UFOs And Black Helicopters Over A Small Staffordshire Village

During the opening months of 2014, a Staffordshire artist was driving along a country road when he witnessed an event that was not only unusual but also concerning, particularly when further events unfolded the following day.

What is also of interest is that these bizarre events were not the only ones the witness has experienced, with two previous sightings on record. And while there are no real suggestions of repeat alien abduction, as we might suspect with a person with multiple UFO encounters, it is perhaps something to keep on the back burner of our minds.

The witness, as well as those around them, wished to remain anonymous, and so is referred to as “Simon” in the report, with all other names also changed. The account comes from the investigation of David Hodrien of The Birmingham UFO Group – a thorough one to say the least.

Perhaps above all else, though, what makes this encounter all the more interesting, is that it occurred so recently – less than a decade ago at the time of writing – meaning that whatever otherworldly presence is here, and whatever the truth is behind the UFO and alien question, such activity seemingly remains rife today.

Circling Black Helicopters Containing Heavily Armed People

At around 11 am one morning somewhere between mid-February and early April 2014, Simon was driving Margaret, the owner of the farm where he rented an art studio, to visit a relative in a retirement home in Kidderminster, Staffordshire in the United Kingdom. ^[1] In exchange for the rent, Simon agreed to run errands for Margaret and her husband, as he was doing this particular morning.

The journey was one he had made several times with Margaret, and an hour or so after setting off they arrived at their destination. Margaret stayed at the retirement home until around 1 pm, and then the pair set off back to the farm. Around 20 minutes later, while driving along a quiet country road between Bridgnorth and Kidderminster, their journey took a strange turn.

Around half a mile ahead of them, Simon noticed several black helicopters circling in the sky at a particularly low altitude of only 100 feet. He turned to Margaret to see if she could see them. She clearly could.

The closer they got to them, the more details Simon could make out. He could see, for example, that there were no markings or insignia on them whatsoever – just plain black. Furthermore, each of the helicopters had its slide doors open just enough that a rather ominous-looking person could be seen inside each of them.

Each had on a black balaclava, black boots, and a beige military-looking uniform. A little more alarming was the fact that each was holding onto an automatic weapon in their hands.

A Vehicle Unlike Any Other

It was at this stage that Simon realized he couldn’t hear the blades of the helicopters, something which, given how long they were, he most certainly should have been able to. He quickly looked around the areas at the roadside to see if he could see what the black helicopters might be looking for. Then, he came to a gap in the hedges, through which he could see something truly fascinating.

On the other side of the hedge was a field, with trees approximately 1000 feet away. Above the trees, however, was a strange object that appeared to be descending at a slow and controlled pace.

He would later estimate that the object was around 1000 feet across and appeared to be separated into three sections. The main part of the craft was rectangular-shaped and appeared to be a strange mixture of black and yellow colors, of a shiny, metallic exterior, with rows of windows of varying sizes along its side.

This main section was connected to a spherical section – which appeared to Simon to be the front section – by a tube of black round ring-like sections that appeared to expand somewhat. This sphere also appeared metallic, and was the same colors as the main section, with the top and black being yellow and the middle section being black.

There were also what appeared to be dark glass windows on the front section, three sets each in a row – one along the top, one in the middle, and one toward the bottom.

Of most interest, from its tilt and how it was descending, it appeared to Simon as if this strange craft was looking to land.

A Decision Not To Stop

Although he managed to take in a lot of detail, within only seconds he had driven past the gap in the hedge, and his view was obstructed once more. Both baffled and amazed at what he had just seen, he glanced over at Margaret to see if she too had seen the bizarre craft. She was, however, looking the other way at the helicopters still circling.

It was at this point when Simon began to contemplate whether the black helicopters were present due to the arrival of this curious aerial vehicle.

He contemplated pulling the car to the side of the road but, ultimately, he decided against doing so, in part because there was traffic behind him and there was no space to pull the vehicle over. He also didn’t want to end up in a situation where both he and Margaret were in any danger, especially given the fact that each of the helicopters contained at least one heavily armed person.

He continued on before finally coming to a layby where he could safely bring the vehicle to a stop. When he turned back to the direction they had just come from, he could still see the helicopters circling around over the trees where he had seen the strange object. After several moments, Simon put the car in motion and returned to the farm, telling Margaret of what he had seen through the gap in the hedge.

Less than 24 hours later, however, the pair would witness equally strange events much closer to home.

A Second Visit And A Sudden Inability To Recall

While the pair were outside on the land of the farm discussing what they had witnessed the previous day, Simon and Margaret suddenly heard the sound of helicopter blades approaching. They each instinctively looked upward, immediately noticing the same style of black helicopter they had seen the day before, hovering overhead, only this time it was slightly higher, approximately at around 300 feet.

