Exeter's UFO Window

Exeter’s UFO Window

By Dean Merchant

features@seacoastonline.com

December 26, 2008

Some believe there has been a continually utilized UFO window in the Exeter quadrant since the town’s founding with a renewed interest and resurgence of “visitors” to the area.

The Exeter quadrangle (NW/4 Exeter 15’) has long been a geographical location of extraordinary interest to researching ufologists and those who take UFO safaris about its hinterlands. But early colonial documentation reveals that Exeter’s first English arrivals, the Rev. John Wheelwright and his band of antinomians, came with pre-existing notions of UFOs.

Stratham’s Pete Wiggin is a man born to his mission. The passionate historian’s DNA follows a direct line from Captain Thomas Wiggin, first settler at Sandy Point, and New Hampshire’s first governor.

Wiggin scours early colonial wills and land deeds to carefully reconstruct and chronicle historical events of Exeter and its environs. He has discovered rare and important snippets in obscure tomes that constantly enrich the Squamscott River communities’ heritage.

While researching Gov. John Winthrop’s journal, Wiggin learned that on Set. 7, 1639, his (Wiggin’s) Puritan ancestor, Captain Tom, was chastised by authorities for helping the Rev. Wheelwright (the two had arrived together in 1630 on Winthrop’s fleet) and his followers establish themselves at Exeter. The troop had been booted out of Mass Bay by their less-liberal-minded kin. These new arrivals at the head of the river had no precognition of Exeter’s future fame in urologists, but as Wiggin discovered, they arrived with an awareness of UFO occurrences, possible alien abductions and strange happenings.

Wiggin read in Winthrop’s journal, “In this year (1639) one James Everell, a sober, discreet man, and two others, saw a great light in the night at Muddy River. When it stood still, it flamed up, and was about three yards square; when it ran it was contracted into the figure of a swine: it ran as swift as an arrow towards Charlton, and so up and down about two or three hours. They were come down in their lighter about a mile, and, when it was over, they found themselves carried quite back against the tide to the place they came from. Diverse other credible persons saw the same light, after, about the same place.”

The antinomians’ tenure was brief; most soon departed for Wells, Maine. Over time the community grew into a stronghold for rebels and served as the revolutionary capital of New Hampshire. In the late 1700s, John Phillips begifted the town with an academy and today Exonians hold a vast portion of undeveloped land in the quadrant, running to the Great Meadows, the site of “The Incident at Exeter.”

Silent Crafts

Rita Podalsky resides just outside Kensington center, in the middle of the Exeter quadrant and also in close proximity to great Meadows. It was in the heavily wooded area near her home that the preschool teacher had a close encounter with Unidentified Objects 31 years ago.

Podalsky reflected, “My daughter was seven at the time. The family was watching TV in the bedroom and the drapes were open to the big picture window.” Podalsky and her husband noticed lights coming through the trees. The couple ran through the house and out the front door to the yard. “It looked like a big car with two bright headlights coming low and over the tops of the trees,” said Podalsky. In actuality, the beams were from dual crafts, which Podalsky said were “slow and silent.” They passed just over the rooftop and disappeared over the Kensington Church.

Podalsky’s husband served in “Nam,” she said, and he suggested that the Air Force had developed such silent craft, and that they must be helicopters from Pease Air Force Base. But Podalsky never accepted that explanation because of the closeness and complete silence. “They made no nose at all,” she emphasized.

Kathy Marden, co-author of “Captured,” related that a woman in South Hampton, which borders Kensington, reported a vey low-flying craft that landed in a field behind her house. According to Marden, the incident was reported in the newspaper and afterwards an Air Force officer arrived at the woman’s home. He told her she had not seen a UFO, but a helicopter. The woman asked him, “Have you ever seen a silent helicopter?”

UFO Occupants

Marden also told of an incident that crossed her radar screen involving a youth group from Newton (which borders South Hampton). The teens saw a UFO in a field, said Marden, and watched “little beings” in the field, seemingly collecting soil samples.

According to a source in Exeter, a group of blueberry pickers also observed a little being in the Epping Woods, across from the Star Speedway. The source, an Exeter engineer descended from an illustrious founding family (who stressed "for God's sake, don't use my name"), said the incident occurred before the highway was put in, when it was all woods.

