Meet the American who reported the first sensational UFO encounters, Puritan leader John Winthrop

Unidentified flying objects soared into American popular culture with the dawn of the jet age in the 1940s.

UFOs, it turns out, have mystified Americans since the earliest days of colonial settlement. 

The first known UFO encounter in America was recorded in 1639 by pious Puritan and prolific journal-keeper John Winthrop. He is a foundational figure in the national pantheon and leader of the Massachusetts Bay Colony as it settled Boston. 

Winthrop’s sensational account of "a great light in the night" was witnessed by a group of "sober, discreet" and "credible persons" over Muddy River in Boston — a trickle of a creek that today wraps around American sports landmark Fenway Park.