The landing site [later general discussion]

General discussion about the Rendlesham forest incident

Re: The landing site

Postby Andy » Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:31 pm

As said, just tell me what button to press on the key board..................................... bored *s******s*
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Re: The landing site

Postby Andy » Wed Jul 02, 2008 10:45 pm

I just wish i could calculate the wasted time i have spent on here, because life is so short, and could have spent it on better and more interesting things, and i'm sure something of more interest could have been of more worth? This is not a rehearsal guys, this is the real thing. Leave the seemingly idiots to it. Get on with your life and enjoy it. :) Something seemed to happen?.......but it's apparent accuracy is only as good as those involved. They're not coming up with the goods, so why waste precious time...... as said, this is not a rehearsal, and at the end of the day..... could we really care less??.... i certainly couldn't.

Sorry guys, must have been very traumatic, but the 'Brits' are a totally different breed, Not unsympathetic, but there again not totally stupid. The books were amusing :) *Thank God for Car boot sales*
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Re: The landing site

Postby puddlepirate » Thu Jul 03, 2008 12:14 am

Hi Andy...read your PM's .... I had intended to come up to Rendlesham today but I have a day job that has to take priority. If anyone is interested in a meet in a pub near Woodbridge/Nacton, then let's go for it. I can't make the next two weekends but if anyone can meet sometime next week (not Monday) I should be able to sort something out.
You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time (Winston Churchill)...causa latet, vis est notissima
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Re: The landing site

Postby BEE » Thu Jul 03, 2008 6:09 am

Hi

Anyone fancy meeting up this Saturday... Jolly Sailor or somewhere like that?


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Re: The landing site

Postby puddlepirate » Thu Jul 03, 2008 7:21 am

As it stands at the moment I'll be in Brighton this weekend or I would have come up. The Jolly Sailor is a good little pub - assuming you mean the one in Orford.
You can fool all of the people some of the time and some of the people all of the time but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time (Winston Churchill)...causa latet, vis est notissima
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Re: The landing site

Postby BEE » Thu Jul 03, 2008 3:41 pm

Hi Puddlepirate

Yes thats the one. Never mind, another time perhaps.

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Re: The landing site

Postby Robert McLean » Sat Jul 05, 2008 3:31 pm

IanR wrote:
In any case, we know that the light hadn't really broken up at all because, as he tells us on the real-time tape, he subsequently sighted it again "clear off to the coast" (he somehow forgets to mention this bit in his more recent interviews).

What we don't know is where he was when he made that second sighting, other than that he was on the far side of what he terms "the second farmer's field". No one has tried to reconstruct his movements after having crossed the creek (which, incidentally, he fell into), and I doubt that Halt himself could now remember with any certainty. So we will just have to take his word for it that he did sight the light again, even if we don't know where from.

Ian


Hi Ian,

and hi to all others on this forum, as this is my first post.

The essential key to working out where the landing site is, is to figure out where Halt's party ended up when he made that second siting. As far as I know, the only person to have asked Halt that question is Brenda Butler. When I asked Brenda Butler where she thought the second farmer's field was she immediately said it was Burrow Hill. At the time I thought it must be somewhere else quite different so I asked why she thought that.

Brenda explained to me that Col Halt had described to her the view in the second farmer's field as the UFO in the south moved towards them at high speed. He described seeing the line of a river in the moonlight stretching away to the south, with the UFO following the line of that river. Col Halt did not know it was Burrow Hill, or show it to her on a map, but Brenda realised that the description matched Burrow Hill, which it surely does. Butley River runs past the east side of Burrow Hill, and the hill is high enough so that river can be seen clearly by moonlight extending off towards the sea, which is also visible from there towards the south. There is nowhere else in the area that matches this description. In fact, there isn't anywhere else in that area that Halt might have been where you can even see the sea.

