As well as the Orford Ness lighthouse, and whatever stars and planets were visible, other lights
might have played a part.
External Quote:
The Suffolk constabulary file on the case was released in 2005 under the UK's Freedom of Information Act and can be accessed on their website.
[7] It includes a letter dated 28 July 1999 written by Inspector Mike Topliss who notes that one of the police constables who attended the scene on the first night returned to the site in daylight in case he had missed something. "There was nothing to be seen and he remains unconvinced that the occurrence was genuine," wrote Topliss. "The immediate area was swept by powerful light beams from a landing beacon at RAF Bentwaters and the Orfordness lighthouse. I know from personal experience that at night, in certain weather and cloud conditions, these beams were very pronounced and certainly caused strange visual effects."
Wikipedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendlesham_Forest_incident, also on the last document image attached below, a copy of a reply from Suffolk Constabulary to an unknown correspondent.
Ian Ridpath thinks it's unlikely that the landing beacon was involved, though;
External Quote:
The landing beacon at Bentwaters was in the wrong direction and so not a factor; it might even have been switched off at the time as there was no flying over Christmas.
http://www.ianridpath.com/ufo/police.html.
Annoyingly, it's unclear if "The immediate area was swept by powerful light beams from a landing beacon at RAF Bentwaters and the Orfordness lighthouse" is recounting what was seen by the police officer who re-visited the site in daylight, 26/12/80, or if it is part of Inspector Topliss' recall of the area from prior personal experience.
Also annoyingly, the link ([7]) to the released Suffolk Constabulary file, cited in the above Wikipedia article, is dead.
Happily, on the website "The Rendlesham Forest Incident Official Blog",
https://www.therendleshamforestincident.com/,
which isn't "Official" in any meaningful sense and which I can't vouch for, there are copies of Suffolk Constabulary records and correspondence about the Rendlesham Forest incident.
They
look the same as the Suffolk Constabulary file documents which I saw online some years ago
as far as I can recall.
-Note for non-UK people, some of England and Wales' police services call themselves "...Police" e.g. Dorset Police, Merseyside Police, some "Constabularies" e.g. Suffolk Constabulary, Durham Constabulary. There isn't any difference between the two.
Each is composed of attested police officers holding the office of constable who have jurisdiction anywhere in England and Wales. All those officers are referred to as police.
https://www.therendleshamforestincident.com/2022/04/suffolk-constabulary-have-record-dated.html,
Initial Suffolk Constabulary station log of contact from USAF at Bentwaters:
(My underlining).
From the above: USAF A.1.C Arnold, Law Enforcement Desk Bentwaters sent
External Quote:
We have a sighting of some unusual lights in the sky, have sent some unarmed troops to investigate, we are terming it as a U.F.O. at present
So not that long after the events of Dec 26 started, the term "U.F.O." is used, which made me think of this post:
...as far as I can recall he [Col. Halt] has subsequently claimed that he believes it was an extraterrestrial event, which makes me think that he was predisposed to the idea.
Suffolk police recorded:
External Quote:
Result
Air Traffic Control West Drayton checked, no knowledge of aircraft. Reports received of aerial phenomena over southern England during the night. Only lights visible this area was from Orford light house. Search made of area- negative.
The following day (still the 26th December 1980),
From the above, USAF staff at Bentwaters:
External Quote:
We have a call from the L.E. [Law Enforcement? If so, USAF Security Police] at Bentwaters in reference to the U.F.O. last night. We have found a place where a craft of some sort seems to have landed.
Suffolk police:
External Quote:
There were three marks in the area which did not follow a set pattern. The impressions made by these marks were of no depth and could have been made by an animal. PC Cresswell attended.
PC Cresswell didn't seem unduly perturbed by the suspected landing zone.
It might be worth remembering that while Rendlesham Forest might not be Cresswell's home area, he would probably be familiar with similar environments in Suffolk.
Nearly 19 years later, Suffolk police sent this reply to an enquiry about the incidents (easier-to-read text follows this image):
From "
The Rendlesham Forest Incident Official Blog", ibid. For easier reading here's some of the content:
External Quote:
...A great deal of interest has understandably been generated in respect of this story, not least because of the apparent number and standing of witnesses. However, over the intervening years, various reports of the incident(s) seem to have taken on a life of their own to the extent that the "sighting" details and corroborative evidence have been substantially embellished.
This contrasts sharply with the views of the local police who attended at the time and did not perceive this occurrence as being anything unusual considering the festive significance of the date and expected high spirits.
...(Name redacted) has confirmed that he and PC [police constable](name redacted) were in the Law Enforcement Office at RAF Bentwaters when they were directed to a 'higher priority' task at Otley post office. As rural night-duty officers they would have sole responsibility for policing a huge territorial area (approx. 400 square miles) and would certainly have treated a post office burglary as more important than a recurrence of an earlier incident which was seen as somewhat frivolous.
PC Brian Cresswell's... ...visit to the alleged landing site would not have generated more than a standard incident log unless he was convinced that something worth reporting had occurred.
PC (redacted) had discussed the matter with him and it appeared that all three officers were equally unimpressed with the nights events.
