Dudley Dorito (UFO Sighting)
Encyclopedia
West Midlands conurbation
The West Midlands conurbation is the name given to the large conurbation that includes the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton and the large towns of Dudley, Walsall, West Bromwich, Solihull, Stourbridge, Halesowen in the English West Midlands....
of the United Kingdom which began in November 2007. The phrase was coined by the local press after hearing witness descriptions of the object.
Initial sighting
The first sighting of the object occurred at 19.00 hours on Wednesday 28 November 2007 where a witness saw it hovering over HalesowenHalesowen
Halesowen is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands, England.The population, as measured by the United Kingdom Census 2001, was 55,273...
, a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley
Metropolitan Borough of Dudley
The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley is a metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It was created in 1974, and is made up of the towns of Dudley , Stourbridge , Halesowen, Brierley Hill, Amblecote, Sedgley and Coseley...
in the West Midlands
West Midlands (county)
The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...
, and watched it move towards the direction of Stourbridge
Stourbridge
Stourbridge is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands of England. Historically part of Worcestershire, Stourbridge was a centre of glass making, and today includes the suburbs of Amblecote, Lye, Norton, Oldswinford, Pedmore, Wollaston, Wollescote and Wordsley The...
. Around the same time a second witness from the Lickey Hills
Lickey Hills
The Lickey Hills are a range of hills in Worcestershire, England, eleven miles to the south-west of the centre of Birmingham near the villages of Lickey and Barnt Green...
area, was using binoculars to look over the Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
area. They stated they saw a similar object move across the Birmingham horizon at speed. The sightings were reported to UFORM
UFORM
UFORM is a UFO research organization founded in 1995 and based in Brierley Hill, West Midlands, UK. The group has around 80 active members who take part in regular "sky-watches" on Hartlebury Common near Stourport-on-Severn during the summer months which are organised by founding member Yvonne...
, a local UFO study group. UFORM released a statement to the local press, quoting one of the witnesses who described the object looking like a "huge Dorito and had distinctive red lights on its underside, which moved position while the craft was flying." After hearing the description of the object and the location of the first sighting, the local press dubbed the object 'The Dudley
Dudley
Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...
Dorito'.
Further Sightings
After a local paper published the sighting appealing for others, people reported seeing an object of similar description between 16.00 and 19.30 hours over the DudleyDudley
Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...
, Wednesbury
Wednesbury
Wednesbury is a market town in England's Black Country, part of the Sandwell metropolitan borough in West Midlands, near the source of the River Tame. Similarly to the word Wednesday, it is pronounced .-Pre-Medieval and Medieval times:...
and Bushbury
Bushbury
Bushbury is a suburb of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England. It lies two miles north-east of Wolverhampton city centre, divided between the Bushbury North and Bushbury South and Low Hill wards.- Place name and history :...
areas of the West Midlands on the same day as the first sighting. Witnesses described the object as a large triangle with three lights at each corner and was silent.
Further reports of a triangle object being seen in the evening over Quinton
Quinton
Quinton may refer to:*Quinton Andrews, American football player*Anthony Quinton, a philosopher*A. R. Quinton, an English watercolour artist*Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, an American Mixed Martial Artist*René Quinton, a French naturalist...
in late November were made and the object was filmed by a founder of a local UFO group. It was suggested that the object was "enormous" in size and three red lights were clearly visible.
On Tuesday 8 January 2008 at 21.00 hours, two young girls aged seven and nine who staying over at their grandmothers house in Dudley saw a triangle shaped object fly over Dudley Castle
Dudley Castle
Dudley Castle is a ruined castle in the town of Dudley, West Midlands, England. Dudley Zoo is located in its grounds. The location, Castle Hill, is an outcrop of Wenlock Group limestone that was extensively quarried during the Industrial Revolution, and which now along with Wren's Nest Hill is a...
. The girls, upset at what they had seen, got out of bed and ran to their grandmother. When hearing what her granddaughters had told her, she made them draw pictures of what they had seen. Both girls drew a diamond in the shape isosceles triangle. One drew the object with three lights, the other with four. Further reports from members of the public described the object as an arrowhead shape with three orange lights and nearby Birmingham International stated they had similar reports which they were taking seriously.
Tabloid newspaper, The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
published a photograph on 20 October 2008 of an alleged triangle shaped objected flying over the grounds of Dudley Castle
Dudley Castle
Dudley Castle is a ruined castle in the town of Dudley, West Midlands, England. Dudley Zoo is located in its grounds. The location, Castle Hill, is an outcrop of Wenlock Group limestone that was extensively quarried during the Industrial Revolution, and which now along with Wren's Nest Hill is a...
, which was apparently taken sometime in April 2008. According to the paper, it was supplied by a 57 year old unnamed reader. The image was supplied to Gary Heseltine
UFO Magazine (UK)
UFO Magazine was a British magazine devoted to the subject of unidentified flying objects and extraterrestrial life. It was founded in 1981 by brothers Graham and Mark Birdsall of Leeds, Yorkshire. The magazine was one of the success stories of ufology, with an international reputation for quality...
of UFO Data Magazine for analysis, to date the results have not been published.
It has been seen again in Romsley, Halesowen on the morning of 6 January 2010 at 03:07am bright flashing lights we're observed outside the area consitant of those made by the UFO.
Typhoon Eurofighter explanation
At 16.10 hours on Monday 14 January 2008 a sonic boom thought to have been created by an RAF Eurofighter TyphoonEurofighter Typhoon
The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine, canard-delta wing, multirole combat aircraft, designed and built by a consortium of three companies: EADS, Alenia Aeronautica and BAE Systems; working through a holding company, Eurofighter GmbH, which was formed in 1986...
was heard in Shropshire. Callers to local radio stations described seeing two large aircraft in the area and reports that a Eurofighter had suffered an undetermined malfunction resulting in a 30,000 ft plunge causing a sonic boom which shook the county. Nearby RAF Shawbury
RAF Shawbury
RAF Shawbury is a Royal Air Force station by the village of Shawbury near Shrewsbury, Shropshire.The station at Shawbury was first used for military flying training in 1917 by the Royal Flying Corps, but it was returned to agricultural use in 1920. In 1938 it was reactivated as a training...
and the Ministry of Defence
Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....
denied any involvement.
Local press compared descriptions of the unidentified object and that of the Eurofighter and suggested the sightings were linked due to the similarities.
Project Condign explanation
According to the top-secret report UAP in the UK Air Defence Region, aka Project CondignProject Condign
Project Condign was the name given to a secret UFO study undertaken by the British Government's Defence Intelligence Staff between 1997 and 2000...
, Black Triangle (UFO) sightings are likely to be caused by a supernormal atmospheric plasma phenomenon akin to Ball Lightning
Ball lightning
Ball lightning is an unexplained atmospheric electrical phenomenon. The term refers to reports of luminous, usually spherical objects which vary from pea-sized to several metres in diameter. It is usually associated with thunderstorms, but lasts considerably longer than the split-second flash of a...
. Bouyant Plasma formations are hypothesized to create electromagnetic or other energy fields which refract light, creating the appearance of a black triangle or polygon between 3 or more points of light.
