# Rendlesham Forest, December 1980 > In the early hours of 26 December 1980 US Air Force security police from RAF Woodbridge, Suffolk, went into Rendlesham Forest after lights were seen… Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest Publisher: Mysteries Department Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page) Updated: 2026-10-27T17:48:07+00:00 --- **MYS** 0CQRZ92E5H7M·Mystery · encounter # Rendlesham Forest, December 1980 **0** [Follow][Ask a question](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=rendlesham-forest) Rendlesham Forest, December 1980 ![Rendlesham Forest UFO Sculpture](https://mysteriesdept.com/media/folio/rendlesham-forest-lead) Sandy Gerrard · CC BY-SA 2.0 When Nights of 25/26 and 27/28 December 1980⁠[[1]] Where Rendlesham Forest, between RAF Woodbridge and Orford Ness, Suffolk, England⁠[[2]] Official report Halt memorandum, 'Unexplained Lights', 13 January 1981, to the RAF liaison officer⁠[[2]] MoD assessment No defence significance; lighthouse adopted as working explanation⁠[[3]] Released Memo under US FOIA 1983; MoD file 2001; further MoD files 2008 to 2011⁠[[3]] Status Partly explained Questions 0 of 3 answered People [**Charles I. Halt** Lieutenant Colonel, deputy base commander; author of the memo](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/people/FIG0CQRZA9G3VVP/charles-i-halt)[**Jim Penniston** Staff Sergeant, security police; first patrol](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/people/FIG0CQRZAHA2F30/jim-penniston)[**John Burroughs** Airman First Class, security police; first patrol](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/people/FIG0CQRZAS42ZSG/john-burroughs)[**Larry Warren** Airman; author of a disputed later account](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/people/FIG0CQRZB8R0174/larry-warren)[**Edward Cabansag** Airman, security police; first patrol](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/people/FIG0CQRZB0Y7DXV/edward-cabansag) All 9 people › [**Ian Ridpath** Astronomer; proposed the fireball and lighthouse explanation in 1983](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/people/FIG0CQRZBRC7PBF/ian-ridpath)[**Ted Conrad** Colonel, base commander in 1980](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/people/FIG0CQRZBGJ7DHR/ted-conrad)[**Vince Thurkettle** Forester who examined the site in early 1981](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/people/FIG0CQRZC061CXW/vince-thurkettle)[**David Clarke** Historian; obtained the MoD file in 2001](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/people/FIG0CQRZC803K72/david-clarke) Catalog key**MYS** 0CQRZ92E5H7M Rendlesham Forest lies between two US Air Force bases of the Cold War, RAF Bentwaters and RAF Woodbridge, and the North Sea coast at Orford Ness. At about 3 am on 26 December 1980 a security patrol at Woodbridge's east gate saw lights that seemed to come down into the forest, and three airmen went in on foot. Two nights later, on 27/28 December, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt, the deputy base commander, took a party into the forest with a radiation meter and a micro-cassette recorder⁠[[1]]⁠[[2]]. On 13 January 1981 he wrote a one-page memorandum, "Unexplained Lights", to the RAF liaison officer, who forwarded it to the Ministry of Defence⁠[[3]]. It describes a metallic triangular object two to three metres across seen by the first patrol, three depressions found the next day, slightly raised radiation readings, and on the second night a pulsing red light among the trees and star-like objects that moved in sharp angular bursts and beamed light down⁠[[2]]. The memo was released under the US Freedom of Information Act and published by the News of the World on 2 October 1983 under the headline "UFO lands in Suffolk, and that's official"⁠[[4]]. The MoD had treated it as of no defence significance, had interviewed no one, and had noted the Orford Ness lighthouse as a possible cause⁠[[3]]. The astronomer Ian Ridpath, with the forester Vince Thurkettle, argued in 1983 that the 3 am lights were a bright fireball recorded by astronomers over southern England, that the flashing light the airmen followed and Halt taped was the lighthouse, whose five-second period matches the tape, that the depressions were rabbit diggings, and that the star-like objects were Sirius and other bright