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Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 06/01/2019 In this day and age, many people have camera-enabled mobile phones to hand when they witness UFOs. Despite this, the number of videos/photographs captured remains quite low. This is because in most cases the object is sighted for too short a period of time, is too distant, is moving too fast or because the individual is so transfixed by the sighting that they forget to start the camera in the first place. However sometimes footage is captured by the witness which supports their statement. This is one such case. Sighting Details On 23rd December 2018 Michael was visiting his friends Trish and Barbara on Fieldhead Close, Pontefract. They were sitting in the dining room having a late lunch. The room has a large South facing window. It was a very grey day outside, cold and still, with complete cloud cover. Every so often seagulls would swoop past the window. Aerial map of Fieldhead Close: At 2.37pm Michael noticed out of the corner of his eye what he initially thought were two gulls. Glancing towards the window, he watched as one of the birds quickly flew out of sight like usual. However the second one remained. He quickly realised that it was something else entirely. The object was situated towards the South East in the direction of Darrington, and was heading towards the house. It appeared to be at an altitude of approximately 1300-1500 feet. There was some kind of movement around the edges of the object, which is why it had initially appeared to be a bird. Michael leant forward to have a better look. He pointed the object out to Trish and Barbara exclaiming “What’s that up there?” The ladies also began to watch the object. Trish responded “I don’t know, what is that?” Barbara asked “Is that a helicopter?” Michael got up and approached the window. At this point he noted that the object was circular in shape. He could see it silhouetted against the sky. Confused by what he was looking at he exclaimed “That’s a sphere!” The ladies agreed, replying “Yeah it is!”. However the object then began to change and began to look more flattened in shape. Michael quickly realised that the object was a smooth disc which was constantly rotating on two axis. It also appeared to be very large in size. Michael estimated that it was approximately 100 metres across (the length of a football field). It was no more than 3 miles away from them but was definitely moving in their direction. After watching the object for about a minute, Michael opened the patio door and stepped outside. He then got out his Nokia 8110 camera phone and began to record the object. As it got closer to within a mile of the house, it began to turn. As it turned it began to reflect the light differently and he realised it was metallic in colour. Witness drawing of the UFO: The object continued to turn on a smooth arc until it was heading South towards Carleton. Michael filmed it until he felt it could not longer be seen by the camera. He, Trish and Barbara then continued to watch it until it had vanished from sight into the distance still performing the same rotating motion. In total the sighting had lasted for about 3 minutes. Aerial map showing the estimated path of the UFO: Later in the day Michael checked on the Yorkshire & Lincolnshire radar tracking website www.donnyradar.co.uk to see if the object had been recorded. However the site only shows live tracking, it does not allow you to view tracking information from a previous date or time. In early January I contacted Trish and Barbara via phone to discuss the sighting. Below are their statements. Trish: “It was a very grey sky. The object was like a cylinder or round thing. It wasn’t anything like anything we would normally see. We are used to seeing helicopters and planes in the sky, this was quite different. It was clearly under control rather than drifting. I’m not sure if it was rotating or not. I watched it for about a minute before returning to my dinner.” Barbara: “It was quite a way off and looked and moved funny. It definitely wasn’t a helicopter, plane or bird. It didn’t move like a helicopter and had no lights on it. One minute it was round and then it looked more like a cylinder. It appeared like it was rotating. It didn’t look like what a balloon would do. It looked like it was under control rather than drifting. It remained in our sight for quite a while. I watched it for about 2-3 minutes, maybe longer.” Video Analysis Below is the 1 minute 48 second long video which Michael filmed of the UFO: At various points through the footage you can hear him speaking with Trish. The transcript for this is as follows: T: I don't know. T: In't one of them drones is it Michael? M: No...What is that? Don't...I'm not sure if it's picking it up. M: It's about there, so we should get that there. M: Don't think it's picking it up. Unfortunately, as you can see from the footage, the object is too distant to be clearly picked up by the camera. It is definitely something, but sadly due to the quality of the phone camera and the distance of the UFO not much detail can be made out. Below is the best still of the object that I can obtain, a zoomed image of it, and a zoomed highlighted image of it. The still is taken from Michael’s first attempt to zoom in on the object with his camera at 25 seconds into the footage. I believe the dark patch to the lower right of the object is just caused by pixellation. Despite the low sharpness it is possible to make out light catching the edge of the object, suggesting the shape of a curved disc as Michael described. This also suggests that the object has a reflective surface which would fit with the metallic description given. Sighting Analysis This is an interesting sighting with lots of aspects worth discussing. Due to the fact there were multiple witnesses and the video recording it is clear that there was definitely an object of some kind present in the sky. It was clearly not a normal aeroplane, helicopter or drone of any kind. It could not have been a meteorite because of the length of the sighting and turn it