Britain’s first UFO tour is to be launched at the spot where 17 mysterious objects were spotted more than 40 years ago, reports say.
Ex-detective Gary Heseltine is to take Brits on a tour around Suffolk’s curious Rendlesham Forest as part of a limited two-day event this summer, according to The Sun.
Dubbed ‘Britain’s Roswell’, Rendlesham Forest was central to one of the most famous UFO sightings in the UK and has intrigued extra-terrestrial enthusiasts for decades.
It already hosts a nature trail circling the spot where spooky red and green lights were witnessed in 1980, but now Mr Hesteltine is taking this to the next level.
The tours follow the release of his book ‘Non-Human The Rendlesham Forest Incidents: 42 years of Denial’, which seeks to expose the ‘murky’ political world of the incident.
UFO hunter Gary Heseltine is set to host tours at Suffolk’s Rendlesham Forest (pictured)
Mr Heseltine (pictured) claims the case has been surrounded by ‘disinformation’ and ‘politics’
Mr Heseltine wrote: ‘The Rendlesham Forest incident has often been referred to as “Britain’s Roswell”, and in terms of its significance in UFO history the comparison is well made.
‘However, I have to say that in many aspects the RFI, as it has become known, is very, very different in certain key areas.
‘After almost 14 years of public research into the RFI, I can think of no other case that has been subject of so much disinformation and damaging internal witness “political” infighting.’
Back in 1980, military personnel claimed to see lights hovering in the sky and descending into the woodland on three separate nights just before New Year.
While they were allegedly convinced these shapes were alien spacecraft, it has since been brushed off as a scaremongering prank played on the US air force by Britain’s Special Air Service (SAS).
At the time, the SAS were said to have regularly tested the US security by probing the nearby perimeters of RAF Woodbridge which allegedly stored Nuclear warheads at the time of the Cold War.
On one occasion, the Brits were allegedly subjected to a brutal interrogation and beaten up by the US security before being released 18 hours later after authorities intervened.
British X-Files expert Dr David Clarke, a researcher of the case, previously said: ‘After their release, the troopers made no complaint at their rough treatment but were determined to get their own back on the USAF for the beating that they had received.
Unusual red and green fluorescent lights were spotted at the forest in 1980 (file picture)
Pictured: The east gate at RAF Woodbridge, near the alleged incident is to have occurred
Rendlesham Forest already hosts a Forestry England nature trail circling the UFO spot
A 3-mile (5km) UFO trail is already available for keen alien hunters in Rendlesham Forest (pale purple dotted line)
Staff Sergeant Jim Penniston (right) and Airman John Burroughs (left) allegedly interacted with a UFO that landed in Rendlesham Forest on December 26, 1980
‘In particular, their repeated characterisation as “aliens” sowed the seeds of a plan. They said: “They called us aliens. Right, we’ll show them what aliens really look like”.’
When December approached, it is said that lights and coloured flares were rigged in Rendlesham Forest.
Remote-controlled kites were also coupled with black helium balloons to carry suspended materials into the sky.
Then, across three days between December 26 and 28, military personnel witnessed strange lights in the woods near RAF Bentwaters and RAF Woodbridge.
‘A great deal of nocturnal Christmas fun was had at the expense of the USAF – and the matter should have ended there,’ according to a letter written to Dr Clarke by an alleged SAS source.
‘Unfortunately, a senior US officer (Lt Col Halt) led the US contingent out into the forest on the second night and took along his tape recorder.
‘The hovering and whizzing lights were sufficiently impressive for him to send a report to the MoD.
‘Someone in London recalled the events of the previous August and questions were asked. A few red faces – but also some satisfaction and amusement – followed.
Charles Halt sent a memo to the UK’s Ministry of Defence about the incident. The Ministry dismissed its potential significance
Halt (pictured in a portrait from his army days) told The Sun: ‘I never said anyone was abducted’
‘The USAF was “reassured” at a very senior level and no UK investigation was undertaken – for obvious reasons.’
Both the US military and British Ministry of Defence have rejected claims regarding aliens and spacecraft following the 1980 incident.
Charles Halt was a deputy commander in the US army at the time that John Burroughs, Airman First Class Edward Cabansag and Airman First Class Larry Warren investigated the lights
The Ministry of Defence reportedly said that there had been no threat to national security and the UFOs were likely caused by nocturnal lights.
Yet in 2018, a US air force colonel was videoed stating that one of the men involved in the ‘British Roswell’ may have been abducted by aliens.
Charles Halt was a deputy commander in the US army at the time that John Burroughs, Edward Cabansag and Larry Warren investigated the lights.
In footage released four years ago, Mr Halt says ‘He [John Burroughs] may have been abducted, who knows… I don’t play that up.’
However, when approached by The Sun, Halt accepted that ‘something happened’ but denied making these comments.
‘I never said anyone was abducted,’ he told them.
This speculation was also not mentioned in Mr Halt’s original letter to the Ministry of Defence.
Yet, researcher Mr Heseltine continues to believe that the narrative of the case has been ‘”controlled” by a small number of people for over a quarter of a century’.
He wrote: ‘The Roswell Story from July 1947, in simple terms, was the alleged recovery of a crashed alien craft and bodies with a single military and government agenda to cover it up.
‘However, the RFI by comparison is much more complicated, with what appears to be several agendas at play.’
Mr Heseltine has been approached for comment.