rendlesham incident
TRANSCRIPT
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UFO FILES:
Britain’s Roswell
The History Channel, Sunday 22nd
January2006
The second episode of The History
Channel’s new series, UF O F iles, featured
what some believe may be the sinle most
important !"# case in history, most
certainly the biest case in the !$% That
event has become &nown as the'endlesham (ncident, or )ritain’s 'oswell%
(n *ecember of +-0, peculiar lihts were
reported over the twin '." bases of
/oodbride )entwaters in Suffol&% 1any
!S .ir "orce personnel reported these
obects, physical evidence was found, on3site recordins were made and official
documents were filed and classified%
'umours abounded for three years until the
famous Halt 1emorandum was released
throuh the !S "reedom of (nformation .ct,
thus crystalli4in the 'endlesham (ncident in
the minds of !"# researchers around the
lobe%
This proram featured many, but not all, of
the main players in the story, focussin on
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the men that were, or claimed to be, there%
/e also heard from researchers that
helped push this startlin event into the
public domain, althouh the people that
bro&e the story, to such an e5tent that it
briefly made the front paes of national
newspapers, were stranely absent%
/e bean with an overview of the
)entwaters base% (n +-0, it was one of the
larest, most important in urope, with over
+2,000 personnel servin and protectin a
sinificant nuclear arsenal% (t was the heiht
of the Cold /ar, with tensions between
7.T# and the Soviet !nion at boilin point%
8iilance was not only necessary, it was
imperative%
John )urrouhs told of how he
and his sereant saw odd lihts
in the dense forest that
separated the two bases%
.larmed by what they had seen, they
headed bac& to the security point and
phoned in their sihtin on a secure line%
Tech% Sereant Jim 9enniston was
dispatched to their position and the roup
headed out into the forest%
9enniston saw the lihts and at first thouht
he was loo&in at a downed aircraft% He
called in his fears and :uestioned the two
men present% )urrouhs and 9enniston,
alon with the sereant’s driver, drove
deeper into the trees to investiate%
)urrouh’s sereant was to afraid to assist
and he was left behind%
)urrouhs and 9enniston left their eep and
wal&ed towards the lihts% Their radios
suffered from stron interference and the
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closer they ot to their oal, the more
certain they became that this was no plane
crash%
(n a clearin, they were
illuminated by a blindin liht%
9enniston approached the lihtand it dimmed to reveal a
lare, dar&, pyramidal obect, rouhly nine
feet wide by eiht feet hih% He too&
several photoraphs and constantly made
notes, but his handwritin became more
illeible the closer he ot to the obect% He
saw peculiar symbols on the ob ect and he
drew these into his notepad% #ther than
these mar&ins, he could ma&e out no other
features% He reached out and touched the
craft, findin it warm to the touch and as
smooth as lass% ;iht emanated from the
fabric of the hull%
There was another blindin flash
and the men dove for cover% The
craft lifted up out of the trees and
sped away into the niht s&y% 9enniston
said that he had never seen an aircraft
move as fast in his .ir "orce career%
Then they saw another liht flashin in the
trees, but they almost immediately realised
that this was the beam from the #rford
7ess lihthouse, some five miles distant%
Their radios bean wor&in normally and
they called in a report%
#n returnin to the base, they were
debriefed, but fearin for their careers, the
men ave a <sanitised’ report, omittin themore weird aspects to their e5perience%
Their superior officer warned them that
<some thins were best left alone’%
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!nable to put the event out of his
mind, 9enniston returned to the
site in 'endlesham "orest the
ne5t day and found depressions in the
round where the !"# had been seen%
They were in a trianular formation, e5actly
%- feet apart% He made plaster of 9arismoulds of the indentations% He decided not
to hand over his moulds to his superiors%
Two nihts later, *eputy )ase Commander,
;t% Col% Charles Halt, was en oyin a
rela5in evenin at an officer’s Christmas
party when one of his men arrived in an
aitated state and reported to Halt that =(t’s
bac&>?
