The Rendlesham Forest UFO - What really Happened?

The Rendlesham Forest UFO - What really Happened?

First off yes, I'm very much aware that ATS already has a very well made topic on the Rendlesham forest incident, by Super Moderator Gazrok in fact as shown in this link here, and I know that many threads on this topic are closed and then directed to that thread (linked above) as I’ve seen it happen myself, but I really must make it aware to the moderators and members alike that even prior to starting any research for this thread that I asked for permission on whether I would be allowed to make it as I’m not got much new information to add, instead a thread based on my own opinions and feelings of the event.

The answer I got was Yes, which is why I began my research, gathered all the information I could/felt was necessary and subsequently posted here.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I know ATS doesn't work under just one moderator’s opinion but I'm hoping that after receiving the ‘green light’ so to speak to start this thread that it will still be allowed to stay up and avoid being closed and then directed to the thread above.

Reason for that being, and I'm not trying to take anything away from the previous thread because It was a great read and it explained the story well, but I just felt like I needed to at least try and add my own spin on to (what is IMHO) a dying as well as fascinating topic and also because I felt like I could very much add something to the Rendlesham forest debate, something I didn't want to see buried deep in an already existing thread.

If another moderator does in fact feel that this thread really shouldn’t be allowed then my sincerest apologies for wasting your time.

Also, as always with what I post, everything is what I believe to be 100% truth at this moment in time.

Thank You.

I hope you enjoy and continue reading.




So, where is Rendlesham Forest??






(Image Courtesy of Google Maps Images.)





(Image Courtesy of Google Maps Images.)





(Image Courtesy of Google Maps Images.)





(Image Courtesy of Google Maps Images.)




What really happened in these woods??




The First Night

The ‘Rendlesham Forest incident’, sometimes referred to as the 'British Roswell', is a well known and to this day mysterious case in the world of Ufology as it is known to have occurred to a wide variety of witnesses, including well known RAF commanders and personnel etc., thus giving it a fairly high degree of credibility right from the off, It was very close to military bases, was allegedly caught on radar and of course because it's yet to be fully explained to this day still.

Now, Rendlesham which is near Woodbridge in Suffolk, near Ipswich, (see Google maps images above to see the exact location of Rendlesham Forest) is home to RAF Bentwaters and RAF Woodbridge which became a 'twin base' complex in 1958. At this time the bases were being used by USAF (United States Air Force) and was under the command of wing commander Colonel Gordon E. Williams along with the base commander Colonel Ted Conrad, and his deputy Lieutenant Colonel Charles I. Halt, later recognized most commonly from the 'Halt Tapes'

It was during the Early hours of 25/26th December 1980 (there is conflicting reports on this due to the time of the incident) however, that this small base was thrown into the Ufology spotlight as it was at this time that one of the most bizarre and mysterious UFO cases began merely meters away from the rear gate of RAF Woodbridge in fact.

It was John Burroughs, a 19 yr old Airman First Class (A1C), along with Staff Sergeant (SSgt) Bud Parker (then known as Bud Steffens) who first spotted the beginning of these bizarre events as it was reported that strange lights resembling 'flickering Christmas lights' were spotted hovering at about tree-top level just outside the east wing (which is also the rear).

After a discussion it was decided that they will investigate further, particularly because the lights were in fact very close to the base at this time which was quite odd considering the time and date, that being so it was thought that perhaps an aircraft had been downed.

'there were strange lights out in the forest. To me, it almost looked like Christmas lights at first, a Christmas display. At that point we looked at each other and we decided that we'd better go out and take a closer look because we weren't sure what we were dealing with. What we were looking at wasn't real'

(Source)

They made a note that once arriving at the end of the opening road from the East gate, the lights were then a lot closer than they had anticipated. The colors of the object were also flickering from red; yellow and green at this point. Upon moving closer to the strange flickering object strangely a large white light (which appeared to be another part of the main object) appeared to simply move along the forest boundary, as if mirroring the men’s movement towards it.

It seemed incredibly close at this point, so the men then went back to base, clearly startled and confused by what had just occurred, they then rang through to Sergeant McCabe, speaking to both Burroughs (first) and then Bud. (speaking to Bud supposedly only to confirm what they had seen)

McCabe then Alerted bases Central Security Control fearing that, even though at this time as it was 2 a.m. I believe and no planes should be flying, that one was and that was the source of the strange lights that appeared in the nearby woods.

Staff Sergeant James W. Penniston was the on duty flight chief at RAF Woodbridge and received the call. Within minutes, Penniston was on his way by jeep to the base along with a few more individuals.

As soon as he arrived he was briefed by the two men who had see this strange object, Burroughs and Bud, but Penniston was seemingly skeptical and tried to convince the two men that what they had seen was so obviously a natural event, or perhaps a crash as was mentioned previously, they went on to explain to him that whatever/whoever it was, if anything it had "clearly landed".

"Master Sgt. Chandler contacted the shift commander's office, and within a minute or so I got the go-ahead to proceed off base with two other security policemen. We were told to leave our weapons behind, so as to not violate the Status Forces Agreement with the British. (As this was an American Base) I and Airman First Class John Burroughs and Ed Cabansag, also an Airman First Class, got into our Jeep and proceeded out the East Gate, then down a logging road adjacent to the perimeter", recalls Penniston.

(Source) (The bolded text above is my own writing)

Burroughs, Penniston and Cabansag began their way into the forest by vehicle to investigate the strange lights, Steffens seemingly refusing to do so out of fear after the previous events of seeing the strange lights with Burroughs. According to Edward Cabansag, they then handed over their weapons over to a MSgt Chandler, albeit apart from side arms weapons that was with the men as Chandler acted as a go between for them remaining at the vehicle for the duration of the event that was to occur.

They then drove down the tough narrow road, one which was already took on by Burroughs and Steffens before but one that was too difficult to drive on at the best of times and especially now since the weather had taken it's tole on it. So the men were eventually forced to walk the rest of the journey (see image below to see their route) Penniston affirms this, "the road was pretty hard [too] because everything was frozen."


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/864b1a5974ad.jpg[/atsimg]


Upon entering the last straight into the woods Burroughs and Penniston decided to investigate alone, leaving Cabansag at the tree line to act as a sort of relay for the radio communication.

Soon after Burroughs received a very bizarre radio transmission. He recalls:

"we started on foot towards those lights. At the same time we could hear the animals were getting very upset. At that point we got a radio transmission, they had just got in contact with Heathrow [Airport]. An object had been seen over our base and had disappeared on radar." Jim Penniston confirms the radar related message which they received from CSC, "they [CSC - John Coffey] notified me that they were tracking an unidentified bogey about 15 minutes ago and they confirmed it with contact with eastern radar and Heathrow in London and the approximate location was about 5 miles off base when they lost contact with it."

(Source)

It seems that whatever this object was, it was most definitely caught on radar and then settled somewhere in the woods, clearly disturbing the animals around it massively.

Please continue reading into the next post.

Thank You.

[edit on 16-8-2010 by Rising Against]

Penniston is also recorded as noticing more strange events such as, the fact that if this was indeed a downed aircraft, which they suspected at the time, then where are the flames? Or why can't they even smell any of the fuel for example? Surely there would be if this was in fact a downed aircraft. He seemingly also noticed that the cluster of lights that they were seeing weren't exactly typical of a downed aircraft as it would simply be scattered all over the place but these lights they were encountering were too concentrated to one particular area and bizarrely moved.

It seems at this point that whatever it was that was in the woods and caught on radar was not the unlikely aircraft that had been firstly suspected.

Upon venturing into the woods even further however, they noticed yet another peculiar phenomenon that was plaguing them, this time all the hairs on their necks and arms all started to stand up as it walking into an electrified location they claim. There radio communications were seemingly also being affected by this as well as they then lost contact with CSC, Cabansag and all the others.

They suspected that the two were connected as the air itself just seemed different...”Almost electrified".


By this time they were not very far from this 'unknown' object at all, in fact they could see it relatively clearly through gaps in the trees so they then decided to move closer once more, this time so much so that they both noticed a 'small, shiny object sitting' within a small clearing. It was just sitting there completely stationary.

Burroughs recalls: "It was unbelievable...we got pretty close to the object, we knew it had the feet on the ground from there." Penniston also managed to get particularly close at this point as he also recalls: "I got to within 10 feet of the craft and the clearing where it sat. I estimated it to be about three meters tall and about three meters wide at the base."

Upon once again moving closer, "The air was filled with electricity still - much like static. You could feel it on your skin as you approached the object. There was also a sense of slowness, like time itself was an effort, It soon became difficult to walk and move, rather like they were wading through treacle. Everything seemed to be slowing down."

"It was like a weird feeling, like everything seemed slower than you were actually doing and stuff", said Burroughs.