The two witnesses looked on in amazement, noticing that there was a strange disc shape that was seemingly attached to the front of the helicopter. They watched it for several moments, the helicopter simply remaining in the same spot above them. Then, it suddenly went into motion and disappeared out of sight.

Despite researching the Internet, Simon could find no information on any planned military operations, nor any other reported sightings. There was, though, one final strange detail.

Several weeks after the two sightings, Simon happened to be speaking with Margaret once more. He mentioned the helicopters to her, asking if she had thought any further as to what they might have been. To his surprise, she struggled to recall the incident, as if she had put it out of her mind. This was, Simon offered, very unlike her. Not only was she normally more than competent at recalling details, but he also struggled to understand how she could forget something so unusual.

Whether this last detail is an important point or not is perhaps open to debate. Had Margaret simply forgotten the encounter? Had she wished to put it out of her mind due to the surreal nature of it? Or might some kind of strange technology – perhaps connected to the disc on the front of the helicopter during the second sighting – have pushed the incident to the back of her mind? And perhaps above all else, just what was taking place that afternoon in Staffordshire in early 2014?

An Alien Encounter Or A Black Budget Project?

Was the object Simon witnessed a cosmic vehicle from another world or was it some kind of secret military vehicle? And if it is the latter, then why would such a secret vehicle be out in the middle of the day near an, albeit, country road?

If we stick with the idea that this aircraft was a secret military vehicle, might that explain the presence of the unmarked helicopters? And might this also explain the presence of an identical unmarked helicopter at the farm the following day? We will come back to this detail shortly.

Dave Hodrien carried out an extensive investigation into the events of that day. To begin with, Hodrien contemplated whether Simon might have seen something on the ground, perhaps even a construction for a movie set, that he mistook for an aerial object. However, the witness remained steadfast that they had most definitely seen the object descending.

If the object was an aerial vehicle, then, just what kind of vehicle could it have been? If we remove the possibility of it being some kind of military vehicle, then the only realistic explanation is that it is a vehicle from another world or realm of existence.

If this was an alien vehicle, just what was the purpose of the military-style black helicopters? Were they there in an attempt to confront the otherworldly craft? Or were they guiding it on its journey, suggesting some kind of prior knowledge of an alien presence on Earth? Or might this unit have been dispatched there to ensure there were as few witnesses as possible? And once more, is this the reason for the appearance of one of the helicopters over the farm the following day?

With this last point in mind, we might also consider just how the helicopter pilot knew where to go to locate Simon and Margaret. Was some kind of simple number registration technology have been used? Had one of the helicopters simply discreetly followed their vehicle home the previous day? Or might a technology or system have been used that we simply know nothing about?

It is certainly an intriguing and thought-provoking incident. And one with so many unanswered questions and, consequently, so many possibilities.

Perhaps of further interest, though, Hodrien also previously investigated two other sightings that Simon had witnessed. And it is to those where we will turn our attention to next.

The A38 Encounter

Around 18 months earlier, at around 7 pm on October 10^th, 2012, Simon was driving along the A38 on his way to Fradley, a small village near Lichfield, in order to give a presentation on his work. ^[2] It was as he was preparing to turn off the road that he suddenly saw a triangular-shaped object moving over the fields at the roadside.

The exterior of the object was a dark color, while on the underside, toward the front, were three yellow-white lights. As the sky was already darkening, he wasn’t certain what color the exterior was, but he was fairly certain it was black or very dark grey. He would later estimate that the craft was approximately at an altitude of between 500 to 1000 feet and was slightly larger than a small airplane.

He pulled the car to the side of the road, noting that the object appeared to be moving parallel to it. He stepped out of the vehicle, all the while keeping the strange craft in his sight. He watched as it appeared to turn slightly, going from a southern direction to the southeast. As it turned, he could see that there were also three white lights running along the middle of the underside. It was also at this point when he realized the craft was completely silent, with no noise whatsoever coming from it.

He continued to watch it for around a minute before it was lost behind the trees. He remained he was for a moment or two in case it came into view once more before getting back inside the car and continued on with his journey.

Most Likely A Secret Military Craft?

Although this incident was not as dramatic as the one involving the unmarked black helicopters a little over a year later, it is clear that Simon also witnessed something truly strange on this evening too.

That said, however, as much as the object could indeed have been an alien craft from another planet elsewhere in the universe, as Dave Hodrien points out in his summary of the case, there is perhaps more reason to suggest that this particular sighting could be one of a secret or at least unknown military aircraft.

