It was on a quiet Boxing Day that the peace and tranquility of part of rural England was shattered
by an unexpected, unexplained visitation from space. Witnesses saw alien beings, but officialdom remained silent on the matter.
Of all the UFO mysteries in Britain, none can compare in detail or credibility with the bizarre
happenings in and around the Rendlesham Forest in late December, 1980 - for the mysterious phenomena which descended from
the cold night skies upon the area were not only witnessed by several civilians, but by a team of highly-trained American
military personnel as well. Moreover, several radar screens in the region and in London detected the unidentified craft, sensational
physical evidence was found at a landing site, and a top United States Air Force colonel even made a revealing tape recording
as he and his party of veteran airmen watched the eerie events unfold right before their very eyes!
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Brentwater Site. |
The story of the amazing encounter began shortly after midnight, on 26 December 1980, when Suffolk
farmer Gordon Levett walked outside his house to put the family dog into its kennel for the evening. But on this cold winter's
night, the animal was behaving strangely, and was obviously scared of some unknown intruder. Suddenly, as Levett turned his
head, he saw an astounding light move silently over his house. Hardly able to believe his eyes, Levett stood there transfixed
as the light, which he later reported was shaped like a giant mushroom, stopped and hovered over his head. He was no stranger
to flying craft - his farm was near the RAF base at Woodbridge and the US base at Bentwaters - but he had never seen anything
like this before. After a short while, the craft gracefully flew away, leaving Mr Levett and his dog very shaken.
Less than an hour later, a military radar installation in Norfolk picked up a strange blip on its
screen which could not be attributed to any known aircraft in the region. According to the radar operators, the craft was
about the size of a Boeing 737, but it was doing more than 1,500 miles an hour, almost three times the cruising speed of a
passenger plane. Several other bases in the area - and even the tower at Heathrow Airport - had also tracked the strange craft
until it went off the screen. Given its trajectory, it was computed that the object must have gone down somewhere over Rendlesham
Forest, near Bentwaters. At around 2a.m., two military security police at Woodbridge reported seeing a bright, oval light
hovering over the trees. They quickly dismissed the notion that it was the nearby Orford Ness lighthouse, because it suddenly
dipped below the tree line. The senior security man radioed in to base, and an officer then informed them that they had no
idea what they might have seen. There was no incoming air traffic, he said, and the base had received no reports of a downed
plane, military or civilian. The two men were ordered to stay at the perimeter of the base, while three servicemen were sent
into the area to conduct a search.
They took a jeep and, following directions given to them by the security police, made their way
along one of the many dirt tracks winding deep into the forest. They had to continue on foot when the path became too treacherous
to drive any further. A short time later, two of the men saw some red and blue lights flashing through the trees. They tried
to radio HQ, but the walkie-talkie was inexplicably not working. They decided to press on regardless, and began inching their
way forward until they came to what looked to them like a recently-cleared opening.
Both were puzzled by the strange clearing, but they didn't have time to dwell on it because suddenly,
they saw an object. They would later describe it to military investigators as about the same size as a car, though roughly
triangular in shape. It was brilliantly white, though dotted by rows of red and blue lights. One of the men overcame his amazement,
and walked up to the object. He was less than ten feet away from it when suddenly the three legs which were protruding from
the craft were withdrawn, and it began to lift gently upwards into the air. The men watched in a mixture of fear and awe as
it gracefully began maneuvering between the thick clumps of The servicemen decided to give chase followed the craft as it
made its way field. Without warning, it then shot up into the night sky.
A few hours after making their report, the commander at Bentwaters, L Colonel Ted Conrad and a
group his men decided to make a thorough sea the area where the object had reportedly touched down. There they found depressions
in the moist soil. They made a perfect triangle, about 12 feet apart. Traces of radiation were also detected by instruments
they carried with them.
STRANGE LIGHTS
That night, the deputy base
commander at Bentwaters, Lt Colonel Charles Halt informed of yet another bizarre incident group of security police had again
mysterious lights coming from with forest. Immediately, he decided to orb another thorough search of the Together, he and
about 30 of his combed through the thick woods, and heat radiation was detected and pod were found. As the team continue search,
farm animals in the area could now clearly be heard. Something was disturbing them. It was then that the men first spotted
it - and Col Halt turned on his tape recorder: "It's a strange, small red light - looks to be maybe
a quarter, half mile, maybe further, out."
