Rendlesham Forest IncidentFrom TinWiki.orgThe Rendlesham Forest Case, also known as "The British Roswell", is a classic of Ufology, and one of the only UFO cases where a public military record of the account exists. It is one of the best documented and most controversial cases in UFO history, with high ranking military witnesses, government documents, tapes, and physical evidence of the incident.
[edit] IncidentThe entire encounter was actually a series of sightings that occured over a period from December 26, 1980 to December 28th, 1980, and by some accounts, until the 29th of December, 1980. The sightings occurred at the Twin Air Force bases of RAF Woodbridge and RAF Bentwaters in Suffolk, England. The area itself is no history to unusual activity, as only 6 miles away in Orford radar was first tested, and the area had been the site of some secret tests and projects in the past. [edit] Night of December 26thShortly after midnight on the 26th of December Airmen John Burroughs and Bud Steffens were on duty at Woodbridge's east gate when they noticed strange lights in the Rendlesham Forest. They called the Control Center for permission to go investigate. Because the base's radars had picked up an object on their screens that had now vanished, a plane crash was suspected, and the Control Center sent out Sgt. Jim Penniston and Edward Cabansag were sent down to the guard post to help investigate. Everyone handed in their weapons, jumped in the patrol vehicle, and set out into the woods to see what has happening. They parked halfway down a logging road because it was too rough and set out on foot towards the lights, which were still visible. They noticed the absence of the odor of fuel, which should be overwhelming if it was a case of a plane crash. They also noted the lights were concentrated, which would not be the case if it was burning debris. The guard post back at the base radioed in that Heathrow had reporting something had appeared on their radar earlier that was headed in the direction of the twin bases. When they got closer to the lights, they noticed a tangible field of what felt like static electricity on their clothes, hair, and skin. Their radios also stopped working properly and were full of interference. They also saw now that the light, which was extremely bright, was centered around a strange object. Jim Penniston was closest to the object, and described it as being a pyramid in shape, approximately 3 meters tall and three meters at the base. It was hovering about a foot off the ground, and had what appeared to be feet it was resting on. Strange symbols and what looked like strange writing covered the surface of the object. The surface was described as black opaque and a rim of blue lights flashed on it. The men also reported a strange warp sense, like everything they did was in slow motion, and that time had been somehow stretched. Penniston began to make notes of the object on his notepad, and took photos of the object. He also noticed that the farm animals, who had been making a lot of noise and going mad earlier, were now silent. As they approached closer to the object, a white light at the apex of the object began to flare brightly. Fearing the object would explode, both Burroughs and Penniston threw themselves to the ground. They looked up and saw the object lift silently through the trees until it stopped at 200 feet, after which it took off without a sound. Everything returned to normal, including the farm animals. Penniston returned to the base with his report. Though jokes ensued about little green men, when asked about it, Penniston stated that while he did not see any life forms, he was under the strong impression that the object was intelligently controled. [edit] Night of December 28thColonel Charles Halt, who was the deputy base commander, checked with the NCO on duty on the morning of the 26th and asked about the nights report. The NCO laughed, and explained to Halt about the incident the night before. That night, on the 28th, the Officers were having a Christmas party at the base's bar that Halt was attending. Lt. Bruce Englund, the on duty flight officer came in and told Halt that the lights had returned. Determined to settle this once and for all, Halt volunteered to go out and investigate. He went home and changed clothes, grabbed his tape recorder, night vision goggles, and some flashlights and assembled the disaster preparedness team, consisting of Sgt. Bustinza, Sgt. Nevilles, Lt. Bruce Englund and Master Sgt. Bobby Ball. The drove out to the forest to investigate. They had arrived to a scene of confusion in the forest. There were many base personnel there. They had bright some Light-Alls with them to light up the forest. However, the light-alls, despite being gas-generator powered, were not working, and when they tried to radio the base, their signals weren't getting through. There was interference involved, as it had been on the first night. Halt and his group decided to go further into the woods to investigate. Halt had his tape recorder handy and spoke into it, describing what he saw. Three indentical depressions were seen in the ground, and the tree branches above it were broken and burned. Sgt. Nevilles, the base disaster preparedness NCOIC had a Geiger counter with him, and measured higher than normal radiation in the depressions and on the trees. However, the side of the trees facing away from the "landing site" showed no radiation at all. They then saw a red light further in the forest. In the Halt tape, there is clear evidence that the nearby farm animals were in a frenzy and were making alot of frightened noises. Then they suddenly became quiet. The red light navigated through the forest effortlessly, and left the woods into a field where a farmer's house was. The object was glowing brightly, and lit up the surrounding area. It was then described as shooting off sparks like molten metal from its surface, and pulsating as if winking. It silently exploded into about 5 white objects that then began hovering about and sending beams of light down on various areas at Woodbridge, including sending down what appeared to be a beam of light onto the weapons storage area, where nuclear weapons were reported to be stored. The UFO moved further way, still shooting down different beams of colored light. However, it was too far away for anything to be done, and around 4 A.M., Halt's team returned to the base. Neville, who had taken pictures of the incident, turned his film into the base photography lab. However, they claimed that the pictures all turned out foggy, and did not return them. [edit] A third night?The most controversial aspect of the case was claims of a third night of UFO activity. Halt and many other's who witnessed the first and or second night of activity stated that the incident only occurred over two nights. However, Larry Warren, an airman at the base at the time, and Adrian Bustinza claim that there was a third night of activity, which included the surrounding of an alien craft and contact between alien life forms and the base commander, General Gordon Williams. Links to both Warren and Bustinza's accounts of a third night can be found below. [edit] Aftermath and investigationDespite the accounts of the third night, most offical research into the case focuses on the first two nights. For the sake of discussion of the incident, we shall use the first two nights as the offical account. [edit] Halt memoThough rumors were circulating in the UFO community about the incident, the first confirmation that something unusual did happen at Woodbridge/Bentwaters. A memo written by Halt a couple weeks after the incident was made public in the U.S. due to a Freedom of Information Act Request by Robert Todd of Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS). The memo, which Halt had written to the British liasons about the incident, was offical confirmation that some incident had indeed taken place in Rendelsham in December of 1980. The memo read as follows:
