Birmingham UFO Group Report
Originally forwarded by Richard Hall
Author: Dave Hodrien
Release Date: 28/02/2011

Many UFO sightings tend to be of particular craft types that are seen time and time again – saucers, silver spheres, flying triangles etc. However sometimes very odd aerial objects are reported that do not seem to fit into any of these common categories. This report covers one such sighting which occurred in Leicester back in the mid 80s.

Note: Actual names of the witnesses have not been disclosed.

Sighting Details

The incident took place in either 1985 or 1986. The witness, John, was only about 9 years old at the time, and his younger brother Antony was 7. One clear sunny day they were playing in the back garden f their house when they suddenly noticed a light in the sky. They went round to the front garden to get a better look at whatever it was. They saw a strange object in the sky. It looked like a glowing white vertical line which was gradually expanding and then contracting in length continuously. It appeared to be quite large in size, about the same size as a football pitch. It was about 400 feet in the air and to John’s recollection about 200 feet from their position. As it was expanding and contracting it was also moving slowly across the sky on a straight path.

They watched the object for about 2 minutes during which he believes the object flew right over their heads. It was not moving particularly fast, perhaps the same speed a small aircraft moves at. After this time they ran inside the house to get their gran, who was on the settee in the living room. She came outside with them and they all watched it fly over a block of flats. Then their gran took them both back indoors, and the incident was never mentioned again.

I have contacted the witness to request for further details and to see if I can speak with his brother about the experience, but so far have not heard back from him, so this is all the details that exist on the sighting so far.

Sighting Analysis

From what has been reported, the object sounds like it could well have been something out of the ordinary. However I do wonder if it was a white un-tethered solar airship. These are long plastic cylinders that are filled with air. On a hot day the air inside them heats up and they drift up into the air. They can be very large in size, and it is possible to make them by joining together numerous bin liners. Often these objects tip up vertically and appear as a long cylinder or cigar-shaped object hanging in the sky. Could the odd way in which the object appeared to be expanding and contracting in length have actually been caused by a white coloured solar airship rocking back and forth in an air current? If viewed from a certain angle this could give the impression that it was getting longer and shorter. That said, solar airships have only really become popular in recent years, I am not sure whether they were even known about back in the mid 80s. Bought solar airships tend to be black in colour to soak up as much heat as possible. It could have been a home-made one created from white bin liners, however these do tend to bend like a snake rather than retain a completely straight shape. Therefore I wouldn’t say that this sighting could definitely be explained away as a solar airship.

If it wasn’t one of these, I cannot really suggest anything else mundane which could explain what was observed. It certainly did not look like any known conventional aircraft. If it was an inflatable of some kind drifting in an air current it is unlikely that it would have appeared to continuously expand and contract in length, it would have surely rotated or rolled on its axis. As it was witnessed by John’s gran, it is obvious that it was not just their imagination. Therefore we must entertain the notion that it was an advanced craft of some kind displaying a shape-changing ability. I have both heard of and directly investigated numerous UFO sightings where the objects have been seen to physically change shape. It is possible that this was one such object. As to the reason why it was changing shape, we can only speculate.

Copyright Dave Hodrien 2011