Overview
- USAF Sergeant James W. Penniston says a telepathic code was received after he touched a reported craft in December 1980, and he made that code public decades later.
- The published text includes a string of geographic coordinates and the phrase 'Origin Year 8100', with some outlets noting possible transcription errors in at least one coordinate.
- Media coverage and online communities have highlighted interpretations that the message could reference future humanity, though the claim remains unverified and rests on Penniston’s account.
- Contemporaneous records include a memo from RAF Woodbridge deputy base commander Lt Col Charles Halt to the UK Ministry of Defence after USAF personnel reported unusual lights on December 26 and 28, 1980.
- Journalist Dr David Clarke, whose FOI requests led to release of MoD files, says the encounter remains unexplained, while former MoD official Simon Weeden reported no radar confirmation and judged the case of no defence significance.