Halt was determined to put this nonsense to
rest% His men were supposed to be
protectin billions of dollars worth of military
hardware, not chasin phantom lihts
throuh the trees% He oranised a security
detail and they headed out into the forest%
#n arrivin, Halt found that a security
cordon had been set in place and lare,
mobile units &nown as ;iht3.lls deployed,
althouh they would not wor& properly for
some reason%
.lthouh the !"# was no loner visible,
Halt and his men headed into the trees,
armed with a still camera, a @eier
counter, a niht vision scope and Halt’s
personal cassette recorder, upon which he
captured one of the most ama4in pieces of
audio footae ever% Halt was certain that he
could find a loical e5planation for the !"#
reports%
Then we were treated to the actual
recordin Halt made on his recorder Aa
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copy of which can be found on the free C*
with the first issue of the !"#*ata 'eportB%
The ;iht3.lls refused to wor&,
so they headed into the woods
without the illuminationafforded by the mobile units%
They soon found that their radios became
subect to the same interference that had
plaued )urrouhs and 9enniston two
nihts previously% Halt saw that several
trees had been damaed as thouh
somethin lare had moved throuh the
forest, snappin off branches and scourin
off bar& as it went% He ordered for
photoraphs to be ta&en% The @eier
counter bean reisterin hih levels of
radiation on the sides of the trees that had
been damaed, the sides that faced the
alleed landin site%
Suddenly, the animals on the adacent farm
bean ma&in a reat deal of noise and a
lowin, red liht appeared in the trees%
Halt described it as loo&in li&e an eye
win&in at them% (t moved throuh the trees
towards their position% Halt said that it
loo&ed li&e it was drippin what loo&ed li&e
molten metal% Then it moved out into thefarmer’s field and hovered there for about
twenty or thirty seconds before silently
e5plodin into multiple white ob ects that
sped away% #n investiatin the field, Halt’s
men could find no evidence of burn mar&s
or debris that miht be left behind from
what they had witnessed%
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The obect then reappeared,
headin their way from the
south and stoppin overhead%
(t shone down what Halt
described as a beam that was laser3li&e in
its intensity% Halt’s shoc& at what he is
seein is clearly evident on the tape% Thebeam then oes out and the obect moves
on over the base, specifically, some said,
the nuclear weapons storae area, and
beins shinin its beam down to the round
aain% (t was here that Halt’s recorder ran
out of tape%
/ith the craft still hoverin over the airfield,
Halt decided that they should return to the
base% They were met by John )urrouhs
and .drian )ustin4a% )urrouhs was
concerned about Halt’s men, they seemed
very sha&en, he said% Then he saw a blue
liht in the field and pointed it out to the
colonel% Halt ave him permission to chec&it out and he and )ustin4a headed into the
field, while Halt and his team went bac& to
the base%
)urrouhs and )ustin4a ran towards the
blue low and ust as they reached it, with
)urrouhs in the lead, it vanished% )ustin4a
told him that he had seen him enter the blueliht and disappear% He could not believe it%
)urrouhs had more :uestions than
answers%
)y January of +-+, the bases were full of
rumours about what had one on ust after
Christmas% "ormer head of the 1#* !"#
des&, 7ic& 9ope, asserted that these menwere hihly3trained professionals, e5pert
witnesses with many years of e5perience in
most cases% The investiation that followed
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remains controversial twenty3five years
later%
.ccordin to the airmen, they became
involved, aainst their will, in a overnment
cover3up% .t first, routine was conformed
to% Halt debriefed his men, as reulationsre:uired, and statements were ta&en%
9enniston claimed that after the meetins
with Halt, thins <bean to et heavy’%
Two wee&s after the debriefins, 9enniston
said he was interroated by hih3ran&in
officials from the #ffice of Special
(nvestiations A#S(B% @eorina )runi, author of Y ou Can’ t T el l T he P eople, e5plained
that the #S( had the power to :uestion
anybody% They could wal& into a eneral’s
office and arrest him if the li&ed%
9enniston ave the #S( his statement and
offered them the s&etches he had made
durin his sihtin% .fter this, 9enniston
cannot remember much about the
