New England UFO Newsletter

History

The New England UFO Study Group (NEUFOSG) was founded in 1959, making it one of the oldest continuously operating civilian UFO organisations in the United States by the time its newsletter launched. Dave Downs became president in 1976 and started the newsletter that July, noting in his opening letter that it was the group's 18th year of operation. Downs edited from 48 Oak Hill Avenue, Attleborough, Massachusetts. Joe Nyman later took over editorial duties, operating from 19 Longmeadow Road, Medfield, Massachusetts 02052. The newsletter ran 26 issues from July 1976 through September 1982.

Publication frequency shifted over the run. Volume 1 (issues 1 through 4, July 1976 to April 1977) appeared roughly quarterly. Volume 2 (issues 5 through 8, May to October 1977) ran more frequently. From issue 9 onward, the newsletter dropped volume numbering and settled into a quarterly pattern, ultimately standardising on three issues per year (January, May, September) by 1982. Domestic subscriptions cost $5.00 for three issues. Overseas surface mail was $7.00; airmail $13.00. Any funds above production costs were donated toward case investigation expenses.

NEUFOSG drew on a network of investigators across the six New England states and maintained close ties to MUFON. Joe Santangelo, the Massachusetts State Director for MUFON, reported through the newsletter (30 Massachusetts UFO reports for 1975 alone). Dave Webb, one of MUFON's specialists in humanoid encounter cases, had compiled over 1,000 humanoid reports and contributed analysis. Andrew Galligan covered Bermuda Triangle disappearances. Ed Fogg ran a UFO knowledge quiz in each issue. Joe Nyman conducted detailed field investigations that became the newsletter's strongest content in its later years.

The newsletter covered a mix of local sightings, national conference reports, and unusual phenomena. The early issues reported on the October 1975 Fort Smith, Arkansas conference (all four major groups: NICAP, APRO, MUFON, CUFOS participated), Hynek's resignation from the National Enquirer Blue Ribbon Panel, and regional sightings from Ipswich (six separate observations of the same object on April 4, 1976) to Rhode Island daytime disc photographs. Later issues tackled the "skyquakes" phenomenon (unexplained explosions from Connecticut to South Carolina), creature encounters near West Point, New York, and government responses to the Cape May, New Jersey coastal explosions of November 1977.