BBC Suffolk's special programme (17 Dec. 2010)

[IanR]

Interesting, the police have also been called the second night (which would be the 27th).

The 'second night' is what we used to call Halt's night, until John B made it clear that there were sightings on the intermediate night also.

In the Suffolk police file is a letter from Inspector Mike Topliss to Georgina Bruni, which is reproduced in Bruni’s book You Can’t Tell the People (pp. 135–136 of the hardback edition).
http://www.suffolk.police.uk/NR/rdonlyr ... lights.pdf
In his point (2) Topliss reveals that two local police officers were in the Law Enforcement office at RAF Bentwaters on what is evidently the night of Col Halt’s expedition. They did not in fact attend as they received an emergency call to a break-in at a Post Office at Otley, a village some miles away to the northwest of Woodbridge, which they considered as a higher priority than “a recurrence of an earlier incident which was seen as somewhat frivolous”. Col Halt has spoken of police being called out on the night on which he was involved but not turning up due to an alternative call, and this confirms his story.

At the end of his letter to Bruni, Inspector Topliss comments: “The immediate area was swept by powerful light beams from a landing beacon at RAF Bentwaters and the Orfordness lighthouse. I know from personal experience that at night, in certain weather and cloud conditions, these beams were very pronounced and certainly caused strange visual effects." With this statement, Topliss leaves little doubt that he, too, thought the lighthouse was involved.

Ian

[Vanquishman]

I keep hearing how Brenda has taken photograph's of UFO's in the forest but why do we never see them? I am not after debunking her but it's not helping if she has but won't present them, or she has not but says she has for publicity.

[Frank]

http://www.numberscience.plus.com/Brenda_Butler_Rendlesham_Forest4.html

.. you need some imagination (or powerful shrooms ) to see aliens, though ..

[larry warren]

ARE YOU SURE ABOUT THAT FRANK ?

[Vanquishman]

Thanks for the link Frank. I am sorry to say that i agree with you on the imagination factor. I am not seeing anything other than insects, dust particles, and cigarette smoke. Although the light one's are very impressive but i am not convinced (of those pictures). HOWEVER, I am sure something did happen at Rendlesham.

Larry, my fatherand i were lucky enough to be with a group of people a few years back whom you walked through the forest with to Caple Green. You told me to read your book. My partner got it for me from America as its out of print here. I am finally reading it (after her) as i am not a great reader! Sorry about that.

Gents, i was a young lad living near Ipswich at the time and i distinctly remember my (now departed) grandmother telling my mother that she had been awoken in the night by a low flying airliner. They lived in Norfolk Road, Ipswich. She said the light shinning from it had woke her up and she went to the window to look out. The thing that struck me was how she said she could see "the passengers throught the windows in it". I was about 13 yrs old or so and i remember thinking that it must have been awfully low, and it would have been loud. Surely she was dreaming. However, my parents mentioned it a while back as we are fascinated by the Rendlesham case. And it would have been around the time of the incident that my grandmothers story occured. It's inconclusive i know but its a weird coincidence.

*edited due to awful grammer (not grandma!)

[Gordy]

Thanks for the link Frank. I am sorry to say that i agree with you on the imagination factor. I am not seeing anything other than insects, dust particles, and cigarette smoke. Although the light one's are very impressive but i am not convinced (of those pictures). HOWEVER, I am sure something did happen at Rendlesham.

Larry, my fatherand i were lucky enough to be with a group of people a few years back whom you walked through the forest with to Caple Green. You told me to read your book. My partner got it for me from America as its out of print here. I am finally reading it (after her) as i am not a great reader! Sorry about that.

Gents, i was a young lad living near Ipswich at the time and i distinctly remember my (now departed) grandmother telling my mother that she had been awoken in the night by a low flying airliner. They lived in Norfolk Road, Ipswich. She said the light shinning from it had woke her up and she went to the window to look out. The thing that struck me was how she said she could see "the passengers throught the windows in it". I was about 13 yrs old or so and i remember thinking that it must have been awfully low, and it would have been loud. Surely she was dreaming. However, my parents mentioned it a while back as we are fascinated by the Rendlesham case. And it would have been around the time of the incident that my grandmothers story occured. It's inconclusive i know but its a weird coincidence.

*edited due to awful grammer (not grandma!)

Do you remember the month and year this was?

[Vanquishman]

God no. Was a long time ago. What i can say is we did'nt know about the Rendlesham incident at the time and only figured it out after it had been in the newspapers. It may not have been connected at all. I am not going to embelish any of it to make it do so. We could well be putting the pieces together so that they fit. The mind is a funny thing. But, it is weird that is was around that time. Just makes me think.

[larry warren]

Hey nice to hear from you vanquish, the book IS availible at any uk book seller , smiths, waterstones ect ! had to get that in !
2005 edition by the way ! you wernt the kid with his dad we walked around with (and many others ) back in 97? cheers

[Vanquishman]

No mate, i was the 34 year old kid if that was the case. I can't remember what year we spoke to you. I don't read much or write a diary! Maybe i should.

