1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,760 For more than 20 years, a handful of US Air Force personnel had been haunted by an event 2 00:00:15,760 --> 00:00:23,800 that took place in the Rendlesham Forest just outside their base in Suffolk, England. 3 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:29,640 They maintained that for two nights in 1980, they experienced, up close, an encounter with 4 00:00:29,640 --> 00:00:36,160 an unidentified craft. 5 00:00:36,160 --> 00:00:40,960 Their accounts make the Rendlesham incident one of the most detailed and well-documented 6 00:00:40,960 --> 00:00:43,000 to date. 7 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:48,360 These witnesses also say that the government launched an investigation and then tried to 8 00:00:48,360 --> 00:00:52,960 cover it up. 9 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:58,840 This event has an eerie similarity to a sighting nearly 33 years earlier, when an extraterrestrial 10 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:05,360 spacecraft allegedly crashed near a military base in Roswell, New Mexico. 11 00:01:05,360 --> 00:01:10,680 Both stories involve eyewitness accounts from respected officers, government investigations, 12 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:13,680 and classified records and evidence. 13 00:01:13,680 --> 00:01:15,640 This really was the Holy Grail. 14 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:19,480 This was certainly Britain's most famous UFO case. 15 00:01:19,480 --> 00:01:20,960 There's no doubt about it. 16 00:01:20,960 --> 00:01:21,960 This is Britain's Roswell. 17 00:01:22,200 --> 00:01:25,040 It appears that you may be moving a little bit this way. 18 00:01:25,040 --> 00:01:26,040 It's coming this way. 19 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:28,040 It is definitely coming this way. 20 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:32,320 This is unreal. 21 00:01:32,320 --> 00:01:37,000 What really happened in the woods outside the Woodbridge-Bentwater's airbase in December 22 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:38,760 1980? 23 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:42,720 If you contact the Pentagon about what happened December 1980 at the R.F. 24 00:01:42,720 --> 00:01:46,800 Woodbridge, England, they're going to tell you right now nothing happened. 25 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:51,520 People need to step up to the plate and say something. 26 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:58,080 It happened and it was real and someone else visited Rendlesham Forest in 1980. 27 00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:09,760 This is Bentwater's Royal Air Force Base. 28 00:02:09,760 --> 00:02:15,920 Located 70 miles northeast of London, the now-Dorman site was once a highly sophisticated military 29 00:02:15,920 --> 00:02:17,480 installation. 30 00:02:17,480 --> 00:02:22,720 The main function of the twin bases there was to support the needle effort. 31 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:30,800 In the case of a war in Europe, we would go ahead and mobilize our A-10 aircraft to support 32 00:02:30,800 --> 00:02:36,520 whatever war effort we're told to do. 33 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:42,560 In 1980, with cold war tensions near their peak, Bentwater's and nearby Woodbridge airbases 34 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:48,080 are operated by about 12,000 U.S. Air Force personnel, making it one of the largest NATO 35 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:52,040 complexes in all of Europe. 36 00:02:52,040 --> 00:03:00,680 But the site, bordered by the dense Rendlesham Forest, has a secret. 37 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:04,120 This was Bentwater's weapons storage area. 38 00:03:04,120 --> 00:03:07,160 Exactly what was kept here is officially classified. 39 00:03:07,160 --> 00:03:12,160 The researchers and observers agree that a massive nuclear arsenal was stockpiled beneath 40 00:03:12,160 --> 00:03:14,600 these concrete bunkers. 41 00:03:14,600 --> 00:03:21,720 The extraordinarily secured underground bunkers with alternating layers of steel, concrete 42 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:29,280 earth, steel, concrete earth held something like 300,000 kilotons of nuclear ordnance. 43 00:03:29,280 --> 00:03:32,520 The American airmen who man this base are highly skilled. 44 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:38,840 They're trained to deal with life and death situations with a cool, clear head. 45 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:43,080 And that makes the events at Rendlesham even more mysterious, because what they saw on 46 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:52,680 Christmas night, 1980, made these thick-skinned military men shudder with fear. 47 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:54,120 It's 3 a.m. 48 00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:58,280 Airman John Burroughs is patrolling the East Gate of Woodbridge airbase, part of his normal 49 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:01,800 routine as a security policeman. 50 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:05,800 Security did the airfields, weapons storage areas, and stuff like that. 51 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:08,400 You control the entry of the base. 52 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:12,520 The 20-year-old has been with the Air Force for almost two years and has been stationed 53 00:04:12,520 --> 00:04:15,760 at Bentwater's for about a year and a half. 54 00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:19,840 Tonight there is nothing to observe but the stars overhead. 55 00:04:19,840 --> 00:04:20,840 It was cold that night. 56 00:04:20,840 --> 00:04:24,000 It was a clear night, pretty much, you know, it was a clear night. 57 00:04:24,000 --> 00:04:26,000 There's a little bit of fog. 58 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:30,800 As he's walking, his superior, Bud Stevens, pulls up in a truck. 59 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:33,840 He tracked me down and said, let's ride around for a while. 60 00:04:33,840 --> 00:04:37,520 The men drive into Rendlesham Forest. 61 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:43,840 Suddenly, Sergeant Stevens notices a strange light in the woods, just off the road. 62 00:04:43,840 --> 00:04:45,840 He said, whoa, is that normal? 63 00:04:45,840 --> 00:04:48,400 And I looked out and it was just a weird glow in the woods. 64 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:51,200 I said, no, it's not normal. 65 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:54,200 Burroughs can't shake a bad feeling. 66 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,560 You know, you just felt a real sense of danger or something wasn't right. 