intoxication. Julie was responsible for handing her over to a different ward and informing the other two nurses of what treatment she had already received. It was about 1am. Julie was on the other ward helping the nurses get the girl into her new bed. There was a nurse on either side of the bed. Julie was at the foot of the bed turned at a diagonal looking towards the nurse on the right. Behind her and off to her right was a sink positioned at the end of the ward. Suddenly in the right of her vision she saw the humanoid shape of a person moving along towards the sink. The shape was quite dark and shadowy but it was clear enough to see that it was a heavy set lady with long blond hair. There was a regular patient on the ward who had that appearance, and she would often get out of bed to walk to the sink, so Julie naturally thought it was her. She looked over her shoulder to confirm this. It was now that she realised that there was nobody there. Immediately the hair on the back of her neck stood up. She looked back round at the other nurses exclaiming “What the hell!?” One of the two nurses replied “Don’t worry about that, I saw that as well!” The three nurses quickly left the ward and headed to the nurses desk to discuss what had just happened. Julie said to them “Please tell me you saw what I just saw!” The two nurses both confirmed that they had seen the same thing, in fact they had been in a position to see it even clearer than she had. They all agreed that it looked like the particular patient who would frequent the ward. For a moment they were frightened that she was potentially elsewhere in the hospital and had just died, and that they had seen her spirit. However they soon managed to confirm on the computer that she was not booked in at the time, and later confirmed that she was very much alive. As the entity was witnessed by three people, all of which were used to working in the location, it is hard to easily explain what took place. It looked close enough to a regular patient there to be recognized by the witnesses, however it could not have been a ghost of the lady as she had not passed away. Perhaps it was some kind of playback in time due to the fact that she would often be present at the location and would often walk to the sink in the manner observed. Conclusions As you can see, most of Julie’s experiences are of a paranormal nature. They are quite impressive but do not necessarily relate to contact. The fact that in many cases other witnesses have also been present reduces the chances of this link. However the arm that she saw in her bedroom certainly appeared to be that of a reptilian being. There is of course the possibility that it was some kind of ghostly entity, or that it was even a hypnagogic hallucination due to the fact that Julie was lying in bed at the time. But if it indeed was an ET then this may be related to some of her later experiences, either her paranormal encounters or possible premonitions. Regardless of whether Julie is truly a contactee or not, I’m sure you’ll agree that her experiences are fascinating. I would like to thank her for providing the information and drawings necessary to complete this case report. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2022

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 20/02/2022 Mike James is an elderly gentleman from Bristol. He initially got in touch with me via E-Mail in December 2021 to provide details regarding a number of varied fascinating experiences he has had throughout his life. After corresponding with him over the following weeks I was able to build up a detailed picture of what has taken place. This report covers them in depth, and features a number of drawings which were provided on request. Imaginary Friend Mike was born in 1950. He spent his childhood years in a house on Bridgewater Road in the outskirts of Bristol, about 500 yards from the city boundary. He lived there with his parents Reginald and Barbara, younger sister Jacqueline and younger brother Robert. The house was built on the remnants of some cottages and had one acre of land around it. In his early childhood, according to his mother, he had an imaginary friend named Hannah. She could only be seen by him, but he would apparently spend hours outside chatting with her. To one side of the house was a boundary wall which was the ruins of a previous cottage. His mother informed him that this is where he would go to speak with Hannah. Mike has no recollection of this at all. It is not at all un-common for young children to have imaginary friends, and this is probably all that this was, but due to Mike’s later experiences, and the fact that some ETs are extremely humanoid in appearance, it has been included. White Orb On a night in either the spring or summer of 1957 Mike woke up suddenly for no apparent reason. It was still dark, and he thinks it was around 3am. He shared the room with his younger sister and brother. They remained fast asleep. The window of his room was alongside the