BBC Sounds, May 20

“What in the heck are they looking at?”

In terms of “rational, sensible people” they don’t come more rational or sensible than American soldiers stationed in the UK during the heart of the Cold War. Top of that list would have to be Chuck, our witness this week. He doesn’t sound like the sort of chap to be easily spooked, or overly credulous.

That doesn’t stop him regaling us – aided, extraordinarily, by a tape recorded at the time – with tales of shiny black crafts on three legs, with eye-like things that have a dark centre, laser beams… I’m not sure we can blame all of that on the Russians.

Ciaran O’Keeffe knows what he saw on Christmas Day 1980… I think… in a crazy coincidence, he was in the same part of the world as Rendlesham and could have witnessed the same phenomenon! Some things truly are stranger than fiction. Ciaran explains that military personnel make for excellent witnesses, not least because they are trained in observation skills. He balances this – of course – with the fact that they’re still human and therefore open to errors in interpretation. Nick Pope, our other expert this week, maintains (as does Chuck) that all of the experiences, described by so many people in so many locations, simply can’t be explained.

The case then turns more sinister following news breaking in the British tabloid press, with allegations of silencing by US and UK authorities and memories of witnesses being changed with the aid of drugs any hypnosis. Ugh, that’s not uncanny, it’s downright scary.

Verdict: Alien technology or secret military space hardware? Either way, it’s wrong to wish on it. 7/10

Claire Smith