London, Sep 5 (ANI): After almost 30 years of one of Britain’s best-known UFO sightings, the true story behind the event has emerged- a truck load of dung is what caused all the mayhem.

The weird lights, strange marks on the ground, and odd noises in the night were caused by a burning lorry-load of dung.

US Air Force personnel claimed a UFO had landed in Rendlesham Forest, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, and the lurid descriptions given by them fuelled decades of fevered speculation, books, and bizarre theories.

In fact, the area was even proclaimed to be a portal for aliens visiting Earth.

However, Peter Turtill, 66, from Ipswich, has now come forward and has claimed that it was him who was to blame for the whole havoc.

He said that he had been on his way home after collecting a truck he had lent to a friend when it broke down near the USAF airbase at Rendlesham in December 1980.

“To my horror it was loaded with stolen fertiliser (often made at the time from guano bird dung) so we set light to it to destroy the evidence,” The Daily Express quoted Turtill as saying.

“The truck had an aluminium body and the fertiliser and metal made some very unusual coloured flames.

“Some airmen thought it was a multi-coloured cross from outer space, and with the truck tyres popping they were getting a bit edgy.

“I admit it probably looked spectacular rolling through the forest but it was hardly a spaceship,” he added.

While Turtill’s account may not necessarily lay the UFO story to rest, Rendlesham UFO enthusiast Brenda Butler said: “I don’t get what he is saying. Why has he waited 29 years to come forward?” (ANI)