stars⁠[[1]]⁠[[4]]. What makes the case persist is not the memo but what was said later. From the 1990s Sergeant Jim Penniston, one of the first patrol, said he had walked up to a landed craft and touched it; in 2010 he produced a notebook and a page of binary digits he said had been downloaded into his mind. Airman Larry Warren described aliens and senior officers in a clearing. Halt, who in 1981 reported lights, said in a notarised 2010 statement that he believed the objects were extraterrestrial⁠[[3]]⁠[[5]]. The 1981 statements of the airmen, made within a week of the events, say none of this, and one of them describes following a beacon until it proved to be the lighthouse⁠[[4]]. Of the 3 questions on this site, 0 are answered. The most likely answer to “How and why did the accounts grow?”, not yet confirmed: memory, repeated retelling, books, television and the influence of other witnesses' stories elaborated…. ### Key questionsset by the editors [**How and why did the accounts grow?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/questions/QST0CQRZJBA2ZBF/how-and-why-did-the-accounts-grow)Most likely: memory, repeated retelling, books, television and the influence of other witnesses' stories elaborated… [**What did Halt's party see on 28 December?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/questions/QST0CQRZJ3G48WT/what-did-halts-party-see-on-28-december)Most likely: the flashing red light was the lighthouse; the star-like objects were Sirius and other bright stars… [**What did the first patrol see on 26 December 1980?** ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/questions/QST0CQRZHVP1QJ8/what-did-the-first-patrol-see-on-26-december-1980)Most likely: the falling lights were a fireball; the lights in the forest and the beacon were the Orford Ness lighthouse… [All 3 questions ](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=rendlesham-forest) ## What happened The first night. At about 3 am GMT on 26 December (Halt's memo misdates it as 27 December) the east-gate patrol saw lights descending into the forest and, thinking an aircraft had crashed, were allowed to investigate; three men, John Burroughs, Jim Penniston and Ed Cabansag, went in on foot⁠[[2]]⁠[[1]]. The memo says they reported a glowing metallic triangular object, about two to three metres across the base and two metres high, with a pulsing red light on top and blue lights underneath, hovering or on legs, which moved through the trees as they approached, and that farm animals nearby were in a frenzy; it was seen again briefly an hour later near the gate⁠[[2]]. Suffolk police, called shortly after 4 am, saw only the lighthouse; at 10:30 am they returned to look at three ground impressions and thought an animal could have made them⁠[[1]]. Astronomers' records show an exceptionally bright fireball over southern England at 2:50 am that morning⁠[[1]]. The second night. On 27/28 December (the memo says 29 December) Halt and others went to the site, measured radiation with an AN/PDR-27 survey meter (0.07 milliroentgens per hour in the depressions against 0.03 to 0.04 elsewhere, figures at the bottom of the instrument's range), and then saw a red light "like an eye winking at you" through the trees in the direction of the coast, which seemed to throw off glowing particles and split into five white objects; afterwards star-like lights to the north and south that moved in angular bursts, one of which beamed light down, and which remained for hours⁠[[2]]⁠[[1]]⁠[[4]]. Halt's tape records the party's bearings and remarks, including the flashing light's regular period⁠[[4]]. [![The three depressions and the marked trees at the landing site](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/082099d5ec4fd670ea1399ef75150e29f54883e8eb98682bbaecb81ea0a545bf.jpg)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/artifacts/ART0CQRZYA449X6/the-three-depressions-and-the-marked-trees-at-the-landing) The three depressions and the marked trees at the landing siteSimon Leatherdale (geograph.org.uk), 1980. CC BY-SA 2.0[Artifact ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/artifacts/ART0CQRZYA449X6/the-three-depressions-and-the-marked-trees-at-the-landing) Afterwards. Halt did not see the RAF liaison officer until 12 January and wrote the memo the next day; the MoD's UFO desk circulated it, its defence intelligence staff could not explain