As the party moved into a clearing to get a better view, Col Halt continued his amazing description:
"The light is still there and all the barnyard animals have gotten quiet now... I'm through to the
clearing about 110 degrees from the site. Still getting a reading off the meter... I think it's something on the ground. I
think it's something very huge. We're about 150 to 200 yards away from the site. Everything else is just deathly calm. There's
no doubt about it. It appears to be moving a little bit this way. It's brighter than it has been." Suddenly, the
edge in his voice changes: "It is definitely moving this way."
For the next few seconds, Col Halt and his group of highly-trained American servicemen watched
something they had never seen before. The object glided quietly past them, spewing a flood of bright, glowing colours. "Pieces of it are shooting off!" Halt blurted into the tape. There's no
doubt about it - this is weird!" Several hundred yards away, another group of his men was having an even more
bizarre experience. A huge glowing light passed over them, and seemed to explode all around them - there was no sound, but
after the flash they saw an object resting on the ground right in front of them. They had never seen anything like it - it
was domed on top, and flat at the bottom. It glowed brilliantly. It then began to lift back into the sky, and the men were
ordered to follow its path. A short time later, Col Halt and his party began to see two other lights flying near the one that
had just given them such a spectacular show. "There's something very, very strange," he
recorded. Pieces are falling off it again."
AN AMAZING SIGHT
The party then moved across
the clearing where the smaller search group had seen the object. Halt again recorded this amazing sight: "We're
looking at this thing and we're probably about two to three hundred yards away. It's like an eye looking at you, winking.
It's still moving from side to side... it sort of has a hollow center - a dark center - like the pupil of an eye looking at
you, winking." The airborne spectacle continued unabated for more than another hour. We've
passed the farmer's house and crossed into the next field and now we have multiple sightings of up to five lights with similar
shaped orbits, said
Halt. Later, the Colonel continued his dramatic commentary: "We're at the
far side of the farmer's - ah, the second farmer's field. Made a sighting about 110 degrees. Looks like it's clear out towards
the coast - right on the horizon. Moves about a bit and flashes from time to time. Still steady and red in colour."
The events of that night then changed considerably: "0105 we see strange
strobe like - very sporadic, but there's definitely something out there - some kind of phenomenon... We've got two strange
objects. Half-moon shaped, dancing about with coloured lights on them. Appears to be about five or ten miles out - maybe less.
The half-moons have now turned into full circles - as if there was an eclipse there for a minute or two."
As they watched transfixed, they caught sight of a big object: "Now we've
got an object about ten degrees directly south. But the ones to the north are moving away from us ... Hey!... Here he comes
from the south. He's coming towards us now!" Suddenly, the object began firing some sort of beam near them. "Now we observe what appears to be a beam coming down towards the ground ... this is unreal,"
said Halt.
It was a little after 4a.m. on Saturday, 27 December, that the stunned search party returned to
their Bentwaters base. What they had witnessed is being debated to this day, but to the men who were there - all of them,
trained Air Force personnel - these were the most astonishing few hours their lives. After returning to the base, Halt told
his superiors what he had seen. They advised him to write a memo outlining the details, which would then be sent to the Ministry
of Defence in Whitehall. The Ministry had jurisdiction because incidents had occurred outside the US on British soil.
The memo read:
SUBJECT: Unexplained Lights.
-
Early in the morning of 27 December 1980, two USAF security police patrolmen saw unusual lights
outside the back gate at RAF Woodbridge. Thinking an aircraft might have crashed or been forced to down, they called for permission
to go outside the gate to investigate. The on-duty flight chief responded and allowed three patrolmen to proceed in the forest.
The individuals reported seeing a strange glowing object in the forest. The object was described as being metallic in appearance
and triangular in shape, approximately two to three metres across the base and approximately two metres high. It illuminated
the entire forest with a white light. The object itself had a pulsing red light on top and a bank(s) of blue lights underneath.
