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Introductory note:
The Rendlesham Forest UFO case
has taken on the mantle of the “British
Roswell”, but in truth it is far more
significant even than Roswell. There is scarcely
any other UFO case anywhere which can boast such a
large number of apparently highly credible
witnesses on two separate nights, or such a wide
variety of supporting evidence including supposed
physical traces, an official memo confirming the
events written by a high-ranking USAF officer, a
report by local police officers who were called to
the scene on two separate occasions, and a
real-time tape recording made during the second
night of the sighting by the same USAF officer. Yet
much of the discussion of this case has centred not
on this well-substantiated primary evidence, but
instead on various tales of doubtful provenance,
some from individuals not directly involved, that
emerged many years later once the Rendlesham
mythology had become well-entrenched.
The article reproduced on the
following two pages is an old one, but remains
valid because it demonstrates where the case stood
shortly after it became public knowledge in the
early 1980s. The article highlights the main
elements of the case and offers explanations for
each in turn. It should be emphasized that none of
the genuine evidence that has emerged subsequently
has invalidated any of these explanations; rather,
it has strengthened them.
The article first appeared in The Guardian, a highbrow English newspaper, on 1985
January 5 under the title “A Flashlight in
the Forest”. In this web version I have
included a few bracketed asides to clarify and
update various points, added some explanations to
make various references more comprehensible to
non-English readers, and included several
illustrations.
The article was written before
the release of the tape-recording made by
Lt.Colonel Charles Halt describing the events of
the second night as he witnessed them. I have
placed on this website the latest version of my own
transcript of that tape, which I believe to be
the most accurate of the various versions currently
in circulation.
In the years since the article
first appeared in print I have been able to amplify
various points, based in many instances on the
additional information contained in Col.
Halt’s real-time tape recording or his
subsequent interviews. I hope you will find this a
suitable balance to some of the more fanciful
treatments of this case now in circulation.
The links at the right will
take you to more detailed discussion of the main
aspects of the case. These links are repeated at
the end of this article.
___________________________________________________________
Books and articles about the Rendlesham Forest UFO case:
Sky Crash by Brenda Butler, Dot Street, and
Jenny Randles (Neville Spearman, 1984).
UFO Crash Landing? by
Jenny Randles (Blandford, 1998).
See also Jenny’s chapter
titled Rendle Shame Forest in The UFOs That Never Were (London
House, 2000).
You Can’t Tell the People by
Georgina Bruni (Sidgwick & Jackson, 2000).
Read Dr David
Clarke’s 25th anniversary assessment of the
case, originally
published in the 2005 December issue of Fortean Times.
Content last updated 2007
October.
All original content ©
Ian Ridpath. All rights reserved.
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