it, the air defence staff were sceptical, and the lighthouse, US night movements and poachers' lights were listed as possibilities. No one interviewed Halt or the airmen⁠[[3]]. In 1985 the minister Lord Trefgarne noted that a real intrusion would not announce itself with a light show, and that the delay in reporting showed its low defence importance⁠[[3]]. **Map of the site** [Open the full map](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/map) [Site][Area][Region] [+][−] 1 **Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk** Forest Within 1 km 2 **RAF Woodbridge, east gate** Air base Within 1 km 3 **The "landing site" clearing near Capel Green** Forest clearing Within 1 km Within 1 kmBase map © OpenStreetMap contributors ### Timeline **Timeline** Squeezed where little happened. Each mark is a published claim, by how it stands:AcceptedMost likelyStill possibleDisputedRuled out ## The accounts The earliest accounts are the five handwritten statements by Burroughs, Penniston, Cabansag, Chandler and Buran, taken by the base in the first days of January 1981 and later released under FOIA⁠[[4]]⁠[[6]]. They describe lights, a red light and a blue light, movement through the trees, and a long walk toward a beacon; Burroughs' statement describes following it about two miles before realising it came from the lighthouse, and Penniston's puts him no closer than about 50 metres from the lights and says nothing about a craft⁠[[4]]⁠[[6]]. These statements were taken by the men's own chain of command within a week and are the baseline against which everything later should be read. [![The Halt memorandum, 'Unexplained Lights', 13 January 1981](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/8e55809548caa6993a5f268aadd5e4cd7972608d89ea6d5469b55e42a3b22199/w800)](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/artifacts/ART0CQRZSDW0ZG6/the-halt-memorandum-unexplained-lights-13-january-1981) The Halt memorandum, 'Unexplained Lights', 13 January 1981Lt Col Charles I. Halt, USAF, 1981. Public domain[Artifact ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/artifacts/ART0CQRZSDW0ZG6/the-halt-memorandum-unexplained-lights-13-january-1981) Halt's memo is the second layer, written two and a half weeks after the first night, from the airmen's statements and his own experience. Halt's recollections then grew: in a 1991 television interview he described beams falling on the base, which base commander Ted Conrad, who was present that night, said in 2010 that he and others never saw; at a 2007 press conference Halt said "whatever we saw was under intelligent control"; in 2010 he signed a statement that he believed the objects were extraterrestrial⁠[[3]]. In 2026, in a news interview, he suggested Penniston and Burroughs "may have been abducted"⁠[[1]]. Penniston's account changed most. In 1981 he reported lights at a distance. From 1994, in television programmes and books, he described approaching a landed craft, walking round it and touching symbols on its warm hull; in 2010 he produced a notebook with sketches and dates, and sixteen pages of binary digits he said had been transferred to his mind when he touched the craft, which others "decoded" into coordinates and text⁠[[6]]⁠[[1]]. The notebook's dates do not match the event, and the binary account has no support from his 1981 statement or from Burroughs and Cabansag, who were with him and reported only lights⁠[[6]]⁠[[3]]. Larry Warren's account, published in the 1997 book Left at East Gate, puts him in a clearing on a third night with a craft, small beings and senior officers including the wing commander Gordon Williams. Halt says Warren was not with his party; Conrad dismissed the story; Williams called it "a flight of fancy"; Warren's co-author Peter Robbins disowned the account⁠[[5]]. A former security policeman, Kevin Conde, has said he staged a prank with a patrol car's lights and fog in the forest in late December 1980; nothing ties it to these particular nights⁠[[1]]. Burroughs has said less than the others, and in 2015 obtained US veterans' disability benefits that his lawyer connected to the incident; the award does not establish what caused any injury⁠[[1]]. ## What was recorded The Halt memorandum (one page, 13 January 1981) is in the MoD's file, released in 2001 to David Clarke and now at the National Archives, with the covering letter and the