67 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:00,960 There were different colored lights, you know, like his Santa Christmas display, different 68 00:05:00,960 --> 00:05:04,480 car lights that were blinking on and on. 69 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:10,840 Alarmed, the men speed back to the gate to call the flight desk from a secure phone line. 70 00:05:10,840 --> 00:05:15,040 They do not want to broadcast the information over their radios. 71 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:19,760 At Burroughs insistence, the call is transferred to the base's Central Security Control, or 72 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:21,280 CSE. 73 00:05:21,280 --> 00:05:27,440 The shift commander dispatches 26-year-old Sergeant Jim Peniston to the site. 74 00:05:27,800 --> 00:05:33,720 Peniston has been a security policeman with the Air Force for seven years. 75 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:35,760 They told me I need to go out the east gate. 76 00:05:35,760 --> 00:05:37,080 We have a situation out there. 77 00:05:37,080 --> 00:05:38,480 I said, what type of situation? 78 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:42,480 He said, well, I'd rather have the on-scene patrolman tell you what that is. 79 00:05:42,480 --> 00:05:44,200 I said, well, can it wait? 80 00:05:44,200 --> 00:05:47,160 No, you've got to get out immediately. 81 00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:52,200 Within minutes, Peniston and his driver arrive at the east gate. 82 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:56,160 Burroughs and Stevens direct his attention to the woods. 83 00:05:56,160 --> 00:06:00,680 I've seen this multicolor yellow and red. 84 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:06,520 It's about, you know, two, three hundred meters away, and it looked like an aircraft crash 85 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:07,520 immediately. 86 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:12,320 That's the color that you get from titanium and fuel burning. 87 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:18,640 Peniston calls back to CSE and gets clearance to investigate a possible downed aircraft. 88 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:24,000 If it is an aircraft crash, we can go ahead and, you know, render assistance and set up 89 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:25,560 security for it. 90 00:06:25,560 --> 00:06:31,760 As part of standard procedure, Sergeant Peniston tries to gather information from Bud Stevens. 91 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:33,560 And I said, what, do you hear it crash? 92 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:36,320 Bud, he said, no, I didn't crash. 93 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:39,560 It landed. 94 00:06:39,560 --> 00:06:43,520 Stevens is too frightened to help with the investigation. 95 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:50,760 He returns to his post while Burroughs and Peniston proceed without him. 96 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:57,320 Soon after, they speed off with a driver and head toward the mysterious light. 97 00:06:57,320 --> 00:07:01,600 When they can no longer maneuver the vehicle around the dense trees, Burroughs and Peniston 98 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:03,480 proceed on foot. 99 00:07:03,480 --> 00:07:08,800 They walk about 50 meters and notice strong interference on their radios. 100 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:14,320 The fire that we got into the woods, it became more and more intermediate where it was harder 101 00:07:14,320 --> 00:07:16,720 and harder to talk to them. 102 00:07:16,720 --> 00:07:21,720 Suddenly, Sergeant Peniston feels an electrical charge in the air. 103 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:30,600 I've been in excitable situations before on duty and I know the adrenaline feeling, but 104 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:31,760 this here was different. 105 00:07:31,760 --> 00:07:36,760 You could feel on your clothes, your face, your hair. 106 00:07:36,760 --> 00:07:41,400 The closer they move toward the light, the less the scene resembles a crash. 107 00:07:41,400 --> 00:07:46,560 It didn't have no smell of smoke and it was too contained. 108 00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:49,840 It was just like a one ball out there. 109 00:07:49,840 --> 00:07:53,880 We came into a clearing and then that's when it was like a bright light lit up. 110 00:07:53,880 --> 00:07:57,920 The whole area was almost blinding. 111 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:03,040 Sergeant Peniston moves within 10 feet of the object and the bright light dims. 112 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:08,200 As his eyes adjust, he has trouble understanding what he's seeing. 113 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:09,840 I'm a rational person. 114 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:12,720 I wanted a rational explanation of what was going on. 115 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:16,160 I could not come up with one. 116 00:08:16,160 --> 00:08:21,320 Peniston snaps pictures with his military-issued camera. 117 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:29,400 The craft was franger-shaped and measured probably 9 feet wide by about 8 feet high. 118 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:31,800 I couldn't tell the front or back to it. 119 00:08:31,800 --> 00:08:36,840 I mean, there was no engines on one side or no cockpit or nothing like that. 120 00:08:36,840 --> 00:08:41,160 It was all completely smoothed the outside of the craft. 121 00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:45,960 He then circles the object, writing descriptions in a notepad. 122 00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:49,120 These are the notes he wrote that night. 123 00:08:49,120 --> 00:08:52,000 Surfaces unknown. 124 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:56,360 Identity unknown. 125 00:08:56,360 --> 00:09:00,440 No apparent landing gear present. 126 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:04,680 No sound but appears to be operating somehow. 127 00:09:04,680 --> 00:09:09,560 Peniston's handwriting changes dramatically as he gets closer to the craft. 128 00:09:09,560 --> 00:09:14,920 I was really having problems with the type of craft. 129 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:23,120 I keep saying, I have a problem with understanding what I'm recording here. 130 00:09:23,120 --> 00:09:27,600 When he draws near enough, he reaches out and touches the object. 131 00:09:27,600 --> 00:09:30,960 The fabric of the craft was smooth, like glass. 132 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:34,600 It was warm to touch but not hot. 133 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:36,440 There was lights on it. 134 00:09:36,440 --> 00:09:40,920 It was somehow in the fabric of the craft. 135 00:09:40,920 --> 00:09:45,400 On the front side of the object, Peniston notices several strange symbols. 