The object was hovering or on legs. As the patrolmen approached the object, it maneuvered through the trees and disappeared.
At this time the animals on a nearby farm into a frenzy. The object was briefly sighted approximately an hour later near back
gate.
-
The next day, three depressions one and a half inches deep and seven inches in diameter were
found where the object had been sighted on the ground. The following night the area was checked for radiation. Beta/gamma
readings of 0.1 miliroentgens were recorded with peak readings in the three depressions and near the centre of the triangle
formed by the depressions. A nearby tree had moderate (0.05 - 0.07) readings on the side of the tree toward the depressions.
-
Later in the night a red, sun-like light was seen through the trees. It moved about and pulsed.
At one point it appeared to throw off glowing particles and then broke into five separate white objects and then disappeared.
Immediately thereafter, three star-like objects were noticed in the sky, two objects to the north and one to the south, all
of which were about ten degrees off the horizon. The objects moved rapidly in sharp angular movements and displayed red, green
and blue lights. The objects to the north appeared to be elliptical through an 812 power lens. They then turned to full circles.
The objects to the north remained in the sky for an hour or more. The object to the south was visible for two or three hours,
and beamed down a stream of light from time to time. Numerous individuals, including the undersigned, witnessed the activities
in paragraphs two and three.'
The memo was signed Charles Halt, Lt Col USAF.
For several years, the memo was suppressed by both the US and British governments and Halt, understandably,
was reluctant to discuss the events with anyone other than fellow military investigators.
However, he would occasionally grant interviews, and always maintained that what he had seen was
consistent with the memo that had been sent to the Ministry of Defence. Halt also reportedly indicated that photographs had
been taken of the objects, as had plaster casts of the strange indentations, but nothing has ever been released by authorities.
Interestingly, a later US television report about the sightings reported that an anonymous serviceman
claimed to have driven an officer at Bentwaters onto the runway where he handed something to a pilot who was about to take
off for West Germany. When the driver sheepishly asked the officer what it was he had just handed over, he was told "we actually have pictures of the UFO there".
BEYOND COMPREHENSION
Other airmen backed up their commander's amazing story. Larry Warren, who was just 18 at the time of the incident,
claimed that one of the objects he saw was "Just beyond comprehension. It was solid and this had to
leave some traces... it had a reddish, I won't say light... The closest I could put to it is a neon light. Just the top part
was a bright red, but you could see the structure of the ship through the red."
Another serviceman, who was a witness to the events of the first night in the forest and who spoke
to researchers only on condition that his name was not revealed, claimed that the object he saw was definitely "triangular...
and it stood on three legs. I would say it was about ten feet, maybe 12, and eight feet in height. The colour was a strange
sort of offish white. It actually looked pretty dirty. There were lights of different colours. When it moved it was so slow
you could walk after it." Another had told researchers that "I do not know any technology,
certainly not in 1980, probably not even now, that could do the things this did. It was just like magic. I think that’s
what freaked most people out. Not what is was, but the crazy, unbelievable things it could do. I just stood there in awe."
There were many civilian witness as well. They reported seeing huge lights gliding silently overhead,
then suddenly dart off into the night sky at astonishing speeds. Even workers in the forest saw things they could not explain.
Foreman Donald James refused to comment on what might happened, but said "something definitely did
occur in the forest that night".
Lt Charles Halt made an audio recording of the UFO chase through the forest, below is a transcript
of the audio tape
Col. Halt: 150 feet or more from the initial, I should say suspected
impact point. Have a little difficulty, we can't get the Lightall to work. Seems to be some kind of mechanical problem. Going
to send it back and get another Lightall. Meantime were going to take some readings with the Geiger counter and uh, stick
around here a little bit waiting for another Lightall to come back in.
Soldier: Let's mark one at a time, that's pod number.
Col. Halt: O.K., were now approaching the area within about 25 or 30 feet.
What kind of readings we getting? Anything?
Soldier: Just five clicks.
Col. Halt: Five clicks. Where are the impressions?
Soldier: Here's one.
Col. Halt: Is that all the bigger they are?
Soldier: Well there's one more well defined one over here.
