• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.
I never understood why the peace protesters were camped outside Greenham Common when most of the nukes were actually at Bentwaters.

The largest available storage facilities for "most of the nukes" (in the UK; 1980s) weren't at Bentwaters. They were at Lakenheath and / or Upper Heyford, which jointly offered 4 times as much storage capacity. Those other two bases actually hosted USAF aircraft capable of, and intended for, carrying nukes.

My guess is that Bentwaters was certified as a nuclear WSA earlier in the Cold War era, when it hosted aircraft with possible nuclear roles. Certification doesn't mean active use / inventory. It wouldn't surprise me to learn there weren't any nukes stored at Bentwaters after the F4s were pulled out in the very late 1970s.
 
I never understood why the peace protesters were camped outside Greenham Common when most of the nukes were actually at Bentwaters.

There was suitable land at the gates and it was easy to travel to.
 
Fascinating. I think the man reported to have slight radiation burns was likely involved in the cleaning-up operation, and of course blamed it on the "UFO".
Much closer to home than that.

Problem being... if I reveal the full story, even though we realise there was no radiation involved in events, it will cause one almighty stir and likely be championed as supportive of pervading, 'cover up' diatribe.

That's a pity, because what if there's some substance to this and not, 'radiation' as such, yet something else genuinely involved and of interest.

Obviously, first question which arises, is why there are no other reports of similar.

However... more shades of the contemporary Cash-Landrum case here?

A large UFO, helicopters, 'radiation burns'.

Although doubtless zero connection, still an interesting discussion and I happened to recall this from, 'Skycrash' - trusting a copy of same comes under, 'fair use' re copyright.

IMG_20210423_003042~2_resize_64.jpg
IMG_20210423_003102~2_resize_83.jpg
 
In any case ... RAF Bentwaters was in fact approved and equipped as a nuclear weapons storage facility...
Fascinating background material and I might be able to contribute.

SMSgt Kevin Conde, of our UFO hoax infamy, explained:

"Prior to the arrival of the A-10's in the late 1970's Bentwaters had F-4's.

We maintained alert, loaded F-4's. Bentwaters had a WSA and an NMSA
(Weapons Storage Area and Non-Nuclear Munitions Storage Area) while Woodbridge had a WSA.

Just prior to the arrival of the F-4's both Woodbridge and Bentwaters were upgraded to all new technology in their WSA. Hardened entry points, new alarm sensors, all sorts of stuff. This program standardized the entry control, perimeter and alarm systems for all WSA's in Europe.

The Upgrade at Woodbridge was completed just in time for the A-10's to arrive to and for it to revert to being an NMSA. (You can draw your own inferences from that - we only guard these areas - we did not know what was in them) I was in the training section at the time. It occurred to us that we had a fully functional WSA with which to practice actual attack andd defense You are very limited with what you could do on a real WSA. It was too good a training opportunity to pass up. 3rd AF agreed".
 
What ever the truth is you have to feel a bit sorry for all involved, imagine if what they said happened really is true and no one believes it, just imagine if that was you!!!

Either it happened as they said or they all simply made the whole thing up, or something else did happen and they simply made a mistake, only problem is there seems to be a never ending list of theories.

I dont buy the lighthouse story though, and even the most riveted skeptics dont accept it either, I think it's a lazy and lame explanation and just doesn't make any sense as what they describe sounds nothing like a beam of light, such as a landed triangle and red orbs and lights moving around the forest and shining lights into the weapons storage facility.

Anyway just incase anyone hasn't seen these 2 theories I will put a link below, interesting at best. Anyway quick smoke and bed for me.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.th...per-ufo-sighting-rendlesham-forest-prank/amp/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.ex...e-evidence-solve-case-Hull-UFO-Conference/amp

NINTCHDBPICT000004543133.jpg


NINTCHDBPICT000370587352.jpg
 
I never understood why the peace protesters were camped outside Greenham Common when most of the nukes were actually at Bentwaters.
During 1995, I corresponded with local resident Chris Durrant and asked about this very thing!

Regarding the Womans Peace Movement (WPM), he replied:

"Most WPM attention seemed to have focussed on deployment of the tomahawk cruise missile - this was never part of either F4 or A10 operations..

In summary, its possible that WPM visited the bases briefly during this period but there was no long-running 'vigil' that attracted my attention or the local media"
 
I dont buy the lighthouse story though, and even the most riveted skeptics dont accept it either, I think it's a lazy and lame explanation and just doesn't make any sense as what they describe sounds nothing like a beam of light, such as a landed triangle and red orbs and lights moving around the forest and shining lights into the weapons storage facility.
Well if you bothered to read my original article you might understand a bit more:
http://www.ianridpath.com/ufo/rendlesham1a.html
Of course there was no landed triangle and no lights shining into the WSA. You have bought into the myths that were made up years after the event. That's why it's important to go back to the original documentation.

