Interview with Ronnie Dugdale, the author of this blog.
Brenda Butler and the News of the World RFI incident report.
Independent paranormal investigator Brenda Butler is at her Leiston home in Suffolk when she receives a telephone call. On the other end of the telephone is top reporter with the News of the World, Keith Beabey. His editor had given him the task of investigating a report that during the Christmas period 1980 a UFO had landed in the Rendlesham forest just outside the twin bases of RAF Bentwaters and Woodbridge, air bases leased to the USAF by the British Ministry of Defence.
The News of the World editor had learnt of the incident from a Manchester based team that included Harry Harris, Mike Sacks, Norman Collinson and Jenny Randles.
The team had already been to see the News of the World editor previously but this time they presented him with proof in the form of Ministry of Defence documents confirming their story, a story that up till then had been nothing more than a bunch of rumours.
One of the documents was the Halt Memo, penned by Deputy Base Commander Charles Halt. The memo, written on USAF headed notepaper was a watered down version of the events sent to the Ministry of Defence at the request of Donald Moreland the British Base liaison officer to prompt the MoD to investigate the matter further.
On seeing that document the editor’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. He knew he had to dispatch his top reporter to Suffolk, and without delay. Keith was aware that independent paranormal researcher Brenda Butler had been investigating this case from the get go, she was the obvious choice to be his companion and guide during his time investigating the story.
Brenda explains in detail her time spent assisting News of the World reporter Keith Beabey in a half hour interview aired on Phenomenon Radio 30th June 2016.
Jenny Randles, Dot Street and Brenda Butler kept notes diaries and journals during their years investigating the Rendlesham Forest incident. Dot also recorded her telephone conversations to assist her in writing up her notes. All three of the investigators have been very helpful and forthcoming in sharing their records and documents with Ronnie Dugdale.
'Those tapes diaries and journals proved to be Invaluable to me for recalling the facts of who said what, where and when and to whom as they were written in real time, as we know time can affect memory and distort the facts so to see what was written at that time paints a much better picture of what was being felt as well as what was being said.
Brenda had always been supportive, helpful and forthcoming in sharing her archive, we spent many hours going over countless pages of information from her research, interviews and notes. Brenda trusted me and allowed me to take anything I needed for further investigation home, and we worked extremely well together'.
This is how the News of the World Rendlesham story evolved.
The saga started at the BUFORA conference in August 1983 where Brenda Butler and Dot Street were given a platform to present the facts of the Rendlesham forest incident. They would reveal Jenny’s just released MoD letter from Pam Titchmarsh, admitting for the first time that something really had occurred in the forest over the Christmas period in 1980.
And they were to silence their critics by presenting at this meeting a document sent to them to assist them in their investigations by an organisation in the United States of America called C.A.U.S. Citizens against UFO secrecy. This document, the Halt Memo was a letter sent by the deputy base commander of the twin bases RAF Bentwaters and Woodbridge, Charles Halt to our Ministry of Defence at the request of the British base commander Donald Moreland. The memo was a watered down version of events designed to prompt the MoD into a full investigation.
At this Bufora meeting Dot, Brenda and Jenny would reveal the results of their visit to the MoD in Whitehall where they arrived unannounced and confronted the MoD staff with a copy of the Halt Memo.
For over two years the UFO community in the UK had largely disbelieved there was a case at all because of the lack of witnesses and documents. Being Dot's BUFORA Director of Investigations Jenny wanted Dot and Brenda to have that 'told you so' moment at this event - especially as Dr J Allen Hynek was coming over to lecture there.
Jenny already knew Allen Hyneck. They first met in 1981, he was the true father of modern Ufology and very interested in the Rendlesham case. Jenny had discussed it with him from the earliest days and he knew it was something the girls had to keep digging into from the get go.
Three months later when Jenny and Dot travelled to the States to research for their book Dot and Jenny were invited to stay with Allen in Evanston. Here he set up a dinner with a NASA shuttle astronaut for them to discuss UFOs and the case, and after Dot went off to stay with Larry Fawcett. In the north east Jenny spent a week house sitting for Allen and Mimi when they went to their winter home in Arizona for a bit. Allen gave her free run of all his files which was a huge opportunity that really helped their investigation as he was the astronomer who worked for the USAF 'Blue Book' investigation during the first 25 years of UFO investigation. So he saw the cover up develop from the off.
Because the BUFORA event was going to attract reporters they specifically chose to set up the Rendlesham revelations unadvertised and outside and after the main event at a closed session to which "we only invited investigators and other key researchers" such as Allen whom they could trust. It started late at night when other delegates had drifted away for the day and ran into the early hours. But it gave them both their moment to show that there really was a big case here after all.
Despite going to these lengths rumours spread in the days afterward that a journalist had been tipped off by someone inside the room or told what happened by someone who was. Brenda and Dot suspected that someone was Harry Harris. In later years Georgina Bruni asked News of the World journalist Keith Beabey who wrote the story “UFO LANDS IN SUFFOLK AND THAT’S OFFICIAL” if it was Harry Harris who had tipped them off. Keith confirmed to her it was.
The girls discovered that the group of investigators - led by Harry Harris - had just had secret meetings on base with Halt and kept this fact from them. That group were paying for the costs involved in their work at that time by selling UFO stories to the tabloids. The Manchester based group led by Harry Harris had sold several cases to The News of the World and the Sunday Mirror around this period and the tactics eventually created a split with the local Manchester UFO group where they were members because others found this commercialisation not in keeping with what they wanted to do in UFO study.
Brenda, Dot and Jenny knew it was always possible they would go this route after meeting Halt and discovering that hard evidence existed such as the Halt memo (which he showed Harry Harris and Mike Sacks that day in June).
