Strange lights hovering over a pine forest in England were spotted more than forty years ago.
But no matter how many years pass, the mystery still haunts the man tasked with investigating the UFO sighting – along with a witness who still seeks answers today.
The sightings began on the early hours of 26 December 1980 when three US military personnel spotted lights above Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk, United Kingdom and described a triangular craft landing.
The encounters didn’t stop there, with witnesses claiming the unidentified flying objects returned the following two nights.
Deputy base commander Lieutenant Colonel Halt Charles Halt was at a function at RAF Woodbridge on 28 December when a police officer came in to report the aircraft had returned.
Lieutenant Colonel Halt led a patrol to investigate an alleged UFO landing site. He saw several strange lights in the sky. (Supplied)
Three mysterious indentations were some of the only physical evidence to corroborate witness accounts of a UFO landing. (Supplied)
Lieutenant Colonel Halt went outside to disprove the sighting, but he couldn’t explain what was moving through the woods. He quickly launched a patrol to investigate.
“I saw something glowing, a red-orangey object. It was displacing sparks or molten metal,” he told 9news.com.au.
“We watched it for a period of time, then it silently exploded into white objects, sort of like fireworks, then they disappeared.”
When he saw the lights again they were moving in a “grid-like search,” Lieutenant Colonel Halt said.
He does not know what he saw that night but Lieutenant Colonel Halt is clear on one thing; the craft was under “intelligent control”.
A sketch of the craft done by witness, Staff Sergeant Jim Penniston. Mr Penniston and Airman John Burroughs claimed they saw the triangular craft land in Rendlesham Forest on the 26th of December.. (Supplied)
Nick Pope author of, ‘Encounter in Rendlesham Forest: The Inside Story of the World’s Best Documented UFO Incident’, is no closer to an answer and fears time is running out to solve the mystery. (Google Maps)
“When we saw the object we were in the forest,” he said.
“The glowing object came into the forest, moved through the trees, obviously avoiding the trees, occasionally bobbing up and down but primarily moving horizontally.
“When we tried to approach it it moved back out into the field and exploded.
“My personal feeling is that it was from another dimension or from somewhere else…I’ve wanted answers all along but I’m firmly convinced I’m not going to get them.”
‘It sits there like an open case, unsolved’
Nick Pope worked at the Ministry of Defence from 1985 to 2006 and was tasked with investigating UFO incidents. He officially re-opened the Rendlesham case in 1993.
He told he’s examined hundreds of sightings each year, and Rendlesham Forest falls in the five per cent of encounters that do not have a reasonable explanation.”An unsolved UFO case is like an unsolved police case,” Mr Pope said.
Nick Pope said re-opening the Rendlesham Forest case was ‘difficult’ as he feared it would be viewed as a criticism of his predecessors’ investigation. (Supplied)
“Until some new piece of evidence comes forward, or a new witness, it just sits there like an open case, unsolved.”
It’s frustrating, it’s like piece of unfinished business … did I miss something?”
What still strikes him about the encounter, and sets it apart from countless others, is the corroborating evidence supporting witness accounts.
Mr Pope explained there were indentations found in the frozen ground where military personnel said it landed on the first night.
Burn marks were found on some trees, and significant radiation levels were recorded.
“The official assessment that our own government scientists made was that those readings seemed significant higher than the average backgrounds levels,” Mr Pope said.But without more evidence, Mr Pope refuses to offer a definitive theory as to what the UFO was.
(9News)
The three indentations formed a uniform triangle. (Supplied)
In 2014 a sculpture was created to commemorate the UFO sighting. (Google Maps)
“I’ve heard all the theories; aliens, time-travellers. The skeptical theories too,” he said.
“I think the most plausible is that it was a secret prototype drone – even though this was 1980. There are aircraft and missiles and drones being developed flying now that we won’t hear about for maybe 20-30 years.
“Maybe a few years for now we will see it (the Rendlesham UFO) in an airshow,” he added chuckling.
“But I just don’t know.
“I can probably tell you what it wasn’t, but I can’t tell you what it was.”
source: 9news.com.au