Col. Halt: We're still getting clicks
Soldier: Still getting clicks.
Col. Halt: Can we read that on the scale?
Soldier: Yes Sir, we're now on the 5/10ths scale, and were reading about,
uh, the third or fourth increment.
Col. Halt: O.K., we're still comfortably safe here.
Radio:(Makes comment about a Lightall)
Unknown:Still minor readings.
Col. Halt: Let's go to the third one over here.
Soldier: Yes, now I'm getting some residual.
Col. Halt: I can read that, the meter is definitely giving....low pulse.
Lets go to the center of the area next and see what kind of reading we get out there. You're reading the clicks, I can't hear
the clicks. That about the center Bruce?
Soldier: Yes Sir.
Col. Halt: O.K., lets go to the center. That's the best deflection needle
I've seen yet. O.K., can you give me an estimation.
Soldier: We're on the point five scale, and we're getting, we're getting
right at, uh, a half of a milliroentgen.
Col. Halt: That's point.
Soldier: I haven't seen it go any higher.
Col. Halt: O.K., we'll go out toward the...
Soldier: Now it's picking up.
Col. Halt: This is out toward the Level One indentation where we first
got the strongest reading. It's similar to what we got before.
Soldier: This looks like an area here possibly that could be a blast.
Soldier: It just jumped to 17.
Col. Halt: What?
Soldier: It just jumped to 7 tenths.
Col. Halt: Seven tenths, right there in the center?
Soldier: Uh, huh.
Col. Halt: We found a small blast, what looks like a blasted, or, scruffed
up area here. We're getting very positive readings. Lets see, is that near the center?
Soldier: Yes it is.
Col. Halt: Up to seven tenths. Seven units lets call it on the point Five
scale. O.K., why don't we do this. Why don't we make a sweep.
Soldier: Here, I got my gloves on now.
Col. Halt: Lets make a sweep out around the whole area,
Col. Halt: about 10 foot out. Make a perimeter run around it, starting
right back here at the corner. Back at the same first corner where we came in. Lets go right back here. I want to depend on
you to count the clicks.
Soldier: Right.
Col. Halt: O.K. lets...right put the light on it, lets sweep around it.
Put it on the ground every once in a while.
Soldier: This looks like an abrasion on the tree.
Col. Halt: O.K., we'll catch that on the way back, lets go around, hit
it there.
Soldier: I got an interesting one over here, looks like an abrasion point
into the center.
Col. Halt: It is. It may be old though, there's some sap marks or something
there. Lets go on back around.
Soldier: They ought to give us an extension on that.
Col. Halt: Yeah, this is an awkward thing to use isn't it. Are we getting
anything further?, I'm going to shut this recorder off until we find something.
Soldier: Picking up here.
Col. Halt: Picking up? What are we up to? We're up to 2 3 units of deflection.
You're getting in close to one pod.
Soldier: Picking up something here. Picking up.
Col. Halt: O.k., its still not going above 3 or 4 units.
Soldier: Right. It's picking up more though. More frequent.
Col. Halt: Yes, you're staying steady up around 2 to 3...to 4 units now.
Soldier: Get one of these trees that's facing the blast. What we assume
is the landing sight. All around an abrasion that's facing in the same direction towards the center.
Col. Halt: That's interesting, lets go this way around the circle. Turn
it back down here.
Col. Halt: Let me see that. You know that's kind of funny, that's, your
right about the abrasion. I've never seen a tree that's, uh, never seen a pine tree that's been damaged, react that fast.
Soldier: I have a bottle to put that in.
Col. Halt: Yeah, you have a sample bottle?
Soldier: Yes Sir.
Col. Halt: Yeah, put this stuff in.
Soldier: You notice their all the same color.
Col. Halt: O.K., from now on lets, lets, lets identify that as point number
one. That stake there. So you all know where it is if we have to sketch it. You got that side Nevells?
Soldier: Yes Sir.
Col. Halt: O.K., closest to the Woodbridge Base.
Soldier: That will be point one.
Col. Halt: Be Point one. Lets go clockwise from there.
Soldier: Point Two.
Col. Halt: Point Two, so this tree is between point two and point three.
