UFO Summary (Rehoboth, Mass. 3/30/66)

This document is a comprehensive report compiled by the NICAP Massachusetts Investigating Subcommittee regarding a series of UFO sightings that occurred in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, on the evening of March 30, 1966. The report details accounts from three distinct groups of witnesses who observed unidentified aerial phenomena between 8:00 PM and 10:00 PM. Group 1, consisting of four young people, reported seeing an oblong, football-shaped object with pulsating orange or amber lights that hovered, moved slowly, and eventually descended behind trees. Group 2, driving on Route 118, observed a similar object with bright red-orange lights that moved at high speed after hovering. Group 3, including the local postmaster, reported seeing bright red flashing lights in the sky. The NICAP investigators, led by Ernest C. Reid and Raymond E. Fowler, conducted on-the-spot interviews, collected signed data sheets, and performed a radiological survey of the landing site, which yielded no unusual findings. The report highlights that the witnesses were independent of one another and provided consistent descriptions of the objects' behavior, including their ability to hover and move at high speeds. Conversely, the United States Air Force, through intelligence officers at Otis AFB, officially concluded that the sightings were caused by aircraft traffic in the vicinity of Hillsgrove Airport in Warwick, Rhode Island, specifically suggesting that the witnesses had observed landing or taxi lights from aircraft approaching the airport. The NICAP investigators expressed skepticism regarding this official explanation, citing the unique characteristics of the objects and the lack of conventional aircraft identification lights as reported by the witnesses.