"Blueberry pickers had gone into the woods and saw one of these creatures, about 3 feet tall, with alien features." The engineer said it was General Store-cracker barrel talk at the time, and a hot-button topic.

The engineer also told of the experiences of an Exeter High Street pillar of society, who around 1978, on more than one occasion, saw a round UFO hovering outside an upper story window. The woman, who lived a short distance from the PEA walking trails (and curiously close to the domed, PEA Grainger Astrological Observatory), could see the occupants inside the UFO, said the engineer. She became concerned after seeing the craft a number of times, but was ridiculed when she shared her experience. She vowed she would never speak of it again.

With his molecules almost at a boil, the engineer bubbled out, "Do you know what she said they looked like?" After a pause, he sighed, "She said they did not really look that much different from us."

UFO Safaris

Nighttime UFO safaris have been particularly popular in the Exeter area quadrant, especially during UFO flaps.

Robert E. Cahill, in his book "New England's Visitors from Outer Space," told of such a safari that he and two pals took with the late Betty Hill in Kingston (her parents and sister had homes in Kingston). The group first went to a railroad junction and adjacent power lines where Hill said saucers frequently stopped.

Hill then took them to a "secret airfield" which was a turned over farm field, secluded by "high trees and bushes." After six hours and a few beers, the men ended their unproductive vigil.

Les Cooper, a retired social studies teacher, perennially popular with his students, and a dedicated collector of Exeter ephemia, resides in a family homestead tucked behind Exeter Hospital. The scholarly gentleman said his mother and stepfather, who enjoyed taking UFO safaris about the Exeter quadrant, were on more than one occasion successful in their quest. Cooper said that many people saw UFOs at the time. He added that at the height of the UFO fervor, a woman from Hampton took people on guided tours in search of UFOs.

The precedent for nighttime UFO safaris had been set by the "Incident at Exeter," when for weeks dozens of cars took nightly excursions to the notorious field. The owner of the land was forced to block off his property with wire and post "Keep Out" signs against the curiosity seekers, who littered the roadside with beer cans and cigarettes.

It may be an advantageous time for UFO enthusiasts who hope for a sighting. Just two weeks ago, a young woman was on her way to work at 3:30 a.m. to put on the coffee for sleepy commuters. She drove an extra loop to allow time to listen to her favorite music. She was startled out of her solitude when a UFO passed above her at the junction of Ash Swamp Road and Route 88. The early morning store opener requested anonymity to avoid potential teasing from her jocular morning patrons.

The bio-region of UFO interest encompasses lonely roads that wind through and past such places as Shaws Hill, Giles Hill, Hog Hill Swamp, Bugsmouth Hill, Wild Pasture Lane, Trundle Bed Lane and Stumpfield Road.

The heart of the region is bisected by Drinkwater Road. On the side opposite Great Meadows ("Incident") is another large swamp of marsh and mire known as The Cove. Two electrical power lines penetrate the interior of each swamp. The Cove is bounded to the east by Route 88, a vicinity of many UFO sightings.

Are these isolated power lines used by UFOs to draw off energy? According to the aforementioned engineer, a craft was seen by a number of people, hovering above high tension lines in the Pine Road area of Brentwood in the 1960's. Projecting from the UFO, he said, was a silver tube line that ran right down to the electrical lines.

It might be concluded that there has been a continually utilized UFO window in the Exeter quadrant since the town's founding. These are factors that may be leading to the renewed interest and resurgence of "visitors" to the area.

A revived Portsmouth Naval Shipyard with a new generation of nuclear submarines, and a second reactor at Seabrook Station looming in John McCain's planned nuclear renaissance, combined with a world in turmoil, follows an historic pattern of such events that seem to magnetize the interest and concern of UFO occupants.

Are they once again being drawn to Exeter?

Exeter Quadrant?

The Exeter quadrangle (NW/4 Exeter 15') is made up of several towns, including many that were part of the original Exeter. From north to south, the quadrant includes Stratham, Kensington, South Hampton and Newton. From east to west it includes Hampton, Hampton Falls, Kingston, East Kingston, Fremont, Brentwood and Epping.

UFO SAFARI?

Would you be interested in taking a UFO safari in Exeter? If so, contact writer Dean Merchant by e-mailing features@seacoastonline.com. If enough people are interested, we will put together a detailed map and information.

