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Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 12/11/2009 Occasionally at BUFOG we receive details of a sighting which fit in with many other previously reported incidents. Over the last couple of decades there have been many sightings of black triangular shaped craft with glowing lights on their underside, from many countries around the world. These craft are sometimes extremely large in size and have been seen to perform incredible manoeuvres and move at tremendous speed, as well as hover silently. There have even been sightings of these craft emerging from or entering the sea and moving around underwater. Some people theorise that they are some kind of secret military craft which has not yet been publically revealed. However many others, including myself, believe them to be of extraterrestrial origin as they appear to display very advanced characteristics far ahead of our current known technology. It also seems unlikely that if they were of military origin they would continue to be flown in plain sight of the public. On the evening of Sunday 8th November 2009, witness Ian was lucky enough to see something which may well have been one of these craft. Sighting Details It was 7.30pm and Ian was driving back home to Stourbridge with his two sons, after visiting his parents in Birmingham. He left the M5 motorway at Junction 4 and was driving along Sandy Lane (the A491), close to the village of Belbroughton. It was a cold and damp evening, and there had been a light drizzle which had now ceased. Due to the time of year the light had long since faded in the sky. There was partial cloud cover but Ian could make out faint stars in the distance. As he approached a mini roundabout which leads onto Stourbridge Road, he checked to the right for traffic, looking to the North North East. As he did so he noticed what appeared to be three bright white stationary lights in the sky. The lights appeared to be at quite low altitude, Ian estimates about 150-200 feet high. He believes they were about 200 yards from his position out over the fields which run alongside the road. Map showing location of witness and estimated position of object: 📷 He continued to drive around the roundabout onto Stourbridge Road. He then looked back at the lights. He could now see that the lights appeared to be at the corners of one large triangular-shaped object. He estimates it was at least the size of a Boeing 747. The object was no longer stationary and appeared to be banking towards him. As it did so he saw a pulsing deep red coloured light at its centre, equally spaced between the three white lights. Ian says this central light looked unsual, it appeared larger than the other lights and was permanently illuminated but constantly pulsing in brightness. Witness drawing of the UFO: 📷 Ian immediately assumed that the object was a flying craft of some kind, either an unusual/secret military craft or a cleverly made hoax. He was very interested in the object but continued to drive because of the time of night and the fact he had the two kids in the car, one of whom was only one and was asleep. He did not point out the object to his other son. He stared at the object for only a few seconds before continuing on his way home. Looking back, Ian wishes he had stopped and also could have tried taking a photograph on his mobile phone, but at the time this did not cross his mind. Sighting Analysis This is a very interesting incident and may well be a sighting of a Flying Triangle craft. Although it was dark, Ian could still make out a solid structure between the four lights so it was clearly one object rather than a number of separate objects. As it banked they all remained in the same position to one another, again indicating they were lights attached to one object. The light configuration – the white corner lights and larger red light at the centre – is common in Flying Triangle sightings. If the lights really were on the underside of the object, as they appeared to be, then due to Ian’s viewpoint the object must have tilted to a vertical/near vertical angle. This is again something I have heard described before. Red and white are of course the colours of commercial aircraft lights, however Ian is certain that this was not a normal aircraft of any kind. It appeared to be very low in the sky and also stationary but changing its angle, something which a normal aircraft would not be able to do. Obviously with conventional aircraft, the red light remains constantly bright, and there are two white strobing lights, one at each wingtip, which is quite different to what Ian witnessed, so both myself and him believe this can be ruled out as an explanation. The sighting occurred only a couple of days after bonfire night, but it seems very unlikely that what was seen could have just been a number of fireworks or flares, and this would not account for the dark triangular body of the object which could be made out. There were also no sounds coming from the object at all, and if there were fireworks being launched they would more than likely have been spotted by Ian before he reached the roundabout. The object appeared too large to be a balloon or inflatable of some kind, and besides this, why would a balloon/inflatable have white and red lights on its underside? If it was a prank it seems odd that it would be flown out over fields after dark on a cold wet evening, surely it would have been somewhere with a higher chance of someone spotting it? And again the size of the object seems too big for a model to be the explanation. Other explanations such as earth lights or meteorites do not fit in with what was experienced. There is the possibility that it was an undisclosed military craft of some kind, but if so it seems a very unusual place to be flying it, and there are no military bases anywhere in the area. After looking into the witness testimony and considering the various possibilities, I believe that there is certainly a chance that this was a genuine sighting of a Flying Triangle craft, and therefore possibly of extraterrestrial/extradimensional origin. Ian wonders if anyone else may have also seen it. If we receive any further reports from other witnesses this report will be updated. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2009

Original wording by Victor Gibbs Re-written for publication by Dave Hodrien Release Date: 21/11/2009 Billy Meier is one of the most famous individuals who has claimed to have made contact with extraterrestrials. He lives in Switzerland, and claims his first ET contact occurred in 1942 when he was just 5 years old and lasted for a number of years. He claims his “official” contact with a group of humanoid extraterrestrials from the Pleiades star system began in 1975. These beings communicated with him both face-to-face and telepathically, and on numerous occasions allowed him to take photographs and video footage of their ships. Meier subsequently released this evidence to the public as proof of his contact experiences. These videos and photos have been studied in depth and are highly controversial. There are many believers and many sceptics alike. In November 2009 Birmingham UFO Group was contacted by an elderly man named Victor Gibbs via E-Mail. Victor has done some optical research and believes he has discovered evidence that the Billy Meier UFO videos and photographs are hoaxed. Victor has been retired for some years now, but earlier in his life he worked in the gardening industry