By Charles Lear
The Rendlesham Forest Incident is a British UFO case from 1980 that is comfortably familiar to those who are interested in the subject and is known, affectionately as, “The British Roswell.” It’s good, clean, UFO fun with an official memo and unofficial tape from a USAF Lt. Colonel, multiple military witnesses and an exuberant former Ministry of Defense employee, Nick Pope, championing the case as if he were the official British spokesperson. Nod and smile and on to the next case, right?
Well, I’m sorry to disillusion some of you but things are much darker than that. Research into this case reveals a possible violation of the Geneva Convention, mental and physical trauma, possible abuse during interrogation, and a group of witnesses with conflicting stories that can’t all be in the same room together.
The case involves a series of sightings and encounters that occurred over three nights in 1980 from December 25th through the 28th in Rendlesham Forest, which separates the twin airbases, RAF Woodbridge and RAF Bentwaters, then under control of the USAF. The timeline is difficult to establish due to the variations in the witness’ accounts but a simplified version is as follows:
December 25, late night through December 26, early morning.
Staff Sergeant James Penniston is picked up at his post by Airman First Class, Ed Cabansac to be driven to meet up with two members of the base’s military police, Staff Sergeant Bud Stefans and Airman First Class John Burroughs. Burroughs and Stefans reported seeing strange lights in the forest and Penniston suggested they might have witnessed a downed aircraft and should investigate. Stefans corrected Penniston saying they had seen what looked like a landing. Penniston contacted Central Security Control and a decision was made that they should go off-base and investigate.
Cabansac drove Penniston and Burroughs as far as the terrain would allow and they then proceeded on foot. Experiencing problems with their radios, Penniston and Burroughs continued toward a bright light observed through the trees, leaving Cabansac behind as a communication relay.
It is here that we have the first conflict of related events. Burroughs claims that he and Penniston encountered a bright light while Penniston described a solid, black, metallic, triangular craft with raised glyphs that he touched. Burroughs explains that the light grew bright so he hit the ground and that Penniston was in the lead and had observed the craft after the light had dimmed. Both then see the light rise up and depart.
December 27, late night through December 28, early morning.
Deputy base commander Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt had been off-base on the 25th and was informed of the previous night’s incident on the 26th. He summoned Cabansac to his office for a description. On the night of the 27th, Halt was at a party where he was informed by an officer that, “the lights were back.” He was ordered to put together a team and investigate. There were other base personnel present when the team arrived and they were dealing with malfunctioning lighting equipment. Halt took control, sent for more lights and commenced the investigation, which he recorded on a personal tape recorder he used in place of a notebook.
On the tape, Halt is heard leading an investigation of what seems to be a landing site with three indentations in the ground and marks on the surrounding trees. The team had a Geiger counter and readings are called out as it is placed in the indentations and near the trees. Then a series of moving lights are described culminating with a light hovering above the team and projecting a thin beam of light to the ground in front of them.
The above events would have been left as fading memories were it not for the efforts of Larry Warren, who was an Airman First Class and member of the USAF Security Police posted to the base that month. He reports that he was one of those ordered to bring new lighting equipment to the investigation scene.
Warren approached Citizens Against UFO Secrecy after an article was published in a 1983 issue of OMNI magazine describing the incident. CAUS, using the Freedom of Information Act, managed to obtain the now famous “Halt Memo” which Halt was ordered to submit to the British MoD as a matter of courtesy. The memo got into the hands of British researchers and was made available to News of the World, who published a story in October 1983 under the headline, “UFO Lands In Suffolk and That’s Official.”
The story then appeared as one of many in the 1984 book, “Clear Intent” by authors Lawrence Fawcett and Barry Greenwood who were the CAUS investigators approached by Warren. It was then the main focus of another book published that same year, “Sky Crash, a Cosmic Conspiracy” by British authors, Brenda Butler, Dot Street and Jenny Randles. Butler and Street were the sources for the News of the World story and the fact that they sold the story for what Warren has claimed was £25,000 caused another controversy. Randles explains that they sold the story (not the memo) to maintain control. The authors of “Sky Crash” had been investigating the story before the “Halt Memo” surfaced, gathering testimony from villagers and military witnesses.
Jenny Randles published another book in 1991, “From out of the Blue; the Incredible UFO Cover-up at Bentwaters NATO air base” and then, Larry Warren and co-author Peter Robbins published 1997’s “Left at East Gate.” In the book, Warren describes an encounter he had in a field called “Capel Green.” This encounter involves a craft and entities appearing in a light emerging from its surface. “Capel Green” is also the title of a yet-to-be-released documentary about the encounter and surrounding events.
The story took off from there and so did the controversy. First there were allegations in “Left at East Gate” that nuclear weapons were being stored at Bentwaters and Woodbridge in violation of the present day arms treaties. To this day that claim has not been officially put to rest. Former British Admiral Lord Hill-Norton, referring to the book, made a documented Parliamentary Enquiry (PQ 0878i) in 1997 and the reply was that it was policy to “neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons at any site, either in the past or present.”
Further controversy caused by the book was due to its attacks on “Sky Crash” and its authors, which prompted Jenny Randles to write a rebuttal that appeared in Magonia 61, November 1997. It is here that Randles calls Warren’s claim that he was present during the events into question. Halt had told her that Warren could not have been present because he had only been on the base for three weeks and NATO regulations required a six week training course to approve his status. Halt stuck to his belief that Warren was not present for years and today, only grudgingly accepts that Warren might believe he was there due to implanted memories, which is another dark chapter in this tale.
Finally, a storm was unleashed when Warren’s co-author announced in 2017 that he had been deceived by Warren and that he no longer stood behind their book’s claims. Warren aggressively defended himself in the midst of this and further attacks from different quarters on his character and credibility. Stay tuned for further developments.
This leaves Halt, Burroughs and Penniston as the most vocal, media-friendly, witnesses. They continue to give interviews and testimony and stick by their stories. Burroughs claimed that harsh interrogation techniques were used by the USAF Office of Special Investigations involving “truth drugs”, and Penniston and Halt have come to agree with this. Burroughs also claimed health problems due to his encounter and his fight to obtain classified (this is unusual) health records to acquire benefits is documented. Halt has written his own book on the events while Burroughs and Penniston have co-authored their version along with Nick Pope. Soon to be published is another book by Penniston titled, “The Rendlesham Enigma” co-authored by Gary Osborn.
Due to the belief that drugs and mind control techniques may have been used, the hypnotic regressions of Penniston and Burroughs, and new witness testimony, the original story has evolved into a tale far more exotic than that gleaned from Halt’s tape and memo. However, for any beginning student of this event, the tape and memo is where you need to start if you want to have any hope of getting your mind around this convoluted case history.