Rendlesham Forest 1980: A Triangular Object and an Investigation Reduced to "Strange Lights"

At about 3 a.m. on 26 December 1980, U.S. security staff on duty at RAF Woodbridge in Suffolk, England, saw red and white lights descend toward Rendlesham Forest. The forest lay just beyond the east fence, so a light that looked like a falling aircraft became a security alert at once. RAF Woodbridge and RAF Bentwaters were two air bases on British soil, run by the U.S. Air Force during the Cold War.

Two patrolmen, Jim Penniston and John Burroughs, were sent out to check. Their later accounts did not match a distant lamp. They said they saw a triangular metal object about three metres high, with a smooth dark surface that glowed red, blue, and white. The object rose from the ground very fast and made no sound. At first light they found three impressions set in a triangle, broken pine branches, and patches of ground described as burned.