1965: The Incident at Exeter

(Last Updated On: March 15, 2021)

THINK ABOUTIT SIGHTING REPORT

Date: September 3, 1965           BBU 9890

Sighting Time: 1:30 A.M.

Day/Night: Night

Location: Exeter, New Hampshire

Urban or Rural: Rural

Hynek Classification:  CE-I (Close Encounter I) Observation of an object in close proximity to the witness (i.e. within 500’)

Duration:

No. of Object(s): 

Size of Object(s):

Distance to Object(s):

Shape of Object(s): round

Color of Object(s):

Number of Witnesses: Multiple

Source: Susan Michaels, “Sightings: UFOs” (1997) Original Source

Summary: Norman Muscarello, a teenage Navy recruit, was walking down a quiet country highway at night, when suddenly, a huge object loomed above him. Thus began the “Incident at Exeter,” a series of sightings officially qualified as “unidentified.” The encounters that night took special precedence over other UFO sightings because of the credibility of two Exeter police officers who also saw the UFO, as well as that of the dispatcher and supervising officer who first heard Muscarello’s account.

Full Report

Artist’s conception of the incident at Exeter. above

This now well known Manchester Union Leader photo captured the Exeter UFO team in September 1965. Left to right: 18 year old Norman Muscarello who first spotted the UFO, patrolman David Hunt and Eugene Bertrand and dispatcher “Scratch” Toland.

The Incident at Exeter

Source: Susan Michaels, “Sightings: UFOs” (1997) Original Source

There were a few moments when I was in Vietnam that I thought I was going to go. But, honest to God, that didn’t bother me half as much as what happened that one night in Exeter. I’m not lying to you. That scared the living hell right out of me.
–Norman Muscarello, eyewitness

More than thirty years after Norman Muscarello’s UFO encounter, he’s still having nightmares. It wasn’t just his memory of the enormity of the craft or the way it maneuvered through the sky or its eerie crimson glow. What frightens Muscarello is the unknown. He will never know what he saw or where that unearthly craft came from, because both the U.S. Air Force and the Congress have admitted that the flying object Muscarello saw over Exeter, New Hampshire, in the early morning hours of September 3, 1965, is, and will always remain, absolutely unidentified.

Before September 3, 1965, before the UFO and the media and the military, Exeter, New Hampshire, was a typically sedate New England community. “It was beautiful back then,” Norman Muscarello remembers. “It was rated one of the top three nicest, cleanest, safest towns I the United States. You could leave your keys in the car. You could leave your house unlocked, go to work, and not worry about it. Come home, you’d find a note on your refrigerator that your neighbor had borrowed a loaf of bread. I can remember when you could take a sleeping bag out on Route 90 on Sunday morning around two o’clock and go to sleep and not worry about being run over.” Then there was the Sunday morning at two o’clock, September 3, 1965, when everything changed for Muscarello. That was when the “thing,” as he calls it, shoed up in town.

Muscarello was eighteen years old. He’d been in Amesbury visiting his girlfriend and was walking the twelve miles back home to Exeter. He didn’t even bother to thumb a ride, as there wasn’t anyone around. Coming over the last hill before the road dipped into town, Muscarello thought he saw a strange glow over by a country store, but he didn’t think much about it. In hindsight, he believes that this was the beginning of the UFO’s approach into Exeter. A few minutes later, an enormous ball of red and blue light seemed to appear from out of nowhere.

“I was walking through a field on the Dining family farm when this thing shot over the trees and come up over the Russells’ house and scared me half to death. I didn’t know what it was, but it was big as a house, with a red hue and flashing lights, sometimes in sequence, sometimes erratic,” says Muscarello. He remembers hearing a few dogs bark and the horses whinnying in their stalls, and then there was an overwhelming, eerie silence. “That’s what got me,” Muscarello recalls. “Not a sound. Even the crickets stopped doing their thing–and crickets don’t just stop like that for nothing. Something scared them, and something scared me.” Muscarello says he dove into a ditch filled with leaves to hide from the overwhelming UFO.