for 30 years. This included working in all aspects of the profession including maintenance, forestry, plantation, landscaping, farming and tree surgery. He believes that this qualifies him to give an expert opinion on the claims of Billy Meier that some of his photographic evidence shows large trees. Victor has looked at the Billy Meier photographs on the internet, and after his research and experience as a gardener, is in no doubt that Billy Meier used miniature trees in some of his photographs. Indeed the same miniature tree can be clearly observed in several of his UFO films and photographs reported to have been taken at different locations. Here is one of Meier’s most controversial UFO video clips, known as the Wedding Cake Beam Ship footage because of the unusual shape of the craft: Below are two stills from this video showing the craft and tree: Here are some of Meier’s other photographs which appear to show either a very similar or perhaps even the same tree as in the video: Below is a photograph of Victor standing next to a miniature tree which he believes is roughly the same size of the tree that Meier used several times in the video footage and a number of other photographs. He is actually confident that Meier’s tree was slightly smaller than this tree, and certainly no bigger than it. Meier claimed that the Wedding Cake Beam Ship video and other photographic stills contained fully sized trees. Victor strongly disagrees with this statement and believes that the trees seen are miniature in size or even models. At the start of the video footage, the visible tree looks tiny, almost a dot on the landscape. Victor claims that a real fully sized tree would appear much bigger and taller, even at a distance. When Meier zooms right in on the tree, it is clear that it has a very thin and small trunk. There are no visible thick branches either. The look and feel of the alleged large tree is completely wrong, and looks a lot more like a small shrub with the characteristics of a Christmas tree, or a miniature model tree intended to fool the naked eye. Victor believes that Meier zoomed in on the tree from a distance to make it look like it was fully sized, but in actual fact in doing so he has revealed that the tree is quite small. Note how the miniature tree looks to be the same size as Meier’s alleged tree. Both have the same characteristics and feel, and both appear to be a mere dot on the landscape. Victor then zooms in as far as the camera will allow (albeit he is only using a mobile phone camera for this footage, but it still proves the point). As you can see the size of the zoomed tree again is similar to that shown in the Meier video. Victor has showed this evidence to several well respected professional gardeners to get their opinion, and they all agreed that Meier’s tree must be miniature in size. One gardener who is also a keen photographer even thought that Meier’s tree was half the size of the miniature tree used in the experiment, and is actually a lot closer to the camera than it is set up to appear. With regards to the extraterrestrial craft shown in Billy Meier’s videos and photographs, Victor believes they are fundamentally flawed. Victor spent many years in the Royal Air Force, both flying and observing aircraft. He is also an avid photographer. He feels that Meier’s craft are too crisp, clear and in focus to be distant aerial objects, and that they are actually miniatures suspended close to the camera lens. There is no visible atmospheric haze or pressure around the objects or ground reflected light. The alleged UFOs have are very dark on their underside which Victor believes is a tell tale sign that they are very small and close to the camera. In the close up photographs, there are no shadows of the objects visible on the ground. They are, in Victor’s opinion, easily replicated hoaxes. Antony Wharton, one of Meier's biggest critics, has recreated some of the Meier photographs to show how easy it is to get very similar results. Below is one of Meier's photographs, reporting to show the "Wedding Cake" craft hovering over a van and in close proximity to the camera: Below are two photographs showing Wharton's model craft and a hoax photo he took which looks very similar to Meier's shot. In the hoax photo, Wharton held the model at the left hand edge which is why it disappears off the side. He believes that in the above Meier photo, he was holding a model from the top and hanging it down in front of the camera view: The below website link leads to a page where various Meier photographs have been deliberately recreated using nothing more than models and fishing line. This page does not prove that Meier faked his photographs, merely that it is possible to easily fake photographs of sufficient quality. This is why people should always be wary when examining photographic evidence on its own merits: http://www.iigwest.com/investigations/meier/ufopix.html Here is another page which contains many clear images of hoaxed UFOs: http://www.flickr.com/photos/thesecretsofthesaucers/show However, there are many people who believe that Billy Meier's claims are genuine, and have fully researched the various photographs and video footage released, and come up with evidence to suggest they are real. Below are two web pages where you can read a lot of arguments against the miniature tree and model UFO hypothesis. http://www.tjresearch.info/Wedcake.htm http://www.tjresearch.info/moretree.htm Below is a link to a UFO Data forum post where various people have discussed Victor's work: http://www.ufodata.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6298 To sum up, after examining Billy Meier’s video and photographic evidence and his own research, Victor believes that either the craft being captured on film were tiny in size and piloted by beings only a few inches high, or they were simply created using models and miniature trees. In looking at both of these explanations it is obvious which is the more probable. As with many UFO cases there is evidence both for and against, it is up to you to look at both sides of the coin and make your own mind up as to what you really believe. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2009

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 30/11/2009 On a Saturday evening in September 2009, Daisy, her boyfriend Stuart and his parents Dave and Ann were travelling back home from Kinver along Kidderminster Road (A449) on the outskirts of Kingswinford. It was a very clear, cold and still evening and the stars were shining brightly in the sky. There were several other cars on the road but it was relatively quiet. It was about 10.50-11.10pm and they were in the vicinity of Summerhill school and some nearby woods, when suddenly Stuart spotted a number of glowing objects in the sky over the woods to the South East. He alerted everyone else to the lights and they all stared out of the car windows. There were seven glowing orange orbs. Their brightness was not constant and seemed to dim then brighten again like firelight. Four of the seven were in a diagonal line to one another, and the remaining three were scattered around them. It was hard to judge the exact height and size of the objects, but they looked to be at least as high as a light aircraft would fly at. Arial photographic map showing car route, position of Summerhill School and nearby woodland: 📷 They continued to watch the objects for about two minutes until they turned up a side lane and the objects were lost from sight. Some of the time the objects appeared to be stationary and at other times they appeared to be moving at a slow speed. All the witnesses were amazed at what they had seen. This sighting has all the characteristics of Chinese lanterns, and I am almost certain that this is what was observed. Daisy said the objects looked too big to be lanterns, she has seen them in the sky before and knows what they look like. However lanterns can often appear larger than they actually are due to the brightness of the light emanating from them. The shape and colour of the objects, and the fluctuating brightness of them, are all consistent with lanterns. Also the objects did not display any interesting manoeuvres that would suggest they were under intelligent control. Lanterns are often launched in multiple from celebrations, and have become very popular in recent years. They can form lines or patterns in the sky, as they are all launched from the same location and all drift in the same direction as the wind. Many of the sightings received by BUFOG, especially over the last year, have the probability of being lanterns. