Left at East Gate [Paperback]

 

 

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This book, originally published in 1997, is one of several written about the famous Rendlesham Forest/Bentwaters UFO incident in December 1980, and possibly the most interesting to read.

Repeated encounters with UFOs were reported over three nights (25-28 December) in 1980 at, over and near the twin RAF bases of Bentwaters and Woodbridge, large neighboring airfields in Suffolk leased for several decades from the UK Government by the US Government and at that time hosting USAF nuclear strike aircraft and nuclear weapons. Larry Warren was at the time a young airman stationed at Bentwaters, and claimed to be present during the third night of encounters when an unknown craft actually landed at Capel Green and was surrounded by USAF ground personnel - incidentally off-base carrying loaded weapons, specifically against a signed agreement between the UK and US governments.

It is only fair to say that some controversy surrounds Warren and his outspoken claims, and he has been accused in recent years by former Air Force colleagues of being "economical with the truth." In short, it's been claimed by Deputy Base Commander Charles Halt that Larry wasn't on duty that night and personally witnessed nothing. Certainly his claims about being forcibly detained in an underground facility under the base and subjected to mind-indoctrination following the incident have been questioned with good cause, and minor details of his story have allegedly changed over the years. However, something very serious involving unidentified flying objects intruding over this nuclear-weapons holding NATO facility and "adversely affecting the ordnance", of long duration and with multiple military and civilian witnesses, did happen as reported beyond dispute. The sheer number of witnesses, the physical effects on some of the airmen (damaged retinas due to the brightness of the light in one encounter, including Larry Warren, medically certified) and the incriminating quantity of official paperwork generated between the base command and the UK government subsequent to the incident make this a certainty. Furthermore, multiple witnesses testify that some kind of formalised communication took place between "extraterrestrial biological entities" from the landed craft and senior USAF personnel, who seemed prepared for the encounter and to know exactly what to do.

The book is co-written by Warren and respected researcher Peter Robbins. Warren's narrative in the first part of the book relates his life story up to, during and after the incident and is candid about his values and motivations. He was from an early age something of an anglophile and was delighted to be posted to Bentwaters in England, where he hoped to enjoy his tour. He also reports serial family encounters with High Strangeness and sounds like a serial abductee, the understanding of which phenomenon may require a certain amount of separate study by the reader and acquaintance with the published work of Harvard Professor John Mack, researcher Budd Hopkins, Professor David Jacobs and Raymond Fowler, to name a few. This situation complicates his narrative even more, as well it might.

Robbins' authored sections of the book are printed in italics to differentiate from Warren's, which are written in normal type. The narrative tells the story of their joint investigation, all self-funded from meagre resources, through some fourteen separate visits to the UK (both the authors were US-based by this time) and the journey which led to the writing and publishing of the book. The style is pacy, interesting and engaging, and the editorial decision to tell the tale in story form succeeds in making the book something of a page-turner as the reader shares their struggles, tribulations and the excitement of discovery. It's a very enjoyable read - the type of narrative from which film scripts are made. This is not to diminish the serious content, the thoroughness and persistence of the research, nor the disturbing conclusions. Larry and Peter invested a great deal of time, effort and personal resources in pursuit of the truth of this most important event, and the first edition of the book was famously brandished in the British Parliament during a session demanding answers from the government on the defence implications of the incident.

The hardcover edition contains 16 pages of relevant monochrome photographs and an extensive index of scanned/photocopied documents in support of the truth of the incident. There is also an interesting section about the employment of Wilhelm Reich's controversial cloud-busting technology (one of Robbins' areas of specialist research knowledge) at Bentwaters by the USAF.

Interesting postscript: in September 2009 I was honored to be given a guided walking tour of Rendlesham Forest and Bentwaters (now converted for civilian use) by Peter Robbins, on a splendid late summer Sunday afternoon, including the site at Capel Green where the landed craft had left a large circular area of dessicated soil on which nothing would grow for several years and from which Peter took his soil samples for analysis in Massachusetts. The local council in Suffolk now marks the walking trails with numbered square wooden marker posts, each of which sports the small image of a bug-eyed grey alien head. Nice touch.

Of the many books written about this incident, one other is definitely worth reading: the late Georgina Bruni's "You Can't Tell the People" (a direct quote from then PM Margaret Thatcher talking personally to the author about the ET issue). If you read both books, you'll have a good all-round understanding about the 1980 Bentwaters Incident. I don't want to denigrate other books on this subject, but none are as good as these two.

bought this book because I am interested in this subject and i had information that it was very good, after a friend of mine gave me some very interesting information...

Excellent first-hand account by an insider to the events of the UFO incidents related in the volume.
No stone is left unturned.
With Mr Warren's own thorough recollections, some after hypnosis recall, and the wonderful Mr Robbins' detached investigation techniques, this work should be on the bookshelves of all seriously interested parties.
If in doubt ask the authors...
Recommended - though hard to absorb the detail...10/10

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1.0 out of 5 stars Fairy Tale If Ever!
This book makes a mockery of an incident which should be taken seriously. I started reading this book with some knowledge of the Bentwaters, Woodbridge incident, i.e. Read more

Published on 14 Sep 2003 by hh010b5373

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