Rendlesham Forest…, A Christmas Story from 1980 - Can We ‘Let it Be’?

So, even now a cloud of obfuscation exists.

I worked nights many times over the 70's & 80's all over the UK and saw many unexplained things, usually with a light or lights involved in the sky.
Not all were satellites, shooting stars or aircraft, having worked at many airports and also observed military aircraft using the old North Sea offshore ranges at night, I know what aircraft light configurations look like, military and civil.

What I saw and cannot explain exists simply as that, unexplained, no amount of speculation, rhetoric or comment can change that fact, unexplained.

We cannot know what we cannot know, and I hope I don't sound like Rumsfeld when I say that! There are, and always will be, certain things that the general public don't need to know. As for Rendlesham and similar incidents, I have no clue as to what may or may not have been seen. Nature has many unexplained tricks up its sleeves, man has a few of his own.

Could it have been aliens and UFO's? Of course it could, but no-one on here on ATS or elsewhere knows the true answers, yet!

Some excellent and informed posts though.

reply to post by mirageman


"Let's take his hypnosis session and assume it is entirely accurate and that humanity in the future sends back a probe in time.

Why would they store a message in binary code that can somehow be transmitted on contact with the "time machine" to a human being."

Why indeed, maybe so they can ascertain our level of technology by monitoring our attempts to understand there probe and said hieroglyphic images. I don't have any clue as to why they would encrypt data in a format allegedly designed by Man, one answer could be because they are also Men.

Addition to OP :

Larry Warren’s Story


Larry Warren is the only 'witness' to date (Nick Pope’s book with Penniston and Burroughs is due shortly) to have written a book "Left At East Gate" concerning the Rendlesham Forest incident. Many believe Warren's story to be an inaccurate recollection of the events.

Larry Warren arrived at Bentwaters on 1st December 1980. On the night of 28th/29th he was stationed on the Perimeter Post 18. Warren claims around 11:15pm he heard radio chatter from RAF Bentwaters Weapons Storage Area observation tower. There was talk of strange lights over and in the forest. Adrian Bustinza arrived in a security truck along with Lt. Englund and 2 other officers. Warren was advised to leave his post and accompany them to pick up some lightalls. They picked up the lightalls and proceeded towards RAF Woodbridge along with other vehicles. Animals were scurrying across the road in panic much like on previous nights. Weapons were removed and secured and they left the trucks. The men were split into groups and told to approach a field at the edge of Rendlesham forest on foot.

Warren says that helicopters were present in the sky and the men were told to maintain radio silence. He has also claimed that the event was captured on both video and still cameras by unknown persons. Warren remembers a radio message "Here it comes, here it comes" and a bright reddish light approached them from the coast. It burst into shards of rainbow coloured light.

Larry Warren claims the retinas of his eyes were burned by this and he lost focus (something which he claims still troubles him to this day). The next thing he knew there was a dense fog ahead of him in the field. A pyramid shaped object appeared within the fog that he could barely make out as it kept shifting in shape and colour. He was ordered to approach the craft and recalls that it felt like time was being warped, static effects could be felt and his shadow appeared to be being pulled into the centre of the lights.

He then remembers the most startling claim of this incident. He saw what he first thought were small children but were actually tiny beings within the lights. He claims a senior officer arrived and began an attempt at communication with the beings in what appeared to be a stand-off and then an agreement to supply parts to repair the object was made. Warren then explains that he returned to base at around 4:00am whilst the UFO remained in the area as he left.

Warren then says that later the same day he, along with a number of the other men out there (Adrian Bustinza being one), were taken underground to be de-briefed by various agents. There, Warren was told that he had witnessed an alien contact and that from time to time many extra-terrestrial species visited earth. He was shown a film of UFO events from the 1940s through to modern day (1980) .Those present were advised to not speak of the events as "bullets are cheap". A more detailed account is given in his book "Left At East Gate".

