WEBVTT - Boxing Day, 1980 0:00:02.240 --> 0:00:04.760 Strange Arrivals is a production of I Heart three D 0:00:04.880 --> 0:00:14.560 audio for full exposure, listen with headphones. What do you 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:17.520 think of when I say the words Area fifty one, 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:23.279 I think of aliens and government cover up. I think aliens, 0:00:23.400 --> 0:00:30.000 I think military. I think government cast site for secret 0:00:30.040 --> 0:00:35.240 aircraft projects where they're also might be UFOs being stashed 0:00:35.320 --> 0:00:40.080 after US who crash in the United States secret place 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:44.920 the government hypes things. There was this big thing. I 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:46.680 don't know if it was last year or the year before, 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:48.839 but there's this whole thing about it. Area do you 0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:53.080 Want Raid? The military has kind of confirmed that there's 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:55.640 top secret stuff going on there, just with how they've 0:00:55.680 --> 0:00:59.080 reacted to the people trying to storm Areas fifty one 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:01.360 and stuff like that. Admit it pretty clear that they 0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:06.119 don't want anybody there for at this point decades. There's 0:01:06.200 --> 0:01:12.920 been various references till UFOs and creatures that were found there. 0:01:16.800 --> 0:01:20.800 Even if you have no interest in UFOs or government conspiracies, 0:01:21.200 --> 0:01:25.039 you know about Area fifty one. It's the secret base 0:01:25.160 --> 0:01:30.360 where the government supposedly houses crashed UFOs. It's where advanced 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:35.040 alien technology is used to create aircraft whose capabilities defy 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:38.280 the laws of physics as we know them, and it's 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:43.720 evidence of a profound government conspiracy. Chris Carter had these 0:01:43.720 --> 0:01:47.880 cultural understandings in mind when he created the X files. 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:52.880 We took a lot of what people knew about aliens 0:01:53.080 --> 0:01:58.600 or believed about aliens and UFOs, extraterrestrials and the government conspiracy. 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:03.480 And there was a certain fascination with Roswell with areat one. 0:02:04.200 --> 0:02:09.040 They were part of the extraterrestrial alien abduction UFO lore. 0:02:10.160 --> 0:02:13.080 So how do you know about Area fifty one? Do 0:02:13.160 --> 0:02:15.880 you remember when you first heard about it, when you 0:02:15.960 --> 0:02:19.920 heard about it again and again. It's not from the 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:25.280 government until recently. The government hasn't said anything official about 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:29.680 UFOs since nineteen sixty nine. What we think we know 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:35.000 about UFOs didn't come from any authoritative source. Instead, our 0:02:35.120 --> 0:02:39.560 understanding comes from unofficial sources within the culture. It is 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:44.080 a kind of modern folklore. Now, folklore might make you 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:47.440 think of myths or fairy tales or things that aren't true, 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:52.640 but that's not necessarily the case. Folklore is just knowledge 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:56.840 that it is transmitted through non formal means, like jokes 0:02:56.960 --> 0:03:02.160 or urban legends or rumors. Whether that knowledge represents something 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:06.360 real or not. Is almost beside the point. What is 0:03:06.400 --> 0:03:10.120 important is how that information is created and why it 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:15.240 catches on. On this season of Strange Arrivals, we'll look 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:19.760 at how that cultural understanding of UFOs evolved, beginning with 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:23.880 the case known as Britain's Roswell, a series of encounters 0:03:23.919 --> 0:03:27.639 that stretched over three nights. We'll look at the initial 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:31.560 story of the encounters, what the explanations might be, and 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:34.880 then how the accounts changed and grew after the fact, 0:03:36.320 --> 0:03:41.080 zooming out. How was our understanding of UFOs formed beginning 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:44.360 in the late nineteen forties, and how does it continue 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:46.800 to influence the way we look at strange things in 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:53.240 the sky. I'm Toby Ball and this is Strange Arrivals 0:04:11.960 --> 0:04:19.479 Episode one Boxing Day A variety of entertainment, but Christmas 0:04:19.560 --> 0:04:24.960 comedy with Little and Large Yard Wild to Christmas