desk officers' minutes; further files were released in 2008 and 2011⁠[[3]]⁠[[2]]. Halt's micro-cassette tape, about eighteen minutes, became public in 1984 through his former commander and is transcribed on Ridpath's site⁠[[6]]. The five airmen's 1981 statements and sketches were released under US FOIA. A photograph of the impressions taken on the morning of 26 December was published by Georgina Bruni⁠[[1]]. No radar record of anything unusual exists; RAF Watton's and Bentwaters' logs were checked by the MoD using Halt's wrong dates⁠[[3]]. ## The explanations The conventional explanation is a composite, and it is the MoD's and the sceptics' position: a fireball at about 2:50 am on 26 December for the "falling" lights; the Orford Ness lighthouse, visible from the forest's eastern edge, for the flashing light the first patrol walked toward and Halt's party watched, its five-second period matching Halt's tape and its bearing matching his; rabbit diggings for the impressions, as the police and the forester Thurkettle judged, and foresters' axe marks for the scarred trees; the survey meter's background noise for the radiation; and Sirius and other bright stars, scintillating low in a clear winter sky and watched through binoculars by tired men, for the star-like objects⁠[[1]]⁠[[3]]⁠[[4]]. Jenny Randles, who co-wrote the first book on the case, concluded by 2010 that "no unearthly craft were seen in Rendlesham Forest"⁠[[1]]. The objection is that trained security police would not walk two miles toward a lighthouse they could see every night; the answer in the 1981 statements is that this is what one of them says he did⁠[[4]]. A second objection is that Halt's memo describes an object with structure, lights and movement; the answer is that the memo relays what the airmen told him, that the memo's own account is a week old and second-hand for the first night, and that the airmen's own words are thinner⁠[[6]]. The landed-craft explanation rests on Penniston's later testimony, Halt's later testimony and Warren's. Its prediction is that physical evidence of a landing would exist: the casts, the radiation, the tree damage. Each has a prosaic reading, and the witnesses who were present in 1981 contradict the later versions⁠[[3]]. Other proposals (a Soviet rocket re-entry, an Apollo capsule mock-up dropped by helicopter, a secret aircraft, a hoax by the base) either lack evidence or explain only one piece⁠[[1]]⁠[[5]]. ### Published claims **Published claims and their status** | Year | Who | Claimed | Status | Reason | |---|---|---|---|---| | 1981 | Lt Col Charles Halt⁠[2] | On the first night the patrol saw a glowing, metallic, triangular object in the forest; it left three depressions with raised radiation, and lights were seen again on the second night. | Disputed | The airmen's own 1981 statements describe lights, not a landed craft, and the forester who saw the depressions took them for animal burrows⁠[4]⁠[3]. | | 1983 | Ian Ridpath⁠[7] | The flashing light the airmen followed was the Orford Ness lighthouse, which flashes every five seconds on the bearing they describe. | Accepted | The timings on Halt's tape match the lighthouse, and Burroughs's 1981 statement says he realised he was following it⁠[6]⁠[4]. | | 2006 | James Easton⁠[4] | The airmen's 1981 statements show Burroughs followed a beacon for about two miles before realising it was the lighthouse, and none describes touching a craft. | Accepted | The statements are now public and can be read against the later accounts⁠[8]⁠[6]. | | 2010 | Col Ted Conrad, base commander⁠[3] | The lights remain unexplained, but an alien spacecraft is very unlikely, and Halt's and Penniston's later stories conflict. | Disputed | The lighthouse, a fireball and bright stars account for what was reported in 1981, though Conrad's doubts about the later stories stand⁠[7]⁠[5]. | | 2010 | Lt Col Charles Halt⁠[3] | The objects Halt saw at close quarters were extraterrestrial, and US and UK security services downplayed the events with disinformation. | Disputed | His 1981 tape and memo describe lights whose timing matches the lighthouse, and Ridpath identifies the star-like objects as bright stars⁠[7]⁠[6]. | | 2010 | Jim Penniston⁠[9] | Penniston's notebook from the first night holds sketches of the craft and pages of binary code he received when he touched it. | Disputed | The notebook's first