Finding Mrs Moreland - A Curious 1950s New Zealand UFO Case

I recently stumbled upon a quite intriguing story dating back to the heyday of global UFO lore in the late 1950s (link). I couldn't find any related post on ATS so I thought it would be good to provide a case summary with this OP.

The following incident is said to have occured in the early morning hours of July 13, 1959, in Blenheim, New Zealand. On that day, Eileen Moreland, a 42-year-old nurse aide and dairy farmer, allegedly had an encounter with something that apparently defied the laws of known physics, some type of advanced aerial device that would not fit into any aircraft categories known at the time or even today.


THE SIGHTING
Moreland usually got up early in the morning and part of her routine was to look after her dairy cows that she kept in one of several sheds on her property. But this daily routine was soon to turn into an exceptional and life-changing experience. Here goes an excerpt of what she claims to have witnessed one morning back in 1959:

Finding Mrs Moreland

"Half way across the paddock she saw a strange green glow through the low clouds. The green glow broke through the cloud cover and became two lights, 'like eyes or big lamps'. Everything was bathed in an eerie light that overwhelmed her torch.

"It was a horrid sort of colour," she later told a journalist. "My first thought was 'I shouldn't be here' and I made a dive for the trees." From her hiding place among a shelter belt of pine trees, she looked up.

A circular craft about nine metres wide and with a curved glass cockpit silently descended towards her. Two shafts of green light beamed down from its underside. Two rows of small, orange jets shot outwards like spokes from the rim of the disc. The craft suddenly stopped descending and began to hover about four and a half metres from the ground.

The jets disappeared and then reappeared pointing sideways in two rows. The top row span clockwise very fast, while the bottom row moved in the opposite direction, trailing orange flames. The air on this cold July morning became warm and she noticed a low hum. She was "scared stiff", but curious and enchanted by the lights."

When she initially called the police to report her sighting (at about 7am that morning, the actual sighting occurred at 05.40am), she stated that she could see two men inside the craft. Below go some further details about that particular observation:


THE HUMANOID/PILOT
It was only later that Moreland also revealed that she witnessed a one-handed man emerging from the craft, shouting something in a language she couldn't recognize. A drawing, which was created according to Moreland's description as part of the follow-up investigation, revealed astonishing details:



The above image seems to depict some sort of flight gear, hazmat suit or blasting hood, or a combination of all these. One could argue that the design of this suit is well within what 1950s/1960s style concepts were like, both in theory and practice. In a very well-written blogpost about the case, Kandinsky commented on the appearance of the one-handed man as follows:

Reply by Kandinsky
"The missing left hand is one of those details that elevates an account to something more intriguing. In other humanoid encounters such details make them harder to dismiss out of hand.

The encounters with folk wearing suits and helmets probably conform more to our expectations of how visitors might appear. They often have the paraphernalia suggestive of 'different' technology and yet also seem Victorian (Jules Verne) in design which adds even more elements of absurdity to an already absurd scenario."

The sighting itself was followed by an airforce investigation led by Charles Jennings, a decorated officer with a rather scientific mindset who would not easily admit to this being the real deal. Yet, further details emerged: a report of one of his first interviews several days after the sighting mentions that "the craft tilted at an angle of 15 degrees before it shot away and that it hummed at a frequency of 250 Hertz" (these are some very specific details that others have spent much time on when analyzing other UFO cases, also see James McCampbell's studies on UFO patterns here, especially the sections about humming noises and high-pitched sounds). After having spent years on the case Jennings eventually became convinced that Moreland was honest about what she saw that night back in July 1959.

Interestingly, the case was soon classified as top-secret and the whole affair was kept under wraps until the official release of the New Zealand UFO files back in 2010. Several previous requests by researchers to get access to the case files have been declined.

There were even further local witnesses who reported strange lights in the sky around the time of the sighting. For detailed insights regarding this case, and there's much more to it than just this OP, I encourage everyone to read the masterfully crafted article by Charles Gates "Finding Mrs Moreland" and the blogs mentioned in the section "Sources & Links" further below.