Show 0:04:25.120 --> 0:04:27.279 this year she set fire to the turkey and stuff 0:04:27.320 --> 0:04:31.800 the Christmas pudding, Christmas Magic contlusion with All Daniels. Now 0:04:31.800 --> 0:04:34.440 we've got all these practice from the Christmas tree and 0:04:34.680 --> 0:04:38.000 it's a festive blanket event. Oh look the place scattered 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:42.040 with empty boxes of entertainment for Christmas with BBC One 0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:51.000 Christmas Night at Royal Air Force bent Waters in Air 0:04:51.040 --> 0:04:54.599 Base seventy five miles northeast of London on the North 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:58.960 Sea coast. R A F. Bent Waters was technically a 0:04:59.000 --> 0:05:02.200 British base, but since World War Two had been under 0:05:02.240 --> 0:05:06.240 the control of the U. S Air Force. Three miles 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:09.840 from Bentwaters was another Royal Air Force based under US 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:15.280 control called R A F. Woodbridge. Surrounding these bases was 0:05:15.320 --> 0:05:19.279 a tract of English land called Randols from Forest, and 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:21.919 it was on this tract of land that the sidings 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:25.680 known as Britain's Roswell occurred. There were a number of 0:05:25.680 --> 0:05:28.760 witnesses to these events, but we will hear from the 0:05:28.839 --> 0:05:32.880 three who had the most direct experiences. Two of them 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:36.320 in this episode. Well, it came on duty. It was 0:05:36.400 --> 0:05:40.640 Christmas night. It's kind of a late back night. They 0:05:40.640 --> 0:05:44.880 were actually playing some Christmas songs on the radio and 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:49.120 one of the frequencies. The story of the first night 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:54.600 starts with John Burrows. My name is John Burrows, retired 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:57.440 United States Air Force. I was involved in an incident 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:02.000 in that was at our fl Honors. I was a 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:04.840 law enforcement so I was like a city cop. So 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:10.080 I was stationed there. From we worked twenty seven about 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:13.719 oh three hundred on which his Boxing day in the UK. 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:17.920 While patrol, I was riding with my supervisor. Just got 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:21.160 to the base and he wanted to ride around for 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:23.440 a little bit. We were out doing some checks and 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:25.520 one of the checks was going down by the East Gate. 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:28.200 We were driving down towards the East Gate when he 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:32.000 saw something strange in the sky. Wanted for the forest. 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:35.279 Later was quoted as saying it landed and didn't crashed. 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:38.160 Because I had been stationed there for almost two years, 0:06:38.400 --> 0:06:40.640 he got my attention and asked me if i'd say 0:06:40.680 --> 0:06:44.359 anything like that down there in that vicinity. And I 0:06:44.440 --> 0:06:46.680 looked at what he was looking at and they said no. 0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:51.600 There was like a coloring in the forest like orange 0:06:51.640 --> 0:06:58.200 is reddish, like a white light. Burrows Supervisor Sergeant Bud 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:02.720 Stephens decided that they needed to investigate this further. This 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:06.719 meant leaving the base. He decided that we were going 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:08.280 to open up the gate, go down to the end 0:07:08.279 --> 0:07:10.760 of the road where there was a t whether or 0:07:10.800 --> 0:07:12.600 you were right there where you make a left or 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:14.960 right left to go to Bell Waters, and then the 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:19.080 forest was right across the road. Leaving the base was 0:07:19.160 --> 0:07:22.679 not a decision to be made lightly once they stepped 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:26.840 foot off base, they were on English land. As we 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:29.520 will see, it can be a very big deal to 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:34.800 have US military acting on English territory without permission. On 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:39.360 this night, they left the base, so he drove down 0:07:39.520 --> 0:07:42.440 to the t. He did like a U turn, so 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:45.640 the vehicle was partially handing back towards the gate. I 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:48.280 opened my door. When I opened the door, you can 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:50.760 see the light was a white light. There was advancing 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:54.760 towards us. There was a statical electricity there. At that point, 0:07:54.840 --> 0:07:56.640 both in the and I decided it was time to 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:58.280 get back on the base because no one knew we 0:07:58.280 --> 0:08:01.080 were off base and hall and what was going on. 