Charles Halt, Press release.

[Deep Purple]

It is suprising that he didnt reply to IanR's simple question.
I note Gary is a serving police officer, perhaps he would like to take a proper witness statement from Halt and post in on the site?
This would be really good to get his story tied down

[Andrew Pike]

It is official whether he replied to you or not Ian, Halt now admits what he saw was ETI and ET technology not just lights in the forest which have yet to be explained away ADEQUATELY.

Maybe as Ian decided from an early stage that it was just the lighthouse and stuck with that ever since, Halt found no value in a reply to a mindset view?

That is the risk you take as a mindset scientist in ufology, ufologists won't want to deal with you.

I know that has been the case with I come up against fellow scientists who work that way. What is the point, for example, in talking to the likes of Sir Patrick Moore about UFOs when he just comes out with insults like " It's the open season for crackpots, these people are mad as hatters".

If any scientist takes this case seriously, they would find a wealth of interesting facts a scientist can get to grips with, I did, and I was surprised at what I found as an open minded astronomer looking at ufology. I've spend over 30 years researching UFOs, the paranormal and strange mysteries and yes there is a lot of rubbish, but there are a lot of interesting things also, and my view on the Universe is better for the experience. But you have to really (and I mean REALLY) research it, not just look at a few cases, come to the conclusion I can explain away the world and his wife based on a small sample and leave it at that. I'm sorry to say too many scientists come across like that.

I didn't think there was anything to UFOs (or Rendlesham) but as new information arrived over the years things changed, and although I still don't believe it was ET, I certainly know it was more than a lighthouse! I even found similar experiences where there was no lighthouse, because I looked deep and with an open mind.

[IanR]

Here's a bit more about Halt's press release:
http://www.earthfiles.com/news.php?ID=1591&category=Environment

Yes, interesting. It starts with this old business about the UFO sending down a beam onto the Weapons storage Area at Bentwaters. I asked Gary during the week how he squared this with the fact that, on his tape, Halt said that the object sending down beams was hovering over Woodbridge. He hasn't yet come back to me on that little discrepancy.

Elsewhere in the release Gary admits he pushed Halt into making the statement about ETs.

[Sacha Christie]

Ian what are you suggesting as far as your comments regarding Gary "Pushing" Col Halt into saying it was ET?



HALT: 04:00 hours. One object still hovering over Woodbridge base at about five to ten degrees off the horizon, still moving erratic and similar lights and beaming down as earlier
Note.. he says object.. not light....

[IanR]

Ian what are you suggesting as far as your comments regarding Gary "Pushing" Col Halt into saying it was ET?

I was quoting Gary, who said in the interview: "And he is aware that people will ask, “Why now do you make this kind of definitive statement?’ And the answer is that I have pushed him".

[Andrew Pike]

"Pushed him" in what way?

Pushed him says little, it's incomplete, vague and open to whatever you want it to mean. Pushed him into a lie, a claim ET was there when Halt does not believe that or wants to say that, or pushed into finally coming clean and telling the truth that he did have an ET encounter?

Unless that is made clear, this "pushed him" quote will just become like so many others in this case: open to whatever each individual wants it to mean.

Like "object", "lights", "UFO" all have been twisted over the years by investigators. To some UFO is another term for alien spaceship, to others it is what it was originally meant to be, unidentified flying object, nothing more, simply an object flying which cannot be identified. It seem already we are deciding what "pushed him" means based on personal agenda.

[Sacha Christie]

I ask Ian because out of everything that has been said it seems like you find that the only noteable quote.

I agree with you Andrew.

[Andrew Pike]

Yes, interesting. It starts with this old business about the UFO sending down a beam onto the Weapons storage Area at Bentwaters. I asked Gary during the week how he squared this with the fact that, on his tape, Halt said that the object sending down beams was hovering over Woodbridge. He hasn't yet come back to me on that little discrepancy.

Halt has said lights beamed down on Bentwaters although not directly on the tape as such. However seeing as that is so important, on the tape, between the 3:15 and the 4:00 entries (look it up I'm not copying it all out here) the Halt patrol say that as well as lights to the south there are lights towards the north, two in fact. The Bentwaters base was to the north. If the south bound lights sent down beams to the Woodbridge base, maybe the north bound lights sent beams down to the Bentwaters based and that is where Halt's claim originates.

It's not clear on the tape, so no doubt some will use that in whatever way they choose, but it is clear that the lights in question went to the south AND north. Maybe that is a starting point to the discrepancy. Of course if we are to take the tape as all we will consider then the answer will never come, but I for one don't believe everything is to be found in a 20 minute tape, in the same way I believe answers in the case will be found only if we look beyond the Rendlesham Forest incident itself.

[Andrew Pike]

I was going to post this last night but was called away. I have said this before, but worth a re-run under the circumstances.

Consider this. I just present the idea, make up your own minds.

In paragraph one of the Halt memo he gives a date and time of 27 December at 3.00am. He then describes a triangualr, metalic craft.

