Was the Rendlesham Forest sighting due to a
prank that got out of hand?
In the summer of 2003 a former USAF
military policeman at Woodbridge, Kevin Conde, claimed on
television and in the press that the Rendlesham Forest UFO case
was sparked by a practical joke he staged in his police car to
frighten the guard at East Gate. “It was fertile ground
for a practical joke, and practical jokes are a tradition in
the security police,” Conde explained.
He made his claims in interviews with BBC TV and the Daily Mail, a newspaper ironically better known for
promoting UFO sightings than questioning them.
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“I drove down the taxiway in my car.
I stuck the spotlight on, after sticking red and green lenses
on it. I then drove round in circles, in the fog, with the PA
loudspeaker going, flashing my lights.
“It wasn’t a UFO, it was a 1979
Plymouth Volare [a standard-issue American police
car].”
Conde returned to the US shortly after the
incident and never heard about the famous UFO case until many
years later.
As Conde’s claim has been widely
repeated I shall discuss it briefly here, although it does not
form part of my explanation.
Firstly, although there is no reason to
doubt that Conde pulled the stunt he describes, there is
considerable doubt over when it occurred. Conde himself cannot
remember the exact date, but from his description of the
circumstances, including the weather conditions, it seems that
it did not coincide with the Rendlesham UFO sighting. Neither
is it established that the guard he was trying to scare was one
of those on duty at the time of the UFO sighting.
Conde says that he drove along the
Woodbridge runway, whereas the lights reported by the security
guards were in the forest. Additionally, Conde was evidently
not aware when he made his claim that the sightings stretched
over two nights and involved lights that were nowhere near the
air base.
However, Conde did provide one significant
clue when he noted: “It was a good stunt. Someone else
could have repeated it. In fact, most good cop practical jokes
did get repeated.”
Hence, although it is unlikely that Kevin
Conde’s hoax was directly responsible for the Rendlesham
Forest UFO, it remains possible that someone else repeated the
stunt, this time outside the base, which could account for some
of the unusual coloured lights seen in the forest by the guards
at East Gate on the first night. But unless the real (presumed)
culprit comes forward, this must remain speculation.
Page added 2004 September 18
n Read Conde’s
original statement sent to
James Easton and myself in April 2001, over two years before
his claim was reported in the press.
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