The Strange Moneymore UFO Incident: The Mysterious UFO Crashed And Suddenly Disappeared

The strangest UFO encounter occurred Friday, September 7, 1956 in Moneymore, County Derry.

A mystery object fell from the sky at midday on that day and landed close to Thomas and Maud Hutchinson’s home. It was egg-shaped, 18 inches in diameter, and three feet high.

It looked like it was made of canvas. The item was originally stationary – with the exception of righting itself after Thomas kicked it over – but after a while, it began to spin on the ground.

Thomas took the spinning object and planned to bring it to the Loup police station. After a brief wrestling match, however, the item ran away.

Maud said that the monster rose and nearly knocked her husband off his feet when he tried to stop it.” “I started to panic so I ran home and began praying.”

The mystery object was then gone.

The incident was widely covered and received a lot of attention. Some claim they have even ridden in them or conversed with their inhabitants. For wrestlers, however, this is a unique twist, even if it is a loss.

However, the authorities were less enthusiastic. An officer from RAF Aldergrove said that he was “near certain” the item was a meteor balloon. The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) – Northern Ireland’s police force – agreed with this assessment.

It wasn’t the first time. Leo Penrose was 15 years old when he saw an object fall in a field just outside his hamlet. Stories of a flying saucer landing quickly spread in Ballinacargy County Westmeath.

The Gardai – the Irish police – swiftly determined that the item in the field was simply a weather balloon on that day.

This news article is from September 1956 and explains what’s going on at Moneymore.

Nobody could explain the Moneymore weather ballon’s spin motion or speed of departure. No one could also pinpoint the origin of the balloon. It appeared that there was considerable dissension in the RAF as well as the RUC.

According to an officer questioned in Grimsby Evening Telegraph, the item didn’t belong to the RAF and he couldn’t “even hazard a guess” as to its origin.

Thomas and Maud’s nearby police station desk sergeant found it difficult to believe Thomas had been tricked by a weather balloon.

He noted that Thomas Hutchinson “is a calm, God-fearing and peaceful man.” He said, “He is not the type man who would believe he could grab a flying saucer even if he didn’t have one.”

With the Moneymore incident, this was the end of the UFO activity in Ireland. There would be others, but this was the first. Although much of the information was clear, there were still a few mysteries.