Radio:(Two other personnel requesting Halts location)
Col. Halt: Tell them negative at this time. We'll tell them when they can
come out here. Don't want them out here right now. O.K., the sample, your gonna want this sample number one.
Soldier: Yes Sir.
Col. Halt: Have them cut it off and include some of that sap and all, is
between indentation two and three on a pine tree about, uh five feet away, about 3 and a half feet off the ground. There's
a round abrasion on the tree about, uh, 3 and a half, or four inches in diameter. It looks like it might be old, but, uh...
Col. Halt: Strange, there's a crystalline pine sap that's come out that
fast. You say there's other trees here that are damaged with similar things?
Soldier: Yes, over towards the landing sight.
Col. Halt: O.K., why don't you take a picture of that, and remember your
picture. Hey, you ought to be writing this down. Well, it's going to be on the tape.
Soldier: You got a tape measure with you?
Col. Halt: This is the picture, your first picture will at the first tree.
The one between, uh, mark 2 and 3. Meantime, I'm going to look a couple of these trees over here...
Col. Halt: Are you getting any readings on the trees your taking samples
from?, on the side facing the suspected landing sight?
Soldier: 4 clicks, max.
Col. Halt: Up to 4. Interesting. That's right where you're taking the sample
now.
Soldier: Four.
Col. Halt: That's the strongest point on the tree?
Soldier: Yes Sir.
Soldier: If you come up to the back, there's no clicks whatsoever.
Col. Halt: No clicks at all on the back, it's all on the, the side facing
the...interesting. All the tissues look like something twisted it, as it sat down on them. Looks like someone took something
and sat it down and twisted it from side to side.
Soldier: Uh, huh.
Col. Halt: Very strange. We're up at the same tree we took the sample off
with this, what do you call it, starscope?
Soldier: Uh, huh.
Col. Halt: Getting a definite heat reflection off the tree, about three
to four feet off the ground.
Soldier: Yes. At the same spot.
Col. Halt: Same place as the spot is, we're getting a heat...
Soldier: On the spot on the tree directly behind us, I picked up the same
thing, the one off to your right.
Col. Halt: Three trees in the area, immediately adjacent to the sight,
within ten feet of the suspected landing sight, we're picking up heat reflection off the trees. What's that again?
Soldier: Well, shine the light on it again Bob.
Col. Halt: You having trouble? O.K., turn the light on.
Soldier: When you turn the light on, you'll notice the white.
Col. Halt: Hey!
Col. Halt: You're right there's a white streak on the tree.
Soldier: Yeah, indicates, uh...
Col. Halt: Let me turn around and look at this tree over here now, just
a second. Why don't you direct it towards this tree. I can see it. O.K., now give me a little side lighting so I can climb
the tree. O.K., uh, I lost the tree. O.K., stop, stop. Light on. Hey, this is eerie. This is strange, here, someone want to
look at the spots on the ground. O.K., lets step back and not walk all over it. Come back here and somebody put a beam on'em.
We're going to have to come back 10 or 15 feet. O.K., lights off. Yeah. O.K., that's what we'll call spot number 3. Lets go
to the back part and get spot number one. Spot number one, here's spot number one right here. Spot number one right here.
Need some light? There it is right there. Focused? O.K., look around spot number on through the Starlight scope.
Soldier: Picking up a slight increase in light as I go over it.
Col. Halt: Slight increase in light at spot number one. Lets go look at
spot number two.
Col. Halt: Spot number two's right over here. Right here, see it? O.K.,
get focused on it, tell me when. O.K., lights on, lets see what we get on it.
Soldier: Slight increase.
Col. Halt: Just a slight increase?
Soldier: I'll try to center it.
Col. Halt: It's slightly off centered, it's right there. Better get your
reading on it right there.
Soldier: O.K.
Col. Halt: Tell me when your ready.
Soldier: Ready.
Col. Halt: O.K., lights on. This is the center spot we're looking at now,
or almost the center.
Soldier: Slight increase.
Col. Halt: Slight increase there. This is slightly off centered toward
the, uh, one two side. It's some type of abrasion or something in the ground where the pine needles are all pushed back and
we get a high reading about, uh, deflection of two to three, maybe four, depending on the perimeter.