There was no love lost between Harry Harris, Dot and Brenda. Dot had discovered it was Harris who tipped off Colonel Halt that Dot had a recording device on her telephone, and also suspected it was Harris who had ended her communications with the ex-Base Commander Col. Sam Morgan.
All this saga is captured on Dots recorded phone conversations, she really did let Harris have it, she could be very feisty when she wanted to be, she was less than pleased with Harris, to say the least and blamed him for ending contact with two important contacts, Halt and Morgan.
The girls later discovered Harry Harris and Co. had talked to Halt about the possibilities of going to the press and he wanted to cooperate. Jenny had seen some of the communication that went on over this. So she knew the paper at least had dialogue with or about Halt during the weeks they worked on the story.
Jenny, Dot and Brenda had no interest whatsoever in going to the media. They had just negotiated the deal for their book “Sky Crash” with publisher Neville Sturman and had started writing. That book would not be appearing for about a year. And as an author of several books already by then, Jenny Randles was very aware that premature publicity for a story could kill the book, possibly even lose them the contract if it prevented the publisher selling serial rights on release (as the News of the World story indeed did do).
So it was a bit tricky for them. As soon as it became clear forces were moving to create a story in the press outside of their control, the option they faced was to ignore it or to cooperate with it.
Some people have suggested that the girls went to the press for the money. It wasn’t ever about the money, sure they had expenses coming out of their own pockets. They were facing tough and expensive times, the investigations had taken over their lives, It had put a strain on Dot's marriage, her husband had barred her from using the phone following massive phone bills, but it was never about the money, the figure being offered after being split 6 ways would not have even met their expenses. Jenny felt that Brenda and Dot deserved the public recognition for their investigations, so that's why it happened. They all felt the only way they could keep what they knew about the case factual was to get involved and assist where they could, at least that way they could do their best to see that the facts were reported .
Harry Harris and Mike Sacks had been on the base, met Halt and heard the tape. They took the lead and started negotiating with the News of the World. Brenda and Dot were not able to get to Manchester where the paper was then located, so Jenny agreed to travel there from Merseyside to attend these meetings and keep them posted. She thought that was important given how these guys had chosen not to tell them about their meeting with Halt just two months earlier. They had their book to protect and so needed to know what was happening during this media story.
There were several meetings and Jenny was able to keep Brenda and Dot in the loop on them. Initially the paper offered very limited money and right up to a few days before the story appeared this was only a modest amount - of the same order that they had paid Harry and his team for previous stories. So we are talking only of a few hundred pounds each. This sum would be split about 6 ways. So it really would have just paid for some of the expenses they had.
The News of the World based their sum mostly on documentation, hard evidence and eye witnesses. There was few of each to offer. But in the end there was enough for them to up the price days before publication.
It was never anywhere near the £25,000 being claimed nowadays by SOMEBODY but a lot more than they offered earlier that week. It has always been assumed in the US and claimed by THAT SOMEONE that this figure of £25,000 that he claims they received was because the "Little team in Britain" as he refers to them sold the News of the World the Halt Memo, but they did not. It is probably not appreciated that there was a MoD source talking to the paper anyhow and the MoD certainly had the memo as we know, and, of course, Harry and co. had met with Halt on base where a copy existed. Halt often refers to his 'onionskin copy of the memo that he kept.
So there are several possible reasons why the News of the World upped their offer at the last minute. They might well have realised other Newspapers would take the story if they didn't plus through working with the girls the News of the World had their American reporter Bob Smith and their top UK reporter Keith Beabey contact and interview at length an airman who was now out of the USAF and living back in the States, an airman who shall not be named however he gave the interviews anonymously under the pseudonym 'Art Wallace', the pseudonym given to him by Barry Greenwood.
This un-named 'airman' said he never spoke to the 'News of the World' that’s not true, then he changed it to, he did speak to the 'News of the World' but only briefly but they wanted his real name and he said he wouldn’t give an interview until others came forward first, so much for being a "whistle-blower".
The Story was now looking good, "Art Wallace" told the 'News of the World' everything that the girls had claimed, and more! It was looking like big Headline News. Maybe that’s why the 'News of the World' upped the anti - at the last minute. The figure being offered now according to Harry Harris was £12,000.
Harry said the payment was to be split several ways which would have meant somewhere just over two thousand each. I know Jenny received £2,000, Dot £1,500 and Brenda £1,500. Jenny received £500 more than Brenda or Dot, she believes primarily, for attending the meetings in Manchester with the Newspaper and for her role as consultant on call to Keith Beabey, but also for supplying documents, case files and communications that she had weeded out of the MoD herself and were hers, accrued by her and hers to offer.
Another big tabloid, the 'Daily Mirror' actually tried to offer Jenny more money to give an interview, more money than the 'News of the World' had on offer. They wanted Jenny to give them the story the day before it broke. Someone on the 'News of the World' staff had tipped them off that it was happening. 'The Mirror' had no idea that Jenny was involved with the 'News of the world' 'exclusive'. Because her name never featured alongside it. When she declined their money they became incredibly disruptive and started making threats in the end Jenny ripped the phone out.
The money they received was used up in their investigations for writing their book. Jenny used her modest sum she was paid to fund her trip to the US to further research the case which she could not have otherwise have afforded. Dot paid off a telephone bill which was in excess of £1,000 and Brenda replaced her clapped out car, one of three she was to replace during her investigations.
Jenny, Benda and Dot visited the MoD that same month, (August 1983) with the Halt memo - aware that they might be breaking the official secrets act by even possessing a copy, as the MoD had declined twice to release it to Jenny on request. Selling it to a tabloid was NOT in their thinking. The only reason they got involved was because they wanted what was being reported to be as accurate as possible so it did not harm the case. The 'News of the World' were going to print a story whatever happened, at least by getting involved they could be involved to see what was being reported.
