Author: Dave Hodrien

Release Date: 22/09/2013

For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used

In early September 2013 BUFOG was contacted by a gentleman from Australia who wanted to pass on details of a possible UFO sighting that was witnessed by a lady he knew from West Heath, Birmingham, who we shall call Rachel, and her young son. Although we only have limited information at present, here are the details of what took place.

Sighting Overview

It was around 9pm on the evening of 7th September. The weather was cloudy but dry. Due to the time of year it was quite dark. Rachel and her son were out in West Heath. She looked up into the sky and saw what appeared to be a rotating circle of glowing white round lights coming from out of a cloud. It looked like a large rounded object with lights in its base was hiding inside the cloud layer. She was startled by what she saw. Her young son was quite upset by the lights and began to cry.

Rachel watched the lights for over an hour. After this extended period of time they suddenly vanished without trace. She later checked on Facebook on the B31 Voices page, where people in the local area often post messages. She found that other people had also seen the lights and had actually been posting about them while they were visible in the sky.

Facebook Posts

Below are various posts about the lights which were added to the B31 Voices Facebook page soon after the incident:

Few readers report seeing lights circling in the sky around Longbridge/Northfield - is there an event somewhere? Anyone know what it is?

could it be due to the event in birmingham?

Never the show in Bham , the live theatre in the sky

I can see it! It's so weird

there all over the sky in redditch...palace theater celebraring 100 anniversary but doubt ud c it from there so basically this was probly a pointless comment haha

I saw it around Rednal last night

I saw it as well and I was wondering what it was

Some in Redditch as well.

It's the show in brum it's on 6/7 th sept

I saw this?

Yes at the back of Hawkesley too, The local youths think there's going to be an alien invasion lol

saw it in kings norton too

Yes I can see it to looks like a UFO

probz the kids messing with lazers

Could hear fireworks in Stirchley earlier and something like a balloon floating about...

Police helicopter prob!!!!!

I can see it to very strange lol xx

Heard fireworks earlier

it's stopped now

Either a helicopter or daft people pointing lazer pens at the sky

Must've been that aerial show - didn't think we'd see it out here!

With all the camera phones n digital cameras ain't anyone recorded it?

Palace theatre having anniversary celebration or something .

In bromsgrove too

A few reports of lights in the sky and stuff tonight.

Lol people saying helicopter.............quite loud arent they?

Seen in Alvechurch too! Just a kind of laser/light show somewhere!

Seen in west heath also!!

If its in northfield it'll definitely be the police helicopters at work

Me and my son saw them.....West Heath......would love to know what it was.

My partner said he saw them too strange I'm in hawkesley

I cud c them aswell, thought my eyes were playin tricks on me!! # northfield

daughter recons it something to do with the new spy series set in birmingham being filmed this week

Rubey festerfall tomoz either in the park or in the rubery socail club

If they were the show in town it would have been mostly between 9 and 10- is that when they were?

it was a search light machine that you can hire for parties, best with a cloudy sky, seen them on tv

I saw similar lights a few years back in selly oak they were just hovering still don't no what it was .

I see them all the time

I saw it both in bromsgrove and licky last night it was like two lasers going across the sky.

I saw it last night in Droitwich ...lights bouncing off the clouds ..last time we saw them we found out they were from huge lights used at a festival ...that are designed to create these lights in a circular pattern ..off the clouds.

i seen it from northfield

i seen it for about 4 hours and wasnt a helicopter think it was just some1 with a laser

Nothing to do with the sky show in town last night?

Probably. Maybe. No other (reasonable!) explanation has come up! (Not counting everyone's alien attack theories!) ;D x

Not the fusion festival then.

Sighting Analysis

The most likely explanation for the lights, as some of the Facebook posts elude to, is that they were a spotlight projection from a nearby event taking place in Birmingham. Sometimes these lighting displays are used to draw attention. The actual beams are usually invisible, but when it is cloudy the lights can be seen bouncing off the base of the cloud layer. This can sometimes give the impression that there is a large object hidden from view with only the lights visible. There is a club close to my house in Birmingham which sometimes uses this and it can look very impressive.

There are multiple aspects of this incident which would suggest this was the explanation. First of all it was a cloudy evening and after dark, perfect conditions for the search lights to be visible. The lights are almost always in a rotating circular pattern, just as Rachel and other witnesses reported. The lights remained for a long period of time, and then suddenly vanished without trace. This would point towards an event putting the search lights on for a while and then switching them back off later on.

Based on the original details provided and the many Facebook posts from other witnesses it is extremely likely that a spotlight projection was responsible for this incident, and although we do not definitely know the specific event which the lights were being used at, this case can be considered closed.

Copyright Dave Hodrien 2013