The Rendlesham Forest incident was a series of mysterious light encounters at Rendlesham Forest, England in December 1980 that became linked to UFO landing claims. The incident occurred near to RAF Woodbridge that was being utilised by the US Air Force at the time (USAF). Colonel Charles I. Halt, the deputy base commander, claimed to have seen what he described as a UFO encounter. The incident is one of the most well-known UFO sightings in the U.K., and one of the most well-known UFO sightings globally. It has been linked to the United States' Roswell UFO event, and it is frequently referred to as "Britain's Roswell."
As the event presented no national security threat, it was never probed as a security problem, according to the UK Ministry of Defense. The sightings have been attributed to a misreading of a sequence of nighttime lights, including the Orfordness Lighthouse, a fireball and dazzling stars according to Sceptics, but let's take a look at the reported incident.
Rendlesham Forest - Events on 26th December
Lights were seen descending into neighboring Rendlesham Forest by a security patrol at the east entrance gate of RAF Woodbridge. Astronomers have linked the lights to a fragment of debris that were spotted above southern England at the time, so the servicemen present at RAF Woodbridge originally assumed it was a wrecked aircraft, but when they entered to investigate, they spotted "a luminous object that was metallic in form, with colourful lights."
The object appeared to move through the trees as they approached it, and "the livestock on a nearby farm erupted into a frenzy." Sergeant Jim Penniston, one of the troops, subsequently claimed to have observed an "aircraft of questionable origin" while in the forest, despite the fact that there was no documented mention of this at the time and no other witnesses to back him up.
Local police arrived shortly after, but stated that the only lights visible were those coming from Orford Ness which is a lighthouse located a couple miles away off the shore. After returning to a small clearing on the eastern border of the forest after daylight on December 26th, troops saw three minor imprints on the ground in a triangle pattern, as well as fire scars and broken branches on neighbouring trees. Local police were summoned out again at 10:30 a.m., this time to investigate the imprints, which they suspected were created by an animal.
Rendlesham Forest - Investigation on 28th December
Colonel Charles Halt, who was the deputy base commander, paid a visit to the location with other personnel in the early hours of December 28, 1980. They used an AN/PDR-27, a typical US military radiation survey metre, to take radiation measurements in the triangle and the surrounding region. They measured 0.07 milliroentgens per hour in certain areas, but 0.03 to 0.04 in others, which is close to the background level. A similar little 'burst' was also observed over half a mile distant from the landing spot. Halt used a micro-cassette recorder to capture the happenings. 🚨🚨🚨
Transcript of tape recording from team investigating Rendlesham Forest incident:
"Okay, we are now approaching the area...what looks like a blasted or scruffed-up area here. (...) There's a round abrasion on the tree about uh...three and a half, four inches in diameter; three and a half feet off the ground. (...) Each one of the trees that face into the blast, what we assume is the landing site, all have an abrasion facing the same direction, towards the center. (...)"
"We got a high radioactive...er...high reading." - "What does that mean?" "We are getting indication of a heat source coming out of that center spot. It looks like heat or some form of energy."
After Colonel Halt and his team finished measuring the elevated radiation levels around the presumed landing side inside Rendlesham Forest, the tape recording captures the reactions of Halt and his team encountering the UFO as it appeared in the forest again, in front of their eyes.
"There it is!" - "Yeah I see it too." "What is it?" - "We don't know, Sir." "There is some type of strange flashing light ahead; it is definitely coming this way! Pieces of it are shooting off." "There's no doubt about it, this is weird."
Colonel Halt follows the UFO with his team until they arrive at another clear inside the forrest, when suddenly a second UFO appears in the sky above them.
"Now we are observing what appears to be a beam coming down to the ground. This is unreal."
The Halt tape recording ends with the Colonel describing both objects maneuvers and location off the RAF Woodbridge - After that, the tapes comes to a halt. Listen to the full Halt tape recording below. 👇🏻
Rendlesham Forest UFO - The Halt Tape Recordings
In June 2010, retired Colonel Charles Halt signed a notarised affidavit, in which he again summarised what had happened, then stated he believed the event to be extraterrestrial and it had been covered up by both the UK and US. Although people have pointed out contradicting statements between the affidavit & the tape recordings, Ufologists argue those discrepancies to simply be gaps in memory due to the fact that the events in his affidavit have been summarised by Colonel Halt decades later.
The incident has been disputed by many skeptics as a hoax, although the evidence of the audio tape recordings seems overwhelming and Colonel Halt has been described as working very thorough by his fellow men.
In 2005, the Forestry Comission created a trail inside the Forest, nicknaming it the UFO Trail. An Artist was commissioned to create a sculpture that represents the UFO landing in Rendlesham Forest, modelled after sketches & descriptions from the first sighting.
If you are around the area, make sure to visit The UFO Trail inside Rendlesham Forest. 🌲🛸
What do you think about the Rendlesham Forest UFO incident? Does the reported evidence & the audio tape recordings convince you or do you believe it was all a hoax? 🛸
Drop me a comment below 👇🏻 I'm curious what you think and why!