So to sum up -
'Art Wallace' was not the original whistleblower. Or military whistleblower! J.D Inglas was first to break the story. 'Wallace' never spoke out until after the Omni article came out in which Conrad and Moreland spoke to Mishera, the reporter. Dot Street and Brenda Butler were by that time hot on the trail. Jenny Randles and Dot both contributed to that article, Brenda would have done also had Jenny not told her not to say anything to Mishera. Jenny Randles had already published articles at least twice in the flying saucer review, a huge feature in 'the Unexplained'. Dot had released her 'Bufora' bulletin long before the 'Omni' article hit the news stands. All the above were shared with Barry Greenwood and Larry Fawcett long before Betty Andreas suggested to 'Art Wallace' that he should speak to Larry Fawcett. 'Wallace' never got the 'Halt tape' out either! He was given a copy of the tape by the Japanese tv producer who bought it off Harry Harris who obtained it from Sam Morgan. Dot had a copy posted to her from Sam Morgan to her Oulton Broad address long before 'Wallace' got his copy during his visit to Japan. Ronnie Dugdale has a recorded telephone conversation Dot secretly recorded that 'Wallace' is asking about the tape and asks Dot for Sam Morgans contact details so he could obtain a copy. It was not his information alone that got the Halt memo out either. His (anonymous) statement may have played a part, but it was Jenny Randles letter from Pam Titchmarsh MoD admitting after two years of her hounding them that something had taken place at Rendlesham, Christmas 1980 and Barry Greenwood's letter from Col. Halt and Ted Cochran that was used to force the FOIA request. That's the truth of the matter. So if anyone should have received an award it should have been Brenda Butler and Dot Street.
c R. Dugdale.
Thank you Ronnie Dugdale for his his many years of research into the RFI.
Larry Warren and the News of the World
Larry Warren has repeatedly denied that he talked to the News of the World. More recently he changed that to he only spoke to The News of the World for 5 minutes and that he would not give them an interview until others came forward.
I know this is incorrect as I have Keith Beabey’s hour long recorded phone conversation between him and Larry Warren . It was recorded by Dot Street from her Oulton Broad home. Present that day during that phone call was Independent paranormal investigator Brenda Butler .Brenda was the first civilian investigator to learn that something extraordinary had occurred in the forest at Rendlesham during that Christmas period of 1980 and had been assisting News of The World journalist Keith Beabey with his investigations and enquiries all Week.
At the beginning of that conversation Larry tells Dot and then Keith that he had already given a detailed account to another reporter from a National U.K. That newspaper journalist was Bob Smith .Bob was the U.S representative for the News Of The World and had been sent to talk to Warren by the News of the World editor.
Warren claims that The News Of the World Had distorted the story beyond belief and on Phenomenon Radio Warren told the listeners that the quotes attributed to him were not his as claimed by the reporter but those of Brenda Butlers informant Steve Roberts. Steve Roberts identity has been in the public domain for some time now and it is now common knowledge that Steve Roberts is indeed J.D.Ingalls.
Here is a transcript of part of the recorded telephone conversation between Larry Warren and News Of The world reporter Keith Beabey. You decide where the News Of The World obtained their information for their articles that warren claims were “Distorted beyond belief”
.
The Warren tape
Part transcript of the recorded telephone conversation between Larry Warren and News Of The world reporter Keith Beabey
Larry Warren Hi How are you
Dot Street Alright, You?
I just got off the phone from this guy, he’s a journalist from New York that Barry knows; he’s from the British press. They interviewed me on the phone.
Dot Street They have ha Brenda explains to me in detail her time spent assisting News of the World reporter Keith Beabey in a half hour interview aired on Phenomenon Radio 30th June 2016
ve they? Oh that’s right
Larry Warren they don’t have my real name though
Dot Street They don’t?
Larry Warren No, no
Dot Street Oh,
Larry Warren I’m going into a career in broadcasting. Boy if the government knew it they would blow me away, literally
Dot Street Oh you be careful
Larry Warren Hello
Dot Street I said you be careful
Larry Warren Well I am, this seems as if it is all coming out. They can’t even find my friend Adrian Bustinza.
He’s disappeared. I’m trying to get into a career .If the government want to they could ruin me; they will if my name is used I think I am a dead man.
Dot Street?
Larry Warren O.K.
Dot Street?
Larry Warren O.K.
Dot Street I take it you are still interested in talking to the reporter
Larry Warren Oh, O.k.
Dot Street Can he speak with ya
Larry Warren?
It is just a story, there is no way your name is going to be mentioned or anything like that, he only knows you as Art Wallace. If you’ve got any problems just come back to me o.k.? I’m putting him on now.
Larry Warren Oh I’m O.K, just a little edgy.
Dot Street Well I’m right here as well
Larry Warren Dot, I’m not afraid of the reporter, it’s just that it seems it’s all coming out and I think the government is going to act.
Dot Street Don’t worry we will protect you. You’ve got no problems. Here he comes, his name is Keith.
Dot Street O.K, he is just coming , his name is Keith
Larry Warren Keith, O.K.
Dot Street O.K see you in a minute
Larry Warren O.K
Keith Beabey Hello.
Larry Warren Hello Keith
Keith Beabey Hello ,how are you?
Larry Warren Fine Sir!
Keith Beabey Good, now I will get it absolutely straight from the start, erm, I quite understand the pressures you will feel yourself under and I fully appreciate the position. I’ve spoken to Larry now about 4 times, I think three or four times and he hasn’t told me and I don’t know who you are, and in fact I’m not at all interested because the…….