"no landing gear was apparent, but it seemed like it was on fixed legs. I walked around the craft, and finally, I walked right up to the craft. I noticed the fabric of the shell was like a smooth, opaque, black glass. The bluish lights went from black to grey to blue. I was pretty much confused at that point. I kept trying to put this in some kind of frame of reference, trying to find some logical explanation as to what this was and what was going on. It was dead silent. No animals were even making noise anymore. The nearer we got to that thing the more uneasy I felt...it was as if I was moving in slow motion."

(Source)

Luckily Penniston brought his notebook and also his camera with him as I can only assume he was preparing to take notes and images of the downed aircraft that he first suspected. Luckily of course there was no downed aircraft here but he still decided to take notes of the bizarre events as well as a whole host of images!

Some of his notes that he claimed to have took during this incident.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/aee6098213e1.jpg[/atsimg]


At this time, both were very very VERY close to the object indeed, so much so that Penniston claimed that not only could he describe the type of craft it was etc. but he also claimed that there was these strange writing on the sides, one he himself didn't recognize but did record....

The top portion is producing mainly white light, which encompasses most of the upper section of the craft. A small amount of white light peers out the bottom. At the left side centre is a bluish light, and on the other side, red. The lights seem to be moulded as part of the exterior of the structure, smooth, slowly fading into the rest of the outside of the structure, gradually moulding into the fabric of the craft'.

"As I was taking notes, I also memorized what was in front of me for what seemed like hours, but was in fact only minutes. Finally, I unleashed my camera-case cover and brought the camera up to focus. I began snapping photo after photo.

[Soon] I had already taken all 36 pictures on my roll of film. On the smooth exterior shell there was writing of some kind, but I couldn't quite distinguish it, so I moved up to it. It was three-inch lettering, rather symbols that stretched for the length of two feet, maybe a little more."

"I touched the symbols, and I could feel the shapes as if they were inscribed or etched or engraved, like a diamond cut on glass."

(Source)

Some notes he made of the symbols again at the time of this incident.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/249afed1de6d.jpg[/atsimg]


Touching the craft and it's symbols seemed to be a mistake as upon doing so, the bright light again went on subsequently growing brighter and brighter with each passing second. Burroughs and Penniston not fully aware of what was happening suddenly jumped back at this point and then threw themselves to the floor.

Weirdly though, they claim that even though this light was bright and was growing in brightness, there was still no sound to be heard. Penniston recalls the events.

The white light flooding out from the top of the unknown object was almost blinding. "The craft moved up off the ground, about three feet, still with absolutely no sound. It started to move slowly, weaving back through the trees at a very slow pace, maybe a half a foot per second.

It took about a couple of minutes for it to maneuver itself back to a distance of about 100 to 150 feet, then it rose up just over the trees, about 200 feet high. There was a momentary pause and then literally with the blink of an eye it was gone. All with no sound. That still boggles my mind"

(Source)

The men clearly dazed and confused by the events recall that once the 'object' has disappeared, everything was seemingly 'normal again, they even recall how time seems to be at a normal pace again as the difference around the object and without it was noticeable as time before seemed ALOT slower to say the least.

Shortly afterwards the men both decided to head back to base although the nights bizarre events were far from over as they assumed the craft had left, it seemed they were very wrong as they again saw the exact same lights they had previously seen once again, this time far in the distance. They pursued it once more but this time it was only a short while this time, giving up and turning back after only a relatively short distance.

Walking back however Burroughs luckily spotted 3 strange marks in the ground, from where they had saw the craft before, which was of course was very weird in itself as the ground at this time was in fact completely frozen from the cold weather. As I previously mentioned they was even forced to leave there vehicle at one point because of the temperature effects.

They made a note of the exact spot where they had seen the strange marks in the ground, marks which were around 3 meters apart and all triangular in shape, and then went on to find Cabansag, who also reported seeing strange lights in the woods from his position. They all eventually returned to base where they were instructed to keep quiet about the night’s events by the shift commander.

Burroughs allegedly claims that: "he basically said: you saw something, Heathrow tower confirms you saw something. Now you should go out and look for some physical proof of what happened."

Following the orders of 'attempting to find proof' they went back out there and this time no lights were reported but they did find scorch marks on the tree's, damages to the surrounding area and branches and they once again found the markings in the ground.

An A-10 plane which flew over the site at dawn apparently picked up what was seemingly infra-red radiation literally pouring from the spot where the craft was spotted as well.

Please continue reading into the next post.

Thank You.

Penniston, coming back to the site, seeing the damage to the frozen ground acted quite quickly and decided to travel to a local friend who he knew would have ingredients for a plaster cast, one which he did in fact make on the site as shown in the images below.

Plaster Cast information and images were found from this link as well as some of the notebook writing from Penniston so full credit goes to here.

Reconstruction of the plaster cast

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/fa254d3c04cb.jpg[/atsimg]


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/81fee2156eb5.gif[/atsimg]

Although the memorandum which Lt. Colonel Halt sent to the MoD speak of an object on legs. It reads "the object was hovering or on legs." Would the object look more like this?

(Source)


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/13660e40ac2e.gif[/atsimg]

Sceptics have claimed that it would be silly for an object from 'outer-space' to travel all to earth with flimsy legs to support it. This new evidence suggests that the object was never on 'flimsy legs' in the first place. Using a mirrored image of the plaster cast, I have been able to recreate the depressions that would have been made an object of such shape had been pushed into the floor.

(Source)

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/0f093e241acc.jpg[/atsimg]

(Source)

Upon leaving with his plaster cast which was around At 10:30AM, only 6-9 hours after the incident Penniston bumped into Suffolk Police who were actually called in to investigate the site also as seen in the images below inspecting the area.






This case seemingly becoming one of the most fascinating and mysterious of its kind all overnight...But this one night wasn't the only night where strange events occurred...




The second night - The return of the UFO




Throughout the day, there was talk of the previous nights events by many of the people at the base, Charles holt, who was at the time the deputy base commander of the RAF Bentwaters-Woodbridge complex overheard people discussing it but was then told by Sgt. McCabe what had happened and who was involved etc.

He explained to him what the men had seen the previous night, and how they went out to investigate and what they had seen. He managed to speak to Cabansag shortly afterwards, quickly explaining to him that he had to write a statement of the events which he did so. (see Witness statements section of this thread to see the statement he wrote under Edward Cabansag section)

It was later that night though, that strange things began to happen, much like they did the previous night. This time though, many people were at the Combat Support Group awards dinner which was being held locally leaving a minimal amount of people at the base once again.

It was A1C Gregory Battram who first spotted something unusual happening at around the same place as Burroughs had, near the rear gate of the RAF Woodbridge. It was Battram and 3 other men on Patrol, Battram was the first to spot something. At first it was just some weird lights in the sky, then these lights began to actually drop into Rendlesham Forest again like they had the previous night.

"We were about halfway into the shift, I guess, when we noticed some lights in the sky that, didn't seem to follow any pattern of aircraft we'd seen", explains Battram.

The lights needed to be investigated, especially because of the UFO incident which had taken place in the same area only one day earlier.

They contacted Central Security Control. After alerting the fire department, CSC gave Battram and his group permission to precede off-base.

(Source)

They then went out, parked their cars and pursued on foot to where the strange lights were at this point. Very much like the previous night these men, also experienced electricity in the air, this time accompanying it was a strange humming noise.

Shortly after seeing the red; blue and white lights they were seemingly already freaked out at this point. Returning to base shortly afterwards.

On their return journey, they bumped into Sgt. Adrian Bustinza and Lt. Bruce Englund as Bustinza who had been alerted about another UFO sighting over at East Gate, by Central Security Control who had previously went about contacting Englund about it who then decided to make his way over to RAF Woodbridge with Adrian Bustinza to aid the investigation.

Upon bumping into Englund, Battram was instructed to return back to base and then Englund set about contacting Charles Holt immediately.

[Englund] came in and he was quite shaken and insisted upon speaking to myself and the base commander [Colonel Conrad] about a matter of utmost urgency. He said, "it's back" and we all looked at each other , "what's back" I said and he said, "the UFO is back!."

(Source)

Holt determined to put an 'end to the nonsense' then decided the best thing to do was assemble a small team and go into the woods and investigate it himself properly. He then sent Englund back to base to get some supplies etc. and then one of the most fascinating Ufology investigations began.

Holt contacted the on call officer, Sgt. Monroe Nevilles, and asked him to join in on the investigation, presumably because he was then able to grab a Geiger counter/radiac meter with him, and a camera. Halt was also able to pick up a handheld tape recorder (which then became known as the famous Halt recording), some glass sample bottles, a torch and a night-vision scope.

Another man, Sgt. Bobby Ball joined in the investigation also and all the men then made their way to where they had suspected they would see the strange object.

