Posted On: July 7, 2022

The year is 1965, the place, south of Exeter, New Hampshire. A high school graduate was hitchhiking back to his home when he had a paralyzing encounter with a UFO. 18 year old Norman Muscarello was returning to his house in Exeter along New Hampshire Route 150. The young man had graduated from high school three months earlier, and was three weeks away from leaving for service in the United States Navy. He had been visiting his girlfriend at her parents' home in nearby Amesbury, Massachusetts, but since he didn’t own a car, Muscarello would hitchhike to and from Amesbury, a distance of about 10 miles.

However, at that hour of the morning, approximately 2:00 AM, there was little traffic on the highway, and the man was forced to walk for most of his journey. After reaching Kensington, a few miles outside Exeter, Muscarello noticed five ominous, flashing, brilliant red lights in the distance, which he initially believed were the lights of a police car or fire engine. As he drew closer to the lights, he saw they were hovering in the air just above the trees and illuminated a nearby field and two houses in a beautiful crimson glow. One house belonged to the Dining family, who weren’t home at the time; the other to the Russell family. He estimated the object to be 80 to 90 feet in diameter.

Shock overtaking him, Muscarello panicked as the object, which didn’t make a sound, began to move steadily towards him. Without thinking, he dove into a nearby ditch beside the road. The lights suddenly changed direction and hovered over the Dining farmhouse; he then sprinted to the Russell's home, pounded on the door and yelled for help, but no one answered (the Russells later stated they heard Muscarello, but were too frightened to let him inside). The object then moved away and disappeared into the nearby woods. Seeing the headlights of an approaching car, the hysterical high school graduate ran into the road, forcing it to stop. The couple who was driving it took the man to the Exeter police station.

Officers recount Muscarello being pale and visibly shaken as he told his story to Officer Reginald Toland, who was working the night desk. Toland personally knew Muscarello, and was concerned by his obvious state of fear agitation. He radioed fellow police officer Eugene Bertrand, Jr., who earlier that evening had passed a distressed woman sitting in her car on the NH-108. When Bertrand stopped to ask if she had a problem, the woman told him that a "huge object with flashing red lights" had followed her vehicle all the way from from Epping, 12 miles away, and hovered over the car before disappearing into the night. Bertrand thought she was crazy, but stayed with her for about fifteen minutes until she had calmed down. After arriving at the police station and hearing the boy’s story, Bertrand decided to drive back to the Dining family residence with Muscarello to investigate the field where he had seen the lights.

Upon arriving on the scene, the pair saw nothing unusual from the patrol car at first. However, when they left the car and walked into the field and towards the woods, where he had first seen the lights, some nearby horses began kicking the fence and sides of a barn, making loud, frightened noises; dogs in the area began barking and howling. Bertrand and Muscarello then saw it, an object slowly rise from the trees beyond the corral. The officer described the UFO as "this huge, dark object as big as a barn over there, with red flashing lights on it." It moved silently towards them, swaying back and forth. Instinctively remembering his police training, Bertrand dropped to one knee, drew his revolver, pointing it at the object. He quickly decided that shooting it wouldn’t be a wise decision, so he grabbed Muscarello, and ran back to the patrol car. Bertrand radioed another policeman, David Hunt, for assistance, and while the two waited for Hunt to arrive they continued observing the object. It rocked back and forth. The pulsating red lights flashing in rapid sequence, first from right to left, then left to right, each cycle consuming no more than two seconds; the local animals continued to act agitated.

It was still flying in the air when Hunt arrived, and shortly after, the object finally rose over the trees and disappeared. Hunt soon heard the engines of a B-47 bomber as it flew overhead, and he later told a journalist that "you could tell the difference" between the UFO and the bomber, "there was no comparison." All three men, still in disbelief, drove back to the Exeter police station and immediately filed separate reports on what they had witnessed. Bertrand then drove Muscarello back to his home and told his mother about the incident.

Exeter's police chief, who was doubtlessly concerned about the situation, called nearby Pease Air Force Base and reported a UFO sighting, who sent two officers to interview the three men.  The Air Force asked them not to report their sighting to the press, but a reporter from the Manchester Union-Leader newspaper had already interviewed them. One of the interrogators, Major Griffin, sent a report to the staff of Project Blue Book, stating “At this time I have been unable to arrive at a probable cause of this sighting. The three observers seem to be stable, reliable persons, especially the two patrolmen. I viewed the area of the sighting and found nothing in the area that could be the probable cause. Pease AFB had five B-47 aircraft flying in the area but I do not believe that they had any connection with this sighting.”

Before Project Blue Book could send this evaluation to the Pentagon, however, the Air Force had already issued an explanation of the incident to the press. The Pentagon informed reporters that the three men had seen "nothing more than stars and planets twinkling, owing to a temperature inversion." Muscarello, Bertrand, and Hunt all strongly disagreed with this explanation.

Overall, the Exeter Incident remains as one of the most prominent and best-documented in UFO history.

These were professional observers, two of which were trained policemen, who both gave incredibly detailed reports of what happened. Stars and planets twinkling? Temperature inversion? Don’t make me laugh. This thing was also witnessed by the Russell family, and that woman driving along the highway. So, yeah, they can’t all be crazy now, can they? This is simply another example of the government falsely debunking a stunning piece of American history.