“It meandered around and wobbled and yawed. I couldn’t tell what it was, couldn’t make out if it was metallic or anything. There was no silhouette. The lights were too bright. I couldn’t make out a shape,” Muscarello says. “And then it took off to the east. I watched it disappear, the light dimming out like when an old TV goes out and the light just gets smaller and smaller. That’s what it did. I was stunned and just stayed there awhile, and then I went to the Russells’ house and I pounded on the door. The upstairs lights came on but nobody would answer. So I ran down and stood in the middle of the road and put my arms up. I thought, “Well, the next car that comes by is either going to hit me or take me to the police station.”

When a car did come over the hill, the driver knew Muscarello. “I said, ‘I’ve got to get to the police station. Please take me there. I can’t explain it.’ That’s all I could say to him. And he just said, ‘Okay, Norman, no problem.’ He drove me to the police station and when I walked in, Scratch Toland was he dispatcher on duty. His real name was Reginald, but we all called him Scratch. I think because of the sweaters he wore. I described to Scratch exactly what I saw. I told him the whole story, and he’s looking at me with this dumbfounded expression. Little did I realize that reports had already come in prior to me getting there.”

Exeter had two police officers on patrol duty that night. One of the officers, Eugene Bertrand, had just taken a report from a woman whom he had found sitting, shaken, in her car. She claimed that a ball of red light had chased her car, then disappeared. “So when Gene came into the station, I told him the same thing I’d told Scratch,” Muscarello continues, “and he says, ‘Let’s get in the cruiser.’ It’s maybe two-thirty, three in the morning by now, and he takes me right up to the field where I had seen the UFO. We get out of the cruiser and proceed along the side of the field, and just then David Hunt, the other officer on duty, pulls up in his cruiser behind us. He’s got the door open and his mike in his hand, and he’s hollering down to us, making all these funny cracks like ‘How many beers you had tonight?’ And he’s teasing Gene about what he’s doing. And that’s when this thing reappeared. It shows up over the tree line and stops and stays there for five minutes. And then, shooom, it’s gone. That’s enough to freak anybody.”

Norman Muscarello and the two officers were later interviewed by Raymond Fowler, a noted UFO researcher who at the time of the incident was a technical investigator for NICAP, the nation’s leading UFO watchdog organization at the time. “What made this case interesting for me was the fact that an object as large as a barn was seen within 500 feet of witnesses. This was a close encounter of the first kind. Many of the sightings we had been dealing with were discs seen at a long distance. This was a close encounter, and it was seen by reliable witnesses. The Air Force was interested; therefore NICAP was interested.”

Raymond Fowler recalls Officer Bertrand’s version of the Exeter UFO encounter: “He told me that they walked out into the field, and Norman yelled, ‘Look out. Here it comes!’ And up over the treetops comes this object right at them with red flashing lights. Bertrand’s first reaction was to get down on his knee and draw his service revolver–and then he thought better of that as it got closer. He said it was as large as a barn, lighting up the whole field. The horses started kicking in their stalls, and dogs were howling. The object was making fantastic maneuvers. It was doing right-angle turns and then it left the area.”

Muscarello, Bertrand, and Hut stood in the field and stared at the empty sky. “It was like it was there and then it wasn’t,” Muscarello remembers. “The police officers saw the same damn thing I did, and I’m glad they did. I’m glad I went there with Gene and David Hunt, because I’d be in a nut house today if I hadn’t had those witnesses.” A UFO investigator and expert on the Exeter sightings, Peter Geremia, attested to the veracity and credibility of the witnesses. “I interviewed Norman, and there’s no doubt in my mind that what he is saying is true,” Geremia says. “Eugene Bertrand was no-nonsense. He wanted to make it clear that what he saw was unexplained, but he was not calling it an unidentified flying object in the sense of an alien spacecraft. He was just describing what he saw. You can’t ask for a better witness than that, a credible guy with an excellent reputation.”

