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New Hampshire, for what it’s worth, also has a highway marker commemorating an alien abduction. Located on the southbound side of highway 3 through Franconia No

New Hampshire, for what it’s worth, also has a highway marker commemorating an alien abduction. Located on the southbound side of highway 3 through Franconia Notch, it reads. Betty and Barney Hill Incident On the night of September 19-20, 1961, Portsmouth, NH couple Betty and Barney Hill experienced a close encounter with an unidentified flying object and two hours of "lost" time while driving south on Rte 3 near LIncoln. They filed an official Air Force Project Blue Book report of a brightly-lit cigar-shaped craft the next day, but were not public with their story until it was leaked in the Boston Traveler in 1965. This was the first widely-reported UFO abduction report in the United States. Ya can’t make this stuff up! Oh, wait …

tradd 7y ago
Go to the Irving Express right off the highway, and you can get the full experience.
chrisseaton 7y ago
> This was the first widely-reported UFO abduction report in the United States. That's the key bit. UFO abduction mythos was an important part of later 20th century US culture, linked to the space race, the US's standing post-war, the Cold War, and popular media. It is interesting that it started there, even if you don't believe it for a second. Similar to how England commemorates King Arthur even though nobody's sure if he even existed.
tgb 7y ago
Not a state historical marker but the NH town of New Boston has a plaque in the center of town honoring the anti-gravity research done nearby.
- rgacote 7y ago
  And that was pretty serious research at the time. The Gravity Research foundation was founded by Roger Babson (who also founded Babson College). At the time, the nature of gravity was not well understood. If it was a "wave" then it could be blocked, i.e Anti Gravity! The New Boston historical society has a nice link, as does Wikipedia (which mentions Edison suggesting the idea to Babson): http://www.newbostonhistoricalsociety.com/gravity.html http://www.newbostonhistoricalsociety.com/gravity.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_Research_Foundation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_Research_Foundation An annual essay contest lives on. Several Nobel lauriets have won that prize including well recognized names like Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose.

tradd 7y ago

Go to the Irving Express right off the highway, and you can get the full experience.

chrisseaton 7y ago

> This was the first widely-reported UFO abduction report in the United States. That's the key bit. UFO abduction mythos was an important part of later 20th century US culture, linked to the space race, the US's standing post-war, the Cold War, and popular media. It is interesting that it started there, even if you don't believe it for a second. Similar to how England commemorates King Arthur even though nobody's sure if he even existed.

tgb 7y ago

Not a state historical marker but the NH town of New Boston has a plaque in the center of town honoring the anti-gravity research done nearby.

rgacote 7y ago
And that was pretty serious research at the time. The Gravity Research foundation was founded by Roger Babson (who also founded Babson College). At the time, the nature of gravity was not well understood. If it was a "wave" then it could be blocked, i.e Anti Gravity! The New Boston historical society has a nice link, as does Wikipedia (which mentions Edison suggesting the idea to Babson): http://www.newbostonhistoricalsociety.com/gravity.html http://www.newbostonhistoricalsociety.com/gravity.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_Research_Foundation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_Research_Foundation An annual essay contest lives on. Several Nobel lauriets have won that prize including well recognized names like Stephen Hawking and Roger Penrose.