As they used to say on the X-Files, “The truth is out there.” But what do we really know about the truth when it comes to UFOs, a.k.a UAPs or any other acronym related to ETs? For those not fully up to date on the official acronym list, UAP stands for "unidentified aerial phenomenon."
For the record, I am not saying that intelligent extraterrestrial life exists. I can’t because I don’t know for certain, I have no first-hand knowledge and I’m not privy to classified government documents. But I do think such life should exist.
Consider the vastness of the universe, its size, and age, possibly more than 15 billion years. Now just consider our own galaxy, the Milky Way, believed to be slightly younger at 14.5 billion years of age and our own planet and solar system believed to be only 4.5 billion years old, babies by comparison. So, there conceivably could be species out there far more advanced than us. Beyond that intellectual thought was the idea that aliens make for interesting (or silly) characters in Sci-Fi TV shows and movies.
I had heard of the supposed 1947 UFO crash at Roswell, NM., but never gave too much thought about reports or stories I heard until I learned about the Rendlesham Forest incident of 1980.
Rendlesham Forest lies between two British air bases, RAF Woodbridge and RAF Bentwaters, fighter bases. During the Cold War, it was a NATO base and the US Air Force was there in full force with people, planes, and nukes.
As the story goes, during the Christmas season that December, two air policemen were sent to investigate a possible downed plane in the forest. What they found was not a plane but a triangular-shaped spacecraft, (roughly 9x9x9 feet) that had scraped some trees before landing in the forest for some reason.
The two APs — John Burroughs and James Penniston — approached the craft, with Penniston taking out his notepad and writing what he was seeing. When he got close, he said he saw a form of hieroglyphics on the hull of the craft. Then he touched the ship and was knocked to the ground. He said he saw a flash of light and a lot of ones and zeros in his mind’s eye. And then the craft took off and was gone in a heartbeat.
Burroughs doesn’t recall any of that. He said all he saw was the craft, and then it took off. After the craft flew away, the men discovered that their once-synchronized watches differed by 45 minutes.
A few nights later during an awards dinner, the security chief walked up to Lt. Col. Charles Halt, the deputy base commander, and said, “It’s back.”
Halt then led a security detail of about 80 men into the forest. With him also was his portable cassette recorder, something he always had with him. On the recordings, you can hear them talking about the moving lights of several UFOs, and how they would approach and then vector away. You can hear Halt saying more than once, “This is weird ... very strange,” and, “It’s coming toward us.”
The three depressions in the ground left by the landing pods of the craft from the first night were tested for radioactivity. The readings were eight times higher than normal background radiation.
The witnesses I’ve seen interviewed about Rendlesham come across as straightforward people who want to tell others that they saw something that they can’t fully explain based on what we’ve all been told or taught. They want answers, and so do I.
I want to know what the UK and US governments actually know about what happened those nights in Rendlesham during Christmas of 1980. I want to know what our government really knows about Roswell and a multitude of other unexplained occurrences. And my current interest was sparked by my own sighting last summer.
It was sometime between 9 and 10 a.m. in late June and I was driving on S. New Street in Birmingham Township. While rounding the curve past Sandy Hollow heading toward Birmingham Road, I saw a gray cylindrical object flying slowly — or maybe floating might be a better word — in a northerly direction, moving from my left to right. It seemed relatively low to the ground, though I can’t really estimate its altitude. I saw no means of propulsion, and there were no wings or rear stabilizers. Nor was there any sound. When it sailed above my windshield and roof line, I pulled over to grab my camera and shoot a photo, but in the five seconds it took me to stop and get out, it was gone, whatever it was.
I don’t claim the object to have been extraterrestrial in origin, likely it’s not. But that vanishing act was impressive.
I’m not the only person in or around Chadds Ford to have had a sighting of some sort. Supervisor Noelle Barbone said she had a sighting when she was in the eighth grade. (Yes, she said I could mention her by name) But so have a lot of people, including at least two former United States Presidents, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan. And let’s not forget the thousands of people in Arizona who witnessed a huge triangular vessel called the Phoenix Lights blotting out the stars in 1997. The list goes on.
I’ve watched several UFO/ET-related documentaries since the summer. Some are poorly done or rely on speculation, some pleasant, while others speculate that aliens have hostile intent. Others are quite good, however, very straightforward, relying on more intellect than emotion, though the emotion is still there. It makes for credible witnesses.
And then there are the conspiracies, some being way over the top. There’s one that claims aliens abducted Adm. Richard Byrd in 1946 for approaching a former NAZI naval base that the Germans shared with aliens in Antarctica. The only reason the aliens let Byrd go, the conspiracy contends, was so that he could tell President Truman we’re not allowed back there.
And then there’s the conspiracy theory that claims former President Eisenhower negotiated with aliens to get advanced technology, and all we had to do was let ETs abduct people and do experiments on them, just so long as the humans were returned to their homes with no memories of the encounter.
Well, I have my own silly theory. Ancient aliens really did help build the pyramids and Stonehenge. They were extraterrestrial versions of Boy Scout Eagle projects.
There are scientists, and former astronauts who have been first-hand witnesses to UFOs, who know those craft and the intelligence behind them are real. Gordon Cooper had at least two encounters and he wrote a letter to the United Nations asking for a formal investigation into the phenomena. Edgar Mitchell has acknowledged the strong possibility of a cover-up.
Even some religious views have changed. More than a dozen years ago the Vatican said belief in extraterrestrial life doesn’t contradict a belief in God.
And just five years ago, the U.S. Navy released video from fighter aircraft showing what they’re calling “Tic-Tac’s” because of their shape. Those unidentified aerial phenomena were observed outmaneuvering any earth aircraft and the Navy doesn’t know what they are. In 2017, the New York Times even ran a story about that, along with an associated study called AATIP, Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program. Former U.S. Sen. Harry Reid was the one who instigated AATIP.
But until all facts are known and fully disclosed the existence of ETs and visitations remains a matter of belief. There’s no proof, no emphatic, undeniable truth being shown to us. So, until governments come clean, we’re left with speculations, speculations that reflect our fears and our hopes.
If the truth really is out there, let’s make it known universally. Let’s have full disclosure.
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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