bed. It was about 6 foot by 8 foot in size and did not have any curtains. For an unknown reason he felt the need to stand up on his bed and look out of the window. He was almost excited to do so. It was very dark outside as there were no nearby street lights. Over the neighbour’s outhouse about 200 feet away and at an elevation of 45 degrees was a glowing white orb of light. It was hovering completely stationary and was constantly bright, although not bright enough to light up the surroundings. Puzzled by the object he started at it for around three minutes, before settling back down to sleep. He did not wake up his sister or brother to show them. Looking back at the incident, Mike cannot be absolutely certain that the orb wasn’t a full moon. However he feels that by that age he would have recognised it as such. Also there was the strange compulsion to do what he did in the first place. If it was merely the moon why would he have felt the need to stand up on the bed? In the morning he did not tell his family about the object as he felt that they would not believe him. However this experience left a lasting impression on Mike and he can still remember it extremely clearly after so many years. A Visitation It was the summer holidays in 1960. Mike was still in Junior school at the time. His sister Jacqueline was 8 and brother Robert was 6. They would regularly play outside on an area of rubble which lay between their house and the neighbouring house. Back in 1960 at the front of their neighbour’s house was another old cottage in a state of disrepair, which their neighbour used to store tools in. There were a number of missing bricks in one of the walls which formed a Z-shaped hole. This hole was dark and used to un-nerve them. One afternoon Mike, Jacqueline and Robert were all playing outside. It was a pleasant sunny day. All of a sudden Mike got the feeling that they were being watched. He looked towards the hole in the wall of the old cottage. Bizarrely instead of it being Z-shaped it now appeared rectangular in shape, about 14 inches by 10 inches. In the darkness Mike could see two faces staring back at him. They were the shape of upside-down pears, hairless, and with very pale skin. The eyes were dark and no nose was visible at all. The hole was about 3.5 feet up the wall, so if the faces belonged to figures they would have been about 4 feet in height. Upon seeing the faces Mike loudly exclaimed “What’s that!?” Jacqueline and Robert then looked and also saw them. After staring at them for several seconds all three of them ran away to a position where they could no longer see the hole. They chatted for about five minutes about what they had just seen, before deciding to go and knock on the neighbour’s back door. The house next door was owned by a couple who had two daughters aged 18 and 15. The cottage could only be accessed by a stable door and a side door, both of which were usually padlocked. But Mike wondered whether the daughters were in there for whatever reason and had decided to play a trick on them. Their mother answered the door. When Mike asked whether the girls were in the cottage she confirmed that they were not, and that they were not allowed to go in there because it was unsafe. Upon hearing this Mike thinks that he told the neighbour about what they’d seen but cannot remember how she reacted to this. This incident certainly sounds like a visitation by a couple of Greys that for whatever reason were observing Mike, his sister and brother as they played. The fact that the faces were seen by all three children puts the possibility of individual imagination out of the question. The appearance of their faces with the very pale hairless skin, dark eyes and lack of visible noses, as well as their apparent height all fit with them being Greys. Also the way in which the hole appeared a different shape to how it actually was sounds like an element of visual distortion also took place. There are many contact cases on record where visual elements of the experience have appeared unusual in one way or another, maybe this was done to ensure that they could be seen clearly. Unfortunately both Jacqueline and Robert have since passed away, so I am unable to speak with them about what they recollect. Out-Of-Body Experience In 1973 when he was 23 years old Mike moved out of his parent’s home into a flat in Henbury in North Bristol, which he shared with a friend. During the week he would leave for work at 8am so would go to bed around 10.30pm. One night in early autumn he fell asleep quite quickly, lying face down on the bed with his arms folded under him. He suddenly woke up with a floating sensation. As he opened his eyes he began to rise up into the air above his bed. Looking down he could see himself still lying there asleep. As he rose up it became obvious to him that he had no control over this movement. He continued to rise upward, passing through the ceiling and heading upward into the open air. He looked down at the flat roof of the block of