Upon arriving close to the location, at which point a fair amount of military personnel were present bringing supplies etc., animals were running around again much like the previous night, they seemingly was spooked by something in the woods again. It was a state of confusion.

On their search however, they came across what appeared to be a landing site after seeing strange lights again very much like the previous night. The surrounding area had suffered the same type of damage and again there was 3 strange marks in the frozen ground all the same size and length. It was then later confirmed that this was certainly a different landing site to the one the night before. The object definitely looks like it came back to a different area of the woods the night after.

Sgt. Nevilles, who was operating the Geiger counter, started taking some readings of the area which seemingly showed that radiation was coming from the site.

Lt. Colonel Halt: We are getting readings on the tree. You’re taking samples from on the side facing the suspected landing site?

Lt. Englund: Four clicks max.

Lt. Colonel Halt: Up to four. Interesting. That’s right where you’re taking the sample now.

Lt. Englund: Four

Lt. Colonel Halt: That’s the strongest point on the tree?

Sgt. Nevilles: Yes sir, and if you come to the back, there’s no clicks whatsoever.

Lt. Colonel Halt: No clicks at all, in the back

Sgt. Nevilles: Maybe one or two

Lt. Colonel Halt: It’s all on the side facing the [landing site obviously]...interesting.

(Source)

This shows radiation is present here but only here as only a few meters away there isn’t an excess amount of it at all.

Well, they didn't stick around for much longer as shortly after these readings something very weird had happened nearby, animals all started to go crazy all in an instant...Something seemed to have frightened them all. Then there was another sighting of the strange lights.

"we got the radiac instruments out, we were taking readings and while we were doing this, the police lieutenant said 'look!'. (see the Halt tape a few posts below)

It was a strange glowing object, it appeared to be 100-200 metres away. I couldn't explain it. It was moving behind the pine trees, zig-zagging around it kind of winked at us."

(Source)

This time they had seen the object with their own eyes, at one point it even supposedly moved towards them. It quickly disappeared again though, soon coming back and disappearing once again.

Please continue reading into the next post.

Thank You.

Lt. Colonel Halt: Strange. One again left. Let's approach the edge of the woods at that point. Can we do without lights? Let's do it carefully, come on... OK we're looking at the thing, we're probably about 2-3 hundred yards away. It looks like an eye winking at you, it's still moving from side to side and when we put the star scope on it, it's sort of a hollow centre right, a dark centre, it's...

Lt. Englund: It's like a pupil...

Lt. Colonel Halt: It's like the pupil of an eye looking at you, winking...and the flash is so bright to the Star scope, err.... it almost burns your eye.
[Break in tape]

(Source)

As they was coming out of the forest however, they again spotted the object, this time it was simply sitting in a field. The object wasn't like it was previously though, they say it was throwing off sparks, giving the impression that maybe the craft was heavily damaged?

"we're verging the fence line, the object continues to move through the trees, it proceeds a bit, goes out across the farmer's field, to the left of the farmers house and appears to be shedding molten metal, it's dripping off it.

It pulsated, although it were an eye winking at you and around the edges, it appeared to have molten metal dripping off it, just like falling to the ground, but I didn't see any evidence of anything on the ground. I just couldn't believe what I was seeing, none of us could."

(Source)

The object seemingly exploded..Although it was silent still, something that was seemingly confirmed by everyone present at the time. Around 5 objects or so, all bright lights, broke away and then seemed to disappear quickly. Then one of the lights bizarrely shot up into the air!

Halt then reported 'Now we observe what appears to be a beam coming down towards the ground - this is unreal.'

He caught this on tape..Here is a short transcript. (see Halt Tape section of this thread to hear the entire audio tape he made of the events.)

Lt. Colonel Halt: 3.15: Now we've got an object about ten degrees directly south...

Sgt. Nevilles: There's one to the left

Lt. Colonel Halt: 10 degrees off the horizon, and the ones to the north are moving, one's moving away from us.

Sgt. Nevilles: It's moving out fast

Lt. Colonel Halt: They're moving out fast.

Sgt. Ball: There's one on the right chasing away too.

Lt. Colonel Halt: Yeah, they're both heading north. H..h...here he comes from the south; he's coming in toward us now!

Sgt. Ball: [SNIP].

Lt. Colonel Halt: Now were observing what appears to be a beam coming down to the ground!

Sgt. Ball: ...Colours...[SNIP]

Lt. Colonel Halt: This is unreal!

(source)

So by as late as 4.A.M the object was still in the sky...

Lt. Colonel Halt: 3.30: And the objects are still in the sky, although the one to the south looks like it's losing a little bit of altitude. We're turning around and heading back toward the base. The object to the...the object to the south is still beaming down lights to the ground.

[Break in tape]

Lt. Colonel Halt: 0:400 Hours one object still hovering over the Woodbridge base at about 5-10 degrees off the horizon. Still moving erratic and similar lights beaming down as earlier.

(source)

Strange lights were still seen above the Woodbridge base, flashing laser-like beams down into the security area of the base. Hundreds of personnel were said to have witnessed them. Local residents also witnessed them meaning what's really interesting is that not only were military personnel witnesses, them in their own right credible witnesses but local residents giving this story more credibility than ever.

One person even described the beam as 'bands of rippling colour.'

So, the second night, even more bizarre than the first but more important thankfully as this time around the object as well as the light beaming down from the sky was spotted by many many witnesses, despite the early time.

Also the fact that we have an audio tape that was captured during the actual event ads to the mystery of what this strange object really was.

Personally I can't think of anything that it could be, natural and/or man made but this it seems wasn't the end of the strange events to occur at Rendlesham still as apparently the UFO returned for a third and final night.....




Was there a third night of events??




According to Larry Warren, someone who’s had his account of the strange events seriously questioned, the strange and bizarre events of the previous 2 nights were not yet over as for what was seemingly a third and final time the strange object that had been previously seen was back once more.

This time though, it produced for us the most fascinating stories of them all. (possibly why hi story was seriously in question perhaps?)

Rather predictably though, it seemingly began at roughly the same as the previous 2 times, this one at approximately 11:15PM as it was noticed by Warren (allegedly) that there were abnormal transmissions originating from the RAF Bentwaters Weapons Storage Area observation tower as well as the Woodbridge flight tower.

What he heard was it was reported that there was strange lights quite literally bobbing up and down over the forest.

Warren mentioned however, that he in fact never saw these lights from where he was posted. (which was at Bentwaters Perimeter Post 18) Shortly afterwards though Adrian Bustinza who was driving a security police truck along with Lt. Englund and 2 more officers arrived here and informed Warren that he was to leave his post and join them as they was on their way to Bentwaters motor pool to pick up light alls.

It seems as though they was preparing to head into the woods at this time although when Warren asked he was told they were just there to repair some malfunctioned equipment.

This information seemed false as after they filled them up they headed down to RAF Bentwaters main gates where they met more vehicles and then they eventually started heading towards RAF Woodbridge, a trip which became difficult as much like the previous nights animals were once again going crazy and were all over the road.

They then made their way to, what was known at the time as Route 12 where they then handed over there Their rifles, then drove a little bit more before finally exiting their vehicles and walking. At which point they were told to remain as quiet as possible.

After splitting into 2 groups they walked towards the edges of the forest before they could see into a nearby field. What was in that field though is/was totally bizarre as Warren claims that they were looking at a weird, illuminated object simply sitting in the field seemingly surrounded by the many base personnel present.

"as we were watching this, there were disaster preparedness officers out here with Geiger counters, going in an almost half-clockwise motion around this thing on the ground."

(Source)

Warren as well as Bustinza both claim that helicopters were also present here as well. They even heard a bizarre radio transmission them which reads allegedly that the pilots can be heard saying 'here it comes' 'here it comes' before a red light flew in from the distance.. completely silent the entire time.

"it moved in, in a downward arc, so fast. Stopped and hovered about 20 feet off the ground. It was the size of a basketball, American basketball. [It was] self illuminated, not quite red, yet that's the closest I can describe it."

(Source)

The strange light then seemed to explode, all the while remaining completely silent still, but producing rainbow coloured shards it was claimed. As well as a blinding bright light which Warren claims damaged his own eyes much like Pennistons previous claim.

What's particularly interesting about this story is that the red light was no longer there..but instead there was now an object around 30 feet across, shaped like a pyramid.

The shape and colors of it as well as the fact that warren claims he could even see strange shapes on the sides seem to fit the description again Penniston gave of the object minus the sheer size of it this time around.

Time also seemed to play an issue in this object much like the previous 2 nights as Warren and Bustinza were instructed to move in on the object. As they did this, all the while being led there by someone with one of the Geiger counters, he mentioned that it seemed as though his shadow looked as if it was literally being pulled into the craft by an unknown force.

Almost as if when he took a step, his shadow took another as if time was slower he claims.

Please continue reading into the next post.

Thank You.