Soldier: Yes, you say there's a positive after effect?
Soldier: Yes, there is definitely...that's on the center spot.
Soldier: There is an after effect.
Soldier: Whats that mean?
Soldier: Means that when the lights are turned off, once we are focused
in and allow time for the eyes to adjust, we are getting an indication of a heat source coming out of that center spot. Which
will show up on...
Soldier: Heat or some form of energy, hardly heated at this stage of the
game.
Col. Halt: Looking directly overhead, one can see an opening in the trees,
plus some freshly broken pine branches on the ground underneath. Looks like some of them came off about 15 to 20 feet up.
Some small branches, about an inch or less in diameter.
Col. Halt: It's 0148, we're hearing very strange noises out of the Farmer's
barnyard animals. There very, very active making awful lot of noise. You just saw a light? Where?
Soldier: Yeah
Col. Halt: Wait a minute now, slow down, where?
Soldier: Right up in this position here, straight ahead, in between the
tree...there it is again! Watch. Straight ahead off the flash back there Sir. There it is.
Col. Halt: Yeah, I see it too. What is it?
Soldier: We don't know Sir.
Col. Halt: Yeah, it's a strange small red light, looks to be maybe a quarter
to a half mile, maybe further out. I'm going to switch off for awhile.
Col. Halt: The light is gone now, it was approximately 120 degrees, is
it back again?
Soldier: Yes Sir.
Col. Halt: Well douse the flashlights then. Lets go out to the edge of
the clearing so I can get a better look at it. See if you can get the Starscope on it. The light's still there and all the
barnyard animals have gotten quiet now. Yeah, we're heading about 110 or 120 degrees from the sight, I'm through to the clearing
now, still getting a reading on the meter. About two clicks. Just counted 3 to 4 clicks, getting stronger.
Soldier: Now it's stopped. Now it's coming up, hold on, there we go. About
4 foot off the ground with a compass heading of 110 degrees.
Col. Halt: Turn the meter off, now say that again. About 4 feet off the
ground, about 110 degrees, getting a reading of about 4 clicks?
Soldier: Yes Sir. Now its died.
Col. Halt: Now its died. I think it's something other than the ground.
I think its something that, something very weird.
Soldier: How about the tree right over...
Col. Halt: We just _______ the first night _______ we've seen. We're about
150 or 200 yards from the sight. The woods are just deadly calm. There is no doubt about it, there's some type of strange
flashing red light ahead.
Soldier: There, it's yellow.
Col. Halt: I saw a yellow tinge in it too. Weird, it, it appears that he
may be moving it this way? It's brighter than it has been.
Soldier: Yellow.
Col. Halt: It's coming this way!, it's definitely coming this way. Pieces
of it are shooting off. There is no doubt about it, this is...weird. It is definitely...
Soldier: Two lights, one light to the right, one light to the left.
Col. Halt: O.K., keep the flashlights off. There's something very, very
strange. Keep the headset on, see if it gets any stronger. O.K., give us a rundown.
Soldier: Notation that this is on a Beta reading too.
Col. Halt: It's on a Beta reading, O.K.
Soldier: But it still has been removed.
Col. Halt: O.K.
Col. Halt: Pieces are falling off it again.
Soldier: And it just moved to the right.
Col. Halt: Yeah!
Soldier: Just off to the right.
Col. Halt: Strange...Why did it go left?
Col. Halt: Lets, lets approach to the edge of the woods up there, O.K.?
You wanna do without lights? Lets do it carefully, come on.
Col. Halt: O.K., we're looking at the thing, we're probably about 2 to
300 yards away, it looks like an eye winking at you. It's still moving from side to side, and when you put the starscope on
it, it, it sort of has a hollow center, a, a, dark center. It's, It's, you know, like the pupil of an eye looking at you,
winking. And the flash is so bright to the starscope that, a, it almost burns your eye.
Col. Halt: We passed the Farmer's house and crossed into the next field,
and now we have multiple sightings, of up to 5 lights with a similar shape and all. But they seem to be steady now, rather
than a pulsating or glow with a red flash.