flats. As he got higher he began to speed up faster and faster. He began to panic and fight back against what was happening. He got to about 600 feet up when suddenly everything stopped. He found himself lying back in bed. He thought for a short while about what had happened, but soon managed to fall back off to sleep. The experience had been disturbing for him, and he is happy that it has never happened again since. This experience is unlikely to have been directly linked with contact, but many contactees have reported having out-of-body experiences (OBE’s) so it has been included for interest. Missing Time Mike only lived in the flat for a couple of years before moving back in with his mother, who now lived in a house on Chew Valley Road in Chew Stoke, a village South of Bristol. He would regularly drive to Bath in the evening after work to see his friends. One evening in 1975 he was out at a bar with some friends. He decided to head for home around 10.30pm, leaving the establishment in his Ford Anglia. He took the usual route home to Chew Stoke, which lead West out of Bath along the A38 through Corston and then South to Marksbury. There were no other cars on the road at the time. After passing through Marksbury he turned off onto the A368 like usual. This is a stretch of dark and winding road which leads West through Chelwood. The next thing Mike became aware of he found himself at the crossroads with the A37, West of Chelwood, about 2.5 miles West of where he had consciously been moments before. He had no recollection of travelling along the road at all. He thought to himself “How did I get here?” He headed around the island and continued along the A368 until he reached West Harptree, then turned and headed North along the B3114 until he reached Chew Stoke. When he arrived home and checked the clock he discovered it was now 11.30pm. He had travelled the route back home from Bath many times before and knew that it took roughly half an hour when there was no traffic. He was certain that he had left Bath around 10.30pm and so had about 30 minutes time he could not account for. This combined with the sudden shift in position of his vehicle while on the way home was an un-nerving mystery. Mike confirmed that he had not been drinking, nor was he feeling tired. I asked him whether he could have possibly zoned out and automatically driven along the stretch of road between Marksbury and the crossroads. He says that the road is too bendy for that and due to the lack of light it is important to remain alert while driving along that particular stretch. There was of course no UFO seen or any indication of the presence of something, but aspects of this experience would fit in with a missing time scenario which can commonly occur when people are abducted while out driving. Mike could not have just simply zoned out behind the wheel as he drove along the A368, as this would not have made any difference to his journey time. The jump in position combined with the lost period of time suggests that something more unusual took place. Flying Triangle By 2001 Mike had moved to Twickenham in London, on a cul-de-sac called Clive Road situated behind St Mary’s College. Most evenings he would take his pet dog out for a walk. One evening in November at around 10.45pm he was out walking his dog along the road. It was a dark evening with no moon visible and not many stars out. As they neared the end of the road off to his right he noticed two bright white lights approaching at low altitude. He could see them over the top of the fence and through a copse of trees. Due to the time of year the trees were bare of leaves. The road lies under the Eastbound flight path out of Heathrow Airport, and Mike was used to seeing passenger jets on take off. However they would usually be in a steep climb, whereas these lights seemed to be coming straight towards him. He suddenly panicked, wondering if a plane crash was about to take place. However as the lights got closer Mike began to realise it was not a normal aircraft. The two bright lights seemed to merge and become a dull almost fluorescent circular light which seemed to be about 5-6 feet across. This light was at the front corner of a huge triangular-shaped object which he could make out against the sky. As it passed over Mike saw similar lights at the other two corners. There was also a bright red pulsing red light situated in the centre of the base of the object which seemed to slowly spin. Mike estimates the object was at least 250 feet across and at a height of about 200 feet. Mike was froze to the spot astounded by what he was seeing. The dog remained silent by his side. He says he should have gone and got other people to see it too but was too awestruck and did not want to stop staring at it. He also feels that he was literally rooted to the spot and couldn’t have moved even if he wanted to. As it flew overhead Mike heard a very dull humming sound, which may have been coming from the object. However there is an electrical