136 00:09:45,400 --> 00:09:49,160 He copies them in his notebook as well. 137 00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:54,800 They were like markings, not numbers, not language. 138 00:09:54,800 --> 00:10:00,480 There were several, maybe six symbols, measuring 3 feet wide. 139 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:05,400 I wasn't trained for what I was experiencing. 140 00:10:05,400 --> 00:10:10,720 Suddenly, the object emits a blinding flash of light. 141 00:10:10,720 --> 00:10:13,480 The men take cover. 142 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:20,880 The object, whatever it was, lifted up, went up and then moved back away over the trees. 143 00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:27,840 The speed of the craft leaving the area was the best way to describe it was probably in 144 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:29,440 a blink of an eye. 145 00:10:29,440 --> 00:10:35,360 I've never seen any craft move that fast in my entire Air Force career. 146 00:10:35,360 --> 00:10:38,320 And I don't think I ever will again. 147 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:43,320 As the men slowly rise to their feet, their attention is drawn by another flash of light 148 00:10:43,320 --> 00:10:46,200 through the trees. 149 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:50,900 At first they assume it is the craft, but on second glance they realize it is the Orford 150 00:10:50,900 --> 00:10:56,560 Nest Lighthouse, five miles away. 151 00:10:56,560 --> 00:10:59,320 Burrows and Peniston check their radios. 152 00:10:59,320 --> 00:11:01,120 They're working again. 153 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:06,160 It is now around 5 a.m., roughly two hours since they first spotted the mysterious lights 154 00:11:06,160 --> 00:11:07,660 in the woods. 155 00:11:07,660 --> 00:11:13,180 They contact the CSE and their commander orders them to rendezvous with a security team back 156 00:11:13,180 --> 00:11:14,420 at the East Gate. 157 00:11:14,420 --> 00:11:16,620 So we were like, what are we going to say? 158 00:11:16,620 --> 00:11:17,780 We can't explain what we saw. 159 00:11:17,780 --> 00:11:21,180 We can't explain what just happened. 160 00:11:21,180 --> 00:11:25,420 Later that morning, the men are brought in for debriefing. 161 00:11:25,420 --> 00:11:28,740 Peniston is reluctant to divulge everything he witnessed. 162 00:11:28,740 --> 00:11:33,860 It was not a good career move to report exactly what we've seen. 163 00:11:33,860 --> 00:11:41,980 I went into the shift commander's office with Burrows and we gave a sanitized briefing 164 00:11:41,980 --> 00:11:44,420 of what happened that night. 165 00:11:44,420 --> 00:11:49,740 After the debriefing, Peniston says the shift commander issues him a thinly veiled warning. 166 00:11:49,740 --> 00:11:56,180 Gentlemen, he says Project Blue Book ended in 1969 and sometimes things are best left 167 00:11:56,180 --> 00:12:00,540 alone. 168 00:12:00,540 --> 00:12:05,460 Project Blue Book was the codename for the U.S. Air Force's controversial UFO investigation 169 00:12:05,460 --> 00:12:09,340 unit. 170 00:12:09,340 --> 00:12:14,620 Before it was disbanded, its goal was to determine if UFOs were a potential threat to national 171 00:12:14,620 --> 00:12:18,140 security. 172 00:12:18,140 --> 00:12:22,700 Despite his commander's warning, Sergeant Peniston can't put the strange encounter out 173 00:12:22,700 --> 00:12:24,420 of his mind. 174 00:12:24,420 --> 00:12:27,780 I got back to my house and I couldn't go to sleep. 175 00:12:27,780 --> 00:12:33,140 I'd probably sit around the house for maybe two or three hours and finally I said, well, 176 00:12:33,140 --> 00:12:35,980 I gotta go back out there. 177 00:12:35,980 --> 00:12:41,180 He returns to the site with some plaster of Paris. 178 00:12:41,180 --> 00:12:42,260 His plan? 179 00:12:42,260 --> 00:12:46,580 To make casts of any indentations left by the craft. 180 00:12:46,580 --> 00:12:48,900 I wasn't going to leave there until I had answers. 181 00:12:48,900 --> 00:12:51,860 I wanted something tangible. 182 00:12:51,860 --> 00:12:57,980 He spots three round impressions in a symmetrical pattern on the ground. 183 00:12:57,980 --> 00:13:01,740 They are a few inches deep and roughly ten feet apart. 184 00:13:01,740 --> 00:13:06,140 They measure exactly the same distance apart, each of the pods, approximately two to three 185 00:13:06,140 --> 00:13:08,020 inches thick. 186 00:13:08,020 --> 00:13:12,260 These are the casts made by Peniston the morning after his sighting. 187 00:13:12,260 --> 00:13:17,740 He believes they show the marks left by the craft when it landed on the forest floor. 188 00:13:17,740 --> 00:13:22,060 He decides not to show them to his superiors. 189 00:13:22,060 --> 00:13:26,920 Along with his notes and role of film, the Sergeant now has the three plaster molds to 190 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:29,060 help back up his story. 191 00:13:29,060 --> 00:13:33,860 But Peniston's physical evidence doesn't solve the mystery of Rendlesham. 192 00:13:33,860 --> 00:13:40,360 Just two nights later, the UFO returns and this time the deputy-based commander makes 193 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:42,860 a chilling record of his own encounter. 194 00:13:42,860 --> 00:13:49,860 That we're observing what appears to be a beam coming down to the ground. 195 00:13:49,860 --> 00:13:56,220 This is unreal. 196 00:13:56,220 --> 00:14:02,220 Late December, 1980, sightings of a mysterious craft at the Woodbridge-Bentwater's NATO 197 00:14:02,220 --> 00:14:08,780 complex in Suffolk, England have put many airmen on edge. 198 00:14:08,780 --> 00:14:13,580 The strange encounters began the night of the 25th when airmen reported seeing unusual 199 00:14:13,580 --> 00:14:14,940 lights. 200 00:14:14,940 --> 00:14:19,940 By the early morning hours of the 26th, two men claim to have come within a few feet of 201 00:14:19,940 --> 00:14:26,060 a landed craft in the neighboring forest. 202 00:14:26,060 --> 00:14:28,220 It's now the evening of the 27th. 203 00:14:28,220 --> 00:14:33,620 40-year-old deputy-based commander, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt, attends a holiday party 204 00:14:33,620 --> 00:14:36,460 at the officer's club. 205 00:14:36,460 --> 00:14:41,940 The celebration is cut short when one of his men arrives looking distressed. 206 00:14:41,940 --> 00:14:47,380 He showed up just wide as a sheet and he wasn't the type of person to get too excited too easily. 207 00:14:47,380 --> 00:14:48,460 He was a former Marine. 208 00:14:48,460 --> 00:14:50,220 He said it's back. 209 00:14:50,220 --> 00:14:51,820 We looked at each other and said, what's back? 210 00:14:51,820 --> 00:14:54,420 He said the UFO. 211 00:14:54,420 --> 00:15:00,060 After two nights of disturbing stories, Halt decides to investigate for himself. 212 00:15:00,060 --> 00:15:03,060 The police were spending more time looking in the sky than they were at the airplanes 213 00:15:03,060 --> 00:15:04,300 they were supposed to be protecting. 