Larry Warren it’s not that Sir, I have a friend in this and he has disappeared of the face of the Earth
Keith Beebey I know and Larry has been telling me about the situation and I will make it absolutely clear theres no problem about that at all
Keith Beabey All I would really like you to say in your own words is what you recall had happened. It’s as simple as that really. You’ve probably told it lots of times before and I hesitate to have to ask you to go through it again but I wonder if you could for me?
Larry Warren I just, infact I just talked to a reporter based in New York from a London newspaper and I just told him everything
Keith Beabey I wonder if that was……we’ve been trying to get one of our chaps down to Larry because we have only just managed to link up so you may, you may in fact of already been talking to somebody from my own organisation .You might be duplicating things but fair enough lets go ahead.
Keith Beabey where, when, what exactly happened to you, can you remember basically what time was it and things?
Larry Warren I had gone out to my post, my position and we grouped at 10’oclock that evening. I was positioned on post No 18 on the perimeter at Bentwaters.
Keith Beabey I should just say that you were on the perimeter because if I say which post you were on you would be identified wouldn’t you?
Larry Warren that’s right Sir, ha ha ha yes ha ha ha
Keith Beabey Its O.K. it’s just I’m conscious of all that that’s all, you were on the perimeter fence line at Bentwaters.
Larry Warren It would be better if you just asked me leading questions
Keith Beabey Yeh, O.K, O.K, What Date was that, can you remember? Was it the Twent………
Larry Warren you know I have trouble remembering that, I do know it was before New Year’s Day
Keith Beabey Yeh, right that’s it, yes 27th, 28th, 29th right, was it on the occasion of the first sighting or the second
Larry Warren I think it was the Second
Keith Beabey that would make it the 29th in fact
Larry Warren it’s more clear for other people than it is for me
Keith Beabey It’s only clear for me because I have it written down here. December the 29th about 10’oclock in the Evening.
Larry Warren well the incident itself happened about maybe 11.30 closer to 12
Keith Beabey But you were grouped together at 10 p.m. that evening and you were on the perimeter fence at Bentwaters. You were not security patrol was you?
Larry Warren I was just on a post, I just stood still for Seven Hours
Keith Beabey ha ha yes yes, yes. And what happened, it was close to midnight, yes
Larry Warren And Sgt Bustinza arrived with another Officer in a truck. I was told to get into the back of the pick-up, I was relieved by another kid, another individual took my place I was told I was to go with them and we were going to the motor pool, we went to the base motor pool at Bentwaters
Keith Beabey Yes
Larry Warren we were to pick up a light all
Keith Beabey Yes, that’s rather like a searchlight isn’t it?
Larry Warren that’s right, that’s right they had a searchlight on it they were generators. I was told to fill that up with gas. There were two other people doing the same strange things had already started to happen even when we were at the motor pool. The gas wasn’t registering full when they were and I had a bit of a standoff with the officers they were saying they weren’t full when they were. We took these light-alls and we met with a convoy at the gate, about 7 vehicles in total .We drove 6 miles to the east gate at Woodbridge
Keith Beabey Yes, yes, yes.
Larry Warren About half a mile to a mile from that gate we turned down a dirt road and there was a circular area, a staging area where all the vehicles were parked and that supposedly was as far as we could go. All of us had M16 rifles. I checked it in with the armourer, we had no side arms. We took flashlights and we broke up into four man groups.
Keith Beabey Yes.
Larry Warren the light alls were aimed through the woods as searchlights to light our way through the pine forest. We went through the woods for maybe a half mile maybe a mile when we came upon, there was a field in a clearing and I saw a person on the ground crying hysterically
Keith Beabey that was a man?
Larry warren Yes not a medic but I mean somebody was attending to him
Keith Beabey was he er er he was erm, sorry
“Larry Warren He was security police. I went beyond that and we stopped at the clearing in the woods. There was a farm, farmland and a field quite a large field and just inside this I saw many military personnel. At this point I saw some cameras, I think three motion picture cameras, yes and there were communications set up and there were helicopters going by Left and Right Air Rescue helicopters. I could hear transmitions from the helicopters to the ground.
Keith Beabey you were, you were hearing the ground part of the transmition weren’t you?
Larry Warren Yes but I would also hear occasionally when the helicopters would broadcast. They had all channels open, this all happened very quickly.
Keith Beabey Oh, I see, yes.
Larry Warren As I stood there, in front of us was a ……..I should of told you about the yellow light we saw coming into the woods. Anyway before we got there. On the ground just in front us maybe a yard or so in there was this thing on the ground. I only can describe it as an aspirin, maybe like a Plexiglas cut out thing , maybe 20 ft. across and very low to the ground. It didn’t strike me as being Alien or anything er inside…..
Keith Beabey what sort of Colour was it?
Larry Warren It was sort of a Yellowish glow and it glowed from inside, it was like there was a fog inside it was like it was encased in Plexiglas, it was about a foot off the ground, it wasn’t hovering it was a flat the ground. I think I was just in awe. I don’t know how much time but I heard transmitions that here it comes and I think it was from the helicopters er down the field to the right end of the field above the pine trees there I saw a red light
This red light seemed ,it seemed, I couldn’t really see if it was moving but it seemed to get bigger. It approached; it approached us actually very slowly before I knew it there was a red ball right over this thing on the ground. ….We watched Do you want to catch up?
Keith Beabey No its o.k I’m with you. About how many personnel were there?
Larry Warren I counted a good, ok I don’t want to say
Keith Beabey roughly
Larry Warren would have to say at least 100 people. I don’t want to say 2 or 300.Yeh there were quite a few
Keith Beabey what was there general reaction, were they stunned or surprised or?
