Exeter UFO Festival 2026: The Strange NH Story Behind It

If you happen to see aliens walking around downtown Exeter this weekend, don't panic.

Well, maybe panic a little if they're actually getting out of a spaceship.

2026 Exeter UFO Festival, Saturday and Sunday, September 5 and 6, 2026

And when I first saw this, I had a pretty obvious question:

Why does Exeter, New Hampshire, have a UFO festival?

Turns out there's a VERY good reason.

Exeter is connected to one of the most famous UFO sightings in American history, involving an 18-year-old kid, multiple police officers, Pease Air Force Base and an object hovering over a field that nobody could quite explain.

And it happened almost exactly 61 years ago.

Which brings me to the Exeter UFO Festival. When I first heard about this, I had a pretty obvious question:

Why does Exeter, New Hampshire, have an entire UFO festival?

Nothing says “this story is about to get weird” quite like an 18-year-old walking down a dark New Hampshire road at 2 a.m.

We're gonna have to go waaaayyyy back to the early morning hours of September 3, 1965.

As the story goes... 18-year-old Norman Muscarello was walking and hitchhiking home along Route 150 in Kensington, just outside Exeter, when he said he spotted something very strange near a field.

Muscarello described a large, silent object with bright red lights flashing in sequence hovering low above the area.

According to accounts of the incident, whatever it was appeared to move toward him, frightening him.

Eventually, a passing driver picked him up and brought him to the Exeter Police Department.

If the story ended there, maybe you write it off as a teenager seeing something strange in the middle of the night.

Except it didn't.

Exeter Police Went Back With Him

Exeter police officer Eugene Bertrand Jr. took Muscarello back to the area to investigate.

And Bertrand said "he saw the strange lights too".

Another Exeter officer, David Hunt, was called to the scene and also reported seeing the object before it eventually disappeared into the distance.

Now you had an 18-year-old and two police officers reporting something they couldn't explain.

And remember, this was happening just down the road from Pease Air Force Base.

The incident eventually became part of the U.S. Air Force's Project Blue Book, which investigated UFO reports across the country.

Possible explanations included military aircraft and exercises happening in the region, but the witnesses maintained that what they saw didn't behave like a conventional airplane.

Ultimately, there was never an explanation everyone could agree on.

There were no clear photographs, no recovered spacecraft and, unfortunately, no little green guys hanging out at Pease.

It simply means the mystery of what those people saw that night has stuck around for more than 60 years.

The story became nationally known as the “Incident at Exeter,” and journalist John G. Fuller even wrote a 1966 book about the case.

BTW - Every restaurant in Exeter this weekend 👇

And That's Why Exeter Has a UFO Festival

I love that Exeter didn't run from this story. They basically said...

“Fine. We're the UFO town. Let's sell T-shirts.”

The festival takes over downtown Exeter September 5 and 6, 2026 with UFO speakers, vendors, food, kids activities, an alien costume parade, an alien pet costume contest and, yes, even alien belly dancing.

So... if you're wondering if I'll be participating in the alien belly dancing portion of the weekend, the answer is absolutely not. Nobody needs that footage.

This year's festival has another famous New Hampshire UFO connection. Kathleen Marden, niece of Betty and Barney Hill, is scheduled to speak about their alleged 1961 alien encounter in the White Mountains.

This might be my favorite part of the whole thing: The festival is a fundraiser.

Organizers say the profits support local children's charities and community programs around the Seacoast.

So all the aliens and UFO weirdness actually help local kids.

Final Thoughts on this whole thing

If aliens travel millions of light-years just to visit New Hampshire, I hope somebody at least takes them to Market Basket.

So my advice is... If you see five red lights hovering over a field... maybe just keep driving.