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

na reply to: Arbitrageur


The following was from my original post back in 2011

We traveled on and no one within the car had said anything. However about a mile and a half further on my brother-in-law spoke out by saying"You will never guess what i thought i saw just back along the road?" More or less in unison the three of us replied "A UFO" My brother-in-law who was driving said" I am going to turn around and let's go and see what it was" He turned the car around and when we reached the point of the sighting we found..........Nothing. It had gone.

I hope this answers your question. If not then please feel free to ask anything further.

a reply to: alldaylong
Thanks, that answers my question.

a reply to: alldaylong

Thanks for coming back to the thread. I really don't know what to make of your sighting. Was it related to the Rendlesham incident or wasn't it? I suppose we'll probably never know.

However one thing that mystifies me is that if there really was all this activity going on from Dec 24th to Dec 29th 1980 then where were these mysterious phenomena during the daylight hours?

a reply to: ctj83

I have added the details and original source to Andrew Pike's views on Rendlesham as a number of people are interested in it. Personally I am not absolutely sure there was an actual physical craft roaming around Rendlesham Forest for 3 nights (possibly more) during 1980.

However I also find it hard to believe that a lighthouse (and certain celestial phenomena) could cause such disruption to the normal routine of one of NATO's major airbases for 3 nights as well.

The interplay of the 'major' characters in the story has become an interesting sideline. As to guessing who (if any of them ) is telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth is all part of the game as well.

I've spent a good while looking into this case and never been able to fathom it all out. So good luck trying to work it out for yourself.

a reply to: mirageman

Hey Mirage, I'm not sure that it's possible to know what happened 100%. That fact that your depth of research can't reveal it says it all to me. As I don't feel I can add much to the incredible body of research you're brought together, I'm focussing on two basic processes. The first is removing the most likely disinformation. The second is looking at the unusual aspects of the recollections - in other words details that make no sense.

If Rendlesham were a film, a scriptwriter would only include necessary, unusual details as foreshadowing or red herrings. The RFI features many small, odd comments that correlate. That suggests a core story and a common source. Of course that could be disinformation, or an actual event.

Disinformation or actual UFO event? Either is incredibly important.

My hope is, that by eliminating the most obvious red herrings, and then mining out the odd and unnecessary descriptive details - new avenues of research can be opened up.

Some of the odd details that occur to me are:

1) It's been claimed that Halt dismisses Warren based on statement he made regarding the NSA interfering with Larry
2) It's been claimed by Warren that Burroughs climbed up on the device and rode it for some way on the night of his own encounter
3) The multiple craft are so different, it feels like they have very different origins and not a central point of manufacture
4) The repeated claims of forms of pearlescence / irridesance. It's even possible to see the rainbow effect in Penniston's statement. Pearlescence is such an unusual description precisely because it is not well known trope in SCIFI beyond one source.
5) The plasma / dripping water effect - as mentioned by multiple witnesses and given some credibility by Andrew Pike.

And finally, where did they park the darn things?

Ultimately, if Halt does genuinely believe that Warren has been repeatedly interfered with by the NSA - yet dismisses his encounter, it speaks volumes that something happened.

a reply to: mirageman

Thanks for coming back to the thread.

You are welcome and i am pleased to do so. What we witnessed on that night back in December 1980 has never been erased from my memory. Unfortunately the other 3 people who witnessed it, i no longer have contact with. My wife and i divorced in 1991, and my ex brother-in-law and his then girlfriend went on to marry, but their marriage also ended in divorce.

I maybe able to put a little more " meat onto the bone " with some other small detail.

The road we traveled that night was a route i had covered hundreds of time previously and knew it intimately. The field where we viewed the sighting was just an ordinary field which was hedged off all around. The only access to the field was through a gate that connected an adjoining field. There was no roadway into the field whatever. This particular field was used for sheep grazing.

The field had no housing or out buildings of any kind. It was by all intense and purpose an empty field. Whatever we saw that night was only there for a very short period of time.

I can still remember vividly what i witnessed. The thing that amazes me is that no-one in the car spoke out as we where actually viewing it. I don't know if you have ever been in a situation where you are viewing something but are unable to speak at the same instant, because what you are doing is trying to comprehend exactly what it is you are seeing. that is what occurred in this case.

