The Rendlesham Forest incident, often dubbed “Britain’s Roswell,” remains a captivating and controversial event in UFO history [3]. It took place over a series of nights in late December 1980 near RAF Woodbridge and RAF Bentwaters, then housing U.S. Air Force (USAF) personnel [3]. Rendlesham Forest is owned by the Forestry Commission and consists of about 5.8 square miles (15 km2) of coniferous plantations, interspersed with broadleaved belts, heathland and wetland areas [5].
Key Events (December 26-28, 1980)
- Night 1 (December 26): Around 03:00, USAF security personnel near the east gate of RAF Woodbridge observed lights apparently descending into nearby Rendlesham Forest [1][5]. Airmen James Penniston, Edward Cabansag and John Burroughs were among the first sent to investigate [1][5]. Initially, they thought it was a downed aircraft [1][5]. Soldiers dispatched to the site encountered a luminous triangular-shaped craft, ten feet across and eight feet high, with three legs [1]. The UFO then retracted the legs and easily maneuvered its way through the trees [1]. The soldiers chased it into a field, where it abruptly shot upward, shining brilliant lights down on them. At that moment the witnesses lost consciousness. When they came to, they were back in the forest [1]. Other troops sent to rescue them found tripod landing marks where the object apparently had rested [1].
- Night 2 (December 27): The deputy base commander, Lt. Col. Charles Halt, led a larger party into Rendlesham forest after observers reported strange lights [1][3][5]. There, Halt measured abnormal amounts of radiation at the original landing site [1][3][5]. Another, smaller group, off on a separate trek through the forest, spotted a dancing red light inside an eerily pulsating “fog” [1]. They alerted Halt’s group, who suddenly saw the light heading toward them, spewing forth a rainbow waterfall of colors [1]. Meanwhile, the second group now watched a glowing domed object in which they could see the shadows of figures moving about [1]. During the next hour both groups observed these and other darting lights [1].
- Night 3 (December 28): The events of this night are less documented but involved continued observations of strange lights in the area [1].
Eyewitness Accounts
- John Burroughs: As one of the first responders, Burroughs witnessed lights in the distance [6][7]. He says he saw a white light silently explode and then a red, oval, sun-like object in the clearing [6][7]. It lifted up through the trees and shot back towards the coast [6][7].
“It’s been a crazy 40 years [since the encounter]. Just when you think the story is over, another thing happens” [6][7].
- Jim Penniston: Penniston claimed to have encountered a “craft of unknown origin” [5]. He claimed to have gotten close to the object, estimating about 50 meters. He said the object moved ahead of him every time he tried to approach. Penniston later claimed to have touched the object, describing it as warm and marked with hieroglyphic-like symbols, and that he received a telepathic binary code message after contact [1][5].
- Charles Halt: Halt’s memo, written two weeks after the event, got the date of the first sighting wrong [1][4][5].
“Okay, we’re looking at the thing; we’re probably about two to three hundred yards away. It looks like an eye winking at you… And the flash is so bright to the starscope that it almost burns your eye” [3].
- Sgt. Adrian Bustinza: A security police commander who investigated the incident at the time [3].
“When I arrived [at the scene], it was going in and out through the trees and at one stage it was hovering” [3].
- Vince Thurkettle: A forestry worker who was asked questions by two men in suits about seeing anything [6][7]. As a “countryman born and bred”, however, he saw nothing unusual [6][7].
“It was a completely natural glade. And they’ve said things like: ‘But there were broken branches.’ Well, the forest is full of broken branches…They saw burn marks on the trees. They said: ‘Obviously there was heat radiating out from the spacecraft and it burnt these trees.’ But it wasn’t. It was one of the rangers, Bill Briggs, with an axe” [6][7].
Official Explanations and Alternative Theories
- Meteor: Astronomers attributed the lights to a piece of natural debris seen burning up as a fireball (meteor) over southern England [2][4][5][7]. Fireballs are often linked with a spike in UFO reports and that night in 1980, the one that fell from the sky was said to be an exceptionally bright one [7]. The time of appearance of a bright meteor over southern England coincided with the initial sighting at 03:00 on 26 December [2][4].
- Orfordness Lighthouse: Police reported that the only lights they could see were those from the Orford Ness lighthouse [2][5][7][8]. Sceptics identify this lighthouse as the flashing light seen off to the coast by the airmen [2][5][7][8]. At that time it was one of the brightest lighthouses in the UK [2][5]. One of the witnesses, Ed Cabansag, described it as “a beacon light off in the distance” while another, John Burroughs, said it was “a lighthouse” [2]. The flashing light seen from the forest lay in the same direction as the Orfordness Lighthouse [2].
- SAS Prank: Claims emerged that the Rendlesham Forest incident was a prank played on the US air force by the SAS [2][3]. According to this story, in August 1980, the SAS parachuted into RAF Woodbridge to test the security at the nuclear site [2][5]. The USAF had recently upgraded their radar and detected the black parachutes of the SAS men as they descended to the base [2][5]. The SAS troops were interrogated and beaten up, with the ultimate insult that they were called “unidentified aliens” [2][5]. To enact their revenge, the SAS rigged lights and coloured flares in the woods and coupled black helium balloons to remote-controlled kites to carry suspended materials into the sky [2][5]. However, Clarke’s investigation concluded that the story was itself a hoax [2][5].
- Energy Field Experiments: Burroughs claims the incident was caused by experiments in harnessing an energy field in the forest [6][7]. He suggests the lighthouse was “emitting EM (electromagnetic) frequencies towards Rendlesham Forest” [6][7]. They were studying the energy field for different applications to include military use [6].
- Downed Soviet Spy Satellite: Other explanations for the incident have included a downed Soviet spy satellite, but no evidence has been produced to support this [2][7].
- Hoax: One former U.S. security policeman, Kevin Conde, claimed responsibility for creating strange lights in the forest by driving around in a police vehicle whose lights he had modified [2][7]. However, there is no evidence that this prank took place on the nights in question [2].
“Britain’s Roswell” – Justified?
The Rendlesham Forest incident earned the moniker “Britain’s Roswell” due to military involvement and unexplained events [1][3]. However, unlike Roswell, there were no reports of wreckage or alien bodies recovered from Rendlesham Forest [1][3]. The “Britain’s Roswell” title is therefore more metaphorical, reflecting the enduring mystery and the cultural impact of the event rather than a direct parallel in terms of physical evidence [1][3].
U.S. Sen. James Exon launched an extensive but secret inquiry when a constituent told him about the incident [1]. He has never revealed his findings, even to staff members [1]. He says only that he learned “additional information” that ties the Rendlesham case to “other unexplained UFO incidents” [1].
Read More
[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-suffolk-54649675
[2] http://www.ianridpath.com/ufo/rendlesham2c.html
[3] http://www.ianridpath.com/ufo/rendlesham2b.html
[4] http://www.ianridpath.com/ufo/rendlesham1b.html
[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JBwH6yHEDo
[6] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khOo9uvr5_s
[7] https://science.howstuffworks.com/space/aliens-ufos/rendlesham-forest-incident.htm
[8] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rendlesham_Forest_Incident
[9] https://www.ufospensacolabeach.com/rendlesham-forest-incident-the-uks-roswell-ufo-incident/
[10] https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/britains-roswell-really-happened-rendlesham-forest-ufo-incident/
[11] https://www.gardenshaman.eu/en/2024/06/14/ufo-incident-in-rendlesham-forest-new-findings/
[12] https://www.skeptic.org.uk/2006/04/from-the-archive-rendlesham-forest-britains-roswell/