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2009

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 30/11/2009 On the evening of Saturday 14th November, Pete Sloan and his girlfriend witnessed an unusual light in the sky over Knowle. They returned home from an evening meal at 8.30pm. As they got out of their car at their house, they became aware of an orange glow in the sky heading in their direction. Looking to the West they saw an orange orb of light moving in an Easterly direction. The light had a glowing haze around it as if it was passing through the atmosphere, although it appeared much too low for this to be the case. At first they assumed it must be an aeroplane but they then realised there were no other lights visible on it at all. As it was dark it was difficult to determine how high up the object was, but it appeared higher than a plane coming in to land would be. It was also hard to determine the size of the object. It was moving at a constant speed, slightly slower than a plane would appear to move at. They watched as the object approached their position, passed overhead and moved away. It then disappeared from sight as it went behind the clouds. During the sighting the object was completely silent. They were both mystified by what they had seen. Pete is unaware if anyone else also saw the object. He checked online but could find no other reports of it. Aerial photographic map of Knowle: 📷 As with many other recent sightings, the object seen has the characteristics of a Chinese lantern. These appear as glowing orange orbs of light which drift in whichever way the wind is blowing at the time. They can stay adrift for up to 45 minutes, and due to their brightness can sometimes appear much larger or higher than they in fact are. Pete informed me it was quite a windy night, so this could account for the constant movement on a straight trajectory. Lanterns are quite popular at the moment and there are many sightings of them reported to both ourselves and to other groups/websites around the country. Of course I cannot say for definite that this is what was seen, but it does seem like the most fitting explanation for the sighting. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2009

Birmingham UFO Group Report David Rose lives in Wolverhampton and has had a great interest in UFOs for many years. On Tuesday 15th September 2009 he was on holiday at Portmadog in North Wales with his parents and sister. It was between 3-4pm in the afternoon and they were walking around the area of the harbour. It was a sunny day with partial cloud cover and a light breeze. David decided to take a photograph of the boats in the harbour. He did not notice anything out of the ordinary. Aerial map of Porthmadog harbour: 📷 Later in the evening when he checked through the photos he had taken, on the harbour photograph he saw a small dark object in the sky. Zooming in on the object revealed it to be a black oval-shaped object with some thin blurred lines above and below it. David thought the photo was intriguing and definitely not a seagull, so decided to send it to BUFOG for my opinion on it. The original photograph (Scan of print, object in upper middle): 📷 Zoomed view of the object: 📷 Edge find view of the object: 📷 It can be seen from the close up images that the object looks very different to a bird, and I feel it is unlikely to be a seagull. It is also unlikely to be a spec of dirt on the lens as the object was not present on any of the other photos David took that afternoon. However I personally believe the object may be a fly or other insect flying past the camera lens. The blurred lines above and below the object could well be the wings of the insect caught in motion, with the main bulk of the object being it’s body. The object is also very small on the photo and could easily be something tiny close to the camera rather than a large object at a distance. There is no visible structure or lines which would indicate that the object was artificial in nature. If it is an insect, this would explain why David did not see anything at the time. If it was a larger object such as a kite or balloon, it is likely he would have noticed it when taking the photo. David’s photograph is still open to speculation, you may well believe it to be something more unusual, but I think that in this case an insect is the most likely explanation. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2009

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 10/12/2009 In early December 2009, Gavin (name changed for privacy reasons) got in touch with BUFOG via E-Mail to hear our thoughts on two unusual objects he had witnessed several days previously in the night sky over his house. He had managed to photograph and video tape these objects. With his permission this evidence can be seen later in this report. Sighting Details Gavin lives in Altrincham, Trafford, Greater Manchester, and works a night shift. At 2.45am on the morning of Thursday 3rd December he arrived home. He first put the dog out in the back garden, then switched on the TV and made a cup of coffee. Aerial map of Altrincham: 📷 Just after 3am he stood by the back door of the house with his coffee and a cigarette. It was a relatively clear night with some patchy cloud cover. There were slight gusts of wind but it was relatively dry and still. He was watching his dog sniffing around the garden when he happened to glance up into the sky overhead and saw a strange orange-reddish light. The illuminated object that this light was coming from was a rough elongated triangular shape. It appeared to be almost directly over the house, though it was hard to tell exactly how high up it was. Gavin estimates it was at least 300 feet in altitude. The object appeared to be completely still and was also silent. To the naked eye it was roughly the size of a 5 pence piece held at arm’s length. Gavin stared up at the glowing object for 45 seconds. At times it appeared to be on fire, and he could make out what appeared to be smoke or steam around it. He then decided to go and get his mobile phone which has a camera. He returned to the back door and found the object was still present in the sky. He took seven photographs (2 normal, 5 at full zoom). He then started to video the object using his phone. After filming it for about 30 seconds, suddenly a smaller glowing greenish-white coloured orb appeared from