Person
Charles Halt
Also known as Colonel Halt, Lt. Col. Halt, Charles Holt
- Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Air Force; Deputy Base Commander, RAF Bentwaters/Woodbridge (later Colonel)
Charles Halt is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who, as a lieutenant colonel and deputy base commander at RAF Bentwaters/Woodbridge in England, became the senior official witness to the Rendlesham Forest incident of December 1980. He had come to Bentwaters from the Pentagon that year, to what he describes as the largest tactical fighter wing in the world.
After security patrolmen Jim Penniston, John Burroughs and Edward Cabansag reported a landed triangular craft in the forest, Halt went out two nights later with a Geiger counter and a dictaphone, intending to debunk the story. His tape and later accounts describe three indentations with elevated radiation, a winking red light moving through the trees that broke into several white objects, and objects sending beams down near the bases' weapons storage area, one at his feet. He insists the Orford Ness lighthouse was visible separately throughout. His one-page memo to the Ministry of Defence, "Unexplained Lights", which he says was deliberately toned down, was released under FOIA in 1983 and became the case's key official document.
Since retiring he has spoken at the 2007 National Press Club panel and the 2010 "UFOs and Nukes" event, and to many interviewers. He says the objects were intelligently controlled, that his airmen were harshly interrogated and possibly drugged, and that no one ever debriefed him. The MoD concluded the events posed no threat to national security. Sceptics attribute the first night's lights to a fireball and the flashing light to the Orford Ness lighthouse, noting that the flashes on Halt's tape come five seconds apart, the lighthouse's rate. Local police and foresters judged the depressions to be rabbit diggings. Halt rejects all of this.
Sources: Halt memo (1981) · National Press Club (2007, 2010) · 7NEWS Spotlight interview · "Col Charles Halt goes on the record" · Citizen Hearing on Disclosure (2013) · Wikipedia
Facts and claims
- claimed Halt described investigating the December 1980 events at Rendlesham as deputy base commander at RAF Bentwaters, at the 2007 National Press Club panel. — Charles Halt Source: National Press Club - November 12th, 2007. UFO Close Encounters at 1:02:27
- documented His memo of 13 January 1981 to the UK Ministry of Defence, released under FOIA in 1983, reported the sightings and radiation readings at the landing site. Source: Halt memo: Unexplained Lights
- claimed He says the morning after the first night the desk sergeant laughed that Burroughs, Cabansag and Penniston had been chasing UFOs, and that he took a Geiger counter and camera into the forest two nights later intending to disprove the story. — Charles Halt Source: Rendlesham Forest UFO sighting: Eyewitness Colonel Charles Halt at 4:17
- claimed He says three smooth, equidistant indentations gave radiation readings nine to ten times background, and rejects the gamekeeper's explanation of rabbit diggings. — Charles Halt Source: Col Charles Halt goes on the record at 2:53
- claimed He says a glowing, winking red object moved through the trees and exploded into several white objects, that the Orford Ness lighthouse was visible the whole time as a separate white light, and that one object stopped overhead and sent a beam down about 10 feet from his feet. — Charles Halt Source: Col Charles Halt goes on the record at 4:14
- claimed He says Third Air Force decided that because the events happened off base they were a British affair, and that on the RAF liaison officer's advice he wrote a memo “sanitized just a little bit”, expecting an MoD inquiry that never came; he asked the acting Third Air Force commander to destroy it rather than release it. — Charles Halt Source: Col Charles Halt goes on the record at 8:08
- claimed He says Penniston and four others independently told him they had been interrogated by AFOSI with British personnel present, and that the local AFOSI commander's denial of involvement was “a blatant lie”. — Charles Halt Source: Rendlesham Forest UFO sighting: Eyewitness Colonel Charles Halt at 36:20
- claimed He concludes the objects were “obviously intelligently controlled”, and says he has never been officially debriefed. — Charles Halt Source: Col Charles Halt goes on the record at 8:54
- claimed Nick Pope says the memo's release under FOIA in 1983 forced the authorities to acknowledge an incident after the press office had said nothing occurred; Pope quotes Lord Hill-Norton that either a landing took place or the deputy commander of a nuclear-armed base and his men “were either hallucinating or lying.” — Nick Pope Source: Citizen Hearing 2013: Rendlesham Forest Encounter, Part 1 at 1:09:05
Connected files
Books
- Halt Perspective 2 (authored)
- The Halt Perspective (authored)
Claims
- A craft of unknown origin landed in Rendlesham Forest, beside RAF Woodbridge, in December 1980 (comments on claim)
Documents
- Halt memo: Unexplained Lights (authored)
Events
- National Press Club panel on UFOs and aviation safety (testified in)
- UFOs and Nukes press conference, National Press Club (testified in)
Incidents
- Rendlesham Forest incident (witness)
People
- Jim Penniston (fellow witness) — Halt investigated two nights after Penniston, Burroughs and Cabansag reported a landed craft
- John Burroughs (fellow witness) — Halt investigated two nights after Penniston, Burroughs and Cabansag reported a landed craft
- Nick Pope (cited by) — Pope says the 1983 FOIA release of Halt's memo forced the authorities to acknowledge an incident
Videos
- UFOs and Nukes press conference, National Press Club (27 September 2010) (appears in)
- Citizen Hearing 2013: Associated Phenomena (discussed in)
- Citizen Hearing 2013: Rendlesham Forest Encounter, Part 1 (discussed in)
- Rendlesham Forest UFO sighting: Eyewitness Colonel Charles Halt (appears in)
- Ross Coulthart investigates the UK's UFO files: Nick Pope on the Cosford incident (7NEWS Australia) (appears in)
- Col Charles Halt goes on the record (appears in)
- National Press Club - November 12th, 2007. UFO Close Encounters (appears in)
Mentioned in videos
- Citizen Hearing 2013: Associated Phenomena
- Citizen Hearing 2013: Rendlesham Forest Encounter, Part 1
- Citizen Hearing 2013: Rendlesham Forest Encounter, Part 2
- Rendlesham Forest UFO sighting: Eyewitness Colonel Charles Halt
Mentioned in documents and records
- Encounter in Rendlesham Forest: The Inside Story of the World's Best-Documented UFO Incident
- UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record
- Left at East Gate: A First-Hand Account of the Bentwaters-Woodbridge UFO Incident, Its Cover-up, and Investigation
- RAF Bentwaters and RAF Woodbridge