The story so far

Having been called out to investigate the return of a flashing UFO that was first sighted two nights earlier in Rendlesham Forest, Col Halt has spent all his time up to now examining some supposed ‘landing marks’ on the forest floor left by the craft on its earlier visit. Only now have his men finally drawn attention to the light they had called him out to see in the first place. From here on the pace picks up, but there are longer breaks in the recording.

Final part of the transcript

HALT:    I see it, too.  What is it?

ENGLUND:    We don’t know, sir.

NEVELS:    Can I get some of those...(?)

[Ian’s note: It seems that Nevels may have temporarily handed over the geiger counter to someone else at this point, as a different voice, seemingly that of Englund, calls out the next few meter readings.]

HALT:    It’s a strange, small red light, looks to be maybe a quarter to a half mile, maybe further out.  I’m gonna switch off.

HALT:    The light is gone now. It was approximately 120 degrees from the site...

ENGLUND:    It’s back again.

HALT:    Is it back again?  

ENGLUND:    Yes, sir.

HALT:    Well douse flashlights then.  Let’s go back to the edge of the clearing so we can get a better look at it.  See if you can get the Starscope on it.  The light’s still there and all the barnyard animals have gone quiet now.  We’re heading about 110, 120 degrees from the site out through to the clearing now, still getting a reading on the meter, about two clicks.

HALT:    Needle’s jumped, three to four clicks, getting stronger.

ENGLUND:    Now it’s stopped...  Now it’s coming up... Hold on.  There we go... about approximately four foot off the ground, at a compass heading of 110 degrees.

HALT:    He’s turned the meter off.  Gotta say that again.  About four feet off the ground, about 110 degrees, getting a reading of about four clicks?

ENGLUND:    Yes, sir.  (Sneezes).  Now it’s dying.

HALT:    Now it’s dying. I think it’s something other than the ground.  I think it’s something that’s...something variable[?]...

ENGLUND:    (indistinct)...tree right over...

HALT:    We’ve just bumped into the first night bird we’ve seen.  We’re about 150 or 200 yards from the site.

VOICE (faintly):    Another one[?]

HALT:    Everything else is just deathly calm.

HALT:    There is no doubt about it – there’s some type of strange flashing red light ahead.

[Ian’s note: Halt is the only person to describe the light as red.]

ENGLUND:    Sir, it’s yellow.

HALT:    I saw a yellow tinge in it, too.  Weird!  It appears to be maybe moving a little bit this way?  It’s brighter than it has been.

VOICE:    Yellow[?].

HALT:    It’s coming this way.  It is definitely coming this way.

VOICE:    Pieces of it shooting off...

HALT:    Pieces of it are shooting off.

VOICE:    At eleven o’clock...

HALT:    There is no doubt about it.  This is weird!

VOICE (NEVELS?):    To the left... 

HALT:    Definitely moving...

VOICE (NEVELS?):    Two lights – one light just behind [?] and one light to the left.

HALT:    Keep your flashlights off.  There’s something very, very strange.  Get the headset on, see if it gets any stronger.

NEVELS:    I have.

HALT:    OK. Give us your...

NEVELS:    ...make a notation that this is on a beta reading, too...

[Ian’s note: They pronounce beta as ‘bayta’, the American way.]

HALT:    It’s on a beta reading?

NEVELS:    The beta shield has been removed.

HALT:    OK. Pieces are falling off it again.

ENGLUND:    Sir, it just moved to the right...

HALT:    Yeah!

ENGLUND:    ...off to the right.

HALT:    Strange!  One again left[?]  Let’s approach to the edge of the woods up there.  Do you wanna do it without lights?  Let’s do it carefully.  Come on.

HALT:    OK, we’re looking at the thing, we’re probably about two to three hundred yards away.  It looks like an eye winking at you.  Still moving from side to side.  And when you put the Starscope on it, it sort of has a hollow centre, a dark centre, it’s...

ENGLUND(?):    Like a pupil...

HALT:    Yeah, like a pupil of an eye looking at you, winking.  And the flash is so bright to the Starscope that it almost burns your eye.

[Ian’s note: The starscope amplified light by about a thousand times and had a magnification of 4 times, so naturally the light appeared much brighter and larger than to the naked eye.]

GARBLED SECURITY COMMUNICATION

HALT:    We’ve passed the farmer’s house and are crossing the next field and now we have multiple sightings of up to five lights with a similar shape and all but they seem to be steady now rather than a pulsating or glow with a red flash.

HALT:    We’ve just crossed a creek...

VOICE:    Here we go...

HALT:    ...and we’re getting what kind of readings now?

VOICE:    ...clicks...

HALT:    We’re getting three good clicks on the meter and we’re seeing strange lights in the sky.

HALT:    2:44.  We’re at the far side of the farmer’s...the second farmer’s field and made sighting again about 110 degrees.  This looks like it’s clear off to the coast.  It’s right on the horizon.  Moves about a bit and flashes from time to time.  Still steady or red in colour.  Also after negative readings in the centre of the field we’re picking up slight readings, four or five clicks now, on the meter.

[Ian’s note: These readings are the same as they reported at the supposed landing site – i.e. normal background.]

HALT:    3:05.  We see strange strobe-like flashes to the... rather sporadic, but there’s definitely something there. Some kind of phenomenon.

HALT:    3:05.  At about ten degrees, horizon, directly north, we’ve got two strange objects, er, half moon shape, dancing about, with coloured lights on ‘em.  At, er, guess to be about five to ten miles out, maybe less.  The half moons have now turned into full circles as though there was an eclipse or something there for a minute or two.

HALT:    03:15.  Now we’ve got an object about 10 degrees directly south, 10 degrees off the horizon.

NEVELS:    ... to the left...

HALT:    And the ones to the north are moving.  One’s moving away from us.

BACKGROUND VOICE:    (indistinct, but includes ‘moving’)

NEVELS:    Moving out fast.

BALL(?):    This one on the right’s heading away, too.

HALT:    They’re both heading north.  Hey, here he comes from the south, he’s coming toward us now.

HALT:    Now we’re observing what appears to be a beam coming down to the ground.

SHOUT IN BACKGROUND:    Colours! [?]

HALT:    This is unreal. [Laughs]

[Ian’s note: RAF Watton logged a call from Bentwaters at 03.25 am on December 28 reporting a UFO. Halt instructed the command post to call them while these sightings were going on, but Watton reported that they saw nothing on radar.]

HALT:    03:30 and the objects are still in the sky, although the one to the south looks like it’s losing a little bit of altitude. We’re turning around and heading back toward the base.

HALT:    The object to the south is still beaming down lights to the ground.

HALT:    04:00 hours.  One object still hovering over Woodbridge base at about five to ten degrees off the horizon, still moving erratic and similar lights and beaming down as earlier.

TAPE ENDS

Duration of tape:  18 minutes 12 seconds

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Content last revised: 2021 March

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