nowhere and began moving erratically around the orange object. While it did this occasionally it would vanish and reappear at a different location, but always appeared to be quite close to the orange object. Gavin describes the movement and apparent speed of the orb as “stunning, mind boggling and just plain weird”. After about a minute, the orb of light suddenly shot off in a North-Westerly direction and vanished from sight. Gavin continued to film the orange object for roughly 30 seconds. Then suddenly it went out, like someone switching off a light. Gavin thinks he also saw an orange streak dart away, which only lasted a split second. Sadly this did not show up on the video footage. Over the next hour Gavin returned to the garden up to 15 times to see if either of the objects would return, but nothing else appeared and in the end he went to bed. At the time of the sighting he did not think too much about what he was looking at, but over the next few days what he had seen began to dawn on him and he began to wonder about what the objects were. He had never had much of an interest in UFOs before, so checked the internet, and was amazed at the amount of information available on the subject. Gavin showed the photos and video footage to several people, who were all impressed and thought the objects were very weird indeed. A good friend of his thought they may have been some kind of military craft. However Gavin has an interest in aircraft and has been to many air shows, but he has never seen anything which could explain what he had witnessed. Photograph And Video Evidence Video footage of the UFOs: Unzoomed photograph of the orange object: 📷 Zoom photograph of the orange object: 📷 Close up of the orange object: 📷 Edge find view of the orange object: 📷 Video still showing both UFOs: 📷 Video still close up of the white object: 📷 Edge find close up view of the white object: 📷 Sequence showing disappearance of orange object as it was caught on video: 📷 Sighting Analysis This is a very interesting sighting, and both objects are intriguing for a number of reasons. I believe there is a chance that the orange object may have been a Chinese lantern which was being viewed from almost directly underneath. The colour and shape of the object fit this theory, and the witness even stated that it looked like the object was on fire. Also on the video footage, the way that the object seems to suddenly vanish could easily be it burning out. As the witness had no idea of how high the object was, we therefore do not know how big or small it was. However there are a number of points which could be used to argue against this theory. Firstly the object appeared to remain completely stationary for the four minutes that it was visible to the witness. There was a slight breeze in the air, and also lanterns slowly rise in altitude. It seems unlikely that if it was a lantern, it would not have moved at all in either altitude or position. The other fact that suggests it was something other than a lantern is that it did not alter in brightness at all for the duration of the sighting. This suggests it was being lit by a constant light rather than a flickering flame. Also the witness described seeing an orange streak as if the object had flown away at an incredibly fast speed. Whether you believe the orange object is a lantern or something else entirely, the highly unusual manoeuvres of the glowing white orb of light are very interesting indeed. If the orange object was a lantern, this means that the white object must have been quite small, as lanterns are usually only a few feet wide. Obviously many of the possible explanations for a glowing white light can be discounted because of the movement patterns seen. It is clearly not a meteorite, earth light or conventional aircraft of any kind. The way in which it vanishes and reappears is also very unusual. It does look like it is actually switching off and on rather than entering and leaving a light source. However we cannot say whether we are looking at one object or a number of objects which switch on and off only once. The object appears to be moving in close proximity of the orange object, if we assume it is at the same height. The witness says that it certainly appeared to be at high altitude near the other object. This suggests it was either related to the other object in some way, or that it was interested in it and approached it for a reason. If, for a moment, we ignore the testimonial evidence from the witness, and look at the video and photographs on their merits alone, I have to admit there are no points of reference in the footage. As there are no stars visible in the background, and at no point does the witness point the camera at his house, surroundings or himself, it is impossible to tell if it is really looking up at the night sky or not. One thing which could possibly create the appearance and erratic movement of the white object could be one or more insects crossing in front of the camera and getting caught in the light temporarily. However they would surely form more of a specific or altering shape rather than a constant glowing sphere. Although I have not met the witness, I feel he is probably being truthful about what he saw and filmed. He willingly sent the footage to BUFOG and to other UFO groups without any signs of wanting to make money from his story. He is also adamant that his personal details are not released. Both these facts suggest that he is telling the truth and that the photographs and video footage are real and show objects at altitude in the night sky. If so, then the white orb clearly displays some truly extraordinary movement capabilities, and it can be hard to fathom the reason behind these manoeuvres, or why it would disappear and reappear in the manner seen. However I have seen numerous other UFO videos with glowing lights or spheres performing very similar erratic movements. After taking everything into consideration I still feel that the orange object may have been a Chinese lantern. But I cannot say for definite what either of the objects are, and for that reason it remains highly intriguing. Due to the time of morning when the sighting took place it is unlikely there would have been many, if any, other witnesses. However if you believe you may have also seen the objects, or have any thoughts on what they may be, please get in touch. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2009