Upon returning to their original position Warren noticed something particularly odd, a blue and gold color light seemingly appeared. quickly breaking up in fact and adopting a cylindrical shape where Warren claims that he thought he could see figures in the light.

"Then a light moved out of the side of the object and split into three. Within the light you could see clearly what looked like eyes, facial features, bright clothing and some other device, but the legs and the lower extremities, I couldn't make out - It was almost as if the light was translucent."

(Source)

A Gordon Williams, who arrived shortly before in his car began to approach the object, according to Warrens accounts, he was still wearing plain clothes at this time, before one of the beings that Warren thought he could see approached him where they were said to have just stood silently watching each other.

"What happened next was basically a face off. If there was any communication, it was telepathy... who can say, I don't know. I've never said those things [Handshakes, and the like]."

(Source)

Shortly afterwards apparently there was some sort of crackling noise that could be heard, subsequently the "beings" according to Warren somewhat retreated.

"there was a sound, a sound like a tree braking, I don't know what it was. These things ['beings'] retracted under a delta type of thing, their arms moved up and then after a stand off for a minute - it was very tense - they moved back closer, and I'm standing right there watching - I was about 20-25 feet away."

(Source)

At this point Warren claims they was the ordered to return back to base, something which they did in fact do. It was at this time that Warren claims to have seen strange lights in the forest, even at one point seeing a strange beam from the sky in fact.

He returned to Base at around 4.A.M, roughly around the same as the ones before him from the previous nights.

Although Warren returned to Base, bustinza actually stayed at the site, he claimed that the strange lights stayed there for a couple more hours. During an interview in 1984 on the 20th of April with Larry Fawcet however he explained just how the craft had left the scene.

Fawcett: When it moved, when it took off, did you hear anything or feel anything?

Bustinza: When it took off, it was, like, hovering. It went up and, like, took off at about a forty-five-degree angle, and if you would have blinked, you would have missed it.

Fawcett: That fast?

Bustinza: That fast. And we got a cold draft of air that lasted about a good ten seconds. You know, like when you get a good blow of dust or wind. No noise though; I do remember that.

(Source)

Read the ENTIRE Interview here

The craft was gone.

..But the odd series of events according to Warren were yet to be over as A Major Zickler was present at the base and he was there to debrief the men who had seen the UFO. Also everyone was apparently to sign documents given to them, documents that apparently explained that what was seen was just a bunch of strange lights and nothing more.

Warren then claims that after being took into a separate room, which is what occurred after the document signing, that there was 3 men waiting for him. The 3 men explained that what he had seen was in fact Alien beings and that they were 'represented by technology far advanced to our own.'

They also Told Warren that he was not to speak of the incident to anyone what so ever, doing so could result in somewhat unfortunate circumstances as when Warren directly asked about this they told him 'Bullets are cheap.'

These were seemingly the same people that contacted Penniston a one point, something which we have learnt about after he undertook a hypnosis session in 1994.

He claims under the first hypnosis session..

Penniston recounted the same events that he remembered consciously. Nothing new surfaced. The session did, however, turn up a jump in time: Penniston described being near the craft, examining it, and then suddenly standing 30 feet away next to Airman First Class John Burroughs, one of the men dispatched to investigate the scene with him.

That sequence of events left about 45 minutes unaccounted for. He and his colleagues decided to try another hypnosis session two months later to explore that seeming discrepancy.

(Source)

During the second hypnosis session he's asked about his time during the interview after the event. The debriefing.

He claims...

During the second hypnotic regression, the psychologist takes Penniston back to the debriefing by two Office of Special Investigation (OSI) agents, and he recounts the scene and events just as he recalled them consciously. But then, according to Penniston's memory under hypnosis, those two agents leave the room and two other officials, one American and one with a British accent, come into the room and ask Penniston to again recount the story.

They ask him, he says, if he would mind being given a shot of something and then telling his story again while they tape-record it. Penniston agrees, "if that's what it takes." But he also tells his interrogators that he doesn't like shots.

In a dramatic and striking scene on the videotape, Penniston lifts his arm for a shot of sodium penthathol and the agents question him repeatedly about the trajectory of the craft, its speed and approach. Penniston calmly repeats over and over that he did not see any of that, that the craft was already on the ground when he saw it.

The interrogation continues, and Penniston answers the officials' questions about the craft itself and the symbols he found on one side. He recalls the two agents talking to themselves, saying there was "no point in going further," that they knew what had happened and now the question was how to contain the situation. "They know about what I've seen. They knew it already," Penniston says under hypnosis.

(Source)

The session starts to go bizarre as much like Warren, Penniston is even able to describe beings, ones which he can't remember at all if it weren't for the session..Assuming it's real ofourse.

Here it is...

As the regression continues, the psychologist begins questioning Penniston about possible "beings" in the craft and he begins to answer. On the tape, it seems that Penniston knows the answer to just about every question the psychologist asks. "I look at this and find it hard to believe it's me," said Penniston during one viewing of the tape.

Under hypnosis, Penniston describes the alien visitors, saying that they are "travelers from our future." They have been coming here in teams, each team assigned a different "tasking," a different mission. Each team targets certain people when it comes back to our time, rather than just encountering people randomly.

When the psychologist asks him why, Penniston -- still under hypnosis -- says, "They've got a serious problem. The world isn't like it is now. It's darker, in bad shape. It's very polluted and much colder." He goes on to recount that the visitors from the future also have serious social problems and difficulties with reproduction. Accordingly, one of the travelers' main tasks is to obtain sperm and eggs and chromosomes in order to keep the species alive. The species in question, he says in response to the psychologist's question, is "us. They're humans."

"The problem here," says Penniston to Rayl after the videotape ends, "is I don't know if this information is real in any sense, if it's been planted in my mind or if any of it is actually rooted in truth as we know it."

(Source)


Warren after seemingly being warned by the same people who contacted Penniston allegedly ignored them almost straight away, well according to him anyway. He quickly headed out to a local phone box before calling his mother to tell her the events of what had happened, telling most of the story he claims that the phone suddenly went dead.

After calling the operator he was told the phone went dead from his end. Shortly afterwards he received a phone call which told him he was earlier informed not to speak about the incident that had occurred, he was then forced to pay a fine of £300 in monthly installments...Again, according to Warren.

This story, by far the most extreme/interesting/fascinating/downright bizarre of them all as from this story we get that we're being visited by aliens, people in high places are seemingly aware of that and they have advanced technology compared to us.

These are wild claims he's made and they deserve to be questioned.

Particularly the claim that he wasn't even present on the base at the time of these events occurring as well as supposedly false witnesses coming forward backing up his nonexistent claims.

It's a fascinating story if true of course.

Please continue reading into the next post.

Thank You.

The Evidence




The Halt Tape


I thought it'd be best to firstly try and discuss what's probably the greatest piece of evidence for this case which is IMHO the renowned Halt Tape.

It came into the public’s attention however after a relatively short period of time after the incident occurred as a lawyer (Harry Harris) came into contact with the tape in 1984 in which it was given to him (as far as I know) as previously it was found by Colonel Conrad in Halt's previous office.

Here is the tape that he made regarding the strange events of the second night of the Rendlesham Forest incident.

Youtube shortened version of the Halt Tape

The full tape

Google Video Link

Heres the (as far as Im aware) entire transcript of the Halt Tape

The Witness statements




Full Witness statements link here but everything I write is my own words unless it's shown as otherwise.




Jim Penniston




Here is his Statement that he's required to write after an incident such as this one.


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/1b2587ca30ab.jpg[/atsimg]


It reads...

"Received dispatch from CSC to rendezvous with Police 4 AIC Burroughs, and Police 5 SSgt Steffens at east Gate Woodbridge. Upon arriving at east gate directly to the east about 1 and a half miles in a large wooded area. A large yellow glowing light was emitting above the trees. In the centre of the lighted area directly in the centre ground level, there was red light blinking on and off 5 to 10 second intervals. And a blue light that was being for the most part steady.

After receiving permission from CSC, we proceeded off base pass east gate, down an old logging road. Left vehicle, proceeded on foot. Burroughs and I were approx. 15-20 meters apart and proceeding on a true east direction from logging road.

The area in front of us was lighting up a 30 metre area. When we got within a 50 metre distance, the object was producing red and blue light. The blue light was steady and projecting under the object.

It was up the area directly extending a metre or two out. At this point of positive identification I relayed to CSC, SSgt Coffey. A positing sighting of the object...1....Colour of lights and that it was definitely mechanical in nature.

This is the closest point that I was near the object at any point. We then proceeded after it. It moved in a zig-zagging manner back through the woods, then lost sight of it. On the way back we encountered a blue streaking light to the left only lasting a few seconds. After 45 min walk, arrived at our vehicle." (not signed)

(Source)


He also made these drawings...








