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

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

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

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

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

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

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 01/05/2018 Last Updated: 15/10/2025   In April 2018 I was contacted by a lady named Catherine who wanted to share with me a number of experiences she had had throughout her life since childhood. Some of these experiences are very likely to be contact related. They have been mentioned in this report in age order.   The Cuckoo   In the mid-90s when Catherine was between 4-5 years old she lived with her parents Mark and Emily in a house on Arlington Road in St Annes, Bristol. Every so often she would hear strange unexplained sounds. It would sound like a mixture of a whispering voice and a humming noise. The noise would continue for a couple of minutes, then cease before returning after a short while. She would always become anxious when she started to hear the noises, because they would always precede other experiences that would kick off in her room after she had gone to bed.   Aerial map of Arlington Road  She would sometimes lie awake in bed on purpose to prevent what would take place. But in the end she would start to drop off. And in that semi-awake state she would then hear the sound of an ice cream van outside the house playing Popeye the Sailor Man. She would close her eyes for a short while. When she re-opened her eyes she would see a cuckoo in the room. Usually it would be sitting at the base of the bed. Very occasionally it would swoop around the room in loops above her.   Example photograph of a cuckoo  Whenever Catherine saw the bird she would also feel another presence in the room standing alongside the bed. She felt like she had to keep staring at the bird to remain safe and prevent seeing whatever was standing there. However on occasion she would see a dark grey coloured figure standing there out of her peripheral vision. It was about 6 feet tall, slender in build with long thin arms and legs. Its fingers were long and pointy. Catherine never turned to look at it properly or see what its face looked like. Because of the long pointy fingers Catherine referred to these beings that would accompany the cuckoo as “the spikey people”.   To her knowledge Catherine never tried communicating with the cuckoo. She would just recall staring at it a while before dropping off to sleep. Whenever it appeared she would be extremely frightened of the other figure in the room. She would not dare move, put on the light or call out for her parents. She does recall telling them about it on a number of occasions. They just put it down to her imagination and did not seem particularly concerned.   The last time she saw the cuckoo was about a week before she moved house. It was acting extremely agitated and flapping around the room like it was panicking and trying to get out. Due to the behaviour of the bird, Catherine somehow knew that she was not going to see it again.   If this experience had just happened once you could easily dismiss it as an unusual dream. However this happened regularly for a number of years until Catherine changed address. There are many aspects of these experiences that fit in with them potentially being visitations.   The figure that Catherine would see alongside the bed could well have been a Grey that was there for her (Something which would be confirmed later on in her life as you will see). ETs often use screen memories to mask what is actually taking place, and can appear in a variety of forms including animals. This is more common for contact experiences that take place during childhood. Both the cuckoo and the sound of the ice cream van outside could have been part of this repeated screen memory. It was obviously not an actual ice cream van outside as these incidents took place very late evening after Catherine had gone to bed.   While visual and audial hallucinations can be side effects of sleep paralysis, and shadowy figures can sometimes be seen, Catherine does not believe that she was paralysed when her experiences took place. Therefore sleep paralysis can be dismissed as the cause of the incidents.   It is also very interesting that these experiences were preceded earlier in the day time by the strange whispering noises which Catherine heard. The fact that the two experiences were linked suggests a more unusual explanation for the noises than just a repeated medical condition. Could it have been some kind of communication from the ETs or her brain picking up on the fact that a contact experience was imminent?   Father’s UFO Sighting   Another incident took place in 1994. Catherine was only 4 years old at the time but distinctly remembers her father telling her mother that he had seen a UFO from the sky light in the bathroom.   Soon after this discussion she recalls overhearing another chat where Mark confirmed that someone else from his work place had also seen the UFO and it had been in the newspaper.   Recently Catherine asked Mark if he could remember the incident. He said that he could. She did not press him for further details because he is quite sceptical and does not really like discussing things he cannot rationally explain.   Yellow Orbs   Another UFO sighting occurred in 1996 or 1997, and this time Catherine was one of the witnesses! It was fireworks night and she and her parents had gone round to their neighbours back garden for a display. There were about five adults present and three other children.   Everyone was out in the back garden preparing to launch the fireworks. It was a really clear and still night and the stars were visible in the sky. Suddenly one of the adults exclaimed “What’s that?” Everyone looked up and saw what appeared to be two yellow orbs of light at different points in the sky. The objects had a warm yellow glow and were not flickering in brightness. They appeared to be completely silent. They were moving slowly towards one another, one seemingly slowly descending while the other slowly ascended. Catherine wondered what was going to happen when they finally met. It took about five minutes for the two lights to reach one another as they were moving at quite a slow speed. By this time most of the others had lost interest. Catherine got everyone’s attention pointing out the fact that they were about to meet. When the lights finally touched they both immediately vanished!   There are some aspects of this sighting which could suggest the objects were Chinese lanterns. These do appear as glowing orbs of light which drift slowly across the sky, usually on a straight course, and can appear to suddenly vanish as they eventually go out. And of course it should be noted that it was bonfire night, a popular night for launching lanterns.   If they were lanterns they could have been caught on two different slow moving air currents which meant they moved slowly towards one another.  And they may have both gone out when they collided with one another. However lanterns tend to be more of an amber orange colour and can usually be seen to flicker in brightness rather than remain constantly bright, so not all aspects point towards this as the explanation.   Grey Visitation   When she was 19 years old Catherine moved into a house in Wrexham, Wales with her friend Anna. On a day not long after she moved in she once again heard the whispering humming sound that she had heard many times before through her life. She did not think anything of it.   That night she went to bed about 1am. During the night she had a strange dream. She found herself standing outside of her bedroom on the landing. Despite the fact that she was in her own house, for some reason she felt like it was situated in Flint, where she had lived previously. She turned round and saw a number of beings standing further along the landing. It immediately became apparent that these were “the spikey people”  from her childhood. However this time she could at last see their faces. They had over-sized light bulb shaped heads with angular pointed chins. Their eyes were large, black and rounded almond-shaped eyes. Their noses were unpronounced, and they had small slits for mouths. They were unclothed and had smooth dark grey coloured skin.   By this point of her life Catherine had an interest in the paranormal and was aware that these beings had been reported by people before, but did not know that they are referred to as Greys. The beings suddenly began walking fast towards her. Catherine ran into her bedroom and slammed the door behind her. She then leant her arm up against the door to prevent them from entering the room.   The Greys were not forcefully trying to open the door but did continue to push against it. In the end Catherine resigned to keeping them out any longer and she lowered her arm. The beings entered the room and stood around her calmly. Two of them put their hands on her shoulders while the other two stood behind her. They then walked out of the bedroom with her. This was where the dream ended.   