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:04.680 We went out to the gate, called it in the 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:07.040 It was a direct line to the law enforcement desks. 0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:11.040 The death sergeant at the desk, I played some practical 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:14.480 jokes on him, so he actually didn't totally believe me. 0:08:14.960 --> 0:08:18.360 But Stephans got on the phone and reinforce it. But 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:22.400 the desk sergeant still wasn't sure, so he transferred the 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:28.800 call to Central Security Control or CSC. We went ahead 0:08:28.840 --> 0:08:31.000 and briefed c SC on what was going on. At 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:34.160 that point. They said the security supervisor down to the 0:08:34.240 --> 0:08:38.000 gate that would have been Sergeant Peniston. My name is 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:43.120 Jim Peniston the United States Thereforce. Retired Sergeant Jim Peniston 0:08:43.640 --> 0:08:48.080 is the second of the main witnesses. I was assigned 0:08:48.160 --> 0:08:52.080 as a security police flight chief. We worked on the 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:55.800 main operating base, which was pent Waters, but that night 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:58.319 I was working as flight chief over a Wooden Reach base. 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:02.640 My job was the protection of all the priority BE 0:09:02.960 --> 0:09:07.400 and C resources over there, and also the base personnel 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:13.040 and their property. And I doing a parimeter lighting check 0:09:13.640 --> 0:09:17.760 for the base, which ones burned out. Really mundane stuff. 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:22.199 I completed all that, I met up on starte with 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:26.400 McCulley at the chow hall on the base. This is 0:09:26.400 --> 0:09:32.120 around twelve o'clock midnight. As we'll see, the eyewitness stories 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:36.160 are not always consistent. To make the narrative easier to follow, 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:39.480 will start by looking at the basics of the story, 0:09:39.720 --> 0:09:43.840 the things they agree on. We'll examine the differences later. 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:48.120 For now, though, it's important to note that Burrows and 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:52.240 Peniston disagree about a very important and fundamental part of 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:57.360 the story, the timing of events. Burrows talks about the 0:09:57.400 --> 0:10:01.920 sighting beginning around three in the morning. Peniston puts it 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:04.800 at midnight. I promise we'll take a look at why 0:10:04.840 --> 0:10:08.560 this matters later in the season. But Burrows's timing is 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:13.800 consistent with other statements given at the time, So for clarity, 0:10:14.000 --> 0:10:19.000 we'll use Brows's timeline, and that means when Penniston talks 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:22.240 about being at the chow hall at midnight, we're actually 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:27.599 talking about three am. Saron Colley says, you got a 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:31.120 call the Calle Central Security Control and I said, okay, 0:10:31.160 --> 0:10:33.720 I missed it and went over to our direct lyne 0:10:33.760 --> 0:10:36.720 there and I said what's going on? And they said 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:38.840 you need to go out to the East Gate immediately, 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:43.600 go code to code to ment, proceed with lights on 0:10:43.840 --> 0:10:48.319 but no sirens. This indicated that there was some urgency 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:53.760 to the situation. Penniston asked, what was going on? So 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:55.800 will you be briefed after you get out there? Which 0:10:55.880 --> 0:11:00.200 was odd. So it's about a five minute drive going, 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:04.439 you know. I get out there at the East skate 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:09.439 area and started Bud Stephens, he's a law enforcement supervisor. 