After the sighting, Muscarello and Bertrand returned to the Exeter police station. Shortly thereafter, a New Hampshire telephone operator phoned to inform Scratch Toland about a call she’d received from a man who claimed he had been chased by an object with red flashing lights. The operator said that the man had asked for the police, but then terminated the call before she could connect him. Later, Raymond Fowler interviewed six different people who had all seen the Exeter UFO. “After the object left the field, there was a sighting about twenty miles away,” says Fowler. “A schoolteacher, a very reliable person, was coming home from Essex to Ipswich along Route 133, and as he came to the top of the hill, he felt static electricity and the air on his head and his arms just went up. Then, as he came over the hill, there to his left, hovering just off the road, was a round objet with glowing ports. He said he was so scared that he went off the road.”

The UFO was gone, but the backlash from its visit to Exeter was just beginning. Norman Muscarello remembers the scene at his house when daylight broke: “That’s when the crap hit the fan. People started pounding on the door. If it wasn’t the neighbors, then it was the media. And then we had a knock on the door, and it was the Air Force. A major and a lieutenant who had an attaché case handcuffed to his writs came into my mother’s kitchen. The major said, ‘Where’s Norman?’ and just marched right into the living room. He told me, ‘You. Shut your mouth. Don’t you say another word. I’m going to make your life miserable.’ He was trying to tell me that I didn’t see what I saw. And I don’t understand this. I’m a punk kid, fresh out of high school, and I don’t know what’s going on. What’s this guy doing here? Why is he telling me to shut up? What are they afraid of?”

In a later interview with Norman Muscarello’s mother, Raymond Fowler would learn details that might explain the major’s anger and fear. “Norman’s mother said one of the Air Force officers had a manual locked to his wrist,” Fowler recalls. “She offered him coffee, and he unlocked the manual and put it on the kitchen counter and walked into the living room. While the water was boiling for coffee, Mrs. Muscarello started to look through the manual and saw some photographs, which seemed to be different types of imprints, landing areas involved with UFOs. When the lieutenant came in and saw her looking through it, he read her the riot act.”

For Norman Muscarello, the lieutenant’s harsh words were the last straw. He remembers, “This guy literally chewed my mother out in lavender. And that’s when I got–pardon my French–I got pissed. I said, ‘You guys get the hell out of here. That’s it. I’ve had it.’ I thought I was cracking up. I pride myself on being halfway intelligent and understanding what goes on around me, but I had seen something that was not earthly, and I wasn’t watching a television set.”

Although the identity of the major and the lieutenant are still not known, Raymond Fowler was able to confirm that two Air Force officers from nearby Pease Air Force Base (fifteen miles from Exeter) did visit the town on September 4, 1965. “Pease sent out a major and a lieutenant on the fourth, and they asked the police if they would just keep their UFO information confidential. But the police told the Air Force officers that the Manchester Union Leader reporter had already been there and got the story. The Air Force actually sent the lieutenant around Exeter to buy up all the newspapers with the sighting story, which I thought, was ludicrous. Then the officers went on site and investigated, asking farmers if their cows were giving the same amount of milk, the chickens still producing the same amount of eggs. And there were rumors that they investigated a burned area in the field and then asked Carl Dining to bulldoze his field.”

The Air Force’s first public statement regarding the Exeter UFO did little to quell the community’s growing concern. “The Pease AFB commander, in his attempt to explain away the sightings, called a press conference at night right there in the field where the object was seen,” Fowler recounts. “They had quite a crowd out there, and he told everyone, ‘Well, the latest explanation we feel is that it was the lights at Pease. So I’m going to have the lights turned on at Pease, and everybody look in that direction. You’ll see it was just the lights from Pease Air Force Base.’ And everybody looked, and he radioed back to Pease and they turned on the lights. And no one saw anything.”