All the major witnesses at first dismissed Larry Warren’s story doubting he was even there. Although more recently Colonel Halt concedes he may well have been on duty but he believes Larry Warren was meddled with in some way. Warren himself has also conceded he may have been subjected to mind control. Which only poses more questions in this case.

If Warren has had his memories messed with (possibly along with other witnesses) then why was this done and by who or even what?





Gotta visit family now but will add more tidbits of information when time permits.

reply to post by 727Sky
. I love your avatar!

Excellent thread and my all time favorite "sighting".

After all the information is presented would you guys think that some additional events around this time were covered up meaning there is more to the story OR was a lot added after the event to "dress it up"? I remember reading about Rendelsham way back in the 90`s and found it odd that it was only a few years ago that the Binary code came up. I`m not a computer scientist by any means but I`m pretty sure binary existed back in the 80`s.

In the recent interview Larry Warren took part in during the Shaun Ryder TV series he postulates that, the whole incident was in some way, not simply reactive rather, was a setup that went awry when the American military overstepped their mark. On my behalf, the more I read and hear about the incident, the more I to believe that there is something deeper to it all.

It's pretty obvious that people were "got at", the base commander Conrad originally told CNN that "something very weird happened to the men under his command" and then turned totally volte face years later and claimed "The events were wholly unremarkable".

In fact, the last couple of years has seen the "nay sayers" case take two huge knocks. Vince Thirkettle has admitted on camera that, "Having seen the site of Halt's sighting then, the idea he was misidentifying the lighthouse is a non starter"; a fact that neither Clarke and Ridpath have acknowledged. In fact, Ridpath has almost vanished off the radar (sic) with regards UFOs since Clarke's credentials as a "genuine investigator" have been brought seriously into question.

Secondly, a Radar operator has come forward to confirm that, In response to a request from the base, they did indeed track an object in exactly the same location where it had been seen visually, even if only briefly".

That does not mean that it was "aliens" or "humans from the future", it merely adds greater credence to those who claim that, something genuinely strange happened over that holiday period and is, as yet, still unexplained.

reply to post by StratosFear


Binary was around in the late 60's early seventies, I can remember a physics teacher explaining it in a very basic way but he was quite motivated about it being the start of something new...

As I remember all you had to accept was that the basic code consisted of 2 elements a 1 and a 0 and everything else followed.

Seemples? Not for me, but I do remember the explanation on the blackboard.

mirageman
Addition to OP :

Larry Warren’s Story





A pyramid shaped object appeared within the fog that he could barely make out as it kept shifting in shape and colour

Wednesday 24th December 1980 just after 8.00 pm Myself and 3 others who were traveling together saw what has been described above in a field in Warwickshire.
Did we witness a UFO on the ground? In all honesty i cannot say either way. I just know what we witnessed on that night will always remain in my memory.

StratosFear
Excellent thread and my all time favorite "sighting".

After all the information is presented would you guys think that some additional events around this time were covered up meaning there is more to the story OR was a lot added after the event to "dress it up"? I remember reading about Rendelsham way back in the 90`s and found it odd that it was only a few years ago that the Binary code came up. I`m not a computer scientist by any means but I`m pretty sure binary existed back in the 80`s.

The ASCII code, proposed in 1963 and finalized in 1968, was originally a 7 bit code, with the 8th bit being a parity bit, however the extended ASCII code utilized this bit to create 128 'extended' characters that could be used for special characters and punctuation for languages other than English.

The point that was made previous, was not that binary did not exist back then, but why use it at all, since the message was encoded in English, thus why go through the trouble of giving someone a binary version of it since the 'presumed enities' already knew English. This binary code story comes out 30 years after the original, and I and many others hold that this part of the story is an embellished hoax, and should be completely tossed out of the mainstream Rendelsham story, which I also believe really happened.

charlyv

StratosFear
Excellent thread and my all time favorite "sighting".