Catherine woke up to find herself back in her bed. It was early morning time. She immediately remembered what had happened. She was quite disturbed as it had felt far more real than a dream usually would. She thought back to her experiences as a child and felt that this was in some way connected. She did not tell her housemate about what happened as she thought she would not take her seriously.   This certainly sounds like a visitation experience, and could well have preceded an abduction which was wiped from her memory. It certainly appears that the beings were planning to take her somewhere else. The fact that their bodies looked the same as the being she had seen during her childhood when the cuckoo appeared in her room means that those experiences were also very likely linked with contact.   Premonitions   While Catherine does not pretend to be able to accurately predict events before they happen, she did inform me that there have been a number of occasions where she has seemingly been able to predict things. Sometimes she knows when the phone is about to ring and who will be on the other end when she picks it up. Or she will be singing a song and then put the radio on and it’s playing. She says that this happens more frequently than could be put down to random chance.   Catherine is also apparently able to predict when light bulbs are going to go in her house. On numerous occasions she has thought that one of the lights in the living room or bedroom is going to blow and then within a few minutes of this thought it will.   While these mild premonitions are difficult to prove they are still worth noting, as contactees regularly report possessing psychic abilities.   Paranormal Activity   Catherine has informed me both of the houses she has lived in at Wrexham have apparently been haunted.   At the first house, where she had the Grey visitation experience, lights would go on and off by themselves. She and her housemate would sometimes hear the bathroom cord light being pulled and when they checked the light would be switched on. On other occasions they would hear doors closing or opening by themselves.   At the second house the living room and front door have textured glass in them. She would frequently see the shadow of a figure walking past the front door. There were also times where she saw a face peering in through the door, but when she checked there would be no-one there. On one occasion she was out in the back garden and looked back towards the house. She saw what appeared to be a dark figure standing in the kitchen looking out at her through the window. At another time she caught a glimpse of a figure standing over her baby daughter’s Moses Basket out of the corner of her eye.   These were not the only apparitions Catherine has seen. She has also had some ghostly experiences at the old people’s home where she works. One evening she saw what she believed was one of the residents up out of bed and walking along the corridor. As she walked after the person to bring them back, they vanished around a corner. When Catherine reached the corner and walked round it she found there was no-one there. Another day she was moving things around in one of the rooms when the doors slammed shut behind her so forcefully that they knocked her over. There was no known draft at the home which could have been responsible.   It is very common for experiencers to report paranormal activity in their proximity and I wonder if some of these experiences have been down to the fact that Catherine has experienced contact and it has altered her perception in some way.   Further Contact?   While Catherine cannot consciously recall meeting with Greys again after this point, there was a morning in 2014 or 2015 when her partner asked her “Who are the spikey people?” Shocked by his question she responded “What? How do you know about the spikey people?”  He then went on to say that in her sleep she had been shouting “The spikey people are coming back!”   So many years had gone on since her last experience that she had put it out of her mind. But hearing this got her thinking again about what had happened to her. This led on to her looking into the contact subject, and wondering whether she was a contactee.   Conclusions   As you can see, Catherine appears to have had a number of visitation experiences involving Greys, whom as a child she nicknamed “the spikey people”. Some of her other experiences may also be indirectly related to contact. While there is no definite sign that she has had contact in recent years, the fact that she shouted out that they were coming back could suggest other experiences she is not aware of at present.   Catherine is planning to be regressed in the coming months. If this is successful the findings will be added to this report.   Copyright Dave Hodrien 2025

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Year: 2015 Last Updated: 26/06/2025   Introduction   Lloyd Canning is an artist who regularly paints stunning pictures of UFO/UAPs, beings, space, multiple dimensions and other metaphysical concepts. He has attended numerous BUFOG meetings and regularly displays his artwork at conferences.   An example of one of Lloyd Canning's paintings  Lloyd does not believe that he has experienced contact directly, he feels that he draws these things because of his deep interest in the phenomenon. He has had numerous dreams where he has gone inside his paintings and they have “come to life” but believes these to be nothing more than dreams. While he has not experienced contact, he has had several UFO/UAP sightings over the years.   November/December 2004 - Silver Oval   In late 2004 Lloyd purchased a new van from a dealer in Reddich. On an evening in November or December he went to pick it up. His friend gave him a lift to the dealership in his car. It was about 6pm and they were on their return journey to Evesham. Due to the time of year the sun was setting, but there was still some light in the sky.   They were driving South West along the A46 somewhere between Salford Priors and Harvington, with Lloyd in his new van, and his friend following along behind in his car. It was very quiet and other than them there were no other drivers on the road nearby.   Aerial map showing the stretch of the A46 along which the incident took place  All of a sudden ahead and off to his right Lloyd realised there was a large object in air approaching the road. He was astounded to see a silver coloured oval/egg shaped object. It was huge, larger than a jumbo jet (250 feet), and appeared to be at very low altitude, no higher than 50 feet up.   He watched as the object flew directly towards him! It had a rounded front, no wings and had a curved reflective surface. It was moving fast and only took several seconds to reach him and pass over the roof of the van. He compared this to “like passing under a bridge”.   Photograph of the A46  As it passed over he tried to scream but no noise came out. He happened to have the windows down and the stereo off at the time, and it was clear that there was no sound coming from this huge object.   After it had been lost from sight he wished he had pulled over to have a look for it heading away into the distance, but was in a state of shock so continued to drive. He did not stop the van to discuss the sighting with his friend, and before the journey was complete his friend left him to travel back to his own house.   Lloyd does not really know why he did not speak with his friend about what had happened at the time. But in early 2015 he finally spoke with him about the incident and asked him whether he saw anything from his car. His friend recalled seeing a small spherical object. Lloyd was deeply confused by this, as it was completely different to what he remembers seeing. However there were many other people present at the time so he did not stress the matter. He feels that his friend was trying to dismiss the sighting.   If we assume that Lloyd’s recollection of events is accurate, and that his friend was downplaying the appearance of the object, then what could it have been? It was clearly not a normal aircraft. It was the wrong shape and flying much too low. Aeroplanes only drop down to this altitude when they are about to land or just taking off. There are no airfields in the vicinity, so it could not have been this, and at that height it would have been clear that it was an aeroplane. Also the noise of the engines would have been audible as it passed overhead.   The object was moving much too quickly to be a silver coloured hot air balloon or other inflatable, so I feel this explanation can also be put out of the question. Besides these there is not really anything else mundane which would fit the description. Therefore it is certainly possible this was a genuine sighting of an advanced craft.   November 2008 – Glowing Red Oval   One pleasant and still evening in November 2008 Lloyd drove to Morrisons in Evesham to use the ATM. After using the ATM he left the supermarket car park in his car and turned right onto The Link. This leads up to a roundabout with some orange street lights on. Due to the time of year the sun had already set and these lights were on.   