Tuesday, September 22, 2009

UFO FYI: 1965- A Bunch of Incidents at Exeter

I, Norman J. Muscarello, was hitchhiking on Rt. 150, three miles south of Exeter, New Hampshire, at 0200 hours on the 3rd of September. A group of five bright red lights appeared over a house about a hundred feet from where I was standing. The lights were in a line at about a sixty-degree angle. They were so bright, they lighted up the area. The lights then moved out over a large field and acted at times like a floating leaf. They would go down behind the trees, behind a house and then reappear. They always moved in the same sixty-degree angle. Only one light would be on at a time. They were pulsating: one, two, three, four, five, four, three, two, one. They were so bright I could not distinguish a form to the object. I watched these lights for about fifteen minutes and they finally disappeared behind some trees and seemed to go into a field. At one time while I was watching them, they seemed to come so close I jumped into a ditch to keep from being hit. After the lights went into a field, I caught a ride to the Exeter Police Station and reported what I had seen.
signed,
Norman J. Muscarello

Scores of people, including two highly reputable policeman, swear that what they saw over a period of weeks in the New Hampshire area - big, silent and glowing - was nothing the Air Force could explain away.

The following article is from the TRUE Magazine's Report On Flying Saucers, 1967, compiled by the editors of TRUE after 17 years of exhaustive UFO research (presented here courtesy of UFO Phenomenon at Close Sight):

Main square Main square in Exeter, New Hampshire, a typically quiet New England town of 7,000 people, none of whom had ever seen a flying saucer before. Police station is located behind Town Hall (lower left)

A wide, 10-acre field near the New England town of Exeter, N. H., provided the setting for one of Flying Saucerdom's finest hours. As recounted in John G. Fuller's exciting book, "Incident at Exeter," it stands as probably the best-documented - and most tantalizing - case in the growing mystery of UFO sightings. The fact that two policeman were among the observers didn't hurt its case for authenticity, either. Nor the fact that the New England locale is not particularly known for wild-eyed story-telling. On the warm, moonless night of Sept. 3, 1965, Norman Muscarello, then 18, burst into the Exeter police station, still shaking from having seen, as he was hitch-hiking home about 2 a.m. "The thing" was bigger than a house, he told Patrolman "Scratch" Toland, with brilliant, pulsating red lights around. It floated toward him silently. Diving from the road into a small ditch to avoid the on-coming object, he watched, terror-stricken. Then it backed off slowly until it had reached a sufficient distance for him to get up and run.

Tolandwas
Patrolman Reginald "Scratch" Tolandwas first person to hear incredible story of saucer landing. He was at the desk when Muscarello came in, shaking, after seeing "the Thing".

At the same time, Patrolman Eugene Bertrand, an Air Force veteran, was cruising when he found a lone woman at the wheel of her car just two miles outside Exeter. Still badly shaken, she told how a huge, silent, airborne object had followed her for 10 miles, at only a few feet's distance from her car. It, too, had brilliant, flashing red lights. When she reached the Route 101 overpass, the UFO took off at a great speed. Officer Toland, putting the stories together, instructed Bertrand to return to the open field with the boy.

Patrolman Hunt points to spot in the field where he saw the fluttering movement of UFO. Patrolman Bertrand was in Air Force for four years and swears UFO he saw was not a plane, a helicopter or balloon. Hunt

While Officer Bertrand was shining his flashlight toward the tree line, the horses in a nearby corral began kicking and whinnying, dogs began to howl. Muscarello then let out a yell: "I see it! I see it!"

What Muscarello and an astounded Bertrand saw was a brilliant round object rising up silently over the pines. All of a sudden the entire area was drenched in a brilliant red light as the object fluttered toward them, still noiselessly. Racing back to the patrol car with the boy for fear of radiation, Bertrand reported to the station, "My God, I see the damn thing myself!" Moments later, Patrolman David Hunt pulled up in another cruiser. He had heard Bertrand's exclamation on the radio and decided to see for himself. He got out and observed the slow, rocking movements of the still-pulsating object moving slowly across the tops of the trees and toward Hampton.