For example, Hodrien points out that the object was “not of excessive size”, nor did it “perform any maneuvers which a human aircraft would not be able to make”. Of further interest is how it banked before changing direction, as opposed to an instant change of direction as witnessed in many UFO sightings. Furthermore, the region is a relatively remote one, which would, in theory, make it ideal for testing out such speculative secret aircraft.

However, the fact that Simon would witness another UFO sighting only months after this encounter is perhaps something of interest. Especially when we consider a third UFO encounter of Simon’s decades earlier in the late 1970s. And it is to that interest where we will turn our attention next.

The Great Bridgeford Incident

Over 30 years before the sightings of the 2000s, Simon experienced another strange incident, again while driving. ^[3] On this occasion, at around 5:20 pm one evening in late October 1978, Simon was driving along a road with his wife, Chloe, near the village of Great Bridgeford.

It was as they were driving down a quiet country road, with trees on one side and fields on the other, that they noticed a strange dark disc-shaped object ahead of them and slightly to the right. It appeared to be at an altitude of no more than 500 feet and was moving relatively slowly, at approximately 15 miles per hour.

To begin with, Simon and Chloe both thought the strange craft was a helicopter. However, when they saw that there were no lights anywhere on it, they quickly dismissed this idea.

They continued on toward the object, noticing more details as they did so. They could see, for example, that there were no markings or writing on the craft, its exterior was a very dark color, and it was approximately 30 feet wide.

Simon looked around to see if anyone else was seeing what he and his wife were. However, despite there being several other cars nearby, these other motorists appeared to be unaware of the object’s presence.

An Attempt To Communicate?

At this point, Simon pulled his car to the side of the road and exited the vehicle. He stood outside the vehicle, keeping his focus on the bizarre disc overhead. Then, it stopped and for the first time he noticed that there was no sound whatsoever coming from it.

Suddenly, a strange ring of multi-colored lights of red, green, blue, and yellow appeared on the underside of the object going all around the edge. From where he was viewing them from below, it appeared as though the lights were rotating, but the more he looked at them the more he could tell that they were, in fact, flashing in a sequence that gave such an appearance.

The UFO remained where it was for around 15 seconds before it began moving once more, still going at the slow and steady pace that it was before, eventually disappearing from sight several minutes later. Although Simon and his wife couldn’t explain it, both had the feeling that the UFO – or the occupants inside it – had stopped purposely directly over the top of them.

Upon reaching home, Simon telephoned a friend who was a member of the British UFO Research Association, Tony, and informed him of the incident. According to Hodrien’s research, however, that report no longer exists anywhere online.

Of further interest, several days later Simon’s brother-in-law would inform him of another sighting almost 90 minutes later in the nearby village of Pershaw. According to what he told him, at around 6:45 pm a local resident witnessed a bright glow moving overhead at a low altitude. Of course, whether there is a connection between this sighting and Simon’s is open to debate.

This is arguably the most intriguing of all of Simon’s UFO encounters, not least due to the alleged interaction between the strange craft (with the flashing lights) and the witnesses. Did Simon just happen to be in the right place at the right time for this encounter, or might we contemplate whether this was more of a purposeful meeting on the part of the occupants of this strange craft?

Coincidence Or Subconsciously Purposeful Encounters?

There are plenty of points of interest for us to examine. When we consider Simon’s later sightings decades later, the account of the late 1970s is an intriguing one.

Although there is no apparent signs of alien abduction in Simon’s accounts, it is interesting that a person would witness three UFOs in (roughly) the same region over a period of three and a half decades. And quite often, people who have had multiple UFO sightings discover they have repeated encounters of alien abduction.

Just to be clear, that is not necessarily what has happened here, but it is an interesting detail to note. As is the notion that Simon and his wife had a bizarre feeling that the UFO was attempting to communicate with them somehow in the 1978 encounter when it stopped overhead and began flashing lights.

If this was a purposeful encounter on the occupants of the UFO’s part, then for what reason might they have to communicate with Simon. Could it be possible that these sightings, for example, are to allow for some kind of subconscious transfer of information that might somehow influence Simon? And if that was the case, for what reason might this be?

Of course, it could be pure coincidence that Simon has had multiple UFO encounters. And if that is the case then perhaps we should contemplate what, if indeed anything, might be special about this part of the United Kingdom. What might attract these potential vehicles from another world to this location?

One thing very much on the positive side of Simon’s sightings is that two of them occurred so relatively recently, meaning it is not at all beyond a stretch of our imagination that further details and possibly witnesses might come forward.

The short video below examines some of the most intriguing UFO sightings from the United Kingdom.