1980 Dec 26th : Rendlesham Forest,Norfolk, UK(Bentwaters AFB)

In 1980, just after Christmas, Brenda Butler a local paranormal investigator, was contacted by an American friend who
was a security police officer at the twin bases of Bentwaters and Woodbridge, Suffolk, England (a base owned by the USAF).
The friend claimed that in the early hours of December 26th, he and two other guards had been sent into the nearby forest
of Rendlesham (this forest separates Bentwaters from Woodbridge).
There had been reports of a big light crashing down from the sky into the woods. When the men arrived they found
a disc-shaped craft on tripod legs resting on the ground. They radioed back to the base for backup and over the next
couple of hours senior personnel came out to the site. The friend also reported that several small aliens,
about 3ft tall with grey skin and large heads were seen 'suspended' around the craft as if making repairs.
He also claimed that one of the senior officers tried to communicate with the aliens with sign language.

This seemed yet another unsubstantiated case until an almost exact story was told to another researcher.
However at first most UFO researchers were dubious about this case. However, Jenny Randles together with Dot Street
and Brenda Butler started collating eye-witness evidence and testimony. They put all these together in a book called
Sky Crash which was a bit of a jumbled mess. However, the book seemed to open the floodgates with new witnesses and
evidence coming to light. One of these witnesses, a forestry worker, found the alleged crash site a day after the events.
He reported the damage to the trees and the marking on the ground to the local authorities.
However when he returned the next day the entire site had be felled and dug up!.

Another witness, Gordon Levitt, observed the object as it flew silently over his house.
He described it as an 'upturned mushroom glowing phosphorescent'. His dog, whose barking alerted him to the object,
became ill the next day a died shortly afterwards.
The researchers eventually with the help of some American UFO researchers managed to obtain a secret memo
through the FOIA. The memo written by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Halt, was sent to the British Ministry of Defence
(the MOD had told Jenny Randles that no such memo existed!!). The Halt memo discussed three separate events.
The landing of a small craft on the first night. The discovery of ground traces with excess radiation readings, and another
sighting the following night which Halt himself witnessed. The Halt memo talks of a second document,
however, this has not been released to UFO researchers because it is a threat to 'National Security'!.
A radar operator, from a nearby tracking station, then came forward and told researchers that 2 days after the incident USAF
personnel came to the tracking station a removed all radar recordings for the past 2 nights. These were never seen again.
All this new info, along with a tape recording made by Halt on the night of the encounter which describes his attempts to try
an identify the object, were put together by Jenny Randles in her excellent book 'From Out of the Blue'.
The best explanation that any of the sceptics have managed so far is that the over 30 military personnel including senior officers
were all sent out into the forest to observe the lights of the nearby lighthouse !!. This case is probably the best case
excluding Roswell, which indicate a crash/landing of some description.

Investigations are still continuing.