Halt colour blind?

[John Deckie]

I've always thought that one of the biggest flaws in the lighthouse theory is that on Col. Halts tape he always describes a red light. Of course we know it would be impossible to confuse this with a lighthouse beam.. But I recently read on Ian Ridpaths website that he says that other members of the Halt party describe the light as yellow. Ian then goes on to suggest that Halt is colour blind but he does not provide any proof of this. I did a bit of research and couldn't find a type of colour blindness that confuses white or yellow light for red light. Does anyone know if Col. Halt is colour blind or not?! Perhaps Col. Halts military records contain a medical examination which would disprove this claim and cause another stumbling block for the lighthouse theory?

[IanR]

Ian then goes on to suggest that Halt is colour blind but he does not provide any proof of this. I did a bit of research and couldn't find a type of colour blindness that confuses white or yellow light for red light.

I suggested that Halt might suffer from deuteranomaly, which is relatively common. This isn't true colour blindness but a bias in colour perception in which hues appear shifted to the red. Wikipedia explains here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deuteranom ... richromacy

But no, there is no proof and it remains only a suggestion.

Ian

[John Deckie]

Thanks for the reply Ian. Next time you bump into Halt have a packet of fruit pastilles handy and see if he can distinguish between Lemon, Orange and Strawberry flavours : ) Seriously though it would be good to clear this question up because it does seem to be a bit of a sticking point in your theory. I don't really know much about Halts career, does anyone know if he was a pilot? If he was it would seem unlikely that he had eye problems or if he did that they would not be noted somewhere in his records. John

[IanR]

Next time you bump into Halt have a packet of fruit pastilles handy and see if he can distinguish between Lemon, Orange and Strawberry flavours : )

I must admit that something similar did cross my mind...

I don't really know much about Halts career, does anyone know if he was a pilot? If he was it would seem unlikely that he had eye problems or if he did that they would not be noted somewhere in his records.

Halt never flew anything other than a desk, as far as I'm aware. He was in effect little more than the office manager for the bases. A colour problem like deuteranomaly wouldn't trouble him in his normal duties. Medical records are private, of course.

Ian

[nobby]

Next time you bump into Halt have a packet of fruit pastilles handy and see if he can distinguish between Lemon, Orange and Strawberry flavours : )

I must admit that something similar did cross my mind...

I don't really know much about Halts career, does anyone know if he was a pilot? If he was it would seem unlikely that he had eye problems or if he did that they would not be noted somewhere in his records.

Halt never flew anything other than a desk, as far as I'm aware. He was in effect little more than the office manager for the bases. A colour problem like deuteranomaly wouldn't trouble him in his normal duties. Medical records are private, of course.

Ian

this is my first post, I would like to know what ridpaths qualifications are, I have now lowered myself to his level by asking dumb questions

[John Burroughs]

H mm Ian you know thats not the truth! Halt was a combat controller in Vietnam! Its truley sad that you have no interighty or honor!

[IanR]

Halt was a combat controller in Vietnam!

And that was a flying position, was it?

Ian

[IanR]

I don't really know much about Halts career, does anyone know if he was a pilot?

To clarify Halt’s position at Bentwaters, as I understand it: Halt was the Deputy Combat Support Group Commander. This is generally known as Deputy Base commander. Note that the operative word here is “support” rather than “combat”. Those familiar with these things tell me that the role covered everything but the flying operation: roads, grounds and buildings, security, law enforcement, schools, the barracks, and utilities such as water and sewerage.
 
In other words, whatever Halt was doing at Bentwaters, it did not involve flying.

I understand that he fulfilled much the same role in his postings after Bentwaters (Kunsan, Korea, and Florennes, Belgium), ending up back at the Pentagon.

Ian

[Frank]

To counterbalance the sceptical view:

Maybe the red was turning to "red with a yellow tinge" when the UFO started to move towards the men? (source: http://www.nicap.org/ufology/ufochap3.htm)

Sequential Multi-Colors
From the foregoing discussion it appears that energy originating in the UFOs is responsible for atmospheric luminosity in their immediate vicinity. Furthermore, various colors seem to be associated with different rates of energy transfer from UFOs to the atmosphere. Thus it might be possible to identify several energy states of UFOs that are distinguished by the character of the induced light. While certainly incomplete, energy states are tentatively assigned as follows:

State - Appearance ------ Physical Basis
0 ------ Metallic ---------- Energy inadequate to excite perceptible light
1 ------ Blue glow -------- Excitation of xenon only
2 ------ Orange-red ----- Selective exitation of neon
3 ------ White glow ------ Decay of metastable nitrogen
4 ------ Brilliant white -- Limited ionization of all gases augmented by the "ball lightning mechanism"

If such categories are real, one would expect to find some correlation between the color of a UFO and its pattern of flight, a relationship that was observed at least as early as 1956.

"The colors mentioned seem associated in some way with the speed, or more probably with the rate of acceleration. The silvery grey with an aureole of dark red is seen when the object is stationary or traveling very slowly. Then comes the vivid red. At high acceleration the white, green, blue and purple appear."

[arvd]

Acid + Alcohol = All the colours of the Rainbow. lol

[Frank]

Acid + Alcohol = All the colours of the Rainbow. lol

.. well, Halt never records seeing a Teletubbie with a rainbow (or maybe this was deleted from the tape) ..