Speculation about the extraterrestrial origin of the gigantic red UFO was rampant throughout New England, but Raymond Fowler was more tempered in his judgment. “Muscarello saw a structured object as large as a barn, silent, with red flashing lights in sequence that was under intelligent control. The object showed intelligent control by its maneuvers and by chasing specific things. You can surmise that it might have been an extraterrestrial craft or something from another dimension. But when all is said and done, what you have is an unidentified flying object that was not man-made.”

After the press conference fiasco at the original site, the Air Force claimed that it was launching a thorough investigation of the Exeter UFO. According to a letter to the Exeter Police Department written by USAF Maj. Hector Quintanilla, Jr., then chief of Project Blue Book, “The investigation and evaluation of this sighting indicates a possible association with an 8th Air Force operation, ‘Big Blast.’ In addition to aircraft from this operation, there were five B-47-type aircraft flying in the area during this period…Since there were many aircraft in the area we might assume that the objects observed…might be associated with this military air operation.” Another letter from the Pentagon written by USAF Lt. Col. John P. Spaulding suggested that a refueling operation might have been the cause of the sighting: “Refueling area ‘Fur Trapper’ and refueling area ‘Down Date’ are controlled through Loring Air Force Base and located over the area of the sighting.”

In response to these “official” explanations, Eugene Bertrand and David Hunt wrote to Major Quintanilla: “As you might imagine, we have been the subject of considerable ridicule since the Pentagon released its ‘final evaluation’ of our sighting…Since one of us (Bertrand) was in the Air Force for four years, engaged in refueling operations with all kinds of military aircraft, it was impossible to mistake what we saw for any type of military operation, regardless of altitude. It was also definitely not a helicopter or balloon. Immediately after the object disappeared, we did see what probably was a B-47 at high altitude, but it bore no relation at all to the object we saw…We would both appreciate it very much if you would help us eliminate the possible conclusion that some people have made that we might have (a) made up the story, or (b) were incompetent observers. I’m sure you can understand the position we’re in.”

Whether or not the Air Force understood the position that Bertrand and Hunt were in, their explanation changed little. While maintaining that the Exeter witnesses were probably seeing military aircraft, the Pentagon did issue an additional statement suggesting that the UFO may have been a misidentified planet or star. “Anybody who’s lived in the New Hampshire seacoast area has seen refueling aircraft,” Exeter UFO researcher Peter Geremia says, “and they normally refuel at 30,000 feet. This is not going to cause a young man to duck because he’s afraid he’s going to get hit with a flying tanker. And the explanation of twinkling stars didn’t even come close to answering what was seen. The Air Force lost a great deal of credibility in proposing these ridiculous answers.”

Raymond Fowler agrees. “Telling the public that they were seeing stars and planets and airplanes; it was a classic case of reliable witnesses seeing an object they couldn’t identify at close range—and the Air Force telling the public that there was nothing to it.” In fact, it was the Pentagon’s incomplete and fatuous explanation of this sighting and several others that soon followed that would lead then Congressman Gerald R. Ford to convene a special congressional hearing on the Air Force approach to UFO investigations.

“After the incident at Exeter,” Fowler explains, “the public was annoyed with what the Air Force had done. Congressman Ford and other men and women in Congress felt that the Air Force was not handling the UFO problem properly, because they were getting complaints from the public. All UFO offices on all bases had a list of things to tell the public: stars, planets, weather balloons, you name it. I mean, they would just pick something out just to get the public off their back. They didn’t want open congressional hearings at all, because it would bring out the fact that they were dealing with something that was violating our airspace and that they had no control over.” However on April 15, 1966, under public pressure, hearings began before the House Armed Services Committee.

“My report on the Exeter sightings was put into the congressional record, ” Fowler says, “and they discussed the report. The Air Force backed down and admitted that the object was unidentified and had been unidentified from the very beginning. Unidentified to the military means that we don’t know what it was or where it came from, and we have no control over the situation.”