Larry Warren Not from the higher ranking officers, they remained very calm and at ease it seemed like all the lower ranking people like myself were stunned
Keith Beabey Yes, Yes
Larry Warren they were being observed, their actions, that’s only an impression
Keith Beabey well we’ve got to the stage where this other light that seemed to get bigger and approach very slowly, then it was a Red ball of light right over the object on the ground. What, what was the next stage, what happened then?
Larry Warren as we were watching this Red light burst it seemed to explode but silently into multi colours, it’s very hard to describe but it just burst and it went down onto this Yellow thing on the ground
Keith Beabey Sorry, dispersed into what, dispersed into the sky?
Larry Warren, No, in that right area above this yellow object on the ground. It was beyond our comprehension. Though that’s the only way I can describe it.it did this maybe in 2 seconds or so And right after the light and all that cleared there was a ship on the ground at the same spot as that yellow object. Just like that
Keith Beabey now when you said there was a ship on the ground just what do you mean exactly do you mean by that.
Larry Warren, a , a space craft?
Keith Beabey No , don’t,That is one of the reasons people are reluctant to talk about these things because they are afraid they are going to be made to look foolish but this is not the thing at all. It , It did appear to you to be a space craft in the normal sense of the term. I mean people tend to think if you were to ask someone to draw what they think is a spacecraft they would draw something saucer shaped rather more than rocket shaped for instance, can you tell me what sort of shape it was.
Larry Warren Erm, maybe a triangular shape, it was nothing like a spaceship or a saucer shape anything like that
Keith Beabey a delta shape?
Larry Warren In a way, it did not have a smooth surface, it had wings , a delta, yes that’s right.it looked like it had wings that were bent down towards the ground, but maybe not
Keith Beabey what colour was it?
Larry Warren it was like a silverfish White it just glowed
Keith Beabey did it look like it was standing on legs or was it flat on the ground?
Larry Warren No, I thought it was flat on the ground but the way the ends were turned down that could have been supporting it like landing gear, very possible but I didn’t see any giant tripod or anything like that.
Keith Beabey No and. What sort of size are we talking?
Larry Warren oh , dimensions I am very bad with but you could easily sit 3 or 4 people in it
Keith Beabey did it have any doors or windows or any physical ways of getting in or out of it?
Larry Warren No, I didn’t see any windows or anything and it had a rough surface and er , I didn’t see any doors
Keith Beabey and what happened after that, what’s, what then occurred in the natural sequence of events, what happened?
Larry Warren O.K. we had to break up into 4 man groups and walk towards this object. I went with our Lieutenant. We were ordered by a commander. Major Zickler, chief of the security police. We broke up into 3, 4 man groups and had to circle it, we were only maybe a foot away from it we were very close .As we walked around it , it cast our shadow. I could see our shadows cast onto the side of it
Keith Beabey this would have been light presumably from the light of the searchlight
Larry Warren No, No. The light from the ship made it
Keith Beabey yes, I see
Larry Warren Very strange, like a shadow cast onto it. We would walk and every so often we would stop and our shadows would take another step
Keith Beabey Oh I see
Larry Warren We done this three or four times and when we stopped altogether green light started at the top of the craft and came down, I can only describe it as like a video game but it was on the ship itself
Keith Beabey it shone down did it?
Larry Warren No, No It came right down the side of the craft
Keith Beabey Like a ball of light?
Larry Warren No, not really.it was like a very unsteady light greenish light, not a round light, like you see in a video game. It came down the side right where the heads of the shadows were.
Keith Beabey Yes
Larry Warren and it would come to each head and when it got to the last one. That’s really all I remember. I woke up in my room the next morning oh about 5.30-6 as my roommate was leaving I was still in uniform with mud up to my ankles and he said I was brought in by some people about an hour or so before maybe an hour and half
Keith Beabey so you were brought in about 4 O’clock in the morning?
Larry Warren In that area yes.
Keith Beabey Now erm, just a second, so you would have been out there from 10 O’clock at night until about 3 or 4 the next morning? What were you then debriefed in any way. Yes I guess everybody would have been. What form did that take and who conducted it.
Larry Warren I got a phone call about noon that day and I was told to report to the security office
Keith Beabey Yes
Larry Warren I went out there. There were people there, we had to sign forms we weren’t even allowed to read them over, we just had to sign them on the desk. There were a lot of plain clothes people not military at all. There was a guy with Geiger counter going over us I was in a small group of 7 other people. One person had something that he got at the site a rock or something I don’t remember what it was it got a high reading off the Geiger counter and they took that away from him. After that we were taken into briefings and they explained what happened up to the point we could remember and everyone else apparently had a blackout around my rank
Keith Beabey when you say they explained what had happened what do you mean by that? Did they say well this is what it was or…..
Larry Warren No, no they said , you was involved in something very highly secret, classified and we will be explaining it to you for the next few hours
Keith Beabey lets make a good note of that, we were told that we had been involved in something top secret and classified
Larry Warren Yes, highly classified and they immediately upgraded our security clearance to triple A I believe the clearance was as high as you can get in the military
Keith Beabey alright was there any question of any aliens or thing that might have been, on board that thing. You would of mentioned it I presume?
MASSIVE INTERFERENCE INTERUPTS THE CALL AT THIS TIME
Keith Beabey Hello Hello Hello Hello Hello
THE CALL RESUMES
Keith Beabey I asked you were there any Aliens people or beings on board?