214 00:15:05,140 --> 00:15:07,300 It's time to put this to rest. 215 00:15:07,300 --> 00:15:13,380 Halt instructs a three-man security team to assemble their gear and meet him at his quarters. 216 00:15:13,380 --> 00:15:18,820 Within minutes, they head toward the Rendlesham Forest. 217 00:15:18,820 --> 00:15:22,980 By the time Halt arrives, a security cordon has been established around the perimeter 218 00:15:22,980 --> 00:15:24,900 of the woods. 219 00:15:24,900 --> 00:15:30,300 Halt is briefed on the situation and is told that the UFO is no longer visible. 220 00:15:30,300 --> 00:15:37,300 The men are experiencing mysterious outages in their high-powered floodlights called lightalls. 221 00:15:37,300 --> 00:15:43,300 Halt and his team collect their gear, a still camera, a Geiger counter for measuring radiation, 222 00:15:43,300 --> 00:15:46,660 and a night vision device called a star scope. 223 00:15:46,660 --> 00:15:50,220 I took my small personal cassette recorder, which I carry just about everywhere with me 224 00:15:50,220 --> 00:15:52,740 just to record the events. 225 00:15:52,740 --> 00:15:56,500 The team heads into the dark woods. 226 00:15:56,500 --> 00:16:04,780 I was going to investigate and show that there was definitely a good reasonable explanation for everything. 227 00:16:04,780 --> 00:16:08,980 The following is the recording Halt made that night. 228 00:16:08,980 --> 00:16:14,420 150 feet or more from the initial, I should say, suspected impact point. 229 00:16:14,420 --> 00:16:17,180 Heavy lift on it, we can't get the light all the way. 230 00:16:17,180 --> 00:16:20,540 This seems to be some kind of mechanical problem. 231 00:16:20,540 --> 00:16:25,540 Along with the malfunctioning lightalls, Halt's team encounters the same radio interference 232 00:16:25,580 --> 00:16:30,020 experienced by Burroughs and Peniston two nights prior. 233 00:16:30,020 --> 00:16:34,740 They are walking through the area where Burroughs and Peniston reported seeing the unidentified 234 00:16:34,740 --> 00:16:35,860 craft. 235 00:16:35,860 --> 00:16:41,060 When Halt notices gashes in the bark of several trees, it looks as if they have been struck 236 00:16:41,060 --> 00:16:43,420 by a large object. 237 00:16:43,420 --> 00:16:47,260 Halt orders one of his men to take photographs. 238 00:16:47,260 --> 00:16:50,220 He took pictures of the indentations of the trees and everything. 239 00:16:50,220 --> 00:16:53,740 He was taking snap, snap, snap all the time. 240 00:16:53,740 --> 00:16:58,820 The Geiger counter begins registering high levels of radiation, but only in the area 241 00:16:58,820 --> 00:17:01,100 surrounding the alleged landing site. 242 00:17:01,100 --> 00:17:07,100 There's a range on the tree you're taking samples from, on the side facing the suspected 243 00:17:07,100 --> 00:17:08,100 landing site. 244 00:17:08,100 --> 00:17:10,100 Work clicks, backs, up to four. 245 00:17:10,100 --> 00:17:12,380 Interesting, that's right, we're taking a sample now. 246 00:17:12,380 --> 00:17:13,380 Four. 247 00:17:13,380 --> 00:17:15,380 That's the strongest point on the tree. 248 00:17:15,380 --> 00:17:16,380 Yes, sir. 249 00:17:16,380 --> 00:17:22,020 If you come to the back, there's no place whatsoever. 250 00:17:22,020 --> 00:17:27,780 Suddenly, the dark woods are alive with sound. 251 00:17:27,780 --> 00:17:30,820 We're hearing very strange sounds out of the farmer's barnyard animals. 252 00:17:30,820 --> 00:17:35,740 They're very, very active, making a lot of noise. 253 00:17:35,740 --> 00:17:40,020 All the animals in the forest were acting up, making a lot of noise, and the barnyard 254 00:17:40,020 --> 00:17:44,820 animals from the farm, which was on the adjacent side of the particular location, were also 255 00:17:44,820 --> 00:17:46,340 acting up. 256 00:17:46,340 --> 00:17:49,940 One of his men points out a glowing light in the distance. 257 00:17:49,940 --> 00:17:54,700 With his tape recorder rolling, Halt documents every moment of this encounter. 258 00:17:54,700 --> 00:17:56,940 You just saw a light, sir. 259 00:17:56,940 --> 00:17:57,940 Where? 260 00:17:57,940 --> 00:18:02,940 Right at this position here, straight ahead in between, there it is again. 261 00:18:02,940 --> 00:18:05,940 Watch, straight ahead off my flag. 262 00:18:05,940 --> 00:18:07,940 There it is, I see it too. 263 00:18:07,940 --> 00:18:08,940 What is it? 264 00:18:08,940 --> 00:18:10,940 We don't know, sir. 265 00:18:10,940 --> 00:18:14,940 We saw this bright red glowing object, it looked like an eye. 266 00:18:14,940 --> 00:18:19,460 It's the best way I can describe it, it was bright red, had a dark center, and appeared 267 00:18:19,460 --> 00:18:20,460 like a zone, or a winking. 268 00:18:20,460 --> 00:18:23,460 We're about 150 to 200 yards from the site. 269 00:18:23,460 --> 00:18:25,460 Everything else is just definitely calm. 270 00:18:25,460 --> 00:18:30,460 There is no doubt about it, there's some type of strange flash and red lighting here. 271 00:18:30,460 --> 00:18:31,460 Yellow. 272 00:18:31,460 --> 00:18:33,460 I saw a yellow tinging it too. 273 00:18:33,460 --> 00:18:34,460 Weird. 274 00:18:34,460 --> 00:18:37,460 It appears that you may be moving a little bit this way. 275 00:18:37,460 --> 00:18:39,460 It's brighter than house bed. 276 00:18:39,460 --> 00:18:40,460 Yellow. 277 00:18:40,460 --> 00:18:41,460 It's coming this way. 278 00:18:41,460 --> 00:18:42,460 It is definitely coming this way. 279 00:18:42,460 --> 00:18:47,460 It was moving through the trees, horizontally, but also traveling vertically. 280 00:18:47,460 --> 00:18:51,460 In other words, it was zigzagging through the trees, and dripping would appear to be 281 00:18:51,460 --> 00:18:54,460 the best way I can describe it, is molten metal. 282 00:18:54,460 --> 00:18:58,460 Halton is men pursue the object into a nearby field. 283 00:18:58,460 --> 00:19:03,460 As we approached, it receded and went away from us, and went out into the farmer's field. 284 00:19:03,460 --> 00:19:07,460 It stayed there for probably 20, 30 seconds, maybe a little more. 285 00:19:07,460 --> 00:19:09,460 I bet you, that's what a shaman are. 286 00:19:09,460 --> 00:19:11,460 There is no doubt about it. 287 00:19:11,460 --> 00:19:13,460 This is weird. 288 00:19:13,460 --> 00:19:18,460 And then it silently exploded and broke into multiple white objects. 289 00:19:18,460 --> 00:19:22,460 So we went into the field and searched around the underground, looking for burnt marks or 290 00:19:22,460 --> 00:19:24,460 evidence of whatever was coming off the object. 291 00:19:24,460 --> 00:19:27,460 The men find nothing in the field. 292 00:19:27,460 --> 00:19:30,460 Overhead, the object makes a sudden turn. 293 00:19:30,460 --> 00:19:33,460 It approaches at very, very high speed. 294 00:19:33,460 --> 00:19:38,460 Here he comes from the south, he's coming toward us now. 295 00:19:38,460 --> 00:19:41,460 It stopped overhead and sent down a beam. 296 00:19:41,460 --> 00:19:44,460 The best way I can describe it is like a laser beam. 297 00:19:44,460 --> 00:19:49,460 Now we're observing what appears to be a beam coming down to the ground. 