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:13.280 I contact him. I said, what's going on? Bud? He 0:11:13.400 --> 0:11:17.400 started pointing over towards Rendissrom Forest and I said, oh, 0:11:17.559 --> 0:11:20.840 what's what's sad over there? I'm trying to figure out 0:11:20.920 --> 0:11:23.960 what it is and he's not telling me. You could 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:29.760 see uh, glowing multicolored lights and white light over the 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:34.400 canopy of the forest. Peniston thought that the most likely 0:11:34.480 --> 0:11:38.040 explanation was a plane crash. He'd seen a number in 0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:41.920 his career. I says, you know, do you hear crash 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:45.600 or you know, do the land or he said landed. 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:49.440 That's that's impossible because the forest, all the trees are 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:52.240 about five to six ft apart, so there's nothing that 0:11:52.280 --> 0:11:57.000 can survive a landing out there. Despite this strange comment 0:11:57.080 --> 0:12:01.800 from Stephens, Peniston still figured it was probably an airplane crash, 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:04.480 and he used the direct phone line at the East 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:08.120 gate to call back to Central Security Control on base. 0:12:10.320 --> 0:12:12.839 And so I'm on the phone with Darting Coffee, and 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:16.040 when you make a direct call to Central Security Control, 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:18.720 you have like five people on the line at the time, 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:23.080 and they're all doing different functions. I was talking to 0:12:23.320 --> 0:12:26.280 a starting channel of the flight sergeant and I was 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:30.199 telling about what I was observing, and the starting Coffee 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:35.400 comes back online and says, yeah, I've contacted Eastern radar, 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:40.800 London radar and Bentwater's radar and we have lost the 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:43.960 contact with the Bogie and he says over Woodbridge Base. 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:47.760 That means that they didn't have a transponder on it. 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:52.160 It is probably military and he said about fifteen minutes ago. 0:12:53.000 --> 0:12:56.720 So that created the emergency situation along at my visual 0:12:56.800 --> 0:13:01.480 sighting that we had a possible aircraft down. With the 0:13:01.520 --> 0:13:06.480 emergency condition existed, that gave us rights under the Status 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:10.960 of Forces agreement to deploye off base and to investigate 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:15.040 and to secure the crash site. So I took myself 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:19.200 a security airman and a law enforcement airmand with me. 0:13:20.440 --> 0:13:24.520 The security airmen was named Ed Caban Sag. The law 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:29.080 enforcement airmen was John Burrows. There was no need to 0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:32.960 take weapons off base for an aircraft crash. The British 0:13:33.040 --> 0:13:36.000 were very sensitive about automatic weapons and stuff like that. 0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:42.040 Being off base airmen John Burrows. We left our weapons 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:44.600 with Stephens, who didn't want to go in the first 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:47.760 place until we watched our weapons, and we proceeded off 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:53.439 based into the forest. So while Burrows is supervisor, Bud 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:58.160 Stephens stayed back with the other men's weapons. Peniston, Burrows 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:01.680 and Caban Sag piled into a jeep and drove towards 0:14:01.679 --> 0:14:06.959 the lights, expecting to come across a downed plane when 0:14:07.040 --> 0:14:09.400 as far as I could with my c J five 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:14.040 jeep that we had. That's where I set the ANSER 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:19.480 control point up aermon combands after the security Aermond. The 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:23.760 only other person had a radio interface radio was him, 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:26.400 so I set him up as an injury controller. I 0:14:26.480 --> 0:14:28.800 was going to proceed to the actual crash site with 0:14:29.240 --> 0:14:34.200 the law enforcement aermind Airmand Burrows. At that time, I 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:36.560 was noticing I was having a breakup of my radio, 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:40.280 which was impossible because we had repeaters all over the basis. 0:14:40.400 --> 0:14:43.760 There's no way that we could have a radio problem, 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:47.160 but I was having him. So I told Cabanza, for 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:50.720 any recent control center doesn't read what I'm saying or 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:52.800 something like that, I want you to relay the information. 