John Burroughs




From his witness statement it's really not clear what was said at all so instead of posting them, I'll provide a link to them below redy for viewing if you wish. But it's worth checking out to see just how hard to understand it is.

John Burroughs - Witness Statement Page 1

John Burroughs - Witness Statement Page 2

However, here's what was wrote...

"On the night of 25-26 Dec at around 3:00, while on patrol down at East Gate, myself and my partner saw lights coming from the woods due east of the gate. The lights were red and blue, the red one above the blue one, and they were flashing on and off. Because I've never seen anything like that coming from the woods before we decided to drive down and see what it was. We went down east-gate road and took a right at the stop sign and drove about 10-20 yards to where there is a road that goes into the forest. I could see a white light shining into the trees and I could still see the red and blue one.

We decided we better go call it in so we went back up towards East Gate and called it in. The whole time I could see the lights and the white light was almost at the edge of the road and the blue and red lights were still out in the woods. A security unit was sent down to the gate and when they got there they could see it too. we asked permission to go and see what it was. We took the truck down the road that leads into the forest.

As we went down the east-gate road and the road that leads into the forest, the lights were moving back and they appeared to stop in a bunch of trees. We stopped the truck where the road stopped and went on foot. We crossed a small open field that let into where the lights were coming from, and as we were coming into the trees there were strange noises, like a woman screaming. Also the woods lit up and you could hear the farm animals making a lot of noises, and there was a lot of movement in the woods.

All three of us hit the ground and what ever it was started moving back towards the open field and after a minute or two we got up and moved into the trees and the lights moved out into the open field. We got up to a fence that separated the trees from the open field.

You could see the lights down by a farmer's house. We climbed over the fence and started walking toward the red and blue lights and they just disappeared. Once we reached the farmer's house we could see a beacon going around, so we went toward it. We followed it for about 2 miles before we could see it was coming from a lighthouse. We had just passed a creak and were told to come back when we saw a blue light to our left in the trees. It was only there for a minute and just streaked away. After that we didn't see anything and returned to the truck."

(Source)

It was completely unnecessary showing the first 2 pages but the third isn’t.

So,… Here it is.

Please continue reading into the next post.

Thank You.

[edit on 16-8-2010 by Rising Against]

Ed Cabansag




Here is what was wrote...





It reads...

"On 26 Dec 80, SSgt Penningston and I were on Security #6 at Woodbridge Base. I was the member. We were patrolling Delta NAPA when we received a call over the radio. It stated that Police #4 had seen some strange lights out past the East Gate and we were to respond. SSgt Penningston and I left Delta NAPA, heading for the East Gate code two. When we got there SSgt Steffens and A1C Burroughs were on patrol. They told us they had seen some funny lights out in the woods. We notified CSC and we asked permission to investigate further.

They gave us the go-ahead. We left our weapons with SSgt Steffens who remained at the gate. Thus the three of us went out to investigate. We stopped the Security Police vehicle about 100 meters from the gate. Due to the terrain we had to on by foot. We kept in constant contact with CSC. While we walked, each one of us would see the lights. Blue, red, white, and yellow.

The beckon light turned out to be the yellow light. We would see them periodically, but not In a specific pattern. As we approached, the lights would seem to be at the edge of the forret. We were about 100 meters from the edge of the forrest when I saw a quick movement, it looked visible for a moment . It look like it spun XXgXX(?) left a quarter of a turn, then it was gone.

I'm advised SSgt Penningston and A1C Borroughs(?). We advised CSC and proceeded In extreme caution. When we got about 75-50 meters, MSgt Chandler/Flight Chief, was on the scene. CSC was not reading our transmissions very well,, so we used MSgt Chandler as a go-between. He remained back at out vehicle. As we entered the forrest, the blue and red lights were not visible anymore. Only the beacon light, was still blinking.

We figured the lights were coming from past the forrest, since nothing was visible when we past through the woody forrest. We would see a glowing near the beacon light, but as we got closer we found It to be a lit up farm house. After we had passed throught the forrest, we thought it had to be an aircraft accident. So did CSC as well. But we ran and walked a good 2 miles past out the vehicle, until we got to a vantage point where we could determine that what we were chasing was X only a beacon light off In the distance.

Our route through the forrest and field was a direct one, straight towards the light. We informed CSC that the light beacon was farther than we thought, so CSC terminated our Investigation. A1C Burroughs and I took a road, while SSgt Penningston walked straight back from where we came. A1C Burroughs saw the light again, this time it was coming from the left of us, as we were walking back to our patrol vehicle. We got in contact with SSgt Penningston and we took a walk threw where we saw the lights. Nothing. Finally, we made it back to our vehicle, after making contact with the PC's and informing them of what we saw. After that we met MSgt Chandler and we went In service again after termination of the sighting."

(Source)




J . D . Chandler

J . D . Chandler - Unnecesary witness Statement Page 2

It reads...

"At approximately 3.00hrs, 26 December 1980, while conducting security checks on RAF Bentwaters, I monitored a radio transmission from A1C Burroughs, Law Enforcement patrol at RAF Woodbridge, stating that he was observing strange lights in the wooded area just beyond the access road, leading from the East Gate at RAF Woodbridge. SSgt Penniston, Security Supervisor, was contacted and directed to contact Burroughs at the East Gate. Upon arrival, SSgt Penniston immediately notified CSC that he too was observing these lights and requested to make a closer observation After several minutes, Penniston my presence.

I departed RAF Bentwaters through Butley Gate for RAF Woodbridge. When I arrived, SSgt Penniston, A1C Burroughs and Amn Cabansag had entered the wooded area just beyond the clearing at the access road. We set up radio relay between SSgt Penniston, myself and CSC. On one occasion Penniston relayed that he was close enough to the object to determine it was definitely a mechanical object.

He stated that he was within 50 metres. He also stated that there was lots of noises in the area which seemed to be animals running around. Each Penniston gave me the indication that he was about to reach the area where the lights were he would give an extended estimated location. He eventually arrived at a 'beacon light', however, he stated that this was not the light or lights he had originally observed. He was instructed to return.

While on route out of the area he reported seeing lights again almost in direct pass where they had passed earlier. Shortly after this, they reported that the lights were no longer visible. SSgt Penniston returned to RAF Woodbridge. After talking to the three of them, I am sure that they had observed something unusual. At no time did I observe anything from the time I arrived at RAF Woodbridge."

(Source)




Fred Buran

Fred Buran - Unnecesary witness Statement Page 2

It reads...

"I do hereby voluntarily and of my own free will make the following statement without having been subjected to any coercion, unlawful influence or unlawful inducement. The following statement is general in nature and may be inaccurate in some instances due to the time-lapse involved and the fact I was not taking notes at the time oft he occurrence. At approximately 03:00 hrs, 26 December 1980, I was on duty at bldg. 679, Central Security Control, when I was notified that A1C Burroughs had sighted some strange lights in the wooded area east of the runway at RAF Woodbridge.

Shortly after the initial report A1C Burroughs was joined by SSgt Jim Penniston and his rider, AMN Cabansag. SSgt Penniston also reported the strange lights.I directed SSgt Coffey, the on duty Security Controlled to attempt to ascertain from SSgt Penniston whether or not the lights could be marker lights of some kind, to which SSgt Penniston said that he had never seen lights of this colour or nature in the area before. He described them as Red, blue, white and orange.

SSgt Penniston requested permission to investigate. After he had been joined by the Security Flight Chief, MSgt Chandler, and turned his weapon over to him, I directed them to go ahead. SSgt Penniston had previously informed me that the lights appeared to be no further than 100 yds from the road East Gate of the runway. I monitored their progress (Penniston, Burroughs and Cabansag) as they entered the wooded area.

They appeared to get very close to the lights, and at one point SSgt Penniston stated that it was a definite mechanical object. Due to the colours they reported I alerted them to the fact that they may have been approaching a light aircraft crash scene. I directed SSgt Coffey to check with the tower to see if they could throw some light on the subject. They could not help.

SSgt Penniston reported getting near the object and then all of a sudden said they had gone past it and were looking a a marker beacon that was in the same direction as the other lights. I asked him if he could have been mistaken, to which Penniston replied that had I seen the other lights I would know the difference. SSgt Penniston seemed somewhat agitated at this point.

They continued to look further, to no avail. At approximately 3:43 hrs, I terminated the investigation and ordered all units bad to their normal duties. I directed SSgt Penniston to take notes of the incident when he came in that morning. After talking with him face to face concerning the incident, I am convinced that he saw something out of the realm of explanation for him at that time.

I would like to state at this time that SSgt Penniston is a totally reliable and mature individual. He was not overly excited, nor do I think he is subject to overreaction or misinterpretation of circumstances. Later that morning, after conversing with CPT Mike Verrano, the day-shift commander, I discovered that there had been several other sightings. Any further developments I have no direct knowledge of."

Please continue reading into the next post.

Thank You.

