Rendlesham: Relifting the lid on UFO mystery

SUFFOLK: It remains to this day a mystery which perplexes experts and fascinates star-gazers across the globe.

The events of late December 1980 live on in paranormal infamy – provoking frenzied debate between UFO spotters and sceptics worldwide.

Did a small group of airmen really see an alien spaceship hover above their heads in Rendlesham forest? Were they the victims of a hoax? Did they confuse a lighthouse beam for a UFO, or was there a sinister military plot to cover it up?

These questions could be finally answered on the 30th anniversary of what has become known around the world as ‘The Rendlesham Incident’.

A pair of enthusiastic truth-seekers have brought together some of the “main players” in the legendary saga for a rare reunion next month.

And the public are also invited to hear their first-hand accounts of what happened over Bentwaters.

Gordon Goodger and David Wright have reunited two of the airman who first saw the unexplained lights, along with two internationally renowned experts on the subject and the man who once ran the British government’s UFO project.

Mr Goodger worked at Bentwaters after leaving school in 1985.

There he met Larry Warren, a former USAF airman from the Woodbridge base who claimed to have witnessed the incident and wrote extensively on the subject. “I’ve been interested in the Rendlesham Incident ever since,” said Mr Goodger.

On December 28 they are all set to appear at Woodbridge Community Hall, where the casebook will be once again reopened for discussion.

The guest speakers and organisers of the event are eager to invite any civilian witnesses to the incident to show up on the night.

A similar talk in Ipswich in 1997 was attended by more than 200 people.

Referring to the incident, he explained that USAF security police officers John Burroughs and Jim Penniston were patrolling the East Gate at RAF Woodbridge when they saw lights in the forest.

What they witnessed has since been the topic of countless books, essays, television documentaries and speculation by conspiracy theorists.

The former airmen will be joined on their return to Woodbridge by New York-based researcher Peter Robbins, award-winning documentarian Linda Moulton Howe, and Ministry of Defence expert Nick Pope.

All profits from the sale of tickets for the event will go to the East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) Treehouse Appeal.

The seminar begins at 6pm on Tuesday, December 28.

Tickets are £6 each and all profits will go to the EACH Treehouse Appeal.

To order a ticket, send a stamped, self addressed envelope with payment to: Mr G Goodger, 108 Spring Road, Ipswich, IP4 2RR.

For more information on the event call 01473 423143 or 07811 021230.

eadt uk