transformer at the left end of the street and he cannot be certain that the noise was not coming from that. The object flew on a straight and level course with no deviation at a speed of about 30-40 mph. It passed over the road and houses and continued flying to the South East East in the direction of the River Thames until it vanished from sight. In total he had watched it for about 6 minutes. He did not have a camera on him and smartphones did not exist back in 2001. Strangely, Mike noted that there were no planes seen in the sky for a good while after the sighting was over. He says that he would usually see or hear planes regularly taking off. Eventually around 11.20pm as he came back up the road a jumbo jet was finally seen passing over. The sound of the engines was extremely easy to hear, highlighting the lack of sound during the sighting. When Mike arrived home he told his family about what he had seen. In the following days he sent a letter to a researcher who had looked into the Belgian UFO Wave in the 1990s in which triangular craft were repeatedly observed, but never got a response. The object was heading in the same direction as planes leaving Heathrow would travel, however it is clear that it was not a normal aircraft. The lighting configuration on it did not match any known civilian or military plane or helicopter. It was clearly making a very low humming sound or no noise at all, and also appeared to be much larger than a passenger jet. It was much too large to be a lit inflatable, drone or remote controlled model, and the wrong shape and lighting for a blimp. This is instead likely to be an impressive close encounter with a Flying Triangle craft. This is one of the more commonly reported craft types, and there have been many previous reports of Flying Triangles with precisely the same lighting configuration and colours, some of which I have directly investigated. Conclusions As you can see, Mike has had some truly amazing and varied experiences throughout his life. The two pale beings which he, his brother and sister witnessed as children certainly seems to have been a visitation by two Greys, and it is entirely possible that the missing time incident in 1975 was an abduction experience that has been wiped from his memory. The white orb which Mike saw as a child was close enough to suggest that it was there for him and that some kind of direct interaction may have gone on. The fact that he felt compelled to stand up on his bed in the night (the only way he was able to see it in the first place) also points in this direction. Many years later Mike also had the particularly impressive close encounter with a Flying Triangle craft, although it does not appear that any interaction took place on this occasion, so it is possible he was just at the right place and right time to see this. It is great that Mike reached out to BUFOG to get these stunning experiences down on permanent record, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank him for getting in touch. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2022

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Ian Jones Release Date: 03/02/2022 Russell Myers contacted Bufog to report two sightings he has had near to where he has lived for nearly 4 years in Cofton Hackett. Cofton Hackett is a village 10.3 miles (16.6 km) southwest of the city centre of Birmingham and 16 miles (26 km) northeast of Worcester. The Lickey Hills are close by to the west and southwest and Cofton Park is to the north. The Lickey Hills include: Beacon Hill 298m, Rose Hill 285m, Rednal Hill 268m, Cofton Hill 263m and Bilberry Hill 260m. With an average elevation of 190m, the area is generally higher than the surrounding urban area, giving good views. 14th November 2019 Sighting Russell reports the first sighting he had was on Thursday, 14th November 2019 at about 5.10 am. As usual at this early time of day, he was on his way to his job as a chef in Birmingham, walking to the bus stop. The historical weather records suggest it was partly cloudy/rainy after midnight and all morning, with cool temperatures. Russell is certain it was not raining. The wind was from the northeast at about 12-16 mph. Sunrise was at 7.26am that day. As he walked to the bus stop, Russell describes seeing a huge, round, bright, white light in the sky. He was not able to estimate it’s actual size, or height, but thinks it looked about the size of a 10p coin held at arm’s length. A 10p coin does look fairly big at that distance. It was above the tree-line, and below any clouds, directly over Cofton Park. During the short time he saw it, it remained stationary and made no noise. The line of streetlights was clearly visible below this object, but after he had walked about 50 metres, constantly observing it, it suddenly “blinked out”. This was not because it had been obscured by a cloud, which would have happened more gradually. He reports he felt shaken after this event. It happened so quickly and unexpectedly that he wasn’t able