The Shipwash lightship would have been visible from the hill. The beacon that replaced it still is. Halt saw this again on Burrow Hill, and realised that it must have been a "lighthouse":

HALT: At two forty-four [2:44 am], we're at the far side of the farmer’s . . . the second farmer's field and made sighting again about 110 degrees. This looks like it's clear off to the coast. It's right on the horizon. Moves about a bit and flashes from time to time. Still steady or red in color.

The fact that he "made sighting again at about 110 degrees" leads inevitably to the likelihood that the other, earlier references on the tape to a compass heading of 110 degrees (and one reference to 120 degrees) were, in fact, references to a flashing light seen from the Shipwash lightship, which would have been at a compass heading of between 113 to 114 degrees (1980 magnetic), depending on where the landing site was located.

What he did not see again from there was Orfordness lighthouse, i.e. the UFO that was off to the left of the "lighthouse", in fact the lightship, which he acknowledges he did see.

But Halt also saw the Sunk lightship to the south, which I also viewed from that hill. I obtained the following details direct from Trinity House on the Sunk lightship.

The Sunk lightship was located 27 km from Burrow Hill, at a true heading of 161 degrees, which equates to a compass heading of 166 degrees in 1980. The Sunk lightship has not changed since 1980. The reason it has been overlooked by earlier researchers is that there is no direct view of it anywhere near any of the alleged landing sites, because of intervening land to the south. There is only a direct view of this lightship from Burrow Hill.

Like the Shipwash beam, the Sunk beam was white. The stated range of the Sunk lightship is exactly the same as that for the Shipwash lightship, 38.6 km. Like Shipwash, the pattern repeats every 20 seconds, but the flash pattern was less "even" than Shipwash; it was "weak flash" (3.4 seconds) "strong flash" (16.6 seconds), repeat.

If Col Halt was on top of Burrow Hill, there is no doubt that he would have been able to see these flashes, and to my mind the flash pattern, particularly the long gap and intensity variation between the two closely spaces flashes, is a dead ringer for his description:

HALT: Three oh five [3:05 am]. We see strange, uh, strobe-like flashes to the, uh...
BALL: South.
<BREAK>
HALT: Rather sporadic, but there's definitely something there. Some kind of phenomenon.

Unfortunately, the Sunk lightship was decommissioned in 2003, so you can't see it today.

There are other reasons for believing the second farmer's field, which I could go into, apart from there actually being a farm house there. One of these is regarding the "light breaking up" as you mention above. Halt really is being truthful and consistent when he says the light (i.e. Orfordness lighthouse) had broken up into five lights (i.e. the five lights on the radio masts at Orfordness) because he did not see the Orfordness lighthouse from Burrow hill (the only part of Burrow Hill from which Orfordness lighthouse can be seen was covered by an archaeological dig in 1980). There is no inconsistency in his story (although he has not been entirely forthcoming on when he realised that the Shipwash beam was a "lighthouse" - that realisation only came on Burrow Hill). In fact, I believe that the only real inconsistency in his description of the lights he saw was the colour of the "five white lights", as in fact they were red, but then there is even one interview in which he does describe the five lights as being red.

On the other hand, there are good reasons not to suppose that it was any of the fields near Butley Priory, the main one being that the land is so low lying that no lighthouse or lightships would have been visible, never mind the or the caost which he refers to on the tape.

So, if you can accept, at least as a working hypothesis, that the second farmer's field was Burrow Hill, then we can work backwards to find the true landing site.

Robert
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Re: The landing site

Postby Observer » Sat Jul 05, 2008 5:09 pm

Hi Robert
That was an interesting post and it certainly gives us a new perspective to Halt's observations.

