Col. Charles Halt on the 1980 UFO case. Source: BBC
A new "secret video" obtained by the Sun reveals the airmen involved in Britain's most infamous UFO case may have been abducted by aliens.
British Staff Sergeant Jim Penniston and Airman John Burroughs went to investigate lights in Rendlesham Forest, Suffolk.
When in the woods, they claimed they saw a triangular craft, which Penniston was able to get close enough to touch before it took off.
He claims the craft was "smooth to touch" and covered with strange symbols.
Now, in a "secret" video, retired US Air Force colonel, Charles Halt can be heard saying that Burroughs "may have been abducted" and that the men were "unaccounted for" for hours.
Dubbed the UK's Roswell incident, the encounter happened in December 1980, in the woods just outside the twin Nato air bases of RAF Woodbridge and RAF Bentwaters.
Two nights after Penniston and Burroghs found the UFO, it returned.
In a bid to "debunk" the claims, a team of military experts led by Halt went into the woods to investigate.
To their shock, a beam of light from the UFO hit the ground a few feet away from them.
Halt detailed the incident in an 18-minute audio recording and wrote a memo to the MOD, but defence chiefs said the it was of "no defence significance."
For years, it has been rumoured the pair, who were security policemen, may have been abducted as they were out of radio range for several hours with Central Security Control, but no one involved has ever publicly stated it.
The new footage
Former British police detective Gary Heseltine released the footage from 2010, made for a documentary, which was never published, with Halt and the forest.
During a break in filming, Heseltine's wife captured the two talking about the 1980 events.
Halt says in the video: "He [Burroughs] may have been abducted who knows ... You know there is LOST TIME, we know that? They were not on the radio ... You've got men out in the forest that you can't …. Unaccounted for hours."
, Charles Halt, can be heard stating that Burroughs "may have been abducted" and that the men were "unaccounted for" for hours. Photo / BBC
Heseltine, 57, of Scholes, West Yorkshire, told Sun Online: "My wife Lynn took quite a few video clips as we walking around the forest.
"It was only recently while watching them again that I picked up on the admission by Halt that Penniston and Burroughs had been missing off air 'for several hours'.
"I did some research and realised that this admission had never been made public by Halt and so for the benefit of taking the case forward I have decided to release the clip."
Heseltine, who edits the UFO Truth website, added: "As someone who is just trying to piece together the events in Rendlesham Forest, I think it is in the public interest that they have a right to know such information and hence I have released the clip."
James Penniston says he got so close he even managed to touch the craft, describing it as "smooth to the touch" and covered with strange symbols. Photo / YouTube
Former UFO investigator at the MoD Nick Pope said the revelation was "hugely significant".
"This is a bombshell statement, coming from someone who was deputy base commander of one of the most sensitive military bases in the Nato alliance, at the height of the Cold War.
"It's one thing to see a UFO, as Halt and many of the men under his command did, but it's quite another to suggest one of your men might have been abducted by aliens.
John Borroughs and his colleague Penniston were out of radio communication for several hours. Photo / YouTube
"A few weeks ago it would have sounded crazy for a senior American military officer to believe such things, but following the revelations about the Pentagon's secret UFO project, maybe it's not so strange after all.
"That said, it's not entirely clear to me whether Halt is being deadly serious, whether he's speculating, or if he's simply making a tongue-in-cheek comment."
