The Pentagon released over a hundred newly declassified files related to UFOs (now officially referred to as Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, or UAP) on last month, including a handful of pages and memos about mysterious, flaming metal fragments that landed in a field in West Rindge in 1947, and the classified investigation that followed. This is the story NHPR has pieced together from the incident summary sheet and official communications and memos from the Boston FBI Field Office to the director of the FBI.
A porchside discovery
At 3 p.m. on July 7, 1947, retiree Charles N. Tasker was sitting on Earl Whitehead’s porch in West Rindge when he observed “little curls of smoke, which on inspection disclosed small burned spots about one and one half inches in diameter on the green lawn,” according to a now-declassified report from the FBI.
Nearby, on Route 202, “several little blazes had started” in the long dry grass on both sides of the road, creating a circle about 200 feet in diameter that seemed to be caused by small metallic fragments.
Tasker called the local fire department to extinguish the small fires while a fellow observer, a “Mr. Appel,” gave the metallic fragments to researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to study, where Dr. John W. Bunker, dean of the graduate school, led the research team and reported the findings to the Boston FBI field office.
The examination
The first step in studying the metallic fragments was to identify what they were made of. Using a spectrograph, which studies light waves to determine the material composition of objects, scientists at MIT found the metallic fragments were ordinary iron that had been “subjected to terrific heat,” which caused scales to form and thus created cast iron.
Where did the iron fragments come from?
Given that Tasker found the metal pieces in the grass about 700 feet from a railroad track, the researchers hypothesized that the fragments could be from the liner in a smoke stack or some other part of a steam engine. However, further testing ruled out that theory.
If not a train . . . then a plane?
One metallurgist at MIT speculated that the fragments could be the lining from a jet turbo plane.
But another scientist was unsure that the fragments were from an airplane, because if the fragments came from something at high altitude, most of the heat would have left by the time they reached the ground, meaning they wouldn’t be able to start the fires in the grass that Tasker observed.
And yet, if the iron fragments had originally been part of a larger object that fell a great height, this large iron object could have retained enough heat to start a fire, and probably would have smashed into smaller pieces upon striking the ground.
The scientists attempted to reconstruct this hypothetical larger object from the metallic fragments, finding they had most likely been part of one hollow cylinder that was 8 inches in diameter, 3/16th inches thick, and made using machinery.
Professor J. Francis Reintjes, an assistant professor in electrical engineering at MIT, (referred to as “Rentges” in the reports), thought the metallic fragments looked similar to the lining of V-2 missiles he had observed in New Mexico.
In the late 1940s, the US had been adapting and testing the V-2 missiles designed by Nazi Germany in World War II to study space and the Earth’s atmosphere. The MIT scientists thought that cast iron cylinders of that size had been used during that research. However, the theory wasn’t definitive enough to “conclude to the exclusion of all other possibilities,” according to the final memo written to the director of the FBI.
A point for intelligent life beyond Earth?
Even 80 years ago, extraterrestrial theories floated around.
The American UFO craze had begun on June 24, 1947, when the first “flying saucer” observation was made in the Pacific Northwest. By June 25, the press had picked up an amateur pilot’s report of some “unidentified flying object” that was then referred to as both a “flying saucer” and “flying disk."
The incident report in West Rindge is from just a few weeks later in July, with the memos to the director of the FBI from later that month. In those memos, there are several handwritten notes, with “FLYING DISCS” written on both of them.
But how does this theory hold up today?
“I think it’s great that these documents came out; I don’t know if they are the smoking gun that we wanted them to be,” said Michael Panicello, the New England regional director of the Mutual UFO Network.
Panicello, like the scientist Reintjes at MIT, wondered if the metal was space debris from the V-2 rocket research happening in New Mexico.
But Panicello said this doesn’t make him rule out that the fragments could be a sign of extraterrestrial life.
“I’m not trying to be a debunker. I’m definitely not. I believe in aliens,” Panicello said. “But . . . it’s kind of hard to jump right to the UFO alien connection when you can’t truly rule out man-made objects.”
Fragments of a rocket?
At least one scientist thinks it is unlikely the fragments came from man-made rockets or objects launched into space, simply because of the material of which they are made.
“There would be very little reason to make any sort of space object out of iron because its strength to weight ratio just is not as good as something like aluminum, which is practically what all spacecraft are primarily made out of these days,” said James Clemmons, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of New Hampshire.
Clemmons also found it peculiar that these metal fragments were made of cast iron, as it is not considered very strong.
“To me, cast iron is a very crude thing, and the idea that crude things go into space purposefully is also kind of odd,” Clemmons said.
The V-2 launches took place at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Jenn Jett, a Museum Specialist at the White Sands Missile Range Museum in New Mexico, said via email that “V-2s being launched at White Sands typically landed within the White Sands boundary within a distance of 100 miles,” with the rare exception of landings in other parts of New Mexico and Juarez, Mexico.
Considering New Hampshire is over 2,000 miles from New Mexico, it would appear there is no way for any rocket debris to get anywhere close.
Furthermore, V-2 rockets were made primarily of steel. While steel’s main ingredient is in fact iron, the initial scientists determined the metal to be made of cast iron, which Clemmons said is very different.
“I would expect that the MIT scientists could distinguish between steel and iron,” Clemmons said.
So if these metal fragments are not from the classified V-2 rockets, nor from the nearby railroad, what could they be?
Might it be a meteorite?
According to NASA, more than 50,000 meteorites have been found on Earth. While most meteorites are stony, metal meteorites made of iron do make it down to the ground on occasion.
However, Richard Binzel, a professor of planetary science at MIT, said the written accounts were “not consistent with meteorites.”
“[Meteorites] do not arrive ‘hot’ when they land and would not spark a fire,” Binzel said. “While there are iron meteorites, their metal composition is distinctive, and the early analysis would have immediately declared the fragments as meteorites.”
Where are the fragments now?
The final memo to the director of the FBI in the recently released files stated that “unless advised to the contrary by August 15, 1947, the Boston Office will destroy these specimens. In the interim they will be transmitted to the Bureau on specific Bureau instructions.”
NHPR contacted the Boston Field Office of the FBI to confirm whether the metal fragments had been destroyed. In response, the Boston Field Office said, “At this point in time, we haven’t been able to locate any records responsive to your request.”
This isn’t New Hampshire’s only potential counter with extraterrestrials. In 1961, Portsmouth residents Betty and Barney Hill famously had one of the first alleged UFO abduction encounters in the country, and Exeter has an annual UFO festival revolving around a famed 1965 incident nearby.
As for the mystery metal from West Rindge, theories about rocket debris and meteorites have come up short of solid evidence. For now, no one can conclusively determine the origins of the cast-iron fragments near Route 202. This unidentified anomalous phenomenon remains a mystery left unsolved.