Larry Warren O.K. Yeh, there was, and I heard that from almost everyone that was involved. They were on the ground and they were on the outside of the craft. They said there were 3 but I myself don’t remember seeing them. I remember feeling a presence to this day that they were there and I think that I couldn’t comprehend seeing them and blocked it out of my mind
Keith Beabey you recall yourself having a strong presence about you, and how that show itself did. Did you feel frightened or scared at all?
Larry Warren No, No I did not feel scared at all, I think its shock
Keith Beabey what other things were said about the beings, were they described to you by anybody?
Larry Warren nobody ever went into it too much, I think it was all too much.
Keith Beabey don’t you remember them at all?
Larry Warren they were???????????
Keith Beabey now there was some film taken wasn’t there? Right at the beginning you mentioned there was some film taken. Do you know what happened to that film?
Larry Warren Yes I do, It was put into a vault in a security area, I even know someone who supposedly took some of that film, I have lost track of him.
Keith Beabey Yes, I think I’ve heard about that. And this film was put into a security vault on the base
Larry Warren another security policeman also had a camera with him at that time. I’ve also heard rumours about a tape, but I don’t know anything about that
Keith Beabey Well I will tell you now, there was a tape, it was a tape recorder that was held by Halt, Colonel Halt and he spoke into this tape because he used that tape to write his memorandum. So that checks out a bit.
Larry Warren O.K
Keith Beabey So that checks out a bit
Larry Warren I never knew actually anyone had a tape recorder. I knew another security policeman who had a camera. The very next day they went up to his room and took the camera film
Keith Beabey OIC
Larry Warren He had a nervous breakdown anyway hahahaha
Keith Beabey I’m not surprised ha ha .What happened, there were two craft weren’t there believe, But you only recall seeing the one
Larry Warren I must of only ben there for only one, all these different things
Keith Beabey you don’t remember what
Larry Warren A friend of mine Steve La Plume he’s in Florida now was involved in another incident over there where they saw these ships flying, over flying the base and all the officers responded to it. He was involved with that and it was a month after what happened to me
Keith Beabey what happened, have you any idea what happened to the craft once it had landed, I mean once it was there. I mean, you blacked out, do you know had you learnt what might of happened to it
Larry Warren No but we, I think I saw it again the next day the day after that
Keith Beabey Under what circumstances was that?
Larry Warren We were taken to an underground facility on the base at Bentwaters we were shown very high technology equipment. I think I was in a drugged state at that point. I lost 3 days of my time over there but other people have verified, they said I was on leave. We were taken to another room, well not a room a large area and this craft was down below us.
Keith Beabey was it under the ground?
Larry Warren yes, on Bentwaters, if it wasn’t that one, it was one very similar
Keith Beabey what did it look like then, can you remember?
Larry Warren well it was all dark but there was a light shining on to it, like the power was off or whatever. We were allowed to observe that only for a short time
Keith Beabey How many of you were allowed to see that and what?
Larry Warren About 6 or 7 people
Keith Beabey why were you taken down there?
Larry Warren I don’t know
Keith Beabey Very intriguing isn’t it, really
Larry Warren For Years I’ve been trying to push this thing, I’ve been bagging it up and another friend of mine he didn’t even get out of the air force, they wouldn’t let him out
Keith Beabey you’ve left the air force now haven’t you? What, what sorry
Larry Warren Honourably
Keith Beabey you resigned?
Larry Warren I got out on a …..They messed up my job, they tried to pull a little fast one on me
Keith Beabey so did you resign? And after how long, how long had you been in
Larry Warren I was in for a Year
Keith Beabey and what was your rank when this incident took place?
Larry Warren Airman 1st Class
Keith Beabey and I suppose too that you have what we have here the equivalent of the official secrets act. Do they call it the Official secrets act with you?
Larry Warren Yes,
Keith Beabey pardon, yes?
Larry Warren I didn’t hear what you said
Keith Beabey what’s the title of your secrets act over there, what’s it called?
Larry Warren Erm,
Keith Beabey you would of signed a secrets act
Larry Warren I signed
Keith Beabey Yes I think they would be .Did it last long, how long did it last for, how many Years does it cover you?
Larry Warren The security clearance?
Keith Beabey Now that’s what I gathered, that’s what I gathered
Larry Warren I rang my mother just after the incident .I told her from a British public telephone. The phone got cut off. It got cut off mid-conversation. I called the operator but she said you were cut off at Bentwaters. About an hour and a half, two hours later they said we told you not to talk about it to anyone. I said I didn’t and they played me the tape on reel to reel. They fined me $300, yeh. Our lives were threatened.
Keith Beabey Really?
Larry Warren By plain clothes men they explained that the incident you went through we are not at liberty to tell you much about. The one thing we have, you are getting out of here and no one will ever believe you. And if you make our life difficult, bullets are cheap
Keith Beabey Yeh? Do you think it was an idle threat, do you think it was a threat to shut up those who may have been thinking about talking?
Larry Warren Right after that they were gone, I don’t know what happened to them
I don’t know, I have had my phone tapped, I had a friend who worked for the Bell telephone company .he answered the phone one night he said you’ve got a tap on your phone.
Keith Beabey Well I Think, well I know mine is, not here but at home. This is it. Do you know the name of the journalist who saw you today?