Your last sentance infers that although Halt may have mistook the lights he decscribed as part of the phenomena going on in the forest, it suggests by your very wording that some thing did land in the forest or why then use the term 'landing site' There is too much evidence now to say nothing landed in the forest.
I have always maintained that some of the lights Halt and others saw were possibly the light ship/house but Halt and others were also confronted with lights that were much nearer and in the woods. The two observations being unconnected although easy to melt together by some people.
The initial report of lights in the forest were from patrols within the airfield boundary and i fail to see how they could have seen the light house or light ship as there was a dense forest between them and the sea.
I would also like to point out that i with some mates used to go roost shooting in that very forest with powerful quartz halogen lamps at night. We walked all over that forest in the dark and never once did we ever see the light house or light ship flash as brightly or illuminate the forest as some people would have us believe happened. At best we only ever saw the light house and only some times the light ships when we were at the Eastern edge of the forest and then they were only tiny 5 second pin pricks of light in the far distance. No way did any beams shine in the forest from those beacons. I was there.
We must also take into account that Halt for reasons only known to him has declared more than one landing site, which have been more recent claims by Halt.
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Re: The landing site

Postby IanR » Sat Jul 05, 2008 9:59 pm

Robert McLean wrote:So, if you can accept, at least as a working hypothesis, that the second farmer's field was Burrow Hill, then we can work backwards to find the true landing site.

Hi Robert,

Haven’t heard from you in ages.

My difficulty with this Burrow HiIl business has always been that there are, by my count on satellite photos, at least six fields between Capel Green and Burrow Hill, so it seems illogical to suppose that Halt crossed all these before declaring that he was at the far side of the “second farmer’s field”. In addition, Burrow Hill is farther from what Halt described as “the initial or suspected impact point” than that impact point is from East gate, so it would have taken quite a trek to get there. Yet on the tape the information “We’re at the far side of the second farmer’s field” comes immediately after Halt has told us he had passed the farmer’s house, the next field and crossed a creek, with no indication they had subsequently gone on a long cross-country walk. Hence I remain an agnostic about where Halt was when he said he had “made sighting again about 110 degrees”. It’s a pity that the Strange But True programme never got Halt to retrace his steps, but they seemed more interested in creating Close Encounters type special effects in the forest.

After Halt has reported seeing the object at azimuth 110 degrees “clear off to the coast...right on the horizon” he reports seeing lights in the sky, two to the north and one to the south. (Once Halt’s attention has been caught by these objects in the sky, we don’t hear any more about the flashing light at azimuth 110 degrees.) He later says that “the one to the south looks like it’s losing a little bit of altitude”. It was while these sightings were going on that Halt called Easter Radar at RAF Watton but they saw nothing
http://www.ianridpath.com/ufo/watton.jpg

At the very end of the tape, when they are on their way back to base, he reports “One object still hovering over Woodbridge base at about five to ten degrees off the horizon.” For it to have been over Woodbridge base (i.e. inland, not out at sea at all) it must actually have been in the southwest. Halt’s description of its azimuth, coupled with its gradual loss of altitude (which astronomers term “setting”) and flashing (or “twinkling”) are all consistent with a misidentification of the brightest star in the sky, Sirius.
http://www.ianridpath.com/ufo/rendlesham3.htm

Hope this clears up any confusion about where the attention switched from the lighthouse to stars.

Ian
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Re: The landing site

Postby Robert McLean » Sat Jul 05, 2008 10:29 pm

Hi Obs,

The term "the landing site" is easier to use than "the site that Halt investigated". It was the site that some at the time believe something landed. So for convenience everyone calls it the "landing site", that's all. You don't have to believe that something actually landed there to call it a "landing site".

Regarding the evidence, I believe the only real evidence for something having landed consists of:

i) The light or lights that were seen apparently falling into the forest at about 3 am.
ii) The three rather shallow indentations in the pine needles, recorded by Halt, and on film by Ray Gulyas.
iii) The broken branches recorded by Halt, which came from "15 to 20 feet up".

I'd rather not get into a discussion right now on how good this evidence is, or if there might be more mundane explanations for any of this.

But the last point is interesting. The forest around the landing site was planted with Corsican Pines shortly after 1920. I have seen the original planting map. Note that 60 year old Corsican pines don't have live branches anywhere near as low as 15 or 20 feet up (30 to 50 feet is more like it). Photos taken of the remaining trees in the early 80's prove this. At 15 to 20 feet you only have short dead stubs, and you'd never tell if one had been recently broken off or not. Did Halt make a mistake in the darkness, or was he in a younger stand of trees somewhere else?