Photograph of Morrisons showing the ATMs  Aerial map of The Link indicating the route from Morrisons to the roundabout  In the distance over the buildings he saw a red glowing object in the sky. It was travelling on an Eastward course so moving from his left to right. The object was shaped like a lemon and pulsing with cherry red light. The pulsing coming from it was regular. It did not look like it was rotating.   Photograph of the roundabout in the direction Lloyd’s car was facing  The UFO appeared to be several thousand feet up and far away in the sky, meaning that it would have been quite large in size. On the far side of the island is Jewson Builders Merchants. Lloyd decided to pull up the car there and get out to have a better look at the object.   Photograph of Jewson Builders Merchants  He watched it for about 8-10 seconds as it crossed the sky on a straight course. There was a couple talking nearby but they did not appear to have spotted it. Lloyd did not call over to alert them to its presence.   As the object began to move away from the area he decided to get back in the car and start driving after it to continue to watch it. He began by travelling North East along the A46. However the object appeared to have changed course and was now heading South East. Lloyd started driving along other roads after it, travelling between 60-80 mph. He drove all the way to Wickham Road in Studley, Reddich before losing sight of the object. It was clearly moving faster than him and was impossible to catch up.   Aerial map indicating Evesham (A) and Twyford (B)  The object was the wrong colour for a sky lantern. Lloyd says he has seen these before and this was different, it was bright red rather than amber orange. It could not have been a red coloured LED balloon because it was moving much too fast for this. It was a still evening, but even if it had been windy Lloyd would have been able to catch up with the object if it was drifting on an air current.   It seems unlikely that it was a distant aircraft. Although planes have red navigation lights, they also have white and green lights, which would also have been visible. Lloyd had plenty of time to observe the object, the white strobe light would have been more obvious than the red light. The sighting took place several years before drones became commercially available, and the distance the object clearly travelled puts this out of the question.   December 2008 – Orange Orbs   In mid-December 2008 Lloyd’s daughter was born prematurely at a hospital in Gloucester. Because of this Lloyd, his wife and son would regularly travel to and from Gloucester in the car. One night they were on their way back to Evesham. It was an overcast and rainy at the time.   Aerial map showing Evesham (A) and Gloucester (B) They were driving North East East along the A40 heading towards the M5 motorway which would take them back North. Suddenly his wife exclaimed “Look, it’s a ball of fire!” Looking off to the left ahead of him, at the 10 o’clock position, Lloyd saw what his wife was looking at. He saw an orange orb of glowing light travelling on a straight course. It appeared to be about 1000 feet up. It was travelling towards them. After a number of seconds it passed overhead and was lost from sight.   Lloyd pulled the car up at a layby and got out to continue observing the object. His wife and son remained in the car. The orb continued to move away from their location, but in the distance came to a halt over the road. Aerial map of the A40 layby where Lloyd stopped the car As he watched the initial orb was joined by two others which came in from opposing angles and formed an upside down triangle formation. These two new orbs also then halted. Suddenly the initial orb appeared to duplicate and split into three separate orbs!   Photograph looking back along the A40 from near the layby It was raining quite heavily and because of the rain running down the windows his wife and son could not see out very well. It was a little dangerous as the road was slippery and there were other vehicles passing. A couple of minutes after stopping his wife called out saying “Come on, let’s go!”   Lloyd decided to get back into the car, with the orbs still visible in the sky. They continued on their journey home. He does not know how long they remained in the area for. He does not believe the orbs were sky lanterns because of the structured triangular formations they formed, and the fact that the initial orb had split into three. However I am not so sure. It is possible that the initial orb was actually three clumped together, which then separated. And the even triangular formations seen could easily have been coincidental rather than deliberate.   Conclusions   Lloyd has had several varied sightings. I feel that the orange orbs seen over the A40 were likely to be sky lanterns, which were very popular back in 2008 and readily available. However the other two sightings are harder to explain and have some interesting aspects to them, especially the large silver coloured object which he saw in 2004.   I would like to thank Lloyd for going over these sightings with me and getting them down on record. I wish him all the best regarding his stunning art pieces going forward. If you would like to follow his work he can be found on Instragram @lloyd.canningart or Facebook.   Copyright Dave Hodrien 2025

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Year: 2017 Last Updated: 10/10/2025   The Sphere   The first unusual incident Simon can recall happening took place in 1994 when he was 8 years old. At the time he lived in a council house in Stretford, Manchester with his mum and sister. His bedroom was positioned at the back of the house, and his window overlooked a railway track. He often enjoyed sitting on the bedside table and staring out of the window at the surroundings.   One night he was having trouble sleeping and was awake with his TV on. It was about 5 am in the morning and still quite dark outside. He decided to look out of the window, which was open at the time. When he did he noticed something unusual. He saw what appeared to be a white coloured sphere. It was hovering close to the houses on the far side of the railway track, about 100 metres away. It was quite small, only a few feet across.   The sphere was moving along the row of houses and shining a beam of white light into the windows, as if it was looking for something. It was systematically hovering then stopping, and going from left to right along the houses. Simon was confused as to what the object could be. As it was travelling from one house to the next it suddenly appeared to have noticed the fact he was staring at it. It immediately turned and rushed towards the window extremely fast!   The sphere looking into house windows It stopped only 30 cm away from the window. Simon was horrified to see that the front of the sphere was flat-faced, and on it appeared to be a screen showing rows of human faces, all of which were screaming silently at him.   Witness drawing of the screen of faces on the sphere Simon reeled back away from the window and turned to run out of the bedroom. As he did he blacked out.   The next thing he became aware of he found himself waking up face-down on the floor of the room. The sun had now come up outside and the sphere was nowhere to be seen. Once he had got dressed he went downstairs and told his mother, but she brushed it off and Simon never spoke of it again.   Simon assumes the object that he witnessed was a drone of some kind, however there are many oddities around this sighting. The object had no visible means of propulsion, no rotor blades. And if it was military why would it have had a screen showing screaming faces on it? Also for what reason would the military have been shining a light into civilians windows early in the morning?   He does not believe the incident was merely a nightmare, he recalls being awake at the time and out of bed. If we assume it did take place, there is the possibility that this was an extra-terrestrial device. The faces on the screen appeared human, however this could have been a screen memory masking what was really observed.   Military Helicopter   One summer’s day between 1996-1998 Simon was playing a game of “curby” with a football – bouncing it off the curb and catching it again. He was on a clearing of land alongside his house where other houses used to stand.   He began to hear the sound of loud rotor blades. Looking to the East he saw a large green coloured military helicopter approaching his location. It initially flew over the roof of his house, about 50 metres up. It then turned and faced towards him. The windows were dark and he could not see the pilot, although he did wave at it.   It then turned round and flew away. His best friend from next door, Daniel, and Daniel’s sister also saw it, but only Simon questioned why it was there on that day. Even though it is unusual for a military helicopter to hover at low altitude over an urbanised area, it is possible that the helicopter was on an exercise or perhaps even on its way to an airshow (although if so why did it stop and hover close to Simon?)   