The SAS 'revenge' prank story was itself a hoax, as Dave Clarke made clear on his blog. Scroll down to the bottom of this page
http://www.ianridpath.com/ufo/rendlesham7.html
 
... Although doubtless zero connection, still an interesting discussion and I happened to recall this from, 'Skycrash' - trusting a copy of same comes under, 'fair use' re copyright. ...

The two pages from "Sky Crash" seem to indicate the Frost family of Hopton had two sightings. However, the first sighting is shown as occurring in September 1980, and this conflicts with an allegedly earlier account (which was published later).

This entry at INTCAT (ostensibly based on _Haunted Skies_ (Volume 8, 2013) and Street / Butler (1984)) indicates the Frosts' first sighting occurred in August.
August 20 1980, 2145hrs.
HOPTON (NORFOLK : ENGLAND)

Leslie and Margaret Frost were bringing in the washing when they saw two large black objects with red and white lights coming towards them. The higher of the two was at about 60m, the lower at about 45m altitude. The larger object was triangular with three large red lights in front and two brilliant white ones at the rear. The thing hovered overhead, casting a shadow over the area. There was then a flash of light and the second object, a smaller triangle appeared and circled for 10 minutes. This was also seen by their 10 year old son.

Hanson and Holloway 2013, p.135, citing investigation by Dot Street and Brenda Butler.
SOURCE: http://intcat.blogspot.com/2012/11/intcat-1980.html
 
This 2008 article from the Great Yarmouth Mercury doesn't show the author's name, though it indicates he was a reporter in 1980. In it he describes his interview with the Frost family in August 1980 - an interview which his newspapers at that time didn't elect to publish. This text provides a more detailed account of the Frost family's first sighting.
They came from outer space
Published: 3:37 PM June 26, 2008 Updated: 8:30 PM February 19, 2021

Recently, the Ministry of Defence declassified a huge batch of alleged UFO sightings, enabling those with the inclination, time and patience to sift through them to see if there was any substance to the reports. I spent a couple of hours online delving into them

in a vain attempt to reveal the official

version of an inexplicable occurrence in... Hopton!

I went to Sidegate Road in August 1980 to meet Leslie Frost, a 46-year-old engineer, his wife Margaret and their 10-year-old son Anthony, who all claimed to have witnessed a strange sight from the bottom of their long garden when they were fetching washing from the linen line one night.

The experience left Mr Frost badly shaken for three days, by which time he decided he must talk about it other than to the police, whom he contacted that night. I was happy to listen to the family's story.

“It was like walking into the garden and seeing Yarmouth Pleasure Beach,” he told me.

There was a mass of brilliant lights - but this was out in the country, above a big stubble field, on a clear, moonlit night.

Above the field he saw two huge “absolutely square” structures showing a pattern of red and white lights the size of cars. There

was hardly any noise, which he found unnerving.

According to Mrs Frost: “I saw them come across, like formation flying but too slow for planes, and they couldn't have been helicopters.”

And young Anthony added: “There was one big square one and a smaller one, with all these red and white lights.”

Mr Frost continued: “They were solid shape and you could almost feel the 'solid-ness'. I don't believe in UFOs - I'm an engineer, and you can't put structures as big as that in the air. It was absolutely fantastic, and there's no possible explanation.”

They never landed, but as one flew over his head. “It was just like a big manta ray casting its shadow.”

Then it stopped, and “a terrific flash” was followed by a small triangular craft emerging from it.

That circled for about 10 minutes and finally hovered above his head, flew off in the path of the other two, and “they suddenly vanished as though they went into a curtain.”

Mr Frost conceded that it all sounded far-fetched but swore he saw it all for about half an hour.

His son saw most of it, and his wife watched some of it before hurrying indoors because their daughter was alone in the house.

It is a journalist's responsibility to twig when somebody is lying or spinning a yarn. I found the Frost family's account incredible but believed they were being honest with me.

The August bank holiday prevented checks with official sources, and by the time they were available the momentum had passed.

My editors on the Eastern Daily Press and Eastern Evening News were sceptical, so nothing appeared on the news pages.

FULL STORY: https://www.greatyarmouthmercury.co.uk/news/they-came-from-outer-space-7609624
 
What ever the truth is you have to feel a bit sorry for all involved...
That's quite thought provoking actually...

"Sceptics"... (spelling has a 'c' in the UK and 'k' in the US!)...

It's a really old fashioned term nowadays and was intended to castigate someone perceived to be a 'disbeliever' in another person's heartfelt opinions.

Or something along those lines... :)

Coincidentally, I am trying to restore a 1980s video which features the late Stanton Friedman and Graham Birdsall, editor of, 'UFO Magazine'.