page carries the wrong date and time, Halt found no code in it in 2003, and Burroughs says Penniston kept no notebook that night⁠[9]. | | 2024 | David Clarke⁠[5] | The story grew through about twenty books, with Larry Warren's account of a landing denied by Halt, Conrad and Williams and disowned by his own co-author. | Accepted | The denials and the disowning are on record, and the 1981 statements contain none of the later detail⁠[4]⁠[3]. | ## What would settle it Little remains to be tested. The Halt tape's timing against the lighthouse's period, and the bearing from the forest edge to Orford Ness, can be checked by anyone and have been. The thing that would change the picture is a document or physical record from 1980 or 1981 that supports the later accounts: a base log, a photograph, a contemporaneous statement by Penniston describing a craft. None has appeared in 45 years of searching, including the full MoD file releases. The case now mostly tests how accounts change over time, and for that the 1981 statements, the memo, the tape and the later interviews, read in date order, are the dataset. ## Questions 0 of 3 questions are answered. **Key questions** [All 3](https://mysteriesdept.com/questions/key-questions?mystery=rendlesham-forest) **0** [How and why did the accounts grow?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/questions/QST0CQRZJBA2ZBF/how-and-why-did-the-accounts-grow) 0 of 0 sub-questions answered·0 Most likely: memory, repeated retelling, books, television and the influence of other witnesses' stories elaborated… **0** [What did Halt's party see on 28 December?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/questions/QST0CQRZJ3G48WT/what-did-halts-party-see-on-28-december) 0 of 0 sub-questions answered·0 Most likely: the flashing red light was the lighthouse; the star-like objects were Sirius and other bright stars… **0** [What did the first patrol see on 26 December 1980?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/questions/QST0CQRZHVP1QJ8/what-did-the-first-patrol-see-on-26-december-1980) 0 of 0 sub-questions answered·0 Most likely: the falling lights were a fireball; the lights in the forest and the beacon were the Orford Ness lighthouse… ## Evidence 16 findings [What did the first patrol see on 26 December 1980?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/questions/QST0CQRZHVP1QJ8/what-did-the-first-patrol-see-on-26-december-1980)7 findings [The falling lights were a fireball; the lights in the forest and the beacon were the Orford Ness lighthouse…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/answers/ANS0CQRZJK46V3Q/the-falling-lights-were-a-fireball-the-lights-in-the-forest)Most likely +[A bright fireball was recorded over southern England at 2:50 am on 26 December.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/evidence/EVD0CQRZJTY7HSD/a-bright-fireball-was-recorded-over-southern-england-at-2-50)Established +[Burroughs' 1981 statement says he followed a beacon for about two miles before realising it was the lighthouse; the police saw only the lighthouse at 4 am.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/evidence/EVD0CQRZK2R3T45/burroughs-1981-statement-says-he-followed-a-beacon-for-about)Established −[Halt's memo, written from the airmen's reports, describes a metallic triangular object with coloured lights that moved through the trees.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/evidence/EVD0CQRZKAJ0358/halts-memo-written-from-the-airmens-reports-describes-a)Suggestive [A structured craft landed in the clearing and was approached and touched.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/answers/ANS0CQRZKJC3HAY/a-structured-craft-landed-in-the-clearing-and-was-approached)Disputed +[Penniston has described touching the craft since 1994 and produced a notebook and binary code in 2010.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/evidence/EVD0CQRZKT62BCN/penniston-has-described-touching-the-craft-since-1994-and)Speculative −[Penniston's 1981 statement puts him about 50 metres from lights and mentions no craft; Burroughs and Cabansag, with him, reported lights only.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/evidence/EVD0CQRZM204XBX/pennistons-1981-statement-puts-him-about-50-metres-from)Established −[Police and the forester judged the depressions rabbit diggings; the radiation was at the meter's noise floor.