Fallen Table   A few years after the sphere incident (roughly 1997), Simon was fast asleep in bed. Again the bedroom window was open. The table alongside his bed was very sturdy. Suddenly a loud thud awoke him in the dark. Looking around he found that the bedside table was knocked over on its side. He was quite sure he had not knocked it over himself, and it was far too heavy to have been blown over by a gust of wind coming through the open window.   Simon was quite frightened by what had happened, and felt that something had come into his room and knocked over the table. He panicked and ran out of the room. He slept alongside his mother until morning.   Psychic Abilities   Simon stated that since childhood there have been numerous incidents where he has known certain things are going to happen in advance.   He says that during his childhood years he was very sensitive to weather patterns, and knew when it was going to be sunny or when it was going to snow. He also mentioned that there were numerous occasions where he knew someone was going to say something specific to him before they did, although he provided no direct examples.   It is common for experiencers of contact to report having one or more psychic abilities. The connection between this and contact is well documented, although the precise reasons for this are still theorised over.   Face In The Wall   Nothing else took place until Simon’s early 20s. He was taking a media technology course at Cambridge University, and lived in a share house with one other student. One weekend he was in his room and lying on his bed watching TV. It was about 2pm in the afternoon. It was summertime and a pleasant day outside, and the curtains were open letting light into the room.   Opposite the bed was a wall with no pictures hanging on it. As he glanced over at it, without warning what appeared to be a humanoid face pushed forward out from it. The face was black and semi-transparent like it was made out of shadow. It was about the size of a human face. It’s features were quite clearly defined, with slits for eyes and a mouth.   Witness drawing of the face in the wall Simon was frozen in astonishment at what he was looking at. He started at the face for what seemed to be around 5 minutes. To his knowledge there was no communication, and the face did not move at all. Eventually it seemed to sink back into the wall and was gone.   He continued to stare at the wall. At that moment his housemate entered. Simon said “Mate look at the wall.”  His friend looked and said “What about it?”  Simon did not know what to say. He was confused as to what had just taken place. He decided to keep what he had just seen to himself.   Many experiencers report seeing dark shadow-like forms, commonly referred to as “shadow beings”. Could this have been one of these entities? If so for what purpose did it appear? Alternatively this could have been a visitation, with a screen memory potentially masking the actual appearance of the being. There are lots of cases on record where beings have emerged from solid walls, either surrounded in light or sometimes through a visible portal.   Voyage Into Space   While still at Cambridge, a couple of events occurred in close proximity to one another. The first of these occurred on a Friday night. Simon was asleep but what took place seemed far more vivid than a dream.   He found himself in darkness floating in a seated position. All around him was an oval-shaped pod of some kind which was transparent like glass. The temperature of it was slightly cool. He was wearing the boxer shorts he had gone to bed in, and was in a seated position. He felt drowsy, in a state of semi-alertness, but also realised that he felt weightless.   Witness drawing of looking down at his knees and feet He looked upward trying to establish where he was, and as he did he was astounded to see the sun. It was now that he realised that the pod was in space and appeared to be positioned close to the sun, which was absolutely huge in scale. Despite its proximity, there was no noticeable heat from it entering the pod.   Simon then looked to his right and noticed out of the corner of his eye two grey-coloured figures seated behind him. They were slender with long thin arms and legs, and did not appear to be wearing clothing. They seemed to be a little shorter than himself, possibly about 5 feet in height. At this moment they realised that he was looking at them. The being on the right reached out and put its hand on his shoulder. Its fingers were skinny and long.   Witness drawing of the being touching him on the shoulder  At this moment he blacked out and he recalled nothing further about being inside the pod. When he came round he found himself back in his bed. However he was lying sideways in an odd position, almost as if he had been placed there. Simon informs me that he usually sleeps on his back so this seemed un-natural.   He recalled what he had seen, and was disturbed by how real it had all felt. He remembered how incredibly vast the vision of the sun had been. It filled him with a sense of awe. Describing the vividness of this experience to me Simon said “I felt the weightlessness, I felt the temperature in the pod, everything. I've got a crimp in my neck, and I felt that when I turned.”   Man In Black   A couple of evenings after the pod experience, Simon went out running around the outskirts of Cambridge. He was on his way back home looking down at the pavement because staring into the distance puts him off running. He was listening to music through headphones.   As he was about to cross a particular street he got a sudden feeling of absolute terror. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He looked up at what was ahead and saw a man walking straight towards him. The man looked completely out of place. He was about 5 feet 8 inches tall, and was wearing a long black coat over a black coloured suit, with a square top hat and smart black shoes and gloves. He also had sunglasses on, even though it was after dark.   He looked elderly but strong. He was staring at him with an unusual toothy grin on his face which was lit up by passing car headlights, and was also wringing his hands together.   Witness drawing of the Man In Black Simon immediately felt that his sudden feeling of terror was directly linked with this man. As he ran past the man, he suddenly lurched towards him, as if trying to make him jump. In response to this Simon raised his fists into a defensive stance but continued running.   A few seconds after passing the man he got the courage to turn round and look. When he did he found that the man had completely vanished! There was nowhere for him to have hidden behind in such a short space of time. Simon immediately realised that he could not have been human.   There are numerous possibilities for who the man was. He had an appearance somewhat similar to reported cases of “Men In Black”, wearing the dark coloured suit and shades. But if he was a human agent he would not have vanished in the way he did. Could he have been a ghostly apparition? Simon has experienced paranormal activity on other occasions so this cannot be ruled out. However, if he was an apparition it was clear that possessed a level of awareness as he reacted to Simon’s proximity.   Another possibility is that this was an ET masking its appearance using a screen memory, and Simon only perceived it as a man in a dark suit. Although quite rare, I have investigated other cases where this has seemingly occurred.   Simon stated that he saw a similar case on a documentary, where a woman in New York met a Man In Black in broad daylight, and just like him felt a deep sense of terror.   Precognitive Visions   Simon used to work at the shopping mall known as the Trafford Centre in Manchester.   Photograph of the Trafford Centre One morning he was on the bus to work when a vision suddenly came to his mind. In it he saw himself standing face-to-face with an Asian man. He interpreted the vision as a fight with this unknown man which was going to happen at some point.   When he arrived at the centre, his boss introduced him to a new worker named Raj. Simon immediately recognised him as the man he had seen in his vision. He and Raj started working together on the shop floor.   Soon afterwards Simon and the other workers needed to go and check the phones. He heard Raj say something behind him. He turned around and realised he was standing directly in front of him, exactly how he recollected. Raj then asked him what he was having for lunch. As it turned out the vision was a friendlier incident than Simon had initially interpreted it to be.   Simon mentioned that he has had other precognitive visions ever since, roughly once a year. They tend to physically take place within hours, or occasionally the following day.   Conclusions   Simon has had some varied and interesting experiences, some of which appear clearly linked with contact, although many have more of a paranormal nature about them. The abduction aboard the clear-walled spherical craft is particularly intriguing. I have investigated numerous similar cases before, regarding the appearance of the craft, presence of beings aboard it and even the fact that it went up into space.   Oddly it is also quite reminiscent of an extremely vivid dream that I once had, in which I stepped into a beam of light, shot upwards through the sky and ended up floating inside a clear “bubble”. It should be noted that I believe this was only a dream, I do not feel I have experienced contact directly.   It is common for contactees to experience paranormal activity and possess psychic abilities, so it does not surprise me at all that Simon has mentioned both of these. If he ever gets back in touch I may be able to add further details to this report, as well as find out if anything else has occurred since.   Copyright Dave Hodrien 2025

