Birmingham UFO Group Report
Author: Dave Hodrien
Originally forwarded by Richard Hall
Release Date: 06/07/2011

Sighting Details

It was 9.45pm on the 27th November 2009. Neil Simpson was on his way back home from Prestwick. It was a pleasant evening with only patchy cloud. But there was one larger white coloured cloud in the area. The cloud was low down, about 1000 feet high. Neil looked up and noticed what appeared to be blue coloured bands of light rippling through the cloud. They were in a huge circle and were slowly rotating anti-clockwise. It appeared as if they were coming from a huge aerial object hidden from sight inside the cloud. Neil estimates that each band of light was at least half a mile in length, and that the whole object, if that’s what it was, must have been at least a mile across.

At first he thought the lights were from a laser projection. However as he reached a clearing where he had a good view of the high street and the surrounding area, he realised that there appeared to be no source for the lights. There was moisture in the air so he felt that if it had been a projection the beams would have been at least a little visible. But it was completely dark. Also there is an airport just 2 miles from where he was situated and he felt that they would not have been projecting lights in that area due to the proximity of this.

Neil continued his walk home over the next 25 minutes, and observed the lights for the duration. As he walked through a local park he noticed 3 other people who were also staring up at the lights. After about 25 minutes, there were several white flashes of light and then the blue lights vanished. The cloud then began to hail for several minutes. After this had ceased it then drifted off to the South and slowly dissipated.

Sighting Analysis

Was this a huge UFO, perhaps a mother ship, hidden from view inside the cloud? This is what the witness believes was responsible for the lights. The white flashes when the lights departed and the following hail are both interesting aspects and seem to follow on from one another.

However despite the points made by the witness, I feel that a laser light projection was in this case the most probable explanation. Perhaps it was from a one off celebration somewhere nearby, which is why it had never been noticed before. The fact that the lights were revolving in a circle and did not move position in the sky supports this explanation, this is how laser light displays do appear. Lights reflected off the base of the cloud can appear like a large object actually hidden within it. Also the beams are not usually seen at all, I know this from firsthand experience as there is sometimes a light display from a night club in my home town.

The white flashes seen could have been the light projection being switched off. Or perhaps they had a completely separate explanation such as sheet lighting just before the hail started. It is likely that the sudden hail from the cloud shortly after the lights vanished was just a coincidence, nothing more.

I have looked into similar cases before where the UFO explanation has made more sense. In these cases there have been particular reasons why I felt that a laser light projection was not a sufficient explanation. However with this particular sighting I feel that this was the most likely source of the lights.

Unfortunately the witness has not got back in touch so at present this is all the information I have on the experience.

Copyright Dave Hodrien 2011