It's a breakfast TV show and both have been invited to discuss, 'Roswell', which Stanton is going to speak about at the forthcoming, 'UFO Magazine' conference.

Enraged by the suggestion that he should perhaps be more of a sceptic, Stanton protests, "I AM a skeptic, I check things out"!

I have written a case related article, published by, 'The Skeptic'. I also had several published in, 'UFO Magazine'.

So, does that qualify myself as a sceptic, or the opposite?

In truth, like many others, I once had greater faith in the trustworthiness of our elemental, celebrated UFO story.

Regrettably, same as them, it has diminished and latterly become extinguished.

The reasons for that... and why, Halt being deceived by Orford Ness lighthouse is now emphatically proven and not an opinion, can be found in recent discussions above.

As categorically evidenced in Halt's own words, from his taped recording of events - if Orford Ness lighthouse played any role, we expect a compass bearing of circa 100 degrees:

"We're at the far side of the second farmer's field and made sighting again about 110 degrees".

"This looks like it's clear off to the coast... It's right on the horizon".

"Moves about a bit and flashes from time to time".

Yes, it has been disappointing for so many and if either yourself, or anyone, can actually explain why the damning lighthouse evidence highlighted above is mistaken in any way, then of course please do so.

Alas, understandably being irate because it can, for sure, be exceedingly annoying, will not on its own make the hard facts go away.

That obviously requires evidence to the contrary and we do not appear to have any.
 
I never understood why the peace protesters were camped outside Greenham Common when most of the nukes were actually at Bentwaters.

I wouldn't be surprised if the protesters had been there under the false assumption that there were nukes based there.
Possibly caused by mis-information.

I mean, at the time, I can imagine a scenario in which TPTB would 'leak' information about the location of its tactical nuclear warheads but giving out the wrong address.
You wouldn't want your main nuclear deterrent being one of the first strike targets would you?
 
As categorically evidenced in Halt's own words, from his taped recording of events - if Orford Ness lighthouse played any role, we expect a compass bearing of circa 100 degrees:
And mostly simply, if there had been a UFO as well as the lighthouse then Halt should have reported two flashing lights in the same line of sight. But he never mentioned the lighthouse, only a UFO. As it happened, this UFO lay in the same direction as the lighthouse, flashed at the same rate as the lighthouse, and which he described as lying "clear off to the coast".
 
This 2008 article from the Great Yarmouth Mercury..
:btime:
How splendidly marvelous is your find here...

:rup:
"Then it stopped, and “a terrific flash” was followed by a small triangular craft emerging from it".

:rup:
"...a small triangular craft...".

:popc:
 
I'm also interested in the circumstances of the story. Who brings their washing in by moonlight?

There are many reasons why you might be bringing in your washing by moonlight, I'd list them but they are not relevant to the thread. Suffice to say I've brought mine in by moonlight at various times. :)

Sollywos x
 
It can be just too unpalatable accepting your beliefs have been so wrong, for so long.

So far as religion is concerned, I've actually touched on this very point, as a personal experience, in a comparative thread:

https://forums.forteana.org/index.p...hapes-how-theyre-described.68072/post-2033918

I no longer have hope of salvation in an afterlife...

...and that still sucks... :mad:
That is really the conflict between belief, logic, and reality. I don't think we should look on it as a matter of "salvation in an afterlife" which is a very "Christian" way of thinking, but as "we are here to learn (including about strange phenomena) and to take what we've learned back to where we came from... wherever that is." Some Eastern teaching stories hint that (in our terminology) we may be the alien visitors here.

Regarding UFOs, I still take a Vallean (?) approach, accepting that odd things do happen in our skies, but that the ETH doesn't begin to explain them. I have seen a couple of odd things myself, nothing dramatic, but with a definite sense of something not part of our normal world. (In contrast to more common psi/haunting experiences.)
 
And mostly simply, if there had been a UFO as well as the lighthouse...
My archives might be the, 'black hole' of then contemporary UFO research.

It seems not even the lighthouse can escape. :headspinner:

For posterity...

The seems to be the first ever online debate re same.

From Paranet:

From: Jim Speiser
Subject: Bentwaters Update
Date: 12 Aug 91

Mark your calendars for Sept. 18th: On that Wednesday evening at 8PM EDT, NBC will broadcast the season premier of "Unsolved Mysteries", which will include a splashy recreation of the Bentwaters Incident.

Another witness, John Burroughs, will also be featured. Burroughs lay low for many years after the sighting, but came forward to me back in 1989.

He has since spoken to several researchers, and together we are spearheading an effort to re-focus public attention to the case, which I feel ranks up with Roswell as one of our best contenders.