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 06/09/2019 Last Updated: 21/10/2025 Sam regularly attends our group’s monthly meetings. When she first joined us she informed me of a puzzling missing time incident she had experienced while living in New Zealand. I got in touch via phone soon afterwards to go over this in depth as well as a number of other events that have taken place. Childhood Paranormal Experiences When she was growing up Sam lived in Friskney, Skegness with her parents. She recalls a couple of incidents which could be put down to poltergeist activity. One day she was in the kitchen with her mum and dad. There was a cardboard box leaning against one of the walls. All of a sudden it fell over of its own accord, hovered for a moment above the floor, then returned to its original position. Everyone present witnessed this event. A few weeks later Sam was elsewhere in the house when some extension cords started leaping up and down by themselves. For some reason she was not frightened and merely thought to herself “Oh no, not again!” One night when she was 11 years old Sam recalls waking up in bed to find she could not move. She could feel the shape of someone lying down in bed alongside her but could not see anything. She then heard whatever it was say “Sshhh” in her ear. She does not recall what happened next so must have dropped back off to sleep. On numerous occasions when she was 13 years old and at secondary school she would sit up in the middle of the night and hold a conversation with someone or something in the corner of her room. She only found out this was happening from her friend Sharon who would occasionally stop overnight. While these incidents could easily be put down to sleep paralysis and recurring dreams rather than anything more unusual they are still worth mentioning. Ouija Boards When she was in her 4th year at secondary school Sam and her friends began to mess around with an Ouija board. They used to do this in the common room and by the music room at the school. One “entity” who she believes they got in contact with was a man who claimed to have shot himself in Fold Hill, an area of Friskney. Aerial map of Fold Hill The girls got in touch with him on numerous occasions. On one occasion he informed Sam that she would get an A and two C’s in her A levels. Later on this prediction would be proven to be correct. However after a while the messages coming back became threatening. Her friend Melanie refused to continue doing the board. Soon afterwards they were walking down the stairs on the way to a lesson when suddenly Melanie fell half way down the stairs. She claimed that something invisible had pushed her. Years later while at Sheffield University Sam did another board in the basement of her halls of residence with about ten other students. One person present was a Dutch friend who lived in the halls. He was sceptical of what they were doing. Sam asked him to take his finger off the board. She then asked it to spell out the street where he used to live in Denmark. Apparently the board spelled out the correct location in Dutch, information she was not aware of. This of course really disturbed him. While many believe that Ouija boards work because of the people using them unconsciously pushing the pointer, it is incidents such as these which suggest there may be something more to them in some circumstances. Tall Figure When she was 15 Sam used to go out drinking at disco nights in Old Leake, a village close to Friskney. One evening she was out there with her friends Sharon and Tracey. They were on their way back to Sharon’s house to pick something up before making their way to Old Leake. There was no-one else around at the time. Aerial map of Old Leake They were walking along the pavement when further along the path ahead of them leaning on the back of a trailer they saw what appeared to be the shadowy shape of a tall figure. It had long arms and a long stretched face, and looked solid rather than an apparition of some kind. The girls immediately stopped walking and felt rooted to the spot in fright. Witness drawing of the tall figure They stared at it for a number of seconds before Sharon said “Come on!” at which point they turned around and decided to head straight for the disco. The girls laughed it off at the time, but looking back at the incident Sam feels there was definitely something not right about the situation. Paranormal Activity Returns In 2005 Sam was living in Southampton with her fiancé at the time Bob. On at least several occasions while living at this address Sam felt something touch her feet while she was lying down in bed. Bob would always be asleep or out of the room when it happened so she knew it was not him accidentally bumping into her. She told him about what was happening but he was sceptical about it. On one weekend morning Bob had gone out to play golf. Sam remained in bed assuming he was going to be out most of the day. But unknown to her he returned home and decided to play a prank on her. He sneaked into the bedroom and touched her on the feet. Sam defiantly exclaimed “For gods sake leave it will you!” speaking directly to what she believed was a ghost. At this response Bob replied “Oh my god, you weren’t joking were you?” About a week later Sam and Bob were lying in bed watching television. Suddenly from out of nowhere they both watched a shadow-like mass move up in front of the screen. It then moved across the room over by the window before fading away. Bob looked at Sam and asked “Did you see that?” Sam replied “Yeah, just ignore it, forget about it.” This was the only time they saw this shadowy entity. Missing Time By 2007 Sam and Bob had moved into a bungalow in Christchurch, New Zealand as they had gained full residency status. At the time they were both working. It was a summer’s evening in June or July. They had both returned home after a long day at work. It was about 6.30-6.45pm. Sam went to get a cold bottle of white wine from the fridge. She then brought it into the living room and poured herself and Bob a glass. They made plans to order a pizza, but before ringing up began by sitting down on the sofa and Bob put on some music – a CD by rock group The Feeling . They began drinking their wine and listening to the first song. The next thing Sam became aware of was of waking up lying on her bed facing the wall. She was on top of the bed sheets and still in her clothes. Checking the clock she could see it was 9.30am. She rolled over and found Bob lying naked on the bed next to her. He was staring up at the ceiling and had a frightened expression on his face. Sam asked him “How did we get here? What’s going on?” Bob replied “I remember putting the CD on.” “What happened?” Sam enquired. Bob simply said “I don’t know.” Both Sam and Bob were deeply concerned and frightened by the situation they found themselves in. Bob informed Sam that he had been lying awake on the bed for half an hour before she awoke. The couple remained in the bedroom for a further 20-30 minutes not daring to go and take a look around the house. In the end they got up and started exploring the house to see if there was anything out of place. They found that doors around the bungalow had been closed whereas usually they would have been left open. Their pet cat was locked inside the other bedroom. Usually they would leave it open for him so he could come and go as he pleased during the night. When they went downstairs they found that the bottle of white wine was back in the fridge with the top put back on, and the wine glasses had been placed in the dishwasher. The bottle of wine appeared full, suggesting that the wine had been poured back into it. How the bottle and glasses had ended up like this was a complete mystery. The CDs were left out on the side by the player exactly how they had been left. There was nothing else which appeared out of place. The couple had both lost about 15 hours they could not account for. There was nothing else they could do except get on with their day as normal. In the evening Sam and Bob drank the bottle of red wine as they didn’t want it to go to waste. This is a truly bizarre series of events. A suggestion which we should initially look into would be that the wine was drugged in some way and when