While the Air Force’s admission was a victory for Raymond Fowler and NICAP, it has done little to satisfy the nagging fear and embarrassment that continues to haunt Norman Muscarello. Official congressional acknowledgment that he was not crazy or drunk or ignorant has been no consolation. “Gene and I were both members of the Legion here in town. We still get heckled and angry, because I couldn’t have done anything about that sighting. I saw what I saw, and all of a sudden I’m a nut. I wish it had never happened. I wish I could have just waltzed through life. Honest to God, it’s been too much trouble and too much heckling and problems and waking up at night. And I don’t even know what happened to me.”

For further readings: see Susan Michael’s book, “Sightings: UFO’s” (Fireside Books, 1997); “Incident At Exeter” by John G. Fuller (G.P. Putnam’s Son, New York, 1966)

J. Allen Hynek: The Incident at Exeter

Source: Excerpt from Hynek, J. Allen . “The Hynek UFO Report” (1977) Original Source

The “Incident at Exeter” – September 3, 1965

Dr. Hynek: “Incident” is hardly the term for this classic Close Encounter case which is known to virtually all who have followed the UFO phenomenon. This encounter at Exeter, New Hampshire gained national prominence, and caused both the original witnesses and the Air Force considerable embarrassment. Not only is this a fine example of a Close Encounter of the First Kind, but it is a showcase illustration of Blue Book negligence, put-down of witnesses, attempts to explain away the testimony of responsible witnesses with a parade of “official” explanations, and of capitulation on the part of the Pentagon which, months later, had to admit that the case should have been carried as “Unidentified.” The file folders in Blue Book, however, still have the original evaluation of “Astro-Stars/Planets” and “Aircraft for Operation Big Blast.” (The astronomical evaluation is completely untenable and Operation Big Blast terminated more than an hour before the incident at Exeter began, according to official records.)

The story of this case is well documented in John Fuller’s book “The Incident at Exeter,” and in an excellent report by Raymond Fowler and his associates, who did a far better job investigating the case than did Blue Book. I am indebted to Mr. Fowler for the excerpts from his report that follow. Blue Book files on this case are fairly extensive in themselves although they draw heavily on the report by Mr. Fowler.

Blue Book’s first mention of the incident at Exeter is dated October 15, 1965, and comes in the form of a request from the Headquarters of the 817th Air Division (SAC) at Pease AFB, New Hampshire. Written by their Director of Information for the Commander, and addressed to the Information Officer at Wright-Patterson AFB, it reads:
. . . . . . . .

There have been an unusually high number of reported sightings of unidentified flying objects in the Pease AFB, New Hampshire, area which have been the subject of much discussion and numerous newspaper, radio and television reports. Many of these sightings have been reported to this base and your records will show that we have performed thorough investigations of the . . . Several members of this command have actually been called to view UFOs by sincere and sober citizens but as yet, we have always been too late or “unlucky.” The most interesting sighting, in the nearby town of Exeter, aroused special interest as two policemen saw the object at very close range. . .

This office has, of course, not commented on sightings reported to the Air Force other than to say that they have been or are being investigated, that the reports will be sent to your organization, that further releases will be made from the Public Information Office of the Secretary of the Air Force, etc. The fact that we cannot comment on the investigations has led to somewhat alarming suspicion of Air Force motives and interest in this area, the most popular belief being that “…the Air Force won’t release the truth because if the truth were known, everyone would be panicked.” I have attempted to counter this by explaining the USAF’s interest in this matter every time I speak to the press or private citizens about this matter. . . Still, however, an alarming number of people remain unconvinced {!}.

Many members of the two nearby Military Affairs committees and key citizens from surrounding towns and cities have inquired concerning the possibility of an Air Force speaker on this subject. Do you operate a speaker’s bureau or would you be able to suggest where I might be able to obtain knowledge of an Air Force spokesman who could explain the Air Force UFO program and what happens to reports sent to your organization? If speakers from your organization are available, it might be possible for us to arrange transportation via Pease Base C-47, Billeting poses no problem.