Col. Halt: We just crossed the creek.
Soldier: Here we go, strong.
Col. Halt: And, uh, we're getting what kind of readings now?
Soldier: Three clicks.
Col. Halt: Three good clicks on the meter and we're seeing strange lights
in the sky.
Col. Halt: At 0244 we're at the far side of the Farmer's, second Farmer's
field. And made sighting again, about 110 degrees. This looks like it's clear out to the coast, it's right on the horizon.
Moves about a bit, and flashes from time to time. Still steady or __________ encounter. Also after negative readings in this
other field, we're picking up, a, slight readings, a, 4 or 5 clicks now, on the meter.
Col. Halt: 0305, we see strange strobe like flashes to the, rather sporadic
but there's definitely something, some kind of phenomena.
Col. Halt: 0305, at about 10 degrees horizon, directly North, we've got
two strange objects, uh, half-moon shaped, dancing about colored lights on them. At, uh, what I would guess to be about 5
to 10 miles out, maybe less. The half-moons are now turning full circles. It's as though there was an eclipse or something
there for a minute or two.
Col. Halt: 0315, now we've got an object about 10 degrees directly South.
10 degrees off the horizon. And the ones to the North are moving. One's moving away from us.
Soldier: They're moving out fast!
Soldier: This one on the right is heading away too!
Col. Halt: And they're both heading North. Here he comes from the South,
he's heading toward us now. Now we're observing what appears to be a beam coming down to the ground. This is unreal.
Col. Halt: 330, or 0330 and the objects are still in the sky although the
one that's South looks like it's losing a little bit of altitude. We're turning around, heading back towards the base. The
object to the, the object to the South is still beaming down lights to the ground.
Col. Halt: 0400 hours, one object still hovering over Woodbridge Base at
about 5 to 10 degrees off the horizon, still moving erratic, and similar lights, and beaming down as earlier.
WHAT WAS IT?
Exactly what did happen that
night has never been established beyond doubt. The governments of both the United States and Britain have maintained a steady
silence on the matter, while others have come forward claiming the entire incident could be blamed on the local lighthouse!
But trained military men, who lived and worked on the base, would know the difference between a lighthouse they saw almost
daily and the strange glowing objects they sighted on the nights in question.
Besides, the United States Air Force still thought enough of Col Hart to make him commander of
the Bentwaters base. Indeed, the servicemen's story was so detailed that even some notable figures, including Lord Peter Hill-Norton,
the former Admiral of the Fleet, concluded: "I myself think it is very difficult indeed to discount
the almost certainty that something landed," though he added he had no idea where the craft had originated. "I wish I did," he said.
Some skeptics even maintained that the strange objects might have been some top-secret new weapon
or craft designed by the US military. Yet even veteran Air Force men who saw the objects observed they had seen nothing to
even remotely compare with them.
The facts are clear - the Bentwaters incident is truly one of the most remarkable encounters in
history, and goes far beyond the remarkable Lakenheath occurrence some 24 years earlier. On the night of 13 August 1956, over
Lakenheath, Radar Air
Traffic Control Centre had seen an object pass directly over the landing field at a speed estimated
at some 4,000 miles an hour! The UFO, which had also been picked up on radar both at the Centre and on several planes flying
nearby, then began making a series of maneuvers which lasted for more than two hours.
A Royal Air Force jet was ordered into the air to investigate, and visual sighting was confirmed.
The pilot reported the UFO then began tailing his jet and that he was unable to evade it. The craft played cat-and-mouse with
the RAF interceptor until the fighter pilot was forced to return to base because he was low on fuel. A subsequent report issued
by an independent US inquiry concluded that the probability was 'fairly high' the UFO was real.
It is interesting to note that in the wake of the Bentwaters case, there have been numerous others
reports of strange, triangular-shaped objects in the night skies over Britain. Those reports continue to this day. No-one
really knows for certain what they are or what their mission might be. The answers may come in a decade, or tomorrow. But
somewhere up in that dark sky, there may be those who do know. But for now, we can only wait and marvel at the possibilities
of what occurred that Christmas over Bentwaters.
UFO Documents
