June 1997 – Halesowen – Speherical UFO Formation Sighting
Author: Dave Hodrien
Last Updated: 10/02/2014
In late December 2013 I was contacted by a
gentleman named Kerry Devine. He had been looking through the cases listed on the BUFOG
website and realised that his own fascinating sighting was not present, so decided to
forward me the details of what he and others witnessed back in 1997.
Sighting
Details
It was dusk on an evening in June 1997.
Kerry was on his work shift at the Automobile Association Headquarters
on Dogkennel Lane, Halesowen. He was in the West wing of the building which
faces in the direction of Brierley Hill. He noticed that 5 of his work
colleagues were gazing out of one of the large windows, pointing and chatting
to one another excitedly. Kerry was intrigued and walked over to see what all
the commotion was about. They pointed up into the sky through the window.
The clouds were quite low in the sky and
were catching the orange glow of the setting sun. Below the clouds there were
what appeared to be a couple of spherical objects moving slowly to the West.
The objects were white or silver in colour and were reflecting the setting sunlight,
so were definitely solid. They appeared to be at an altitude of about 3-4000
feet. Judging by the distance and estimated height, Kerry feels that they must
have each been about the size of a large car. Kerry was informed by his colleagues that there had been about 20 of the objects, but most had already
moved out of sight.
Aerial map of the sighting location with the location and directional movement of the UFOs added by the wintess:
The remaining objects began to perform a
series of very unusual manoeuvres. They appeared to be taking it in turns to
move vertically up through the cloud layer at incredible speed then descend
back down while zig-zagging through the air. This continued for about 10-15
minutes in front of everyone. These manoeuvres would have been impossible for an
aircraft to perform.
The witnesses could barely believe what
they were seeing. However as they were supposed to be working at the time some
of them dispersed and returned to their desks. Kerry continued to observe the
objects for as long as he felt he could get away with. After a while the
objects which had remained behind the main formation seemed to finish their
display and fly off rapidly to catch up with the rest of the UFOs.
As it happened, to his work colleagues
amusement, Kerry was reading a book on UFO sightings at the time. Within the
book there was a contact number for the MOD at Whitehall. At around 2am after
thinking about whether he would be believed or not, Kerry rang them to report
the incident. They took down the details of the sighting. They also denied that
there had been any air traffic in the area at that time.
Kerry didn’t see his work colleagues again
until a couple of days later. When he went back in for another shift he was
informed that the Express and Star newspaper and numerous UFO societies had
been trying to get hold of him. Kerry wondered how they had found out about the
sighting or why they particularly wanted to speak with him. The other witnesses
did not seem to want to talk about the incident as they felt it may damage
their reputation if they were named.
As Kerry is the kind of person who does not
deny what he has witnessed, he decided to speak to the Express and Star about
what took place. He asked them where they had got their information from and they
informed him that the MOD had contacted Brierley Hill police directly with his report. The police had subsequently got in touch with the papers. The article
that the Express and Star released made front page news, possibly due to the
involvement of the AA.
Kerry later found out that there had been
other witnesses elsewhere in Halesowen who had also seen the formation. A
gentleman who was out walking on the Clent Hills did see the UFOs and also
reported it to Halesowen News, but unlike the Express and Star they did not
release an article.
Kerry continues to have an active interest
in the UFO subject. He believes that what he and his work colleagues observed
was one of the largest formations of UFOs to have ever been seen over the UK
and feels very lucky to have been a part of it. He has also pointed out the
similarities between what he saw and the fleet sightings that have been
observed and videotaped in Mexico.
Newspaper
Article
Below is the Express and Star article on
the incident, which was published on 17th June 1997.
Sighting
Analysis
This is a very interesting sighting indeed
and certainly one worth looking into. A possible mundane explanation for such
an incident would be a cluster of silver-coloured balloons released into the
sky either on purpose or accidentally, and drifting on air currents. Another possibility
would be a flock of birds caught in bright sunlight, as they can sometimes
appear like small reflective orbs during these conditions. I have actually
witnessed this directly on more than one occasion. If the formation had merely
floated away into the distance then I would have certainly suggested balloons
or birds as an explanation.
However the manoeuvres performed by the 2
objects which split away from the main group sound far too controlled to have
been caused by gusts of wind. Let’s imagine for a minute that the UFOs seen in
this incident were indeed silver balloons or birds. Firstly it is unlikely that
just a few would break away from the main group without the others being
affected in any way. Then it is highly improbable that one at a time these
balloons would be caught in gusts of wind which would cause them to ascend
vertically before descending while twisting and turning while the other
remained stationary in the sky. Then it is even more unlikely that after doing
this for about 10 minutes they would then suddenly stop and move away in the
direction that the formation had travelled away at increased speed.
Due to these manoeuvres I feel that
balloons or birds are an inadequate explanation for what was observed. And the
witnesses involved certainly seemed convinced that they had seen something
unusual. If the objects were a formation of ET craft, why did the two remain
behind and perform this strange series of movements? Kerry feels that they were
doing this on purpose as a display for the witnesses. There are many other
reported UFO sightings where similar things have been reported, including the
fleet sightings in Mexico as Kerry himself highlighted.
It is unknown were the UFOs moved off to or
how far they continued across the UK. I find it very probable that there were
other witnesses who for one reason or another have not shared the
details of what they saw. If you have any further information on this incident
or saw it for yourself but have never spoken about it please get in touch.
Copyright
Dave Hodrien 2014