interroation, but he believes that he may
have iven consent for truth drus such as
sodium pentathol to be administered%
*urin the #S(’s investiation, in which
more and more people were called in,
.drian )ustin4a was :uestioned so
aressively that he refuses to spea&
publicly about the incident to this day%
@eorina )runi says she has spo&en with
him, however, and he told her that the #S(
forced him to aree, with a thinly3veiled
threat of death, that what he saw was the
liht from #rford 7ess% #ther witnesseswere also told to drop their stories about a
!"#%
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. short time later, )urrouhs and Halt said
that they saw activity oin on in the forest,
with personnel parta&in in covert activities
at the landin site% Halt’s and 9enniston’s
photoraphs came bac& from the
processin lab completely foed out%
9enniston believes that the photos wereintentionally whited3out% ven Halt, the
hihest ran&in eyewitness, believes he
was &ept out of the loop of the
investiation% He was as&ed to type up a
memo describin the incident% He did so,
believin it would be shared with the )ritish
authorities% The memo was not meant to be
a definitive account of the incident and Halt
made several mista&es and omissions, but
he assumed that it would create enouh
interest for a proper investiation to be
started% The memo was filed away%
Three years later, the News of
t he W or l d ran a headline storyentitled !"# ;.7*S (7
S!""#;$ .nd That’s
#""(C(.;% The article was based around
Halt’s memo that had been released via the
!S "reedom of (nformation .ct% The
proramme claimed that the memo was
brouht into the open by ;arry /arren, a
former security policeman at the base%9eter 'obbins Awho co3authored with
/arren the boo&, Lef t At E ast Gat eB
e5plained how it was /arren’s information
that led to the memo bein released to the
public%
/arren’s story is somewhat different to the
one described in the Halt 1emo
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#n *ecember, 2th +-0, a
nineteen3year old /arren was
ordered from his security post
and told to o into the woods
to assist with Colonel Halt’s investiation%
#n reachin a clearin, he saw a roup of
military personnel standin around a
lowin obect%
He described .ir "orce officers conversin
with three, small, child3li&e fiures% /arren
said that it seemed li&e some sort of
protocol was bein enacted, but before he
could witness further, he was dismissed
from the scene% The ne5t day, he was ta&en
for debriefin with several other witnesses
and shown film footae of militaryD!"#
interactions oin bac& to perhaps the
+E0s% .fterwards, /arren’s memories
become disointed% He recalls bein in an
underround facility with medical personnel
and of bein in some sort of mess hall allalone% He thin&s that these may have been
implanted memories, used in an attempt to
fo his actual recall of the !"# sihtin%
/arren’s pronouncements
infuriated the other
witnesses% They said that
/arren’s story was a purefabrication and that nothin he said can be
believed% .lthouh his story does match
with some of the events described by the
others, he is the only one sayin that he
saw aliens% .lso, nobody else can recall
him bein on the scene at the time of the
incident% /arren remains firm, however,
that what he has told us is the truth%
/hile the reports from these hihly3trained
witnesses are compellin, it is, the narrator
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told us, the discrepancies in their stories
that cause concern%
.stronomer and retired .ir "orce maor,
James 1c@aha, was convinced that what
the witnesses saw on those nihts was the
#rford 7ess lihthouse% He e5plained thatat niht, the beam from the lihthouse can
be scattered by the trees, creatin weird
effects% John )urrouhs disareed and
reminded us that in his report, he clearly
stated that they saw and :uic&ly reconised
the beam from the lihthouse% @eorina
)runi told us that no lihthouse can move
throuh the trees, dart about the s&y and
shine beams down to the round% 1c@aha
countered this by sayin that on the niht of
the 2Fth *ecember, a Soviet Cosmos
satellite re3entered the arth’s atmosphere
and would have loo&ed li&e a very briht
fireball% He fails to account for the
discrepancy in the dates, however, plus thefact that such an event would be transitory
and not last for several hours, as described
by the witnesses%
(n 2002, declassified overnment files shed
new liht on what happened that niht in
+-0% The documents showed that an '."