to get a photo of it. Russell does not think it was an aircraft, or helicopter, because it made no noise and at that time of day, with little traffic about, it would have been audible. Also, the light was not flashing on and off with the usual navigation lights of an aircraft, or helicopter, and it was so bright that he could not make out any shape behind it. Then it just blinked out, without changing size, as he was observing it, which is not how an aircraft, or helicopter, disappears from view. He does not think it was any sort of balloon, because it was such a brightly lit object and Sky lanterns/LED balloons are usually not so intensely bright or white in colour. Also, it did not move, despite there being a distinct breeze. It is possible that it was a drone, but he thinks it looked too big, they do not usually have very bright white lights on them that obscure their shape and they make a noise. At such an early time in the morning, it is also a bit unlikely that someone would be operating one. Nor does he think it was a star, or planet, because it was too big and bright and how it disappeared was so odd. Consulting the In the Sky website, none of the planets were visible in the sky at that time. Was it the Moon? On this day the Moon was in a Waning Gibbous phase, which happens straight after the Full Moon, so it was almost full size. It rises later each night and can be seen in the early daylight hours setting towards the western horizon. At the time Russell had this sighting the Moon was at about 97% illumination. It set low in the north-western sky at about 9.12am, so it could have been clearly visible at about 5am. Russell reports that he didn’t notice the Moon, he was just focused on the odd light. He was regularly out at that time of day, so is familiar with the Moon and it’s phases and changes in appearance due to it’s brightness. CONCLUSION This is a “light in the sky” sighting. It appeared to be a self-luminescent object. How it disappeared was odd. Either it flew away incredibly quickly, or it became invisible in some way, which means it vanished from the visible spectrum. Either of these would mean it was certainly not anything conventional, therefore it would be in the highly strange category. It is impossible to be certain what it was, given the relatively brief details we have, and the possibility that it was a drone of some sort cannot be ruled out. It was certainly unusual and worth reporting. Since this first sighting Russell says that he started looking up at the sky more often when he is out walking, in case he sees anything else. February/March 2021 Sighting NOTE: This next sighting happened when there was a Stage 4 lockdown because of the pandemic, so there were hardly any flights happening and people were expected to stay indoors as much as possible. Russell’s second sighting was just over a year later in 2021, at the end of February, or the beginning of March. Russell can’t recall exactly on which day it happened. However, historical records (timeanddate.com) show that the weather for each of the evenings from Thursday 25th February to Sunday 28th February was cold and clear, whereas the first 4 days in March each had cold but cloudy and/or foggy evenings. Therefore, it seems more than likely that this sighting took place towards the end of February. Winds were light, always less than 6 mph over these days and from the northerly direction. He reports that this sighting happened at about 9.20pm, when he was out walking; the weather was cold, the sky clear and the stars were visible. He looked out from the top of Cofton Park to the west over the Lickey Hills and saw what he at first thought were bright car headlights, which he estimated as about the size of a mini car. But then he noticed that the light was above the nearer trees – and he could see trees behind it. He reports: “On the second sighting when I saw the moving light coming over the tree filled hills it was above my eye line if that makes sense....so from a distance when I saw it I didn’t have to lift my head to look it because of the distance it was, even though the light was quite high on the hill....I’m not sure of the distance between me and the object, but it would take a good 15/20 mins to walk there, from where I was standing”. The light appeared to be moving / sliding at an angle down towards the ground. This lasted for about 4 seconds. Then, in less than 2 seconds, the light suddenly shot up vertically and seemed to change from the size of a small car to the size of a distant star. At that point it stopped and started moving slowly in a curving path across the sky towards the West Heath/Kings Norton direction, which is to the North-east of the area. After about 10 to 15 seconds he lost sight of it. Russell drew a sketch of how the lights moved, as below: “The light came over the Lickey Hills which is covered in trees as shown in my drawing and shot straight up.” Russell reports he felt more excited after this sighting and thinks it was more “UFO-like” than