After all the information is presented would you guys think that some additional events around this time were covered up meaning there is more to the story OR was a lot added after the event to "dress it up"? I remember reading about Rendelsham way back in the 90`s and found it odd that it was only a few years ago that the Binary code came up. I`m not a computer scientist by any means but I`m pretty sure binary existed back in the 80`s.

The ASCII code, proposed in 1963 and finalized in 1968, was originally a 7 bit code, with the 8th bit being a parity bit, however the extended ASCII code utilized this bit to create 128 'extended' characters that could be used for special characters and punctuation for languages other than English.

The point that was made previous, was not that binary did not exist back then, but why use it at all, since the message was encoded in English, thus why go through the trouble of giving someone a binary version of it since the 'presumed enities' already knew English. This binary code story comes out 30 years after the original, and I and many others hold that this part of the story is an embellished hoax, and should be completely tossed out of the mainstream Rendelsham story, which I also believe really happened.

Cool P-3 Pic

In your second paragraph that is another good point as to why use it at all? Thinking about it further on the time travel theory, wouldn't those in the future know what kind of English was spoken at that particular point in time? So a message in binary seems even more "odd". I wish I could have been there, but I came 5 years after the event took place.

Now what about the sunken island that the coordinates pointed to, has anyone ever explored underwater there that you are aware of? I`m also curious as to what else was in that supposed binary code message. I don't know a lot about it but it seems there should be more information in it, Hoaxed or not it does make me wonder.

Shuftystick
reply to post by StratosFear

 

Binary was around in the late 60's early seventies, I can remember a physics teacher explaining it in a very basic way but he was quite motivated about it being the start of something new...

As I remember all you had to accept was that the basic code consisted of 2 elements a 1 and a 0 and everything else followed.

Seemples? Not for me, but I do remember the explanation on the blackboard.

You think that the binary message was added later to give the story a degree of believability? Seeing as how it could be seen as a new and advanced technology at the time to the average person?

Well, that these blue orbs accompanied by a single red one continued to haunt the UK airspace for a few years afterwards tells me some thing was afoot.

I believed at the time it to be a faceted low observable UAV with its electronic warfare defences still switched on, and the CIA drugged the living hell out of the poor eye witnesses and scrambled them silly in the grey matter.

I'd never heard of the blue orb that passed THROUGH the vehicle the poor woman was sat in. That must of been traumatic in the extreme.

Addition to OP:

Questions in the House on Rendlesham, Prison Evacuations and UK Troops Confront Armed US troops

Lord Hill Norton, whilst he was alive , had been a former Admiral of the Fleet and Chairman of the NATO Military Committee. He was deeply interested in the UFO subject and forwarded a number of questions concerning Rendlesham in the Houses of Parliament. He was also very concerned about the rather blasé statement that this was all of “no defence significance” and what appeared to be civil servants stonewalling his questions.

Here are just a few of the questions he raised:

25th Jan 2001

“Whether personnel from Porton Down visited Rendlesham Forest or the area surrounding RAF Walton in December 1980 or January 1981; and whether they are aware of any tests carried out in either of those two areas aimed at assessing any nuclear, biological or chemical hazard?”

A: Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean (Minister of State (Defence Procurement), Ministry of Defence; Labour)
The staff at the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) Chemical and Biological Defence (CBD) laboratories at Porton Down have made a thorough search of their archives and have found no record of any such visits.

30th Jan 2011

“Whether they are aware of any investigation of the 1980 Rendlesham Forest incident carried out by the United States Air force, the Air Force Office of Special Investigations or any other United States agency?”

A: The Ministry of Defence's knowledge of an investigation by the US authorities into the alleged incident in Rendlesham Forest in 1980 is limited to the information contained in the memorandum sent by Lt Col Halt USAF, Deputy Base Commander at RAF Woodbridge, to the RAF Liaison Officer at RAF Bentwaters on 13 January 1981.