Hunt Patrolman Hunt arrived on the scene after Bertrand and boy saw "Thing" reappear. Note presence again of power lines near scene. (see page 33)

In the next weeks, many other seemingly valid sightings were made in the New Hampshire area. None, however, was more vivid than Ron Smith's.

The 17 year-old high school senior was out driving with his mother and aunt when they spotted an object in the sky. He stopped the car, looked up and saw something with a red light on top and a white glow on the bottom. It passed over the car once, stopped in midair, then went back over the car again and yet a third time.

Shaken and frightened, he started back to the Exeter police station to report the incident when, as he told Fuller:

"I came to my senses. I wanted to go back to make sure it was there. To take another look to make sure I wasn't seeing things. We did go back. And sure enough, it was in the same spot again. It passed over the car once, and that was the last time I saw it."
Hunt
Mrs. Virginia Hale, reporter for Haverhill Gazette, saw the saucer from her kitchen window. It hovered over neighbor's house 4 minutes.


FROM THE UFO CASEBOOK
Written by BJ Booth

In 1965, in the city of Exeter, New Hampshire, a series of UFO sightings took place which gained vast media attention, and became the subject of the book, "Incident at Exeter," by John G. Fuller. The sensational happenings were also featured in a two-part article in "Look" magazine. The remarkable chain of events in New Hampshire began with a man named Norman Muscarello, who was hitchhiking back to his house in Exeter on Route 150. At the time, Exeter was a small New England town of about 7,000 people. In the wee hours of the night on a cold, September 3, 1965, eighteen-year-old Muscarello made his trek. It was about 2:00 A.M. that this lonely hitchhiker first noticed an unusual light in the dark skies. The light became an object, which suddenly came from the sky towards the young man. The object was described as approximately 90 feet in diameter, with bright, beaming lights that appeared around its rim. Silently, the object began to wobble and float toward the frightened man. His fear of actually being hit caused him to fall to the ground by the side of the road. At the last moment, the object floated away from him. Muscarello took this opportunity to jump up and run to a nearby house, pounding on the front door. The house was the home of Carl Dining.

No one answered his frantic pleas for help. Meanwhile, at the Exeter Police Station, Officer Eugene Bertrand received a call from a frightened woman who stated that a large, silent object with flashing lights had followed her car for twelve miles from the city of Epping to a spot on the road where she pulled off in fear. After she stopped her automobile, the strange object had disappeared into the night. Bertrand did not make an official report on the woman's call, believing it to be untrue or a trick.

Meanwhile, Muscarello, not finding anyone at the farmhouse, ran back into the road, and flagged down a passing car. A middle-aged couple stopped to render aid. They drove the weary traveler to the Exeter Police Station. Muscarello, full of excitement, began to recount the events of the last hour on Route 150.

B J's Note: Muscarello would later relate that the driver of the car was never identified in Fuller's book because the woman with him at 2 AM wasn't the driver's wife.

Exeter WitnessesThe desk Officer, Reginald "Scratch" Toland, is now convinced that something has happened, and radios to Officer Bertrand, who is now on patrol. At about 3:00 A.M., Bertrand arrives at the station, and after hearing Muscarello's story, thinks he may have discounted the earlier call from the woman too quickly.

Convinced that Muscarello's story is real, Officer Bertrand takes Muscarello back to the spot on Route 150 where the incident began. At this point, Bertrand has no idea what lies ahead of him on this night. Arriving at the scene, the two men scan the area, and at first see nothing out of the ordinary. By the road, there is a large open field, the house that Muscarello had visited, and a horse corral. They begin to walk out into the open field in the direction of the horse corral. The horses seemed to be a little edgy, and suddenly dogs began to bark. From behind two pine trees, an object begins to rise, lighting the whole area with a reddish hue. Muscarello screams, "I see it! I see it!" The next moment, Bertrand says, "My God, I see the damn thing myself!" It is important to note that Bertrand had been in the Air Force for four years, and knew military aircraft. He would later insist "this wasn't like anything I had seen before." Like a leaf floating, the object slowly moved toward the two men. They scurried back to the police car. The object is now hovering about one hundred feet above the ground, some fifty yards from the police car.