Own Assessment
As far as I'm concerned, this is not a particularly strong case by any means. There are lots of other cases with more witnesses and an even more comprehensive documentation. Yet, the amount of details reported by Moreland match up pretty well with other UFO sightings (past and future), like the low hum when hovering, high-pitched noise upon accelerating and departing, the typical colors being "greenish-orange", counter-rotating discs, and possibly also the flight gear of the one-handed pilot. All in all, and although this could of course also be an elaborate hoax, I'm much more inclined to believe that Mrs Moreland in fact saw what she described. Nonetheless, I'm more than curious to find out what others on here think about this case, so have at it ATS!

And as always, thanks for reading up to here!




SOURCES & LINKS:
-----------------------------------------------------
1. Finding Mrs Moreland by Charles Gates
2. More Than Meets The Eye With Moreland by Michael Swords
3. The Moreland Revelations by Bill Chalker
4. ATS Thread on Release of NZ UFO Files
5. NZ UFO Files in the New Zealand National Library

a reply to: jeep3r

Very interesting. Thank you!

Early secret space programme?
Extraterrestrial visitors?
Astral vision?

originally posted by: chris_stibrany
a reply to: jeep3r

Early secret space programme?

Not sure, but I sometimes think some of these sightings could be early black ops projects, covertly executed involving some kind of exotic (perhaps nuclear) propulsion.

I'm mentioning "nuclear" because these sightings are in a way a phenomenon of the nuclear age, at least the number of cases increased during the cold war and it all began shortly after WW2.

By default, any large-scale nuclear projects (apart from RTG's for generating power for planetary probes or Mars rovers) would probably have to be operated secretly due to the potential dangers and public aversion.

But that's of course just me wildly speculating, I'm aware that such a theory wouldn't account for all aspects of the UFO phenomenon.

She's got good eyesight. I would have never been able to recall all of those details of the pilot's suit from apparently so far away.

I expect that the TTSA will try to rebrand this as a "Tic-Tac" also.

originally posted by: Blue Shift
She's got good eyesight. I would have never been able to recall all of those details of the pilot's suit from apparently so far away.

I expect that the TTSA will try to rebrand this as a "Tic-Tac" also.

Absolutely, that level of detail is quite astonishing. It would also be interesting to know "how" the pilot emerged from the craft, I didn't read anything about that but maybe it's mentioned somewhere in the case files.

I was also wondering whether there were any popular stories or films around at the time with characters in similar suits. Something that might have influenced her in some way? Maybe Twilight Zone, Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon?

On the other hand, maybe it's what she really witnessed. Difficult to say or prove either way, but an interesting story nonetheless.

Very interesting thread. This is one of those cases that is just so absurd, so outside the norm, that it's difficult to know what to do with it. The most interesting thing to me is that misidentification just really isn't an option here. Human perception is certainly flawed, but so flawed that some natural occurrence could produce a report with such specific, unique, absurd detail? Surely not. Either she is lying, had some kind of very vivid hallucination, or something 'otherworldly' (but not necessarily extraterrestrial) happened.

If we assume the story is not made up, and I tend to think that most of these encounter type sightings aren't made up, the implications are mind-boggling. The experience this person had, especially when considered as one instance of an experience thousands and thousands of people throughout the world have shared, seems to point directly to some glaring gap in our understanding of reality. But it doesn't seem to tell us anything more about reality... I mean, it shows us (if taken at face value) that our understanding of the universe is wrong, but it doesn't really say how it is wrong. It is hard, for instance, to defend an interpretation of this incident as extraterrestrial visitors. Why would the aliens be wearing gawky, earth-style spacesuits? Why would the alien be missing it's hand? Nothing makes sense. But no other explanation seems to bring us any closer to a reasonable explanation... We are stuck with a total non-sequitur. A piece that just doesn't fit in with the rest of reality.

I think Jacques Vallee once commented on the fact that if the experiencer of a "real" UFO encounter such as this (as opposed to vague lights in the sky) was to tell the full, unedited version of their experience, there would very often be absurd elements that just make it impossible to be taken at face value. I suppose a skeptic would cite this as evidence that these experiences are somehow created in our minds, that they couldn't have happened in reality, but I just don't completely buy this.

originally posted by: jeep3r
I was also wondering whether there were any popular stories or films around at the time with characters in similar suits. Something that might have influenced her in some way? Maybe Twilight Zone, Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon?