Civilian police officers were not employed in guarding the area surrounding the alleged landing site(s) or to deter access as there was no evidence to indicate anything of immediate concern to the police had occurred.
...I have tried to be as objective as possible with the answers provided and, like yourself, would undoubtedly be pleased to see a local incident such as this substantiated as an authentic "UFO" experience. PC (redacted) holds similar views to myself and returned to the forest site in daylight in case he had missed some evidence in the darkness. There was nothing to be seen and he remains unconvinced that the occurrence was genuine. The immediate area was swept by powerful light beams from a landing beacon at RAF Bentwaters and the Orfordness lighthouse. I know from personal experience that at night, in certain weather conditions, these beams were very pronounced and certainly caused strange visual effects.
Perhaps "Civilian police officers were not employed in guarding the area..." does not rule out armed forces personnel doing so, but this seems very unlikely, and there are no records of restrictions on public access being put in place in Rendlesham Forest that I'm aware of.
The police inspector who wrote the above reply reminds us of the time of year of the sightings.
It was Christmas, kids/ teenagers do sometimes have unauthorised parties and let off fireworks if they get the opportunity.
We (well, I) tend to think of Bentwaters as a remote location, but it isn't really. There's a number of close-by villages and hamlets, and it's about 10 miles (16 km) from Ipswich, population approx. 145,000, and not much further from Felixstowe, the UK's largest container port.
Maps/ views of the area. -These are contemporary; the 1980 perimeters of the Bentwaters and Woodbridge airbases are not indicated, so I've indicated the runways as a rough proxy.
I think the possibility of poachers lamping for rabbits was raised, can't remember who by. With police concentrating on residential areas and town centres where people are enjoying the seasonal cheer, the Christmas to New Year period must be tempting for those who fancy cheap rabbit stew. If there were poachers present, they might well run from the unexpected arrival of uniformed men with torches.
-Just occurred to me, it isn't unusual for council gritter trucks to be out and about in the small hours in late December, with flashing amber lights (rotating beacon lights in 1980); they wouldn't go up forest tracks for any reason I can think of, but I wouldn't be surprised if the approach roads to airbases were prioritised.
A USAF Security Policeman who served at Bentwaters claimed he might have inadvertently contributed to the events:
BBC News, 30 June 2003
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/suffolk/3033428.stm
(It should be noted- which the BBC didn't- that "Brenda Butler, a local resident" is a UFO investigator and co-author of a book about the 1980 Rendlesham Forest events,
Sky Crash: A Cosmic Conspiracy (1984, pub. Neville Spearman), along with her friend and fellow investigator Dot Street and the
fairly well-known (in Britain at least) Ufologist Jenny Randles
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/993593.Sky_Crash)
I haven't read anything else about this since. I don't know how many USAF Security Police were at Woodbridge / Bentwaters, but I'd guess that most were known to each other. Not sure if it's credible that Mr Conde would stage his prank on fellow Security Police but not be aware of the results within a day or two.
If his account is in part accurate, maybe he decided to keep quiet at the time: Spooking your mates is one thing, making the deputy base commander look a bit daft is another.
It
might explain the red, white and blue lights of some accounts if Mr Conde's Volare had a lightbar like many US police cars
(UK police just use blue).
It's hard to know what to make of the Rendlesham Forest incidents.
Personally, I find Ian Ridpath's de-bunking convincing (but will happily concede to posters here about which stars/ planets were where).
http://www.ianridpath.com/ufo/sitemap.html
Mr Penniston made more extraordinary claims than anyone else who we know was present, and over the years his claims have expanded to the point where they can't be taken seriously. Regrettably, if he did witness anything of interest in 1980, it is difficult to determine what of his testimony might be reliable.
Colonel Halt's increasingly conspiratorial take on the whole affair has been criticized by his commanding officer at Bentwaters,
Colonel Ted Conrad:
External Quote:
For his part, in June 2010 Halt signed a notarised statement that included this paragraph:
"I believe the objects that I saw at close quarter were extraterrestrial in origin and that the security services of both the United States and the United Kingdom have attempted – both then and now – to subvert the significance of what occurred at Rendlesham forest and RAF Bentwaters by the use of well-practiced methods of disinformation."
When I asked Col Conrad to comment on Halt's statement, he responded:
"Col Halt can believe as he wishes. I've already disputed to some degree what he reported. However, he should be ashamed and embarrassed by his allegation that his country and England both conspired to deceive their citizens over this issue. He knows better."
Col Conrad told me he finds it very difficult to comment "given how huge the story has grown from its humble beginnings to the sensation it has now become". He adds that he wants to "avoid the appearance of validating any of the stories have sprung up in the years since (1980)."
-Article "Rendlesham Forest UFOs", from the blog
Dr David Clarke Folklore and Journalism,
https://drdavidclarke.co.uk/rendlesham-forest-ufos/
David Clarke is an associate professor of Media and Communication, Sheffield Hallam University- he's done some interesting work on Rendlesham (accessible via the link) but it's not as thorough or as easily navigated as Ridpath's website.
(Clarke has produced other interesting material, notably about the Calvine photographs).
. I suppose in the current UFO world the Skinwalker book was way more relevant, than a rehash of Rendlesham. It was Osborn's "secrets" that he decoded that I thought might be interesting.
