Case file · Abduction
Labor Day 1969 Berkshire UFO incident
On the night of 1 September 1969, families in Sheffield and Great Barrington, Massachusetts, later said a disc or 'white orb' had moved them with a beam of light and cost them hours of time.
1969 CE · 42.11, -73.36 · status: claim
The account
The best-known account, from Thom Reed's family, is set near Sheffield's Old Covered Bridge; another comes from Lake Mansfield in Great Barrington. Over 250 witnesses have been claimed. Sheffield opened a riverside park in 2015 with a monument, later replaced by a governor's citation that Governor Charlie Baker said was signed in error.
The sceptical view
No police or newspaper report from 1969 has been found, and local historians disagree about the story.