Larry Warren Erm, no I don’t Larry would know. They came up from New York; they are from the London office
Keith Beabey well it sounds like
Larry Warren if you say their names I might know it
Keith Beabey I don’t know them, when I say they are my colleagues they work for the same organisation as I do
I’m very grateful thank you. Dots here, I think she wants a word with you, she says she does.be assured on the confidentiality on this won’t you, I’m grateful, it could help you know
Larry Warren My God it did happen
Keith Beabey there are too many pieces that fit in. Thank you very much indeed, hang on a minute
Dot Street Hello love ( the call continues ,Warren says to let him know if any other reporters want to speak to him )
News of the World in “Left At East Gate” Peter Robbins/Larry Warren
Warrens claim that “ He never ever spoke to the News of the World” is even more incredible when you consider what is said in Larry Warrens and Peter Robbins own book “ Left at East Gate” here I will quote from their book
Pages 100 and 101,
“ The end of September led to more meetings with Fawcett. He tape recorded my account again, and when I asked him why, he said he’d lost the first one. Dot Street called me from England again, but I remained guarded. Also calling from the U.K. that week was Keith Beabey, a reporter with the News of the World, a tabloid with the largest circulation in Britain”.
Sunday night 2nd October, Greenwood called to say the News of the World had broken the story in England. Their front- page headline read “UFO Lands in Suffolk: And That’s Official”
I was shocked. Barry had found some copies of the paper in Boston and was sending one to me. The story included a copy of the Halt document and statements by Art Wallace, distorted beyond belief. There was also a copy of my drawing of the craft and A LARGE PHOTO OF Gordon Williams: He had verified the landing, but stated that he himself was not involved! Coverage continued onto the next page and included a picture of Fawcett, along with his supporting statements.
Page 102, In November , we found out that Brenda Butler and Dot Street had sold the Halt document to the News of the World for two thousand pounds- nearly five grand here. CAUS, solely responsible for obtaining the document with the information I provided, had sent them the copy gratis solely to assist in their research. After that, we broke off all contact with them.
Page 107 Keith Beabey reports: The Colonel’s report confirms the strange events in the forest that night, but lacks the eyewitness detail given to us by Art Wallace, a USAF Security Policeman, now back in America as a civilian. He was sent to the site in a convoy of military vehicles from nearby Bentwaters and describes what he saw: “ We looked up in the sky and saw a red ball of light coming towards us from the trees. There was no noise, no sound at all, we were all mesmerized. All of a sudden, the red light exploded. The place was filled with an explosion of colours, all kinds of colours. We were momentarily blinded and when the colours died down, there was a machine”
Art said there were beings in the craft, but he could not see them as he was on the wrong side.” But others did, they said there were three, wearing silver suits.”
Art Wallace – we have changed his name for security reasons-tells his story on page 3 today
Bob Smith’s article comes in from New York City and headlines page 3. He has just interviewed Art Wallace by telephone
UFO LANDS IN SUFFOLK: The Airman’s story
The forest exploded with blinding light. The first thought to penetrate U.S Airman Art Wallace’s brain as he saw Britain’s first authenticated UFO landing was that he was seeing something from Star Wars. To Art, the machine that landed silently in a forest in an explosion of red light looked like the spaceship from the movie.
He told me “It appeared to have a triangular shape and was covered with pipes and valves and things. It was about 20ft across the bottom with sloping sides up to the top 12ft to 15ft high…certainly big enough to handle people.”
Art’s rendezvous with the unbelievable came in the early hours of December 27th, 1980, after he was ordered into a jeep at R.A.F Bentwaters, Suffolk where he was a security guard.
Pages 108 and 109 The jeep drove in convoy towards nearby R.A.F Woodbridge, the pulled up on the edge of lonely Tangham Wood, said Art.” We were all told to hand in our weapons. I had a M16 rifle. Then we took lights into the woods. Amazing things seemed to happen even then. I noticed animals running in panic from the forest. Fuel gauges on vehicles registered empty when we knew they were full. As we approached a clearing we could see some very bright lights. We were a bit shook up to come across a medic treating one of our security police who had appeared to broken down and was crying.
“The clearing was full of R.A.F and U.S.A.F security people……about 200 of them. Several movie cameras had been set up and movie cameras had been set up and choppers were flying above. Then we saw an object it appeared to be resting on the ground and looked like a giant aspirin. It was transparent. We were in awe, never having seen anything like this. Nearby there was an airman carrying a radio. Suddenly we heard a chopper pilot telling him, here it comes”
“We looked up and saw a red ball of light coming towards us from over the trees. In the distance, it looked about 100ft high and appeared to be coming in to land .It came down right over the transparent object on the ground. There was no sound at all. We were all mesmerised .All of a sudden, the red light exploded. The place was filled with an explosion of all kinds of colours. We were blinded. When the colours died down we looked again and there was a machine there. A Captain motioned us to approach the ship. We walked up close enough to touch it. It was giving off a metallic bluish light. There were about three groups of four security men circling the thing. Could see our shadows on the craft as we walked, they moved. But when we stopped the shadows seemed to take another pace, it was weird.
Suddenly a green light came on top of the spaceship it moved down the side of the craft until it reached our heads then bounced from one to the other along the side, just like in a video game.
Then I realised the vehicle was inhabited. There were beings aboard. I didn’t see them because I was on the other side of the craft, but others did. They said there were three and they were wearing silver suits, I had a strange feeling and seemed to black out. The next thing I knew it was 5a.m and I was waking up, lying half across my bunk, I still had my uniform on and was up to my knees in mud”.
“To this day I don’t know how I got back to the barracks, or what happened after I saw the green light bounce of our shadows. My roommate said I had been brought into the room by some people, he didn’t know who, and just dumped on the bed.
Later that day, myself and some of the guys who had been at the field were given the once-over with a Geiger counter but we were never told why or what the results were.
“We were all called to the base security office at Bentwaters and told what we’d seen had been classified top secret. Several civilians were doing all the talking. We took them for C.I.A. They said if ever we told the story, no one would believe us. One guy added that if we did talk, then bullets were cheap. I thought “ This guy is actually threatening our lives, he obviously means it
“Looking back ,the one thing that bothers me is that the officers and civilians present seemed to know all about it, they weren’t all that surprised”
Art Wallace ,that isn’t his real name, was honourably discharged from the U.S.A.F in June,1981.He is now aged 22. If named, he could be jailed for saying what he saw.