performed. And with its unusual rotation motion and daylight flight over populated areas it is unlikely that it was some kind of secret military aircraft. Although the object appeared black throughout most of the sighting, Michael feels sure that the object was metallic silver in colour due to the way it caught the light as it turned, as indicated by the still from the video footage. He has been employed as a welder so is familiar with how metal appears in different lighting conditions. If it was indeed a mundane object, the most likely explanation would be a large inflatable or balloon. However there are a number of points which suggest this was not the case. It could not have been a solar airship, as these are cylindrical not disc-shaped. Michael has previously served as a Royal Marine for a number of years and is familiar with identifying aircraft at distance. When I suggested that the object may have been an inflatable drifting on air currents, Michael said that the rotation and turn that it performed were far too smooth and continuous to have been caused by drift. He certainly believes the object was under intelligent control. He is also convinced that the object was at least a hundred metres in size, which would put a novelty balloon and most advertisement inflatables out of the question. Although it is possible to mis-judge distance and therefore size of objects in the sky, due to Michael’s military background I feel the chance of this is greatly reduced. It is a shame that the camera was unable to capture a more clearly defined image of the UFO. However if it was as large as it appeared to be and was under direct control then I feel this could well be a genuine sighting of an advanced craft, perhaps of extra-terrestrial origin. Due to the length of the sighting it is possible that other people may have also witnessed the object who are yet to come forward. I will keep you informed of any further developments. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2019

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 22/05/2020 Note: For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used Sighting Details Early on the afternoon of 6th May 2020, Simon was having a BBQ with his partner Nicky and family Frank, Tim and Emma in the garden of his house on Bean Road, Dudley. It was a very clear, warm and sunny day. He was getting a bag of coals when he happened to glance to the East in the direction of Birmingham. He noticed a reflective object at very high altitude which was catching the sun’s rays and shining brightly. It was definitely present but due to the distance was only sometimes visible. The object appeared to be above Birmingham city centre. It seemed to be moving very slowly in a Northern direction. Simon pointed it out to his family and then began attempting to record the object on his mobile phone camera. His partner also tried recording it on her phone. Unfortunately due to the distance he was finding it very hard to see the object on the footage, but could see it twinkling with his naked eye. While he tried zooming in Nicky mentioned that she could see two objects instead of one, however Simon was unable to see this. Later while filming Emma said she could see the object spinning, again something Simon could not see himself. After a while he stopped filming as it was obvious his camera was not picking it up. After watching it for a further few minutes, the object flashed and vanished, but when it reappeared a moment later it was much further across to the left in the sky, almost like it had moved a couple of miles Northward in a brief moment! It then flashed one more time and vanished permanently. Simon pointed out that about half an hour later an aeroplane flew over at a lower altitude than the object had been at, but travelling on the same course from South to North. Video Footage Unfortunately Simon has not been able to correctly send me either of the pieces of video footage he and his partner shot. Currently when he tries to upload his video off his phone, only the audio works. He is the process of working out how to send me a working version, however he does not believe the object has been captured on it. He is in the process of obtaining the other video for me, which he believes may show it at one point. Below is a transcript of the audio of his video footage. It’s worth pointing out that the witnesses were having a few drinks at the time, which has led to an over-reaction to what was being observed in some regards. However it’s obvious that there was something present in the sky. S: I'm just gonna carry on. F: That's what we thought. S: I don't know how to zoom in, how do you bloody zoom in on this? Did you see it then Nicky? N: Yeah. S: It just went really bright. There we are, it's there again now right above the chimney tops. N: How big is...oh yes! I can see it now. E: Oh I can, yeah. N: Is it an aeroplane? S: No it's not an aeroplane baby. E: Where's it gone? N: It's gone. S: I can tell you now, it's not an aeroplane man. N: It's back there again look look look! E: Oh there it is! S: Oh look now it's even brighter. F: Where? N: There' right on top of them chimneys. S: Above the chimneys. N: It's fading away again now. S: There it is! See it? F: No. S: Do you see it right above the chimneys. Not a foot above the chimneys. E: Right on top of them two chimneys there. S: How you doing Tim? We're just filming a UFO above the house. It's miles away, if you get back here you might be able to see it, it’s right up there. E: It's a little white star type thing Tim. S: But it just flashes on and off. T: No can't see nothing. E: I couldn't at first but I did see it. T: Right. S: We've all seen it now apart from you Frank but your eyesight's shit. Here we are, there it is again! T: Where? S: It moved! N: Where? S: There it is again just to the left of the chimney tops. Just to the left of the chimneys. N: I can see but I don't know how to zoom in. I'm recording. F: Where? S: Ssh go and sit down Frank. F: No I can see a flying saucer. T: Where, where can you see a flying saucer? E: Where? S: Where can you see a flying saucer? You're just