Incident or event · event

Exeter Incident

Name: Exeter Incident
Start: 1965-09-03

1965-09-03what this date marks is not recorded

Sighting at Exeter, New Hampshire in the early hours of 3 September 1965, reported by hitchhiker Norman Muscarello and then by Exeter patrolmen Eugene Bertrand and David Hunt. The Air Force attributed the earlier sightings to an 8th Air Force refuelling exercise, Operation Big Blast Coco, but classified the officers' later observation as unidentified. Blue Book's chief, Maj. Hector Quintanilla, confirmed to Congress on 5 April 1966 that it was unexplained - while denying the radar contact and scrambled fighters claimed in John Fuller's magazine account.

In the UAP recordRuled into the unidentified-phenomena thread on 2 September 2026 from this entity's own name and role text, which contain: "blue book". An editorial classification of what thread this entity belongs to; it rests on no page and does not claim to. Neighbours were not used - see apply-subjects-2026-09-02.mjs for why.

11 of 11 connections resolve to a document you can open.

1 note on how this record was made

Documents1 behind a connection

Documents behind a connection

Unidentified Flying Objects 1966-04-05

11 connections

ColourWhistleblowersJournalistsScientistsGovernmentHearings & panelsOrganizations

← Norman Muscarello

the first witness; reported being chased by the object

Unidentified Flying Objects
printed p. 6016 checked against the page
← Eugene Bertrand

responding patrolman who saw the object at close range

same document as the row above
printed p. 6016 checked against the page
← David Hunt

responding patrolman; co-signed the rebuttal to Blue Book

same document as the row above
printed p. 6016 checked against the page
← Hector Quintanilla Jr.

signed the Air Force letter saying the investigation indicated a possible association with Operation Big Blast, and that no final evaluation could yet be made

same document as the row above
printed p. 6041 checked against the page
← Raymond E. Fowler

investigated it for NICAP and pressed the Air Force for its evaluation

same document as the row above
printed p. 6016 checked against the page
← NICAP document, no page cited yet

backed the investigation and submitted its complete file to Congress

same document as the row above
→ Project Blue Book

Blue Book evaluated it; part of the sighting was left unidentified

same document as the row above
printed p. 6039 · PDF p. 51 checked against the page
← J. Allen Hynek

told the subcommittee "We don't know what it was. I would like to know what it was."

same document as the row above
printed p. 6074 checked against the page
← John G. Fuller document, no page cited yet

his Look magazine account was Hynek's main source on the case

same document as the row above
→ House Armed Services UFO Hearing (1966)

examined across eighteen pages of the hearing record

same document as the row above
printed p. 6016 checked against the page
← John P. Spaulding

signed the Air Force letter recording the officers' sighting as unidentified and the earlier ones as Big Blast

same document as the row above
printed p. 6039 · PDF p. 51 checked against the page

Caveat The same letter is in tension with itself and this connection does not resolve it: two sentences earlier it states that the Big Blast timing "eliminated these aircraft as a possible evaluation of this incident". Whether that contradicts the attribution, or divides the night into two events, turns on what "this incident" means, and the letter does not say. See the folio 6039 passage note.

2 corrections to this record

Generated from the record, not written by hand. Every change keeps what the map used to say, because a correction nobody can see is indistinguishable from never having been wrong.

Exeter Incident → Hector Quintanilla Jr.

signed the Air Force evaluation attributing it to Operation Big Blast

signed the Air Force letter saying the investigation indicated a possible association with Operation Big Blast, and that no final evaluation could yet be made

HE DID NOT SIGN THAT LETTER. The letter attributing the early sightings to Big Blast "Coco" is at folio 6039 and is signed "JOHN P. SPAULDING, Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Air Force, Chief, Civil Branch, Community Relations Division, Office of Information". Quintanilla's own signed letter at 6041 says "Our investigation and evaluation of this sighting indicates a possible association with an 8th Air Force operation, Big Blast" and "Before a 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". Both folios read as an image 2026-08-25.

Exeter Incident → J. Allen Hynek

testified it was listed as unidentified and that he could not explain it

told the subcommittee "We don't know what it was. I would like to know what it was."

WRONG SPEAKER. The words about the case being unexplained are Quintanilla's, at folio 6073, where he answers "That is correct, sir" to "I understand this is an unexplained sighting on your part". Hynek hedges throughout: at folio 6044 he declines to venture a conclusion on a case he had not personally investigated, and at 6074 says only "Yes, sir, but it was in the same area. We don't know what it was. I would like to know what it was." Nowhere on the sheets read does Hynek say the case is listed as unidentified. Folios 6044, 6073 and 6074 read as an image 2026-08-25.

Notes on this record

The incident

The 3 September 1965 sighting near Exeter, New Hampshire.