they started drinking it they became intoxicated, got up, put the wine away, put the glasses in the dishwasher then went up to bed and collapsed. However the biggest issue with this explanation is of course the fact that they drank the wine on the following evening. If it had been drugged in some way then the same thing would have happened – but it appeared to be completely normal. If the wine was normal then what could explain what took place? It would be possible for either Sam or Bob to have some kind of reaction, but it seems very unlikely that they would have had this at the same time, even down to the particular song they were listening too. While there are no signs which would immediately link this experience with ET contact, such as flashbacks to seeing a UFO or beings, I have dealt with numerous cases before where multiple witnesses have all experienced missing time together. However if we assume the possibility that contact was involved, why would they have then put back the bottle of wine and put the glasses in the dishwasher. This tends to suggest that they were aware enough to perform these tasks at some point in proceedings and felt the need to do so. If they had experienced an abduction or visitation, surely the last thing on their mind would be to clear away the wine and glasses? There is the possibility that they were in a dazed state and did things automatically. But there are still the anomalies of the cat being locked in the other bedroom, and the fact that Bob was unclothed when he awoke but Sam was fully clothed. The incident still un-nerves both of them. In due course Sam plans to be hypnotically regressed. It is possible that in doing so an explanation comes to light. The Wire A few weeks after the missing time incident Bob began to mention sensing irritation a couple of inches above his left ear amongst his hair. One evening he and Sam were getting ready to go out to meet some friends. Bob an his fingers through his hair and felt something catch on his hand. He checked and found a short wire-like object sticking out of his skin. He grabbed a hold of it and slowly pulled the object out. It was about an inch long, pale blond in colour (lighter than his mousey brown coloured hair), and solid like a wire of some kind. Witness drawing of the wirey strand Bob looked at it and exclaimed “Oh god look at that!” Sam glanced at the object then flicked it across the bedroom exclaiming “At least you got it out. Come on, hurry up, we’re late!” This is not the first time that an experiencer has reported extracting something like this from them. However this does not mean it has anything to do with contact. Implants usually tend to be small metallic objects, this could well have been an infected hair follicle or something similar. It is a shame that Sam flicked the object away, but at the time she was not particularly familiar with aspects of the contact phenomenon. It was only after she and Bob went to watch the abduction-themed horror movie The Fourth Kind at the cinema that she started to wonder if what had happened to her was ET in nature. Conclusions Sam has had a variety of fascinating experiences throughout her life, some of which may be related to contact. One of the most intriguing incidents is of course the missing time which she and her ex-fiancé experienced. Most normal explanations can be discounted due to the fact that they both experienced this and that they had barely consumed any alcohol at all when it took place (as proven by the full bottle the following morning). Sam has also had many paranormal experiences. While not directly linked with contact it should be noted that a high proportion of contactees do report having experiences of this nature, and an indirect link does seemingly exist. As Sam regularly attends BUFOG she will likely keep me updated of any further incidents which take place. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2025

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Date: 04/09/2019 Last Updated: 20/10/2025 Note: For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used While many sightings reported to BUFOG are distant objects which cannot clearly be made out, occasionally we receive details of incidents involving clearly structured craft. This is one such case, a stunning multiple witness sighting of a large disc-shaped UFO which occurred in late summer/early autumn of 1993. Sarah, one of the two witnesses, regularly attends our monthly meetings. During her first visit she informed me of the incident. We then spoke over the phone on numerous occasions to go over the details. Sighting Details Back in 1993 when she was 28 years old Sarah lived in the area of Kings Norton Green. One Friday afternoon in late summer or early autumn (Sarah cannot remember the precise date) she was looking after her 8 year old nephew Timothy. Her friend Nicky got bitten by her pet hamster on her thumb. Her thumb started to swell up and she was worried she could get tetanus from the wound, so she decided it would be wise to go and get a tetanus jab at Selly Oak Hospital (which no longer exists). Sarah decided to keep her company for the drive. She offered to drive Nicky’s car for her but Nicky said she would be fine to drive despite the injury. So they headed off around 6.30-7pm with Sarah in the passenger seat and Timothy on the back seat. It was a very pleasant evening, still and warm, with a completely clear sky. It was still quite bright as due to the time of year the sun had only just started to set. In order to reach Selly Oak they had to travel North through Cotteridge and then Bournville. They began to drive along Pershore Road South. There were a few other vehicles on the road but it was quite clear. They pulled up at the traffic lights at the junction with Melchetts Road. While they were waiting for the lights to change, Nicky glanced out of the window off to her right. She suddenly exclaimed “Sarah have a look at this, what’s this?” From the passenger seat Sarah could not immediately see what Nicky was referring to, and replied “What?” Nicky responded “Have a look!” Sarah bent forward in her seat to have a look at what Nicky was staring at. Off to the right on the far side of the crossroads was a Peugeot show room (It has now been replaced with a Ford show room). Above the show room, no higher than several hundred feet up, was what appeared to be a dark grey cloud. It was unusually low in the sky, and looked like it was about to start dropping rain. Sarah said “It’s a big dirty low lying cloud.” Nicky responded “No…look again! What is it?” Aerial map of Pershore Road showing the position of the traffic lights (A) and car show room (B) Photograph from the lights in the direction of the car show room Once again Sarah looked up at the cloud. This time she noticed something incredible. Emerging from the side of the cloud she could see what appeared to be a large disc-shaped object. It was silvery-grey in colour but not reflective. Around the centre was a line of white glowing lights. Sarah immediately knew that this was something highly unusual and felt she was witnessing an alien craft. She could barely believe what she was looking at. She excitedly exclaimed “There’s a big fuck off UFO emerging from the cloud!” She and Nicky continued to watch as the UFO emerged entirely from the side of the cloud. This took approximately 6 seconds. The object appeared to be about the same size as a medium-sized passenger aircraft (e.g. an Airbus 3300-200). This would make it approximately 59 metres/190 feet across. They were looking up at it at an angle of approximately 45 degrees so could see the underside of the object. As it emerged Sarah noticed a red light suddenly appear and perform a circular sweep in the middle. It only took a second to perform the motion then seemed to flash a little brighter and vanish. A moment later a blue light appeared and performed exactly the same motion. The lights went to green and Nicky began to drive the car forward so as not to block any other traffic. Sarah did not notice any other cars stopped or pedestrians standing still, so has no idea if anyone else had noticed the UFO. Nicky drove slower than usual along the road as they were still both transfixed by the object. They soon noticed that the object appeared to be moving too, travelling roughly the same direction they were moving in and at the same speed as the car. It remained situated ahead of them and off to the right. Witness drawing of the UFO over the car show room They drove North through Cotteridge along Watford Road then Linden Road. As they were travelling along Linden Road they noticed that the object was moving further away from them off to the right. They were in danger of losing sight of it. They reached the crossroads with Mary Vale Road in Bournville. At this point they would have needed to have continued heading North to reach Selly Oak, but instead they decided to turn right onto Mary Vale Road to keep observing the UFO. This was now their primary concern rather than the hospital visit. As they were approaching Bournville train station car park on their left, the UFO crossed the