The fascination with unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and the possibility of extraterrestrial life has captured the imagination of people worldwide. In the United States, this fascination has deep roots, with numerous reported sightings and alleged encounters throughout history. Massachusetts, in particular, boasts a rich history of UFO activity, dating back to the early days of the colonies.
Early Sightings: A Colonial Mystery
Even before the arrival of European settlers in the 1600s, New England was a place of mystery and wonder. Some believe that it has also welcomed guests from much farther away. The first documented UFO sighting in America dates back to 1639. Massachusetts Bay Colony cofounder and governor John Winthrop recorded the first UFO sighting in America.
In his diary entry of March 1 that year, Winthrop wrote that a “sober, discreet man” named James Everell was rowing a boat up the Muddy River at night when he saw a “great light” in the sky. Winthrop wrote that three of his fellow colonists had envisioned something more otherworldly: While rowing on the Muddy River in the Fens, suddenly they witnessed a great light “three yards square” speeding back and forth between them and Charlestown “as swift as an arrow.”
Cynthia Everett, a 24-year-old Massachusetts woman working as a schoolteacher in Camden, Maine, in 1808, recorded in her diary a somewhat similar account. Her entry on July 22 reads: “About 10 o’clock I saw a very strange appearance. It was a light, which proceeded from the East. At the first sight, I thought it was a métier [meteor], but from its motion I soon perceived it was not. It seemed to dart at first as quickly as light; and appeared to be in the Atmosphere, but lowered toward the ground and kept on at an equal distance sometimes ascending and sometimes descending.”
The Bridgewater Triangle: A Hotspot of the Strange
It appears that the 508 area code may be our own Area 51. Back in the 1970s, a New England transplant named Loren Coleman, self-described as “one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists,” coined the phrase the “Bridgewater Triangle” to refer to the 200 square miles bounded roughly by Abington, Seekonk, and Freetown.
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Over many decades, locals have told tales of haunted burial grounds, ghost truckers, and, yes, UFOs. Coleman refers to such spooky regions as “gateways” for strange phenomena, so perhaps the aliens first felt at home in the 508, and now they’re expanding to the 781, claiming Hanscom at their new transit station…or is this all just space junk?
Notable UFO Encounters in New England
Beyond Massachusetts, other New England states have also experienced significant UFO sightings and alleged alien encounters:
- The Betty and Barney Hill Incident (1961, New Hampshire): The Portsmouth, New Hampshire, couple claimed to have been taken by extraterrestrials near Franconia Notch on the night of September 19, 1961. The first widely publicized report of an alien abduction in the United States was that of Betty and Barney Hill. Their story was adapted by journalist John G. Fuller in the book "The Interrupted Journey".
- The Exeter Incident (1965, New Hampshire): On September 3, 1965, one of the most famous UFO events of all time occurred in Exeter, New Hampshire. Fuller reports that a policeman patrolling Route 101 just after midnight stopped to check on a woman parked beside the road. The breathless woman claimed that a flying object with red flashing lights had been chasing her. Over the weeks that followed, authorities received about 60 reports of UFO sightings near Exeter.
- The Allagash Abductions (1976, Maine): In August 1976, according to their own accounts, four Massachusetts college students went canoeing on Maine’s Allagash Wilderness Waterway and saw an unidentified object in the sky. Under hypnosis, all four men described small gray aliens taking them aboard a spacecraft and performing medical examinations on them.
The Thom Reed Incident in Sheffield
One of the most famous encounters occurred in Sheffield near Old Covered Bridge. The most famous encounter from this incident was alleged to occur in Sheffield near Old Covered Bridge. A park was founded in 2015 on the banks of the Housatonic River by the town of Sheffield where Thom Reed's off-world incident occurred to commemorate the incident.
Thomas Reed and his family were crossing the bridge when they saw a disc-shaped object hovering in the air. Reed described the craft as a "white orb" that was "bigger than a football field". They tried escaping the UFO by continuing to drive down Covered Bridge Lane, but the craft followed them. Reed says the car was engulfed in light as they were pulled into the UFO.
A 5,000 pound granite monument was placed in the park from 2015 until 2019, when it was replaced by a sign which reads "On behalf of the citizens of Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I am pleased to confer upon you this Governor's citation in recognition of the off-world incident on September 1, 1969, which engaged the Reed family, which has been established. Your dedicated service to this incident was factually upheld, founded, and deemed historically significant and true by means of Massachusetts historians."
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The people involved in this incident and especially those who claim to have been pulled into the UFO take offense to it being called an abduction. They have never used the word abduction to describe the encounters.
Lake Mansfield Incident in Great Barrington
Another alleged off-world incident that happened occurred at Lake Mansfield in Great Barrington. Melanie Kirchdorfer and her family had gone to the lake, and when her father backed into the parking lot a very bright light engulfed their car. Everyone in the car began to panic.
Her father decided to chase the light, despite Melanie begging him not to. She and her sister began to shake in fear. Her sister did not remember anything after that. However, she remembered levitating and then being on a ship. She then remembered being laid out while in it.
Tom Warner remembered seeing Melanie to the right of him on the ship. He recalled seeing total fear on her face. However, she did not remember seeing him. She recalled being in a room with several other children. Suddenly, the other children began to disappear, one by one. After that, she woke up at the lake by herself. She then had to walk home.
Government Involvement and Public Perception
The U.S. government has addressed the question of UFOs, only adding further speculation. In April 2020, the Department of Defense released multiple videos filmed by military pilots that were thought to possibly capture UFOs. There are two main reasons that belief in aliens has become so prevalent in the United States: government hearings and pop culture.
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In November 2024, the Pentagon announced that most reported sightings of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs, as they're now known) can be attributed to balloons, drones, and other regular objects, while still noting that many objects lack a sufficient explanation.
UFO Sightings Today
Those who believe they've seen something otherworldly can report it to the National UFO Reporting Center, which relies on volunteers to separate fact from fiction. government's official stance is that extraterrestrial life does not exist. But if the last century is any indicator, that will do little to curb America's alien obsession.
While New Mexico and Nevada are perhaps best known for UFO sightings, the National UFO Reporting Center data shows that the state with the most sightings is California, with more than 16,500 reports as of April 25, 2025.
The YouTube channel Yes Theory made a documentary about the UFO incident with interviews from people who saw the UFOs.
They Were Taken: True Alien Abduction Stories
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