PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Berkshires are a being featured in a new episodes of "Unsolved Mysteries" that are being launched this summer by Netflix.
The first episode is "Berkshires UFO" and will premiere on Wednesday, July.
This episode was partially filmed last year in various parts of the Local History Department at the Berkshire Athenaeum.
"According to the show's producer, the Berkshires UFO episode is so strong that it was chosen as the lead episode," said the library's acting Supervisor Ann-Marie Harris.
The library also helped to supply some history and information on an unidentified flying object sighting and encounter that occurred in September of 1969 in Sheffield, said Harris, an incident that the Great Barrington Historical Society recognizes as "historically significant and true."
"In that incident, it is reported that Thom Reed, his brother, mother and grandmother were mysteriously taken from their car by a UFO," Harris said.
Netflix, a subscription streaming service, will be launching six episodes in July and six episodes in October.
The story's been featured on television several times before and is featured at the International UFO Museum And Research Center in Roswell, N.M. The Reeds' claim of an encounter with aliens was the pilot episode of "Alien Mysteries," a Discovery Channel Canada show, in 2013. The Reeds, brothers Matt and Thomas, say they've had four encounters with aliens, three in the 1960s, one of which included their mother and grandmother, and a fourth by Matt in 2009 in Indiana.
The brothers say they have documentation of sightings by others during the 1069 event and radiation and magnetic anomilies around the times of the encounters.
Thomas Reed had installed a monument to the encounter on Boardman Street in Sheffield in 2016 that lead to several years of controversy; the town ordered it removed off public property and then found the second location was in a public right of way. It was hauled away a year ago.
The Great Barrington Historical Society & Museum in 2015 formally inducted the UFO story, noting the number of witnesses of unidentified flying objects that included call-ins to the radio station around the time the Reeds' story of the 1969 encounter.
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Pittsfield Celebrates Robert 'Bob' Presutti on Arbor Day
By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
Bob Presutti, right, is presented the Hebert Award in 2017 for his volunteer efforts at Springside Park. He died in 2023 at age 88.
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A tree has been planted next to the Berkshire Athenaeum in honor of local "giant" Robert Presutti.
Officials celebrated Arbor Day on Friday by installing a commemorative plaque next to the American elm sapling. This is a tree that James McGrath, the city's park program manager, said Presutti would have been particularly proud of.
"Today is a day where we yes, celebrate trees, but today is also a day where here in the city we intentionally try to acknowledge the good work of folks in our community who spend their time and their efforts and their talents to make Pittsfield a more beautiful place," he said to a crowd of about 20 people.
"Today we are honoring a longtime community volunteer named Bob Presutti. I'm sure a lot of you here know Bob and know his contributions to the city, not only when it comes to trees and parks but also to the Retired Senior Volunteer Program."
The longtime volunteer passed away last year at the age of 88. He contributed more than 10,600 hours to RSVP and had great impacts on the Parks Department over the years from sharing his knowledge and talents to ensuring that workers were safe when working on trees.
"This morning I went through my emails to see how many emails Bob Presutti sent me since the year 2001 when I started with the city. Bob Presutti sent me 14,000 emails and nearly every single one of those was about trees," McGrath said, prompting laughter and smiles from attendees.
One thread struck him as particularly important because it showed Presutti's empathy when it comes to the safety of city workers while caring for trees.
"There were multiple emails from Bob about the need to get the Parks Department maintenance guys into a program learning about chainsaw safety and learning about ladder safety. He was really into making certain that our city workers were well cared for and had all of the instruction that they needed and in fact, he even offered his own time and services after he became certified to teach our city workers," McGrath said.
Officials celebrated Arbor Day on Friday by installing a commemorative plaque next to the American elm sapling. This is a tree that James McGrath, the city's park program manager, said Presutti would have been particularly proud of.
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Albert Ingegni III was applauded for four decades of service on the Zoning Board of Appeals during City Council. Mayor Peter Marchetti presented him with a certificate of thanks for his commitment to the community.
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The Ordinances and Rules subcommittee on Monday unanimously supported a pay raise for election workers, free downtown parking for veterans, and safeguards to better protect wetlands.
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