Page 120 and 121 , 6 November 1983
The News of the World runs an article on the incident under what is surely the most lurid headline to date “Bug-Eyed Alien Greets Air Chief” Relative to Art Wallace, the update is a stew of inaccuracies and distortions:
Amazing new facts about the night a UFO came to Britain have been revealed by the U.S serviceman who saw the craft land.
The secrets were locked away in 22-year old Art Wallace’s mind. But following hypnosis, he has now given us:
A full description of the aliens who manned the ship;
Details of how a senior American officer actually communicated with one of the beings;
Evidence that the U.S. Air Force may have helped repair the damaged craft.
…..Since Wallace-now back in the U.S-revealed to us what he saw that terrifying night, his life has been threatened.
Recently, he received a phone call at his home and an unidentified man told him, “If you don’t shut your mouth then it will be shut for you “
This follows a frightening meeting he had with several men he believes were from the C.I.A, during which he was warned “ Bullets are cheap”
During his session with two hypnotists, Wallace….not only confirmed his original story but made some astonishing new revelations. He now says he remembers seeing a face to face meeting between one of the aliens and the officer who was in charge of the U.S base. The alien was between three and four feet tall, with a very large head and huge saucer like eyes. . .It appeared to have greyish skin and was wearing what looked like a dark jumpsuit and the outline of its figure glowed.
Wallace was unable to hear any voices as Wing Commander, now Brigadier General, Gordon Williams and the being communicated with much hand waving and pointing at the strange triangular craft. . . The four aliens appeared to be floating just above the surface of the ground and at one point became alarmed and formed themselves into a defensive line. One of them floated over the UFO near to where Wallace was standing and he blacked out.The next thing he remembers, he was back in his barracks.
Wallace believes the craft needed repairs after it hit a tree.
He was told later by some of his pals on the base that a U.S transport plane flew in from Germany just hours after the UFO landed, and was immediately was surrounded by armed military police. A package from the plane was put in a jeep which then drove off towards the landing site at Tangham Wood. Later that day ,the craft is gone.
The base’s deputy commander Lt. Charles Halt, admits there is “ one hell of a lot more to come out
Discrepancies in LAEG and what he told news of the world reporter Keith Beabey
In LAEG larry says the event took place on the 28/29th Dec he says that earlier in the day he went into Ipswich to buy an amplifier and haggled for hours ( that would be a Sunday ) . the store he quotes Axe music Christchurch street I can find no records of and in any case it would not of been open on a Sunday as in 1980 Sunday trading was strictly forbidden and was so until the Sunday trading act was changed in 1994
In the news of the world interview he says he gassed up the light all and had a stand-off with an officer but in LAEG he says Bustinza filled it with gas, but the captain said it was not full and an argument ensued.
In LAEG he says he joined 40 odd other men in the field in the interview at least 100.
In LAEG pg 46 “The cameras continued to roll, suddenly a staff car arrived at the end of the trail, Col Gordon Williams and other staff officers got out and spoke with officers already on site. Most of them were not in uniform and some including Williams appeared to have been pulled from some official function or party”
It’s impossible to get a staff car or any vehicle anywhere near the forest side of Capel Green
In the News of the World interview he says there were beings but he never saw them because he was on the wrong side of the craft but others did
but in LAEG written 14 yrs. later he says
“Bustinza asked under his breath” Can you see them?”I saw their eyes and knew then they were definitely not kids. All personnel seemed in a trance and just watched them. The glow had faded a bit, so their features were easier to see.The one light then broke into three spate glowing cylinders, each contained what appeared to be a living creature.
They were small, about three to four feet tall and somewhat ghostlike in appearance.They had large heads and catlike black eyes.I could not see other facial features.They were not human at all but I was not frightened. Each wore very bright, almost silvery clothing. “
So here he is mirroring what was reported by Bob Smith US reporter from the news of the world who wrote the article on page 3 “ An Airmans Story “ that Warren claims was distorted beyond belief but contradicts what he told Keith Beabey.
In the News of the World article Warren says that after the green light bounced of his shadows head he blacked out but in LAEG pg 47 he says
“Our group was told to return to the trucks and wait, The sergeant gave me a pat on the back as I turned to look away. Once again looking to my right , I saw the old knotted oak and burned the image in my mind.I stepped over the wire fence, up the slight incline, and took a last look at the object and the entities, they were where I had last seen them. Commander Williams was conversing with the other officers, I then turned away, the thorns once again ripping at my pants.
During the walk back to the trucks we were quiet. There were many strange lights flying through the trees, and beams of blue light shooting from the night sky to the ground, I felt we were being watched”
Warren then goes on to describe his ride back to CSC saying his truck was the first to leave the area. He says he heard amazing things had gone on in the parking area as well.
He says he got back to CSC at 4.30 then joined another group from his flight in the lounge to drink coffee. He then says as A flight arrived for the day shift he caught a police bus back t, went straight to his room and collapsed on the floor”
This story has changed again since the making of UFO’s declassified, Red Alert, where John Burroughs says he could not remember events after being in the field at Capel Green with Bustinza. Bustinza also said he had memory problems from that moment on, Larry Warren is now saying he can’t remember from leaving the field either. It doesn’t add up. In arecent radio show he tells John that when he left the field he saw John Burroughs at the staging area, “ I saw you John “ he says “ Couldn’t miss you!”
©Ronnie Dugdale
April 2017 conversation between John Burroughs and Adrian Bustinza.
