The Rendlesham Forest Incident
Over three nights in December 1980, US airmen stationed at RAF Woodbridge and RAF Bentwaters in Suffolk reported strange lights descending into the forest, and one sergeant claimed he touched a landed craft. A deputy base commander later logged the events in an official memo to the Ministry of Defence. It is often called Britain's Roswell.
The Rendlesham case
Activity
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Night
"The object was described as being metallic in appearance and triangular in shape. It illuminated the entire forest with a white light.
"Lt Col Charles Halt
The binary code claim
Sergeant Jim Penniston, the only man to say he reached the object, later reported that touching its surface triggered a stream of binary code in his mind. He said he wrote down ones and zeros for days afterward. Sceptics note there was no mention of this at the time and no corroboration from the other airmen.
Sceptics point to the nearby Orfordness lighthouse, whose beam swept the area, and to a bright fireball recorded over southern England that night.
Supporters cite the ground impressions, the radiation readings Halt recorded, and the fact that trained military witnesses signed statements about what they saw.