298 00:19:49,460 --> 00:19:52,460 This is unreal. 299 00:19:52,460 --> 00:19:56,460 It was a steady constant beam as far as the diameter. 300 00:19:56,460 --> 00:20:00,460 It fell at our feet, and we all just were in awe. 301 00:20:00,460 --> 00:20:02,460 And I thought, was it trying to signal? 302 00:20:02,460 --> 00:20:03,460 Is it trying to warn us? 303 00:20:03,460 --> 00:20:05,460 Is it threatening us? 304 00:20:05,460 --> 00:20:07,460 Yeah. 305 00:20:07,460 --> 00:20:12,460 And then just as suddenly as it appeared, the light went click, was off. 306 00:20:12,460 --> 00:20:14,460 The object speeds away. 307 00:20:14,460 --> 00:20:21,460 The team watches mesmerized as it moves over the base and continues to beam lights to the ground. 308 00:20:21,460 --> 00:20:27,460 To some, it appears that the light is beaming directly into the base's weapon storage area, 309 00:20:27,460 --> 00:20:31,460 where nuclear missiles are reportedly housed. 310 00:20:31,460 --> 00:20:36,460 There's one object still over an overwood bridge base at about 5 to 10 degrees off the horizon, 311 00:20:36,460 --> 00:20:40,460 and it's got a good amount of static and similar lights and beaming down as earlier. 312 00:20:40,460 --> 00:20:44,460 At this point, Halt's recorder runs out of tape. 313 00:20:44,460 --> 00:20:51,460 A craft is still hovering in the distance, but Halt and his team aren't sure what to do next. 314 00:20:51,460 --> 00:20:54,460 There's no protocol for what they've just encountered. 315 00:20:54,460 --> 00:20:59,460 Unnerved and exhausted, the men head back to base. 316 00:20:59,460 --> 00:21:05,460 Airman John Burroughs, who had witnessed a UFO two nights earlier, arrives at the site, 317 00:21:05,460 --> 00:21:08,460 along with Sergeant Adrian Bustenza. 318 00:21:08,460 --> 00:21:14,460 Burroughs is immediately concerned by the behavior of the men returning from the field. 319 00:21:14,460 --> 00:21:18,460 They were kind of, I don't know, they were weird. I mean, they were upset. 320 00:21:18,460 --> 00:21:25,460 After a brief conversation, Burroughs spots a blue light glowing in the same clearing Halt has just examined. 321 00:21:25,460 --> 00:21:28,460 The airman is determined to investigate further. 322 00:21:28,460 --> 00:21:32,460 I was bugging him, come on, Colonel, let me go out and see. I mean, I want to see what it is. 323 00:21:32,460 --> 00:21:39,460 So he finally authorized myself and Bustenza to go forward to get a closer look. 324 00:21:39,460 --> 00:21:43,460 The men head toward the strange blue glow in the field. 325 00:21:43,460 --> 00:21:48,460 Adrenaline quickly takes over and Burroughs breaks into a run. 326 00:21:48,460 --> 00:21:52,460 As I was getting close to whatever it was, all of a sudden it was gone. 327 00:21:52,460 --> 00:21:58,460 The field is thrown into darkness, leaving the airman scared and confounded. 328 00:21:58,460 --> 00:22:02,460 This was gone and I'm standing out in the field and there's nothing left. 329 00:22:02,460 --> 00:22:06,460 Burroughs turns to Bustenza in disbelief. 330 00:22:06,460 --> 00:22:09,460 He goes, what happened to you? And I go, I don't know what you're talking about. 331 00:22:09,460 --> 00:22:13,460 He goes, and you were like involved in the lights. He said, you were just like, 332 00:22:13,460 --> 00:22:17,460 all of a sudden you were there and then you were in the lights and you were gone. 333 00:22:17,460 --> 00:22:20,460 Burroughs and Bustenza return to base. 334 00:22:20,460 --> 00:22:26,460 Burroughs' second encounter with the Bazaar lights leaves him with nothing but questions. 335 00:22:26,460 --> 00:22:34,460 They are unaware that a sweeping investigation involving covert government agencies is already underway. 336 00:22:34,460 --> 00:22:42,460 The men claim that as they headed back to the base that night, they were walking into a government conspiracy. 337 00:22:48,460 --> 00:22:51,460 January 1981. 338 00:22:51,460 --> 00:22:56,460 Rumors are swirling around the Woodbridge-Bentwater's air bases in eastern England 339 00:22:56,460 --> 00:23:01,460 after mysterious UFOs are sighted by the US Air Force personnel stationed there. 340 00:23:01,460 --> 00:23:07,460 Many of them were some years into their tour of duty. These were highly trained witnesses. 341 00:23:07,460 --> 00:23:11,460 It's not as if they'd all just turned up there the night before. 342 00:23:11,460 --> 00:23:16,460 The military investigation that followed remains controversial to this day. 343 00:23:16,460 --> 00:23:24,460 Those who say they witnessed the UFOs believe the military was more interested in damage control than in finding the truth. 344 00:23:24,460 --> 00:23:31,460 What our government did in the name of secrecy to these individuals is absolutely shameful. 345 00:23:31,460 --> 00:23:38,460 According to these airmen, they soon became unwilling participants in a government cover-up. 346 00:23:38,460 --> 00:23:44,460 Initially, the investigation follows standard military procedure. 347 00:23:44,460 --> 00:23:52,460 Deputy Base Commander Charles Halt, a witness himself, begins debriefing the airmen who reported seeing the craft. 348 00:23:52,460 --> 00:23:58,460 I had no choice. I couldn't ignore it. There were so many witnesses and so many people at so many different places. 349 00:23:58,460 --> 00:24:05,460 John Burroughs, who witnessed the UFOs on both nights, says his interview is clear-cut. 350 00:24:05,460 --> 00:24:13,460 He took our statements, kind of looked at them, said it was really a wild thing and there's really no explanation for what's going on and that's how it was kind of left. 351 00:24:13,460 --> 00:24:22,460 Others, like Sergeant Jim Peniston, say that after their meeting with Halt, a long and disturbing process begins. 352 00:24:22,460 --> 00:24:27,460 Two weeks after his initial interview, Peniston is called for another debriefing. 353 00:24:27,460 --> 00:24:32,460 This time, it is with a high-ranking team of investigators, the OSI. 354 00:24:32,460 --> 00:24:39,460 The OSI is the Office of Special Investigations. It's, how shall I say, the discrete police is one way to put it. 355 00:24:39,460 --> 00:24:50,460 And they are there to police the US Air Force and they can actually walk into the office of a general and, you know, even arrest him, if you like. 356 00:24:50,460 --> 00:24:53,460 That's how powerful they are. 357 00:24:53,460 --> 00:24:58,460 When Peniston enters the room, the mood is ominous. 358 00:24:58,460 --> 00:25:06,460 He begins to give a statement and offers the investigator sketches and notes of his encounter. 359 00:25:06,460 --> 00:25:10,460 According to Peniston, the rest of the interview is a blur. 360 00:25:10,460 --> 00:25:17,460 To this day, he has a difficult time recalling precisely what tactics the OSI used to extract his information. 361 00:25:17,460 --> 00:25:22,460 They took extra steps to make sure I was telling the truth. 362 00:25:22,460 --> 00:25:27,460 So did Panathol. I'm sure I gave a release for that. 363 00:25:27,460 --> 00:25:33,460 He found freedom in the right door. 364 00:25:33,460 --> 00:25:43,460 And the hope that they understood that everything I said was a truth, I think I believe I gave my permission for that, I would think. 