The Halt Memorandum



Shortly afterwards the incident Halt was also to write a small report of the events that had occurred to them, this report however, was slightly different to the previous ones shown in this thread as it lacks a significant amount of detail as well as the facts that the dates he mentioned are seriously disputed.

Reason for that could be the fact that Halt wrote this report around 2 weeks after the events and they was from his memory alone. He also claims it was intended primarily to promote the M.O.D (Ministry of Defense) to do a proper investigation here as it seemed unlikely.

Here it is.





It reads...


Paragraph 1.,

Early in the morning of 27 Dec 80 (approximately 0300L) two USAF security police patrolmen saw unusual lights outside the back gate at RAF Woodbridge. Thinking an aircraft might have crashed or been forced down, they called for permission to go outside the gate to investigate.... The individuals reported seeing a strange glowing object in the forest.

The object was described as being metallic in appearance and triangular in shape, approximately two to three meters across the base and approximately two meters high. It illuminated the entire forest with a white light. The object itself had a pulsing red light on top and a bank(s) of blue lights underneath. The object was hovering or on legs.

As the patrolmen approached the object it maneuvered through the trees and disappeared. At this time the animals on a nearby farm went into a frenzy. The object was briefly sighted approximately an hour later near the back gate.

Paragraph 2.,

The next day, three depressions 1 1/2" deep and 7" in diameter were found where the object had been sighted on the ground. The following night (29 Dec 80) the area was checked for radiation.

Beta/Gamma readings of 0.1 milliroentgens were recorded with peak readings in the three depressions and near the center of the triangle formed by the three depressions. A nearby tree had moderate (0.05 - 0.07) readings on the side of the tree facing towards the three depressions.

Paragraph 3.,

Later in the night a red sun-like object was seen through the trees. It moved about and pulsed. At one point it appeared to throw off glowing particles and then broke into five separate white objects and disappeared. Immediately thereafter, three star like objects were noticed in the sky, two objects to the north and one to the south, all of which were about 10 degrees off of the horizon.

The objects moved rapidly in sharp, angular movements and displayed red, green and blue lights. The objects to the north appeared to be elliptical through 8-10 power lens. They then turned to full circles.

The objects in the north remained in the sky for an hour or more. The object to the south was visible for two to three hours and beamed down a stream of light from time to time. Numerous individuals, including the undersigned, witnessed the activities in paragraphs 2 and 3.

Charles Halt (signed)
Charles I. Halt. Lt Col, USAF
Deputy Base Commander

(Source)

Full interview of Charles Halt and Sally Rayl where the Halt memorandum is mentioned



[PDF] Here is the Suffolk Police constabulary files which also holds valuable information about the events of the Rendlesham Forest Incident [PDF]

Suffolk Constabulary holds the following documents on the above incident, which occurred on 26 December, 1980, in Rendlesham, Suffolk:

1. Suffolk Constabulary Command and Control incident log serial number 10E1 26/12/80/0411. Report from USAF Law Enforcement Desk, RAF Bentwaters of unusual lights in the sky beyond East Gate to RAF Woodbridge.

2. Suffolk Constabulary Command and Control incident log serial number 31A4 26/12/80/1030. Report from USAF Law Enforcement Desk, RAF Bentwaters of an alleged craft landing site, two miles east of the East Gate of RAF Bentwaters.

3. Copy of Suffolk Constabulary letter dated 23 November 1983 to an enquirer.

4. Copy of Suffolk Constabulary letter dated 27 October 1988 to an enquirer.

5. Copy of Suffolk Constabulary letter dated 28 July 1999 to an enquirer.

6. Copy of Suffolk Constabulary facsimile note dated 18 January 2001 to the Home Office providing an answer to a Parliamentary Question about Suffolk Constabulary’s involvement in the 1980 Rendlesham incident.

(Source)





Was this just a hoaxer?? ..If not then surely it cant be extraterrestrial anyway...




With all the big cases such as this, there always seems to be big talk of an elaborate hoax as well it seems, or any reason against why what may have happened is impossible and the like, no matter how plausible it may be. Rendlesham is no different. Talk of hoax or just any other theory on why there could not have been an extraterrestrial landing is discussed and taken seriously by skeptics.

And rightly so IMHO, even though I personally think something extraterrestrial did in fact happen here, (The title of this section is the general opinion of what this section is, not my sole opinion on the subject) it's always good to look at both sides of the argument at least.

One such theory for Rendlesham being nothing more than an explainable phenomenon is the relatively well known Lighthouse Theory.


So, First off, amidst claims that you can't even see the lighthouse from Rendlesham forest here is 2 images taken from this site here which prove that you can in fact see it. The reason why so many people claim that you can't because if you move slightly out of your way, you in fact CAN'T see it.

Here are the images taken from 2 different sides of a house to show this.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/942d3e9e3a93.jpg[/atsimg]
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/ee3f44d34c3d.jpg[/atsimg]

Notice you can see the lighthouse but once you move only slightly out of your way it is then suddenly out of view again due to the landscape it rests upon. Apparently the lighthouse can only be seen from a limited amount of locations at Rendlesham as well.

However, In 1980 when this incident occurred, the forest was slightly thicker and there was a lot more tree's etc. so possibly seeing the lighthouse from this time may have been a lot more difficult. But then again, it's claimed that the lighthouse itself was more powerful back then as well as brighter and/or easier to see as well.

But, surely if this is in fact what the men was seeing then we would have a plausible explanation for the UFO seemingly disappearing when it was being chased by the men and the pulsing that they described.

Well, it seems a plausible theory from where I am, that is until you see how the lighthouse is viewed at night.



[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/9316d77d4370.jpg[/atsimg]


[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d03053d75dc6.gif[/atsimg]



Also, here is what the men themselves say about the Lighthouse Theory, something that they are certain about that this incident is not the result of!

John Burroughs - Airmen first class at time - present on first night
"There is no way that many people were fooled by that lighthouse...There is just no way that we were fooled, something actually went on on out there."

Jim Penniston - Staff Sergeant at time - present on first night
[Arguing with Vince Thurkettle] "You know, we've worked out here for months. We know where the lighthouse is, it's just so ridiculous to bring that up."

Charles Halt - Deputy base commander at time - present on second night
"The whole time this was going on, we could see the lighthouse, the lighthouse was about 33-35 degrees off where this object was this seen....A lighthouse doesn't move through the forest, the lighthouse doesn't go up and down, it doesn't explode, doesn't change shape, size, doesn't send down beams of light from the sky."

Edward Cabansag - Airman at time - present on first night
"It [the UFO] was to the right of the lighthouse" "... It wasn't the lighthouse."

Charles Halt - Deputy base commander at time - present on second night
"I knew where the lighthouse was. This thing was not it. I saw the lighthouse as well but I never mentioned it [on the tape]. Why should I? Everybody present knew what that was!"

"A lighthouse doesn’t move through the forest; the lighthouse doesn’t go up and down, it doesn’t explode, doesn’t change shape, size - doesn’t send down beams of light from the sky”.

"I don't want to talk to people that tell me I was looking at the lighthouse... I could see the lighthouse... I knew where the lighthouse was. That's ludicrous."

"They [the sceptics] weren't there that night, I certainly wish some of them had been - they might have had a different opinion of things. But they're entitled to their opinion, they certainly are. I know what happened. I was there."

Please continue reading into the next post.

Thank You.

[edit on 16-8-2010 by Rising Against]

Steve La Plume - Airmen first class at time - present on second or third night
"I mean, come on here, this is not rocket science. I saw something, Busty [Adrian Bustinza] saw something, [Larry] Warren saw something.
Everyone there saw something. Perhaps on different nights, perhaps with a different perspective but we did not see a light house and mistake it for a bloody UFO.

[...] I am personally offended by the fact that anyone can even think that we are so stupid as to believe what we saw was a dammed light house[...]"

Larry Warren - A1C - present on second or third night
"The British press always brings up astronomer Ian Ridpath's insane lighthouse theory as the cause of the UFO incidents. USAF security police are highly trained people, and I'm sure all Bentwaters veterans must find Ridpath's ramblings insulting in the extreme".

Gregory Battram - A1C at time - present on second/third night
"I just wish I knew why those things landed and what they wanted - isn't that the most important question? No lighthouses and theories from people who don't have a clue..."

Vince Thurkettle - forester at time - first to suggest the lighthouse theory.
He spoke to Georgina Bruni, "they [the sceptics] take a cluster of facts and only pick up on those that suit the situation"

Even the lighthouse keeper does not subscribe to the lighthouse theory.
He spoke to Georgina Bruni, "... some time the skeptics have been pestering me in an attempt to get to support their theory. I cannot do it. I know what my lighthouse looked like from the forest. I have seen it in all weathers. It just could not do what those airmen and local people describe the UFO as doing..."

