Episode 103 Paranormal Thursday Morning

Within the leafy surroundings of Rendlesham Forest was RAF Woodbridge, a World War II-era military airfield, which at that time was occupied by the U.S. Air Force.

In the early hours of Boxing Day morning, USAF personnel claimed to see strange lights descending into the nearby forest.

Initially believing the source of light to be a downed aircraft, the men went to investigate.

Upon entering the forest, the servicemen could hear animals from a nearby farm going into a frenzy.

As they approached the area, they spotted what they would later describe as a glowing object with colored lights that quickly flew away in the direction of the nearby coast.

Returning to the same spot at daybreak, the men found a small clearing said to contain three impressions on the ground.

creating a triangular shape.

Burn marks and broken branches were also reported on the surrounding trees.

Two days later, Deputy Base Commander Lieutenant Colonel Charles I.

Halt, who detailed the events in a memo to the UK Ministry of Defense, went into the forest with the servicemen in the early hours.

After taking him to the clearing to show him the impression on the ground, Halt witnessed similar events to those on the 26th.

The farm animals were making a racket while a flashing light was set to descend upon the men.

Halt then described three mysterious illuminations likening them to stars but hovering just above the horizon with the occasional stream of light beaming down from them.

Two weeks later, Halt sent his memo to the MOD.

Apart from hearsay and rumor, the general public was none the wiser about the events of December 1980.

However, two suited men visited forestry worker Vince Thurkettle during the period, bombarding him with questions about whether he saw anything on the nights in question.

They said, did you leave the house at all? Did you see anything? I said, what? They said, oh, there's a report of some red lights in the forest.

We're just checking.

And the two of them very politely but firmly asked me probably about 20 questions.

I thought they were journalists.

They suddenly said, oh well, fair enough, there's probably nothing to it, and left.

So I bought the papers every day for the next few days to find out what was going on, and of course, there was nothing.

It took three more years for the memo to be released to the public domain by the US government.

When it was, the story hit headlines across the world.

Randall Sham Force became the UFO capital of the UK, with the event spawning numerous books, TV shows, and articles.