0:14:52.880 --> 0:14:56.640 He said he'd do that, so, leaving Caban sag behind, 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:01.360 Penniston and Brows proceeded further into the forest towards the light. 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:21.640 Strange arrivals will return in a moment. We've heard John 0:15:21.680 --> 0:15:25.080 Burrows and Jim Peniston tell us their version of what 0:15:25.280 --> 0:15:29.640 led up to their encounter in the forest. Afterward, several 0:15:29.640 --> 0:15:34.160 of the witnesses, including Burrows and Peniston, wrote statements to 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:37.760 describe what had happened that night. We will have actors 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:41.200 read from those statements where they helped to clarify the story. 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:46.480 This is from burrows handwritten statement. We crossed the small 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:50.239 open field that led into where the lights were coming from, 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:52.600 and as we were coming into the trees, there were 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:56.920 strange noises like a woman screaming. Also, the woods lit 0:15:57.040 --> 0:15:59.440 up and you could hear the fire animals making a 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:02.560 lot of noises, and there was a lot of movement 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:08.160 in the woods again Sergeant Jim Peniston. And so we 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:11.480 get to the forest edge and I'm seeing the multicolored 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:15.000 lights has pretty much disappeared. I'm seeing mainly a white 0:16:15.080 --> 0:16:18.920 light coming out from behind the trees. I entered the 0:16:19.080 --> 0:16:24.520 forest and I started feeling different physical sensations, like I 0:16:24.520 --> 0:16:27.400 could feel static electricity on my face and my hair 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:32.400 and my clothes, and that was unusual. I was finding 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:37.400 my movements labored. It would be like walking through a 0:16:37.440 --> 0:16:42.640 pool water that that was wasty. They struggled to get 0:16:42.680 --> 0:16:47.320 to a low embankment, which Burrows refers to as a berm. 0:16:47.520 --> 0:16:49.760 As we came up on the top of the berm, 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:53.240 there was bright lights right in front of us. When 0:16:53.280 --> 0:16:56.160 we saw the lights, we all hit the ground, and 0:16:56.520 --> 0:16:59.520 whatever it was, it was really bright, dimmed down a 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:02.640 little bit, and all I remember was the lights dimming 0:17:02.720 --> 0:17:08.360 down and going bright again. Burrows and Peniston have very 0:17:08.400 --> 0:17:12.680 different stories about what happened next. We'll come back to 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:17.120 Peniston's account later in this season. Burrows account is very brief. 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:21.320 According to him, shortly after they came upon it, the 0:17:21.440 --> 0:17:25.680 light began to retreat from them. Once the lights began 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:31.040 moving again, their accounts basically line up. Here's another passage 0:17:31.040 --> 0:17:35.679 from Burrows's written account, read by an actor. Whatever it was. 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:38.439 After a minute or two, we got up and moved 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:41.399 into the trees, and the lights moved out into the 0:17:41.400 --> 0:17:46.320 open field. Burrows handwrote his statement describing the events of 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:52.680 this night. Peniston's account was typed. Strangely, Peniston says that 0:17:52.720 --> 0:17:56.639 he didn't even write the statement himself. He says that 0:17:56.760 --> 0:18:00.600 he reported to Central Security Control after the event and 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:04.680 was handed a typed sheet. It was the official story. 0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:07.720 He says he was told that this was his account. 0:18:08.520 --> 0:18:12.000 He gave it a quick read, so I read through it. 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:15.480 Times are right, the information is right. I gave it 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:20.359 back to him. Peniston says the document was created based 0:18:20.400 --> 0:18:26.000 on his radio transmissions during the incident. Apparently, even though 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:29.639 he was unable to receive transmissions at the time, his 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:34.800 words got back to base. Here from his typed statement, 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:39.639 he describes the craft leaving the forest. It was definitely 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:43.160 mechanical in nature. This is the closest point that I 0:18:43.240 --> 0:18:46.560 was near the object at any point. We then proceeded 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:49.560 after it. It moved in a zig zagging manner back 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:53.639 through the woods, then lost sight of it again. Peniston 0:18:53.720 --> 0:18:56.159 will have much more to say about this part of 0:18:56.160 --> 0:19:00.320 the encounter later in the season. It's important to note 0:19:00.520 --> 0:19:04.520 that Burrows says that he never actually saw a physical craft. 