Conspiracy: History’s Greatest Plots, Collusions and Cover-Ups (11 page)

S
O WHAT REALLY HAPPENED?
Because of the government secrecy surrounding the issue, a number of UFO researchers have come to the conclusion that some kind of covert activity must have taken place. Some believe that there was an alien landing and that the United States government simply denied the fact in order to prevent panic among the public. Others suggest that the government has access to alien technology but refuses to admit it. There has even been speculation that this was either a crash between two alien spacecraft or a crash involving a spy craft which secretly experimented on live human beings. This latter theory, advanced by Nick Redfern in his book
Body Snatchers in the Desert
, has gained credibility within the UFO field, if not outside it.

Ultimately, it seems that right up to this day nobody really knows what took place. Even the most persuasive theories that have been advanced appear to be full of loose ends. However, whether or not we believe that alien beings landed in the desert that day, what we do know is that there was a lot more to the incident than a burst weather balloon. And that is why, for the foreseeable future, UFO researchers and others will continue to ask: what really happened at Roswell?

In the early hours of Boxing Day, 1980, a strange incident occurred in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk. Close to the pine forest was an American Air Force Base, which suddenly began to track an unidentified craft on its radar. The base was immediately put on full alert, but after a while it became clear that the craft was not aggressive and that there was no real threat. However, a patrol was sent to the forest to investigate. After the patrol had reached the site by following a dark, narrow path the men saw bright beams of red and blue light shining from what appeared to be a metallic craft that had landed in the forest. Other craft hovered silently in the sky above.

T
RANCE-LIKE STATE
Base Commander Gordon Williams reported that he approached the craft on the ground and communicated with the creatures in it through sign language. Other witnesses told of watching the creatures repair their craft, which had become damaged when it crashed in the forest, and then take off in a huge burst of speed and light.

After the craft had left, the airmen said that they had found themselves in a trance-like state so that general confusion prevailed. Local people also reported that their farm animals and domestic pets had become disorientated and panic-stricken, to the extent that they had been running out on to the roads and colliding with vehicles. There were also accounts that flickering blue and red lights played over the trees throughout the rest of the night. Some people even said that small creatures with domed heads had been seen wandering through the forest.

E
VIDENCE OF ALIENS
Because of the airmen's confused condition at the time, it was difficult to verify exactly what had happened. However, the indisputable fact was that a very strange occurrence had taken place in the forest, one that could not easily be explained. On the next day, forensic tests were carried out over the whole site and some odd facts emerged.

Firstly, there were some marks on the ground where the landing legs of the craft were thought to have been. These gave out very high levels of radiation. Secondly, the treetops in the area had been damaged as though an aeroplane or other large object had crashed through them. And thirdly, a tape recording of the search had been made by an airman at the time and there were strange noises on it.

To this day, why the radiation levels on the site went up and why the trees in the vicinity were damaged remains a mystery. However, some have disputed the veracity of this tape, claiming that it is a hoax. Since the incident, it has also been rumoured that a video recording of the whole event exists. It was supposedly made by one of the airmen who witnessed it from start to finish. Because this material was so sensitive, it is thought that the military confiscated it and that it then became classified information, never to be made public.

C
ONSPIRACY THEORY
?
Many believe that the hushing up of the incident was a conspiracy by the United States military, who were attempting to cover up the fact that there had been a nuclear accident at Rendlesham. In order to avoid local panic, and to deflect criticism, the personnel at the air base pretended that some kind of alien landing had taken place. Other commentators have put forward the theory that the event was actually an American attack on a Russian spy satellite and that it was the satellite, not an alien craft, that was brought down in the forest.

Various other conspiracy theories have been put forward. It has been suggested that the strange craft were top secret air force aerospace vehicles, known as TR-3Bs or "Astras". Inside each of these huge vehicles, it is said, is a nuclear reactor that negates the Earth's magnetic field, so that the craft becomes very light. It can then move quickly and flexibly within the magnetic field it has created. In addition to the "Astras" there are smaller craft with similar capabilities, so the story goes, called TR-3As or "Black Mantas". Critics of this theory have pointed out that it would be very difficult to house a nuclear reactor in this way, because it would be extremely heavy. This has then given rise to another theory, that the United States military is in possession of alien technology.