There are some very compelling suggestions of high-level cover-up; there is at the very least a palpable shyness on the part of both governments (US and UK) to be forthright about information pertaining to the case.

(...)



Michael Corbin - via FidoNet Subject: Re: Bentwater,Uk On Unsolved Mysteries
Date: 22 Sep 91

Many discrepancies... One of the biggest was something I saw presented on HBO many years ago.

Colonel Halt's tape was played and the light from the nearby lighthouse was displayed at the same time. It was clear that his observations of lights in the sky basically corresponded EXACTLY with the period of the lighthouse.

(...)


Jim Speiser
Subject: Re: Bentwater,Uk On Unsolved Mysteries
Date: 22 Sep 91

It did so for the first two rotations, after that there was no correlation.

You're talking about people who had seen the lighthouse on many occasions.

There were at least a dozen people present, SOMEONE would have said, hey, that's just the Orford Lighthouse. Then there's the problem of the object moving, not just appearing to make small movements, but actually making gross changes in location.

The lighthouse theory is dead.

Sorry.
(...)
 
There were at least a dozen people present, SOMEONE would have said, hey, that's just the Orford Lighthouse.
And the fact that no one did say that confirms that they didn't recognize it. Even Halt admitted he thought it was off in a different direction.
And "at least a dozen people" present? Where do these people get their "facts" from? No wonder they are confused.
 
And the fact that no one did say that confirms that they didn't recognize it. Even Halt admitted he thought it was off in a different direction.
And "at least a dozen people" present? Where do these people get their "facts" from? No wonder they are confused.
Until you did your brilliant bit of mapwork and confirmed that Halt's idea of the lighthouse bearing was faulty, I had my doubts as well. I'm still undecided on the overhead light firing a beam down though. Not to say it was a UFO, though, a drone with a light on it was well within 1980 technology. I begin to feel a bit sorry for Halt, it seems that he was kept out of the loop regarding some secret activity. That is one thing that confirms that it was a really secret black project crash -- if it was a less extreme incident there would have been no reason to keep him in the dark. The thing that Gary Collins saw go down certainly wasn't a conventional aircraft.
 
Where do these people get their "facts" from? No wonder they are confused.
Looking at my saved copy of fairly copious Paranet discussions back then - these were early days in both public awareness of the case in America and a nascent internet - there appears to have been a seemingly first-hand witness whose testimony was deemed credible by many and became influential.

His identify was protected by the pseudonym of, 'Art Wallace'.

However, looks like his 'cover' was blown online during those same discussions:

Jim Speiser (FIDONET.ORG)
Subject: Bentwater,Uk On Unsolved Mysteries
Date: 2 Oct 91

'Art Wallace', by the way, is Larry Warren.
(...)
 
I'm still undecided on the overhead light firing a beam down though.
I have previously suggested the explanation scenario - in its entirety for both nights - is so convoluted, there is arguably a case for slamming the casebook shut and declaring, 'OK then, they were UFOs...'

Honestly, you would probably receive less ridicule by just doing that and going :fish:.

it's genuinely that :loopy:
 
Just a quick word to mods, I think this post should be left visible for non members browsing the forum, by all means embed it into the other Rendlesham post and simply disable comments with a note directing people to comment there, just a thought!

I was just over at my usual watering hole and read this, again it's just gone up and is hot of the press.

For original photos get them from the link, these are reduced in size.


When I was younger I was a poacher, I lived very close to Rendlesham Forest and frequently went poaching there. So back in 1980, 28TH December I was in the forest poaching, now bear this in mind folks, before this encounter I saw and heard a lot of strange things in that forest, I could tell you stories that would bend your bones, so every time I went poaching I always took my camera always hoping to capture some evidence.

OK so let's cut to the chase, so I saw a basket ball sized red orb, it had a black centre like a pupil and looked just like an eye winking at you, just like Halt explained it, it was zig zagging between the trees, ****ing strange, freaked the **** out of me, weird man, proper not right, I saw it before Halt, it passed me first, Halt and his team was about 200 meters away, I could hear all the noise.

Later I saw another UFO it was firing beams of light down to the ground, definitely looking for something, god knows what. I tell you, what I witnessed was simply incredible, definitely extraterrestrial no two ways about it, you lot can read books and watch TV shows about it, but I'm telling you man you had to be there to really understand and appreciate just how incredible this thing was, changed my life for ever, I've sat on this information for over 40 years and it feels good to get it out and show you guys the truth.

After the thing happened I was followed for weeks, I had my phone tapped, scary **** man. Anyway enjoy my photos guys these are the real deal!!! Peace and Love from John The Poacher

1.jpg


2.jpg


3.jpg


4.jpg


5.jpg


6.jpg


https://www.unexplained-mysteries.c...ged-photographs-of-the-rendlesham-forest-ufo/
 
Back
Top