Jim Penniston's meeting with Brenda Butler (1983)

[Admin]

Where is the scepticism when it comes to the ever evolving witness statements? I can't be sure whether Penniston got a 100ft, 50ft, 30ft, 10ft or actually touched anything. He's been inching ever closer to it for the last 30 years.

After the recent discussion around Jim Penniston's story (and the comment above in particular), I decided to take another look at "Skycrash" which contains details of Brenda Butler's meeting with Jim Penniston (under the pseudonym of James Archer) on 9 October 1983.

"The day before [7th October 1983] Brenda had received a call from James Archer. Archer said he was a security officer and had been one of the witnesses to the original event on the night of 27 December 1980 [it was in fact the night of 25 December]. He insisted that only he and John Burroughs were involved [Cabansag was involved too, but was left near the vehicle]. But Brenda knew that there was a party of two, and another party of three. This second party included Steve Roberts [another pseudonym], who had also given the name John Burroughs. Art Wallace [Larry Warren] had also mentioned him, saying he took some photographs. [...]

Archer insisted on meeting Brenda alone and off base. He suggested that she drive to a lay-by on the road which passes Bentwaters and there they would meet. When asked how he would recognize her, Archer replied that he knew what make of car she drove and its colour. He would not explain how he knew. The meeting was set for the evening of Sunday, 9 October, and Brenda insisted that Dot come with her. They had already arranged to meet Chuck [Col. Halt's son] that night and they told him of the mysterious witness. Chuck and his friend Tom said they would walk out to the lay-by and watch for the airman arriving to see if they recognized who it was. At this stage Archer had not offered his real name."

"Archer spoke very quietly about that night in 1980. He said it was about 2 A.M when things began to happen. Guards at the gate had seen lights shining over the top of the trees, apparently descending out of sight into the forest. They radioed to control for permission to go out and investigate. But control told them to wait until relief guards could be sent out to replace them. The relief guards then arrived, with instructions that Archer and Burroughs could drive out in a jeep but that they must leave their guns behind at the gate.

At the end of the lane leading from the gate they left the jeep because the way ahead was full of potholes and ruts. After walking several hundred feet further they became aware of red and blue lights ahead of them. The radio they had been using to keep in constant touch with base suddenly went dead. The security officer stopped for a moment and had to be urged onwards. He was asked to describe what they saw. He spoke very softly: 'It was a triangular thing. Yes, triangular - and it stood on three legs.'

Archer said the size of the object was about ten by twelve feet, and around eight feet in height. He was asked if the saw any people in it. He paused for long seconds and then replied, 'No - I didn't see any aliens. But there was definitely something inside it. I don't know what. But the shapes did not look human. Maybe they were like robots.' Burroughs went up to it and looked as if he were planning to touch it, he continued. But the craft responded. It drew in its legs, retracting them up into the main body - and then it began to move around the forest just above ground level. It moved slowly. They could follow it by walking, and keep up. It displayed amazing maneuverability, dodging in and out of trees. They saw that it had left holes in the ground at the spot where the legs had been lowered.

At closest approach they got within a few feet of it. They had a very good view. It was like nothing man-made. The colour was an off-white and it looked dirty. There was a blue light on top, with red lights and a white light in the middle and a brighter white light coming out of the bottom. Archer and Burroughs followed the craft as it moved from the forest into a small field, the on next to the Boast home. Here it made some cows run around in panic. It then let out a sudden, intense burst of white light and rose to a height of about 200 feet, before shooting away from view at tremendous speed."

A few observations:

• 2AM is the time given by James Archer - an hour earlier than time of 3AM given in the USAF witness statements.
• Burroughs is said to approach the craft, causing it to react. However, Burroughs claims he cannot even remember a solid object being present - or he was not close enough to see it.
• Instead of departing in an instant, the craft moves away slowly and is followed into the farmer's field. This agrees with the initial witness statements.
• Archer claims to have been within a few feet of the object, closer than stated in his initial witness statement.
• Although the craft's basic shape/light configuration is the same, some details are different such as the off-white colour and dirty appearance. I couldn't help thinking of the Apollo command module after reading this description.

[Ignis Fatuus]

When Burroughs says that somebody called Archer was talking up the Alien aspect very early on at the pub...is this a different Archer than Pennistons alias?

[Frank]

Thanks, Admin, I did not know this story.