	EXETER'S UFO WINDOW Exeter’s UFO Window By Dean Merchant features@seacoastonline.com December 26, 2008 Some believe there has been a continually utilized UFO window in the Exeter quadrant since the town’s founding with a renewed interest and resurgence of “visitors” to the area. The Exeter quadrangle (NW/4 Exeter 15’) has long been a geographical location of extraordinary interest to researching ufologists and those who take UFO safaris about its hinterlands. But early colonial documentation reveals that Exeter’s first English arrivals, the Rev. John Wheelwright and his band of antinomians, came with pre-existing notions of UFOs. Stratham’s Pete Wiggin is a man born to his mission. The passionate historian’s DNA follows a direct line from Captain Thomas Wiggin, first settler at Sandy Point, and New Hampshire’s first governor. Wiggin scours early colonial wills and land deeds to carefully reconstruct and chronicle historical events of Exeter and its environs. He has discovered rare and important snippets in obscure tomes that constantly enrich the Squamscott River communities’ heritage. While researching Gov. John Winthrop’s journal, Wiggin learned that on Set. 7, 1639, his (Wiggin’s) Puritan ancestor, Captain Tom, was chastised by authorities for helping the Rev. Wheelwright (the two had arrived together in 1630 on Winthrop’s fleet) and his followers establish themselves at Exeter. The troop had been booted out of Mass Bay by their less-liberal-minded kin. These new arrivals at the head of the river had no precognition of Exeter’s future fame in urologists, but as Wiggin discovered, they arrived with an awareness of UFO occurrences, possible alien abductions and strange happenings. Wiggin read in Winthrop’s journal, “In this year (1639) one James Everell, a sober, discreet man, and two others, saw a great light in the night at Muddy River. When it stood still, it flamed up, and was about three yards square; when it ran it was contracted into the figure of a swine: it ran as swift as an arrow towards Charlton, and so up and down about two or three hours. They were come down in their lighter about a mile, and, when it was over, they found themselves carried quite back against the tide to the place they came from. Diverse other credible persons saw the same light, after, about the same place.” The antinomians’ tenure was brief; most soon departed for Wells, Maine. Over time the community grew into a stronghold for rebels and served as the revolutionary capital of New Hampshire. In the late 1700s, John Phillips begifted the town with an academy and today Exonians hold a vast portion of undeveloped land in the quadrant, running to the Great Meadows, the site of “The Incident at Exeter.” Silent Crafts Rita Podalsky resides just outside Kensington center, in the middle of the Exeter quadrant and also in close proximity to great Meadows. It was in the heavily wooded area near her home that the preschool teacher had a close encounter with Unidentified Objects 31 years ago. Podalsky reflected, “My daughter was seven at the time. The family was watching TV in the bedroom and the drapes were open to the big picture window.” Podalsky and her husband noticed lights coming through the trees. The couple ran through the house and out the front door to the yard. “It looked like a big car with two bright headlights coming low and over the tops of the trees,” said Podalsky. In actuality, the beams were from dual crafts, which Podalsky said were “slow and silent.” They passed just over the rooftop and disappeared over the Kensington Church. Podalsky’s husband served in “Nam,” she said, and he suggested that the Air Force had developed such silent craft, and that they must be helicopters from Pease Air Force Base. But Podalsky never accepted that explanation because of the closeness and complete silence. “They made no nose at all,” she emphasized. Kathy Marden, co-author of “Captured,” related that a woman in South Hampton, which borders Kensington, reported a vey low-flying craft that landed in a field behind her house. According to Marden, the incident was reported in the newspaper and afterwards an Air Force officer arrived at the woman’s home. He told her she had not seen a UFO, but a helicopter. The woman asked him, “Have you ever seen a silent helicopter?” UFO Occupants Marden also told of an incident that crossed her radar screen involving a youth group from Newton (which borders South Hampton). The teens saw a UFO in a field, said Marden, and watched “little beings” in the field, seemingly collecting soil samples. According to a source in Exeter, a group of blueberry pickers also observed a little being in the Epping Woods, across from the Star Speedway. The source, an Exeter engineer descended from an illustrious founding family (who stressed "for God's sake, don't use my name"), said the incident occurred before the highway was put in, when it was all woods. "Blueberry pickers had gone into the woods and