by Frank » Sun Nov 14, 2010 5:35 pm
Stephan, Ted Conrad tells us that Halt went out two nights and Chris Armold also stated that he went out with Halt the night of 26/27. So we have two independant witnesses for that fact.
Halt might have never mentioned it simply because nothing of interest happened. Except of course for the stars, planets, masts, and lighthouse that were in the sky. So why did he suddenly think they were fast moving UFO's shining down beams of light the next night? Strange ...
From Ted Conrad's interview on Clarke's weblog:
26/27:
"Sometime between 2100 and 2200 on [26 December 1980] members of the Woodbridge SP shift appeared at a Christmas party at the O’Club where Lt Col Halt and myself were in attendance. They reported the events of the previous night and thinking there might be a recurrence, Halt decided to ride along with the shift leader, which he did. Aside from that, nothing unusual happened."
27/28:
"By the morning of [27 December 1980] I contacted Maj Zickler for information of the alleged sighting. His information was all second hand and sketchy. Those with first hand accounts were citing career concerns as justification for remaining silent. (...) We decided that a brief in-house investigation was in order. (...) The rest of [27 December 1980] saw Lt Col Halt assemble our meagre assets. These were a Geiger counter, starlight scope (night vision device) and trained SP investigators out at the site in Rendlesham Forest. The investigation lasted until late evening where the site was starlight scoped, after which all went home except Lt Col Halt and some unknown SP’s. This was the night of Halt’s famous audiotape. He also had a two-way communication radio, which allowed me, and the SP’s to monitor his reports."
"Just to reiterate, if Penniston's encounter on day 1 was at approximately 0300 hrs. the notification at the party was 18 hours later at approx. 9:00 PM, also on day 1. Penniston's interview occurred the morning of day 2, and shortly there after we decided to investigate. Halt spent most of that day with the investigators, the starlight scope and Geiger counter. After sundown he went back to the forest with his tape recorder, and reported seeing lights that night. This was actually early morning of day 3 and approximately 48 hours after Penniston's encounter. Take your pick for day 1,either 0300 26 Dec. or 27 Dec."
Halt always told that his night started unexpected at the Christmas party, with the announcement that 'it was back'. Nevels, however, told that the third night actually started with a top secret investigation. Now Conrad confirms Nevels' story. Either Halt mixed the two up, or he deliberately kept the fact that a top secret investigation was ordered out of the public domain.