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 02/01/2010 On the morning of 28th December, a couple from Dudley found something interesting in the morning frost – something which looked like a pair of unusual footprints. The couple’s daughter, Tracey Sharman, contacted BUFOG about the incident because they did not match any animal tracks she could think of so she wanted to hear our opinion. Soon afterwards an explanation for the markings was found. She also gave details of a sighting of a number of lights she had seen on the 24th December over her house. This report will cover both of these incidents. 24th December 2009 UFOs Sighting It was 8pm on Christmas eve. Tracey was in her house on Stour Hill, Quarry Lane, Dudley. She decided to look out of the front window to see if she could spot a stray cat which had seen around the premises. It was a cold and still night, with not much cloud cover, and the stars visible in the sky. As she looked she suddenly noticed a glowing orb of light in the sky. It appeared to be at least the height that a helicopter would fly at. It was a constant brightness, and a fiery orange in colour. The orb was to the East of her position, but it was hard to judge how far away it was from her. It was moving slowly in a roughly Northern direction. Aerial map of sighting location: 📷 Tracey watched the orb until it had vanished out of sight. Soon after this she caught sight of a second orb which looked identical to the first. It moved on the same path and again went out of sight, and after this a third orb was seen to do the same. In total the sighting lasted for 3-4 minutes. During this time she got her binoculars to take a closer look at the objects, but did not take any photographs. This sighting shows many characteristics of Chinese lanterns, and it is these that I believe Tracey saw. Lanterns appear as glowing orange orbs of light and are often launched one after the other. They will then typically get caught in air currents and drift in the same direction. Lanterns are very popular, especially around Christmas and New Year, and have been widely available in the shops of Birmingham this year. 28th December 2009 Footprints Tracey’s parents live on Wood Road in Lower Gornal, Dudley. On the morning of 28th December, Tracey’s father stepped out into the back garden. There had been a heavy frost come down through the night which covered the lawn. As he surveyed the garden, he noticed two darker patches near the edge of the lawn. Aerial map of Wood Road: 📷 He went to take a look and realised that they appeared to be two identical footprint markings in the frost. They were diagonal from each other and approximately 6 inches apart. Each marking was a foot long by 6 inches wide. The initial impression was that they had been made by an animal with three toes or pads – two large with a smaller one in the middle. Tracey’s dad went to get his tape measure and then took a number of close up photographs of one of the two markings. Below are the best of these photographs. The left edge of the second marking can be seen at the right side of the first photograph: 📷 📷 He was mystified by the footprints so decided to contact Tracey about them. He also sent her the photos to have a look at. There were two main puzzling aspects about the markings. Firstly they did not appear to match any animal tracks that either Tracey or her parents were aware of. Secondly there appeared to only be one pair of footprints out on their own – surely there should have been a trail leading to and from them? I analyzed the photographs and could not come up with an explanation for them either. I downloaded a number of animal track charts but nothing really seemed to match. The closest was the hoofprint of a white tail deer, but there were a number of things wrong with this assumption. The markings seemed too big, there was only two of them not four, and why would a deer have been in the back garden of a house in the middle of Dudley? There was also suggestion that the markings may have been caused by two human shoe/boot prints very close together. But if this was the case the person would have had to have jumped with both feet together to make the second marking, and then managed to get out of the area without leaving more footprints. It was certainly a mystery. However on the morning of 2nd January 2010, Tracey contacted me via E-Mail with a new photograph she had taken - a photograph of markings her pet cat had made in the morning frost: 📷 It seems the mystery was solved. The markings were not of a single footprint or even two footprints close together - they were caused by a cat sitting in an upright position on the grass! Despite looking slightly different, the markings are too similar to what was found on the 28th, and I am sure this is the explanation for them. I can only assume that the cat on the 28th was walking so briskly across the lawn that it's paw prints were not visible, it was only when it came to a halt twice that it melted the frost away to leave the markings behind. This incident just goes to show how sometimes something completely normal can appear very unusual in certain circumstances. But I am pleased that an explanation has been found. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2010

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 02/01/2010 On 1st January 2010 we received details of a sighting that took place just as the New Year came in. Witness Timothy Sylvester saw a round reddish coloured orb of light as the fireworks began. He estimated it was about the size of a car, although exact size and distance can be very hard to judge, especially after dark. He stated that he watched the light for about 50 minutes, before it finally faded away. If the timing given was correct, this seems a very long time for the light to have remained visible. Yet I am almost certain that the object he saw was a Chinese lantern which had been launched to celebrate the New Year. I actually saw a couple myself close to my parents house, and we have received some other similar reports as well. Lanterns are very popular this year, and many have been bought and launched around the country. Timothy did not leave any contact details so we have no further information about this sighting. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2010

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 02/01/2010 On the first evening of 2010, my friend Miranda Morgan rang me to let me know about two recent UFO sightings she had experienced. While one can probably easily be explained away, the other is harder to explain. This report covers both of these sightings. 26th December 2009 UFO Sighting It was 5pm on Boxing Day evening. Miranda decided to go and have a cigarette just outside the back door of her property on Roach Close, Chelmsley Wood. It was a very cold evening, but was clear and still, with the stars and moon both visible. Aerial map of sighting location: 📷 Miranda often likes to glance up at the stars, and did precisely this. When she did she suddenly spotted a very bright blue coloured orb of light. The light was moving extremely fast and heading towards her position from the South West. There was nothing visible other than the light, but Miranda was struck by its colour. It was hard to judge how high it was, but it was definitely not at a low altitude. Drawing created from witness description: 📷 Due to its speed, the orb reached her position in only several seconds. As it passed over her head she turned to watch it continue over the house and onward to the North East. The object was completely silent and Miranda found this very strange. A second after it had passed over the house, it suddenly began to rapidly decrease in speed, before vanishing without trace. This is an interesting sighting as reports of blue orbs of light are quite rare. It seems unlikely to have been a conventional aircraft or helicopter for a number of reasons. Blue is not one of the standard lights displayed on aircraft, and there were no other lights seen in addition to it. The object was moving too fast to have been an aircraft, and was also completely silent. Also if the light was from an aircraft, why would it have suddenly switched off immediately after a reduction in speed? The witnesses house does lie under a flight path, but this flight path always heads to the South towards Birmingham International airport, where as the light was travelling to the North East towards Coleshill. Perhaps the light was coming from a model that someone was flying, but it seems too fast to have been this, and surely the propulsion