drunk. Sit...sit down Frank. E: Sit down. S: There it is again! Look! E: Oh god yeah! S: See? E: Oh shit yeah! S: See N: Is it an aeroplane Emma? E: No. I can see it! S: It's glowing, it's glowing bright and then going dark isn’t it? Here you are, it's going bright again look. It's going bright again now. Just blinked! F: I see something! S: Yeah. You see it Frank? N: You see it Frank? S: That's a god damn UFO that is! E: Sure it ain't a satellite? S: No, positive. F: It's a BO7. S: Satellites move across the sky, that's just hovering. E: That's staying still. S: That's just hovering mate. N: It's back! It's not an aeroplane as it wouldn't have just one light. E: No it wouldn't. It would have two on the ends wouldn't it? One on the back. S: God how do you zoom in on this? N: Here hold this a minute, I'll show you Simon, show me. S: I've done it! N: You've done it? I know how to zoom in on mine. S: I've done it. E: How do you zoom in on mine Nik do you know? Do you know? S: Right. E: How do you zoom in, I think you touch the screen don't you? N: Yeah bring the screen in I think. S: No, bring it out. E: Out? S: Pinch your fingers, bring 'em out. F: Don't you use the screen? S: Frank will you be quiet please? F: Don't you think it's fairies you can see? S: Frank! F: What? S: Will you sit down and be quiet please? I'm going to put this on the internet. You know what I mean? F: You took a photo of the fairies! E and N: (Laughing) N: Such a septic in' he babe? S: Yeah you're right, he is septic. M: He's septic in' he babe? S: Yeah absolutely septic. N: Septic. Septic. S: Well. N: Whatever, there's something there. We've all seen it now, can't say we're lying! E: I've seen something spinning. S: Spinning? N: I dropped my beer down me! E: I saw it go down that I did, with the light on. S: Yeah? E: Yeah when I seen it. N: She's got better eyesight than us babe. S: You've got better eyesight than me. N: She's got really good distance eyesight. S: When was that, when I was recording it? N: Yeah. S: Right. Sighting Analysis It’s clear that there was something present in the sky which was probably metallic or white in colour causing it to reflect the sunlight. It seemed to be moving too slowly to be a distant aircraft. It would be easy to dismiss this sighting as a reflective inflatable of some kind, but this would not explain the most unusual aspect of the incident – how the object seemingly jumped position in the sky in a matter of moments. If the object really had performed this manoeuvre this would surely mean it was something out of the ordinary? But there is another possibility. Maybe there were two objects in the sky, one of which was angled in a way that wasn’t reflecting light until towards the end of the sighting. And by pure coincidence the initial object stopped reflecting just before the second object did. While this seems improbable it can still not be put out of the question. I have checked online to see if I could find any possible explanation for what was seen but have so far not found anything. As with many distant UFO sightings it is hard to comment further on what was observed, and it therefore currently remains unexplained. I hope to receive working video footage soon to analyse, if this is obtained this analysis will be added to the report. Copyright © Dave Hodrien 2020

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 22/04/2020 Theresa got in touch with me via our group’s website to go over a sighting she had of two UFOs back in the 1970s. Sighting Details It was the winter of 1974 and Theresa was 14 years old at the time. She used to regularly attend a gym class held at the gymnasium of Murray Park Community School on Earlswood Drive, Mickleover. On the evening of the incident there was a power cut around 4pm so the gym session was finished early. Theresa rang her father to pick her and a friend (who’s name she cannot remember) up from the end of Earlswood Drive. Due to the time of year it was already fully dark. They waited on the corner of the road looking up the gradually sloping Murray Road to the South West. They kept seeing car headlights appear at the top of the road and drive down towards them, but each time it was other drivers not her father. They then saw two more lights appear at the top of the road. However these looked different to the usual car headlights. They appeared to be about 30 feet above the road at approximately the same height as the tops of the street lights! The two lights were situated diagonal from one another and looked like glowing white discs. Each seemingly had a beam coming down from it to the road below. The two glowing discs were slowly moving in their direction. Theresa immediately realised the lights were not from a road vehicle and exclaimed “That’s a UFO!” She was frightened so after a couple of seconds put her hands up over her eyes for a brief moment. When she looked back the objects and beams had completely vanished! Theresa asked her friend if she had seen them too and her friend simply replied “Yeah.” Theresa doesn’t recall speaking much more about the incident. She did not tell her father when he picked her and her friend up as she felt he would not believe her. She no longer knows the other witness so I am unable to speak with her about what happened. Strangely this was not the only UFO-related incident which happened around that time. Roughly a fortnight before, Theresa was attending a gala in her school hall. She looked up at one of the large windows near the ceiling and saw what appeared to be a glowing dark orange cigar-shaped object. She immediately exclaimed to her teacher “Look there’s a UFO outside!” Her teacher replied “Don’t be so silly!” and informed her that it must be the moon. Theresa cannot recall what happened after this but feels sure that her teacher did not bother to look themselves. Sighting Analysis The incident that happened after the power cut is intriguing. Due to the height of the glowing disc-shaped lights or objects they could not have been headlights of an approaching car. If they were attached to a taller vehicle such as a lorry or bus surely the girls would have seen this vehicle continue down the road and drive past them? Yet they seemingly vanished in moments. There are no side roads towards then end of the street which a larger vehicle could have quickly turned down. Also you would expect these lights to be level with one another as opposed to diagonal. The fact that her friend saw the discs too shows that they were actually present. However it is a mystery as to where they went, and this remains a brief but interesting sighting. It’s hard to know what to make of Theresa’s previous sighting at the school gala. While her description does not sound anything like the moon, on occasion this can appear orange in colour and larger than usual when viewed from certain angles and under certain atmospheric conditions. It appeared to be stationary so perhaps this really was what she saw outside. Due to the briefness of the sighting there is no way to know for sure. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2020

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 19/04/2020 Note: For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used In March 2020 Patrick got in touch with me by our Facebook community page to report a sighting he had at 5am of many star-like objects crossing the sky over Gloucester in clustered groups. Later on the same day a second report of the same objects came in via our website. After looking into the details I feel confident that the objects were Starlink satellites launched as part of Elon Musk’s Space X programme. When I rang Patrick to discuss the explanation for his sighting, he also covered three other previous sightings which are harder to explain. This report covers these three sightings in depth. First UFO Formation Sighting In the early 1970s Patrick lived in Springfield, Chelmsford with his parents. It was the autumn of 1972 / 73 when Patrick was 12 or 13 years old (He thinks October but can’t be certain). It was 7pm in the evening and he was out on his bike riding around the housing estate on Aldeburgh Way with his next door neighbour. Due to the time of year it was already dark and the stars were out. It was very quiet and there were no other pedestrians around. Patrick looked up into the sky and noticed a cluster of points of light directly overhead. They looked similar to stars in appearance. There was between 30-40 of them and they appeared to be at high altitude. The objects were moving extremely rapidly in different directions, sometimes stopping abruptly for periods of time or performing sudden sharp right angle turns. Both he and his neighbour were fascinated by the objects. Unfortunately they did not have a camera on them, and Patrick doubts it would have picked up the objects anyway. After watching them for a period of time all of the objects suddenly vanished at once. Then a few seconds later they all reappeared. This happened a number of times during the sighting. After watching them for about 10 minutes they decided to ride back home, with the objects still visible above them in the sky. This is an interesting sighting due to the movements the objects were performing. I asked Patrick if he felt the objects could have been explained as light from the ground reflecting off a flock of birds. He said that the movements the objects were making were too sharp and sudden to be birds. Due to these movements and the speed of the objects a tethered bunch of helium balloons from a celebration can also be discounted, and there were far too many objects for them to have been a formation of high altitude helicopters. Egg-Shaped UFO Photograph By 2005 Patrick had become an antiques dealer. In the summertime he visited Venice to deliver some glass to an antiques gallery. It was a clear, sunny and still day. He was walking around Venice island when he arrived at the edge with a view over Venetian Lagoon with a view back across to the mainland. Roughly half way across the water, about a mile from his location, he noticed a chrome silver coloured object. The sunlight was reflecting off its surface. It appeared to be about 200 feet up and 8-10 foot in diameter. The object was the shape of an egg positioned vertically with the top narrower than the base. At first Patrick thought it must be a balloon. However he soon realised the object appeared to be completely stationary. He looked away from it a moment. When he looked back at first he couldn’t see it, but then spotted it again a bit further away. Once again it appeared to be stationary, although it had certainly moved from its initial position. Patrick got his camera out and took a single photograph of the object. He looked down at the camera screen to see if he had caught it, but it was nowhere to be seen on the image. When he looked back up the object had completely vanished from sight. This was unusual as it was a clear day and there was nowhere for it to have gone. He did not notice anyone else looking out over the water from his location, but due to the fact it was seen in daylight there is the possibility of other witnesses. When Patrick got back home he uploaded the photograph to his computer. Zooming in on the photograph he realised he had managed to capture the object, but it was very small indeed. It is good that Patrick managed to take a photograph of the object, even at a distance, as it confirms it was definitely present. Patrick is currently unable to provide the photograph as it is storage and he is unable to visit this due to Coronavirus. Once I receive it I will update this report with it. Despite the fact that object appeared to be stationary whenever he was observing it, I feel that a silver-coloured inflatable cannot be entirely ruled out. It certainly seemed to have changed position when he glanced away temporarily. And perhaps when it vanished for good it had merely drifted slowly out of sight away from him. It was clearly not a very large object and it did not perform any significant manoeuvres which would indicate it was under intelligent control. Second UFO Formation Sighting By 2010 Patrick had moved to a house in Richmond, Surrey. It was a sunny Sunday afternoon and he had gone out to an area of grassland called Ham Common