Rendlesham is now know in the United Kingdom as the ‘British Roswell’, a UFO case of immense proportions. A case full of facts figures people and mystery. Did a UFO really crash into some woods near an American Air Base during late December 1980, or is this case the result of cover story after cover story? There is no denying that ‘something’ happened on 3 consecutive December nights, that much is not in doubt, but where does the truth lie? There have been many articles written about the Rendlesham case and quite a few books too and I have to say that as a book reviewer and someone, who has been sent all the previous Rendlesham titles, this book (for me) wipes the floor with the rest of them! Why?
Well simply because the author has painstakingly researched, travelled, pushed, pulled and prized interviews from all the various players of the Rendlesham case (and then some). People may not want to read anymore about the Rendlesham case simply because like Roswell, they've’ had enough of it. But like education, you never stop learning. O.K. why is this book so different from all the others, well lets take a step inside and see shall we.
Scholars and students of the Rendlesham case know the facts only too well, but for those who do not, briefly, it is claimed by many who were there, that on three consecutive nights during late December 1980, a strange and mysterious flying craft flew through the forest at Rendlesham near Ipswich in Suffolk England and landed in a clearing in which American Military men from the nearby Woodbridge Air Base were confronted by something straight out of the Twilight Zone. There are conflicting descriptions as to the exact shape seen, but the general consensus of opinion is that it was coned to diamond shaped with strange symbols on it's structure. A curtain of secrecy was then thrown over the event for a while but in an amazing twist of events (certainly for admittance on the part of ‘any’ Military machine,) a statement/Memo was released (in a round about way!) to the British Press [News of The World] which brought this amazing case to light.
The author who has always been interested in the unexplained, heard about the case and decided to enquire further, she looked through all the previous written reports and felt deep down that there was more to this story that met the eye and so she set off on a crusade for the truth which brought her into a world of conflicting stories and rumours but also, brought forth some startling information which clearly showed that this was no small time UFO case, this really was the British Roswell. The main witnesses in this case were the Military, but not far behind were many civilian witnesses as well, many of whom have spoken to the author over the years.
This book is absolutely littered by civilian case after case after case of people seeing strange objects in the sky near Rendlesham Forest over the years. Clearly then we are not talking about an isolated incident. There are sightings of structured ‘craft’, red balls of light, shafts of light, it's just simply incredible the type of things that civilians have seen throughout the years (and near the dates in question).
The author eventually spoke to someone of whom other researchers never got the chance to speak to, ex P.C. Brian Creswell as it was believed that it was he who was the British policeman who was photographed examining the site just after the incident. Brian gave the author a hard time on the phone and said, “I know what I saw, and I'm not going to discuss it”. Now what does that mean!! The author clearly feels (and can show in the book) that a good number of the players from this story, more so the American Military people, were soon shipped off from the base to other climates. Was this so that no one could get to them and find out what they saw? The author clearly thinks so. Major Edward Drury told the author that a D Notice was soon slapped on this incident, (this is an instruction to the press requesting them not to publish anything as it involves National security).
Gerry Harris a Woodbridge resident decided to go into Rendlesham Forest after his own UFO sighting to see if he could see anything. He was confronted on a logging path by two individuals, a British policeman and an American security policeman. Mr Harris had a public right to enter the forest but was told in no uncertain terms to ‘go away’ and to enforce this point the American policeman cocked his rifle and pointed it in Mr Harris's direction. This was British soil and a countryman was not allowed his God free right accesses to a well walked area.
The author then goes into detail about all the ‘Flash calls’, which were going on that night. These are major telephone calls from various Military individuals which you rarely get unless there is a major scare something of the nature of the Russians launching their ICBM's, but on the nights in questions, lots of these flash calls were going around. What was less major than a Russian problem!! The author also tracked down some British secretaries who were employed at the base at the time, they told her that there was indeed a major incident that occurred and that a Colonel Spring was very much involved and that there were lots of British police who visited the base and she learned that there was a lot of radiation activity and coming and going of Military and British personnel, more so than she had ever seen in her entire time at the base. Another interesting aspect to this already incredible case, came when the author learned that a Law enforcement officer called Mark Beaucham who went out into the forest to investigate these strange lights, and disappeared! A patrol was sent out in search of him, and they too disappeared!! More personnel were sent out and they too disappeared!!
UFOlogists the world over, know only too well that there have been a number of UFO sightings over Military establishments and bases which contain Military hardware or nuclear weapons, the author after speaking with Military men under Colonel Malcolm Zickler’s command, insisted that there ‘were’ Nuclear Warheads on the Bentwater’s base (nearby to Woodbridge) at the time of the incident, indeed, the author also found out that through the Public records office in London a once classified Government document clearly showed that USAF Installations throughout the U.K. were harbouring nuclear weapons as far back as the 1950’s ! Stretching the imagination here, if, as some people believe, we are indeed dealing with visiting aliens, I'm quite sure that they would be interested in seeing how we ‘ape men’ are progressing. !
