Exeter Incident
| Incident Name: | Exeter UFO Sightings |
|---|---|
| Incident Date: | September 1965 |
| State/Provence: | New Hampshire |
| City/Town : | Exeter |
| Country : | USA |
| Shape : | Triangle |
The Exeter Incident (also known as the Exeter UFO Sightings or the 1965 Exeter, New Hampshire UFO Sighting) was a series of UFO sightings near Exeter, New Hampshire, in September 1965. The case was investigated by Project Blue Book, which was unable to provide a satisfactory conventional explanation, and it became one of the most widely publicized UFO cases of the 1960s.
Events
[edit | edit source]In the early morning hours of September 3, 1965, eighteen-year-old Norman Muscarello flagged down a police officer in Exeter, New Hampshire, reporting that he had been terrified by a large, silent, reddish object with pulsating lights that descended toward him as he walked along Route 150. He described the object as approximately 90 feet in diameter.
Police Officer Eugene Bertrand, who had earlier encountered a distressed woman on the highway who reported that a similar object had followed her car, agreed to investigate. Bertrand and Muscarello returned to the field where Muscarello had seen the object. The object returned — both men, and later Officer David Hunt who arrived as backup, reported observing a large object with a row of brilliant red lights hovering at low altitude, tilting and moving erratically before eventually departing.
Animals in the area (horses, dogs) reportedly reacted with extreme agitation during the sightings.
Investigation
[edit | edit source]Project Blue Book's initial explanation attributed the sightings to a high-altitude Strategic Air Command exercise called Operation Big Blast, combined with the planet Saturn and other stars. This explanation was rejected by the witnesses, the local police department, and by the officer in charge of the SAC exercise, who confirmed that no aircraft from the operation were in the area at the time of the sightings.
After the official explanation was disputed, Project Blue Book acknowledged it could not adequately account for the sightings, effectively leaving the case in the unidentified category for practical purposes.
Public Impact
[edit | edit source]Journalist John G. Fuller investigated the case and published Incident at Exeter (1966), a widely read account that brought the sightings to national attention. The book's publication increased public scrutiny of Project Blue Book's investigative practices and contributed to the growing perception that the project was not conducting genuine investigations.