This date is generally taken as a mistake. However, it is on record that in the early days, Halt believed the Penniston/Burroughs/Cabansag enounter was on 24/25 December, he even says this to ufologists. Now his night was two nights on from the Penniston/Burroughs/Cabansag encounter. Under this situation that gives 26/27 December ( note the 27 December at 3.00am part). So was Halt talking about a craft on his night in paragraph one? Is that what he had on his mind when he drafted the memo? Did he encounter a craft on his night?

Individuals will have to decide for themselves, I just present the possibility here.

By the way Sacha I was not saying you were twisting things, I know you too well for that, and yes you are right to point out Halt says objects.

[pupil88]

I found this post in the early archives. I think it's significant.

Other people on the base have reported seeing bright lights/objects hovering over Rendlesham Forest during the incident. Some say that the UFOs were up there for hours.

Sgt. Randy Smith was at the RAF Bentwaters Weapons Storage Area, this is some of his account. Smith contacted UFO sceptic James Easton, these extracts are taken from his "Pulsar Newsletter, #4".

Quote:
It was a very quiet night, no planes, no helicopters flying.
Clarence George came by to talk to me and he said that
everyone in the WSA was in the SPCDS tower watching 'lights'
and did I want to come check it out? So I did. Clarence
thought they were all crazy. It's a small tower and people
were jammed in there body to body, overloading the tower I'm
sure. More people than I've ever seen in the tower at one
time.

Quote:
"I asked what everyone was looking at and they pointed out 3
objects that appeared like stars to the naked eye. Binoculars
were being passed around and when I had my turn I saw VERY
CLEAR images of 3 triangular shaped craft that were hovering a
few miles away and above treetop level".

"They were triangular in shape, larger than a fighter jet, but
smaller than a C5. Definitely triangular with lights that were
arranged around the bottom that were perhaps different colors
but unable to distinguish at that distance. I only stayed in
the tower for an hour or so and heard one of the guys with a
turn on the binoculars say, 'Wow, it just took off'. Two of
the craft left at a high rate of speed. The one remaining
craft was still in position when I left the tower".

"Regarding sound-very quiet, no motor sounds whatsoever".


Sgt. Rick Bobo was stationed in the Bentwaters Control Tower, he claims to have seen UFOs hovering over Rendlesham Forest. He thinks this happened on the 29th.
He says there was a huge 'ship' over Rendlesham Forest, with red and blue lights and that it was over Rendlesham Forest for five hours!

Here's my read on this post.

Ufos are spotted. Things get festive.
This event is taking place on Halt's night out.
Two Ufos break away from the others and speed off.
The atmosphere is about to change.
Beams of light start coming down to the ground.
One hits the ground in front of Halt's team.
Beams of light are reported coming down in and around the WSA.
Was this action a retaliatory act or a planned act?

[IanR]

You make an interesting point, Pupil. Everyone, everywhere saw starlike objects hovering just above treetop level for hours. No matter where the witnesses were - out in the forest, like Halt, or back at Bentwaters, like the guys in the tower - the objects were always low down. As we know, it's impossible to tell how far away a light is at night. UFO witnesses are usually wildly out in their estimates (viz the numerous misidentifications of Venus and other bright celestial objects). So these objects need not have been directly above the base or the forest at all, but much farther off.

Also remember that the Bentwaters tower, like all control towers, had thick glass angled outwards. The idea was to give a good view downwards, not upwards. The glass would act like a prism to anyone looking through binoculars, distorting point sources into triangular shapes with rainbow colours.

Just some basic physics and optics to bear in mind.

Ian

[John Burroughs]

Ian
We saw and had somthing strange happen to us. Col Halt does need to answer why he is now saying it was ET in nature! Jim and I would both like to know because were not sure to this day what we encountered in the field. I have been in contact with Halt with no responce to the same question also. As far as him being pushed he was a Commander who was suppose to lead men. To say he was pushed into somthing is a joke. He made the choice to say it now back it up! All of the men in charge of the base have been hideing for years under there desks afraid to talk! Afraid of what??? They were picked to lead and take care of there men which they didnot do!! Will somebody please stand up for the men who served them!

[pupil88]

Ian

You missed the psychology of it. JB said something was taken out of the forest a few days afterwards. Could it have been an inert triangular craft?

JB saw the beams coming down from the sky that hit at the feet of Halt's team. He also saw a few flying craft. No optic or physic interference there.

[puddlepirate]

The relevant part of Halt's memo is in para 1. It states that:

The individuals reported seeing a strange glowing object in the forest. The object was described as being metallic in appearance and triangular in shape, approximately two to three meters across the base and approximately two meters high. It illuminated the entire forest with a white light. The object itself had a pulsing red light on top and a bank(s) of blue lights underneath. The object was hovering or on legs. As the patrolmen approached the object, it maneuvered through the trees and disappeared.

