TOP UFO ENCOUNTERS THE  EXETER  INCIDENT               On the night of September 3, 1965, 18-year-old Norman Muscarello was out hitchhiking on Rte. 150 at 2:00 am just south of Exeter, N.H.  Norman at one point noticed a group of five bright red lights that appeared over a house that was by his estimation 100 feet from where he stood. He recalls the lights were so bright that they lit up the entire area.        Eventually the lights moved out over a large field nearby and began to behave rather oddly. They would move behind trees and houses and then suddenly reappear. At one point they seemed to come so close to Muscarello that he dove into a ditch nearby to avoid being hit. This went on for about 15 minutes before the lights finally disappeared behind some trees and "seemed to go into a field" according to Muscarello. At one point the UFO bathed a nearby farmhouse in red light. Rushing to the house, Muscarello banged on the door, but no one answered. He eventually flagged a car down and caught a ride to the Exeter Police Station to report what he had witnessed.        Earlier that morning at approximately 1:00 am, Patrolman Eugene F. Bertrand was in his cruiser on the Rte. 108bypass near Exeter when he noticed a car pulled over to the side of the road. He pulled his vehicle over and stopped there to investigate. He found a woman inside the parked car who told him she was too upset to drive because a light had been following her car and then had pulled directly over her car and hovered there. Patrolman Bertrand stayed with the woman for about 15 minutes and surveyed the area but saw nothing. He then received a call from dispatch asking him to return to the station. There he found Norman Muscarello, who related his story to him.          Taking Muscarello back to where he had witnessed the lights, they waited in the car and for a time saw nothing. Thinking the boy must have imagined the whole thing, he radioed back to HQ, who then suggested they go out and examine the field before they returned. Doing so, they soon witnessed a group of five bright red lights rising behind some trees nearby. They flashed on one at a time and began to move around over a field. They came so close to the two men that at one point they hit the ground and Bertrand drew his service weapon. Bertrand also noticed that although they moved silently, some farm animals in the area became quite upset and began making a lot of noise. When the lights came at them again, both he and Muscarello bolted back to the car.          Bertrand then radioed Patrolman David Hunt who arrived in his cruiser shortly thereafter. Hunt also observed the lights which now were over the field again. They rose to an altitude of about one hundred feet and finally flew off into the distance. After this, Bertrand and Hunt drove Muscarello home to his mother's house. According to his brother Thomas, Norman was visited hours later by men from the military who suggested he say nothing about the incident.            The event led to an interesting exchange of letters between Maj. Hector Quintanilla of Project Blue Book and the two patrol officers. (source: J. Allen Hynek: The Incident at Exeter)   "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         This elicited a response from Officers Bertrand and Hunt on December 2, 1965: "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            After not hearing back from the Air Force, they wrote again on December 29, 1965 reiterating their stance that this was not any known aircraft and asking for some confirmation of that fact from the military. Finally over a month later, they received this letter 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            Muscarello died suddenly in 2003. He entered the Navy within three weeks of the sighting and did three tours of duty in Vietnam. Officer Eugene Bertrand has also since passed away. Officer David Hunt now works as a bailiff in the Rockingham County courthouse in nearby Brentwood. He rarely speaks of the case and says "It really doesn't matter anymore." A book by author John Fuller would be written in 1966 entitled Incident at Exeter, and would make The New York Times bestseller list. It remains one of the best-selling UFO books in history. THE  TRAVIS  WALTON  CASE                        Travis Walton was an 18-year-old working on a logging crew in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in Arizona on Wednesday night, November 5, 1975. What would occur that night ranks as perhaps the most credible abduction story in UFO annals. What's more...it is one of the very few abduction cases that had corroborating witnesses to the event.            Walton was hired by his future brother-in-law, Mike Rogers who was a logging contractor for the United State Forestry Service. There were five others on the crew - Ken Peterson, John Goulette, Steve Pierce, Allen Dallis and Dwayne Smith. All were residents of the same town, Snowflake, Arizona. On this night they were clearing brush near Turkey Springs. The crew was working late hours to complete the job.          