Halt Memo - Unexplained Lights
Date
January 13, 1981
Document Type
Gov. Memo
Pages
1
Authentication
Declassified / FOIARedaction Status
✓ Fully ReleasedIssuing Authority
Lt Col Charles I. Halt, USAF, RAF Bentwaters; addressed to UK Ministry of Defence
Summary
A one-page official US Air Force memo from Lt Col Charles Halt to the UK Ministry of Defence documenting the Rendlesham Forest UAP incidents of December 26-28, 1980. The memo describes three nights of encounters: a structured metallic triangular craft observed by multiple USAF security personnel, physical landing marks and radiation readings at the site, and aerial light phenomena. Halt's real-time audio tape recording of the second night's events is considered a companion document. The memo is the most concise and authoritative official military documentation of the Rendlesham Forest incident.
Significance
The Halt Memo is the archetypal example of a government official reporting an unexplained encounter to his superiors in writing. It is a primary source document - not an investigation of someone else's claims, but a commissioned officer's own direct account of witnessed events. Its FOIA release in 1983 was the first confirmation that Rendlesham Forest was documented at the official government level. Nick Pope's subsequent 1993 reinvestigation used this memo and the classified MoD file as his primary sources.