At no time does Halt state that his men saw a craft as such, only 'a strange glowing object in the forest'. Nor is it described as being airborne, i.e. flying, only that it was 'hovering or on legs' and 'in the forest' (note - in the forest, not above it). This is supported by the statements of the key witnesses and the sketches made by Jim Penniston. As the Halt memo and the key witness statements are at the centre of the RFI, then surely it is the identification of the object that is the only issue? It is known it emitted blue light and bright white light, plus from the geiger counter readings taken the following night, it appears to have been radioactive. Further to that I believe when at least one of the key witnesses was examined by USAF medical staff some time later, it was suggested he had been exposed to radiation at some point. Therefore the only hard facts are that no matter what else was going on in the sky above, three US airmen came upon a triangular shaped, apparently metallic object that was either on or near to the ground and that the object emitted very bright white light, enough to illuminate the forest and that it was radioactive. It is this oject that needs to be identified as almost certainly it is the cause of other ground based and airborne activity - and possibly also the need for a cover up.

Huge triangular shapes seen flying over the forest and so forth would surely have been seen by the world and his dog and pinged by every civvy and military radar installation on the east coast. Yet to my knowledge at least, there has not been a single sighting report from any third party source claiming that strange craft were seen over the forest. As for the lights in the sky, it is well known that part of a Russian spacecraft was burning up as it re-entered the atmosphere and that there was a meteor shower of some kind.

[IanR]

As for the lights in the sky, it is well known that part of a Russian spacecraft was burning up as it re-entered the atmosphere and that there was a meteor shower of some kind.

There is a lot of confusion over this, as ever when there are several different factors at work.
The Russian rocket re-entry was the previous evening. Reports of it might well have been on the radio news that night, and it's entirely possible that the men at Bentwaters and rendlesham heard these reports.

The object apparently crashing into the forest was seen around 3 am, which coincides with a bright fireball over southern England. It seems that Larry W may have seen this, as did a security guard at Bentwaters who referred to a "falling star" - see http://www.ianridpath.com/ufo/rendlesham1d.htm

Col Halt saw lights in the sky hovering for hours on the night he was called, but his description of these sound like a standard misidentification of bright stars.

Ian

[pupil88]

pp

Welcome back!

"JB saw the beams coming down from the sky that hit at the feet of Halt's team. He also saw a few flying craft. No optic or physic interference there."

The above took place on Halt's night out, not the first night. Here's the complete quote.
"As far as how high up not sure. Yes I remember the different color lights. There was a blue light over Bentwaters and one out over the coast. But the one I saw first was the one that shot down at us which is the one I think put a beam of light at Halts feet. There was radio traffic that something was coming at us then it shot down at us in the clearing past us and the light-alls making them go on and off and through a pickup truck window and back up into the sky. So when I said there were 2 there may have been 3."

[pupil88]

PP

Your back to playing some old games. I'm not going to play the gatekeeper and call out the discrepancies of when, where and how of your misrepresenting facts, or chronologically fit them in time frames. I think those who have been following this know what's going on. Nothing you nor I are going to change things. It's up to the players themselves to face up to it while the opportunity is there.

[Andrew Pike]

I think before people get too carried away with optical effects through glass, it is worth mentioning that for that we need to assume the observations in the tower where from inside. The towers had walkways around them with rails and in the case of the main air traffic control tower at Bentwaters it was possible to climb a ladder to the roof. It needs to be checked that such observations were through the windows, some might have been, some might not have been, maybe all were, or none were, it needs checking.

Then, if we want to talk about discrepencies being addressed, why were star-like objects and triangles, lights, etc, etc, etc, seen from points other than the towers? No windows to explain away things. Very sloppy.

[IanR]

I think before people get too carried away with optical effects through glass, it is worth mentioning that for that we need to assume the observations in the tower where from inside. The towers had walkways around them with rails and in the case of the main air traffic control tower at Bentwaters it was possible to climb a ladder to the roof. It needs to be checked that such observations were through the windows, some might have been, some might not have been, maybe all were, or none were, it needs checking.

I have now checked, and I was wrong in one regard - the observations were made not from the control tower but something called the SPCDS tower (apparently the acronym stands for Small Permanent Communications Display Segment) overlooking the WSA at Bentwaters, as correctly quoted above by Pupil88. James Easton, who tracked down Randy Smith, asked him about the windows in the tower and got this reply: "They are not angled outwards as with an aircraft control tower. The windows aren't as big as in an aircraft control tower. The window glass is thick and bullet resistant." No amateur astronomer would expect to get a distortion-free view through glass of that kind.

Note that Randy Smith estimated the objects to be hovering "a few miles away". Hence, whatever they were, they were not above the WSA.

Ian

[John Burroughs]

Ian
The lights were moving around in the sky! They were beaming lights down to the ground. One of the lights flew past us went through a truck and shot back up into the sky! Larry Warren is the one who had eye problems right after the incident. The thing about this incident is as you look at it you can come up with many Ideas on what happened to us. The key is somthing happen to us besides the lighthouse or stars in the skys. I have spoken to the tower operator and there is no way it was stars it was a ball of engery that was hanging over the forrest. As far as the WSA goes it was the blue lights that were flying around not hovering that shot the blue lights down to the ground! halt has opened the door by sayying it was a ET now its time to show how he knows that. For years he said Larry Warren was crazey for saying it was ET now this. He also now says its a cover up when before it was not. You can't make those kind of statements and then run for cover. It may be time for all of them to raise there right hand and swear to tell the truth in front of god and country. Time is running out for them before they are going to be forced to do that!