0:19:05.000 --> 0:19:08.400 He just saw lights, though he doesn't discount the idea 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:14.359 that an actual craft was the source. At that point 0:19:14.400 --> 0:19:19.040 in time, I was pretty much trying to regain some 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:22.879 sense of what was going on, and the airman was 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:26.520 twenty ft back to my right. It was beside me 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:31.119 at this point, and he's all excited. He's talking about 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:36.240 John Burrows. He says that he sees a craft, which 0:19:36.320 --> 0:19:38.840 was impossible to see any craft at that point because 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:44.720 the woods so thick, and he took off, and so 0:19:45.320 --> 0:19:48.480 I immediately started following because we had, you know, we 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:52.840 have to maintain a team concept, which was pretty hard 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:57.720 to do. The lights are you know, you could maybe 0:19:57.760 --> 0:20:00.240 say object or whatever because the lights. But know, as 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:03.520 far as the craft, he called it a craft. I'm 0:20:03.560 --> 0:20:06.119 not saying it wasn't. I'm just saying that's what what 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:09.919 I'm calling. I have no idea what it was. What 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:14.320 we did then was we got up and we could 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:16.720 see it. We were at the edge of the forest 0:20:17.040 --> 0:20:20.800 before a field started a farmer's field. Then there were 0:20:20.800 --> 0:20:25.200 some cottages farther down into the field. So we saw 0:20:25.280 --> 0:20:27.919 something strange down by one of the houses of cottages 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:31.080 and we climbed over the fence, went through the field 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:37.200 and whatever it was was gone again. He was off 0:20:37.200 --> 0:20:41.800 with a good pace and we maybe went maybe fifty 0:20:41.880 --> 0:20:45.879 sixty yards. I had to jump to fences, one barbed 0:20:45.880 --> 0:20:49.719 wa We got to a farmer's field and chasing him 0:20:49.760 --> 0:20:51.720 and I fall down two or three times in the 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:55.359 middle of this farmer's field. I was wet, I was cold, 0:20:55.680 --> 0:21:00.280 I was exhausted. It was the beginning of winter. A 0:21:00.359 --> 0:21:04.520 layer of ice had formed over the field. Penniston got 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:08.160 past the farmers houses and caught up with Burrows, who 0:21:08.240 --> 0:21:12.320 was watching the sky. Penniston asked bros. What he was chasing. 0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:18.760 Burrows said he was chasing the UFO. Said where's that? 0:21:20.359 --> 0:21:23.040 I couldn't gain a visual of it. And finally he 0:21:23.119 --> 0:21:25.720 put his arm out and he said, look down on 0:21:25.760 --> 0:21:29.520 my arm, he points in the opposite direction that we're 0:21:29.600 --> 0:21:34.000 running in towards the coast. This is where is I 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:37.280 don't see it. You see, it's right there, right there 0:21:37.320 --> 0:21:45.080 on the horizon. There that's the Orfordness lighthouse. That's five 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:50.159 miles away. That's not what we've seen. Then when I 0:21:50.200 --> 0:21:54.320 turned back around, the craft was sitting above the tree 0:21:54.359 --> 0:22:00.600 line over by Capel Green, which is more forest, and 0:22:00.000 --> 0:22:02.760 and then it just started moving out towards the sea 0:22:03.560 --> 0:22:05.440 at a sore of rate. I don't know. I can 0:22:05.440 --> 0:22:09.359 guess the mate see me before, but you can at 0:22:09.400 --> 0:22:15.840 least see it transverse the sky. Immediately after I lost 0:22:15.920 --> 0:22:20.119 contact with that sighting of that, my radio was working. 0:22:20.840 --> 0:22:23.159 I told him that I can receive him well, and 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:25.960 he says, go ahead and proceed to the east gate. 0:22:26.600 --> 0:22:32.439 And that's what we did. Peniston's detailed description of this 0:22:32.520 --> 0:22:36.360 conversation with Burrows about where the lighthouse was and where 0:22:36.400 --> 0:22:41.240 the UFO was becomes important. Burrows it should be noted 0:22:41.560 --> 0:22:45.520 mentioned in his written account that they actually saw that 0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:48.520 the light they were chasing was coming from a lighthouse. 0:22:49.280 --> 0:22:52.879 Both men mentioned seeing a blue light what Peniston just 0:22:52.960 --> 0:22:57.439 referred to as the craft. Burrows wrote, we had just 0:22:57.600 --> 0:22:59.920 passed a cree and we're told to come back when 0:23:00.040 --> 0:23:02.280 we saw a blue light to our left in the trees. 