It was around 6 p.m. that night when, having completed the day's work, they climbed into Rogers' truck and made their way back home. On the drive, they spotted a bright light behind a hill. As they got closer they made out what appeared to be an 8'x20' silver disc hovering over a clearing. As Rogers stopped the truck, Walton inexplicably and over the protestations of the others,  jumped out and ran toward the object. As he stood directly below the object, it began to make a loud whining sound and started to tilt from side to side. As Walton walked away from the disc, a beam of light came out from the object and engulfed him. His crew mates reported that Walton then rose off the ground, suspended, and then was thrown backwards at least 10'. Upon landing, he did not move.               Panicking and fearing his partner was dead, Rogers drove the truck at breakneck speed down a dirt road. Eventually the truck skidded off the road and Rogers pulled it to a stop. The rest of the crew insisted they go back to rescue Walton and agreeing, Rogers drove back to where Walton was last seen. He was nowhere to be found.      At 7:30 p.m., Ken Peterson called the Heber, Arizona Police Department and reported one of the crew was missing, making no mention of what they had seen. Deputy Sheriff  Chuck Ellison drove to a nearby shopping center to meet the men. At that point, the men told a skeptical Sheriff Ellison what they had actually witnessed. Ellison  conceded that while he did not believe them, they all seemed legitimately scared.      Ellison then called Sheriff Marlin Gillespie who arrived shortly afterwards with Officer Ken Coplan. Rogers now was insistent on returning to continue the search for Walton. Goulette, Smith and Pierce chose to go home while police along with Rogers, Peterson and Dallis went back to the scene. They found no evidence to corroborate their story, but were concerned that Walton might freeze to death if he could not find his way back. At some point Rogers and Officer Coplan went to Walton's home to break the news to his mother.                   The following day saw a full search in effect with law enforcement and local volunteers scouring the woods for some trace of Travis Walton. Helicopters were brought in. It was here that police began to suspect that foul play might be involved and the story a mere cover-up for something more sinister.       By the weekend news broke of Walton's disappearance and reporters from all over swarmed to Snowflake, along with UFO researchers and curious onlookers. It was then that Travis' brother Duane, who had driven to Snowflake when he had received news of his brother's circumstance made statements that added to the suspicion that the story had been concocted. He told UFO investigator Fred Sylvanus that he and Travis had a keen interest in UFOs, that he had seen one before and among other things that the brothers had agreed they would get as close as they could to any UFO they might encounter.          This fueled the speculation that the story was nothing more than a prank dreamed up by the Walton brothers. While this was happening, police were constantly trying to break Travis mother Mary Kellett down by trying to coerce her into telling them what she was hiding, causing great duress to her.          On Monday, November 10th, the other members of Walton's crew agreed to take polygraph tests. They were administered by Mr. Cy Gilson. Among the questions asked were:          Did you cause Travis Walton any serious physical injury last Wednesday afternoon?          Do you know if Travis Walton was physically injured by some other member of your crew last Wednesday?          Do you know if Travis Walton's body is buried or hidden somewhere in that Turkey Springs area??          Did you tell the truth about actually seeing a UFO last Wednesday when Travis Walton disappeared?              From Gilford's official report: " These polygraph examinations prove that these five men did see some object they believed to be a UFO, and that Travis Walton was not injured or murdered by any of these men on that Wednesday." It was also Gilson's opinion that the men (not counting Dallis, who did not complete his polygraph and admitted later he did so to hide a criminal record) had no prior knowledge of any hoax.  Sheriff Gillespie admitted at this point he also believed the men were telling the truth.      Then shortly before midnight on November 10th, Walton's brother-in-law Grant Neff received a phone call. On the other end a familiar voice said, "This is Travis. I'm at a phone booth at the Heber gas station, and I need help. Come and get me." Atfirst Neff thought this was a horrible prank but in a more panicked voice he heard, "It's me, Grant. I'm hurt, and I need help badly. You come and get me." He immediately drove to the station with Travis' brother Duane. There they found Walton collapsed in a phone booth, disheveled and wearing the clothing he had on that day.      Travis began to speak incoherently about beings with large eyes and worse, thought he had been missing for only a few hours. His brother informed him he was gone for almost a week. Back at his mother's house, Walton washed up and tried to get some food down, but could not do so. Duane had remembered something a UFO investigator from Saucer Sky Watch, William Spaulding had told him while he was investigating there. He then asked Travis for a sample of his urine. Later a test of the urine revealed the following: Urinalysis - volume 560 cc; normal, with good concentration; however, there was no acetone present, which is unusual, considering that nay person who is without adequate nutrition for twenty-four to forth-eight hours will break down his own gbody-fat stores, which should result in ketones (acetones) being excreted into the urine. They absence of ketones in his urine, considering a 10 pound weight loss, is difficult to explain.      