You are correct in your assumption that some strange events occurred in the U.K. over those nights in late December 1980. I am convinced that what we witnessed was part of those events. The description of what Burroughs saw and what we saw are to similar to be just a coincidence. I would love to get answers, but i know the answers will never come.

a reply to: alldaylong

Was the object too bright to look at? Did it appear to have any motion on the surface (I appreciate the rapid colour changes may have made this difficult).

Any issues focussing on it?

Beyond that any unusual taste or smell?

Sorry for the odd questions...

a reply to: alldaylong

Would this "rough digital mock up" picture be an approximation of what you witnessed that night?



Because there are other strange stories from the twin bases preceding and following the 3 nights of what has come to be known as the Rendlesham Forest Incident. Some like Steve La Plumes story (he told it himself earlier) and Lori Rehfeldt's are both in the thread.

But a fairly recent one that has come to light is from a USAF security policeman Steven D. Wagner. He cannot be sure when but believes this occurred on Tuesday, December 23rd 1980.

To cut a long story short he was called out with two others to investigate ‘flashing lights’ in the forest outside the twin bases. The team reported nothing of note in regard to the lights. They did however see damaged branches of trees in on the ground in a clearing around 30 feet in diameter. In the middle of the clearing were three depressions, spaced about 12-feet apart in a perfect triangle.

I have no idea if some, none or all of these events are linked but it might help someone else remember something.

The full story is available here : www.theufochronicles.com...

a reply to: ctj83

I will answer you last question first if i may ?

Beyond that any unusual taste or smell?

I can recall that evening was very cold. Temperature was in the minuses. I know this as a fact, as i had bought my wife a new winter coat for her birthday on the previous day. She wore it that night and mentioned how warm it was keeping her in the cold weather. No snow as the ground and roads where perfectly clear.
The car windows where fully wound up and the car heater on. Therefore we had no idea of any outside smells etc.

Was the object too bright to look at? Did it appear to have any motion on the surface

No. The object was very clear to view. The outside cone shape was perfectly still. The fast moving colours on the cone did give an effect of rotation. However i am certain that the cone was itself motionless.

Any issues focussing on it?

Again no. It was very clear to focus on the cone. In fact it was because it was so clear to focus on, that's why we knew that this " thing " was something completely out of the ordinary. We knew it shouldn't have been there because we knew the location so well.

It's very strange, but if i close my eyes i can still see it now. Even though it was 35 years ago.

a reply to: mirageman

Would this "rough digital mock up" picture be an approximation of what you witnessed that night?

May i answer that question with four brief words?

It is near identical.

Looking at that image has made me feel quite odd.


Sorry i forget to ask. Where did you find that image ?

originally posted by: alldaylong
a reply to: mirageman


Sorry i forget to ask. Where did you find that image ?

I didn't find it. I created it with image software based on your descriptions of what you'd seen.

It looks very vaguely like a drawing from Larry Warren to illustrate what he witnessed on the 3rd night of the Rendlesham incident. Although he described a pyramid shaped craft where the shape and colours were continually shifting.

a reply to: mirageman

I didn't find it. I created it with image software based on your descriptions of what you'd seen

I applaud your creative skills.

You have done a superb job with your reconstruction. It's quite uncanny.

I have no doubt whatever that what we witnessed was the same " craft " that appeared at Rendlesham. I can possibly understand it appearing at that location purely because it was a military complex and that in itself could explain the reason why.

However, we witnessed it over a 150 miles to the east of Rendlesham in a complete rural location which would have i believe no interest whatever to anything that was possibly visiting planet earth.

The questions i ask myself are, was it a " probe " ? Was it doing a " test " landing in a complete " out of the way" location ?

a reply to: mirageman

Between yourself and AlldayLong it seems fairly likely that the variety of vehicles outlined a little earlier can be reduced to the most likely type - the colour changing pyramid described by Larry Warren.

The flat circle reported in the woods, and the raised dish reported by Bustinza at the Warren site (Warren described a pyramid) tend not to match I guess. Possibly the vehicle draw by Penniston could be the same vehicle - but it stands out as not fitting in as well.

I think that it might be useful to look at RFI soley on the basis of the pyramid craft - to see what that reveals.

The perlecense / rainbow effect does seem common across all descriptions. Initially, I was considering the surface to be a mica based paint on tiles but Alldaylongs description suggests it was far more likely to be plasma.

These craft tend to appear in the dark. Repeatedly. That seems an attempt at covert operations. Yet, they always ludicrous light displays!