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/evidence/EVD0CQRZM9T2C82/police-and-the-forester-judged-the-depressions-rabbit)Supported [A prank with vehicle lights and fog by base personnel.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/answers/ANS0CQRZMHM6RQY/a-prank-with-vehicle-lights-and-fog-by-base-personnel)Still possible +[Kevin Conde says he staged such a prank in late December 1980 but cannot tie it to these nights.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/evidence/EVD0CQRZMSE0V6K/kevin-conde-says-he-staged-such-a-prank-in-late-december)Speculative [What did Halt's party see on 28 December?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/questions/QST0CQRZJ3G48WT/what-did-halts-party-see-on-28-december)5 findings [The flashing red light was the lighthouse; the star-like objects were Sirius and other bright stars…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/answers/ANS0CQRZN922MD5/the-flashing-red-light-was-the-lighthouse-the-star-like)Most likely +[The tape's timings match the lighthouse's five-second period and the bearing Halt gives points to the coast.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/evidence/EVD0CQRZNGW14BJ/the-tapes-timings-match-the-lighthouses-five-second-period)Supported +[The brightest southern object matches Sirius for that time.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/evidence/EVD0CQRZNRP5735/the-brightest-southern-object-matches-sirius-for-that-time)Supported −[Halt describes a beam falling near the base and objects moving in angular bursts; Conrad, present that night, says no one saw beams.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/evidence/EVD0CQRZP0G3FK4/halt-describes-a-beam-falling-near-the-base-and-objects)Suggestive [Structured objects under intelligent control, as Halt has maintained since 2007.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/answers/ANS0CQRZP8A67DF/structured-objects-under-intelligent-control-as-halt-has)Disputed +[Halt's 2010 statement and later interviews assert extraterrestrial objects.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/evidence/EVD0CQRZPG47CJN/halts-2010-statement-and-later-interviews-assert)Speculative −[The MoD found no radar record and the base commander contradicts the beams.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/evidence/EVD0CQRZPQY4K95/the-mod-found-no-radar-record-and-the-base-commander)Supported [How and why did the accounts grow?](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/questions/QST0CQRZJBA2ZBF/how-and-why-did-the-accounts-grow)4 findings [Memory, repeated retelling, books, television and the influence of other witnesses' stories elaborated…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/answers/ANS0CQRZQ7J13CT/memory-repeated-retelling-books-television-and-the-influence)Most likely +[Penniston's craft appears in 1994 and the binary in 2010; neither is in his 1981 statement.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/evidence/EVD0CQRZQFC4Q08/pennistons-craft-appears-in-1994-and-the-binary-in-2010)Established +[Penniston says his notebook was written that night; its dates do not fit the event.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/evidence/EVD0CQRZQQ637PQ/penniston-says-his-notebook-was-written-that-night-its-dates)Supported [The witnesses told the truth from the start but were ordered to keep it out of their statements, and spoke…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/answers/ANS0CQRZQZ0451Z/the-witnesses-told-the-truth-from-the-start-but-were-ordered)Disputed +[Halt's 2010 statement alleges concealment by authorities.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/evidence/EVD0CQRZR6T3WME/halts-2010-statement-alleges-concealment-by-authorities)Speculative −[Conrad, the base commander, dismisses the later stories; the MoD file shows no interest in the case.