365 00:25:48,460 --> 00:25:56,460 To Peniston, the military's investigation takes on a sinister tone, as more men are called in for questioning. 366 00:25:56,460 --> 00:26:06,460 Shortly after the event, Sergeant Adrian Bustinza, who had accompanied John Burroughs to the field, is led to a room beneath the base for questioning. 367 00:26:06,460 --> 00:26:13,460 Even now, Bustinza refuses to speak publicly about the events of that night. 368 00:26:13,460 --> 00:26:18,460 According to author Georgina Bruni, he later confided in her. 369 00:26:18,460 --> 00:26:25,460 They said to him, look, you know, what you saw was the light from the local lighthouse. 370 00:26:25,460 --> 00:26:30,460 And he said, no, no, I saw much more than that. It was more than that. No, you don't get the picture, do you? 371 00:26:30,460 --> 00:26:36,460 And they would not let him go until he agreed that what he saw was the lighthouse. 372 00:26:36,460 --> 00:26:41,460 And the moment they said to him, bullets are cheap, a dime a dozen. 373 00:26:41,460 --> 00:26:45,460 It's when he said, OK, it was the lighthouse. 374 00:26:45,460 --> 00:26:52,460 Other witnesses also say they are told to drop their stories about seeing a UFO. 375 00:26:52,460 --> 00:26:59,460 We were told that we couldn't talk about it, was to treat it as top secret. And that was it. We never talked about it. 376 00:26:59,460 --> 00:27:05,460 According to Airman Burroughs, the signs of a government cover-up are obvious. 377 00:27:05,460 --> 00:27:10,460 Shortly after his interrogation, Burroughs is back on guard duty. 378 00:27:10,460 --> 00:27:15,460 As he makes his rounds, he can see that the woods are bustling with activity. 379 00:27:15,460 --> 00:27:18,460 There was vehicles leaving the woodbrits going out into the forest. 380 00:27:18,460 --> 00:27:23,460 There was helicopters flying around out there. So there was some stuff going on out there. Exactly what I don't know. 381 00:27:23,460 --> 00:27:30,460 Deputy Base Commander Charles Halt is also aware of covert activities going on at the base. 382 00:27:30,460 --> 00:27:39,460 I heard some stories that were substantiated by several people that a plane load of people did come in a day or so later and did do a lot of investigating. 383 00:27:39,460 --> 00:27:44,460 Peniston and Halt claim they took pictures of the mysterious craft they encountered. 384 00:27:44,460 --> 00:27:50,460 But when the prints returned from the base's photo lab, they are blank. 385 00:27:50,460 --> 00:27:57,460 The pictures are whiteed out most of them. I thought that was really unusual. 386 00:27:57,460 --> 00:28:05,460 And I believe that the photos that I got were intensely just whiteed out photographs. That's what I believe. 387 00:28:05,460 --> 00:28:13,460 Even Lieutenant Colonel Halt, the highest ranking eyewitness, believes he is being kept in the dark by the military. 388 00:28:13,460 --> 00:28:22,460 As the investigation continues, he's asked to type up a memo based on his interviews with other witnesses and submit it to his superiors. 389 00:28:22,460 --> 00:28:26,460 Halt's understanding is that the document will be shared with the British government. 390 00:28:27,460 --> 00:28:33,460 Halt does as he is told and submits a memo entitled, Unexplained Lights. 391 00:28:33,460 --> 00:28:39,460 He writes, the individuals reported seeing a strange glowing object in the forest. 392 00:28:39,460 --> 00:28:45,460 The object was described as being metallic in appearance and triangular in shape. 393 00:28:45,460 --> 00:28:55,460 It is not a definitive report. Many of the details are missing or incorrect. And the descriptions at times are vague. 394 00:28:57,460 --> 00:29:06,460 The memo was not meant for public consumption. It was meant as a tickler, if you will, to the Ministry of Defense to get them involved to do a proper investigation. 395 00:29:06,460 --> 00:29:13,460 His superiors filed the memo away and the strange lights never returned to the base. 396 00:29:13,460 --> 00:29:18,460 Eventually, rumors of an extraterrestrial craft die down. 397 00:29:18,460 --> 00:29:23,460 For three years, the public is kept in the dark about what happened at the air bases. 398 00:29:26,460 --> 00:29:36,460 Then in 1983, a new witness surfaces with a startling claim about the UFO encounter, one that will only deepen the mystery of Rendlesham. 399 00:29:43,460 --> 00:29:55,460 October 2, 1983, the British Sunday tabloid News of the World hits newsstands with the headline, UFO Lands in Suffolk, and that's official. 400 00:29:55,460 --> 00:30:06,460 The article claims that a mysterious craft moving under intelligent control invaded the skies above the Woodbridge-Bentwater's air bases in late December 1980. 401 00:30:06,460 --> 00:30:15,460 But most intriguing is the offering of a piece of written evidence, an official U.S. Air Force memo confirming the alleged sightings. 402 00:30:15,460 --> 00:30:22,460 The document was written by one of the men who encountered the mysterious object, Deputy Base Commander Charles Halt. 403 00:30:23,460 --> 00:30:30,460 Every local radio, TV station, Japanese TV, German TV, I had people swarming all over the place wanting to know their real story. 404 00:30:30,460 --> 00:30:38,460 From there onwards, every single newspaper in the United Kingdom was featuring this story for about a week. 405 00:30:39,460 --> 00:30:45,460 The memo, titled Unexplained Lights, offers a brief description of the late December encounters. 406 00:30:46,460 --> 00:30:56,460 It includes Jim Peniston's description of a strange object that maneuvered through the trees, as well as Halt's account of a red, sun-like object in the night sky. 407 00:30:56,460 --> 00:30:59,460 But how was the story leaked to the public? 408 00:31:01,460 --> 00:31:09,460 The document, known as the Halt memo, was brought to light by Larry Warren, a former Air Force security policeman at Bentwaters. 409 00:31:09,460 --> 00:31:12,460 He's blunt when he explains why he did it. 410 00:31:12,460 --> 00:31:16,460 I want to drag people right by their hair through the thing and say, this happened. 411 00:31:16,460 --> 00:31:22,460 He was the one who brought this whole thing to public attention. 412 00:31:22,460 --> 00:31:33,460 It was his information specifically that resulted in a Freedom of Information Act that resulted in the release of the so-called Halt document. 413 00:31:33,460 --> 00:31:37,460 And once that single sheet of paper was out, the toothpaste was out of the tube. 414 00:31:38,460 --> 00:31:42,460 Warren has received both praise and criticism for his candidness. 415 00:31:42,460 --> 00:31:48,460 The story he tells begins like the others, but the ending is even more bizarre. 416 00:31:49,460 --> 00:31:55,460 In late 1980, Warren was a 19-year-old security policeman stationed at Bentwaters. 417 00:31:56,460 --> 00:32:05,460 According to Warren, after midnight on December 29th, he is removed from his post and ordered to the woods to assist with Colonel Halt's investigation. 