the first one. Also, he thinks the light was smaller than the one he saw previously. ANALYSIS Russell says that, normally, he does see the ambulance helicopter sometimes, and some light aircraft flying around, but only during the day; at night passenger aircraft fly way up high in the sky, in the direction of Redditch, which is South of this area. They are easily identifiable by their engine noise and flashing, coloured lights. They also move in predictable, straight lines, with no sudden changes in speed, or apparent size. However, as noted above, things were not normal at this time. The skies everywhere were less busy with the usual commercial aircraft activity, day and night. The way this object was seen to move suggests it was under control, because first it was descending in a wavy pattern towards the ground, but then it shot up vertically to a great height. before moving away in a slow arc across the sky. The initial sighting was when the object was descending towards the ground, which would have been a dangerous manoeuvre for any piloted craft in such a heavily wooded area, so that would not fit in with the object being a conventional aircraft, or helicopter. The various manoeuvres are also not typical for a balloon, or Sky lantern/LED balloon. The wind speeds were so light that they would not be a factor in what Russell saw and the wind direction was from a northerly direction, so the light was moving against the wind when it disappeared to the north-east, which is the direction Russell saw it move towards finally. That the light was so bright means it was self-luminous, because the sun had set so it was not a craft reflecting the sun’s rays. The total absence of any noise associated with the object’s change in velocity and direction is not easy to explain, unless it was a long way away initially. Also, with it’s sudden acceleration vertically it would have made a louder, more detectable, noise if it had been a helicopter, etc. There was not enough wind to significantly reduce hearing the sound of any motor, or engine and Russell reports that the area does not have much background noise anyway, because of it’s location. During lockdown there was even less traffic around than usual. Something else to consider is ball lightning, but that seems extremely unlikely, because the weather was calm and entirely the wrong conditions for this. Also, ball lightning does not behave in the way described. Other light phenomena have been linked to earth movements due to fault lines and earthquakes, but again they do not behave in the way this light did. Firstly, 360 Radar website confirms the area is not in an airway for an airport: The map below also confirms it’s in controlled airspace which greatly reduces the idea of the object being an untracked plane/helicopter: Flight Radar 24 confirms that at 9.20pm on both the 27th and 28th February there were no tracked aircraft in the vicinity, as shown in the following 2 screenshots: Astronomically, Venus was not visible in the sky and Mars was low down so not easy to see. The Moon was full on the 27th February. It rose at 5.46pm and set at 7.37am so for several days before and after that date it would have been easily visible in a clear evening sky. Sunset was at 5.42pm. Russell says he is certain it could not have been the Moon, because of the strange ways in which the light moved and how it changed size so quickly. CONCLUSION This sighting is unusual and most conventional explanations seem unlikely, as outlined above. The fact that there was no airborne activity over that area at that time is a crucial fact. Russell was not able to get a photo of this object, so that means it is not possible to analyse an image of what he saw. There is the possibility that what Russell saw was a drone, although he is doubtful about that. Russell describes the reduction in size of the light as going from what looked like a small car’s headlights down to the size of a distant star, which is a big difference and may not easily fit in with how a drone would appear to change in size after such manoeuvres. Only if more information becomes available – for instance, evidence that someone did operate a drone in the area at that time – could that be confirmed. However, without that additional evidence, there is no definitive conclusion, so it remains an interesting report. Russell says he has told his wife and friends about his sightings, but they tend to ridicule such things. However, he has read of several other sightings in the Lickey Hills area, so wonders whether it is a good place to observe such things. Perhaps others have had sightings they could report? Copyright Ian Jones 2022

An additional incident has now been added to the Erdington Contact Case report which originally was uploaded in December 2021. The incident involves some unusual symbolic script which the key experiencer automatically wrote. There is a possibility that this script is ET in origin. To go directly to the case report and check it out click here.