On the night of 27 / 28th December 1980 two RAF police dog handlers were instructed to Investigate strange lights that were seen near RAF Watton (near Woodbridge). RAF Watton picked up on radar, a large moving unknown air target. The two RAF officers were soon confronted by several figures, which they spotted in their searchlights. Their clothes were silvery and bulky and appeared to suck in the light from their flashlights. The dogs, who were with these two men, started to go crazy. The following day a high ranking British police officer questioned both men and advised them to forget what they had seen. Their note books were confiscated and the log book regarding the events of that night disappeared!!
Even more strangely, soon after this incident 4 British scientists from the MoD research centre at Porton Down were driven into the forest where they changed into strange looking space type suits with tubes running into air compressors down their backs. The Watton event occurred on the same day as the Rendlesham event! Soon after the Rendlesham case, many personnel at Bentwaters reported strange visitors turning up in unmarked aircraft, something that never happened before. Jim Penniston (one of the witnesses) was told that some of these people were from the CIA's Langley Research Laboratory in the States, what was a CIA research team doing on British soil? The CIA clearly had a big role to play in this case as the author's book aptly shows.
The author also brings to light the United States Air Force Intelligence working with a Government/Alien project known as PPD (Project Preserve Destiny) Former USAF sergeant Dan Sherman claims that this project is so secretive that it was classed as ‘above black’ as was know in the loop as ‘grey matter’ or ‘slant missions’. The author must be congratulated on uncovering so much more about this case, but she did admit that there were still a number of people who were very frightened to speak to her for fear of reprisals or visits from some type of Government agents. The author also looks at a previous author's belief (Peter Robbins) that what may have caused the Rendelsham case could have been due to some kind of bizarre weather experiment. In the 1950’s William Reich experimented with a device known as a ‘cloud buster’.
UFOs were regularly seen around his laboratory, the atmosphere was filled with a black gluey substance and researchers saw weird gremlin type creatures in and around the area. Could a device of this nature have brought forth what happened at Rendlesham! Reich was convinced that using his orgone energy invention, he could create UFOs to appear and fade out. The author also looks at other potential ‘normal’ explanations and experiments that were conducted in the Suffolk area over the years and states that maybe our earthly experiments at Orfordness and Bawdsey (near the Rendlesham area) could have penetrated some kind of other time or dimension!
There is no mistaking the author's sense of varied explanations to account for what was sighted in Rendelsham Forest. She mentions that her sources confirmed to her that the secret Stealth aircraft was deployed at RAF Bentwaters during the early 1980’s. The F-19 made thirty secret visits to RAF Mildenhall during the 1980’s, could, as the author speculates, witnesses in the Rendlesham Forest case, have mistaken the Stealth aircraft for something more exotic? This reviewer thinks that this is a possibility in other cases but I don't think that this is the case here. Fellow UFO researcher Brenda Butler told the author that she received a phone call from a woman who claimed to be a wife of a member of the ARRS at RAF Woodbridge who told her that what was reported from the forest was ‘not’ a UFO but was to do with the capture of a Soviet spy plane and two of it's crew!!
Apparently the American's had stolen the aircraft which was hidden at the Woodbridge base. Is this the cause of all the disinformation and mis-matched stories? Brenda Butler also uncovered stories from local fishermen who were instructed not to fish in the waters between Bawdsey and Orfordness during the week of the 25th to 30th December 1980. ‘officials’ told them that experiments were going to be taking place that week. The fishermen were paid for any losses incurred by not fishing. Brenda was also told by a local fisherman of a strange craft with lights that was seen going into the sea near Orfordness. The author also goes into other possibilities, which may account for the Rendlesham Forest Incident, namely Electromagnetic weapons research and also experiments with holograms.
The author has uncovered UFO reports from the Rendlesham area going as far back as 1947, so any one who thinks that the Rendelsham Forest Incident is a one off, better think again !! In 1974 another UFO incident occurred at the Bentwaters base which at that time stored nuclear weapons an object was spotted by over 30 individuals and two F4 fighter jets were scrambled to intercept it, needless to say the object evaded capture and the incident was covered up until the author pushed people for more info about it.
Some sceptics have suggested that the Rendlesham Forest case was the result of the spinning lights of Orfordness Lighthouse, This reviewer won't even go down this road, for this is the most stupidest explanation that I've ever heard, I've been in the forest, I've seen the lighthouse and it's searchlight, and believe you me, what utter nonsense that explanation is. Anyone who believes that the Incident was caused by this lighthouse better go and arrange to see their doctor immediately as you are clearly losing your mind!!
In closing this review, I found this book to be a new wealth of data, I thought that I would be re-reading ‘old hat’ some facts of course are ‘old hat’, but believe you me, there is a hell of a lot of new info here. Larry Warren (one of the main players in this case) has a whole chapter devoted to him, and it's not that favourable! I'll close with the words of author Georgina Bruni when she says;
“There is no doubt that something very unusual took place in Rendlesham Forest during the last week of December 1980. We may never learn the full story concerning these extraordinary events but as a result of my research I am convinced that there is a cover up of enormous proportions to keep this and similar incidents hidden under a veil of secrecy. We cannot be sure that there was an alien crew, but the fact that a craft of unknown origin landed in Rendelsham Forest should no longer be in dispute. It ‘happened’ I have presented enough proof of this that even the most sceptical of sceptics cannot argue”
The above in my opinion, is definitely true. This book paints a very convincing picture and warrants your purchase to make up your own mind. You won't be disappointed!