Rendlesham Forest, December 1980
Lights in a Suffolk forest, a colonel’s memo, and Britain’s most argued-over UFO case.
How this site works. Every fact is in our own words with its source linked beside it. The pictures are our own drawings. We never say aliens have been found, because nobody has shown that they have; we show what was reported, then what the evidence says.
The Rendlesham Forest sightings happened over two nights in late December 1980, near RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk, an airbase lent to the US Air Force. National Archives briefing
The National Archives calls it Britain’s best-known UFO incident. National Archives, 2009 files
It is often called “Britain’s Roswell”. National Archives briefing
What was reported
Mysterious lights were seen to come down in the forest, and airmen who went to look reported lights they couldn’t identify moving through the trees. National Archives briefing
The next day, marks were allegedly found on the ground and on trees where the men said the UFO had landed. National Archives briefing
The US airmen claimed a UFO had landed, leaving markings on the ground and radiation. National Archives, 2009 files
Two nights later the deputy base commander, Lt Col Charles Halt, took a team into the woods, saw several unidentified lights and recorded a live tape. National Archives briefing
In January 1981 Halt sent the Ministry of Defence an official report titled “Unexplained Lights”. National Archives briefing
The official record
The Rendlesham papers were among the first UFO files the MoD released to the public, in 2001. National Archives briefing
The story became famous in 1983, when the News of the World published it. National Archives briefing
In 2001 the government told the House of Lords that Halt’s memo was the only US Air Force material the MoD held on the incident. Hansard
MoD records from the time show no evidence of unusual radar returns. Hansard
The sceptics’ explanation
Sceptical investigators point out that a bright fireball burned up over southern England at about 3 a.m. on 26 December 1980, the time of the first sighting. Skeptical Inquirer, 2015
They say the flashing light in the trees was the Orford Ness lighthouse, which stood in the direction the airmen were looking and flashed every five seconds, just like the “UFO”. Skeptical Inquirer, 2014
Local police soon worked out the lighthouse explanation, according to the same sceptical review. Skeptical Inquirer, 2014
Local police and a forester identified the ground marks as rabbit scrapings and the tree marks as cuts made by foresters. Skeptical Inquirer, 2015
Halt’s radiation readings showed only background levels, says the sceptics’ account. Skeptical Inquirer, 2015
The star-like objects in Halt’s memo were probably real stars: Sirius, Vega and Deneb. Skeptical Inquirer, 2014
The claim: the best-documented UFO case ever
Nick Pope, who once assessed UFO reports part-time for the MoD, wrote a book with two of the airmen calling it the best-documented and most compelling UFO incident ever. Skeptical Inquirer, 2014
Sceptics note the story has grown with each retelling, with new claims added years later. Skeptical Inquirer, 2015
The evidence: three ordinary night lights at once
In the sceptics’ summary, the whole case comes down to three ordinary night lights seen together: a fireball, a lighthouse and some stars. Skeptical Inquirer, 2015
MoD records from the time show no evidence of unusual radar returns. Hansard
Visit
Today Forestry England runs a UFO trail in Rendlesham Forest. Forestry England
Our view: we have stood in dark woods. A flashing light through the trees, a fireball overhead and a sky full of twinkling stars would rattle anyone, especially at 3 a.m. That doesn’t make the airmen liars. It makes them human.