The Maureen Puddy Case

One track of the Wendy Connors Audio History of UFOlogy Series "CE IV" CD offers a 19-minute recording of an interview with Maureen Puddy about a July 25, 1972 "abduction" in Frankston, Victoria, Australia. In this case, the word 'abduction' is a misnomer identifying a wrongfulness to an event beyond the experiencer's understanding. The interview offers a description of two UFO sightings and incidents of voice hearing (disembodied) phenomena. Maureen Puddy's first UFO sighting occurred on July 5, 1972. The 27-year-old woman was coming home from the hospital after visiting her little boy. She noticed that "the road lit up in a blue iridescent glow" and at first thought the light was from the helicopter that had taken her son to the hospital. After stopping her car, she saw an "enormous flying saucer" approximately four times wider than the road. She said that the only noise was a "low hum." Puddy saw no flashing lights or windows on the object as it hovered above the trees. She returned to her car and the flying saucer followed her for eight miles until she reached a populated area. The object then changed direction, reversing without swerving. There was a streak of light and it was "gone in a flash." She immediately went to the Rosebud police station to make an official report and the following day she phoned the air force. She was mailed a questionnaire that inspired her to comment, "You need to be a pilot to understand some of the questions." Puddy's second sighting occurred on July 25 in the same vicinity and at around the same time of day. When the road lit up again, Puddy said, "I knew what it was straightaway, put my foot on the accelerator and off I went." After traveling half a mile, her engine completely cut off and she found that she had no control of the car although the headlights were still on full beam. The car glided to a stop. She next described having the feeling of receiving a message that she couldn't understand: "I don't speak any foreign languages and I felt that I was receiving this message in a foreign language." Then, the message was translated into English. "Not English like we speak - beautifully spoken English... I wouldn't say that I could clearly know that it was male or female, it was just a voice stating a message." She recalled the message as: "'All your tests will be negative.' Then there was a pause and it said, 'Tell the media. Do not panic. We mean no harm.' Then there was a long pause. And then it said, 'You now have control.' The car started up..." After the second sighting, Puddy went again to the Rosebud police station and again insisted on making an official report. She also stated that she eventually filled out another air force questionnaire. The day following the second sighting, she contacted a radio and TV station. Answering the unidentified interviewer's questions, Puddy said that there had been no earlier similar experiences and she had no previous interest in UFOs. The interviewer then recalled that she'd mentioned briefly some experience during the interim between the two sightings and asked her about it. On the Monday night before the second sighting, Puddy recounted hearing someone calling her name: "... the whole night long I was kept awake by this voice repeatedly calling my name 'Maureen' over and over again." Her son was in the hospital, her five-year-old daughter was sound asleep and there was nobody in the backyard. Nor had her husband heard the voice. When the interviewer asked Puddy if she thought the voice might've been in her mind, she replied, "I think it might've." I previously mentioned Maureen Puddy's case in my article reviewing Flying Saucer Pilgrimage (1957) by Bryant and Helen Reeve. Details of the case are presented in the article "The Close Encounter of Maureen Puddy by Judith Magee" at the website of the Victorian UFO Research Society (VUFORS). Magee wrote about the case in articles published in Flying Saucer Review in 1972 and 1981. The VUFORS article was last updated in October 1998 and revealed that Puddy's contact experience hadn't concluded at the time of the interview heard on the Faded Discs archive CD. The article reported that Puddy's son had been taken to the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne by helicopter after an accident at school when a cupboard had fallen on him and broken his leg. The article "UFO over the Mooraduc Road" was included in the book Encounter Cases from Flying Saucer Review (1977) edited by Charles Bowen. In the article, Judith M. Magee reported: "The witness... impressed everyone with her sincerity. She has an invalid husband and two children, a boy of seven and a girl of five.". continues COPYRIGHT(c)MARK RUSSELL BELL