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The article underneath was published in the local daily newspaper Birmingham Post, UK, on November 25, 2003.
Nov 25 2003
By John Revill, Birmingham Post
Aliens have landed on Earth and are already flying around Worcestershire and Birmingham, it has been claimed.
But instead of little green men, a wave of strange shapes and lights have been seen in the region this year, according to UFO expert Michael Soper.
Contact International, an organisation which records and researches unexplained sightings, has already logged almost 50 separate sightings in the region this year.
A particular busy time came at the end of May, and then in early August when ten "objects" were seen.
Last month, a couple gardening at their home in Erdington, Birmingham, logged one of the most recent sightings.
Although sceptical about some of the claims, Mr Soper, who is spokesman for Contact International, is convinced many are real.
He said: "A man who was out mowing his lawn saw a bright light in the sky moving at a constant height in a north-westerly direction from the city centre.
"He called his wife to verify it and she too saw it. It was silent, had no trail or sparks, and was continuously changing shape.
"First it was a dot, then a line, and then other shapes. This was just the latest in series of sightings in the Midlands this year.
"There’s been a major wave of UFO reports in the area, more so than the rest of the country combined."
Among the other sightings have been triangular shaped objects hovering in the Broad Street area of Birmingham before heading northwards on May 31.
Meanwhile other reports came from Stourport, Kidderminster and Worcester of a series strange lights moving around at great speed.
"These were all made by people of sound mind, who were not drunk," said Mr Soper, who believes the increase in reports is linked to the reduction in prejudice against people who think they have "seen" UFOs.
Mr Soper told of his first sighting as a teenage schoolboy in Malvern in 1960.
He said: "During a walk I noticed a Valiant bomber flying in the sky, and about two aircraft lengths ahead of it was a small silver disc, about a fifth of the plane’s size."
Mr Soper said many of the recent surge in reports could also be due to conditions in space, particularly violent storms on the sun.