with his partner Joanna. They were lying down on the grass and looking up at the blue sky. Directly overhead Patrick suddenly noticed a cluster of metallic or pale grey objects at very high altitude. There were between 10-15 of these objects and they were moving back and forth around one another. The movements were less direct than the objects he had seen back in the 1970s. Patrick pointed them out to Joanna. At first she found it hard to see them as it was day time and they were so high up but eventually she was able to spot them. They both continued to watch the objects for about 15 minutes. After this time they were no longer able to see them. It is possible they had ascended to a higher altitude out of sight. Neither of them had a camera on them at the time, and Patrick doubts it would have picked them up due to the altitude they were at. While this is again an interesting and prolonged sighting of a formation of UFOs, I feel that in this case a cluster of tethered helium balloons cannot be ruled out. These could have slowly drifted up into the sky and were continuing to rise until they vanished from sight. Patrick says that the movements looked more like drifting rather than artificial and controlled. Another possibility is a flock of birds however they did watch them for 15 minutes, it seems unlikely that birds would remain in the same area of sky for this length of time. Conclusion Patrick has had a number of intriguing sightings. It is interesting that he initially came to me with a sighting of a formation of objects which were identified, but two of his previous sightings were also of groupings of many objects which are harder to explain. It is also great that he managed to photograph the silver coloured UFO (albeit at a distance), and I look forward to analysing it in due course once Patrick is able to obtain it! If you have any additional information relating to any of these incidents please get in touch. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2020

In light of recent announcements regarding Coronavirus I have decided in the best interests of the health of BUFOG members to postpone all meetings & sky watches until further notice. I will keep everyone updated here, on Facebook and via our phone texting service. Case investigations and report uploads will continue as normal.

The IFOs page has now been updated with additional content to cover SpaceX Starlink satellite launches and smoke rings. As always, if you have a sighting of something unusual in the sky it's a good idea to check mundane possibilities before considering other options!

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 04/03/2020 On the evening of 27th February 2020 a man named Martin got in touch with me via the BUFOG website to report that he had just seen a UFO hovering over Plymouth, probably over the harbour, and to ask if other reports had come in relating to it. He reported seeing a very bright white glowing orb of light he believed to be over the harbour which had the same brightness as the moon. At first he thought it was moving in a figure of eight pattern, but as he looked closer he determined its movement pattern was more likely tight circles and that it was hovering or potentially rotating. He deduced that it could not be a helicopter because the light coming from it was too bright, it was silent, it was hovering above the cloud layer (helicopters tend to keep to a lower altitude) and was staying put for an extensive period of time. It could not have been a plane as these only move on a continuous flight path. It is unknown how long the witness observed the light for, but he informed me that he did manage to record it on video. Unfortunately he is yet to respond to my E-mail responses so this is the only information known at present. If he sends me the video footage it will be included in this report with analysis and further details will be added as necessary. While Martin’s logic is sound, and it is clear that he has thought hard about what he was looking at, I do not believe that a helicopter can entirely be ruled out as the explanation. Helicopters on patrol are known to sometimes hover in one place, and while they generally fly below the cloud layer on this occasion one may not have been. Also if it was quite distant then the noise of the rotor blades may not have been heard. I will need to receive further information to comment further. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2020

Birmingham UFO Group Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 11/03/2020 In February 2020 I was invited to give a lecture at New Horizons group in St Annes. During the evening I met a lady named Kathryn who mentioned she had experienced a sighting back in the 1960s. I ran out of time to discuss things further but soon afterwards got back in touch to discuss the incident in depth. Sighting Details The sighting happened some point between late 1968 and early 1969. At the time Kathryn was in the army and stationed at the Royal Engineers Army Camp at Barton Stacey. On the night of the incident, she had been out from camp for the evening (Kathryn confirmed that she had not had any alcohol). She was walking back to the camp on her own some point between midnight and 1am. She was walking North along the edge of A34 and just approaching the Bullington Cross roundabout where the A34 and A303 meet. It was a calm, dry and pleasant night. Due to the time of night there was very little traffic on the road. Kathryn began to hear a low undulating droning sound coming from her right from behind a row of poplar trees on the far side of the road. She stopped walking and stared to the East towards the sound. She then saw what the sound was coming from. As she watched, a line of roughly six white lights appeared. They were about 200 feet off the ground and travelling in her direction at around 10 mph. There appeared to ba about 10 feet between each light. Kathryn watched as the lights passed over the top of the trees, across the road and right overhead. She could not see anything linking them together but they kept precisely the same distance apart from one another. Kathryn