By Adam Poulisse
SHEFFIELD -- Matt and Thomas Reed were sitting in their family home on Boardman Street one evening in September 1966 when their first experience with extraterrestrial life occurred, they say. Thomas, who was 6 at the time, recalled flashes of light emitting from the Frisbee-shaped object that landed in their yard. It felt like the pressure in the house changed before the brothers inexplicably found themselves on the other end of their property, face-to-face with beings not of this planet. "I don't run with terminology, but what they looked like was a young, frail human with some characteristics that some might reference as odd-looking beings," Thomas said. "They put off some type of glow," he said. "I was able to see my brother clearly enough." And the Reeds have the evidence to back up their claims, much of which will be presented on March 3 during the premiere of "Alien Mysteries," a new show on the Discovery Channel in Canada. The episode will eventually be aired in the United States. The Reed family's story is the subject of the new series' pilot episode. "The reason we put it first is because they're just regular people who have had amazing experiences," said Sally Karam, the show's producer. "I think their story is, for many reasons, very strong." Close encounters: The 1966 encounter was the first of three with a UFO that the Reed brothers claim to have experienced in Sheffield. Subsequent experiences took place in 1967 and 1969. A fourth encounter took place in 2009 in Brownsburg, Ind.
In the first incident, Matt and Thomas Reed found themselves on the other end of their property, about 700 yards away from their home. The figures walked them onto a nearby spacecraft, one that resembled a "large turtle shell," both of the Reeds said. "It looked a little beat-up," Matt said. "It was well-used." Thomas estimated it to be about 15 feet high and 60 feet round. Aboard, Thomas was shown images of a willow tree and body of water on a large screen, he said. The Reeds don't remember how they got back home. It happened again to the brothers in 1967, when Matt was 5, he said. They were in their bedroom when the bright lights and silence happened again. Then, they inexplicably found themselves back on the spaceship. "The stuff happens very quickly," Thomas said. "You're not sure if it's 2 seconds, or 10 minutes, or 20 minutes." This time, Matt said, it was the visitors' "indoctrination" of the brothers. "They were very intrigued with my cleft foot that I had at the time," he said. "We're walking Petri dishes -- they are either extracting something, or putting something in us." The last UFO encounter in Sheffield that the Reed family reported was in 1969, as the Reed brothers, their mother and grandmother, Marian Burrows, were driving home from Ashley Falls along Route 7. Then the usual tale-tale signs happened again --lights, change in pressure and silence. Thomas was no longer in the car --he "was in what looked like a huge hangar," he said. Each of the four family members recall being in a different section of a spacecraft before the family members inexplicably ended up in the car. "But this time," Thomas said, "my mother was in the passenger seat. At least 40 people saw [the spacecraft] and made reports." A drawing of the UFO that Reed did when he was at school in Sheffield is now hanging in the Roswell Museum in New Mexico. The last reported alien encounter by the Reed family came from Matt Reed when he was living in Brownsburg, Ind. As he was driving home, Matt said, lights appeared and he inexplicably found himself aboard a spacecraft, where "everything kind of glows." He recalled seeing three different types of aliens that night -- a reptilian one, an alien that resembled the kind commonly seen in pop culture and a larger one with elephant skin. "You can't make sense of anything that's happening," Reed said. "They put me on a table. I had something on my head, and it sounded like you were hearing a radio and someone was turning the dials left and right." All of the Reeds share the same Rh-negative blood group. "We don't know the ultimate motivation behind the Reed family, but we think it has something to do with our genetic make-up, or blood type or DNA," Matt Reed said. "We're adamant our grandma knew something." The evidence: Thomas Reed knows that people may have a hard time believing his story. "I know it sounds nuts," he said. "We have a lot of documentation that others don't, and we have a case that went to the U.N." The family's attorney, Robert Blechman, represented the case that went in front of the U.N. on Oct. 2, 1992. Howard Reed, the father and a Select Board member in Canaan, N.Y., died on Oct. 2, 2006 -- 14 years to the day that their case was heard. Before his death, Howard Reed had announced that he was going to write a book about their experiences. Suspicously, the family said, the CDC found a vial containing a deadly virus in his air-conditioning unit, and the building was condemned. The Reed family's claims have been studied by several organizations, including Bigelow Aerospace and the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON). Evidence from the Sheffield incidents include official reports filed in the town, spiked radiation and magnetic readings and witness testimonies. The magnetic field was felt by the Reed family with every incident, Thomas said. "I think that plays a big part in the silence and different feelings you feel," he said. "This happened every time. The change was noticed and recorded." According to reports, a compass needle would spin freely when it was near Matt Reed's car after the 2009 incident. In 2010, Thomas took a polygraph test in his home of Knoxville, Tenn. He was questioned about the 1966 incident, and answered truthfully, according to the polygraph documents. "If you ask me if I think he's a wacko, the answer is no," said Jim Morris, a retired Knoxville Police officer who administered the test at his private practice. "He seems like an ordinary person, and I've dealt with wackos before." An interview with Morris is included in "Alien Mysteries." Frank Kessler, an attorney in Cookeville, Tenn., is working to authenticate the evidence that the Reeds have brought forward. "We're going to take it before a circuit-court judge and have it authenticated," said Debbie Kessler, the law firm's paralegal. "We're hoping to say that instead of [the Reed family] claiming that it happened, they'll be able to say it did happen. Thomas Reed has tangible documents, which is phenomenal in and of itself." The show "Alien Mysteries" uses a green screen to recreate the Sheffield incidents, Karam, the show's producer said. Other parts were filmed on location in Brownsburg, Ind. "We're not trying to debunk anything or present answers," Karam said. "We're providing real-life accounts of people's first-hand experiences." "[Thomas Reed] is so engaging and open about his experience that it's hard to take your eyes off the screen," Karam added. "He feels very, very honest." The Canadian premiere will be unavailable to watch online or in the United States, but should eventually find its way on U.S. television sets. "There is big, big buzz on this series internationally," said Tony Leadman, head of worldwide program distribution at Exploration Distribution, Inc., in a statement. "We are currently in negotiations with several American networks. And we expect to make an announcement on American broadcast dates shortly."