Either those light displays are to attract attention, or they are for propulsion (I'm including natural Plasma) phenomena here. Andrew Pike suggests that plasma is part of the propulsion system.

That suggests a pyramid shaped craft - with 3 landing struts, a plasma based propulsion system - and not a decoy or test by a terrestrial actor. Factoring in alldaylongs sighting and the location virtually rules out a covert operation by Warsaw Pact forces.

a reply to: alldaylong

I really can't offer an explanation. I am not 100% convinced there was any physical craft at Rendlesham on any of the nights over Christmas 1980. Nor do I necessarily lean to an ET explanation for the events. The story is complex and also full of contradictions.

What you saw may or may not be connected. The Cash-Landrum UFO case happened half way across the world in the USA on the 29th Dec 1980. That case also has US military connections.

So I think it's necessary to keep an open mind but also important to not jump to any conclusions when we don't have enough information. Even some of the information we do have may not be correct!

a reply to: alldaylong

I've got to admit - your sighting has definitely tipped the balance against a Warsaw Pact covert operation at this point. I cannot see any decoy vehicle making its way inland first, then approaching from the coast / lighthouse in the following days.

It would make far more sense to just approach from the coast from the east. Unless it was largely a prop of balsa wood beams and lights. In which case, it would have probably been re assembled in the woods at night (to hide the fact it looked like something from Thunderbirds.

Mirage, there is little to go on in terms of where this craft might have spent the daylight hours. Unless it flew back to Poland / Russa each night, or into orbit, or under the North Sea - but now I wonder if it was stored inland - within a radius of 25 miles or so of this sighting.

Whatever this UAP was - it came at night repeatedly. It seems possible it had made its way inland far past the bases before operations began.

It seems likely then that the UAP had a very specific target, and end goal. It came at night for a reason. The only two reasonable conclusions (over such a period) are - it came at night to show off its lights, or it came at night to increase the chances of success and the lights were integral to its propulsion and could not be 'turned' off.

a reply to: mirageman

Hmm. I guess, Mirage, unless a definitive piece of physical evidence is found - it's not possible to escape the contradictory reports entirely. The only way forward without that breakthrough is to hope that a reasoned deduction leads to a new avenue of pursuit whereby that evidence might be forthcoming.

I guess that the common thread between the two would be radiation and and oddly shaped craft (they don't seem the same shape though).

For the sake of argument, I'm assuming that Cash Landrum was not a fabricated event.

If so - why does a physical craft leak radiation to the point that numerous people in both incidences were injured?

We're not talking about UAP electromagnetic fields here - but damaging ionising radiation.

That doesn't strike me as 'advanced' technology at all. I wonder if natural based Plasma phenomena give off ionising radiation?

a reply to: alldaylong

Imaging that the craft you saw was photographed from a fair distance - do either of these look like the craft you saw?

originally posted by: ctj83
a reply to: alldaylong

Imaging that the craft you saw was photographed from a fair distance - do either of these look like the craft you saw?

The " craft " was about a hundred yards from us. Maybe a little further ( trying to judge distance in the pitch dark is not to easy )

You first photograph has a similar shape to what we saw but the sides where more straight. It was similar to triangle but the top was more rounded. The colours where much brighter. In fact a great deal brighter.

Your second photograph, although brighter in colour has no similarity to the shape of the " craft "

The simulation of what the " craft " may have looked like posted by Mirageman a few posts back; holds a remarkable similarity to what we witnessed.

a reply to: ctj83

I doubt the Warsaw pact were testing a secret device over Britain whilst Solidarity were posing them major problems in Poland. With tensions already high this could well have sparked a serious international incident.

Have you considered the possibilities that there wasn't a craft at all and our friend alldaylong's sighting is not in any way linked to Rendlesham and just a coincidence ? The Condign report hints at rare but naturally produced plasma which also adversely may have affected the witnesses perception.

I think it's important that we don't overlook the known facts even though some kind of strange craft (or more) cannot be ruled out of the equation either.

a reply to: alldaylong

Thanks alldaylong, these are photos from film shot by Paul Bennewitz, of craft over a US military base. Of course we have no idea whose they are or what they are. Only that:

- The time period is roughly similar
- The craft changed colour rapidly, like your sighting

It seems your craft and Larry Warren's are very likely the same. You don't seem to have had the issues with blinding brightness or snowy / haziness that he and others experienced.