From his book, Fire in the Sky (on which a 1993 film was based), Walton states,  "I regained consciousness lying on my stomach, my head on my right forearm. Cold air brought me instantly awake. I looked up in time to see a light turn off on the bottom of a curved, gleaming hull... Then I saw the mirrored outline of a silvery disc hovering four feet above the paved surface of the road. It must have been about forty feet in diameter because it extended several feet off the left side of the road... For an instant it floated silently above the road, a dozen yards away. I could see the night sky, the surrounding trees, and the highway center line reflected in the curving mirror of its hull. I noticed a faint warmth radiating onto my face. Then, abruptly, it shot vertically into the sky, creating a strong breeze that stirred the nearby pine boughs and rustled the dry oak leaves that lay in the dry grass beside the road. It gave off no light, and it was almost instantly lost from sight. The most striking thing about its departure was its quietness..."       From that point more polygraph tests were administered, inconsistencies in Walton's story were found by debunkers with those being shot down by supporters of the story. In truth, Walton and his brother hurt their own case by making some terrible decisions in regards to presenting Travis' case such as allowing exclusive rights to the story to be awarded to, of all media outlets, The National Enquirer for $5,000.00. Philip Klass, well-known UFO debunker was their harshest critic, calling the Walton brothers "UFO freaks". Klass considered Walton's story to be a hoax perpetrated for financial gain and discovered many "discrepancies" in the accounts of Walton and his co-workers. After investigating the case, Klass reported that the polygraph tests were "poorly administered", that Walton used "polygraph countermeasures," such as holding his breath, and that Klass uncovered an earlier failed test administered by an examiner who concluded the case involved "gross deception". A 1993 polygraph administered again by Cy Gilson once again displayed that Walton was indeed, telling the truth. Spaulding, on the other hand -wanting to be more of a factor in the story - turned on the Waltons when they cut him out. Mainly for falsely presenting himself as a "doctor". Thirty years after the book's release, Walton appeared on the Fox game show The Moment of Truth and was asked if he in fact was abducted by a UFO on November 5, 1975, to which he replied, "Yes". The polygraph test determined he was lying.      What really happened to Travis Walton that night? Despite the wealth of evidence both supportive and to the contrary, it remains a mystery and ultimately unexplainable. THE  BETTY  AND  BARNEY  HILL STORY       The Hill case presents probably the most important study in the phenomena of alien abduction. While many of these cases remain dubious in nature and can be explained by normal occurrences such as sleep paralysis to cite but one example, the Hill case defies such mundane explanations.       On a clear night on September 19, 1961, Barney Hill, a 39-year-old postal worker and his wife Betty, a 41-year old child welfare director who held a Master's degree were traveling on Rte. 3 South back to their home in Portsmouth, N.H. after a visit to Niagara Falls and Montreal. Around 10:15 that night Barney noticed what he first thought to be a bright celestial object like a planet or star moving around in the night sky. Quickly dismissing that notion, he pointed out what he was seeing to Betty and together they watched the object for a period of time.       The Hills believed at first they were watching a plane or another form of aircraft as they drove down the highway. Betty was the first to speculate that this might be something beyond that, something much stranger. As the couple neared The Flumes, a popular tourist attraction just north of the town of North Woodstock, the object began to move much more erratically. When they reached Indian Head, Barney stopped their car and pulled out a pair of binoculars to take a closer look at what they had been tracking. What he witnessed struck fear into him. What had been thought to be a light, he could now make out to be a structured craft with multi-colored lights and a row of windows. Much more terrifying - he could see figures through those windows. The object closed to about 100 feet of him and, panic-stricken, he ran back to the car, got inside with Betty and sped off away from the craft.         Missing time (Wikipedia): a controversial phenomenon reported by some people in connection with close encounters with UFOs and abduction phenomena. The term "missing time" refers to a gap in conscious memory relating to a specific period in time, from several minutes to several days in length. The memory of what happened during the missing time reported is often recovered through hypnosis or during dreams.        The Hills eventually noticed as they drove away from the spot where they had witnessed the craft that it was no longer following them or in sight anywhere. What they did notice was a strange beeping sound once...and then again. It was at this point that they realized they were now in Ashla, N.H. which was approximately 35 miles further down the road than they had started. What was more puzzling was that only a minute or two had passed since Barney climbed back into the car and drove away from the UFO. Nonetheless, they finally arrived at their home in Portsmouth and, exhausted, went to bed - not waking until the following afternoon.        