Rendlesham Forest UFO – the landing marks
This photograph, taken by Master Sergeant Ray Gulyas and unearthed by researcher
Georgina Bruni, shows PC Brian Cresswell of Suffolk Police examining a triangle
of marks with Capt. Mike Verrano in Rendlesham Forest after daybreak on the
morning of 1980 December 26, just hours after the famous UFO encounter by Jim
Penniston, John Burroughs and Ed Cabansag. The three marks had been interpreted
as landing marks and each was identified with a stick on its outside. The
rightmost stick is difficult to see but is in fact next to Verrano’s leg; a smaller mark near the centre of the picture is sometimes wrongly
identified as one of the landing marks. North is to the left.
The triangle is approximately 3 metres across at its widest. It is difficult to
imagine how something this large could have manoeuvred between the trees as is
claimed. Of course, we cannot tell from this photograph whether these were the
only three such marks in this area or whether there were others that were
ignored because they did not fit with the big triangle.
Daylight visible between the trees in the background confirms that this site was
within a hundred yards or so of the eastern forest edge (for an aerial map of
the location, see here). This is the site that was investigated by the deputy base commander, Col
Charles Halt, two nights later when the UFO was seen again.