418 00:32:05,460 --> 00:32:11,460 When he reaches a clearing, he sees a group of military personnel surrounding a glowing object. 419 00:32:12,460 --> 00:32:18,460 In this field was this object on the ground. It's like science fiction movie, but there was something alive associated with it. 420 00:32:18,460 --> 00:32:24,460 It didn't come out any doors. There were no windows. It was this thing, and it was changing all the time. 421 00:32:24,460 --> 00:32:30,460 As he draws within a few feet of the craft, Warren says he witnesses an amazing sight. 422 00:32:30,460 --> 00:32:37,460 There are officers and airmen facing the object and three small glowing entities standing in the light. 423 00:32:37,460 --> 00:32:44,460 What he observes, and the other men observe that are in proximity, is three humanoid shapes. 424 00:32:45,460 --> 00:32:51,460 There was something separate from it with these three, what you would perceive as kids. 425 00:32:51,460 --> 00:32:56,460 Warren then watches as a senior officer begins communicating with the beings. 426 00:32:57,460 --> 00:33:04,460 The senior people there seem to be following like a protocol. It seemed to be there was a procedure. 427 00:33:04,460 --> 00:33:11,460 Warren is then pulled from the clearing. He's given no explanation for what he's just seen. 428 00:33:13,460 --> 00:33:18,460 The next day he says he is brought into a room with other witnesses for debriefing. 429 00:33:18,460 --> 00:33:22,460 He remembers a film projector and three men in suits. 430 00:33:23,460 --> 00:33:32,460 They showed us the different films of UFO military activity going back probably, I don't know, the 40s. 431 00:33:33,460 --> 00:33:40,460 Like other witnesses, Warren says the more he is questioned, the more distorted his memories become. 432 00:33:40,460 --> 00:33:45,460 He remembers what happens next as a series of scenes that make little sense. 433 00:33:46,460 --> 00:33:54,460 Warren recalls being taken against his will by men in dark suits, then being led to an underground facility on the base. 434 00:33:54,460 --> 00:34:01,460 I remember being on a table and people talking to me and doctors and Air Force people behind them. 435 00:34:01,460 --> 00:34:11,460 I have another memory of being in a mess hall and trying to eat something and kind of being alone at a table. 436 00:34:12,460 --> 00:34:15,460 It's imagery. I mean this could all been plugged into my head. 437 00:34:16,460 --> 00:34:28,460 Warren says he isn't sure if what he remembers is real or if these images were planted by military investigators in order to confuse him and distract him from what really occurred. 438 00:34:29,460 --> 00:34:34,460 After the Rendlesham story breaks, Warren's accusations infuriate other witnesses. 439 00:34:34,460 --> 00:34:41,460 These airmen and officers say they too want the truth revealed, but that Warren's story is anything but. 440 00:34:41,460 --> 00:34:48,460 It hurt the whole incident as far as this is, something really did happen to us but there's no way, the way he was describing it, what happened to us. 441 00:34:48,460 --> 00:34:52,460 And it wasn't fair to the people that were involved to have that kind of extreme stuff coming up. 442 00:34:54,460 --> 00:34:58,460 Parts of his story do correspond with other eyewitness accounts. 443 00:34:58,460 --> 00:35:08,460 Warren, like Charles Halt and Jim Peniston, recalls seeing a glowing craft in the clearing of the Rendlesham Woods shortly after Christmas 1980. 444 00:35:08,460 --> 00:35:13,460 But Larry Warren is the only airman who claims he saw alien life forms. 445 00:35:14,460 --> 00:35:21,460 Another problem with Warren's version of events is that no one can remember seeing him in the woods on the night in question. 446 00:35:21,460 --> 00:35:33,460 Nobody ever recalls him being out there that night. Nobody, I've talked to all the players and just about everybody was on the, even the fringes and nobody remembers seeing Larry Warren anywhere except around the base in training. 447 00:35:35,460 --> 00:35:38,460 Warren remains steadfast in his convictions. 448 00:35:38,460 --> 00:35:48,460 I've never lost a minute's sleep over my role in this. I've never intentionally misrepresented anything, lied or tried to gain anything unfairly. 449 00:35:49,460 --> 00:35:54,460 The contradictions surrounding the Rendlesham case have proven frustrating for UFO researchers. 450 00:35:55,460 --> 00:36:07,460 While there are multiple credible witnesses, airmen trained to be good observers and remain calm under extreme circumstances, the discrepancies between their stories are difficult to ignore. 451 00:36:08,460 --> 00:36:13,460 In the years that follow, researchers struggle to unravel the mystery. 452 00:36:14,460 --> 00:36:24,460 Then in 2002, declassified government files reveal new facts about those mysterious nights in the woods. 453 00:36:29,460 --> 00:36:33,460 And which could have been a spot where the alien craft landed. 454 00:36:33,460 --> 00:36:38,460 Since 1983, the Rendlesham UFO incident has garnered attention around the world. 455 00:36:39,460 --> 00:36:47,460 But to this day, there is still no explanation for what U.S. Air Force personnel claim they saw in the woods and skies of Suffolk, England. 456 00:36:49,460 --> 00:36:58,460 Some experts who have reviewed the reports of strange lights and a glowing spacecraft have concluded that these sightings are a simple case of optical illusion. 457 00:36:59,460 --> 00:37:07,460 Retired Air Force Major and Astronomer James McGehee learned about the incident by chance. 458 00:37:09,460 --> 00:37:19,460 I first heard about the Rendlesham Forest case in 1983 when I was at the base conducting a military exercise there on temporary duty. 459 00:37:20,460 --> 00:37:28,460 During his tour, he discovers that five miles from the twin bases on the shores of the North Sea sits the Orford Ness Lighthouse. 460 00:37:30,460 --> 00:37:34,460 McGehee feels that witnesses mistook this lighthouse for a UFO. 461 00:37:36,460 --> 00:37:48,460 If you're out in a dark sky on a cold night in December and a lighthouse is swinging through the trees with this bright beam of light passing through the trees, 462 00:37:48,460 --> 00:37:53,460 it's going to have some strange unusual effects. Light is going to get scattered by the trees. 463 00:37:55,460 --> 00:37:59,460 John Burroughs did mention this lighthouse in his first statement to his superiors. 464 00:38:00,460 --> 00:38:09,460 In the report, he says that after the mysterious lights disappeared, he thought the lighthouse was another craft, but quickly realized his mistake. 465 00:38:11,460 --> 00:38:15,460 I want to clarify something. This is always somebody who tries to twist it. 466 00:38:15,460 --> 00:38:23,460 If you read the statement, especially mine, it clearly distinguished between what we saw at the beginning and then we did see a beacon of light and we followed it. 467 00:38:24,460 --> 00:38:27,460 Nowhere in my statement does it say I felt the beacon of light was the object. 468 00:38:28,460 --> 00:38:34,460 I've done a whole lot of research on this lighthouse. You know, you can talk about it from here to eternity. 