In our column of last October 2, we reported on an incident at Exeter, New Hampshire, involving an Unidentified Flying Object, or UFO, as the Air Force likes to refer to them. The Exeter report was interesting not only because it was on the official records of the local police but also because it had been verified by two officers whose character and reliability seemed to be unassailable. Furthermore, at least five people observed the object at altitudes ranging from twenty to one hundred feet.
The Exeter incident, which occurred on September
3, 1965, followed a rash of UFO sightings by state police, as well as radar observations, in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas,
and New Mexico, reported by the New York Times and other papers in August. All through the night of August 1, for
example, the teletype at Oklahoma Highway Patrol headquarters chattered with reports from all over the state. The
phrases were terse: THREE SHAWNEE OFFICERS HAVE FOUR OF THE OBJECTS IN SIGHT AT THIS TIME, ALSO ANOTHER HAS CROPPED
UP FROM THE SOUTH OF TECUMSEH AND IS APPARENTLY GOING TO FLY DIRECTLY OVER SHAWNEE.
OKLAHOMA HIGHWAY PATROL UNITS 30 AND 40 HAVE ALSO MADE VISUAL SIGHTINGS . . . TINKER AIR FORCE BASE HAS HAD FROM
ONE TO FOUR OF THEM ON RADAR AT A TIME AND THEY ADVISE THEY ARE FLYING VERY HIGH AT APPROXIMATELY 22,000 FEET, WHICH
SEEMS TO COINCIDE WITH THE VISUAL SIGHTINGS . . . .
On the same night that the Exeter police watched their enormous object hover silently at treetop
level not more than a football field's distance away, Chief Deputy Sheriff B. E. McCoy and Deputy Sheriff
Robert E. Goode were patroling an area in Texas about forty miles below Houston. Their patrol car was approached by a
luminous object that came down from the sky 'o a pasture about 150 feet off the highway and about 100 feet in the air.
In a report to the Air Force the deputies said: The bulk of the object appeared to be dark gray in color with no
other distinguishing features. It appeared to be 200 feet wide, and 40-50 feet thick in the middle, tapering off
toward both ends. There was no noise or any trail
.
The report in this column of the Exeter sighting brought many letters from readers. P. S. Hensel of
Cleveland wrote, For the past sixteen years, especially, thousands of sane human beings, past as sane as the many
police officers and airplane pilots and scientists around the world, have been seeing these things. But to the
Air Force they are hallucinations, flying stars, and planets. Dozens have seen UFOs of one type or another, many
have faith in their fellow men so that they do not deem them liars and fools.
The column also interested the editors of Look, who asked us to do an extensive, detailed article on the incident at Exeter. G. P. Putnam, the publishers, also were interested in the incident for a book. As a result we had the opportunity to spend the better part of a month in the Exeter area, tape-recording more than sixty interviews with people who say they've encountered these objects and give accounts of their observations that coincide.
The total impact of these interviews, many with people of considerable standing in the community, cannot be overlooked or dismissed lightly. Their testimony adds up to these things:
- There is almost overwhelming evidence that Unidentified Flying Objects do exist. Reports are still continuing.
- UFOs have moved and hovered directly over ears and people, as low as eight to ten feet above the ground.
- They have been reported not only by police, but off the record by military personnel and Coast Guardsmen.
- They base shown no evidence whatever of creating physical harm, but they have caused shock and hysteria among those people who have encountered them at low level. One couple had to seek psychiatric help after reporting a close encounter with a UFO.
- At least four women, living in widely separated areas of southern New Hampshire, are afraid to go out at night alone since they encountered low-altitude UFOs, and refuse to do so. On the other hand, observers recover from initial shock quickly, and actually try to see them again.
- At low altitude the motion of the UFO is often reported to consist of a yawing, kitelike motion, wobbling in the air, moving slowly back and forth, changing directions on a dime. There is usually a total absence of sound, although sometimes a high-frequency hum is heard. No wind, of the kind experienced from helicopter blades, is reported bv witnesses.
- The objects can hover motionless for many minutes, then take oil at incredible speeds, disappearing withm seconds.
- They are often reported to cast a brilliant red light at low altitude, which ran illuminate the ground and houses in an area 300 feel in diameter or more.
- The objects are constantly repeated in the area of high-power transmission lines.
- The objects are reported to cause a violent reaction in dogs, cattle, and other animals Problems with lights. radios, TV, and eat ignition are also reported.
- Among the sixty people whose interviews were taped the similarities of descriptions are amazingly consistent, although many lived miles apart and knew nothing about the other sightings.
- In the large majority of interviews, we were able to determine that the respondent had a reasonable capacity to differentiate between a B-47, B-52, commercial jet or prop plane, helicopter, and the stars and planets.
- Some sightings were made in broad daylight, and were described in detail.
While these taped interviews may add up to strong evidence, they still do not represent conclusive proof. The National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena has documented thousands of sightings by trained personnel, providing impressive evidence. Speculation is that the government and the Air Force may be fully aware of the entire story but are reluctant to admit its validity because of its possible disruptive effect on people. But the truth isn't likely to remain hidden forever. In fact, many are wondering if it isn't time for the government either to explain whatever it knows, or to order a research project to investigate the phenomenon and reveal the facts.