Unidentified flying objects: hearing before the Committee on Armed Forces of the House of Representatives, Eighty-ninth Congress, second session, April 5, 1966 ...

6055
close
to
the ground.
Several persons apparently observed
it,
three
of
them,
in-
cluding
two
policemen,
at
one
time.
The
conclusion
of Project
Blue
Book—the
name
of
the
Air
Force
UFO
probethat
announces
the
final
verdicts
on
sightings—that
the
New
Hampshire
watchers
saw
low
-flying
airplanes,
is
of
a
piece
with
many
other
Air
Force
attempted
explainings
away.
It
doesn't
make
sense.
The
New
Hampshire
sighting
is
of
significance
on
another ground.
It involves
the
reported
effect
of
a
UFO
in
disturbing
and
exciting
animals.
The
sequence
of
events
near
Exeter began at
1
o'clock
in
the
morning
of
last
September
3
when
Exeter
Police
Officer
Eugene P.
Bertrand,
Jr.,
30,
cruising
in
his
police
car,
came
upon
an
auto
drawn up
by the
side
of
the
road
and
in
it
an
hysterical
woman,
who
according to
the
officer's
report
to
the
investigative
officer
from
Pease
Air
Force Base,
N.H.,
"stated
she
was
too
upset
to
drive."
She
stated
a
light
had
been
following
her
and had
stopped
over
her
car."
The
officer
stayed
with her
about
15
minutes,
sought
to reassure
her,
saw
nothing,
and
departed
for
the
police station.
There he found
Norman
J.
Muscarello,
18,
of
Exeter
who
had
come
to the
sta-
tion
to
tell
of
his
experience
while
a
few
miles
out
of
Exeter.
He
said
some-
thing
big
with
dazzling, flashing
red
lights
had
appeared
moving
just
above
the
treetops.
It
had
moved
rather slowly
toward him.
He
had
jumped
into
the
ditch
for
safety.
Then
the
thing
had
disappeared.
Officer
Bertrand
took Muscarello with
him
in
his patrol
car
and
they returned
to
the
field
where
Muscarello
had had
his
alarming
experience.
They
both
got
out
of the car
and
walked
into
the
field,
Bertrand having
a
flashlight.
At
this
point
Officer
Bertrand's
report to
an
examining
officer
at
Pease
AFB
can
be
taken
up.
"When
we
had
gone about
50
feet
a
group
of
five
bright
red
lights
came
from
behind
a
group
of
trees
near
us.
They
were
extremely
bright
and
flashed
one
at
a
time.
"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 making a
lot
of
noise.
When
the
lights
started
coming
near us againMuscarello
and
I
ran
for
the
car.
* * *
"I
radioed
Patrolman David
Hunt who
arrived in
a few
minutes.
He
also
observed the
lights
which were
still
over
the
field
at
an
estimated
altitude
of
100
feet
and
finally
disappeared
in
the
distance
at
the
same
altitude.
The
lights
were always
in
line
at about 60°
angae.
When
the
object
moved
the
lower
lights
were always forward
of the
others."
In
this
case the Air Force,
which
generally
appears to
hang
back
from
much
investigating
of
UFO
reports,
did
do some
investigating.
It interviewed the
sighters
and
neighbors.
The
Pease
APB
officer,
who
headed
this local
military
probe
and who,
by
the
way,
was a
command
pilot,
made
this
finding:
"At
this
time
have
been unable to
arrive
at
a
probable
cause of
this sighting.
The
three observers
seem
to
be
stable, reliable
persons,
especially
the
two
patrol-
men.
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
do
not
believe
they
had any
connection
with
this sighting."
However,
Project
Blue
Book
lists
low
-flying
airplanes
as
probably
responsible
for
this
Exeter
sighting.
Maj.
Hector
Quintanilla, in
charge of Blue Book,
states
that the 8th Air Force
SAC
(
Strategic
Air
Command)
group
at
Westover
Air
Force Base,
Mass.,
was
conducting
a
low-level operation,
called
Big
Blast, at
the time.
He
said
he
believes
the
Exeter "people
were
looking
at
low-level
aircraft."
The
effect
of
a
UFO
on
animals
had
been reported in
a
New
York
State case
about
2
weeks
before the Exeter
event.
An
investigating
officer
from
the
Niagara
Falls
Air Force Base, commenting on
the
sighting
of
a
low-down
UFO
near Cherry Creek,
N.Y.,
on August
19, said:
"Preliminary
analysis reveals object
not
explainable in conventional terms.
Object caused
reduction in
farm
cows' milk
from
2
1
/
2 cans
to
1
can. Disturbedbull in
field.
Caused dog
to bark."
This
sighting,
by
the
way,
is
one of the
very
few
that Project
Blue Book has marked
"Unidentified."
The
Exeter
UFO
produced a
fairly familiar charge; namely
that the Air
Force sought to suppress
news
of the sighting.
In
this instance the charge
came from Raymond
Fowler, of
Wenham,
Mass., head of a
local area
NICAP