Claim

A craft of unknown origin landed in Rendlesham Forest, beside RAF Woodbridge, in December 1980

Also known as Rendlesham claim

Open. The deputy base commander's official memo to the UK Ministry of Defence describes the events, including radiation readings at the reported landing site; neither government has explained them, and sceptics point to a fireball and the Orford Ness lighthouse, which the witnesses reject. (Halt memo: Unexplained Lights)

Evidence for

• Halt memo: Unexplained Lights: Lt. Col. Halt's memo to the MoD describes the events, including radiation readings at the reported landing site

Who has said it, in order

1. 13 January 1981 — says so, documented: Over several nights in late December 1980, U.S. Air Force personnel at RAF Woodbridge and Bentwaters reported unexplained lights in the adjacent Rendlesham Forest; Halt's memo records patrolmen approaching a glowing object they described as metallic and triangular, and three depressions found where it had been seen, with raised radiation readings. Source: Halt memo: Unexplained Lights
2. 9 May 2001 Larry Warren — says so, first-hand: Larry Warren, a USAF security specialist at RAF Bentwaters in 1980, describes a three-night UFO event near the base's nuclear weapons store. Source: Disclosure Project press conference, National Press Club (May 9, 2001), full event at 1:03:36
3. 12 November 2007 Jim Penniston — says so, first-hand: James Penniston describes his close approach to the craft at Rendlesham in 1980. Source: National Press Club - November 12th, 2007. UFO Close Encounters at 56:52
4. 12 November 2007 Charles Halt — says so, first-hand: Col. Charles Halt describes investigating the December 1980 events as deputy base commander at RAF Bentwaters. Source: National Press Club - November 12th, 2007. UFO Close Encounters at 1:02:27
5. 27 September 2010 Charles Halt — context, first-hand: On his memo: Third Air Force decided it was a British affair, so he wrote a "cleaned-up memo" of unexplained lights for the MoD. He later learned that the airmen involved had been harshly interrogated. Source: UFOs and Nukes press conference, National Press Club (27 September 2010) at 26:05
6. 29 April 2013 Nick Pope — says so, relayed: Pope: the Ministry of Defence's Defence Intelligence Staff assessed the radiation readings at the landing site as “significantly higher than the average background.” Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: Rendlesham Forest Encounter, Part 1 at 6:40
7. 29 April 2013 Nick Pope — says so, opinion: Pope says his cold-case review examined misidentification, hoax and delusion theories and that “none of these theories fitted the facts.” Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: Rendlesham Forest Encounter, Part 1 at 12:30
8. 29 April 2013 John Burroughs — says so, first-hand: Burroughs: shortly after the incident his gums turned white, and months later a doctor found a heart murmur, though his Air Force entry physical had been clean. Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: Rendlesham Forest Encounter, Part 1 at 43:00
9. 29 April 2013 Jim Penniston — says so, first-hand: Penniston says the craft hovered about two feet off the ground with no landing gear, did not move when pushed, and felt like smooth metal, warmer than the freezing air. Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: Rendlesham Forest Encounter, Part 1 at 1:06:30
10. 29 April 2013 — context: Bartlett questions the radiation evidence: residual radiation the next day would require something left behind. Pope cites three triangular indentations and scorched trees noted by the disaster preparedness officer. Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: Rendlesham Forest Encounter, Part 1 at 1:35:45
11. 29 April 2013 Jim Penniston — says so, first-hand: He says he had given AFOSI a full written statement, “four pages”, with the craft's temperature, its position above the ground and the glyphs, which the wing commander never saw. Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: Rendlesham Forest Encounter, Part 2 at 13:07
12. 29 April 2013 Jim Penniston — says so, first-hand: Penniston says the craft hovered and turned before leaving, which told him “it's intelligent control of some kind”, and that he has never seen technology that could do what it did. Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: Rendlesham Forest Encounter, Part 2 at 22:07
13. 26 May 2014 Charles Halt — says so, first-hand: Halt: the objects were “obviously intelligently controlled”; he has never been officially debriefed. Source: Col Charles Halt goes on the record at 8:54
14. 13 May 2024 Charles Halt — says so, first-hand: Halt: he knew the Orford Ness lighthouse well; its white rotating beam was distinct from the bright orange-red object he saw. Source: Rendlesham Forest UFO sighting: Eyewitness Colonel Charles Halt at 14:40
15. — disputes it, relayed: A Suffolk police inspector wrote in 1999 that his officers' role had been “minimal”, that witness testimony had been “substantially embellished” over the years, and that the three constables called to the site on 26 December 1980 remained “unconvinced [the] occurrence was genuine”; he added that the Orford Ness lighthouse beams “caused strange visual effects” in some conditions (DEFE 24/2033, pp. 104–105). Source: highlights-guide-09-08-11.pdf

Connected files

Incidents

• Rendlesham Forest incident (about)

Documents

• Halt memo: Unexplained Lights (evidence for) — Lt. Col. Halt's memo to the MoD describes the events, including radiation readings at the reported landing site

People

• Larry Warren (asserted by)
• Jim Penniston (asserted by)
• Charles Halt (comments by)
• Nick Pope (asserted by)
• John Burroughs (asserted by)

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