On the other hand, maybe it's what she really witnessed. Difficult to say or prove either way, but an interesting story nonetheless.

Commando Cody had a similar control panel on his flight suit.

The hero of the serial "The Vanishing Shadow" (1934) also had a chest-mounted control panel for an invisibility gadget.

originally posted by: thesearchfortruth
I think Jacques Vallee once commented on the fact that if the experiencer of a "real" UFO encounter such as this (as opposed to vague lights in the sky) was to tell the full, unedited version of their experience, there would very often be absurd elements that just make it impossible to be taken at face value. I suppose a skeptic would cite this as evidence that these experiences are somehow created in our minds, that they couldn't have happened in reality, but I just don't completely buy this.

The more absurd, the more I tend to believe the witness is telling the truth as they know it, because they have to know that the crazy stuff would damage their credibility. Even science fiction has to conform to logic, but a real UFO sighting definitely does not.

Vallee thought that this strangeness might be "the phenomenon" trying to communicate with us, but we're too dumb to figure it out. Like when you point at something to show your cat and your cat just looks at your finger.

a reply to: Blue Shift

Yes that's an excellent point, and one of the reasons I don't think many of these encounters are hoaxes.

And that's a very interesting point by Vallee. It's interesting, because at least on some level, the phenomenon is able to communicate with us. There are reports of conversations with entities, for example. And I remember Vallee talking about a case in which the entities needed a witnesses to help them with making some pancakes or something absurd like that.

Here it is, from page 23 in passport to magonia .

One of the men held up a jug apparently made of the same
material as the saucer. His motions to Joe Simonton seemed to
indicate that he needed water. Simonton took the jug, went inside the house, and filled it.
As he returned, he saw that one of
the men iviside the saucer was "frying food on a flameless grill
of some sort." The interior of the ship was black, "the color
of wrought iron." Simonton, who could sec several instrument
panels, heard a slow whining sound, similar to the hum of a
generator. When he made a motion indicating he was interested
in the food that was being prepared, one of the men, who was
also dressed in black but with a narrow red trim along the trousers,
handed him three cookies, about three inches in diameter and
perforated with small holes.

Vallee was discussing a fascinating parallel between this case and traditional fairie- folk lore. A common element of such lore is apparently the giving/receiving of food. He lists several such stories in the pages following the quote above.

It is interesting that the analysis performed for the Air Force
did not mention the presence of salt in the pancakes given to
Simonton. Indeed, Wentz was told by an Irishman who was quite
familiar with the Gentry that "they never taste anything salt, but
eat fresh meat and drink pure water." Pure water is what the
saucer men took from Simonton.

Very interesting. The first time I can recall hearing an alien described as missing one hand.

originally posted by: Blue Shift

Commando Cody had a similar control panel on his flight suit.
The hero of the serial "The Vanishing Shadow" (1934) also had a chest-mounted control panel for an invisibility gadget.

Nice find. Below are some contemporary designs of hazmat suits and blasting hoods, the right most being a pre-1959 product, all others are later designs:



And here goes a very early concept for a space suit:

originally posted by: thesearchfortruth

I think Jacques Vallee once commented on the fact that if the experiencer of a "real" UFO encounter such as this (as opposed to vague lights in the sky) was to tell the full, unedited version of their experience, there would very often be absurd elements that just make it impossible to be taken at face value. I suppose a skeptic would cite this as evidence that these experiences are somehow created in our minds, that they couldn't have happened in reality, but I just don't completely buy this.

Thanks for chiming in and posting your opinion.

Science today, especially due to progress in quantum physics, speculates that there may be a possibility that all conceivable configurations of the universe exist at the same time. But we can only live in one of those configurations (see for example the many worlds interpretation).

However, in this theory there are infinitely many multiverses, even those which only differ slightly from the one we actually live in. That would mean that all kinds of alternate realities exist, even those where we ourselves, and humankind on the whole, developed slightly differently (eg. regarding technology).

One of the things that come to mind when thinking about such theories is that there maybe occasions where, under certain circumstances, witnesses of such UFO encounters are temporarily able to switch from one configuration to the other (for whatever reason) and experience a different kind of reality that's not too far removed from our own.

