Somerville, MA being encounter — September 1938

Malcolm B. Perry recalled seeing an unusual airborne object while walking home in Somerville, Massachusetts, in 1938. The Atlas dates the event to September, whereas HUMCAT-derived accounts describe summer. It was reported long afterward, rather than documented in a located newspaper account from 1938. A later source places Perry’s report to NICAP in April 1964, making the delay an important part of the record. The object approached from the east and resembled a silver blimp, but Perry noticed no gondola, propeller or engine sound. Several windows or portholes were visible along its side. At one he saw a seated silhouette apparently looking toward him; other figures seemed to move behind adjacent windows. Some later descriptions emphasize elongated heads and sloping shoulders, but clear facial features were not established. Perry said he felt an unexpectedly friendly familiarity and an impulse to wave. The object continued westward and disappeared among clouds. The accessible accounts do not record a landing, conversation, vehicle effect or physical trace. Coral and Jim Lorenzen’s work and later catalogue retellings preserve the story, but their repetition is not independent corroboration of the original sighting. The reconstruction uses a year-only title and indistinct window silhouettes, with the neighborhood and witness appearance treated as illustrative details.