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

For the Commander A.B.B., 1st Lt. USAF Director of Information

Dr. Hynek: The initial report which came in from Pease AFB on September 15, 1965, was the soul of brevity.

“The following report of an unidentified object is hereby submitted in accordance with AFR-200-2.

A) Description of Object 1) round 2) baseball 3) bright red 4) five red lights in a row 5) lights were close together and moved as one object 6) none 7) none 8) none 9) extremely bright red

B) Description of Course of Object 1) visual sighting 2) object was at an altitude of approximately 100 feet and moved in an arc of 135 degrees 3) object disappeared at an altitude of approximately one hundred feet on a magnetic heading of approximately 160 degrees 4) the object was erratic in movement and would disappear behind houses and building in the area. It would then appear at a position other than where it disappeared. When in view, it would act as a floating leaf. 5) object departed on a heading of 160 degrees and was observed until it disappeared in the distance 6) one hour

C) Manner of Observation 1) ground-visual 2) none 3) N/A

D) Time and Date of Sighting 1) 3/9/0600 Z 2) night

E) Location of Observer 1) 3 nautical miles SW of Exeter in New Hampshire

F) Identifying Information of Observer 1) civilian, Norman J. Muscarello, age 18…. appears to be reliable. 2) civilian, Eugene F. Bertrand, Jr., age 30, Exeter Police Department, Exeter, New Hampshire, patrolman, reliable 3) civilian, David R. Hunt, age 28, Exeter Police Department, Exeter, New Hampshire, patrolman, reliable

G) Weather and Winds 1) weather was clear with no known weather phenomena. There was a five-degree inversion from surface to 5,000′. 2) winds at Pease AFB (the winds were uniformly from the west, low velocity near the surface to quite high above 10,000′) 3) clear (unlimited) 4) 30 nautical miles 5) None 6) None

H) None

I) None

J) None

K) Major David H. Griffin, Base Disaster Control Officer, Command pilot 1) at this time I have been unable to arrive at a probably 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 during this period but I do not believe that they had any connection with this sighting.

Dr. Hynek: The report in Blue Book continues with the statements of the three witnesses involved. The first, from Norman Muscarello, follows:

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

Dr. Hynek: The statement from the first patrolman, who after being called to the scene also witnessed the UFO:

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.

signed, Eugene F. Bertrand, Patrolman

Dr. Hynek: From the third witness:

I, David R. Hunt, at about 0255 on the morning of the 3rd of September, received a call from Patrolman Bertrand to report to an area about three miles southwest of Exeter, New Hampshire. Upon arriving at the scene, I observed a group of bright red lights flashing in sequence. They appeared to be about one half mile over a field to the southeast. After observing the lights for a short period of time, they moved off in a southeasterly direction and disappeared in the distance. The lights appeared to remain at the same altitude which I estimate to be about one hundred feet.

signed, David R. Hunt, Patrolman

Dr. Hynek: Blue Book’s way of dealing with these witnesses’ reports was to make every effort to locate some type of aircraft operation in the area in question; none was successful.

A news clip from the Amesbury News, Massachusetts, stated that the UFO was identified as an “ad gimmick”; but Ray Fowler checked with the Skylight Aerial Advertising Company and was advised that their aircraft was _not_ flying on the night of September 3. He was also informed that the company aircraft rarely flew into southern New Hampshire, and when it did, it was usually in the Salem and Manchester areas, miles away from Exeter. Furthermore, he learned that the “Skylight” aircraft does not carry red flashing lights; it carries a rectangular sign with white flashing lights. Yet the manager of the advertising company had stated to the Amesbury News that “perhaps some UFOs reported in the New Hampshire area could have been their aircraft.” Unfortunately, the press anxiously latched on to this bit of irrelevant information to “explain” the Exeter case.

The two simultaneous investigations of this case are an interesting study in contrasts. The Air Force records are at best sketchy, and focus essentially on attempts at locating existing aircraft in the area; as usual, Blue Book started out its investigation with a negative premise. On the other hand, Raymond Fowler and his associates made an exhaustive examination of the case, keeping their minds open at all times. Their final reports were duly submitted to Blue Book.