I, Eugene F. Bertrand, Jr., was cruising on the morning of the 3rd of September at 0100 on Rt. 108 bypass near Exeter, New Hampshire. I noticed an automobile parked on the side of the road and stopped to investigate. I found a woman in the car who stated she was too upset to drive. She stated that a light had been following her car and had stopped over her car. I stayed with her about fifteen minutes but was unable to see anything. I departed and reported back to Exeter Police Station where I found Norman Muscarello. He related his story of seeing some bright red lights in the field. After taking him back to where he stated that he had seen the lights. When we had gone about fifty feet, a group of five bright red lights came from behind a group of trees near us. They were extremely bright and flashed on one at a time. The lights started to move around over the field. At one time, they came so close I fell to the ground and started to draw my gun. The lights were so bright, I was unable to make out any form. There was no sound or vibration but the farm animals were upset in the area and were making a lot of noise. When the lights started coming near us again, Mr. Muscarello and I ran to the car. I radioed Patrolman David Hunt who arrived in a few minutes. He also observed the lights which were still over the field but not as close as before. The lights moved out across the field at an estimated altitude of one hundred feet, and finally disappeared in the distance at the same altitude. The lights were always in line at about a sixty-degree angle. When the object moved, the lower lights were always forward of the others.

The object's light is so intense, that it is difficult to make out its shape. The lights emanating from the craft dim and then brighten, from left to right, and then right to left. The object now begins to slowly move away from the men, in the direction of the city of Hampton. At this very moment, another Policeman, David Hunt, arrives at the scene to witness the craft in the sky, as it fades out of sight. In a matter of minutes, the craft is sighted in Hampton, and a report made to Pease Air Force Base. Mrs. Virginia Hale, a reporter for the Haverhill Gazette, also sees the unknown craft from her kitchen window as it hovers over a neighbor's house for about 4 minutes. There were many other reported sightings of a similarly described craft over the next several weeks, but it is uncertain if they were all legitimate or not.

A UFO Hotspot in New Hampshire?
Saturday January 24, 2009
By BJ Booth for About Dot Com

Everyone seems to have their own Roswell, and the east coast of the United States is no exception. Some call the small city of Exeter, New Hampshire, the "East Coast Roswell," and this distinction does not come lightly. A recent article tells us all about it. As many of you who are students of Ufology already know, Exeter was the location of one of Ufology's most well documented cases, The Incident at Exeter. Not long after the 1965 sightings became public, a book was written by investigative writer John G. Fuller, which made it to the best seller list. The sensational happenings were also featured in a two-part article in "Look" magazine. Many eyewitness accounts by respected community members make this one of the best cases.

The events at Exeter began as eighteen-year-old Norman Muscarello was hitching for a ride on the cold night of September 3, 1965. He was on Route 150 heading for the small New England town of Exeter, population 7,000, at 2:00 AM. As he walked along, he suddenly noticed an unusual light glowing in the dark skies. The light soon became an object, and headed straight toward the hitchhiker.

Muscarello would later describe the UFO as being about 90 feet in diameter. It had extremely bright lights positioned around its exterior. The object was now slowly floating downward toward the frightened man. Actually thinking that the object would hit him, he fell to the ground, just off of the pavement. Seemingly at the last possible second, the object veered away from him. Muscarello jumped to his feet, and made a run to house nearby.

Meanwhile, police officer Eugene Bertrand was manning the phones at the Exeter police station. He was later to leave on patrol. He received a strange call from a woman who told him that while driving her car from the nearby city of Epping, a large, silent object had followed her for about 12 miles, frightening her to death. Finally, she reached a spot where she could make a phone call. She said that the object left the area after she pulled off the side of the road. Bertrand thought the call to be a joke, and dismissed it.

Meanwhile, back near Route 150, Muscarello was running back to the road, after not being able to get anyone to answer his frantic knocking at the farmhouse. Finally, a car stopped for him. A middle-aged couple drove the frightened man to the Exeter police station. Immediately, he began to relate the events of the last half hour or so to desk Officer Reginald "Scratch" Toland.
Toland, aware of the strange phone call that officer Bertrand had received, now believes that something strange is going on. Officer Bertrand is now on patrol, and Toland radioes him and tells him of the report from Muscarello. Around 3:00 AM, Bertrand arrives back at the station, and listens to Muscarello's story. He now believes that he dismissed the woman's earlier call erroneously, and thoroughly believes what Muscarello is telling him. He decides to take the teenager back to the spot of his sighting.

