Summary

• While California leads in UFO sightings, Massachusetts ranks in the top 20 states for reporting unexplained flying objects.
• The first sighting in Boston in 1639 marked the oldest UFO report in the US, followed by another strange sighting in 1644.
• Creative explanations for UFO sightings have been proposed, but the mystery of what people witnessed in the sky lingers on.

The idea of unidentified flying objects dates back thousands of years. Many believe that locations where some of the strangest things in the US occurred were depicted by cave drawings tens of thousands of years ago showing objects that can not be explained flying in the sky. Egyptian hieroglyphs are thought by some to show evidence of UFOs. Even Native American tribes claim to have a connection to "star people."

Therefore, it is not surprising that as the Puritans set up communities along the East Coast, they too would have stories of the unexplained, marking America's first UFO sighting in a Massachusetts city 400 years ago.

In 1947, the US became obsessed with UFOs. The idea of making the spots where the unidentified objects were seen as travel destinations occurred thanks to the story of Kenneth Arnold, who saw a group of UFOs while flying his small plane near Mount Rainier. This was followed up by the crash of a UFO in Roswell, New Mexico just a few weeks later, bringing visitors to Roswell to enjoy the activities the town had to offer.

But it was not these events in 1947 that were the first UFO sightings in the US, despite them being home to extraterrestrial and UFO hotspots today. That distinction goes to three men hundreds of years ago who saw something in the night sky in Boston they could not explain.

Boston Is The Home Of The First UFO Sighting In The US

The first UFO report came from Boston, Massachusetts in 1639

UFO in the night sky.Shutterstock

Many may not know that the first reported UFO sighting in the US took place in Boston in 1639. James Everell and two other men were rowing their boat on Muddy River and as they looked in the night sky, they saw objects they truly could not explain.

As told by the then-mayor of Boston, John Winthrop via his journal, Everell, who was a "a sober, discreet man" and two other men were rowing their boat on the Muddy River toward the Charles River when they saw a light like nothing ever seen in the night sky before.

"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."

Everell and the other men were in their boat for more than two hours and watched as the light moved incredibly quickly between Boston and neighboring cities two or so miles away.

What helped to bring credibility to Everell's story was that there were "diverse other credible persons" who also saw the light during this time period.

To make matters even more strange, Everell and the other men found that when the light disappeared, they were one mile upstream, despite not remembering having rowed against the current. This led the men to believe that something had mysteriously repositioned them in the river, but they had no explanation as to when it would have happened.

A Second UFO Sighting Was Reported In Boston Five Years Later

In 1644, two strange lights converged in the sky to form the likeness of a human

UFOs in the sky. Shutterstock

Just a short five years later, a second UFO sighting was reported in Boston. Again, in 1644, Winthrop reported in his journal what was witnessed. While the location was not the same as where it was for Everell's sighting, it was over a body of water, which made the account even more curious.

According to Winthrop, three men who were coming into Boston via a boat around midnight saw two bright lights come out of the water and into the sky. When this occurred, the lights moved to the "town cove" and formed the shape of "a man." The lights went at a small distance to the town, and so to the south point, and there vanished away."

Unlike the first UFO sighting that was attempted to be explained away as "ignis fatuus" or light that commonly glows in marshland as organic matter releases gases when decomposing, there was no reasonable explanation for the two lights that seemingly joined to make a human-like form. Whatever it was that the three men saw will likely never be explained.

Massachusetts Reports Thousands Of UFO Sightings Yearly

Massachusetts reported 2,538 UFO sightings in 2023

UFO over a foggy field. Shutterstock

While California holds the record for being the state with the highest number of UFO sightings every year, Massachusetts has its fair share of reports as well. So many, in fact, that the state is in the top 20 in the nation for reporting the unexplained.

Each year, residents and visitors alike in Massachusetts report seeing strange things in the evening sky. With thousands of reports, many wonder if the infamous Bermuda Triangle of Massachusetts, the Bridgewater Triangle, has anything to do with the odd activity.

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