Posted On: July 7, 2022

The year is 1965, the place, south of Exeter, New Hampshire. A high school graduate was hitchhiking back to his home when he had a paralyzing encounter with a UFO. 18 year old Norman Muscarello was returning to his house in Exeter along New Hampshire Route 150. The young man had graduated from high school three months earlier, and was three weeks away from leaving for service in the United States Navy. He had been visiting his girlfriend at her parents' home in nearby Amesbury, Massachusetts, but since he didn’t own a car, Muscarello would hitchhike to and from Amesbury, a distance of about 10 miles.

However, at that hour of the morning, approximately 2:00 AM, there was little traffic on the highway, and the man was forced to walk for most of his journey. After reaching Kensington, a few miles outside Exeter, Muscarello noticed five ominous, flashing, brilliant red lights in the distance, which he initially believed were the lights of a police car or fire engine. As he drew closer to the lights, he saw they were hovering in the air just above the trees and illuminated a nearby field and two houses in a beautiful crimson glow. One house belonged to the Dining family, who weren’t home at the time; the other to the Russell family. He estimated the object to be 80 to 90 feet in diameter.

Shock overtaking him, Muscarello panicked as the object, which didn’t make a sound, began to move steadily towards him. Without thinking, he dove into a nearby ditch beside the road. The lights suddenly changed direction and hovered over the Dining farmhouse; he then sprinted to the Russell's home, pounded on the door and yelled for help, but no one answered (the Russells later stated they heard Muscarello, but were too frightened to let him inside). The object then moved away and disappeared into the nearby woods. Seeing the headlights of an approaching car, the hysterical high school graduate ran into the road, forcing it to stop. The couple who was driving it took the man to the Exeter police station.

Officers recount Muscarello being pale and visibly shaken as he told his story to Officer Reginald Toland, who was working the night desk. Toland personally knew Muscarello, and was concerned by his obvious state of fear agitation. He radioed fellow police officer Eugene Bertrand, Jr., who earlier that evening had passed a distressed woman sitting in her car on the NH-108. When Bertrand stopped to ask if she had a problem, the woman told him that a "huge object with flashing red lights" had followed her vehicle all the way from from Epping, 12 miles away, and hovered over the car before disappearing into the night. Bertrand thought she was crazy, but stayed with her for about fifteen minutes until she had calmed down. After arriving at the police station and hearing the boy’s story, Bertrand decided to drive back to the Dining family residence with Muscarello to investigate the field where he had seen the lights.

Upon arriving on the scene, the pair saw nothing unusual from the patrol car at first. However, when they left the car and walked into the field and towards the woods, where he had first seen the lights, some nearby horses began kicking the fence and sides of a barn, making loud, frightened noises; dogs in the area began barking and howling. Bertrand and Muscarello then saw it, an object slowly rise from the trees beyond the corral. The officer described the UFO as "this huge, dark object as big as a barn over there, with red flashing lights on it." It moved silently towards them, swaying back and forth. Instinctively remembering his police training, Bertrand dropped to one knee, drew his revolver, pointing it at the object. He quickly decided that shooting it wouldn’t be a wise decision, so he grabbed Muscarello, and ran back to the patrol car. Bertrand radioed another policeman, David Hunt, for assistance, and while the two waited for Hunt to arrive they continued observing the object. It rocked back and forth. The pulsating red lights flashing in rapid sequence, first from right to left, then left to right, each cycle consuming no more than two seconds; the local animals continued to act agitated.

It was still flying in the air when Hunt arrived, and shortly after, the object finally rose over the trees and disappeared. Hunt soon heard the engines of a B-47 bomber as it flew overhead, and he later told a journalist that "you could tell the difference" between the UFO and the bomber, "there was no comparison." All three men, still in disbelief, drove back to the Exeter police station and immediately filed separate reports on what they had witnessed. Bertrand then drove Muscarello back to his home and told his mother about the incident.

Exeter's police chief, who was doubtlessly concerned about the situation, called nearby Pease Air Force Base and reported a UFO sighting, who sent two officers to interview the three men.  The Air Force asked them not to report their sighting to the press, but a reporter from the Manchester Union-Leader newspaper had already interviewed them. One of the interrogators, Major Griffin, sent a report to the staff of Project Blue Book, stating “At this time I have been unable to arrive at a probable cause of this sighting. The three observers seem to be stable, reliable persons, especially the two patrolmen. I viewed the area of the sighting and found nothing in the area that could be the probable cause. Pease AFB had five B-47 aircraft flying in the area but I do not believe that they had any connection with this sighting.”

Before Project Blue Book could send this evaluation to the Pentagon, however, the Air Force had already issued an explanation of the incident to the press. The Pentagon informed reporters that the three men had seen "nothing more than stars and planets twinkling, owing to a temperature inversion." Muscarello, Bertrand, and Hunt all strongly disagreed with this explanation.

Overall, the Exeter Incident remains as one of the most prominent and best-documented in UFO history.

These were professional observers, two of which were trained policemen, who both gave incredibly detailed reports of what happened. Stars and planets twinkling? Temperature inversion? Don’t make me laugh. This thing was also witnessed by the Russell family, and that woman driving along the highway. So, yeah, they can’t all be crazy now, can they? This is simply another example of the government falsely debunking a stunning piece of American history.