Type: Audio Recording
Source: Lt. Col. Charles Halt Investigation Team
The Halt Tape is an 18-minute audio recording made by Lt. Col. Charles I. Halt, deputy base commander at RAF Bentwaters, during the second sighting of the Rendlesham Forest incident on the night of December 27–28, 1980. Halt used a handheld micro-cassette recorder to document a military patrol's investigation into strange lights, capturing real-time radiation readings, witness reactions, and descriptions of unidentified flashing lights and beams of light descending from an object in the forest.
(see Related Videos in the Rendlesham Forest Incident case file)
Key details about the recording include:
Content: The tape captures Halt and his team investigating the site, noting radiation spikes at the alleged landing marks and observing star-shaped objects with red, green, and blue lights that moved in sharp angular patterns.
Discovery: The original tape was found by Col. Sam Morgan in mid-1981 when he took over as base commander; it was initially dismissed as "guys screwing around" but later surfaced through a Freedom of Information request.
Significance: It is considered one of the most credible pieces of evidence for the incident because it was made by a skeptical senior officer in real-time, not for public consumption.
Current Status: The recording was declassified by the UK Ministry of Defence and is now in the public domain, available for listening and analysis by researchers like Ian Ridpath.
Affidavit: In 2010, Halt signed a notarized affidavit stating he believed the objects were of extraterrestrial origin and that the incident was covered up by UK and US security services