469 00:38:35,460 --> 00:38:44,460 And there's absolutely no way that a lighthouse can travel five miles, go in and out of trees, shoot beams down to the ground, 470 00:38:46,460 --> 00:38:48,460 so anyway, it's not a lighthouse. 471 00:38:50,460 --> 00:38:56,460 But McGehey claims there is a second explanation for the lights in the sky that has nothing to do with UFOs. 472 00:38:58,460 --> 00:39:08,460 On the night of the 25th at around 9.30 in the evening, a cosmos satellite re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. 473 00:39:09,460 --> 00:39:13,460 It would have looked like a fireball, which is a very, very bright meteor. 474 00:39:13,460 --> 00:39:18,460 For nearly 20 years, skeptics and believers continue their search for answers. 475 00:39:20,460 --> 00:39:28,460 In 2002, thanks in part to researchers like Georgina Bruni, the British government finally releases a new set of records. 476 00:39:29,460 --> 00:39:34,460 The files provide additional information about the case, but also raise new questions. 477 00:39:35,460 --> 00:39:41,460 They make it clear that the British government investigated the mysterious sightings back in 1981. 478 00:39:43,460 --> 00:39:50,460 This fact seems to indicate that military investigators did not believe the sightings were caused by a lighthouse or a satellite. 479 00:39:51,460 --> 00:39:55,460 But the files also reveal some of the shortcomings of that investigation. 480 00:39:56,460 --> 00:40:00,460 We discovered that some of the radar facilities were actually faulty. 481 00:40:00,460 --> 00:40:09,460 The cameras were faulty on the night scene question, or allegedly faulty, that the films were missing. 482 00:40:10,460 --> 00:40:16,460 At the time, investigators based their research on the original memo written by Lieutenant Colonel Charles Halt. 483 00:40:17,460 --> 00:40:24,460 His document states that the first event occurred on December 27th, but the sightings actually began on the 25th. 484 00:40:25,460 --> 00:40:31,460 Halt's mistake has caused researchers to examine the wrong nights for 20 years. 485 00:40:32,460 --> 00:40:37,460 It is a frustrating revelation for Nick Pope, an official with the Ministry of Defence. 486 00:40:38,460 --> 00:40:44,460 Here we had possibly the most significant UFO event ever to have taken place on British soil. 487 00:40:45,460 --> 00:40:50,460 And yet, not only were the dates wrong, but crucial days had been lost. 488 00:40:50,460 --> 00:40:53,460 Moreover, much has been left out of the files. 489 00:40:54,460 --> 00:41:02,460 Researchers hope the US and British governments will release further information, including pictures taken by Air Force personnel on the nights of the sightings. 490 00:41:03,460 --> 00:41:06,460 These are the only photographs that remain from the investigation. 491 00:41:07,460 --> 00:41:14,460 They show authorities examining the alleged landing site, but the pictures reveal no evidence of a landed craft. 492 00:41:21,460 --> 00:41:26,460 The US Air Force's official stance is that the events were no threat to national security. 493 00:41:30,460 --> 00:41:32,460 To many, this statement doesn't ring true. 494 00:41:33,460 --> 00:41:41,460 If in fact nuclear weapons were housed at the base, then the military would have been very concerned about reports of an unidentified aircraft. 495 00:41:42,460 --> 00:41:47,460 We had objects flying over the weapons storage areas, shining beams down to the ground. 496 00:41:47,460 --> 00:41:50,460 If that ain't to fend significance, what is? 497 00:41:51,460 --> 00:42:01,460 Skeptics grapple with the same question, but in their minds, the military's response bolsters their claim that UFOs did not visit the Rendlesham Forest. 498 00:42:02,460 --> 00:42:06,460 This was during the Cold War. You have to realize that security was fairly tight. 499 00:42:07,460 --> 00:42:16,460 Anything that would happen near the flight line when you have these high-value asset aircraft, tactical aircraft, or in weapons areas would amaze you. 500 00:42:17,460 --> 00:42:25,460 It would immediately cause a response by the entire base. Everybody on the base would have been woken up and been reacting to something like that. 501 00:42:26,460 --> 00:42:27,460 And of course that didn't happen. 502 00:42:28,460 --> 00:42:33,460 Even Charles Holt, the deputy base commander, is frustrated with his search for answers. 503 00:42:34,460 --> 00:42:40,460 I kept prodding Squadron Leader Moreland, the British Liaison Officer, for an answer. Doesn't somebody care? Doesn't somebody interested? 504 00:42:41,460 --> 00:42:45,460 I got the feeling that I was kind of left hanging out there to drive, you know what I mean? 505 00:42:45,460 --> 00:42:57,460 Though they continue to press the government for more information, some researchers believe that the missing files and early mistakes in the military investigation may leave the Rendlesham case a lasting mystery. 506 00:42:58,460 --> 00:43:09,460 In any investigation, whatever you're investigating, if you don't really use the first 24 hours to try and chase it down, your chances of success diminish rapidly. 507 00:43:09,460 --> 00:43:21,460 The problem with the Rendlesham incident is that this happened over the Christmas period. A lot of the key personnel were on leave and I think there was a bit of a decision-making vacuum. 508 00:43:22,460 --> 00:43:28,460 The newly released information is not enough for the men involved at Rendlesham to put the incident to rest. 509 00:43:29,460 --> 00:43:34,460 For now, they possess the few pieces of intriguing evidence that remain from their strange encounter. 510 00:43:35,460 --> 00:43:38,460 Peniston's plaster casts and drawings. 511 00:43:40,460 --> 00:43:41,460 Halt's tape recording. 512 00:43:42,460 --> 00:43:47,460 We're about 150 to 200 yards from the site. Everybody else is just breathily calm. 513 00:43:48,460 --> 00:43:56,460 Jim Peniston, Larry Warren, and John Burroughs continue to wonder why the government is hiding the truth. 514 00:43:57,460 --> 00:44:04,460 There's a chain of coming in, there's a chain of custody, everything's kept track of, and for this stuff to play out like it disappeared and it's gone, it's not. 515 00:44:05,460 --> 00:44:11,460 I guess technically we were part of a cover-up to ourselves. We probably started it by sanitizing the initial report. 516 00:44:12,460 --> 00:44:17,460 Like John Lennon used to say, conspiracy of silence speaks louder than words, and that's fact. 517 00:44:18,460 --> 00:44:27,460 And I'll be pissing off people as long as I can about this and screaming that this went down, take a look at it, then judge for yourself. 518 00:44:28,460 --> 00:44:36,460 In America, everyone's heard of Roswell, but only the UFO researchers really know about this case. 519 00:44:37,460 --> 00:44:41,460 And yet, in many ways, I consider this case to be bigger than Roswell. 520 00:44:41,460 --> 00:44:49,460 This could be the biggest UFO incident of all time. Let's put it where it deserves to be. Let's put it in people's minds. 521 00:44:50,460 --> 00:44:56,460 People keep telling me, well what really happened? I don't know, what was it? I really don't know, I mean I don't.