When Bertrand and Muscarello arrive at the site of the teenager's sighting, they look around the area, and at first, see nothing. Finally, they decide to venture out into the open field which contains the house that Muscarello visited, and also horse corrals. The horses, according to Bertrand, seem restless. Then they hear the sound of dogs barking. Suddenly, from behind two large pine trees, a UFO begins to rise up and fill the landscape with a red hue.

Bertrand was a four year veteran of the Air Force, and very familiar with planes of all types, but the object he is looking at is like none of the planes he had ever seen.

Muscarello screams, "I see it! I see it!" The next moment, Bertrand says, "My God, I see the darn thing myself!"

Similar to a dead leaf falling, the UFO gently moves toward the two stunned observers. They run back to the police car, while the UFO hovers some 100 feet above them.

The light of the UFO is so intense that it makes the shape of the object indecipherable. The light of the UFO dims and then brightens from their left to their right, and then right to left. Shortly, the UFO begins to slowly move away from Bertrand and Muscarello, toward the city of Hampton. As the object moves away, another Exeter policeman, David Hunt arrives in time to see the object. Soon reports of the craft being seen in Hampton are received. The testimony of police officers and civilians to the incredible sightings and events at Exeter were so convincing that the case was part of the April 5, 1966, Congressional hearing that eventually led to the creation of the Condon investigation.

An unofficial "stamp of approval" was given to the case because of the testimony of policemen. Author John G. Fuller insisted that the Exeter incident was "convincing evidence" of the existence of UFOs and that they were of extraterrestrial origin. The history of Exeter is full of many sighting reports, and other phenomenal activities. The area has been the location of many UFO reports of disc-shaped objects, along with the mysterious triangle-shaped objects.

It has always been strange to me that certain areas are "hotspots" for UFOs. Could there be some reason for this? Many theories have been offered to explain hotspots, and yet the verdict is still out. Do any of you have a theory? Tell us about it.

http://ufos.about.com/od/bestufocasefiles/p/exeter.htm

BOOK REVIEW
from Amazon Dot Com:

Two classic UFO books combined into one volume!
Incident at Exeter and The Interrupted Journey
by John G. Fuller

July 6, 2001
By A Customer
John G. Fuller, who died in 1990, was a regular columnist for the "Saturday Review" magazine. In the mid-1960's he personally investigated and wrote two seperate books on two of the most famous UFO incidents in American history. Both books were bestsellers and both were given considerable publicity because they were written not by some "lunatic" UFO "nut", but rather by a respected and well-known writer who wrote seriously about UFOs.

This reprint combines both books into a single volume and should be considered a "must" for any serious student of ufology. The first book, "Incident at Exeter", describes a series of fantastic UFO sightings in the small city of Exeter, New Hampshire in the fall of 1965. It all began when Norman Muscarello, a local boy and recent high school graduate, was hitchhiking home along a quiet rural highway outside of town. At around 2:30 am Muscarello was shocked when a huge object which gave off a intense red glow rose up from some nearby woods and moved towards him. He banged on the door of a nearby house but there was no answer, meanwhile farm animals nearby were kicking in their stalls and making loud, frightened noises. The object eventually flew back over the woods, Muscarello caught a car and, badly frightened, made his way to the Exeter police department. He eventually convinced two policemen to return with him to the site, and this time all three men saw the UFO at close range. Their stories were given national publicity and soon others in the Exeter area were reporting similiar objects in the night sky. The Air Force declared that Muscarello and the two policemen had simply seen military planes from a nearby Air Force base on training maneuvers, but all three men, as well as those who had investigated the case, strongly disputed this and said that the Air Force explanation was absurd.

