THE UK’s most famous UFO sighting could finally be solved 45 years on – as an expert revealed a new “electromagnetic plasma” theory.
Mystery lights spotted by SAS troopers in December 1980 could have been down to a “mass psychosis” caused by “electromagnetic plasma” coming from the earth, they revealed.
Many high ranking officers from the US Air Force personnel reported seeing a triangular alien craft in Rendlesham Forest, a remote part of Suffolk.
One even claimed to have got close enough to touch a “triangular spacecraft”.
But despite multiple investigations into the sighting no explanation for the glowing scenes was ever found.
Philip Mantle, an expert in UFO sightings, has revealed he may know what really happened that night.
“If you look at what those involved said to begin with, the only concrete info was that they saw strange lights in the forest – that’s what we start with,” he told Metro.
The plasma theory was first put forward by Dr Ron Haddow.
Phillip said: “He was concerned this plasma emitted a type of electromagnetic energy, which could interfere with aircraft communications of cause cognitive impairment.”
British UFO expert Albert Budden later showed that the Earth produces electromagnetic forces which can emit light – otherwise called the plasma.
Phillip added: “Some people can be hypersensitive to these lights – in other words allergic – and can have the most bizarre experience you’ll think is absolutely real.
“It could be these soldiers came into contact with it and all hallucinated.”
He also discounted old theories, which suggested SAS troops staged the sighting as revenge on US troops, saying “pranking” would not have taken place in the heat of the Cold War.
The theory was upheld by UFO enthusiast Dr David Clarke who said, “lights and coloured flares were rigged in the woods and black helium balloons were coupled to remote-controlled kites.”
But like Phillip, former Ministry of Defence UFO investigator Nick Pope, told the Sun Online he was sceptical of such claims.
Despite its nickname of ‘the Red Planet’, mysterious green dots have been discovered in the sand on Mars.
Nasa’s Perseverance rover, which has been navigating Mars for nearly four years, stumbled upon the new mystery in a region called “Serpentine Rapids”.
After scraping away the top layer of regolith in a red rock outcrop named “Wallace Butte”, the rover uncovered a “striking” array of colours within the rock, Nasa wrote.
Colours of white, black and even green were discovered.
“One of the biggest surprises for the rover team was the presence of the drab-green-colored spots within the abrasion patch, which are composed of dark-toned cores with fuzzy, light green rims,” Nasa added.
The green patches can also be found on Earth’s so-called ‘red beds’ – areas of sediment where water, carrying iron, has filtered through, and eventually hardens into rock.
He told the Sun Online: “It’s classic friend-of-a-friend stuff: a ufologist claims he was contacted by a former SAS soldier, who claims he was involved in a prank.
“Frankly, there’s no evidence such a prank even occurred, let alone that it played a role in the infamous Rendlesham Forest incident.
“Having undertaken a cold case review of this incident for the MoD, I can confirm that the events in Rendlesham Forest 40 years ago remain unexplained.
The US airman Jim Penniston’s claim that he touched the aircraft is also dubious, according Philip, who said his account changed over time.
He said: “Jim underwent hypnosis a few years back and said the craft was a machine from the futures.”
He admitted however that the plasma theory could also be an incorrect assumption as UFO researchers all “suffer confirmation bias”.
He added: “But I’m sure Rendlesham’s legend will only continue to grow in the years ahead.”