The Shipwash lightship was decommissioned in the early 90's. I never got to see its beam, but it may have been brighter than the lighthouse, despite being further away, as the lighthouse beam is partly blocked by a landward light shield.

The lighthouse beam is, as you say, not terribly bright, and when I first viewed this at the traditional landing site promoted by the forestry commission, I found it very hard to believe that the lighthouse would fool anyone for long. Anyway, it is only directly visible in a narrow strip that is about 64 m wide, and once you get into the first farmer's field as you walk towards it you can only see it for 126 m before it disappears from view, owing to the drop off in land elevation.

In the other direction, the East Gate guard house is within that narrow strip, and the entire section of forest between the main north/south access road and the eastern edge of the forest was in the process of being logged in 1980, except for relatively small bands at the eastern edge and along the main access road. There are no intervening hills that would block a direct line of site from the East Gate, so there is a real possibility that they did see the lighthouse from the East Gate. But this does not explain the red and blue lights that were seen from East Gate.

I can see that the lighthouse beam might have been puzzling when first viewed so far inland, but not so puzzling that it would have warrented investigation. It was the falling light(s) at 3 am that sparked the whole thing off. I also believe that neither the lighthouse nor the lightship beams could have been responsible for scaring the living daylights out of Burroughs, Penniston and Cabansag. They must have seen something else.

Robert
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Re: The landing site

Postby Observer » Sat Jul 05, 2008 10:53 pm

Robert
Your last paragraph sums it up. As for the alleged landing site/s, i don't think we will ever establish now just where it/they were. As i said before in an earlier post, here's a tenner to say you will still be arguing about it in a years time.
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Re: The landing site

Postby Andy » Sat Jul 05, 2008 11:42 pm

http://web.mac.com/neal.king/Greyhounds_at_Play/

The UFO trail in Rendlesham.


Press Rendlesham 2. It takes a while to upload. When you get it up, click it a few times, then it will play. Only three of the greyhounds are mine, the other three belongs to a fellow greyhound owner. I'm the one with the red cap.
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Re: The landing site

Postby Andy » Sun Jul 06, 2008 12:27 am

The fastest dog on earth.... 45mph in six strides..... the Lotus Elan of the dog world.

It's hard to describe the different locations. The piece of video where they race down, suddenly turn left, then race back, is route 10 and in the vicinity of GB's site, over on the left. Following that is a narrow trail, this is where Halt's site is, then when the camera spans briefly over a field, then goes awry and look at some feet is area 4 (Larry Warren's site). It then goes onto route 12. The point where you see my dog Jet in the ferns, then suddendly jump onto the path is the area i speak of where strange phenomenon happens, ie dogs reacting strangely (not so on this occasion) and compasses/Mobile/Cell phones also reacting strangely.
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Re: The landing site

Postby Andy » Sun Jul 06, 2008 12:28 am

The fastest dog on earth.... 45mph in six strides..... the Lotus Elan of the dog world.

It's hard to describe the different locations. The piece of video where they race down, suddenly turn left, then race back, is route 10 and in the vicinity of GB's site, over on the left. Following that is a narrow trail, this is where Halt's site is, then when the camera spans briefly over a field, then goes awry and look at some feet is area 4 (Larry Warren's site). It then goes onto route 12. The point where you see my dog Jet in the ferns, then suddendly jump onto the path is the area i speak of where strange phenomenon happens, ie dogs reacting strangely (not so on this occasion) and compasses/Mobile/Cell phones also reacting strangely.
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Burrow Hill again

Postby IanR » Sun Jul 06, 2008 8:01 am

While I remain to be convinced that Halt and his party reached Burrow Hill, that slight rise in the ground is certainly a plausible end-point for Burroughs and Cabansag on Night One. As JB said in his witness statement at the time:
“We got up to a fence that separated the trees from the open field and you could see the lights down by a farmers house. We climbed over the fence and started heading towards the red and blue lights and they just disappeared. Once we reached the farmer's house we could see a beacon going around so we went towards it. We followed it for about 2 miles before we could see it was coming from a lighthouse".