got the distinct impression that the lights were attached to a single larger object, however it was impossible to see this as it was dark. She continued to watch for a number of minutes as the lights glided away parallel to the A303 to the West at a constant speed. Unfortunately she did not have a camera with her at the time. After the lights had moved out of sight she continued walking back to the army camp. She did not tell anyone about what she had witnessed. Sighting Analysis Kathryn’s sighting is fascinating and hard to explain away as something mundane. The row of lights could not have been a formation of helicopters. The witness was in the armed forces and was familiar with how helicopters both appear and sound at a distance. There were no other navigation lights visible, and at 200 feet up it would have easily been possible to see these. The sound coming from the lights was also completely unfamiliar to the witness. They were moving too slowly to have been a formation of other aircraft. Lit inflatables are out of the question. Firstly this sighting happened decades before LED balloons existed. They were the wrong colour for Chinese lanterns and also balloons or lanterns would certainly have drifted a bit rather than maintained a constant position from one another for the duration of the sighting. They would also not have been making any sound at all. It is unfortunate that Kathryn could not see the main body of the object, even just a shape blocking out the night sky. Because of this we have no way of verifying whether it really was a single object or whether it was a formation of smaller lit objects which were keeping an accurate distance from one another. Either way it is likely that this was something out of the ordinary, and I would like to thank Kathryn for coming forward with this information. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2020

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 09/03/2020 Note: For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used In February 2020 someone under the moniker of “M” got in touch with me via our group’s website to report details of a sighting they had back in 2010. Sighting Details Back in 2010 M lived in Redditch. It was roughly 10 pm on the 5th November and they were watching nearby fireworks being set off from an upper window in their three storey house. Out of the corner of their vision, they suddenly noticed a glowing orange shape, translucent and bright yet solid at the same time. It appeared to be about the size of a small car and was floating about 20 feet off the ground. It was hovering and gliding slowly along on the opposite side of the road, and M froze in disbelief at what they were looking at. As they watched, another glowing orange object seemed to emerge from the first and then began to follow the same flight path. This second object seemed intelligent, as if it was looking for something. It followed along the path, then manoeuvred to the left of their house and hovered in front of a nearby bedroom window. Then suddenly it vanished from sight. The first object had also now disappeared. M spent weeks watching to see if they would return but they never did. Sighting Analysis The most probable explanation for what was seen was a couple of Chinese lanterns gliding along at low altitude. The witness specifically mentioned lanterns in their statement, going by the logic that they could not have been these as they were too large in size and seemingly intelligently controlled. On this occasion the witness had a point of reference for the objects as they were low down and hovering in front of nearby houses, reducing the chance of inaccuracies regarding size and distance. However it is possible that these were particularly large lanterns, and the glowing light from within them could have made them appear larger than they in fact were. The incident took place late evening on bonfire night. While lanterns are quite uncommon these days due to them being removed from general sale as they are a fire risk, ten years ago they were extremely popular and would often be launched, especially on celebrations. It is unlikely the second object actually emerged from the first, it could just as easily been hidden from view behind it and then changed course or speed, giving the appearance of coming from it. The manoeuvres may have appeared intelligent to the witness but could just have been caused by random drift in air currents. Lanterns often follow along the same path as one another and can sometimes come to a halt. Also the way in which they suddenly disappeared also fits with this explanation. When the flame inside a lantern burns out it can no longer be seen after dark, giving the impression that it has completely vanished. While the idea that the objects were lanterns cannot be 100% I feel there are enough aspects in this case which make this the most probable explanation. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2020

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 04/03/2020 In late February I gave a talk at New Horizons paranormal group based at St Annes. During one of the breaks I met a man named Aaron who informed me of an unusual UFO sighting he had experienced back in the summer of 2018. Sighting Details It was around 3.30pm on a bright, pleasant and still day in August 2018. Aaron had gone out for a walk. When he is out he often checks the skies for anything out of the ordinary. He was walking West along School Road and just heading past St Nicholas Primary School. Suddenly for some reason he felt compelled to turn around. When he did, in the distance he noticed a black object in the sky slightly off to the left of the road. He could not immediately identify it as a plane or helicopter, and was intrigued as to what it could be. He began to walk back East along School Road. As he got closer to the object he began to see it in more detail. It appeared to be a flattened black coloured disc. In the middle of the underside of the object was a bright blue light which was constantly lit. On the left side of the object a fin-like shape also protruded. There were no markings