16th October 2001

“Whether the United States Air Force investigated and photographed a site in Rendlesham Forest where it was alleged that an unidentified flying object had landed in December 1980; whether the photographs depicted an indentation where the object might have landed; and whether they have a copy of the report and photographs arising from the investigation.

Whether, following an allegation contained in a memorandum dated 13 January 1981 by Lieutenant Colonel Halt of the United States Air Forces that a glowing metallic triangular object had landed in Rendlesham Forest in December 1980, Lieutenant Colonel Halt was questioned about the incident; if not, why not; and whether military radar indicated that a structured craft was involved.?”

A: Lord Bach (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Ministry of Defence; Labour) The only USAF material held by the Ministry of Defence is that written by Lieutenant Colonel Halt on 13 January 1981 consequent upon his investigation of the incident in Rendlesham Forest. The MoD has no evidence of any other official investigation or documentation. There is no indication from the papers held on file that MoD raised any further questions with Lieutenant Colonel Halt following receipt of his memorandum in 1981 and I am unaware of the reason for this. MoD records from the same period document no evidence of unusual radar returns.

www.theyworkforyou.com...

There are many more questions and answers to look through and the site is thoroughly searchable for other matters raised in the UK parliament.



Another question posed by Hill Norton was about the evacuation plans for Blundeston Prison:

Blundeston Prison and Hollesley Bay YOI: Possible Evacuation Alert

Lord Hill-Norton asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by Lord Bassam of Brighton on 23 January (WA 8), whether their search for evidence of any instructions concerning the possible evacuation of Blundeston Prison and Hollesley Bay Young Offender Institution included an examination of the governor's journals for these two establishments; and whether these journals have been retained. [HL1809]

A: The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office (Lord Bassam of Brighton): Governors' journals are the most likely source of this information so long after the event. The governor's journal at Blundeston remains in existence and was examined. The relevant governor's journal for Hollesley Bay could not now be found, and in the absence of any other written record, long-serving staff, including the governor's secretary, were consulted. They did not recall any instruction to prepare for an evacuation although they well remembered the local events of the time which prompted speculation about such an instruction.

Source : www.publications.parliament.uk...

This was all prompted by a story from George Wild. Wild was a prison officer who whilst attending a seminar in the Midlands was told by a fellow officer that Highpoint Prison in Suffolk was placed on an evacuation alert on the evening of 27th December 1980. Not only that but he was informed that it was declared an issue of national security and that Hollesey Youth Correction facility, just a few miles, from Woodbridge was also on standby to be evacuated.

Both Nick Redfern in his book “A Covert Agenda” and Georgina Bruni in “You Can’t Tell the People” seem to take this story as proof that something was going on in East Anglia linked to the Rendlesham incident and preparations for a disaster incident were being made. Bruni also tells the story of a prisoner who reported he saw a UFO out of his cell window at 9pm and confirmed that a standby alert was issued the same night.



Another story that comes from Nick Redfern’s book concerning the time of the incident is when British troops confronted a heavily armed detachment of US troops from RAF Woodbridge off base. With no authority to be on UK sovereign territory a tense but short stand off resulted. The UK forces demanded their American counterparts disarm immediately as they had no right to possess any weapons off base without the consent of HM Government. After a brief radio exchange with their superiors the Americans rapidly withdrew back to base.

It seems the original source of that story came from respected UFO researcher, the late Graham Birdsall. However given that there are no official records (at least none that I could find) and the original stories are second hand accounts then it is very difficult to say both events are directly linked to the Rendlesham incident? I'd love to give more evidence but haven't found it.

These stories have been out there for some time so I’ll leave people to make up their own mind.

reply to post by charlyv


As regards the binary codes, the original reference to them goes back to the mid-90s. However the content was not revealed until 30 years after the event.

IsaacKoi did some digging on the codes with the guy who "decoded" them for the History Channel and posted them up on ATS in 2010.