The following is excerpted from Fowler’s report, which supplements Muscarello’s statement to the Air Force investigator: . . .

Muscarello reported the incident to Desk Officer Reginald Towland at about 1:45 A.M. EDT. Side view and angle view seen. He was hit with fear and hardly able to talk. A radio call was made to Officer Bertrand asking him to return to the station, pick up Muscarello, and investigate at the scene of the sighting which he did. Upon arriving at the Carl Dining field, the object was nowhere to be seen. After waiting and looking from the cruiser for several minutes, Bertrand radioed headquarters that there was nothing there and that the boy must have been imagining things. It was then suggested that he examine the field before returning, so Bertrand and Muscarello advanced into the field. As the police officer played his flashlight beam back and forth over the field, Muscarello sighted the object rising slowly from behind some nearby trees and shouted. Bertrand swung around and saw a large dark object carrying a straight row of four extraordinarily bright, red, pulsating lights coming into the field at treetop level. It swung around toward them and just clearing a sixty-to seventy-foot tree and seemingly only one hundred feet away from them. Instinctively, Officer Bertrand drew his service revolver (he stated that Muscarello shouted, “Shoot it!”), but thinking this unwise, replaced it and yelled to Muscarello to take cover in the cruiser. He told me (Fowler) that he was afraid that they both would be burnt by the blinding lights closing in on them. They ran to the cruiser where Bertrand immediately put in a radio call to headquarters for assistance. Officer Hunt arrived within minutes, and the trio observed the object move away over and below the tree line.

Dr. Hynek: Now let us return to the Blue Book coverage for a look at an interesting exchange of letters between the then Major Quintanilla and the police officers involved. Quintanilla states:

Our investigations and evaluation of the sighting indicates a possible association with the Air Force operation “Big Blast.” In addition to aircraft from this operation, there were five (5) B-47 aircraft flying in the area during this period. Before final evaluation of your sighting can be made, it is essential for us to know if either of you witnessed any aircraft in the area during this time period, either independently or in connection with the observed object. Since there were many aircraft in the area, at he time, and there were no reports of unidentified objects from personnel engaged in this air operation, we might then assume that the objects observed between midnight and two A.M. might be associated with this military air operation. If, however, these aircraft were noted by either of you, this would tend to eliminate this air operation as a possible explanation for the objects observed.

Signed, Hector Quintanilla, Jr. Major, USAF, Chief, Project Blue Book

Dr. Hynek: It is interesting to note that Maj. Quintanilla had used the term “before a final evaluation of your sighting can be made,” whereas the Pentagon had in fact already issued its evaluation (attributing the sighting to Operation Big Blast) some time before Quintanilla wrote his letter.

Maj. Quintanilla received a prompt reply from Officers Bertrand and Hunt. Their letter of December 2, 1965, reads:

“Dear Sir: We were very glad to get your letter during the third week in November, because as you might imagine, we have been the subject of considerable ridicule since the Pentagon released its “final evaluation” of our sighting of September 3, 1965. In other words, both Patrolman Hunt and myself saw this object at close range, checked it out with each other, confirmed and reconfirmed the fact that this was not any kind of conventional aircraft, that it was at an altitude of not more than a couple of hundred feet and went to considerable trouble to confirm that the weather was clear, there was no wind, no chance of weather inversion, and that what we were seeing was in no way a military or civilian craft. We entered this in a complete official police report as a supplement to the blotter of the morning of September 3rd (not September 2 as your letter indicates).