road ahead of them. They continued driving along the road until they were approaching the bridge that crosses over the railway. Through a gap in the trees off to the left of the road they could see the UFO hovering close to an electrical tower. It appeared to have stopped moving. They parked up at the side of the road. There were no other vehicles or pedestrians around. The witnesses sat in the car staring at the object for about ten minutes. Sarah says that a number of vehicles may have driven past them during this time but they were fully absorbed by what they were seeing, and did not care about attempting to draw anyone else’s attention to the UFO. Aerial map of Mary Vale Road showing the location where the car was parked (A) and the location where the UFO halted Photograph from the parking location showing the electrical tower where the UFO was situated After about ten minutes they decided to change location to try and get a closer look at the object. It was still hovering completely still over the electrical tower. They set off in the car and drove over the bridge, then turned left along Victoria Road. At the end of this they again turned left onto Bournville Lane. This brought them back round to the railway line but this time lower down with it passing over the road. Just before the tunnel they parked up. After the last house on the left there was a vegetation covered slope. The electrical tower was visible beyond this, and the object was hovering above it. They were now the closest they had been to the UFO since the start of the sighting. Sarah asked Nicky “Wind the windows down, let’s see if there’s any noise coming from it.” She did so but the object appeared to be completely silent. Due to the angle it was hard to see from inside the car, so Sarah got out. Nicky remained inside the car with Timothy. Aerial map of Bournville Lane showing the parking location (A) and the location of the UFO (B) Photograph from the parking location looking up at the electrical tower The object continued to remain motionless in the sky. Sarah could still barely comprehend what she was observing, but there it was, plain as day. Once again she saw the red light then blue light rotate in the centre of the underside. Witness drawing of the UFO close to the electrical tower Sarah stared up at the UFO for about 50 seconds. She then got back into the car and began discussing it with Nicky. She began to get worried that Timothy could be in danger and that the craft may attempt to abduct him. Turning round to check on him they found him visibly shaking on the back seat. He was obviously very upset by what was taking place. Sarah and Nicky decided it would be best to move a little further away from the object. They set off again, driving under the railyway line. They then turned left along Franklin Way, which brought them back to Mary Vale Road. Once again they parked in the same location they had been before, with the UFO still visible between the trees over the tower. Again they continued to watch it for at least ten minutes. By this time it was staring to get darker and the street lights had come on. With no signs of movement, the witnesses began to contemplate the idea of willingly ending the sighting. Sarah said “I’m getting fed up with watching it, we’d better get to the hospital.” A moment later the UFO began to rotate. It started to spin faster and faster. It then suddenly shot vertically into the sky! In a matter of seconds it became a glowing white point of light in the distance. Witness drawing of the UFO and how it looked when it was spinning Sarah thought this would be the end of the sighting but then to her amazement after a couple of seconds the UFO began to descend again at a slower speed, moving further away to the North East as it did. It continued to descend until it was about the same height it had been before. It appeared to be over the area of Selly Park where the River Rea flows. Sarah and Nicky continued to watch it for a couple more minutes before deciding to head to the hospital. They turned the car around and set off West along Mary Vale Road. This was the last they saw of the object. On the way to the hospital they discussed what they had just witnessed. However neither of them mentioned it to anyone at the hospital. Sarah says that she felt nobody would have believed her and would have ridiculed her about it. They remained at the hospital for a couple of hours before heading for home. Chinooks The following morning about 10-11am Sarah had to take Timothy back to her sister Rachel’s house on The Fairway in Kings Norton. She parked outside and got out of the car. She was about to knock on the door when she heard the very loud sound of propellers overhead. Looking up she saw three very large military helicopters. She had never seen anything like them before, and discovered later on that they were Chinooks. Photograph of a military Chinook helicopter The helicopters were heading North East in the direction of Cotteridge and Bournville where the UFO had been situated the evening before. Once she could no longer see them she knocked on the door and entered her sister’s house. Aerial map of The Fairway showing the estimated flight path of the helicopters She briefly mentioned the helicopters, but soon began telling Rachel and her brother-in-law Steven about the UFO she and Nicky had witnessed. When she finally finished recounting the details Steven said “Well that’s why those helicopters are flying over!” Sarah had not considered that the two incidents could be linked and asked “What do you mean?” Steven responded “Because they want to find out what’s been in their air space.” Sarah never found out the reason why the helicopters were flying over Birmingham that morning, she just knows that she had never seen them before up to that point. The News Report Two days later on the Monday evening Sarah watched Central News, the local television news hosted by Bob Warman. She watched it on purpose in case anyone else had reported seeing the UFO. Still of Central News from the 1990s Incredibly Bob began to mention that there had been numerous UFO sightings reported over the weekend and the news station had received multiple phone calls. They then showed video footage of what initially appeared to be a dark grey elongated object in the sky. As the camera zoomed in it immediately became apparent that the object was a powered Good Year advertising blimp. The camera zoomed back out, and once again the blimp became unclear. Bob then explained away the UFO reports as sightings of this blimp. Sarah was a van driver at the time, and would travel all around the Birmingham area. She had observed the blimp herself on numerous occasions earlier in the week leading up to the sighting and knew exactly what it looked like. She was extremely angry that the news was attempting to explain away the reports as this. She knew that what she had seen on Friday night was definitely not an advertising blimp, and wondered if they were deliberately trying to cover up other genuine sightings of the craft which had been reported. Text Messages From Nicky I have not yet been able to speak directly with Nicky due to personal reasons, however I got Sarah to send her a text message asking her about what she recalled. Sarah sent me some screen grab showing her texts and Nicky's responses. Below is the initial message she sent, and Nicky's response (censored for anonymity): It is clear from this message that Nicky recollected seeing the UFO alongside Sarah. It is also obvious from the wording used that Sarah has asked her out of the blue here. This fact is important, as Nicky's response is evidence that the incident took place. However her memories of what occurred seem to differ from Sarah's. Nicky recalls seeing street lights go out and car engines being stopped by the presence of the craft. She also seems to recall seeing her brother-in-law Steven when they returned to her flat rather than the following morning over at her sister's house. Sarah herself was confused by Nicky's recollection of what occurred at the start of the incident and so immediately messaged her back, which led to a second response: Sarah confirmed to me that she has no recollection of this happening, so this initially appears to be an anomaly. However a possible explanation for this is that her view from the passenger side of the car differed to Nicky's view. It is possible that street lights dipped and went off, and car engines stopped to the right of their car (which would have been in closer proximity to the UFO), but Sarah's view of this was blocked by Nicky in the drivers seat. With this discrepancy probably explained by the witnesses' positions in the vehicle at the time, the confusion which Sarah had towards Nicky's response is again an indicator of authenticity. If the witnesses had decided to make up a story (which I don't believe for a moment) I feel that they would surely discuss what they were going to say so that if questioned their stories would match up. Nicky does not mention anything about them following the UFO or observing it from the locations in Bourneville, but this could be