I contacted Nick Ciske about his work on the "possible message" and asked him a few questions. He was kind enough to answers them all. The questions I put (and Nick's answers) are below.

Isaac : (1) Could you possibly outline how the "possible message" that appeared on your computer screen was generated?

Nick Ciske : 1. I used the same convertor I have on my site. [Isaac - see link above]

Isaac : (2) The "possible message" you generated appears to be in English and I wonder if the receiver (and sender) would also have to be aware of any local/human conventions as to the translation of binary code into alpha-numerics (along the lines of the ascii convention)? If so, that would be relevant to the apparent suggestion by one of the other individuals interviewed for the documentary that binary code could be used as some sort of universal language.

Nick Ciske : 2. Yes, you'd have to start with an English message. Binary is far from a universal language. I know I talked about that, but it may not have made the episode (I haven't seen it yet). [Isaac - that bit did not make it into the episode and the documentary gave the opposite impression by only showing the bit from the other researcher I mentioned in my question]

Isaac : (3) In the documentary, in the frames before the display of the "possible message", your computer screen appears to show "decodes to" followed by several lines of characters. What are those lines?

Nick Ciske :3. That's the raw decode of the binary.

Isaac : (4) Could one of the online tools relating to binary code (including one that you appear to have developed) have been used in reverse to translate the relevant "possible message" into the binary code?

Nick Ciske :4. Yes, that's exactly what my tool does, and the most plausible explanation for how the message was generated.

[Isaac - This view was not shown in the documentary. Indeed, Nick's comments as shown in the documentary implied that it would be difficult for somone to generate the relevant text. Nick is shown as saying "Could someone write out 6 pages of binary? Well, probably not. They would need some help or they would have to be some sort of savant or super calculator."]

Isaac : (5) Finally, you apparently typed up the relevant pages of binary codes. Is that typed up list of numbers available to others?

Nick Ciske :5. Sorry, the producers have asked me not to share it.


www.abovetopsecret.com...

Make of that what you will. The binary codes are very dubious evidence in this case in my opinion.

His excuse that for 30 years he didn't think they (the hand written 0s and 1s in his loose leaf notebook) meant anything is not all that convincing.

It is unclear if Penniston is genuinely relaying his information as he recalls with no outside interference, whether he has had his memories "manipulated" in some way to "taint" the case with false information or if he is spreading untruths because he has willingly became part of a cover up.

reply to post by FireMoon


Thanks for the info. Was that Shaun Ryder episode the same one were he also introduced Travis Walton to the delights of gravy on his fish and chips? In some areas of the nation gravy and chips does not exist!

But I do think a number of the witnesses have come to the conclusion themselves that nothing is quite as it seems in this case and they may have false memories of events and something weird happened to them. Hence the less abrasive attitudes to each other in recent years.

However , Colonel Halt's role in all of this is still confusing me.

mirageman
Addition to OP :
If Warren has had his memories messed with (possibly along with other witnesses) then why was this done and by who or even what?

edit on 26/12/13 by mirageman because: edits

Narrative control. Inject the standardized little green men narrative ala Bennewitz to warp the resulting memes into something 'manageable'. We all watch the right hand holding a flying saucer, while the left hand goes about its business unseen. I'm inclined to believe that something very strange was afoot that night, and that it wasn't some kind of black project (why test in the UK when they could use Nevada/Utah?).

The prison story is very interesting, and I'm not sure why they would do it. As a hunch, it might be useful to look into exactly how many people they could fit into the emptied prisons, and the number of people on the base at the time. Perhaps they were looking at mass-quarantine?

reply to post by 1ofthe9


I wish I could find more information on that prison evacuation scenario. It was important enough for Lord Hill-Norton to ask the question in Parliament.

It may be nothing, it could be a startling coincidence or it could be that there was the risk of a real threat on the night(s).