0:23:02.760 --> 0:23:06.000 It was only there for a minute and just streaked away. 0:23:06.520 --> 0:23:11.320 The typed account approved by Peniston merely said, on the 0:23:11.359 --> 0:23:14.520 way back, we encountered a blue streaking light to the left, 0:23:14.800 --> 0:23:17.879 only lasting a few seconds. That was the end of 0:23:17.920 --> 0:23:21.719 the encounter. On the first night. With the lights gone, 0:23:22.200 --> 0:23:24.920 the three men returned to the jeep and drove back 0:23:24.960 --> 0:23:29.280 to the base. It's kind of vague because I don't well. 0:23:29.320 --> 0:23:32.239 I basically just remember as we came back, there were 0:23:32.240 --> 0:23:35.080 some people waiting for us. I don't remember what we 0:23:35.200 --> 0:23:38.440 said at the time, but there was kind of a conversation. 0:23:39.359 --> 0:23:41.240 I don't want to call it. Said. He talked to 0:23:41.320 --> 0:23:44.199 us about what went on, told us about the radar 0:23:45.359 --> 0:23:50.600 contact and all that other stuff. Peniston meanwhile reported to 0:23:50.720 --> 0:23:55.399 Central Security Control and I go with the security guys. 0:23:55.960 --> 0:23:59.800 Arrived back at Central Security Control and started channel the 0:24:00.119 --> 0:24:02.760 sergeant from Bett Horns is waiting for me. He says, 0:24:03.720 --> 0:24:05.959 how you doing this? Is? You ain't gonna believe all 0:24:06.040 --> 0:24:09.879 this early happened? He says, oh, yes, said I was 0:24:09.920 --> 0:24:11.760 at the east Gate. He say, I've seen it all. 0:24:13.240 --> 0:24:16.040 I says, wow. I said, I don't know what to say. 0:24:16.359 --> 0:24:20.840 He was just about as perplexed as I was. He says, well, 0:24:20.880 --> 0:24:24.080 when you've done turning in your weapon and stuff like that, 0:24:24.480 --> 0:24:27.720 the flight captain who wants to see it in this office, 0:24:28.160 --> 0:24:33.359 that's okay. Before meeting with the captain, Peniston was shown 0:24:33.440 --> 0:24:37.160 the pre type statement about the incident and approved it. 0:24:38.119 --> 0:24:42.200 I go back out to see Captain Vernal and Burrows 0:24:42.320 --> 0:24:45.160 is standing as you've come with me. I just don't 0:24:45.200 --> 0:24:50.080 say anything. I'll report in for us. And I knew 0:24:50.119 --> 0:24:53.000 that I had to keep it simple with There's certain 0:24:53.000 --> 0:24:55.600 things you at the time that you would never say 0:24:55.600 --> 0:24:57.600 in the Air Force. Be could be an end of 0:24:57.640 --> 0:25:01.520 your career. And one of those terms is UFO. You 0:25:01.560 --> 0:25:05.560 don't use that. So I came up with a term 0:25:05.680 --> 0:25:09.399 that would best describe it, you know, without lyne. I 0:25:09.480 --> 0:25:14.760 called it the craft unknown origin. Captain Moronald, how, I 0:25:14.800 --> 0:25:17.840 don't think we report this, he says, uh, you know 0:25:17.920 --> 0:25:20.960 blue Book, And in sixty nine he says, I don't 0:25:21.000 --> 0:25:24.280 think there's a way to report it. The captain was 0:25:24.320 --> 0:25:28.120 referring to Project Blue Buck, the last of three Air 0:25:28.200 --> 0:25:35.320 Force programs investigating UFO reports. The first projects signed began 0:25:35.359 --> 0:25:40.560 in nine. In nineteen sixty nine, the Air Force officially 0:25:40.640 --> 0:25:45.320 closed the program. From that point on, air Force policy 0:25:45.720 --> 0:25:50.240 was to no longer take UFO reports. People who called 0:25:50.280 --> 0:25:54.879 in with sightings were referred to local law enforcement. Because 0:25:54.920 --> 0:25:58.040 of this policy, it wasn't clear what to do with 0:25:58.119 --> 0:26:01.600 the reports of the events of that night. The captain 0:26:01.640 --> 0:26:05.800 was stunned. He said, I'll tell you what to do. 0:26:05.920 --> 0:26:09.200 He says, just go home. He says, take three days 0:26:09.240 --> 0:26:13.920 off and let me handle it. I said, okay, and 0:26:14.040 --> 0:26:17.840 that's what I did. So I got back in the vehicle, 0:26:18.119 --> 0:26:20.160 and at that time I was going to give Burrows 0:26:20.280 --> 0:26:24.280 right home. And we lived down in ipswich As about 0:26:24.320 --> 0:26:27.800 twenty miles away. Burles says, we gotta go back out there, 0:26:27.800 --> 0:26:29.680 and said, oh no, I said no, we should look 0:26:29.720 --> 0:26:34.040 at it in the daylight. And he says, okay, okay. 0:26:34.200 --> 0:26:36.119 He's pretty adamant about it, but you know what it 0:26:36.119 --> 0:26:42.440 made sense, well back out there, private owned vehicle and 0:26:43.119 --> 0:26:46.280 walk back through the woods and we're looking at you know, 0:26:46.680 --> 0:26:51.560 the area we're at, and burrows fine cy landing site, 0:26:51.720 --> 0:26:55.080 take off site. He's over here over here, and I 0:26:55.200 --> 0:26:58.879 go over and looking there's three intentions in the ground 0:27:00.080 --> 0:27:04.080 that really really craft was the sitting. I said, we 0:27:04.080 --> 0:27:06.000 would be a better just get out of here. You know, 0:27:06.720 --> 0:27:10.880 that's enough. That's at all I wanted to see. As 0:27:10.920 --> 0:27:14.639 they walked back towards Penistin's vehicle, they ran into a 0:27:14.680 --> 0:27:19.640 group of superior officers, including a Major Drury, who were 0:27:19.680 --> 0:27:25.120 walking towards what Peniston calls the landing site. Major Dury says, 0:27:25.119 --> 0:27:26.439 what are you doing out here? And so we just 0:27:26.480 --> 0:27:28.320 wanted to look at this in the light, and he said, 0:27:28.400 --> 0:27:30.240