because Sarah's initial text only asked her what happened at the traffic lights, not to give details of the entire series of events. Her difference in recollection of where they met her brother-in-law can easily be put down to error in memory, in multiple witnesses cases there are often small discrepancies such as this. Sarah is adamant that she observed the helicopters flying over herself the following day while returning Timothy to her sister's house. I hope to get the chance to speak with Nicky in more depth in due course. If this takes place then this report will be further updated. Incident Analysis This is a truly impressive sighting of what appeared to be a solid structured craft. Firstly let me say that I have no doubts that the witnesses are referring to a real incident. When I spoke in depth with Sarah about what happened she would give answers without hesitation. She comes across as very open, honest and trustworthy. The journey the car and UFO made all makes sense and we were easily able to find the key locations on Google maps. It is a shame that neither witness had a camera on them at the time as they were able to get quite close to the UFO. Mobile phones did not have cameras on back in 1993 and there were no other pedestrians around at any of the locations they stopped at. The length of time of the sighting is unprecedented – most sightings tend to last for only a few minutes at most. This certainly gave the witnesses time to observe the UFO in great detail at many different angles, greatly reducing the possibility of misidentification of a mundane object. It was clearly not a normal aircraft of any kind. It was far too large to be a radio controlled model, and due to the distance it travelled this seems very unlikely. The spinning motion and massive increase in speed and altitude which they watched it perform towards the end of the sighting it cannot have been a lit hot air balloon or blimp. It definitely appeared to be under intelligent control as opposed to randomly drifting due to the flight manoeuvres observed. I have dealt with many sightings of disc-shaped craft before, and in many of these sightings lights have been reported around the central rim. The intermittent circling red and blue lights are particularly intriguing. They would only occur roughly once every 5 minutes, tending to suggest they were related to a scheduled activity which the UFO was performing. The cloud which the UFO first emerged from is a very intriguing aspect of the sighting. It was an extremely clear evening and there were no other clouds in the sky at that time. Also the cloud appeared to be abnormally low in the sky over the car showroom. These facts suggest that it may well have been artificial in nature, and that the craft was initially using this as a form of disguise. This is of course just speculation, if it was using this as camouflage then why emerge from the cloud at all? The UFO moved off in the same direction as the witnesses’ car in roughly the same direction. This could perhaps be interpreted as deliberate, although as they proceeded North it began to get further and further away as it headed towards Bournville. However what is more interesting is the fact that the UFO span and shot vertically moments after the witnesses were considering leaving the area due to the fact it was not doing anything for an extended period of time. Was this just coincidence, or had it actually read their minds and performed this manoeuvre on purpose for their observation? I suspect it was merely coincidence, but this cannot be put completely out of the question. The locations where the UFO stopped moving during the sighting are also worthy of note. Over Bournville the craft hovered very close to an electrical tower and substation for a period of time. There is definitely the possibility that it went to that location on purpose, perhaps to drain electricity to utilise or to scan the area. When it shot up into the sky and then descended, Sarah informed me that it seemed to be close to where the River Rea was. Had it gone there on purpose to drain water from the river? There are many cases on record where UFOs have been reported in close proximity to water sources. Full map of events showing the route the car took, estimated path of the UFO, the location of the traffic lights on Pershore Road (A), the parking location at Mary Vale Road (B) and the parking location at Bourneville Lane (C) It is unknown whether the Chinook helicopters that Sarah witnessed on the following morning were anything to do with the UFO or not. While it seems tempting to link the two incidents, they did occur many hours apart. There could well have been a military training exercise or air show on that day. I have been unable to find anything online for August or September 1993, but it did happen a long time ago and a military exercise may not have even been written about on the net. The news report is another very interesting aspect of this case. It aired a few days after the sighting, but this does not mean that it could not have been related. It is of course possible that the news report really was referring to misidentifications of the Good Year blimp, which Sarah confirmed was over Birmingham that week. Perhaps it was just coincidence that this roughly coincided with the sighting. However given what has happened in the past time and time again, there is also the possibility that a number of reports of the UFO had been received, and the news report was put out on purpose to debunk these encounters. We have no way of knowing for certain either way, but if it was some kind of cover up, this confirms that there were other witnesses out there who have yet to come forward. Copyright Dave Hodrien 2025

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report Author: Dave Hodrien Release Year: 2019 Last Updated: 19/10/2025   Note: For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used   On Halloween 2019 “Jake” got in touch via the BUFOG website sighting report form to go over a repeated sighting he experienced back in the early 1980s. Unfortunately, we only have limited information at present as he did not respond to my further inquiries, but this case report covers what is known about the incident   Sightings Details   In the early 1980s (Jake is unaware of the exact year) he witnessed five or six lights forming a pattern in the sky to the North East over what was at the time known as Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) Cheadle, and now known as Woodhead Hall.   Aerial map of Woodhead Hall Photograph of Woodhead Hall  He claims to have not only saw them once, but on three or four separate nights over a two-week period!   Jake says that the final sighting of the lights particularly stuck in his head, because one of the lights flew within close proximity of his own house. He says it passed to the left of his property no further than half a mile away. Jake describes the orb as a “bright milky white light, with no noise, no vapour trail.”   As he observed the orb he felt like it knew that he was watching it. He has no idea why he felt this way as it was not in his immediate vicinity nor did it slow down or change course.   Sightings Analysis   This is an intriguing series of sightings. The fact that Jake saw them numerous times over a fortnight suggests that he was living/regularly visiting Cheadle at the time, which means that the lights would have been to the North East, as the below map indicating the position of Woodhead Hall in relation to the town shows:   Due to the year they took place a flight of drones can be ruled out, these were not used until decades later, even by the military. The fact that they moved into a specific formation rules out drifting inflatables catching light from the ground. The witness also gives the impression that they hovered still for a while once in formation (although does not expressly state this)   I would have suggested that they were a formation of distant helicopters, especially considering the fact that the location served a military purpose at the time. However, the witness stated that on the final sighting he saw one of the lights much closer up. Surely if it was as he said only about half a mile away he would have noticed other navigation lights such as red/green lights or a flashing strobe if it was a helicopter?   Below is a diagram showing the standard navigation lights of a helicopter:   It is possible that they were helicopters, and the one that went past his house was further away than he believed it to be, too far to see independent navigation lights. At distance the sound of the rotor blades would also have diminished.   Or there is the possibility that these truly were something more anomalous. It is quite rare for UFOs to make a re-appearance over the same vicinity on numerous separate dates. However, as it was an active military facility at the time they could have been interested in what was taking place there, and returned to it over numerous nights for monitoring purposes. It is hard to say for certain, especially without further information from the witness.   Copyright Dave Hodrien 2025