*Mrs Vanquishlady is going to buy the latest version of your book, by the way....

[Vanquishman]

According to the Lighthouse keeper Halt accepted the Lightship as an explanation for the "strobe like flashes" that are mentioned on his tape.

And Vince finds it hard to believe that several men were fooled by the Lighthouse for two nights and several hours in a row ...

Got to say, the "lighthouse explaination" does not work for me. Having lived just a few miles away from Rendlesham near Ipswich, my father and i walked through that part of the forest at around midnight for a couple of hours to test the theory. We just don't think the light beam could be confused for what Halt described. It was a lighthouse beam, we could see that. Okay, maybe the airmen didn't know about it, that i concur. But some of the light colours and behaviour reported were so different we just can't see how it was that.

If anyone really does think the lighthouse beam is the single answer then they should go actually walk round there as we did. I think they would change their mind. It's interesting that the BBC originally accepting this theory, now favour a helicopter.

[Daniel]

Well here's todays article from the East Anglian Daily Times. It's funny that the only thing they link to their conclusion, on the radio show, is the tri-pod markings on the ground. This is a cover up to 'save the blushes of blundering US helicopter pilot', .

[Vanquishman]

Thanks for the link Daniel. Just read it, all this for a helicopter prank cover up!!? I did listen, and must admit the chopper story would sound really plausible (to me) if it was not for all the other facets of the incidents story. I can't accept it for that reason.

[Admin]

The explanation makes sense in places, however it is just as much a theory as all the others.

“I’d love to believe it was a UFO that landed that night – but where’s the proof?”

And where's the proof that the ARRS' Apollo capsule landed in the forest?

[ncf1]

if lighthouse animals would have gone strak raving crazy every night.

next suggestion necause that horse has been flogged to death so hard that it has actually woken up and said "HEY! CUT THAT OUT!! EVEN I CAN SEE THAT THAT THEORY DOESN'T HOLD WATER!!".

[Vanquishman]

I took Vanquishlady out there to walk the UFO trail (she's not from that area) and she did comment on how quiet it is out there. I must admit i had'nt really taken much notice before but it's definatley errie there. (No wonder local Brian Eno made such weird/bleak music with Bowie.Am sure the B side of Heroe's must be influenced by living in that environment).

[John Burroughs]

Well its clear the Light House is dead. Sorry Ian but its true you have now handed the reigns to others! Now we have Apollo but it seems the de-bunkers can't decide if it was the 67th and Apollo or the 67th and Satellite recovery I think I think. Observer you forgot the one about the hang glider. Where was your friend Observer who could have backed you up? I know he was afraid to talk about it! Well instead of Apollo how about this one for all of you de-bunkers to throw around. It was Santa returning to the North Pole tracked on radar by Norad. Merry Chritmas to all and for those coming to the event Jim and I will see you on the 28th...

http://www.noradsanta.org/en/index.html

[larry warren]

Well at 50 , 34 is a kid ! lol thank the LADY for me, also frank was talking about Brendas picts ! got it, havent seen them but i know first hand that strange things have been seen in those woods after the 1980 events ! oh boy , do i ever ! wish we had a camera, but people would still say it was BS, what ya gonna do ?

[larry warren]

Oh sorry, jumped back in a page later ? the NEW , OLD explaination is bullshit also and was knocked around back in the 80s
NOTHING NEW FROM THE MEDIA OR THERE MAN BITCHES ! SAME OL , SAME OL ! DESPERATION NATION , The people arnt stupid however so alls well ! cheers

[slipX]

I heard the programme last night. For years the BBC pushed the lighthouse theory and then it was the patrol car in the forest. Now it seems they've plumped for the Apollo capsule. It reminds me of the succession of explanations that the US military has given for Roswell over the years.

The only piece of new information I could glean from the programme was a witness account that referred to a number of people pulled up by the forest edge roadside (passers by?, Mil?) viewing the oddly-behaving lights doing their thing above the forest treetops for approximately 15 minutes at the time of the initial sighting.

[Vanquishman]

Not everyone is fooled Larry. Why would people like us come on this forum? Because We KNOW something happened out there that night. Just what the hell was it? Due to the timeline it was bound to go the way of Roswell, so much disinformation and debunk junk. Like i said some where else on this forum, lighthouse, policecar, now helicopter. Thats one DISMISSIVE explaination per decade. See what they come up with on the 40th anniversary, they've got another 10yrs to think about it

How does the helicopter explain all the other phenomina in the original accounts of what happened? It does'nt. This will not go away. Stories surfacing recently of UFO's appearing over nuclear storage area's are interesting. There's the connection we are sure. The world does'nt run like the public think it does, who is running things? I mean, look at the banking crisis. There's more to things than meets the eye.

I remember all the tree's being cut down around that time, near the bases. I would go out there to walk the family dog with my parents. We thought it was weird, and there was talk of people moving (or being moved) out of nearby houses. I don't know if that was hearsay but the trees down were real. That was before anyone had heard anything in the papers i.e. The News of the World breaking it.