This is of course highly speculative and far-fetched but who knows. One caveat would be that quantum physics and related laws (which differ greatly from those of traditional physics on the macro scale) seem to only apply to the smallest of things, close to the Planck-scale. On the other hand, we've only begun exploring this area a few decades ago so who knows what we might still discover...

originally posted by: jeep3r
One caveat would be that quantum physics and related laws (which differ greatly from those of traditional physics on the macro scale) seem to only apply to the smallest of things, close to the Planck-scale. On the other hand, we've only begun exploring this area a few decades ago so who knows what we might still discover...

I read an article somewhere the other day, though, where it was noted (as I understood it) that quantum effects are primarily defined through a lot of data averaging, but that doesn't mean there aren't legitimate effects that can be found in the experimental data set that are outliers, far outside the averages, that are completely real and may still allow for things to happen that may seem "strange" at first but are still possible (just not probable) given the experimental results.

So what we consider to be odd "quantum" effects can possibly also be found or expressed in a macro world, too, without them being in direct conflict with the experimental data. Just not ordinarily or usually.

originally posted by: Blue Shift

So what we consider to be odd "quantum" effects can possibly also be found or expressed in a macro world, too, without them being in direct conflict with the experimental data. Just not ordinarily or usually.

Indeed, I remember having read that as well, some related information can also be found here.

On the other hand, there may well be a link between consciousness and quantum effects, or more generally: biology and quantum mechanics. But that would probably justify a thread of its own.

a reply to: jeep3r

I'm much more inclined to believe that Mrs Moreland in fact saw what she described.

I would say Mrs Moreland in fact perceived what she described. And that is not necessarily the same as what was actually there.

Cheers

The declassified files do not seem to be available at their original server location anymore. Luckily, Isaac Koi made a thread about this incident back in 2013 and preserved the documents here. This information did not come up when I searched for it using the ATS search function otherwise I would have included it in the OP.

ETA: Moreland also noticed a peppery smell in the area after the craft left. Rather specific "smells" have also been reported in many other UFO cases (often described as a smell of sulphur). Also, Moreland reportedly developed blisters and suffered from patches of sore skin in the weeks following the incident.

Below is a memo that was drafted after the initial investigation mentioning that "the classification of the material has been raised as a precautionary measure".



Concerns about a potential connection between Moreland's symptoms and radioactivity are documented in this memo as well.

Given the case is real... it is more scary than actually being of what she saw.
I mean, there is phycological affect to it becoming a powerful mix of adopting theatrical means to pass a message.
Recall the movie 'Communion' where masks and act were involed to establish dialog.

Probably human mind can be tricked via visual overlay, as actual presence plus it's affect when cleverly put, taking in
accound human phyche?

This notion I think supports 'communication' attempt theory explaining bizzare episodes.

a reply to: jeep3r

Wonderful thread and excellent research mate

originally posted by: thesearchfortruth

Very interesting thread. This is one of those cases that is just so absurd, so outside the norm, that it's difficult to know what to do with it..

There are loads of global cases like this mate (loads)

originally posted by: Encounter
This notion I think supports 'communication' attempt theory explaining bizzare episodes.

Sure. Jacques Vallee's notion - if I understand him correctly - is that a lot of UFO activity follows a pattern very similar to the way a person (or animal, for that matter) is taught things like how to read, or do tricks. Slowly modified repetition interspersed with brain-stimulating novelty.

Of course, that always begs the question as to just who is doing this teaching and to what end? The implication is something / someone who is a whole lot smarter than the average human being. Pets and masters.

a reply to: Blue Shift

In the medieval times , a native of that time would only be able to recount according to his or her own term of reference. Like going to Fairy land and having a meal with the fairy folk. He would have to have something to compare the effect with to speak about it. The term of reference is a meme told in folk songs and poetry. When the flying ships appeared the meme had changed as the knowledge of space increased. Something is going down when more than one people see the effect, but do they see the same thing?, as interpretations vary as each individual has their own frame of reference. ,The fact that observable reality has changed, means an intrusion of some thing, which then departs can some physical effect cause this.