Still, Halt planned to go into the woods, fully intent on debunking all talk of a UFO. By his own words, he was convinced whatever was happening in Rendlesham had a rational explanation.
In addition to radios, Halt and his men had gas-powered lanterns called “light-alls” with them. Halt had also brought a small tape recorder with which he planned to record his thoughts and actions during the search.
He went into the forest with his men shortly after 1 A.M. The woods had been sealed off by this time; a security perimeter had been established so any curious locals or airmen wouldn’t interfere with Halt’s mission.
Once inside the forest, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, at least at first. But then the light-alls started cutting out, and soon after, the search party’s radios began working only intermittently.
Then around 1:48 A.M., everything changed.
At that point on Halt’s tape, the officer can be heard insisting his men slow down and take it easy. Why? Because they’d spotted the mysterious lights again.
At first, to Halt’s eyes it looked like a glowing light resting on a pillar of yellowish mist. One of his men added that the light had a rainbow effect as well, as if being reflected through a prism. Just like the night before, the light was gliding slowly through the woods.
In interviews later on, Halt said he initially considered that the light might be an optical illusion, or a mirage, or that old standby, the weather-induced temperature inversion. But none of these explanations fit. On the tape he describes what he was looking at as being like a huge eye, with a dark center, winking at them. Halt also said the object appeared to have molten metal dripping off it, even though neither he nor his men could see any evidence of this on the ground.
Finally, Halt had to admit that he simply couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
As reported on UFO researcher Nick Pope’s website, nickpope.com, Halt was quoted as saying: “Here I am, a senior official that routinely denies this sort of thing, someone who diligently works to debunk them and [suddenly] I’m involved in the middle of something I can’t explain.”
The recording Halt made that night is as gripping as it is authentic. Spoken as a running commentary on his actions and those of his team, it is the sound of a man who had been a UFO skeptic minutes before becoming a UFO believer in a hurry.
(Note: The recording and transcript can be found on many Internet sites, including: www.ufos-aliens.co.uk/cosmicrend.html)
Halt: It’s 0148, we’re hearing very strange noises out of the farmer’s barnyard animals. They’re very, very active, making awful lot of noise… (pause) You just saw a light? Where?
Airman: Yeah…
Halt: Wait a minute now, slow down, where?
Airman: Right up in this position here, straight ahead, in between the tree… there it is again! Watch. Straight ahead… sir. There it is…
Halt: Yeah, I see it too. What is it?
Airman: We don’t know, sir.
Halt: Yeah, it’s a strange small red light, looks to be maybe a quarter to a half mile, maybe further out…
Halt: The light is gone now, it was approximately 120 degrees. Is it back again?
Airman: Yes sir.
Halt: Well, douse the flashlights then… let’s go out to the edge of the clearing so I can get a better look at it… the light’s still there and all the barnyard animals have gotten quiet now…
Airman: Now it’s stopped. Now it’s coming up, hold on, there we go. About four foot off the ground…
Halt:… Say that again. About four feet off the ground, about 110 degrees…
Airman: Yes sir. Now it’s died.
Halt:… I think it’s something that, something very weird.
Airman: How about the tree right over…
Halt:… The woods are just deadly calm. There is no doubt about it, there’s some type of strange flashing red light ahead.
Airman: There, it’s yellow.
Halt: I saw a yellow tinge in it too. Weird, it, it appears that he may be moving this way? It’s brighter than it has been.
Airman: Yellow…
Halt: It’s coming this way! It’s definitely coming this way! Pieces of it are shooting off. There is no doubt about it, this is… weird.
Airman: Two lights, one light to the right, one light to the left!
Halt: O.K., keep the flashlights off. There’s something very, very strange… pieces are falling off it again.
Airman: And it just moved to the right.
Halt: Yeah!
Airman: Just off to the right.
Halt: O.K., we’re looking at the thing, we’re probably about… 300 yards away and it looks like an eye winking at you. It’s still moving from side to side, and when you put the star scope on it, it sort of has a hollow center, a dark center. It’s like the pupil of an eye looking at you, winking. And the flash is so bright to the star scope that, it almost burns your eye.
Halt and his men followed the light through the woods, crossing a farmer’s field and stumbling through a small brook.
Halt later recalled: “As we moved out of the forest, we noticed three objects in the sky. The objects in the sky were moving about, sharp angular movements, very high speed. I kept getting on the radio and calling the command post. I wanted to know if they were finding anything on the radarscope. One of the objects was sending down beams, beams of light, beams of energy, I’m not sure what they were. At that same time I could hear on the radio, voices talking about the beams coming down on the base.”
Then Halt saw a beam of light cut the night directly in front of him. That’s when his skepticism disappeared for good.
He and his men chased the lights for more than an hour but to no avail. They finally left the forest around 3 A.M. But even after their departure, strange lights were still being reported above RAF Woodbridge.
The next morning, representatives from U.S. intelligence agencies started showing up at Bentwaters and Woodbridge.
Oddly (or maybe not), just about anyone who’d actually seen the UFOs in the woods was not questioned by the spooks. This included Lieutenant Colonel Halt, who was particularly marginalized. It is at this point that many ufologists contend the inevitable cover-up of the Rendlesham events began.
Still, whatever happened, there is no denying the episode had a significant effect on some of the men involved. For instance, soon after the incident Sergeant Penniston requested a transfer; the sighting had affected him adversely. On the other hand, John Burroughs, his partner in the woods that first night, stayed out in the forest for days afterward, waiting for the UFO to return.
Lieutenant Colonel Halt even sent blankets and food out to the airman during his vigil, but Burroughs refused to use them.
Once the Cold War ended, RAF Woodbridge and RAF Bentwaters were closed. Bentwaters was turned into a business park. Woodbridge is used today by the British army for training exercises.
The Rendlesham Forest itself was all but destroyed during England’s “Great Storm of 1987.” Since then many of the damaged trees have been replanted, though one report stated that glass globules were found in soil taken from the clearing where the first object had been seen. The same report said the area was also free of microbial growth.