Mt. Washington, New Hampshire 1870

This photo is commonly known as the oldest photograph of a UFO on record. In 1870 there were no planes and no digital manipulation.

Location

The photo was taken of the summit of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire during Winter 1870–1871.

Map

{{#display_map: 44.273478,-71.305357~Mt. Washington, New Hampshire~The mountain shown in the photograph. | zoom={{{zoom}}} | height=400 | type=map }} {{#geocode:44.273478,-71.305357|format=dms|directional=yes}}

Technology used

The photo was taken as a stereoview.

Author

Clough & Kimball, Concord, New Hampshire

UFO appearance

The UFO appears as a cigar shaped object on top of a cloud formation.

Criticism

A list of photographs in the same series.

The photograph is said to depict frost formations on the mountain and not a cloud formation as was originally thought. . This photograph was one of 27 in the series and it's name is 'Frost architecture'. Looking through the rest of the series it's plain to see that the photographer was more interested in capturing the interesting frost on the summit of the mountain and the UFO object could simply be a building or other object seen from afar. It's difficult to get perspective on the size of the object we're seeing since there is no point of reference.

Another photograph from the same series.