The truth about UFO sightings

• Roswell UFO incident
• Cash-Landrum incident
• Rendlesham Forest Incident
• 1976 Tehran UFO incident

Rendlesham Forest Incident The Rendlesham Forest Incident is the light that was being for the most part name given to a series of reported steady." sightings of unexplained lights and There were some strange noises, too. objects in the sky, and the alleged Burroughs reported a noise "like a woman landing of an extraterrestrial was screaming" and also that "you could spacecraft, in December 1980, in the hear the farm animals making a lot of vicinity of Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, noises". However, wildlife experts note England. Along with the Berwyn Mountain that there were no animals on the nearby Incident, it is perhaps the most famous farm and that the noises were most UFO event to have happened in Britain, likely made by wild animals such as ranking amongst the best-known UFO deer. Burroughs' statement also states events worldwide. It has been compared that "We could see a beacon going around to the Roswell UFO incident in the so we went towards it. We followed it United States and is, amongst Americans, for about two miles [3 km] before we commonly referred to as "Britain's could [see] it was coming from a light Roswell" or the "English Roswell". house." Sceptical viewpoints Penniston's statement is the only one Sceptics dismiss the more extreme claims that positively identifies a mechanical and offer rational explanations of the object as the source of the lights. He observed phenomena: for instance they states that he was within 50 metres of claim that the initial sighting of an the object and "it was defidently object apparently descending into the mechlanical in nature" [sic]. forest was caused by a bright fireball The witnesses were unnerved by their and that the flashing light subsequently experience and believed that they had seen from the forest edge was caused by witnessed something, as Buran expresses the beam from a nearby lighthouse; nor, it, "out of the realm of explanation". they say, was there anything unusual The Halt Tape about the radiation levels. Believers do Also, in 1984, a copy of what became not accept that the sceptics can known as the "Halt Tape" fell into the adequately refute eyewitness, hands of researchers. Unfortunately, documentary, photographic and because of static and the fact that the radiological evidence. tape had been dubbed on an old machine, Following the event, the Ministry of much of its background conversations Defence (MoD) denied that it posed any could not be discerned. The US Sci Fi threat to national security and that it Channel has now acquired the original was thus never investigated as a recording, which documents Lt. Colonel security matter. However, later evidence Halt (USAF) and his patrol investigating indicated that there was a substantial a UFO sighting in Rendlesham Forest in MoD file on the subject and this has led December 1980. This tape not only to claims of a cover-up. Some have reveals much more of the background interpreted this as part of a larger conversations but features names that pattern of suppression of information in could not be heard on the poor-quality regard to UFO/Alien existence/knowledge 1984 dub. The tape has also been by both the US and UK Governments transcribed by researcher Ian Ridpath, Like the Roswell incident, it occurred who includes a link to an audio in the proximity of two military bases, download. RAF Woodbridge and RAF Bentwaters (now Suffolk Police log abandoned), which were being used by the Suffolk Constabulary have a record, United States Air Force (USAF), eight dated 26 December 1980, of a report from miles (13 km) outside Ipswich, Suffolk. the law Enforcement Desk of RAF At the time these USAF/RAF NATO bases Woodbridge, stating that "We have a were under the command of Major General sighting of some unusual lights in the Gordon E. Williams (ret.) and under the sky, we have sent some unarmed troops to Deputy Base Commander Colonel Charles I investigate, we are terming it as a Halt. U.F.O. at present". The police Rendlesham Forest is owned by the investigated this report and the result Forestry Commission and consists of is recorded as follows: "Air Traffic approximately 15 square kilometres (3700 Control West Drayton checked. No acres) of coniferous plantations, knowledge of aircraft. Reports received interspersed with broadleaved belts, of aerial phenomena over southern heathland and wetland areas. It is England during the night. Only lights located in the county of Suffolk, about visible this area was from Orford light eight miles (13 km) to the east of the house. Search made of area - negative." town of Ipswich. The two airforce bases A scan of the report is available at in the area (both being used by the Suffolk Constabulary's website. USAF, at the time) were RAF Bentwaters, Other military installation involvement which is situated just to the north of Some researchers have claimed that the forest, and RAF Woodbridge which personnel from Porton Down [4] visited extends into the forest from the west. Rendlesham in 1980 after the Rendlesham The main events of the incident, Forest Incident. However, no evidence including the supposed "landing", took has been presented and there seems to be place in the forest, almost a mile (1600 confusion with other alleged UFO m) to the east of the main east gate of incidents. RAF Woodbridge. Lord Hill-Norton (himself a reviewer of Orford Ness lighthouse is about six Bruni's book on the incident, mentioned miles (10 km) almost due east of this below) asked Her Majesty's Government: location. "Whether they are aware of any 26 December involvement by Special Branch in the On the evening of 26 December 1980, a investigation of the 1980 Rendlesham resident of Sudbourne, a village Forest Incident [HL303]". Baroness approximately 6 miles (10 km) to the Symons of Vernham Dean gave the reply North East of Rendlesham Forest, that "Special Branch officers may have reported a mysterious shape (like an been aware of the incident but would not upturned mushroom) in the sky above his have shown any interest unless there was garden. An Unidentified Flying Object evidence of a potential threat to was also reported at the nearby USAF national security. No such interest Woodbridge air base, where servicemen appears to have been shown." (Quoted in initially thought it was a downed Georgina Bruni's book You Can't Tell the aeroplane but, upon entering the forest People) to investigate, they saw many strange The British Government has released its lights moving through the trees, as well files to researchers (with the exception as a blinding light from an unidentified of a small number of documents) [5], object. [6], [7], but the United States Some of the airmen claim to have seen a continues to remain silent despite the conical metallic object, suspended in a SciFi Channel-sponsored investigation yellow mist, hovering