system for such a model would have made considerable noise? Could the object have been a meteorite or space debris burning up in the atmosphere? This is a possibility to consider, and what Miranda’s husband believes it may have been. However, “shooting stars” are usually white-yellow or white-blue in colour, not a rich bright blue. The object appears to have been travelling too slow for this explanation, meteorites are usually only seen for a second as they cross the sky. Also they do not slow down at any point, so assuming this aspect was not an optical illusion it again does not seem to fit what was seen. For now the source of the blue light remains a mystery. Due to the speed of the object there were probably very few, if any, other witnesses to it. 1st January 2010 UFO Sighting At 8pm on the evening of new years day, Miranda decided to walk to the shop at the end of Roach Close to purchase some food supplies. It was a still and very cold evening with light cloud cover. While walking back down the road to her house, she looked up into the sky. To the North West she saw a glowing orange orb of light. It appeared to be constant in brightness and was quite visible against the dark sky. It was hard to judge exactly how high the object was or how far from her position. Miranda continued to watch the orb as she walked down the road. It appeared to be slowing and speeding up in velocity on a path to the North East, and was also slowly ascending. She watched it for about 15 seconds until she reached her front door. By this time the orb had almost vanished out of sight, so she headed inside. Unlike her previous sighting, this object has many characteristics which match Chinese lanterns, and I believe this is almost certainly what was seen. The apparent changes in speed could easily have been caused by gusts of wind, despite the fact it was still at ground level, at a higher altitude it could have been more breezy. Also the fact that the object was slowly ascending fits in with it being a lantern. At no point did it perform any manoeuvres which would suggest otherwise. Lanterns are extremely popular around Christmas and New Year, and we have received details of numerous sightings which more than likely had lanterns as the explanation. When I informed Miranda, she was satisfied that the object must have been one of these, however the sighting of the blue orb several days previously remains unexplained at present. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2010

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 03/01/2010 Reg Edwards lives in Kings Norton and over the years has had a number of interesting UFO sightings, including a highly impressive close encounter with what appeared to be a very unusual craft. He has an interest in the subject, and got in touch after seeing some glowing orbs of light on just after New Year 2010. This report will cover each of his sightings in order, starting with the oldest. October/November 1978 UFO Sighting One night in late autumn 1978, Reg and a friend stopped over at another friend’s house close to Selly Oak Park. They slept in a spare bedroom at the property. When they awoke the following morning between 7-8am, Reg drew back the curtains of the room’s window. The view from the window was to the North over the area of Harbourne. It was a frosty but clear morning with only light cloud cover. Reg made a cup of tea and had a cigarette. While he did this he stared out of the window. It was still semi-dark and the morning sun was just coming up. He noticed something metallic, possibly spherical in shape, which appeared to be reflecting the sun’s rays rather than being self-illuminated. It was completely stationary in the sky, and appeared to be less than 1000 feet up and 2-3 miles to the North of his position. Aerial map of Selly Oak Park, close to which the UFO was sighted from: 📷 Reg told his friend about the object who then too sighted it. They continued to watch the object. It remained motionless for a while. There were other aircraft in the sky with usual navigation lights on. They appeared to be flying past the position of the unknown object. After a while it started to slowly descend in altitude. It then slowly moved back upwards again, before once more hovering still. Reg and his friend were both puzzled by the object and wondered what it might be. Due to Reg’s previous experience in the army, he was used to recognising various aircraft from different angles and different times of day and night. Yet there was something very odd about this object which intrigued him. Over the next hour, Reg checked back out of the window numerous times but the object remained visible in the sky. In the end he left his friend’s house to return home so does not know how long the object remained in the area for. This sighting is interesting; especially due to the length of time the object appeared to remain hovering in the sky. Reg assumed at first that he may be looking at a bright star rather than an object – this was until it began to descend in altitude. He could see no real shape to the object, it just looked like a metallic orb. He was certain it was not a helicopter hovering over Harbourne, as it appeared to have no lights on it, even when it was quite dark at the start of the sighting. If it was a metallic coloured balloon or inflatable surely it would have drifted away after a while rather than remained for over an hour. One possibility was that it was some kind of tethered inflatable, but this too would have been unlikely to have changed altitude. Considering the amount of time it was present for, and the fact that numerous aircraft appeared to be flying past it, it is probable it was also seen by other witnesses, however it happened many years ago and I have been unable to find any articles on the internet which could relate to the incident. 1985-87 UFO Close Encounter Reg’s most impressive UFO sighting took place in the the mid 1980’s during spring or summer months. He does admit that he had been drinking prior to the sighting; however what he experienced was highly unlikely to have been caused by alcohol. Reg was round his friend’s house in Northfield for the evening for some drinks. He left his friend’s house to walk back home at around 2.00-2.30am. It was a clear, warm night with moderate cloud cover, and due to the time there was nobody else around. As he walked along a road that leads past Northfield Railway station he suddenly heard a strange pulsing sound in the air coming from his right from around the area of the station. He looked round to find the source of the sound. Aerial map of Northfield railway station: 📷 He was immediately confronted with an absolutely stunning sight. There through a gap between the housing he saw a large object in the air, about 150-200 yards away from his position. It was long and cigar-shaped with rounded corners, and a matt grey/silver in colour. It was at least 30 feet in length and 10 feet high. The object was facing slightly away from him, but he could see what looked like a number of round darker portholes equally spaced along the centre. There was also a rounded fin-shaped protrusion from the rear end of the object, the same colour as the bulk of it. Reg says there may possibly have been other protrusions but he cannot remember for definite. Drawing of UFO (side view) done from witness description: 📷 The object was tilted upward at a shallow angle, and was slowly increasing in altitude as if it was just taking off. Reg estimates it was moving