In the words of FBI Special Agent Fox Mulder, the truth is out there.
“There,” apparently, being the town of Sheffield, Massachusetts, nestled in the southwest corner of the Berkshires on the border of Mount Washington State Forest.
Last Wednesday, a group of about 40 people attended the dedication of a 5,000-pound granite monument near the site of a reported 1969 UFO sighting in the town, according to The Berkshire Eagle. At the time, callers to local radio station WSBS reported seeing a disk-shaped object flying acrobatically through the sky; now, the event has an earth-bound commemoration, paid for by Sheffield community members.
The monument is further vindication for former resident Thomas Reed, who has spent decades telling and retelling the stories of his childhood UFO sightings in the 1960s. The Great Barrington Historical Society formally inducted the account of the 1969 incident in February, describing it as “significant and true,” The Boston Globe reported.
“It’s a good spot, about 300 yards away from where we saw it,” Reed said at the ceremony, according to the Eagle.
The historical society approved the story’s recognition by a six to three vote after reviewing WSBS records and a polygraph test taken by Reed, the Globe reported. Reed has also described multiple traumatic abductions, beginning when he was 6 years old, and in February spoke at International UFO Congress in Arizona.
The monument, an oversized white granite brick, features a plaque touting “the official induction of our nation’s first off-world/UFO incident.”
Debbie Opperman, the historical society’s director, told the Eagle the decision to recognize the sighting has drawn both praise from believers and derision from skeptics — as well as an level of unusual attention for the group.
“Nobody’s asking about the last musket ball we found, that’s for sure,” Opperman said.
The Sheffield account is far from the only reported UFO sighting in Massachusetts. The Air Force’s Project Blue Book, a UFO investigation initiative that operated from 1947 to 1969, includes 1910 reports from the state, according to The Globe.
Check out News 10’s coverage of the monument’s dedication and an interview with Reed below.