(Source)


Going from the descriptions, it seems utterly impossible that what was seen was the lighthouse, especially considering that it moved around like they say and the actual physical descriptions given also.

That’s just my opinion though but here is a news report from a couple of days ago however, claims that the lighthouse theory is actually what the men saw. (August 12th, 2010 to be exact)

On Monday night, after dark, I ventured into Rendlesham Forest with the astronomy writer, Ian Ridpath, a scientist who has almost made a career of explaining the incident.

He took me to the place where the airmen reported seeing flashing lights in the sky. There, we were greeted by the sight of the Orford Ness lighthouse a few miles away.

Mr Ridpath was certain that this was what the witnesses to the mysterious lights in the forest were looking at. It is still there now - its light rotating every five seconds.

"It's too good a story to allow to die. It's a combination of events which, when put together, sound inexplicable," he told me.

"But when you look at them individually, the bright light flashing away across the field was the Orford Ness lighthouse; the bright lights that hovered in the sky for several hours were in fact bright stars."

Mystery explained. It was an easy mistake for young Americans a long way from home to make.

(Source)

He seems to have visited the location, and from that made up his mind that the lighthouse was in fact responsible.

Personally though, I just don’t see how lights from a lighthouse miles away, could cause strange lights to occur throughout these woods, subsequently move and then give off a beam of light from the sky for example.

On what was seemingly clear weather as well Also how could this light seem metallic in nature and throw off sparks and change colors??

Not to forget the stars that Ridpath mentions were not stationary but they moving as well.

Personally I think Ian Ridpath is just looking for any old excuse to NOT believe what happened at Rendlesham was anything extraordinary and for whatever reason but here's a link to his website still. It's an interesting read all the same

The Rendlesham Forest UFO Case – Ian Ridpath




The Russian Cosmos 749 rocket re-entry confusion

To assess the credibility of that idea requires some background information. Firstly, the object that re-entered was not what most people would think of as a ‘real’ satellite. It was in fact the upper stage of the carrier rocket that launched Cosmos 749 over five years earlier, in July 1975.

(It is usual for the top stage of a launch rocket to go into orbit with the satellite, and is a major contributor to the amount of ‘junk’ in orbit). As such it was a dead, inert cylinder of metal, and there would have been no way to command it down even if anyone had wanted to do so. What’s more, the re-entry started 1,500 miles away over North Africa.

The real Cosmos 749 satellite had in fact re-entered three months earlier, in September 1980. It was an electronic eavesdropping satellite but it was not the type of satellite designed to be brought back to Earth, nor was it nuclear-powered. And the British Astronomical Association research paper referenced in paragraph one makes it clear that Jenny’s claim that the incoming object somehow changed course is simply wrong.

(Source)

When referring to Jenny's claim, from the link above, it's discussing Jenny Randle and her claim that the NSA on site, actually fired an energy beam (without any evidence of course) to quite literally jam the soviet union’s military electronics thus causing the burning up in such a way that was seen at the forest and in the skies.

The source of this energy beam according to her is nicknamed Cobra Mist. And in a subsequent book, The UFOs That Never Were, she goes on to claim that the flight path of the incoming debris altered “as if something caused the trajectory to be deflected”.

But as was mentioned in the external link above, this theory is clearly dismissed.

The re-entry to Earth of the rocket however, did occur 6 hours prior to the events of what was to happen at Rendlesham forest and it did indeed break up so I wonder if it could have at least contributed to the sightings of strange lights in the forest and in the skies that the men reported.

Surely it would not have caused the entire events of course but I think it's possible that it certainly contributed to some sightings that was seen.

The Cosmos 749's re-entry to earth did indeed spark a huge host of UFO sightings in the UK, some which were reported on Radio at the time, so maybe it did influence them but on the other hand from the same article mentioned above, it's claimed that the re-entry could in no way have any other connection with the later events in Rendlesham Forest still so it seems unlikely that the rocket was influencing anyone at all.




Was it simply one man Hoaxing?




...More specifically named 'Kevin Conde' perhaps???

Well, he's a pretty well known face now, primarily because he actually admitted to hoaxing in the first place. That being so it's still not accepted amongst all researchers and everyday people who know the Rendlesham story well, and that really isn't down to people refusing to believe him because they want to believe in an extraterrestrial craft or anything like that...Or being ignorant if you will.

It's because the story of his hoaxing just doesn't seem to check out at all and has far too many holes in it to be taken seriously at all. (see external material below) The question I have to ask though is, assuming he's lying, why make it up? Was he paid off perhaps (no facts to back that up ofc.)

Anyway, here is just some of the reasons why his story doesn't check out at all and it seems foolish to believe his claims....

1. Conde can't recall the date of his alleged prank. If this is
so then how can he claim he was responsible for the 1980
incident?

2. Conde says there was fog on the night in question, but there
was no fog during any of the incidents that week.

3. He says he played his loudspeaker, but the UFOs were silent.

4. The car he used for the prank was a 'battered 1979 Plymouth
Volare.' Let us not forget that incident took place in 1980,
which means the so called battered police vehicle would have
been less than a year old at that time.

5. Conde claims he played the prank on the taxiway! The incident
did NOT take place on or near the taxiway, but inside the
forest. And let us not forget that the UFO was first seen
falling into the forest, which prompted those at the East Gate,
John Burroughs and his sergeant, Bud Steffans, to think it was a
downed aircraft. The lights, of course, were not going up into
the sky, but were falling down from the sky.

6. Conde says he was unaware of the Rendlesham mystery until he
looked up his old base on a US military website. If this is the
case then how could he claim that as far as he was aware they
found nothing above background [radiation] levels?

7. USAF personnel usually work in pairs when patrolling the base
in vehicles. I'm assuming he was patrolling the base, and if so
then he most likely would have had a partner that night. Who was
that person and why has Conde failed to mention him?

(Rest of this article is mentioned along with the link to it in the next post.)

Please continue reading into the next post.

Thank You.

8. When asked about the metallic spacecraft and [ground]
depressions Conde pointed out that a large helicopter had landed
the previous night, apparently with three landing skids. Conde
obviously hasn't seen the USAF photographs of the landing site
showing the three ground indentations being examined by a
British police officer and USAF Captain Mike Verano.

(Source)

In regards to the last comment from the linked material above, I have to ask, how small does he think the helicopter is if it can land in a wooded area such as in Rendlesham Forest?? especially when looking at the place where it landed (surrounded by tree's) and the fact that in 1980 these woods were a lot thicker than they are today. I mean it just seems ridiculous to think that a helicopter landed here IMHO.

Moving on though....and as I earlier said, why would Conde do this? Was he paid to do so perhaps? or is the more likely reason being he did in fact do the prank but it was on a different day to the Rendlesham forest incident maybe??

I mean, Conde himself apparently cannot even remember the date of this, along with the actual location (well the one he gave was completely wrong anyway) and the weather conditions he describes were completely wrong as well.

The fact that he can't remember the date of the event alone is more than enough reason to suspect this.

So it's really not a case of, let's not believe him because he debunks us, but the more likely reason for the holes in the story are the fact it happened at a different times. Conde actually moved back to America shortly afterwards as well which is why he came out and spoke about this after so long.

He actually claims that he didn’t even hear about the entire Rendlesham incident until he was researching his own base so it's more than possible than he may be simply thinking of a prank that he did, something which wasn’t uncommon to do here, and he put 2 and 2 together and claimed it happened which directly caused this incident.

Another person actually came forward as well, claiming that Conde was not the culprit but he was the cause for the entire Rendlesham forest incident, something which Conde seems to 100% believe still despite his lapse in memory. This one was a little bit different as it's claimed that it wasn’t a practical joke, but instead a burning truck that was seen and confused with being a UFO. (somehow)

Here's the story from a British Newspaper - (Cl ick here)

The story seriously lacks in evidence in all honesty, by far more than Conde's anyway but as always it's worth checking out but IMHO.

And personally, Rendlesham being a big UFO case it just seems to be that people are trying to achieve their 15 minutes of fame in the form of a lame hoax like the previous one mentioned, but like I said that's just my opinion on this but if it's the case then it’s sad to see still.

Anyway, moving away from the few claims of hoax, something that's always fascinated me, something which is seemingly in favour of the Rendlesham forest incident being something extraordinary, is the radiation readings that they took. Surely that and that alone would be a cause for concern or excitement here wouldn't it?




The Radiation Readings




Like I Said, the radiation readings are something that's always fascinated me about this case. Something MUST have happened here, whether it be man made or extraterrestrial for example, but something must have to cause any sort of rise in radiation levels regardless of how high they actually got.

In fact, IMHO how high they rose isn't really important at all, it's that they did in fact rise in the first place and the location they rose in just happened to be in the same location where there was a huge UFO sighting, one that actually damaged the surrounding area leaving landing marks and damaging tree's is what's important.

