The Alien in the Window: A 19th Century Mystery
Written by Jim Bennett, Visitor Experience Supervisor
Published: October 2026
What is in the first floor window of the Old State House in James B. Marston’s 1801 painting of State Street in Boston? From a distance, it can appear as a human-like figure with a huge oval head and fiery eyes that fits into modern stereotypical depictions of aliens. Closer inspection reveals a possible terrestrial origin.
If not an alien, then what?
According to Revolutionary Spaces historian and Visitor Experience Supervisor Jim Bennett, the figure is unlikely to be a human. In this image, Marston painted several people in the windows, and he was able to achieve a high level of detail when painting their features. They are all white people with rosy cheeks, and observers can clearly distinguish characteristics of their gender and age. If Marston wanted to put a demonic figure in the window of the Old State House, he likely would have been able to make a much clearer rendition of it.
If the figure is not a person, what could it be? Bennett believes that the image is some sort of object. The same bright red “eyes” can be seen in other windows, indicating the presence of things—not beings. Hence why there are red dots seen in the glass in the stores just behind the Old State House. Both of these shops were bookstores at the time, so Marston is likely showing us the red wrapping paper that encased many books at the time.
The shape of the mysterious figure offers another clue. Viewed through a late 18th-century lens, that shape does not suggest a head. Instead, Bennett suggests it could be a shield. The shield shape was popular in many decorative arts at the time. There were shield-shaped chair backs, fire screens, and headstones. But this object may have been something more unique. In the close-up image of it, one can make out a human figure posed between the two red “eyes.” One can also see a dark cross above the figure which looks like the hilt of a sword. There is a well-known image that matches this description in Boston at that time: the seal of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which included a standing figure of a Native man with a sword raised above his head.
The Artist
James B. Marston was a painter not only of canvasses, but of signs and entire buildings as well. In 1802, a few months after he created this painting of State Street, he was working on Centre Street, which would later be renamed Blackstone Street, just on the other side of Faneuil Hall.
Much of the value of Marston’s painting of State Street lies in how he preserved particular details about a neighborhood he knew intimately. Perhaps his detail-oriented eye depicted our only record of a Massachusetts State Seal which was once proudly displayed in the window of the Old State House; or perhaps, as a more pragmatic member of our staff would have it, he is only showing us a lamp.
Either way, one thing is clear: this was no alien. What does the figure look like to you? Tell us on social media @revspaces.
(Massachusetts Historical Society)