O
THER SIGHTINGS
There are many other well-documented sightings of "black triangle" UFOs such as the one that is believed to have landed at Rendlesham Forest in 1980. Most of these have been seen in and around the coast of the United States, particularly near air force bases. According to reports, the UFOs are hundreds of feet long, they make no sound and they either hover or fly very rapidly. One of the most significant of these sightings was at Ans, in Belgium, where on 30 March 1990 the local citizens reported seeing a hovering black triangle over the city. Members of the Belgian Air Force pursued the craft but were not able to keep up with it. They later issued a report admitting that they could not identify the phenomenon. Similarly, on 13 March 1997 in Phoenix, Arizona, citizens noticed "black triangle" craft forming a "V" in the sky. Later, the Air Force reported that what people had seen were flare tests, but this seemed highly unlikely.

Today, the consensus seems to be that such aircraft do actually exist. The Belgian Air Force has evidence of the "black triangle" aircraft that visited Ans that day in the shape of radar tracking, photographs and film. What we still do not know, however, is where the craft come from, who they belong to, how they function and why they appear. Could the black triangles, as some suggest, be evidence of top-secret, advanced US military technology? Are they perhaps signs from an underground, possibly terrorist group, who want to display their might in this way? Or could they indeed be visitations from extra-terrestrial beings? At present, and for the foreseeable future, the mystery remains.

The mysterious appearance of circular patterns in cornfields first hit the headlines during the 1970s, when several of them appeared in England. After these sightings, many people around the world began to report the occurrence of curious, and in some cases very beautiful, patterns in paddy fields and pine forests as well as on snow-covered hills. Critics immediately dismissed the circles as hoaxes and, indeed, some individuals came forward claiming that they had made the circles as a prank.

However, on closer inspection, it became clear that the phenomenon could not be explained so easily. Many aspects of it were very puzzling. For example, the circles typically appeared rapidly; their patterns were complex and very accurate, as though drawn by a compass; and the biological structure of the plants that formed them had changed. Eminent scientists began to conduct research into crop circles and they came up with numerous theories as to how such phenomena could occur. For example, magnetic fields and different types of geological formation could be affecting the plants, causing them to flatten and change.

Yet, to date, no one has come up with a conclusive theory that explains how crop circles have come about. The popular belief that they are evidence of extraterrestrial beings, perhaps messages to humanity from a higher intelligence on a different planet, continues to predominate.

T
HE FIRST CROP CIRCLES
Within the ancient folklore of Britain and Northern Europe can be found stories of circles in grass or cornfields. They were thought to be caused by elves and fairies and they could cause disaster if people trod on them. A sixteenth-century woodcut shows a picture of a monstrous creature making a circle in a corn field. However, there are various interpretations of the image and it could well refer to an entirely imaginary event. The first scientific evidence did not appear until the twentieth century, when aerial surveys revealed what were then termed "crop marks" which were thought to be caused by changes in the soil. Many of the sites were investigated and archaeological finds were made, but little attention was paid to the "crop marks" themselves.

F
LYING SAUCERS
It was not until 1972 that two men, Arthur Shuttlewood and Bryce Bond, reported seeing a crop circle appear before them on a moonlit night at a place called Star Hill, near Warminster in England. They had come out to look for unidentified flying objects, or UFOs, which had apparently been seen many times in the area over a period of ten years or so. Instead, an imprint on the vegetation suddenly materialized before their eyes, opening up like a fan.

After that, many witnesses from around the world, from Japan to the Soviet Union, came forward with similar stories. Apart from the circles, they also told of having seen aircraft and beams of light and heard a high trilling sound. Reported sightings of crop circles increased in number, until they reached the current figure of over 9,000. There are thought to be many more that go unreported each year.

D
OUG AND
D
AVE
Doug and Dave were pranksters who came forward to announce that they had created the crop circles. They claimed that all of them had been made using planks of wood, string and a baseball cap. However, as more complex patterns were reported it became clear that Doug and Dave could not possibly have made such complicated circles. Moreover, because reports were coming in from all over the world, it was hard to explain how they had been in so many places at the same time. In the end, Doug and Dave had to admit that they were not responsible for all the crop circles that were being reported.