Not forgetting the reaction of the surrounding animals as well when the objects did in fact seemingly returned.

But in 1994 Nick pope finally manage to examine the readings, after contacting Giles Crowley who was at the Defense Radiological Protection Service (DRPS) and asked him to provide an assessment to him of the readings.

What came back seemed a surprise as It was also confirmed that the figures were ten times the expected background levels. The assessment, was actually similar to the DIS, something which Pope simply hadn’t seen at the time as well.

Writing on 23 February 1981 R C Horscroft, ADI/DI52 said “The value of 0.1 milliroentgens (mr), I assume that this is per hour, seems significantly higher than the average background of about 0.015 mr”.

Here's his handwritten memo about the radiation readings.





It reads...

Spoke to Giles Cowling at the Defence Radiological Protection Service re the radiation readings recorded at the time of the Rendlesham Forest incident. 0.01 would be the general level of background radiation, so the 0.1 reading is about 10 times what would be normal. [Ian’s note: this would be true if 0.1 were a steady level, but as we know it refers only to a random peak.]

“However, military radiation detectors are geared for high level readings, so low-level readings may be difficult to record accurately, as the scale will be small at the bottom of the meter.* We don’t have details of what instrument was used.

“It is just possible to hoax such an event. A university lab might well have some radioactive source with a very short half life, and could could use it so as to give readings which would not be recorded a few days later.

“The level of radiation of 0.1 is completely harmless.

“ *Especially if the needle was fluctuating.”

(Source)

It's described by Pope as “the most tangible proof that something extraordinary happened there.” but Iad Ridpath, a well known Rendlesham skeptic, seems to disagree. He's probably one of the biggest disbelievers of this case in all honesty and he seems determined to debunk what had happened as well as the radiation readings themselves.

He claims...

My earlier inquiries had shown that the radiation monitor used by Halt and his team would have been of the type known as an AN/PDR-27. On behalf of Frank Close, NRPB contacted the American manufacturers of the AN/PDR-27, who stated that Halt’s peak measurement of 0.1 mR/h was the “bottom reading on the lowest range” of the monitor and was “of little or no significance”.

They noted further that these instruments are designed to be used to monitor workplace fields or radiation levels after sizable nuclear incidents and are therefore not suitable for environmental monitoring at background levels. On the basis of this information from the manufacturers, NRPB concluded that using such an instrument to establish a level of 10 times background is not credible.

(Source)

Ian Ridpath seems to disbelieve anything you tell him about Rendlesham IMHO so maybe that's why he seems to determined to find fault. His reputation simply disagrees with him and makes me not want to believe him, despite how plausible this sounds.

I'm torn between a plausible explanation from a man with a bad reputation. But, allegedly it isn't only Ridpath who believes the readings are insignificant, as he claims that 3 more independent scientific experts (although I can't find any links explaining further), and the actual makers of the equipment used itself claim that nothing strange or of any significance at all could have happened.

The makers of the instrument allegedly told Ian Ridpath that even the peak measurement obtained by Halt was “of little or no significance.”They were simply background levels of radiation that would be expected in a pine forest. The equipment itself was unsuitable for this type of investigation as well so maybe it's plausible enough to assume that the radiation readings were of no significance at all, unless I can be convinced otherwise.

That being so, I'll leave this section with a report allegedly from the M.O.D themselves that Nick pope released.





Described by Pope as “One of the most important documents to emerge from the MoD’s case files... absolute proof positive that something extraordinary happened”.

Please continue reading into the next post.

Thank You.

Now, unlike in some previous threads I've made, I wasn't looking to add many videos as I didn't really want to bombard people with them as I wanted them to read what I wrote more. But I did want to add at the very least 1 great documentary which is in the know and explains the story pretty well.

Below, I've added 2 but one is a longer one and obviously one is a lot shorter.


Hope you enjoy watching...


Short video

The Rendlesham Forest Incident - Part 1

The Rendlesham Forest Incident - Part 2

The Rendlesham Forest Incident - Part 3

Long Video

The Rendlesham Forest Case - Part 1

The Rendlesham Forest Case - Part 2

The Rendlesham Forest Case - Part 3

The Rendlesham Forest Case - Part 4

The Rendlesham Forest Case - Part 5

The Rendlesham Forest Case - Part 6

Personally, as I've already mentioned before in this thread, I believe something did in fact happen in those woods, something that's unexplainable I mean. Now I don't want to admittedly because I'm much happier writing up threads and researching topics when I'm in a neutral position meaning I'm not accidentally jumping to conclusions or influenced by various information by accident or whatever.

But this case is one that I'm much more a believer in than not (which means I'm not 100% convinced) but I just don't see, assuming all the men are not lying and they're not ALL involved in this being a hoaxed event, that a light can move about in such a way that they mentioned.

I mean the explanations given seem silly IMO. I don’t see how a lighthouse can cause such effects where we see strange blinding lights moving for example to a beam from the sky.

It just seems incredibly unlikely to me how this could be achieved. If someone could come up with an explanation then I’d love to hear it but I just don't see one.

Maybe that's the influence I was talking about, who knows, but I do know this is a fascinating case and potentially the greatest not just in the UK but ever recorded perhaps.

I'd love to hear thoughts on this fascinating case.

Thank you for reading.

this is a very well put together thread. Thanks for taking the time to put all this here for us. This is one of the best cases in my opinion. The fact that the base commander was involved and spoke out is amazing.

reply to post by Rising Against


Rising Against.....

It is threads like this that keep me at ATS.....

What a fantastic piece of work!

I am too tired to do this justice now.

So, I really do look forward to reviewing this in great detail tomorrow.

A star & a flag for you sir!

Kind regards
Maybe...maybe not

Absolutely first class thread yet again.
The time and effort is just breath taking. I saw the thread title and I hoped for a detailed thread like this one as I too have researched this event thoroughly.

In regards to your magnificence the bit that caught my eye was this:

"The problem here," says Penniston to Rayl after the videotape ends, "is I don't know if this information is real in any sense, if it's been planted in my mind or if any of it is actually rooted in truth as we know it."

Who are these intel groups that are assigned to each sighting I wonder? and what technology do these modern day men in black have at their disposal. Implanting memories is not a new concept and IMHO is extremely possible through mind altering techniques induced by '___' or '___', I have researched both. What someone perceives as real and indeed tangible is nothing but an illusions an imprint that has been artificially placed in order to obscure the truth.

I just don't buy the whole us in the future story. For a start we look nothing like the typical alien grey, granted we look like the typical blonde haired aryan nordics but I just don't know.

Interesting enough the author of the book Rendlesham Forest UFO incident says she onced asked margeret Thatcher the then prime minister at some gala event what happened at Rendlesham and apparently Thatcher replied "UFOs! You must get your facts right and you can't tell the people"

Interesting times and a very worthy STAR and FLAG and a spot on one of my favourtie thread walls.

I read about this incident before. I somehow feel that this event has to do with a mass psychology. Sometimes, and it often happens in the army, a group of people can take something (for example a lighthouse effect) completly as something else than it really is. My one and only subjective explanation abut this case is this.
But you did a great effort here

Yes superior thread.

The supposed photos that were taken of the object are still no where to be found correct? Classified?

If these photos exist, and are being withheld, we have evidence of something EXTREMELY fishy going on.

I find the lighthouse explanation for this much hassle to be a huge joke. It's an absurd explanation.

reply to post by muzzleflash

The supposed photos that were taken of the object are still no where to be found correct? Classified?

No, as far as I'm aware (and I'm trying to find a link for this) the photos were in fact made available but they all came out somewhat clouded and distorted and then destroyed. (I could be wrong ofc.)

It was suspected tampering as well I believe but that's just from memory and I'm still trying to find a link which backs it up.

[edit on 16-8-2010 by Rising Against]

Great work. A couple of thoughts on the incident itself and some of the witnesses. This case is 30 years old, but it still begs tons of questions.

Charles Holt seems pretty down-to-earth (no pun intended), and so does Burroughs and the SSgt. But the Warren and the other guy who talk about the third night I'm not so sure. It seems like, if anything, they'd be disinformation agents. The perfect way to deflect a serious security threat is to make it sound utterly ridiculous. And while I'd like to believe that these are beings from our future, that's just sci-fi garbage. The craft that was witnessed on the first night leads me to the extraterrestrial hypothesis. Regardless, I think it's pretty evident that something happened over a couple of nights there. The reports from credible witnesses including Holt, an Officer, and the rest of the guys is enough for me. Whether the accuracy of the stories is on or not, something was out there. That lighthouse explanation is pure disinformation.

reply to post by Rising Against


From what I heard, the photos in question were developed, but were overexposed, and blank/cloudy.

This is one of my favorite Ufo cases,and in my opinion,one of the most believable.

I had to give you a star for a fantastic thread Rising Against.Great job man!