over a clearing in entitled "UFO Invasion at Rendlesham", the trees, with a pulsating blue and red the History Channel's "UFO Files - circle of light above. One eyewitness Britain's Roswell" and Coalition for claims to have seen triangular landing Freedom of Information inquiries. gear on the object. The servicemen Other possible explanations further claimed that the object seemed Science writer Ian Ridpath investigated clearly aware of their presence and the incident, initially for BBC TV's moved away from them, forcing them to Breakfast Time, and on 5 January 1985 give chase. Later the servicemen were wrote an article for The Guardian that said to have been found in a dazed did much to discredit the accounts of state, and some reports claim that local the UFO sightings at Rendlesham. Ridpath farmyard and domestic animals had been asked local residents about the lights, behaving in a state of fear and panic. and most of them indicated that the The airmen were allegedly debriefed, light originated from a nearby threatened and ordered to sign documents lighthouse, which can create the that vowed silence; one even claimed to impression of a light hovering slightly have been forced to sign a document above the ground, especially in weather claiming the UFO was a lighthouse. Some conditions where there are patches of reports suggest that they were freezing mist amongst the trees. Also, reportedly ordered to stay quiet, with if a UFO was present, the airmen should the warning "bullets are cheap". have reported a second source of light The next morning, servicemen returned to (the lighthouse). In the Halt tape the small clearing where the conical (mentioned above), one can hear an object had been seen, and found three unidentified airman call out "There it small impressions in a triangular is again...there it is." with the same pattern, as well as burn marks and frequency at which the Orford Ness broken branches on nearby trees. lighthouse flashes. Further analysis of 28 December the case can be found on Ridpath's They returned again on the evening of 28 website [9]. December with radiation detectors, Locals in the area also believed the although the significance of the alleged "landing marks" simply to be readings they obtained is disputed . "rabbit diggings." Moreover, the That night, the lights returned, and the supposed burn marks in the trees were servicemen witnessed a bright flashing actually axe cuts that indicated the light between the trees. There are trees were ready to be felled. To give claims that the incident was videoed by further pause to accepting the alleged the USAF; but the resulting tape has not UFO sighting, a meteor "almost as bright been made public. as the full Moon" was spotted over It has been rumoured that small beings southern England at exactly the time of with domed heads left the craft, and the initial reports of a bright object that twin base commander Gordon Williams "landing" in the forest, according to Dr claimed to have made sign language John Mason, who collects reports of communication with the aliens. These meteor sightings for the British rumours have no evidence to back them Astronomical Association. up, and come from unconfirmed reports. Crucial amongst the evidence is the Primary and secondary sources recording of high levels of radiation in The first public report of the incident the area (clearly heard on the "Halt was published in the tabloid newspaper tape"). Ridpath points out that the News of the World, on 2 October 1983, equipment used for this measurement was beneath the sensational headline UFO not intended to measure background lands in Suffolk – and that's radiation and therefore the readings at official. The story was based on an the low end of the measurement scale are account by a former US airman, using the meaningless. pseudonym Art Wallace (supposedly to Steuart Campbell proposes an alternative protect himself against retribution from explanation. He suggests that the the USAF), although his real name was incident began with the sighting of a Larry Warren. fireball (bolide) which was seen to the The Halt memo east and interpreted by guards at the Letter from Lt. Col. Charles HaltThe base as an aircraft falling in flames in first piece of primary evidence to be the nearby forest. In fact it would have made available to the public was a been hundreds of miles away over the memorandum written by the deputy base North Sea. Campbell argues that the commander, Lt. Col. Charles I. Halt, to object subsequently seen by Halt and his the Ministry of Defence (MOD). Known as men on their nocturnal expedition was the "Halt memo", this was made available the Shipwash lightship and that the publicly in the United States under the supposed "spacecraft" were actually US Freedom of Information Act. The bright planets. Campbell is critical of memorandum (left), was dated "13 Jan 81" the USAF's abilities with their and headed "Unexplained Lights". The equipment. two-week delay between the incident and Another theory is that the incident was the report might account for errors in a hoax. The BBC reported that a former dates and times given. US security policeman, Kevin Conde, Statements from the eyewitnesses on 26 claimed responsibility for creating December strange lights in the forest by driving The Scottish reseacher James Easton around in a police vehicle whose lights succeeded in obtaining the original he had modified. However, he is "unsure witness statements made for Col. Halt by exactly when the prank took place, and Fred A. Buran, 81st Security Police therefore is not sure if he was Squadron, Airman First Class John inadvertently responsible for the Burroughs, 81st Security Police so-called UFO incident." Kevin Conde Squadron, Airman Edward N. Cabansag, now states (2005) that he was not 81st Security Police Squadron, responsible for the incident. He said Master-Sergeant J. D. Chandler, 81st this long before he was famously Security Police Squadron and interviewed by the BBC 'Inside Out' or Staff-Sergeant Jim Penniston, 81st the Daily Mail Newspaper. "This incident Security Police Squadron. These [hoax] occurred right after Christmas. documents are now in the public domain For reasons that are hard to explain it and scans of them are available on Ian is my impression that I pulled my stunt Ridpath's website. during an exercise. We would not have These documents describe the sightings had an exercise during the Christmas of strange lights. Penniston, for holiday. That is a strong indication instance, states that a "large yellow that my stunt is not the source of this glowing light was emitting above the specific incident". trees. In the center of the lighted area Other explanations for the incident have directly in the center ground level, included a downed Soviet spy satellite there was a red light blinking on and or a nuclear incident. off 5 to 10 sec intervals. And a blue 1 A B C D E 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116