or other lights visible. The object appeared to be about the size of a small helicopter, perhaps 15 feet across. It seemed to be at an altitude of about 200 feet. The UFO seemed to be hovering near to some trees off to the left of the road on the far side of the crossroads with Midgeland Road. He had his mobile phone on him at the time with a camera, but he did not attempt to photograph or video the object as he was more interested in watching it. Aaron informed me that the camera on his phone is quite low quality and it may not have picked it up anyway. As he continued walking it moved slightly to the right and then was lost from view, seemingly having descended down behind the trees out of sight. As he continued along the road he rang his grandfather who was in Newcastle at the time. He said “I’ve just seen something really seriously strange. Wasn’t a plane or a drone or a helicopter.” His grandfather asked him to describe what it looked like, which he did. A number of minutes later Aaron crossed over Midgeland Road and entered the field on the far side which contained the copse of trees. However when he arrived at them there was no sign of the object anywhere, it had completely disappeared. There were two other people walking nearby but he did not ask them if they’d seen anything as it looked like they hadn’t. He was convinced the object he had seen was not a conventional aircraft of any kind due to its unusual shape and bright blue light. It also appeared much too large to be a drone or UFO shaped radio controlled model. Sighting Analysis This is quite an unusual sighting due to the blue light in the base of the object and odd fin-shape protruding from one side. I have dealt with other cases before involving disc or cigar-shaped craft with small extensions protruding from them, but they are quite rare. What could the object have been? It was clearly not a helicopter, and was hovering still for too long to have been an aircraft. There is the possibility that it was some kind of unusual lit inflatable, such as a custom-made solar airship. The object did not perform any advanced manoeuvres which would suggest it was under intelligent control. Solar airships are black in colour and always launched on sunny days as this is required to heat up the air inside them. However they are generally cylindrical in shape and do not have any lights on them. Also Aaron thoroughly searched the area of trees which it had seemingly descended into or behind and found nothing. Surely if it was an inflatable that had descended to the ground it would have been quite obvious given the size? As this sighting took place mid-afternoon on a sunny day there is the possibility other witnesses may have also seen it, although Aaron did not spot anyone who looked like candidates for this. It remains a compelling mystery. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2020

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 03/03/2020 On 10th February 2020 I was invited to give a talk at New Horizons at St Annes. During the evening I was approached by numerous people who wanted to share their UFO experiences with me. One of these individuals was a gentleman named Andrew who informed me of a fascinating sighting of multiple UFO formations he had experienced the previous year. Sighting Details Andrew lives on Inner Promenade, St Annes, close to the Eastern end of Fairhaven Lake, which is situated close to the edge of Granny’s Bay. He often likes to lie down on the front driveway of his house and sky watch after dark. On a Friday or Saturday night in either September or October 2019 he was doing just this. It was between 11pm – 1am. Andrew was lying down on the drive while his wife was inside the house. It was a very clear, still and mild night with the stars fully visible overhead. He was staring straight upward when suddenly three objects smoothly glided overhead. Each object was triangular in shape and glowing with a dim white light. They were positioned in a triangular formation, with one at the front followed by two behind. They appeared to be completely silent. Andrew believes they were about 25-30 feet across. The objects seemed to be about 700-1000 feet in the air, and he estimates they were moving at about 150 mph. They were heading on a Southerly course. As soon as he spotted the objects flying overhead he thought to himself “What the fuck’s that?” He sat up and watched as the objects disappeared out of sight, seemingly heading out over the bay. They were visible for no more than 10 seconds and before long had vanished into the darkness. Andrew questioned what he had just seen. They did not appear to have been normal aircraft of any kind, and appeared to have been low enough to have been able to hear sound if there was any coming from them. He considered whether they could have been birds reflecting lights from the ground but this did not fit either for a number of reasons. Firstly he was used to seeing these fly overhead on previous occasions. The objects he had just seen seemed too angular and there was no sign of movement coming from them. Also when he had seen birds previously they would usually come in to land on the lake and he would hear the noise of them splashing into the water, but on this occasion there was just silence. He was convinced they had carried on flying out over the sea. He lay back down and continued to wonder about the objects. About 5 minutes passed by. Suddenly he was amazed to see another formation fly overhead! This time there were five of the objects – one at the front, two behind and then three behind them. Everything else about the sighting remained the same – the size, shape and colour of the objects, the speed and direction they were moving in! As they flew overhead the middle one at the rear appeared to move a little to create a precise formation. Andrew was astounded. He had just seen two groupings of objects he could not identify. He wondered if anyone else in the area had also seen them. He went inside the house and called his wife, saying to her “You’ll never guess what I’ve just seen. Come on out!” She joined him and they both headed back