1980-UFO Landings at Rendlesham Forest

If you can imagine a scene of UFOs landed in a forest, alien beings in bubbles moving around the UFO, military personnel looking on with cameras filming the entire sequence in the midst of surreal atmospheric effects, then you have seen a portion of what really happened in the Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk, U. K.

For several nights the sister bases of Bentwaters and Woodbridge would be invaded by unknown flying objects moving in and about the forest between the two American-leased bases in late December of 1980.

Shortly after midnight, December 27, radar screens at RAF Walton in Norfolk showed an unknown object. This UFO would soon disappear from the screen over the Rendlesham Forest. Bentwaters RAF radar screens also had the target.

Bentwaters was north of the forest, and Woodbridge was south. Both of the bases reportedly held large stocks of nuclear weapons. Woodbridge also housed the 67th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron, which answered only to the Department of Defense in Washington D.C.

Radar operator Mal Scurrah, made this statement concerning the radar returns:

"We didn't have the faintest idea what it was. We checked through the air traffic agencies. There should have been nothing in that area at the time. The only thing we could do was send a jet aircraft in to find out what it was. They got to within about a quarter of a mile and the pilot suddenly started reporting that they could see a very bright light in the sky in front of them."

The first sighting from the ground was made by three security patrols. They saw a "gigantic, glowing object" according to eyewitness testimony. They radioed their sighting to base headquarters, and received permission to get a closer look at the unknown object.

They began to pursue the object in the forest. Their first thoughts were that the object must be a military or commercial aircraft that had to make a crash landing. As they came upon the object, they were shocked to see a saucer-shaped object either hovering just above the ground or landed on the forest floor.

The security patrolmen also saw small alien beings around the object. They seemed to be working on the saucer. The beings were the typical large-headed, thin-bodied humanoids.

At first, the aliens did not seem to be aware of the presence of the patrol guard. The guards were, out of fear, keeping a safe distance from the beings and their flying saucer.

They made a radio report to headquarters on what they thought they were seeing. They requested additional personnel be sent to the site of the landing.

In a matter of minutes, an emergency patrol arrived, totally armed and equipped. Senior officers were among the personnel. Although there were other reports of UFOs and lights over the forest, it seems that this one landing spot was the most important.

According to eyewitness statements, personnel who wandered too close to the strange object suffered strange anomalies, like "reality bending" effects, time displacement, and strange atmospheric occurrences. It was also reported that senior base officers were communicating with the aliens, possibly discussing the repairs needed on the UFO.

Colonel Charles Halt would be a major figure in the Rendlesham case. He was called away from a Christmas party on the second night of the strange sightings in the forest. He personally led a team into the forest, and made a haunting audio recording of the trek into the woods.

It has been said that Halt was one of the senior officers present near the landed alien craft. Other key personnel of the Rendlesham case were patrolmen Jim Penniston, John Burroughs, and Larry Warren.

Warren, who wrote a book on his night in the forest, called, "Left at East Gate," stated that he was debriefed, and sworn to secrecy in a bunker underneath Bentwaters.Several other witnesses to the strange alien encounter were taken away, and escorted to the underground facility by men of an "official" status.

Ironically, they claimed that they were shown film of UFO recoveries from around the world. They were also threatened and sworn to secrecy.

After Colonel Halt made his report on the incident, he filed away his cassette recording. The events of Rendlesham were not known to the public, for the most part, until 1983.

A magazine report on the sightings, issued not long after the events, drew little interest, and the case died. But Robert Todd of the Citizens Against UFO Secrecy (CAUS) secured a copy of an official report of the events through the Freedom of Information Act in 1983. The paper was dated 1-13-81, and had been sent to the British Ministry of Defense by Halt.

Later, Halt would release his audio tape to the public. The Rendlesham Forest incident stands on its own as compelling evidence of not only the existence of UFOs, but also alien-human contact and communication.

The case has similarities to the Roswell case in that both occurred over American military bases which stored nuclear weapons, and there was a military cover-up of the incident.