Rendlesham Second Encounter: Lt. Col. Halt Investigates with Team
On the night of Dec 27-28, Lt. Col. Charles Halt, Deputy Base Commander at USAF Woodbridge, leads a team into Rendlesham Forest with Geiger counter, gas-powered arc lights, and microcassette recorder. Equipment malfunctions: lightalls fail, radios intermittent. At 1:48 AM, group sees glowing light on pillar of yellowish mist. Object moves through trees to farmer's field, throwing off sparks like 'molten metal.' Sergeant Monroe Nevilles describes it as 'a large brick' through night vision. Object separates into 3-5 white lights which hover and shine laser-like beams across forest and RAF Woodbridge, including the Weapons Storage Area. Halt's 20-minute tape recording captures excitement and data. Beams reportedly penetrated hardened bunkers where nuclear weapons stored, 'adversely affecting the ordinance.' Photos from site came out fogged.
Background
On the night of December 27-28, 1980, Lt. Col. Charles Halt, Deputy Base Commander at USAF Woodbridge, led an investigative team into Rendlesham Forest equipped with scientific instruments including a Geiger counter, gas-powered arc lights, and a microcassette recorder. This represented the second night of unusual activity at the joint US-UK military installation, following initial reports from security personnel.
The Incident
Lt. Col. Halt assembled a team to investigate reports of unusual lights in Rendlesham Forest near the RAF Bentwaters/Woodbridge base complex. The team brought professional equipment including a Geiger counter, gas-powered arc lights (lightalls), and a microcassette recorder to document their findings.
Almost immediately, the team experienced significant equipment malfunctions. The gas-powered lightalls failed to function properly, and radio communications became intermittent, hampering their ability to maintain contact with base personnel.
At 1:48 AM on December 28th, the group observed a glowing light in the forest. According to Lt. Col. Halt's later statements, the phenomenon "sort of danced about in the sky and it sent down beams of light."
The incident extended beyond Halt's immediate team, with personnel in the weapons storage area and several other locations on the base also reporting unusual lights. Most significantly, Halt reported that the beam of light was "adversely affecting the ordinance" in the weapons storage area.
Investigation
The official response to the Rendlesham incidents was notably dismissive. British Secretary of State for Defence Michael Heseltine stated that "the events to which you refer were of no defence significance," despite the reported interference with military ordinance at a nuclear weapons storage facility.
Lt. Col. Halt's use of recording equipment during the investigation provided one of the few real-time audio documentations of a military UFO encounter, though the specific details of what was captured are not elaborated in the available source material.
Significance
The Rendlesham Forest incident occurred during a period that researcher Richard Dolan characterizes as involving "serious conflict occurring, very secretly, between the world's military forces and something far more advanced." The case is particularly significant because it involved senior military personnel conducting a formal investigation with scientific equipment.
The equipment malfunctions experienced by Halt's team align with patterns reported in other military UFO encounters of the era. The reported interference with nuclear ordinance adds a strategic dimension to the incident, occurring at a facility that was part of NATO's nuclear deterrent during the Cold War.
Airman First Class John Burroughs, who witnessed the events, later stated: "What I do know is that it was nothing mundane. There are no words that can adequately describe the wonder of what we saw." This testimony from military personnel adds credibility to the account and distinguishes it from civilian UFO reports of the period.
The incident represents one of the most well-documented military UFO encounters, involving multiple witnesses, attempted scientific measurement, and real-time audio recording by a senior military officer.