Behind the Incident at Exeter

READ MORE about Norman's 1980 Interview in Exeter

In 1965 an 18-year old Norman Muscarello spotted a UFO in a field in Kensington, NH and frantically reported the event to the Exeter, NH Police Department. They and others saw it too. The resulting report led to a book length account, The Incident at Exeter by John G. Fuller. Fifteen years after the event, students at Exeter High School with teacher Dennis Robinson interviewed key people in the book again.

This amazingly candid interview with Viet Nam vet Muscarello sheds added light on one of the most famous UFO reports in American history. This interview includes questions from students that appeared in a special 1980 school newspaper.

Read: Tale of an Exeter-Terrestrial

An Interview with Norman Muscarello
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EXETER STUDENT:
Could you tell us what happened the night of the "Incident at Exeter?"

MUSCARELLO:
Now don't put me on the line because I'm no professor of science, that's for sure. All I can tell you about is what actually happened to me. And as in the book (Incident at Exeter), on September 3, 1965, on or about 2 am, I was thumbing down Route 50 towards Exeter, in Kensington near Mr. Dining's farm. It was a clear night, no rain. There were plenty of stars in the sky. It was just a clear beautiful night. I'd been up there seeing a friend of mine. I'd missed a ride and I was thumbing back. No cars pick you up at that hour of the morning. I observed planes in the sky earlier. It's pretty easy for me to understand the difference between a plane and what I saw. I'm sure if you experienced it, there wouldn't be any question in mind. I got just past the Dining farm - There's a little field on the right hand side. You can kind of see the glow of Hampton Beach and the lights from the beach, which is distinguishable. What I'm trying to say is that you can see what's going on. It's pretty obvious that that's the beach area.

I observed pulsating lights coming from the north, heading in a southwesterly direction, towards where I was. I assume the speed must have been something terrific because it came up on me all of a sudden, like this! (Snaps his fingers.) Very distant, pulsating erratically I couldn't make out any distinct pattern, circles or anything like that. It was just very bright. Could not make out a silhouette at all. I didn't know what it was. There was absolutely no sound, other than the fact that I heard horses in Dining's field, raising holy hell, kicking the barn. Crickets seemed to just quit.... My attention was fixed on these lights. I didn't know what it was. Passed over, kind of like disappeared. I don't know what direction it went in. I was kind of dazed. My eyes were like, you know, seeing spots you go through when somebody takes your picture with a camera. Got my eyes cleared -- son of a gun -- here it comes again. I don't have to tell you, you get kind of nervous out there. I mean I'm all alone; there's nobody else standing there to refer to. I mean, is this guy smoking something? I just froze up. I didn't know quite what to do. I got scared.

I ran across the street. I didn't actually dive, I fell, because I tripped on something and I fell into the ditch, and I lay there with my head down. And I looked up, and it was like the whole side of this house which was next door, the next house down from Dining's -- I didn't know the people at the time, but I found out that it was Mr. Russell later -- the whole side of the building seemed to turn out like a blood red. And yet the lights weren't completely all red either. It was a white house and these lights were still pulsating in erratic positions. I couldn't make out any design or silhouette at all, and then (he whistles), it took off. I don't even know what direction it took off in because I had my head down after that. I got up out of the ditch and ran to that house, pounding on the door. Later on I discovered that Mr. Russell was awake. Mrs. Russell told me later that they were awake and they heard me pounding, but they're not going to answer the door with this crazy nut pounding at two o'clock in the morning, no car out front or anything like that. So they didn't bother answering, but they did remember me. Well, no response there.

I ran back out in the street and here comes a car. I wasn't going to let it go by. I stood right in the road, waving my arms. This fellow and his --. I assumed was his wife at the time -- come to find out I did know the fella. The reason he never disclosed his name is because it wasn't his wife in the car. This is true. I mean, I'm not even going to disclose his name now. He sat out in front of the station after bringing me down to the station because he was kind of curious. He didn't know if I was cracking up or what. I went into the (Exeter Police) station and told "Scratch" Toland what happened as rapidly as I could. I was a nervous wreck. He wasn't surprised, because I asked him, "Well, what do you mean you're not surprised?" He said, "I just had two reports before you walked in here, one from Raymond and another one from Hampton Beach." Both of these people had made a description darn close to what I had said. One woman being chased in a car, on Route whatever, I think it was 101 (Raymond), anyway, headed in this direction, and another call had come into Hampton Police Department via phone. Exeter got hold of a dispatch on it. A gentleman had called from a phone booth and they asked, "What is the number? Where are you at?" He had described pretty much the same thing I had seen. When the police pulled up to the phone booth, the phone was dangling, and there was nobody around. I assume he probably just. got scared and said, "I don't want anybody to think I'm a nut." And I want you people to know that the only reason I went to that station was because I thought I was cracking up. I was pretty much your age.

CONTINUE: NORMAN MUSCARELLO