saw one of these creatures, about 3 feet tall, with alien features." The engineer said it was General Store-cracker barrel talk at the time, and a hot-button topic. The engineer also told of the experiences of an Exeter High Street pillar of society, who around 1978, on more than one occasion, saw a round UFO hovering outside an upper story window. The woman, who lived a short distance from the PEA walking trails (and curiously close to the domed, PEA Grainger Astrological Observatory), could see the occupants inside the UFO, said the engineer. She became concerned after seeing the craft a number of times, but was ridiculed when she shared her experience. She vowed she would never speak of it again. With his molecules almost at a boil, the engineer bubbled out, "Do you know what she said they looked like?" After a pause, he sighed, "She said they did not really look that much different from us." UFO Safaris Nighttime UFO safaris have been particularly popular in the Exeter area quadrant, especially during UFO flaps. Robert E. Cahill, in his book "New England's Visitors from Outer Space," told of such a safari that he and two pals took with the late Betty Hill in Kingston (her parents and sister had homes in Kingston). The group first went to a railroad junction and adjacent power lines where Hill said saucers frequently stopped. Hill then took them to a "secret airfield" which was a turned over farm field, secluded by "high trees and bushes." After six hours and a few beers, the men ended their unproductive vigil. Les Cooper, a retired social studies teacher, perennially popular with his students, and a dedicated collector of Exeter ephemia, resides in a family homestead tucked behind Exeter Hospital. The scholarly gentleman said his mother and stepfather, who enjoyed taking UFO safaris about the Exeter quadrant, were on more than one occasion successful in their quest. Cooper said that many people saw UFOs at the time. He added that at the height of the UFO fervor, a woman from Hampton took people on guided tours in search of UFOs. The precedent for nighttime UFO safaris had been set by the "Incident at Exeter," when for weeks dozens of cars took nightly excursions to the notorious field. The owner of the land was forced to block off his property with wire and post "Keep Out" signs against the curiosity seekers, who littered the roadside with beer cans and cigarettes. It may be an advantageous time for UFO enthusiasts who hope for a sighting. Just two weeks ago, a young woman was on her way to work at 3:30 a.m. to put on the coffee for sleepy commuters. She drove an extra loop to allow time to listen to her favorite music. She was startled out of her solitude when a UFO passed above her at the junction of Ash Swamp Road and Route 88. The early morning store opener requested anonymity to avoid potential teasing from her jocular morning patrons. The bio-region of UFO interest encompasses lonely roads that wind through and past such places as Shaws Hill, Giles Hill, Hog Hill Swamp, Bugsmouth Hill, Wild Pasture Lane, Trundle Bed Lane and Stumpfield Road. The heart of the region is bisected by Drinkwater Road. On the side opposite Great Meadows ("Incident") is another large swamp of marsh and mire known as The Cove. Two electrical power lines penetrate the interior of each swamp. The Cove is bounded to the east by Route 88, a vicinity of many UFO sightings. Are these isolated power lines used by UFOs to draw off energy? According to the aforementioned engineer, a craft was seen by a number of people, hovering above high tension lines in the Pine Road area of Brentwood in the 1960's. Projecting from the UFO, he said, was a silver tube line that ran right down to the electrical lines. It might be concluded that there has been a continually utilized UFO window in the Exeter quadrant since the town's founding. These are factors that may be leading to the renewed interest and resurgence of "visitors" to the area. A revived Portsmouth Naval Shipyard with a new generation of nuclear submarines, and a second reactor at Seabrook Station looming in John McCain's planned nuclear renaissance, combined with a world in turmoil, follows an historic pattern of such events that seem to magnetize the interest and concern of UFO occupants. Are they once again being drawn to Exeter? Exeter Quadrant? The Exeter quadrangle (NW/4 Exeter 15') is made up of several towns, including many that were part of the original Exeter. From north to south, the quadrant includes Stratham, Kensington, South Hampton and Newton. From east to west it includes Hampton, Hampton Falls, Kingston, East Kingston, Fremont, Brentwood and Epping. UFO SAFARI? Would you be interested in taking a UFO safari in Exeter? If so, contact writer Dean Merchant by e-mailing features@seacoastonline.com. If enough people are interested, we will put together a detailed map and information.
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EXETER'S UFO WINDOW