The Travel Channel isn’t exactly where you’d expect to find hard-hitting investigative journalism into extraterrestrial encounters. Yet, here we are with “Alien Files: Reopened,” and their upcoming episode, “Back From the Future,” tackling what some call “Britain’s Roswell” – the Rendlesham Forest Incident.
Now, I’m not saying little green men landed in Suffolk in 1980 and had a picnic with the Queen. But the story, even stripped of the more sensational embellishments, is undeniably curious. US Air Force personnel stationed near two military bases reported unexplained lights. Then, things got weird. Servicemen on the ground claimed close encounters with some seriously advanced tech, the kind that even today’s military would struggle to replicate. They documented everything, too. Or so they say.
“Back From the Future” aims to reexamine the evidence, from witness testimonies (which, let’s admit, have had decades to evolve) to the supposed physical proof of otherworldly visitors. The usual questions get trotted out: government cover-up, mass delusion, or actual aliens? The truth is probably somewhere in the swampy, confusing middle. But this episode’s success will depend on how effectively it cuts through decades of mythology and manages to present the facts – or what we can agree are facts – in a fresh, compelling way.
Alien Files: Reopened “Back From the Future” airs Sunday, December 1, 10:00 PM on Travel Channel.