[edit] Investigation by civiliansBefore the Halt Memo was released, Jenny Randles, noted UK UFO researcher was looking into the case. She interviewed numerous witnesses, civilian and military and found out that there were many people who saw something on the nights in question. Randles attempted to find out more from the Ministry of Defence, from Defence Secretariat 8 who was the office responsible at the time for investigating UFOs. At First, they denied that any incident had occured and they knew nothing of what she was talking about. But after the release of the Halt Memo, they were forced to admit that USAF personnel did see strange lights in the woods, but denied secret testing or alien contact. They also claimed that the Halt Memo was the only document on file about the incident. In investigations years later, it was discovered that this was untrue, but at the time, Britian had no Freedom of Information Act, so nothing further could be gained by dealing with the MOD. [edit] Investigation by the Ministry of DefenceThe MOD themselves quietly investigated the incident. A series of correspondences shows they asked questions about the radiation count and checked with local police reports about the incidents. Rumors persist that MOD and possibly US intelligence came out and did a personal inspection and collected evidence. However, no official records exist of anything of this nature. The MOD also claims that no radar tracking of the objects occurred. However, almost all of the witnesses to the case disagree, and some radar operators came forward saying that something was tracked on multiple radars. [edit] Police investigationThe Suffolk police, since the incident took place on non military soil, investigated the landing marks and tree branches after the second night. According to the police file of the incident on record, the police noted some broken branches and burn marks, but stated that the landing impressions were rabbit holes. The ground on the nights of both incidents was frozen solid, and it seemed unlikely an animal would have dug three perfectly aligned holes. There is speculation and some evidence that the offical police report might have been doctored. [edit] Halt TapeDuring the incident on the night of the 28th,Lt Colonel Halt brought along a tape recorder and recorded all the sounds and impressions of what was going on. The tape was later released after it had been held by Air Force NATO command for some time. There are many who speculate the tape was doctored slightly to create certain impressions. A transcript of the tape made by Halt on the night of the 28th of December, 1980:
[edit] Of no defence signifiganceThe MOD offically concluded that the case was of "no defence signifigance", a conclusion that certain raised concerned eyebrows within the military establishment. Lord Peter Hill Norton was perhaps the most critical of the MOD's findings, stating: “It seems to me that something physical took place; I have no doubt that something landed … either large numbers of people … were hallucinating, and for an American Air Force nuclear base this is extremely dangerous, or what they say happened did happen, and in either of those circumstances there can only be one answer, and that is that it was of extreme defence interest …”. [edit] Skeptics and alternative explainationsAs with all UFO cases, skeptics and debunkers have come forward with alternate theories on what had happened. Given the testimony of witnesses of the incident and the facts at hand, none of the proposed theories seems to satisfactorily explain the bizarre encounters. [edit] Ian Ridpath and the Orford Ness LighthousePerhaps the most vocal skeptic of the case is Ian Ridpath, an investigative reporter for the Guardian newspaper. He claims that the first night, the soldiers saw nothing more than either a bright meteor or space junk from a crashing Russian Satelite. He states that the second night, the patrol saw nothing more than the Orford Ness Lighthouse, which was visible from both the base and the forest. However, the witnesses, civilian and military disagree. According to Halt and the others, the lighthouse was visible during the encounter, and that is not what they were looking at. Some civilian witnesses were situated watching the UFO with their backs to the lighthouse. It is also unlikely that the lighthouse would have left imprints, radiation, or showed up on radar, let alone perform the feats Halt described on tape. [edit] Kevin Conde's prankAnother theory comes from former Airman Kevin Conde, who claimed it was all a prank he had pulled using police cars and colored lights. According to Conde, he drove down the runway at the base, put different colored blinking lights on a police car, and made strange noises. However, Conde can't even recall the date of his alleged prank. Also there are many other holes in his story that make his claims of a prank to be a hoax of its own. For example, he claimed there was fog on the ground that night. However, no one who witnessed the incident mention fog. In fact, all who were interviewed stated it was a cold, crisp and very clear night. The only fog ever mentioned was a green mist on the ground near the UFO itself. Conde also claims he was making noises in the car's loudspeaker, yet is not specific as to what noises. Contrary to his claims, all of the witnesses reported that the only noises heard on the nights in question were those of frightened farm animals. The UFO itself passed in complete silence. Conde stated that he was driving on the runway when he pulled his supposed prank, yet the incidents clearly took place inside the forest. There are numerous other errors and factual discrepancies in Conde's story, and few ufologists and investigators take any of his claims seriously. Some believe them to be deliberate disinformation to confuse and muddy any investigation into the Rendlesham Case. [edit] Plasma ballsThe MOD's Condign Report report stated its opinion that UFOs that weren't misidentifications and hoaxes were instead, balls of plasma. This theory was used to possibly explain the Rendlesham UFO incident in an MOD report. However, plasma explains almost nothing of what was seen on the nights in question, and there is evidence that calling UFO sightings "plasmas" has replaced "Venus and swamp gas" as the new UFO explain-alls. The theory that plasmas caused the UFO sightings of Rendlesham forest is not taken seriously by any researchers, as there is no evidence to suggest plasma. [edit] See also[edit] External links[edit] Related discussion |
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