And Cabansag: “We figured the lights were coming from past the forest, since nothing was visible as we passed through the woody forest. We could see a glowing near the beacon light, but as we got closer we found it to be a lit-up farmhouse. After we had passed through the forest, we thought it had to be an aircraft accident. So did CSC [Central Security Control] as well. But we ran and walked a good 2 miles past our vehicle, until we got to a vantage point where we could determine that what we were chasing was only a beacon light off in the distance. Our route through the forest and field was a direct one, straight towards the light".

Two miles is probably an overestimate of the distance travelled, but it does imply they went some considerable way towards the light before realizing what it was.

As James Easton pointedly commented when he first published these statements: “Is this now sufficient to establish that the lighthouse beacon wasn't recognised as such?”

As we know, the lighthouse is not and never was directly visible from East Gate and it’s only when you are close to the eastern edge of the forest do you see its beam directly, nearly in line with the farmhouse. Hence it is not surprising that it wasn’t seen every night.

Chris Armold, one of the few skeptical witnesses to have gone on record, noted: “Contrary to what some people assert,
at the time almost none of us knew there was a lighthouse at Orford Ness. Remember, the vast majority of folks involved were young people, 19, 20, 25 years old. Consequently it wasn't something most of the troops were cognizant of. That's one reason the lights appeared interesting or out of the ordinary to some people.”

Those who have enough time to spare can read Easton’s analysis of the eyewitness accounts, along with what Armold told him:
http://web.archive.org/web/200212100837 ... uk/v15.txt

Ian
Last edited by IanR on Sun Jul 06, 2008 11:06 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The landing site

Postby IanR » Sun Jul 06, 2008 9:13 am

Andy wrote:It's hard to describe the different locations. The piece of video where they race down, suddenly turn left, then race back, is route 10 and in the vicinity of GB's site, over on the left. Following that is a narrow trail, this is where Halt's site is, then when the camera spans briefly over a field, then goes awry and look at some feet is area 4 (Larry Warren's site). It then goes onto route 12. The point where you see my dog Jet in the ferns, then suddendly jump onto the path is the area i speak of where strange phenomenon happens, ie dogs reacting strangely (not so on this occasion) and compasses/Mobile/Cell phones also reacting strangely.

I recognize the part of the forest you were in starting at the picnic bench (about halfway through the video). This is the general area from which AdrianF took his footage of the lighthouse flashing
http://www.chillfactorfilms.com/codenam ... house.html

You then turn right (southwards) along a narrow path just inside the forest edge. Judging from the photo found by Georgina, the supposed landing site site shown to the local police and later investigated by Halt was a little further into the forest than this, but not much. You then reach the main access road which joins the field about where I think LW was. You then turn right (west) along this road and stop at a point where the surfacing becomes better and make some panoramic sweeps with the camera. This area, where the road divides, is what I have always taken to be LW's "staging post".

Ian
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Re: Burrow Hill again

Postby Robert McLean » Sun Jul 06, 2008 9:42 am

IanR wrote:While I remain to be convinced that Halt and his party reached Burrow Hill, that slight rise in the ground is certainly a plausible end-point for Burroughs and Cabansag on Night One.

Ian


This is what got me thinking along these lines in the first place. The description below is what happens if you start off at the eastern edge of the forest at Capel Green, and head straight towards the lighthouse light. For convenience, I have uploaded a map of the area on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/28296368@N02/2641758904/

First, we will ignore Halt's account of the first farmer's field as related in Georgina Bruni's book, in which he told her that he was on the left hand side of the field and moving towards the left edge of the field, and assume he was following the lighthouse beacon directly in the middle of the field.