But seriously, the light becomes brighter and more yellowish as soon as it starts moving towards the men. This nicely fits the general theory that the plasma surrounding a UFO seems to be related to the power they need:

LT COLONEL HALT: There is no doubt about it, there's some kind of strange flashing red light ahead.
LT ENGLUND: Yeah, It's yellow.
LT COLONEL HALT: I saw a yellow tinge in it too. Weird. It it appears to be making a little bit this way?
SGT NEVILLES: Yes sir.
LT COLONEL HALT: It's brighter than it has been
SGT NEVILLES: Yellow?
LT COLONEL HALT: It's coming this way. It is definitely coming this way.

[John Deckie]

Interesting stuff Frank. It would be nice to get some proof from Col. Halt about the condition of his eyesight though. Surely they must do a colour blindness test in the Air Force? I've taken a few myself! If Ian Ridpath was speculating that I had a eyesight deficiency on the internet then I'd definately want to prove him wrong. If its in Halts records he would just have to dig it out and show us. Maybe John Burroughs can tell us whether this test was conducted on Air Force staff? Knowing this would tie up a loose end and tip the balance of the argument one way or another..

[Frank]

I think the lighthouse theory is so completely at odds with the data that it is a waste of time to keep on discussing it. Halt saw two lights, both of them moved, and the one he saw at 110 degrees was red and came to the left just before they viewed it through the star scope. The lighthouse light is very small, white/yellow, and stationary.

To given an impression of the color of a neon plasma:



The atmosphere contains small amounts of neon that would start to glow with these colors in a strong electric field combined with radioactive radiation (both of which are associated with UFO's and are also observed in the RFI). Other gases start glowing with different colors when the energy levels radiated by the UFO change (see previous post).

Also interesting is the picture that Lori Buoen made of the object she saw on December 27. Yes, red with a yellow tinge (and some blue). And it sure looks like a plasma.

[John Deckie]

Frank although I don't wholeheartedly agree with Ians version of what happened, he can prove that the lighthouse was in the general direction of the light Halt saw and also flashed at a similar rate. He can also prove that there were stars in the roughly the same position as Halt describes other lights on that night. But he can only speculate as to why Halt descibes a red light when the lighthouse is white or yellow light. This is the achilles heel of Ians theory. I think that either Ian should set out to prove what he says about Halts eyesight is correct or Halt himself should show us that his eyesight is fine as this would make the lighthouse theory look even less plausible. With regard to Lori the eye condition Ian says Halt has is very rare in women so at least he can't stick that one on her as well Frank speaking of ufo's & plasma have you seen this on youtube?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvFRLJ8F ... r_embedded

[Daniel]

If Col Halt had this sort of issue would he have trouble with Traffic Lights? Don't think he's going to assist in anything relating to the Lighthouse theory.

[spacial awareness]

Frank although I don't wholeheartedly agree with Ians version of what happened, he can prove that the lighthouse was in the general direction of the light Halt saw and also flashed at a similar rate. He can also prove that there were stars in the roughly the same position as Halt describes other lights on that night. But he can only speculate as to why Halt descibes a red light when the lighthouse is white or yellow light. This is the achilles heel of Ians theory. I think that either Ian should set out to prove what he says about Halts eyesight is correct or Halt himself should show us that his eyesight is fine as this would make the lighthouse theory look even less plausible. With regard to Lori the eye condition Ian says Halt has is very rare in women so at least he can't stick that one on her as well Frank speaking of ufo's & plasma have you seen this on youtube?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvFRLJ8F ... r_embedded

The lighthouse only matched what Halt described briefly, it didn't flash all the time, a coincidence in timing. The other lights moved around and where independent of each other in all directions.

[John Deckie]

Don't think he's going to assist in anything relating to the Lighthouse theory.

Well he already has met Ian Ridpath out there in the forest for a tv programme so I don't see why he wouldn't want to disprove Ians claims by simply taking a eye test. I'm not sure about the traffic lights Daniel.

[Frank]

The evidence for the Lighthouse theory seems strong if you read Ian's site, but if you study this case more carefully it simply falls apart.

On Halt's tape, the 110 degrees direction is initially reported but moments before they view the object through the starscope they (1) see a second light to their left (while the other one is in front), this second light then moves off to the right and (2) suddenly Halt says "the other one came to the left". This is all on Halt's tape (http://www.rendlesham-incident.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=838).

After this 'move to the left' the object would be in front of the farmhouse, which is exactly where Halt places it in a 'UFO Hunters' episode dedicated to the RFI.

About the stars: There is an abundance of bright stars and (even brighter) planets in a clear December night sky, so it's very easy to find one in any general direction. Not very convincing if you consider the movements reported on Halt's tape and the excitement of the men, plus the beam of light shining down to the ground and the fact that Halt even wrote a memo about the events to the MOD. There was also a planet in the sky that was much brighter, why didn't the men confuse that for a UFO ..?

Halt has tried to convince Ian in the past but I think he has given up (and can't blame him for that).

[John Deckie]

The evidence for the Lighthouse theory seems strong if you read Ian's site,

On the contrary I actually think the evidence for the lighthouse theory seems very weak given that Halt describes a red light when the lighthouse could only be white/yellow. Ian R is then left clutching at straws saying that maybe Halt is colour blind, of which he has no proof. If Halt passes an eye test with flying colours (pardon the pun) , then the lighthouse comes crashing down with Ian inside it! (metaphorically speaking Ian dont worry!)

[Frank]

.
Concerning the colors that were seen in the RFI: I searched for some impressions of atmospheric plasma's, and found these clips. They are in order of increasing energy levels (and many intermediate colors / intensities are possible). Note that the second one is probably a magnified projection of a tiny ball of plasma (indicated by a small frame sometime during the clip):





The clip below gives an impression of the vortex-like behavior of a plasma in a magnetic field (in this case a neon plasma):


Thanks for the Hessdalen link, John - interesting phenomenon!