UFO tv
Second annual Exeter UFO Festival attracts TV producers
EXETER — Two nationally recognized TV producers of programs on ghost and UFO sightings will film around Exeter as part of the second annual Exeter UFO Festival, planned for Saturday of Labor Day weekend.
Ron Milione and his partner Chris Carey will film and study the area made famous in John Fuller’s “Incident at Exeter,” as well as other places, for a future documentary. The interest on a national level is no surprise to festival chairman Dean Merchant, who says Exeter could become “as big as Roswell.”
Northern exposure
Milione is the producer of “UFO Hunters” and “Ghost Hunters” on the History Channel. He’s been a long-time researcher on the topic and has read “Incident At Exeter.” He’s also a good friend of Kathy Marden, Betty Hill’s niece, and recently did an episode about the Hill’s sightings in the 1960s.
Milione said, “I visited Exeter years ago, and knew something significant was going on there, in spite of the military telling local people it was just aerial phenomena.” He said he’s in the process of writing his own book about the Incident at Exeter, and has “today’s technology to put a great sequel book together!”
Why Exeter? “It makes sense, in both a logistical and logical way,” Milione said. Pease Air Force Base was active in the 1960s, and there were also submarines at Portsmouth. It was also the height of the Cold War. Milione and Carey plan to film the sites with an emphasis on, “What is their motivation? Why would they come here?” They will film, discuss, talk with people from that era, and use their special equipment to find answers.
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For Milione, coming to the Seacoast is coming full circle. As a child, he read extensively on UFOs, and found one of his landmark books to be “Interrupted Journey,” John Fuller’s account of Portsmouth couple Betty and Barney Hill’s encounter with aliens. “I went, ‘Wow, incredible, this really happened,’”‰” Milione recalled.
Downtown
Exeter’s downtown merchants will also be on hand Sept. 4 with out-of-this-world promotions. For example, the Loaf and Ladle will offer its UFO Whoopie Pies.
Merchant and the committee has a special interest in seeing visitors patronize the downtown shops. The Aliens Seek, a downtown-wide scavenger hunt, is designed for children 12 and under. Participating businesses will place a 3-inch green plastic alien some place among their wares and children who “sight” the alien can turn it in for a gift certificate or other prize. “Starship Central” is Santerre’s Stones and Stuff, and “Admiral” Elana Santerre will distribute the prizes.
“It’s hard,” said Elana’s husband, Neil Santerre, co-owner, “not to believe in something outside ourselves. I have meteors and other items from space in my store.”
The festival, Santerre said, is an “awesome way to draw in a little different kind of person, who wouldn’t ordinarily come to Exeter.”
Linda Anason, owner of Art and Tiques, an antiques and collectibles shop, calls herself a skeptic. “I’d like to think there’s someone other than us,” she said.
But she’s a true believer in downtown festivals, especially this one. “The whole family can be involved,” Anason said. “I’m psyched and I think it will be fun.”
There will be a children’s costume contest, games, crafts and stories, he said. The Morlocks will return for the Saturday-night Alien Ball. And there will be an Alien Pet Costume Contest with Seacoast Media Group’s own Gina Carbone as judge. “A guinea pig won third prize at Roswell,” Merchant said.
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