As you walk downhill towards the first farmhouse the light disappears after about 126 m. There may still be a faint flash in the sky depending on how murky the air is, but it gets progressively dimmer. Assuming you can still see some flashes in the sky, you pass the farmer's house, cross the road into an arable field bounded on three sides by shallow ditches. You cross the first shallow ditch, get over a barbed wire fence into lower field - a water meadow.

Immediately there are further problems in matching this with Halt's account: "We've crossed the farmer's field past his house and across the road, stumbled through a small stream and went out into a large plowed field." The ditch is not deep enough or wide enough to get anyone seriously wet - maybe you'd get some water in your boots if you slipped. A more serious problem is that these water meadows have never been ploughed- they are used for grazing only, especially winter grazing. Water meadows are reclaimed marshland being as low as 1 m below sea level, and will flood in the winter if not properly drained. So, where is Halt's "plowed field"?

If you look at the OS map and the great aerial photos now on Google maps, you will see that the water meadows between Capel Green and Burrow Hill are crisscrossed by big drainage ditches. Some of these look green on the aerial photos but that is just vegetation on water. Almost all of these dicthes are too big to jump across. You'd need a rubber dingy to get across safely in the winter. Even the next road on the other side of Butley farm is bounded by a big ditch. There are small access points, through the network of dicthes, but you'd never find them in the dark.

It is effectively impossible for anyone to have made it from Capel Green to Burrow Hill in a roughly straight line in the dark.

This is why you have to start at Burrow Hill and work backwards and see what happens. See if there is another route back into the forest which matches Halt's account as well as or better than the conventional route through Capel Green. If the theory that they were on Burrow Hill is right then this will lead to a route that matches the facts better.

So back to the OS map. There is only one way back from Burrow Hill heading roughly in the line away from the ligthouse/lightship beacons, and that is the gravel driveway to the farm (Butleyferry farm). The driveway leads back to the sharp corner in the paved road just outside Capel St Andrew. This is also a public footpath. Just before you get to the paved road, you will see a place called Bushy Hole. Between Bushy hole and a sharp bend in the driveway nearest the road is an arable field, which is regularly ploughed (this would be the "plowed field" Halt stumbled into). You cross this ploughed flied and come to a small stream that flows northeast into Bushy hole (this would be the stream Halt crossed).

Working back, again roughly eastwards, or just a bit north of eastwards, you cross a field and get the paved road just north of Capel St Andrew (this would be the road and field Halt mentions). On the other side of the road from a numeral 8 on the map is a farmer's house (this would be Halt's farmer's house, the one with the windows that appeared to be on fire).

Continuing to work back roughly eastwards, you head south of Oak Wood back into the forest somewhere not too far from the sharp bend in the road near numeral 14 (the road leading east to the numeral 14 would be the road that Penniston took on the way back, mentioned in the witness statement).

The next step is then to rewind the route in the opposite direction, and see if it can account for Halt's descriptions of his expedition.

I'll send you a photo of the house near numeral 8 and get your comments before I discuss the route going in the opposite direction.

Robert
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Re: Burrow Hill again

Postby IanR » Sun Jul 06, 2008 11:31 am

Robert McLean wrote:Immediately there are further problems in matching this with Halt's account: "We've crossed the farmer's field past his house and across the road, stumbled through a small stream and went out into a large plowed field."

You are presumably quoting some more recent statement made by Halt, perhaps to Georgina, although you don't give a reference. It is clear that his memory has failed him, as it has on so many other points.

If we go back to the original tape we find that the actual sequence of events was the other way round, i.e. field first then stream. As you can see from the aerial view near the bottom of this page
http://www.ianridpath.com/ufo/rendlesham2.htm
there is a ploughed field immediately beyond the farmer's house, and it is bordered by a stream. So no anomaly.

Ian
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Re: The landing site

Postby Robert McLean » Sun Jul 06, 2008 10:27 pm

Ian,

The quote if from Halt's interview with A. J. S. Rayl, "Project: watchfire, Episode #4, Original broadcast date: May 13, 1997":

""We've crossed the farmer's field past his house and across the road, stumbled through a small stream and went out into a large ploughed field"

You shouldn't dismiss Halt with disparaging comments about his memory. He has been consistent on this point in other interviews and presentations he has made. See below.

