Case Directory
  Category 2, Close Encounters 
 
  Preliminary
Rating: 5  
           
                      
     

A Hynek Classification of Close Encounter is usually an incident involving an object less than 500 feet from the witness.  The size of the object,  viewing conditions, or stereoscopic vision (depth perception)  may render the object in greater detail and still qualify the sighting as a Close Encounter even though the object may have been beyond 500'.  The incident depicted in the logo was encountered during an intense storm near Princeton, IN,  Aug. 1973.

Rendlesham Forest Encounter / Halt Case
December 26 & 28, 1980
RAF Bentwaters AFB, Suffolk, England


Brad Sparks:
December 28, 1980; RAF Bentwaters AFB, England
Rendlesham Forest case is one of the most significant military encounters with a UFO.  Rendlesham Forest is a large pine forest, east of Ipswich, in Suffolk, England.  Nearby are the twin NATO air bases, RAF Bentwaters and RAF Woodbridge, leased to the United States Air Force.  The UFO was chased through the forest by a team led by Lt. Col. Charles Halt, involving multiple-witness sightings by military personnel and slight radioactive anomalies.  At the end of his team's 2-mile trek, Col. Halt sighted "pencil beams" from the UFO hitting the nuclear weapons storage area at Bentwaters 3 miles away in the distance.  Earlier incident on Dec. 26, 1980, by USAF security patrolmen on duty, has been greatly embellished.

Detailed reports and documents
reports/rendle_1980_sparks.htm (Brad Sparks)


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