Alien Encounters – The Rendlesham Forest Incident – Part 1

Begun during World War II the British built an airbase in Rendlesham Forest about twelve miles outside of the city of Ipswich in Suffolk. By the time they leased RAF Bentwaters to the United States Air Force in 1951 they had another RAF Airbase beside it called Woodbridge. This twin base complex became home to the 81st Tactical Fighter Wing and the 67th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadrons. Rendlesham Forest had been allowed to grow as an extra protective barrier for the airbases.

Near midnight of Christmas Day, December 25, 1980, the bases were still celebrating with only a skeleton crew on duty and no aircraft flying. On guard duty at the back gate, referred to as the East Gate, Airman First Class John Burroughs and Staff Sargeant Bud Steffens were on patrol duty. Airman Burroughs was the first to see strange lights appear and hover over the Forest at tree-top level near the edge of the Forest beside the Airbase. neither man having ever seen such light display from aircraft they took a jeep out of Woodbridge to investigate.

It quickly became obvious that the flickering red, yellow, and green lights were much closer to the base that they at first thought. Then a large white beam of light was emitted and began sweeping the base perimeter. The two airmen quickly decided they needed backup and sped back to the East Gate. Their call, seeming unbelievable to the recipients, was passed up the line until it reached Staff Sargeant James Penniston at Central Security Control. Believing the report indicated a crashed aircraft SSgt. Penniston was driven to the East Gate where SSgt. Steffens told him the craft, if that is what it was, had not crashed but had seemed to land in the forest.

Getting permission from the Shift Commander, the men, including two other Security officers, headed back out along a logging road toward the area where the lights were last seen. Leaving Airman First Class Edward Cabansag with the vehicle to act as radio relay, the other men entered the forest to find the lights. By this time the men knew that CSC Radar had been following an unknown radar contact which had also been confirmed with the radar at Heathrow Airport. The signal had been lost about five miles from the base, most likely due to the contact dropping below radar range.

Back in the forest the men realized something was definitely wrong. Despite the lateness at night there was a lot of animal movement. They then lost radio contact with A1C Cabansag and the base and began to experience an electrical static charge building around them. It was then they came upon the object sitting in a clearing. It was cone-shaped, about 10 foot in height and the same width at the base. It appeared to be sitting on some type of fixed legs. As SSgt. Penniston moved closer, the feel of electricity in the air grew stronger.

Standing next to the object SSgt. Penniston reported the top part was giving off a bright, white light with two other lights, red and blue seemingly molded into the side of the object on either side with the blue light fading in and out from black to grey back to blue. The exterior of the object looked like smooth, opaque, black glass. He noted that there were symbols somewhat like writing on the side, about three inches tall in a string about two foot long or more. Touching them, he noted that rather than painted on, they had the feel of etching or engraving done into the smooth exterior. At his touch, however, the white light grew instantly much brighter and the craft rose up off the ground, moving slowly up and through the branches of the surrounding trees. It took a couple of minutes to clear the trees and at about two hundred feet it paused for a moment then, in an instant, it was gone. At no time did the object make a sound.

With its departure, radio communications were again possible. The two airmen had become somewhat disoriented within the electrical static field. They seemed to see another set of similar lights about a half mile further into the forest, but after traveling about three hundred yards, turned around and rejoined A1C Cabansag and returned to the base to make their report. The shift commander told them they should stay quiet about what they had seen but then told the airmen, "you saw something, Heathrow tower confirms you saw something. Now you should go out and look for some physical proof of what happened."

SSgt. Penniston acquired the materials for making a plaster cast and he and A1C Burroughs returned that morning to the landing spot. Finding three identical equidistant shallow cone-like depressions in the soil, the casts were made as Penniston, shaken by the encounter, wanted some physical proof that he had actually experienced the event. He requested a transfer from the Airbase shortly afterward, while A1C Burroughs spend a number of nights after the encounter, waiting in the forest for the craft to reappear.

Related Articles:

1. Alien Encounters – The Rendlesham Forest Incident – Part 2
2. Alien Encounters – The Rendlesham Forest Incident – Part 3 – Conclusion
3. Rendlesham Forest Incident-1980
4. Alien Encounter Reports
5. Alien Encounters – The Russian Navy and Aquatic UFO’s