Not a direct quote, but from Jonathan Dillon's interview with Col Halt (Sightings magazine volume 2, issue 3):

'Following, the objects led the men to a brook in which they fell, but were all right - though slightly wet and jaded - continuing after the set of lights that were now in the sky.'

There is only a small ditch, not a stream or a brook, bordering the field you have marked as the second field. It not difficult to step across it without getting wet. There is only a small amount of water in it. It is not deep water. You should come here and have look at it with me.

From Col. Halt’s Seminar at St George’s Community College, August 1997:

"We went around the farmer’s house. Went on out into a ploughed field to get a better view. And all this time we could see the lighthouse. In fact, there was another lighthouse further down the coast we could see at that time, too.

We’re standing out in the ploughed field. We crossed it, and we all fell into a stream we didn’t see, and got good and wet. Came out of that, into another ploughed field."


Here, Halt & Co were in a ploughed field, get wet crossing the stream and are in to another ploughed field. The lighthouse he could see all the time was the Shipwash lightship and the one down the coast was the Sunk lightship.

I would certainly remember if I got wet in a stream on a night walk in the winter. My memory would not fade on such a point - very uncomfortable. I believe he remembers the ploughed field for a similar reason to do with the difficulties of their trek. I know from personal experience how difficult it can be walking across a ploughed field in the dark - you can easily twist your ankle.

From "Address by Colonel Charles I Halt to Quest International Conference, Leeds, 31 July 1994"

"Walked out across the field, past the farmer’s house, discussed the possibility of waking the farmer up and asking if he was all right. But put yourself in our position and the farmer, if American soldiers came to the door in uniform in the middle of the night, [Halt laughs] talking about strange lights and things. We would probably have been in jail before the night was over. So we didn't bother the farmer at all. We went on past his house and I crossed the next field we fell in the same stream as Sgt. Penniston and Burroughs fell in. We couldn’t see it. We crashed around it, we all got wet. Weren't very happy about that. Went on to the second field, which was a ploughed field."

There are two discrepancies here which cannot be dismissed by saying Halt's memory is unreliable. The ditch is not big enough to get wet in while crossing, and apart from the field on the east side of the road at Capel Green, the fields between Oak Wood and Butlry Priory are un-ploughed water meadows.

Robert
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Re: The landing site

Postby IanR » Mon Jul 07, 2008 1:04 am

Robert McLean wrote:The quote if from Halt's interview with A. J. S. Rayl, "Project: watchfire, Episode #4, Original broadcast date: May 13, 1997"

I have just read that through again, and it's quite clear from the context that the farmhouse he is referring to is the one at Capel Green on the far side of the field at the forest edge. This was also the farmhouse that featured in the reconstruction of the scene made by the UFO Hunters programme that aired recently on the History Channel, so there is no doubt which farmhouse Halt meant.

There is only a small ditch, not a stream or a brook, bordering the field you have marked as the second field. It not difficult to step across it without getting wet. There is only a small amount of water in it. It is not deep water.

There us no way that either of us can tell how much water was in the ditch on the night in question so I see no point in arguing this further.

The lighthouse he could see all the time was the Shipwash lightship and the one down the coast was the Sunk lightship.

Shipwash is a non-starter for the flashing UFO because its beam could not be seen directly from the forest edge. The only flashing light which fits that bill is Orfordness.

apart from the field on the east side of the road at Capel Green, the fields between Oak Wood and Butlry Priory are un-ploughed water meadows.

Aerial photos show me that there are several ploughed fields between Capel Green and Burrow Hill. Again, we have no way of knowing which fields were ploughed at the time of the event, but even if Halt did go through two ploughed fields after passing the farmhouse it is still clear that he did not get as far as Burrow Hill.

Ian
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