investiation had ta&en place in +-+ andthat the investiators were happy that what
the witnesses described was not the #rford
7ess ;ihthouse% The files also state that
the radar facilities at the time were faulty
and that no recordins were made of any
radar contacts% (n fact, the files say that the
radar camera recorder was switched off%
;isten to the fascinatin interview with @ary)a&er on the free !"#*ata 'eport C* for
more about this ama4in statement%
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The files also showed that the
investiations had been based
around Halt’s memo, which
stated that the sihtins bean
on the 2Gth *ecember, when the sihtins
had beun on the 2Fth% The proramme is
wron here, because the first sihtin was
after midniht on the 26th *ecember, lon
after any sihtin of the Cosmos satellite
may or may not have been made% The only
photoraphs made available show the
clearin, but no evidence of a landed craft%
.ccordin to the investiation, what
happened that niht was <no threat tonational security’%
(f, ;arry /arren as&ed, !"#s beamin
down lihts onto a nuclear weapons
storae area isn’t of defence sinificance,
what is
James 1c@aha responded that if a real!"# had been hoverin over the base,
shinin down beams of liht, then
everybody would have been awo&en and
placed on a hih state of alert% That didn’t
happen, he said%
7ic& 9ope declared that, as a reat many
of the &ey staff of the base were on leave,there was a decision3ma&in vacuum% ( find
this an astoundin statement to ma&e% ;t%
Col% Halt was the deputy base commander%
He went on to become the actual base
commander% (f he can’t ma&e the
appropriate decisions durin an incident of
this nature, who can
The narrator went on to say that the
'endlesham "orest (ncident is li&ely to
remain a mystery%
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/hat we are left with are a few
overnment documents that are
often contradictory or
incomplete, the stories of the eyewitnesses
and the physical evidence, li&e Jim
9enniston’s plaster moulds and drawins
and Halt’s tape recordin%
7ic& 9ope closed by sayin that everybody
has heard of 'oswell, but only !"#
researchers &now about 'endlesham% (t is
time that this case is placed alonside, or
even above 'oswell, as perhaps t he most
sinificant !"# encounter of all time%
Br it ain’s oswell ave us a serious, if
sometimes incomplete or erroneous portrait
of the events durin the 'endlesham
(ncident% 7o mention was made of
researchers such as )renda )utler and *ot
Street, who athered many eyewitness
reports from local people who also saw
strane lihts in the s&y at the same time,
and were amon the first people to brea&
the story%
That said, the proramme did try to focus
on the events as reported by the
eyewitnesses and any sceptical
e5planations were addressed, but notallowed to ta&e over the proramme, as
often happens with this sort of
documentary% The ambivalence shown
towards the events, thouh, is infuriatin%
To simply suest that the incident <will
remain a mystery’ is li&e sayin <ust foret
about it and it will o away’%
( aree with 7ic& 9ope that this incident
should be elevated hih above 'oswell and
any and all overnment documents related
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to this event should be released to the
public% (’m sure you all aree% (’m also
certain that it ain’t onna happen> (f the
base commander can be &ept in the dar&,
then us plebs in the <real world’ most
certainly can%
All i !a"es ar e t he pr opert # of t he
r espe$t i%e $op#r i "ht hol der s and ar e used
her e sol el# f or r e%iew pur poses&
I Steve Johnson 2006
)ac& to .rticles (nde5
Updated 16th August, 2012