Fuller gives a complete description of the Exeter UFO sightings, which went on for several weeks, and he clearly sympathizes with the UFO witnesses (especially Muscarello and the policemen) and criticizes the Air Force explanation. The second book, entitled "The Interrupted Journey", is even more important in UFO lore. This is THE first book to make a serious case that credible witnesses were not only seeing UFOs but being abducted by them as well. In September 1961 Betty and Barney Hill were returning from a vacation in Canada. They were driving late at night through the almost deserted White Mountains of New Hampshire when they spotted a bright object in the sky which seemed to be following their car. The object finally came close enough for Barney to stop the car and view it through binoculars, and what he saw terrified him - he claimed to see a UFO with the occupants looking back at him. He ran back to the car and drove away.

They soon heard an odd humming sound - and then they were at least two hours farther down the highway with no idea of how they had spent the last two hours. Strangely thinking no more of it, they traveled on to their home near Boston. Soon, however, they both began to have terrible nightmares, and they decided to go to a psychiatrist (and UFO skeptic) for help. He put them under hypnosis, and then they both told a remarkably similiar story. The UFO had apparently taken over the couple's minds, causing them to turn off on a side road.

The UFO landed in front of them, the "UFOnauts" got out and took the dazed couple inside their ship and conducted a kind of medical and scientific examination (among other things, they were apparently mystified when they could remove Barney's false teeth, but couldn't remove Betty's real ones!). The aliens were apparently friendly, although Barney was far more scared than Betty, and in the psychiatrist's audiotapes of the hypnosis sessions (which still exist), you can hear Barney screaming with terror as he recounts the story. The couple gave remarkably similiar descriptions (under hypnosis) of the ship and its crew. The psychiatrist never believed that the couple had seen or been kidnapped by a UFO for two hours. Instead, he wrote off the experience as a result of severe job stress (for Barney) and the tensions of being an interracial couple who had experienced some bigotry (Barney was black, Betty white). However, Fuller did believe the Hills story and agreed to write a book about their experience. Few UFO incidents have aroused more controversy and debate than the Hill's encounter, and even some pro-UFO researchers are doubtful of their story. If you're a believer, then you'll find these two books to be a "must" for your UFO book collection. But even if you don't believe in UFOs, then you'll still find these books to be a good read (or nighttime "ghost stories") thanks to Fuller's writing skills.

September 5, 2009
Location: Exeter Town Hall
http://exeterufofest.com/

Not only is the Exeter UFO Festival an educational experience for both believers and skeptics, it's a fun time for families and friends. We'll have activities for the kids, an earthling and alien ball, a self-guided UFO safari, a session featuring an esteemed panel of experts and much more.

Festival Schedule

8:30-9:00 a.m. Conference Opening / UFO Children’s Charity Art Show
9:00a.m. Buckets of Chalk — ET and UFO drawings throughout town

Face painting by artist Denice Kelly - Squirrel Cat Designs (Founders Park near the library), Beach Rock Painting

Peter Geremia: September 3, 1965 “Incident at Exeter” and NH UFOs” (9:00am-10:30am)
10:00a.m. UFO construction for kids, using recyclables (Founders Park) Completed UFO will be on display at the children’s library in the craft room.

Alien Crash Site and Debris Field — Children use reverse technology (Founders Park)

Children’s story circle (Founders Park)
10:30am Kathleen Marden: “Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience” (10:30am-12:00 p.m)
11:30am ET Costume Contest (Founders Park) followed by sidewalk parade through downtown.
12:00-1:00 p.m. Lunch break (on your own).
1:00-2:30 p.m. Peter Robbins: “The Power of Ridicule vs. A Most Uncomfortable Truth: Why We Need to Take UFOs Seriously”
2:30-4:00 p.m. Ted Loder, Ph.D.: “The Disclosure Project: UFO Secrecy and our Future”
4:00-4:30 p.m. A voice from the past: surprise speaker
4:30-5:30 p.m. Panel Discussion
6:00-7:30pm Happy Hour at Alien Café (Loaf and Ladle) Discussion: UFOs Off-Label
8:00-11:00pm 1960s Rock & Roll Dance — Earthlings and Aliens Ball (Town Hall) featuring New England’s famous “The Morlocks” band
There will be a short break for set-up between presentations.



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