EXETER — The UFO Festival returns this Labor Day weekend, offering both locals and visitors an out-of-this-world experience.
The two-day UFO Festival pays homage to the famous UFO sighting known as the “Incident at Exeter,” which occurred Sept. 3, 1965. The festival runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 31, and Sunday, Sept. 1, at Town Hall, Town House Common and throughout downtown. Highlights include panel talks featuring eight UFO experts, an alien costume contest, and trolley rides to where the UFO was first spotted.
Connie Cox of the Exeter Area Kiwanis Club, the organizers of the UFO Festival, announced new additions this year: a video loop about the history of “The Incident at Exeter” and the town.
“A lot of people come into our town from other areas, and they’re very enthralled with the historic aspect of Exeter,” she said. “The videos will be running all day long both days.”
Cox said the festival keeps getting bigger each year, drawing nearly 10,000 people both locally and internationally. It is also their biggest fundraiser, she added.
“As Kawanians, we’ve helped so many kids in our area (from funds raised by the festival),” she said. “Last year we gave out $8,000 just in scholarships at the high school and SST (Seacoast School of Technology). We’ve given out scholarships for Camp Lincoln through the YMCA, and we’ve given out helmets for kids and adults on bikes… we love doing these kinds of things because we’re helping not only our community but also our kids in the community that are in need.”
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What was “The Incident at Exeter?”
The festival originated from a highly publicized sighting of strange red lights in the Exeter area on Sept. 3, 1965.
In the early morning of Sept. 3, the Exeter Police Department began getting reports of flying objects chasing people. One woman reported being chased by a red-lighted flying object while driving on Route 101.
Two hours later, a terrified Norman Muscarello, an 18-year-old Navy recruit, reported seeing a strange light in the woods near Kensington as he was hitchhiking home from Amesbury, Massachusetts.
Two officers returned to the farmhouse with Muscarello and later said they had also seen a flying object they couldn’t explain.
According to a newspaper account, the men described the object as “about the size of a house” which “hovered silently over the nearby farm buildings frightening animals in the barn before disappearing in the distance.”
The Air Force said the sightings were either a mirage caused by a temperature inversion or one of five B-47 planes in the area at that time.
Although the sighting took place in Kensington, it was famously attributed to Exeter in John Fuller’s book “Incident at Exeter.”
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Experts to talk on all things aliens and UFOs
Have ancient civilizations always known about the existence of UFOs? Find out this Saturday at 10:30 a.m. when Laird Scranton gives a talk titled “Ancient Symbolic Aspects of UFO Encounters.”
An author of more than a dozen books on ancient cosmology and language, Scranton is widely recognized in the world of the paranormal, becoming a frequent guest on a wide range of radio and podcast interview shows, including Red Ice Radio in Europe, Art Bell’s “Desert at Midnight,” Coast-to-Coast Radio and “Beyond Belief with George Noory.”
He will be one of eight experts to speak during the two-day festival at the Exeter Town Hall. The cost is $35 for one or both days.
On Saturday at 3:30 p.m., Matt Moniz and Peter Robins will present their talk, “A Scientist/Experiencer and a UFO Writer Walk Into a Bar: A Wide-Ranging Conversation.” Moniz, a scientist, has analyzed samples from famous UFOs, crop formations, and paranormal cases for decades. Robins is an investigative writer, author, and lecturer specializing in anomalous UFOs and their implications for humanity.
Other speakers include local UFO researcher Kathrine Brisendine, who had a UFO encounter of her own. On Sunday at 9 a.m., Brisendine will discuss the “thousands” of UFO sightings and events that have occurred in New Hampshire.
On Sunday at 2 p.m., Thomas Carey will present “Roswell Today – From Crash to AARO (DOD: All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office).” An Air Force veteran, Carey has been investigating the 1947 Roswell incident, which alleges an extraterrestrial spacecraft crash, since 1991.
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When is the Alien Costume & Alien Pet Contest?
The Alien Costume and Alien Pet contest returns at noon on Saturday. The costume contest is for children ages 12 and under, while the pet contest is open to all.
A “genuine alien” will be on hand to judge the contests.
Contestants will get a chance to march in their costumes from Town House Common to the town bandstand. This event is free to participate.
How can I take a Trolley ride to the Kensington site?
One of the highlights of the festival each year is the trolley ride to the Kensington site, which will be happening on both days of the festival.
Rides will take place from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Due to popular demand, there will be two trolleys to take visitors on a narrated trip to and from the site. The trolley will leave from 10 Front St. and bring riders to the incident site, which is approximately 5 miles south of the town, in the neighboring town of Kensington.
Tickets are $5 for adults and can be purchased at the Trolley Station on Front Street. Payments are to be made only in cash.
Cox advised those interested to get their tickets early as the rides sell out quickly. Riders are first-come, first-serve, and the trolley will leave every 30 minutes, with the last trolley departing at 3 p.m.
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Food, souvenirs and other activities
The Exeter Area Kiwanis Club will provide food and refreshments at the tent by the Bandstand. Expect carnival-type food and drinks such as hotdogs, hamburgers, potato chips and sodas to be served from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Don’t forget to pick up your UFO Festival souvenir at the booth in front of Town Hall, which will be open both days from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. From T-shirts to mugs, tote bags to posters, all items are inscribed with the 2024 UFO Festival art.
Exeter police will sell a special edition patch at the UFO Festival on Saturday morning. All proceeds associated with these patch sales go to support Maple, the department’s comfort dog. Patches can also be purchased at the Exeter Police Department at 20 Court Street starting on Aug. 31.
The festival will also have plenty of activities for children from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Town House Common, featuring lawn games such as corn hole and activities such as face painting and “UFO Crash Site” creations.
From 3 to 6 p.m., Town House Common will transform into a dance floor with music by DJ John Giorgi. This new addition is aimed at all ages but especially late teens and young adults, according to Cox.
Later, at 7 p.m. on Saturday, jazz pianist Eric Mintel, who has performed at the White House for Presidents George Bush and Barack Obama, will give a concert at the Congregational Church, 21 Front Street.
Cox said one of her favorite parts about the festival is the people that she gets to meet.
“I would hope that people would come and just have a great time,” said Cox. “If they’re not from the area and they’re not familiar with the Exeter and the Seacoast area, I would hope that they would come and see what a great New England small town we have.”