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/evidence/EVD0CQRZREM594G/conrad-the-base-commander-dismisses-the-later-stories-the)Supported ## Artifacts The films, photos, papers and objects this mystery rests on, each with its own key and its distance from the original. **Artifacts** [See all 14](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/artifacts) Photo1 step from object [The Halt memorandum, 'Unexplained Lights', 13 January 1981](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/artifacts/ART0CQRZSDW0ZG6/the-halt-memorandum-unexplained-lights-13-january-1981) Lt Col Charles I. Halt, USAF · Public domain (US government work, US Air Force) Audio2 steps from object [The Halt tape](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/artifacts/ART0CQRZSXG7GPF/the-halt-tape) Charles Halt (recording); copy hosted by Ian Ridpath · unclear (Halt's own recording; no licence stated) Document2 steps from object [The five airmen's written statements, January 1981](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/artifacts/ART0CQRZTD44GJ9/the-five-airmens-written-statements-january-1981) Ian Ridpath · public-domain Photo2 steps from object [Penniston's notebook and binary pages](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/artifacts/ART0CQRZTWR2VCY/pennistons-notebook-and-binary-pages) unknown · unknown Scan1 step from object [The Ministry of Defence's Rendlesham files](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/artifacts/ART0CQRZXAW4H9R/the-ministry-of-defences-rendlesham-files) The National Archives (digital copy) · Open Government Licence v3.0 Photo3 steps from object [The three depressions and the marked trees at the landing site](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/artifacts/ART0CQRZYA449X6/the-three-depressions-and-the-marked-trees-at-the-landing) Simon Leatherdale · CC BY-SA 2.0 [See all 14 artifacts](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/rendlesham-forest/artifacts) ## See also [ **Roswell, 1947** Debris found near Roswell, New Mexico, in 1947 and announced as a flying disc. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/roswell) [ **2004 Nimitz encounter and the Navy videos** A 2004 report by US Navy aircrew of a white, wingless object off Baja California. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/nimitz-encounter) [ **Phoenix Lights, 13 March 1997** A V of lights and a row of flares seen by thousands over Arizona on 13 March 1997. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/phoenix-lights) [ **Marfa lights** Lights seen at night over Mitchell Flat, east of Marfa in west Texas, reported since at least 1945. ](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/marfa-lights) ## References 1. 1.[Wikipedia contributors 2026. Rendlesham Forest incident. Wikipedia.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CQRZ8JT0W9D/rendlesham-forest-incident)cited 13 times here**SRC** 0CQRZ8JT0W9D 1. 2.[Halt, C. 1981. Unexplained Lights (memorandum to RAF/CC). 81st Combat Support Group, USAF; MoD file DEFE 24, The National Archives.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CQRZ7BR7EV6/unexplained-lights-memorandum-to-raf-cc)cited 15 times here**SRC** 0CQRZ7BR7EV6 1. 3.[Clarke, D. 2018. Rendlesham Forest UFOs. drdavidclarke.co.uk.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CQRZ7KJ50F8/rendlesham-forest-ufos)cited 17 times here**SRC** 0CQRZ7KJ50F8 1. 4.[Easton, J. 2006. The Truth about Rendlesham. The Skeptic, vol. 17, nos 2-3 (reposted 2023).](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CQRZ8365PSQ/the-truth-about-rendlesham)cited 11 times here**SRC** 0CQRZ8365PSQ 1. 5.[Clarke, D. 2024. Dropped Object. drclarke.substack.com.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CQRZ7VC44RB/dropped-object)cited 6 times here**SRC** 0CQRZ7VC44RB 1. 6.[Ridpath, I. 2021. The Rendlesham Forest UFO case. ianridpath.com.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CQRZ8B04W9C/the-rendlesham-forest-ufo-case)cited 15 times here**SRC** 0CQRZ8B04W9C 1. 7.[Ridpath, I. n.d.. Was the flashing light really the lighthouse?. ianridpath.com.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CQRZAHA137H/was-the-flashing-light-really-the-lighthouse)cited 1 time here**SRC** 0CQRZAHA137H 1. 8.[Burroughs, J., Penniston, J., Cabansag, E. et al. 1981. Written statements of Burroughs, Penniston, Cabansag, Chandler and Buran on the night of 25–26 December 1980. USAF, 81st Security Police Squadron, RAF Woodbridge; reproduced by Ian Ridpath.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CQRZ9A840QE/written-statements-of-burroughs-penniston-cabansag-chandler)cited 2 times here**SRC** 0CQRZ9A840QE 1. 9.[Ridpath, I. n.d.. Penniston's notebook. ianridpath.com.](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0CQRZAS40VQH/pennistons-notebook)cited 1 time here**SRC** 0CQRZAS40VQH Last edited 27 Oct 2026