‘Unsolved Mysteries’ on Netflix: Even More Info on the Berkshires UFO

Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries revival totally updates the show’s vibe for the 21st century while still feeling like the same show—except there’s one major difference when it comes to the viewing experience. No, I’m not talking about the lack of Robert Stack (RIP), although his presence is sorely missed. I’m talking about the fact that we can now watch Unsolved Mysteries with Google at our fingertips. When you watched the show back in the ’90s, you just had to trust that these random people were telling the entire story about their lost love, haunted bed and breakfast, or bigfoot encounter. But now, thanks to the internet, everyone can be their own amateur sleuth—and you just know there are plenty more facts waiting to be uncovered.

That’s definitely the case with Episode 5, of Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries, a chapter titled “Berkshires UFO.” The episode dives deep into the local mythology of a truly out of this world incident. While the episode has plenty of new facts that will definitely capture the attention of even the most seasoned UFO experts, there were still parts of this story that were left out. Here’s what “Berkshires UFO” didn’t get into.

The Berkshires UFO is a comparatively deep cut.

A few UFO-related stories have made it to the mainstream, like Roswell and the Phoenix Lights. Travis Walton’s story was turned into the truly unsettling film Fire in the Sky, and Unsolved Mysteries has done its fair share of UFO episodes. The Berkshires incident, though, is mostly just known to hardcore UFOlogists. In fact, most of the people featured in the episode are seemingly going on the record for the first time. Those people include Jane Green, Jane Shaw, Nancy Reed, Melanie Kirchdorfer, and Eddie Gulotta—although you can find references to Green and Gulotta in this article from May 2018.

Thom Reed is a UFO celebrity.

While the large-scale Berkshires incident isn’t as well-known, one of the people interviewed in the episode is a UFO celebrity: Thom Reed. In fact, he’s been the most—if not the only—person to consistently speak up about the Berkshires incident for the past decade. His family was the subject of a 2013 episode of Discovery Channel Canada’s Alien Mysteries. Reed has since stated his displeasure at that episode, saying it sensationalized his story. Reed was also a featured speaker at 2015’s International UFO Congress, held in Arizona.

The Berkshires incident wasn’t Thom Reed’s first alien encounter.

It was his third. He says he was first abducted in 1966 and then in 1967; both of those times he claims to have been snatched from his bedroom. The third story, as seen in the episode, involved his brother, mother, and grandmother all experiencing missing time while driving over the Sheffield Bridge. Thom Reed has also described the aliens he saw during the encounters, saying they were ant-like with human features and football-shaped heads. Reed’s brother Matt also had a fourth encounter in Brownsburg, Indiana in 2009.

The Berkshires are still a UFO hotspot.

There were reported sightings before the 1969 incident, and they’ve occurred regularly in the decades since—all the way up to the summer of 2015.

The state of Massachusetts believes the Berkshires UFO story—sorta?

In February 2015, the Great Barrington Historical Society & Museum formally inducted Reed’s story, declaring that they “believe it is true… based on the evidence we’ve been given.” The decision wasn’t unanimous; three of the board’s nine members “strongly opposed” the induction, but that didn’t stop the story from getting a seal of approval.

Then in November 2015, Governor Charles Baker issued a formal citation to Reed commending him on his story of “the off-world incident” being formally recognized. Wow, right?!

Things changed a few years later, though, when the governor’s office issued a statement saying that Baker’s staff added his signature to the citation in error. And when you look at the citation, it’s clear to see why it was erroneous: the thing is written in all caps and is riddled with grammatical errors. And while the historical society hasn’t walked back its induction, they have admitted that it was a “professional embarrassment” and said they should have focused on the town’s collective experience and not just Reed’s.

A monument for the Berkshires UFO incident was erected to great controversy.

Perhaps emboldened by the votes of confidence from the historical society and the governor, Reed and locals erected a $5,000 monument to the event in August 2015. The white, granite obelisk sat near the very bridge where Reed claims his family experienced missing time. The obelisk had a quote from the governor’s citation mounted on it.

The monument was vandalized weeks later, and that was just the first problem. The monument was originally placed on what was determined to be town property, so it was relocated to another spot near the bridge on private farmland. Then the town did some investigating and determined that that private farmland was actually town property as well. After a whole lot of legal back and forth, the town removed the obelisk in June 2019, against Reed’s wishes. Reed retained a lawyer and plans to fight the decision.

If you have any more information about the Berkshires UFO incident, do what the episode tells you to do and go to unsolved.com.

Stream "Berkshires UFO" on Netflix