about 15-20 mph. It was completely silent but he could feel something strange in the air, possibly energy coming from the object, like pin pricks against his skin. Reg only watched the object for several seconds as he was completely terrified by what he was witnessing. He quickly moved round out of sight of the object up against a chain link fence with a wall behind. He was filled with adrenaline and the hairs on his neck were standing up. Despite being hidden, he could still feel the energy in the air around him and could still hear the unusual pulsing sound. He had no idea of what the object was but was highly disturbed by its appearance and proximity to him. He lit up a cigarette and took a few drags. After about a minute he decided to move away from the area without looking back. He briskly walked away, continuing his journey home towards Kings Norton. After several minutes he looked back towards Northfield station but could no longer see the object at all. For the rest of his journey he thought about what he had experienced, and felt certain that he had seen a highly unusual craft of some kind. Reg has only ever spoke of this sighting to a few individuals, as he feels that many would just ridicule him about it. This is sadly true, and the reason why many witnesses never come forward about their experiences at all. This is a truly stunning close encounter with a UFO. Many aspects are highly intriguing and most alternative explanations for it can be discounted. Due to it’s proximity, Reg got a clear view of it’s appearance. The object was clearly not a conventional aircraft of any kind. It seems too large to have been a model of some kind, and was also making a very unusual sound. It also seems unlikely to have been a large balloon or inflatable. These would of course have been silent, and Reg says it certainly appeared to have mass and structure to it. We can assume that the unusual energy that Reg felt in the air was coming from the object. This again seems completely un-natural and suggests that the object had some kind of power source or was perhaps giving off radiation. I certainly do not believe that the fact Reg had been drinking had anything to do with this sighting. People do not see large unexplained flying objects under the influence of alcohol, and Reg had never seen anything like it before or since. He clearly remembers the entire incident due to the level of fear it caused. He feels certain that other than the energy in the air, it did not interact with him in any way, and he did not experience any missing time. But he does believe that he had a very real close encounter with a craft, probably of non-human origin. He feels it was unlikely to have been a secret military craft as there would be no reason for them to fly this over a highly populated city at low altitude. I too would use this logic and also believe this to be a genuine sighting of an extraterrestrial craft. July 2009 UFO Sighting It was late evening on a day in mid July 2009. Reg was using his computer in his house on Broadmeadow Close, Kings Norton. One of the lounge windows runs behind his computer, but most of the view is obscured, giving a small letterbox-shaped view of the sky. He became aware of movement in this patch of sky, so glanced out of the window to see what it was. Aerial map of sighting location: 📷 Travelling slowly across the sky in a South Westerly direction was an object which looked similar to the one he had seen back in 1978 – a metallic sphere shaped object which was reflecting the setting sun. The object was moving in and out of cloud cover and heading on a straight course. Reg estimates it was at least 3000 feet high. It was hard to judge the distance from him and size of the object. He went to grab his binoculars to take a closer look at the object, but when he did so he could not seem to focus on it as it was constantly on the move. To the right of the window view is a tall tree. As the object passed behind this it suddenly slowed down and came to a halt (It was definitely far behind the tree not caught up in it). It then began slowly moving around in the same area of sky, back and forth. It did this for quite a while, and Reg returned to his computer. He occasionally glanced up to see if it was still present. After a while he checked and it had completely vanished from sight. He walked outside to take a better look but could no longer see the object. The sky viewable from the window is used as a flight path, so Reg is used to seeing aircraft and helicopters of various types. The object he saw looked completely different, and he is certain it was not a helicopter caught in the evening light. It could not have been an aeroplane as these are not able to hover in the same area for a long while. Reg wonders if the object changed course and was actually heading away from his position, which would have given the impression that it was nearly stationary. This is a possibility but surely the object would have got noticeably smaller or vanished from view quicker? The movement pattern tends to suggest that it was not merely a balloon floating in the breeze, so the true identity of the object will remain a mystery. 1st January 2010 UFOs Sighting On New Year 2010, Reg was again at his computer. Just after midnight he opened the curtains of the lounge window to watch the local fireworks going off. It was a clear night, with only partial cloud cover and the stars visible. He noticed a small orange/yellow orb of light floating in the sky in the distance. He estimated it was about 1-1.5 miles away from his position. It was travelling on a straight course to the South West, and appeared to be quite small in size. He continued to watch and then noticed more orbs travelling in the same direction as the first. He watched for about 15-20 minutes in total during which he saw at least 15 identical looking orbs. Most moved slowly across the sky until out of sight, but he spotted one which appeared to be nearly stationary. It remained like this for the duration of the sighting before fading away. The appearance of these orbs, combined with the fact that Reg saw them directly after new year means they were more than likely Chinese lanterns being launched from a party. These are very popular around Christmas and New Year and have been widely available in the shops. Reg has seen lanterns before in Thailand, and although he accepts that this is probably what was seen in this case, he did mention that they appeared to move very smoothly and also did not flicker unlike those he saw abroad. This was probably due to the type of lanterns being launched or the weather conditions. The one orb which remained still while the others moved is puzzling, I can only assume that it was I have received many sightings of orange orbs over the last year, sometimes they are seen to flicker like flames, and other times not. I am pretty sure that lanterns were the explanation for this particular sighting, although Reg’s previous sightings cannot be so easily explained away. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2010

