Rendlesham Forest
Guards at a US air base saw lights among the pine trees and walked into the forest to look.
What was reported
Over several nights just after Christmas 1980, US Air Force personnel stationed at RAF Woodbridge reported strange lights in Rendlesham Forest, just outside the base. Some said they approached a glowing object among the trees.
On a later night the deputy base commander, Lt Col Charles Halt, led a patrol and recorded his observations on tape. His memo to the UK Ministry of Defence became one of the best-known documents in British UFO history.
Explanations offered
Sceptics note that a flashing light seen through the trees lines up with the Orford Ness lighthouse on the coast, and that a bright fireball was reported over southern England on one of the nights. Witnesses reject this, and some accounts have grown over the years, which makes the case harder to judge.
- When
- 26–28 December 1980
- Where
- Suffolk, England
- Witnesses
- US Air Force personnel
- Status
- Disputed
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.