Since our job depends on accuracy and the ability to tell the difference between fact and fiction, we were naturally disturbed by the Pentagon report issued which attributed the sighting to “multiple high-altitude objects in area” and “weather inversion.” What is a little difficult to understand is the fact that your letter arrived considerably after the Pentagon release. Since your letter says that you are still in the process of making a final evaluation, it seems that there is an inconsistency here. Ordinarily, this would not be too important except for the fact that in a situation like this, we are naturally very reluctant to be considered irresponsible in our official report to the police station. One of us (Patrolman Bertrand) was in the Air Force for four years, engaged in refueling operations, with all kinds of military aircraft; it was impossible to mistake what we saw for any kind of military operation, regardless of altitude. It was also definitely not a helicopter or balloon. Immediately after the object disappeared, we did see what probably was a B-47 at high altitudes, but it bore no relation to the object that we saw.

Another fact is that the time of our observation was nearly an hour after two A.M. which would eliminate the Air Force Operation Big Blast since as you say, this took place between midnight and 2 A.M. Norman Muscarello, who first reported this object before we went to the site, saw it somewhere in the vicinity of 2 A.M. but nearly an hour had passed before he got to the police station and we went out to the location with him.

We would both appreciate it very much if you would help us eliminate the possible conclusion that some people have made in that we might have: (a) made up the story, (b) were incompetent observers. Anything that you could do along this line would be very much appreciated, and I am sure that you can understand the position we are in.

We appreciate the problem that the Air Force must have with the number of irresponsible reports on this subject, and don’t want to cause you unnecessary trouble. One the other hand, we think that you probably understand our position. Thanks very much for your interest.

Sincerely, Patrolman Eugene Bertrand and Patrolman David Hunt

Dr. Hynek: They received no reply to this letter. They wrote again on December 29:

Dear Sir: Since we have not heard from you since our letter of December 2, we are writing this to request some kind of an answer since we are still upset about what happened after the Pentagon released its news that we had just seen stars or planets, or high-altitude air exercises.

As we mentioned in our last letter to you, it could not have been the Operation Big Blast you mentioned since the time of our sighting was an hour after that exercise and it may not have even been the same date since you refer to our sighting as September 2. Our sighting was on September 3. In addition, as we mentioned, we are both familiar with all the B-47’s and B-52’s and helicopters and jet fighters which are going over this place all the time. On top of this, Patrolman Bertrand had four years of refueling experience in the Air Force and knows regular aircraft of all kinds. It is important to remember that this craft that we saw was not more than one hundred feet in the air and it was absolutely silent with no rush of air from jets or chopper blades whatever. And it did not have any wings or tail. It lit up the entire field, and two nearby houses turned completely red. It stopped, hovered, and turned on a dime.

What bothers us most is that many people are thinking that we were either lying or not intelligent enough to tell the difference between what we saw and something ordinary. Three other people saw this same thing on September 3 and two of them appear to be in shock from it. This was absolutely not a case of mistaken identity.

We both feel that it is very important for our jobs and our reputations to get some kind of letter from you to say that story put out by the Pentagon was not true; it could not possibly be because we were the people who saw this, not the Pentagon.

Can you please let us hear from you as soon as possible?

Signed, Patrolman Eugene Bertrand and Patrolman David Hunt

Dr. Hynek: More than a month later, the patrolmen received the following response from the Office of the Secretary of the Air Force:

Gentlemen: Based on additional information submitted to our UFO Investigation Officer, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, we have been unable to identify the object that you observed on September 3, 1965. In nineteen years of investigating over ten thousand reports of unidentified flying objects, the evidence has proved almost conclusively that reported aerial phenomena have been either objects created or set aloft by men, generated by atmospheric conditions, or caused by celestial bodies or the residue of meteoric activity.

Thank you for reporting your observation to the Air Force, and for your subsequent co-operation concerning the report. I regret any inconvenience you may have suffered as a result.

Sincerely, John P. Spaulding Lt. Col, USAF

Dr. Hynek: Whether this letter satisfied the patrolmen, I do not know. Between the lines, it still says “It can’t be, therefore it isn’t” and that therefore their sighting must undoubtedly have some natural explanation. At least, however, the patrolmen had the satisfaction of the final admission from the Pentagon that they had been unable to identify their sighting.

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