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 03/01/2010 Sighting Details Late on an evening in summer 2010 (exact date unknown), Phil Kew was staring out of the bedroom window of his house on Rutland Road, Mablethorpe. It was a clear night with very little cloud cover, and he was gazing at the stars. At about 11.30pm to the South he noticed to the right of his vision a white star-like light moving slowly towards the East. It was hard to tell exactly how far away it was but it was moving on a level course much slower than a passenger jet would fly at. The light was of a constant brightness. Phil was intrigued by the object and watched it for 2 minutes until it had vanished from sight. Aerial map of Rutlands Road: 📷 He continued to stare out of the window. After about 2 minutes another white light appeared in the same area of sky where the first had initially been. This time it was moving towards his location in a Northward direction, but looked identical to the first and acted the same. Over the next half an hour he saw at least 8 objects. They always moved on a straight course, appeared identical to each other, but tended to move in different directions. Initially he thought they were planes but soon realised they were moving too slow and looked different to how aircraft would normally appear. As he watched them he thought about ringing his sister who lives nearby, but he felt it was too late at night and she would have gone to bed. Phil wonders if what he saw was the same object moving back and forth across the sky rather than numerous separate objects. Sighting Analysis Regarding the one/many question, I feel it is more likely that the lights were numerous individual objects rather than the same one continuously vanishing from sight then reappearing. Due to the number of objects seen and regularity of their movement I feel that it is unlikely the objects were craft of some kind. Could the objects have just been satellites orbiting the Earth? Phil feels that they were in the atmosphere rather than out in space, but the appearance and movement pattern observed does fit with this potentially being the explanation. However most people would know how to recognise satellites, so I feel it is more probable they were something else. If they were in the atmosphere, the lights could well have been a number of white LED balloons. These are electronically lit inflatables that come in a variety of sizes and shapes. They could have been launched from a nearby celebration. The objects did move in different directions, but perhaps this was down to changing wind direction. The slow speed and straight paths of the objects is reminiscent of how LED balloons or Chinese lanterns act when caught in an air current. I feel this is the most likely explanation for what was seen. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2010

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 06/01/2010 Towards the start of 2010, BUFOG was contacted by Darren (name changed for privacy reasons). He had taken video footage of a UFO back in March 2009, and wanted to hear our opinion on it. This report includes a number of higher quality stills taken from the original recording. UFO Sighting Details On an evening in early March, Darren decided to visit the Lickey Hills with his wife and two daughters. He has had an interest in chem trails for a number of years, and due to the clear weather conditions he figured it would be a good location to capture some on video. It would also be a nice scenic walk, with a great view over the Birmingham area. Aerial map of sighting location: 📷 It was between 7-8pm and the family were out on the top of the hills close to one of the car parks. The sun was setting, and the sky was clear with very little cloud cover. A number of chem trails could clearly be seen in the upper atmosphere, glowing red in the remaining sunlight. Darren was looking towards the South East in the direction of Bromsgrove, and filming the sky. He was using a high quality Sony HD 10 API camera. While filming, he noticed what appeared at first to be a bright star. But then the “star” began moving slowly across the sky, and he realised it must be an object of some kind. He attracted the attention of one of his daughters to the object while continuing to film. The object appeared to be bright white and self-illuminated. It was at quite a high altitude but was seen to pass below the chem trail. It moved on a straight course across the sky. Darren estimates it was about 1-1.5 miles from his position. Shortly after Darren stopped filming the object it seemed to slow down and halt in the sky. It remained like this for quite a while. Looking around he noticed a group of other people who appeared to also be watching the object and pointing up at it. He did not walk over and speak to them as they were quite far away. In the end it started to get dark, so the family left and headed for home, with the object still visible in the sky. Video Transcript Darren: Yeah, look at that up there. That bright star. Can you see it? Look...look carefully. I’ve got it on the camera. Can you see a bright star up there? By the chem trail? Daughter: Yeah, there! It’s not even a star daddy. Darren: It’s bright isn’t it? Wife: There’s a light there, up there. Darren: See? See? Daughter: It’s moving. Darren: Uh? Is it moving? What is it then? It’s a UFO. It is...seriously! Daughter: It’s not a star. Darren: It’s not a star. It’s not a plane, it’s moving too slow. It’s a UFO! Got one on camera! Daughter: What’s a UFO? Darren: Watch it. Daughter: What’s a UFO? Darren: It’s a flying spaceship. It’s a unidentified flying object. Yeah? We don’t know what it is, it’s moving too slow to be a plane, it’s not a star, but it looks like a star. It’s bright. Wife: You know it’s moving too slow to be a plane if it’s really high up. Darren: No, that’s not a plane. Daughter: It might be a parachute. Darren: I’ve got it on camera guys! Daughter: It might be a parachute. Darren: The evidence is here! Let’s see it disappear, in a minute. I thought it was a star, at first. Daughter: It’s a parachute. Darren: It’s moving isn’t it? Daughter: It’s coming down so it’s a parachute. Darren: Must be a slow moving plane. It must be high now. Sighting Analysis I have spoken directly with Darren in detail about the video and believe that it is real footage. As you can see the UFO appears to be spherical or circular in shape, although due to the distance this may be deceptive. If it was a conventional aircraft or helicopter, I feel the shape would have been possible to make out when the object was zoomed in on. It is hard to tell the size of the object. I am not certain whether it is self-illuminated as it appeared to be to the witnesses, or whether it is metallic and reflecting the remaining sunlight. I feel it probably is reflective, I have seen other videos before where this has been the case. Darren says he has seen similar objects before, but this is the first time he has managed to capture one on camera. The object did not make any clearly intelligent manoeuvres. However it is interesting that it appeared to be stopped at the beginning of the sighting, and also appeared to slow down and after it had moved across the sky for a while. But I think this is probably an illusion caused by the direction the object was moving in. As the video footage progresses, it does look like the object is moving further away and becomes less obvious and bright. Zoomed still of UFO: 📷 Zoomed edge find still of UFO: 📷 In the zoomed view, the object looks like a glowing white sphere with a black outer edge, although this could have been caused by shadow being cast on its surface. This sighting is certainly interesting. Darren believes he has captured a genuine disc-shaped craft. Currently no satisfactory explanation can be found, so we can only speculate as to the true identity of the object. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2010