outside onto the driveway. They stared up into the sky while Andrew recounted what had just taken place. They waited for about 5 minutes but there were no further sightings of anything out of the ordinary. It was getting quite cold so they decided to head back inside. Andrew wishes that he was able to capture the objects on camera but he did not have one on him at the time, he was just out there to relax and look up at the stars. Sighting Analysis This is certainly an interesting sighting. As Andrew himself realised, these did not appear to be conventional aircraft of any kind, military or otherwise. It seems improbable that they were birds as it would have been possible to see their wings flapping and they would not have appeared so straight edged. The objects could not have been Chinese lanterns as they were the wrong shape, and also lanterns tend to glow a fiery orange colour rather than white. It is interesting to wonder whether the objects were picked up on radar. If this was a very recent sighting and we had a more accurate date and time it would have been possible to contact the nearby airport to ask this very question, although even if something had been detected they may well have not revealed this information anyway. I have dealt with a number of cases on previous occasions involving formations of triangular and oval shaped UFOs, so while uncommon this incident is far from unique. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2020

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 13/01/2020 In September 2019 I was invited to speak at the Supernatural Fayre, a day of paranormal talks and market stalls at Worcester. One of the attendees of my talk was a man named Michael. He informed me that he had a couple of experiences he wished to go over with me. While we did not have enough time to go over the details on the day itself we got in touch via phone soon afterwards to discuss them further. Michael has informed me that is very intuitive, practices reiki and is a psychic medium. While the details of this side of his life have been omitted from this report on request, it is interesting to note as many contactees report having one or more psychic abilities. Note: For reasons of anonymity certain details have been omitted. Grey Visitation Michael used to work at a snooker club in Droitwich. Late one evening in 2010 he was just preparing to leave and head for home around 10.30pm. Suddenly he felt the definite presence of four unseen entities standing around him. He sensed they were tall in height and felt quite intimidating. When he left the building he could sense that they were following him. He got back into his car and drove the two miles to his house, still with the feeling that the entities were there with him. Even in his home he could still sense them. He tried to ignore their presence and got into bed. Somehow he was able to drop off. However something woke him up at roughly 3am. When he opened his eyes it was now that he finally saw the beings. There were two of them standing along each side of the bed. They were about 8 feet tall and their skin was grey in colour. They appeared to be unclothed but wrapped in some kind of smooth casing. Their faces were humanoid but without hair or ears. The beings were bent over staring down at him. Michael was terrified. He quickly pulled the duvet cover over his head. He doesn’t know how long he remained there but the next thing he became aware of was waking up in the morning. The atmosphere of the room had completely gone back to normal and he could no longer sense the presence of the entities. Michael informed me that he has sensed spirits before but these entities felt different. He feels convinced that he had an experience involving ET beings. There are numerous aspects of this experience which fit closely with it being a visitation by four tall Greys. Many contactees have reported feeling the presence of something prior to having experiences, this is a common aspect of contact. Could Michael have sensed these beings watching him hours before they finally appeared? The appearance of the beings certainly fits with them being Greys. It is possible that the “casing” which Michael describes was his interpretation of the smooth skin of the beings. It is unknown whether any further interaction took place. As memories of contact experiences can sometimes be entirely removed it is possible that Michael was abducted but currently has no recollection of what happened. Invisible UFO One Saturday in 2015 Rob had finished his shift at the snooker club and was on his way back home in his car around mid-day. It was a clear and sunny day with no clouds in the sky. As he approached a set of traffic lights he suddenly felt the sensation of something large but unseen in the sky drop down in front of his car. The strength of this feeling actually caused him to flinch and duck in his seat! He sat back up and saw a huge shadow appear from the right side of the road. It passed across the road from right to left roughly 8 feet in front of the car. There was nothing visible in the sky which could account for the shadow, but whatever was casting it appeared to be quite large in size, possibly 40 feet across. Michael quickly got out of the car to see if he could spot the source of the shadow but there was nothing which could account for it. He watched as it moved along the pathway and then faded away. There was nothing more to do but to get back in the car and continue his journey home. Michael feels that the shadow was of a UFO hovering over the road which could not be seen by the naked eye but which was blocking the sunlight. Conclusions It is interesting that these two experiences are both quite different from one another but both include things not visibly seen (at least at first). The beings which Michael saw in 2010 are likely to have been Greys. It is possible that the shadow he saw in 2015 was being cast by a cloaked craft of some kind, however this of course cannot be verified. It is unknown whether the two incidents are in some way linked with one another or not. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2020