Holy Cow!

An account involving an anomalous creature, unusual figures and a strange object landed on a New Zealand dairy farm paddock, 1999.

Copyright © Suzanne Hansen 2007

On July 18 2007, the UFOCUS NZ Research Network released a media release featuring one of our investigators Senior Air Traffic Controller at Hamilton International Airport, Graeme Opie and his 1995 sighting of a UFO (see Ufologist Vol. 11 No. 1 2007). It also outlined our investigation of NZ UFO sighting reports and support for those who have experienced close encounters and anomalous experiences. Since the release, we have received many historic UFO sighting accounts from around New Zealand. The underlying message from most people is that they have 'sat' on their experience for many years, afraid to tell anyone for fear of ridicule. Although many of these are individual accounts, others have multiple witnesses. Following is just one of the intriguing reports we have received. We have interviewed the witness and she has provided drawings and a comprehensive account of the event. Although she had heard of UFOs, at the time of the event she was not the least bit interested in UFOs or the paranormal.

Out on the farm……..

Near the small central North Island town of Bulls, the witness, a female farm worker, was up early and about to bring in the cows for milking. It was 5.10am and very dark. She went out to the shed to start up a small tractor and heard a bump in the shed which she assumed was a possum. She was not normally scared by such things, but on this occasion she recalls that her hair 'stood on end' and something did not 'feel right'.

"About 15 minutes later I was rounding up the cows. For some reason I felt a great sense of relief to be with them. As I was bringing them up the track, the left hand headlight (the only one working) picked up some sort of creature lying against the roof of the hayrack, which had been turned over on its side next to the fence."



Creature lying in the hayrack

The witness noted that the creature appeared very black in the headlight. The closer and brighter the light became, the denser the blackness of the creature appeared to be - she noted that it was almost as if its body absorbed the light as there was no visible sheen. The outline of the creature appeared to be rough, not smooth. The witnesses' immediate impression was that it was definitely not a dog, cat or possum.

"The eyes I will never forget. They were huge and round like large English teacups, and they reflected a bright, almost lime green colour. The size of the eyes was disproportionate to the entire size of the creature, which was about 3 feet long. They looked far too big for its head. We looked at each other as I moved past seated on the tractor. It never moved, just watched, thank goodness."



Head of the creature with disproportionately large eyes

The witness was stuck behind the herd, and was certainly not keen to approach the creature. She reassured herself with the fact that the cows continued moving at a brisk pace. However she thought it was unusual that none of the cows stopped to sniff and investigate whether this 'animal' was a potential danger, as they would do with a farm dog or cat, but nor did they become spooked and set off at a gallop. She wondered if they had seen it before.

"There was nothing I could do. I moved the herd onwards up the track; dawn was just breaking. Above me the sky was black, but towards the horizon it lightened to a dark grey - continuously lightening. As we neared the next paddock, I noticed something in the centre of it. I could make out a solid, black cylindrical object. It was taller than it was wide, but in the gloom however, I could not clearly see the top or bottom of the object. It was to the right of the tractor where the headlight was not working."

She was astonished to see such an object in the paddock. Her instant thought was that it must be a landed craft of some sort, but she stated that she would never have believed that a craft could be shaped like this.

"Then I noticed movement in the area around this object. I could make out supple, 'gliding figures' - tall and skinny. As they moved, their spine appeared to undulate in and out, whereas a human spine is more straight and rigid. Because their shape was soft and indistinct, when they stopped moving they became more indistinct and seemed to blend in with the background. The one closest to me seemed to do just that - blend in with subtle movement. I counted 5 or 6 of them in the area. They didn't appear to move in a hurry and they looked very black against the shades of dawn grey." She was not able to see detail of form - heads, limbs or features - in the partial darkness.



Object in the paddock surrounded by 'gliding figures'

Again the cows did not panic. The witness realized the high strangeness of the scene, but felt no fear at this point. A very practical and down-to-earth person, she remembers thinking, "I've got a job to do! You do yours, and I'll do mine!" She had no desire to rush into a predicament with an uncertain outcome considering she was alone. However she admits that if the cows had reacted differently to the presence of these figures, she would have been very scared. She continued herding the cows up the farm track to the 'safety' of a line of pine trees. Upon returning to the paddock later, she found nothing out of the ordinary.

We asked the witness if she thought what she had seen in the hayrack could have been one of the mysterious 'big cat' crypto-zoological sightings that crop up in New Zealand from time to time. She was adamant that it was not a cat, but rather a 'creature', however a very different one from the 'figures' in the paddock nearby. There have been reports worldwide of strange creatures seen in the company of humanoid figures near landed craft/objects. The renowned 'chupacabras' of south America are such an example of apparent non-earthly creatures, and US journalist George Knapp's book 'Hunt for the Skinwalker' outlines similar anomalous events with strange creatures.

The witness stated, "I never spoke to the elderly farm owner or his wife (a religious lady) about this incident, out of fear of losing my job at the time. Likewise, up to this day I have never spoken about it out of fear of ridicule. However I have taken close family members to where the event occurred. They appeared interested, but nonchalant about it, as I would have been in the past before I experienced such a thing for myself. I still live in the same area, but on another farm. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to 'air' my experience."