My theory is that there were actually two encounters the first night, possibly with two different craft.
The first one when the three men were together. This may well have been a craft with an off-white color. Ed Canabsag desribes it as silvery in color, and cone/egg shaped. After that first encounter Jim and John proceeded after it.
Jim and John chased this craft until it was gone from sight. From Conrad's recent information we now know that after that, the craft came back after them and the men started to run. This episode can also be recognized in John hypnotic regression, when he tells the craft is above them, they hear humming, the ground is shaking, and John feels like he is pulled towards the craft.
The next thing John remembers in his regression is that he sees a light fly away. After that they go back to the base but to their amazement they can not remember how they got where they are. They wonder whether the craft tranported them to another location and are terribly confused. I think this is the place where Jim's longer encounter with the black triangular craft took place. Maybe Jim witnessed John's abduction and later found this craft sitting in the forest. Or maybe both men were taken and Jim was simply released earlier. When the craft takes off, Jim suddenly finds himself standing next to John.

There is quite some evidence for a scenario with two encounters, on two different locations:
- There was confusion about the location of the landing site(s) from the beginning.
- Circular marks were found on one site, triangular marks on the other one.
- The two drawings of the craft that are in the public domain seem to depict different crafts.
- Ed's description of the craft is cone/egg shaped, Jim's description is triangular.
- Englund told Nevels an Airman was abducted.
- John's hypnotic regression.

The security officer stopped for a moment and had to be urged onwards. He was asked to describe what they saw. He spoke very softly: 'It was a triangular thing. Yes, triangular - and it stood on three legs.'

Maybe, at this moment in the interview, Jim was not able to reconstruct what happened to them or was considering what to reveal.

To the skeptics: Try to imagine what it must have been like to go through this experience or something similar! If you were in their shoes, how would you act? What would you tell you commander, your base commander. What would you put in your report? How would you handle the urge to tell everybody what happened? How would you handle the pressure to remain silent? How clear and coherent would you remember everything that happened? What would you reveal in the public domain and what would you hold back? How would you fill the gaps that would occur when you do not tell the full story? And how would you feel if people called you a liar or made fun of you?

Of course there is a possibility that Jim is making all this stuff up. But why on earth would he do that? What is there to gain besides redicule and being accused of lying? Or do you really think Jim is desperately seeking the acknowledgement of a handfull of UFO enthousiasts at the cost of all this?

[Frank]

When Burroughs says that somebody called Archer was talking up the Alien aspect very early on at the pub...is this a different Archer than Pennistons alias?

No, according to Bruni's book that was a guy called Steve Roberts. His real identity has never been revealed.
Interesting is that he first told a story of a landed UFO and even made a drawing of it, but after some time (and after Halt's memo was released) he suddenly changed his story and told they should read Halt's memo because it was pretty accurate.

[Ignis Fatuus]

No, according to Bruni's book that was a guy called Steve Roberts. His real identity has never been revealed.

Another Lazzer Warren alias?

Archer insisted on meeting Brenda alone and off base. He suggested that she drive to a lay-by on the road which passes Bentwaters and there they would meet. When asked how he would recognize her, Archer replied that he knew what make of car she drove and its colour. He would not explain how he knew. The meeting was set for the evening of Sunday, 9 October, and Brenda insisted that Dot come with her. They had already arranged to meet Chuck [Col. Halt's son] that night and they told him of the mysterious witness. Chuck and his friend Tom said they would walk out to the lay-by and watch for the airman arriving to see if they recognized who it was. At this stage Archer had not offered his real name."

Busy little park up.
It's the game the whole family can play.

[Ignis Fatuus]

Interesting that Archer would go on a date with Brenda when she was already involved with Steve Roberts, Barry Greenwood, the Chucks, and her lodger David Daniels the teleporting telepathic shape shifter from Sirius.

Smells a bit funny.

[larry warren]

Ignis, im not part of the above interactions, nor have I EVER used a fake name , the art wallace thing is fully covered in our book so i wont go over it again, i was not in the uk in 1983, and never met brenda untill the early 1990s, the guy that ran around the pubs, from what i understand is some kind of spook, and for the record, ive been shown his picture by silvertop, and have no memorie of the guy. cheers Larry

[Ignis Fatuus]

Thanks for that Larry.

[AgentAppleseed]

From whats been decribed by people, it would seem that the crafts skin was able to change color? If Im wrong, maybe someone can correct me, but from what Ive gathered there were no actual headlights as such on the thing and it could light up any color it desired. There was no "set" lighting and if Pennistons description is good, I think the issue of color, on craft like what have been described is a mute point, but of course I would like to hear what the witnesses have to say about that.