Rendlesham Forest UFO case - watch the
lighthouse flashing
Rendlesham Forest UFO case
VINCE THURKETTLE INTERVIEWED
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Above is a still from my BBC TV interview with Vince Thurkettle for the Breakfast Time programme, broadcast on 1983 October 7, which shows the Orford Ness lighthouse flashing as seen from Rendlesham Forest. I have made a movie file of the interview by pointing my digital camera at my television while playing my videotape of the transmission. You can download the file by clicking on the picture above. Copyright remains with the BBC. I have no idea if they still have the original programme tapes.
We filmed the interview in the area where
Vince had been shown the supposed “landing marks”
on the forest floor some weeks after the event. By the time of
my visit, though, the trees in the area had been cleared and
any sign of the landing site was long gone. A daytime view of
the same area can be seen here.
The interview as broadcast started with
Vince’s voice played over a direct shot of the lighthouse
flashing (the darkness between flashes was edited out for
televisual reasons and I have not included that part here). My
digital camera does not record sound so I give here a
transcript of Vince’s words as broadcast. One day I hope
to make a better digital transfer including sound but this will
have to do for now.
VINCE (out of vision): “It is a
pulsing white light that illuminates the forest...”
Vince then appears in shot with the
lighthouse flashing over his shoulder at its true rate, every 5
seconds. This is where the video clip starts.
VINCE: (in vision) “...and if that
wasn’t the light they saw then what they’re saying
is that within their line of vision were two pulsing white
lights illuminating the forest.”
The shot then cuts away to me doing those
annoying nods. Vince continues to speak.
VINCE: “The other thing is the
height. It appeared to them to move along at ground level,
never going very high. Now this again – behind me was a
standing tree crop. As they moved through the crop the light
would appear to move away in front of them at ground
level.”
Fade in eerie music and cut to a direct
shot of the flash again, which is where the video clip ends.
On Col. Halt’s real-time audio tape,
an airman is heard pointing out the flashing light:
“Straight ahead, in between the trees – there it is
again. Watch – straight ahead, off my flashlight there,
sir. There it is”. (This exchange can be found at the
bottom of page 2 of my transcript of the tape.) The five-second interval between
the words “there it is again” and “there it
is” synchronizes exactly with the flashes of the
lighthouse. Anyone who has a copy of the Halt tape (download it
from here) can try comparing it with the video clip for
themselves.
On his tape, Col Halt described the light
seen through a Starscope image intensifier as having “a
hollow centre, a dark centre, it’s like a pupil of an eye
looking at you”. Is this how the light looks to you on
this TV footage?
PPS: On my
most recent visit to the site in 2007 December with a French TV
crew I found that the lighthouse was less prominent from the
edge of the forest than previously. I presume this is due to
tree growth on the distant ridge. It is also worth noting that
the bulb currently installed in the lighthouse is of different
design and less powerful than the one used in 1980.
PPPS: On a
History Channel “documentary” called UFO Hunters
– Military and UFOs, first broadcast in 2008 February,
the lighthouse attendant Keith Seaman was interviewed and
claimed that the lighthouse beam cannot be seen from the
forest. The above video should demonstrate that this claim is
not true.
Page added 2005 March. Last revised 2008
February.
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