Upon awakening, Betty called her sister Janet and told her about their encounter the previous night. Janet suggested she call nearby Pease Air Force Base and report what they had witnessed. Against Barney's protestations (he feared ridicule) Betty in fact did call the base and spoke to Major Paul W. Henderson who astonishingly told her that they had tracked the UFO the Hills had seen.        Betty soon after began to have very vivid dreams of her and Barney being taken aboard a craft of some sort against their will. During this time, she wrote a letter to Maj. Donald Kehoe of NICAP (National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena), who passed on her letter to Walter Webb of the Hayden Planetarium. Webb was also on the staff of NICAP.        It was a few weeks later that some reporters showed up at the Hill's home to interview them about the events of Sept. 19. Apparently they had heard something strange had happened to them and wanted the story. In meticulously piecing together the details of that night, they created a timeline which showed that two hours were missing from the Hills' story. They took into account every bathroom stop made for them as well as their dog, who had accompanied them. The "writers" (who remain unidentified) were accompanied at the interview by Maj. James McDonald, a former Air Force intelligence officer.        It was Maj. McDonald who suggested that the Hills undergo regressive hypnosis in an attempt to determine what happened during that two-hour gap in time. (It should be noted that Barney merely wanted to forget the whole incident, while Betty was determined to seek answers for what had happened that night.) In the Spring of 1962, the Hills contacted a psychiatrist about scheduling a session, but put it off for a while. During that time an ulcer that had been affecting Barney got progressively worse and he had also developed hypertension. Betty however, was still plagued by her dreams of an abduction.       During this time, after researching various psychiatrists, they chose Dr. Benjamin Simon, a well-known Boston psychiatrist and neurologist. Dr. Simon's preliminary diagnosis was "anxiety syndrome. The next challenge was to find the cause.        Over a 6-month period, Dr. Simon conducted regressive hypnosis on the couple. First Barney, then Betty. It was his opinion upon completing the process that the Hills had been abducted and taken aboard an alien space craft on the night of September 19, 1961. The details as related by the Hills under hypnosis were both stunning and disturbing.      The Hills related that their car had stalled and the craft had set down in the middle of the road, blocking the vehicle. The Hills were taken inside the craft by ". . . bald-headed alien beings, about five foot tall, with grayish skin, pear-shaped heads and slanting, cat-like eyes." (It should be noted that this was the first reference to the "grays" in alien lore.)       The Hills were then subjected to various physical and psychological exams. The Hills said they were told under hypnosis by the beings not to relate any details of this event to anyone. These are some of the details as related to Dr. Simon:   a. Some tests consisted of extraction of skin, hair and nail samples. b. Betty had a needle inserted into her navel and was told it was a pregnancy test. c. Barney, with reluctance, said he had given a semen sample. d. Betty said she was given a "book" as a token gift, but it had been taken back. e. The aliens had no concept of time or of colors f. They were surprised that Barney's dentures could be removed. g. When asked by Betty where they came from, they produced a "star map"           The Hills then said they were escorted back to their car and remembered an orange glow in the night sky and nothing more. Dr. Simon's statement as relating to these events is as follows: "The experience actually happened, or, some perceptive and illusory misinterpretations occurred in relationship to some real event." The case was investigated later by two giants in UFO research, Dr. J. Allen Hynek and Dr. Stanton Friedman.       Both came to the same conclusion: the Hills were both reputable, credible people who independently stated accurate details of the event which had occurred to them. Other prominent scientists coming into contact with the Hills arrived at the same conclusion.      In 1969, after Barney's death, a schoolteacher and amateur astronomer named Marjorie Fish became intrigued with the "star map" Betty had drawn under hypnosis in 1963. She set out to see if there was any validity to it and did this by being granted an interview with Betty Hill. The map on the left is what Betty drew. It is three-dimensional and represents how the stars would look like from out a window:                                 Betty Hill Map                                      Ohio State University Map              Three stars in this cluster were unknown until 1969 and no astronomer knew of their position in 1963, yet Betty had drawn them in 1963. Later on, astronomers at Ohio State University had a computer put them in their proper location out beyond Zeta Riticuli 1 and Zeta Reticuli 2 - which are some 220 trillion miles, 37 light years from Earth.  The computer duplicated exactly what Betty Hill had drawn years before.