If so then what that threat may have been we can only guess. Was it biologically or technologically destructive? Some think an electro-magnetic device was used and this caused disturbances in the brain and damage to the eyes of the US servicemen. It may have even caused other physical and mental damage as well?


There are still other bits of lesser known information and of course various other theories about Rendlesham. I'll catch up over the weekend on some of these.

mirageman
reply to post by 1ofthe9

 

I wish I could find more information on that prison evacuation scenario. It was important enough for Lord Hill-Norton to ask the question in Parliament.

It may be nothing, it could be a startling coincidence or it could be that there was the risk of a real threat on the night(s).

If so then what that threat may have been we can only guess. Was it biologically or technologically destructive? Some think an electro-magnetic device was used and this caused disturbances in the brain and damage to the eyes of the US servicemen. It may have even caused other physical and mental damage as well?


There are still other bits of lesser known information and of course various other theories about Rendlesham. I'll catch up over the weekend on some of these.

The vanishing prison logs are also very curious. Do you know anything about the specialists from Porton Down that were supposedly flown in? The Aquino thread had Mr. Aquino mention the potential hazards of biological contamination from ET stuff... that could explain the involvement of Porton Down and the preparations for mass quarantine...

reply to post by 1ofthe9


There are reports of people conducting scientific investigations from Porton Down (and also US investigators) being present in the forest in protective suits in the days that followed the sightings from anonymous sources (former RAF officers) although we can only speculate on what they were looking for?

Another possible link has been made to a possible emergency situation at the nearby Sizewell nuclear plants (about 15 miles from Bentwaters). Although there is not much I can find to substantiate that either.

Addition to OP

Triangle Shaped Craft Seen from the Base

Randy D. Smith was a Senior Airman during Christmas time 1980 at Bentwaters here is a shortened version of an interview with James Easton for his Pulsar newsletters back in 1990s. The full details can be viewed in the link given.

“It was a quiet, clear night. I believe I was working 'Whiskey 5' which was the alarm response team in the weapons storage area on Bentwaters….. no helicopters flying. Clarence George came by to talk to me and he said that everyone in the WSA was in the SPCDS tower watching ‘lights’ and did I want to come check it out? It’s a small tower and people were jammed in there body to body, overloading the tower I’m sure. More people than I’ve ever seen in the tower at one time”.

…..they pointed out 3 objects that appeared like stars to the naked eye. Binoculars were being passed around and when I had my turn I saw VERY CLEAR images of 3 triangular shaped craft that were hovering a few miles away and above treetop level. They were triangular in shape, larger than a fighter jet, but smaller than a C5. Definitely triangular with lights that were arranged around the bottom that were perhaps different colours but unable to distinguish at that distance.

I only stayed in the tower for an hour or so and heard one of the guys with a turn on the binoculars say, ‘Wow, it just took off’. Two of the craft left at a high rate of speed. The one remaining craft was still in position when I left the tower. Regarding sound-very quiet, no motor sounds whatsoever”.

“I also remember hearing the radio traffic regarding the light-alls [these were petrol powered, portable lights which it's known were being used that night and proved problematic] and not working, replacing them, they didn’t work, then much later, they all worked fine”.

“The following night, I went on duty. At guardmount, Bob Ball was very serious, he’s almost never serious, a very jovial person. He said, ‘I saw something last night, but I’m not at liberty to discuss it’. And that was the ‘end’. I later heard that the morning we got off our first midnight shift, an A-10 was scrambled and sent to Ramstein, Germany, by Lt. Col.Halt”.


Source : click here

This gives more credence to the sightings by Halt and his team that something was in the skies above the forest and also Rick Bobo's sightings.

However not sure why an A-10 was scrambled and sent to Ramstein. I understand that the head of the USAF in Europe was based there. But as far as I remember the A-10 is a ground attack "tank buster" aircraft and very slow.

Unless there were no other aircraft available why would Halt send one to Germany?