Trine alumna Fennig has ties to the extraterrestrial

By Lydia Roop
English ’24

“I personally want to believe in aliens,” said Morgan Fennig, owner of a 78-year-old RV park in Roswell, New Mexico. Her park is a popular tourist location for scientists and curious civilians alike due to the 1947 “Roswell incident.”

Morgan graduated from Trine University in 2012 with a Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice and a minor in Business Management. She proceeded to earn her Master’s in Criminal Justice with a concentration in Forensic Psychology.

During and after her schooling at Trine University, she worked within the court system and the private sector doing a range of jobs including supervised visitations, testifying on behalf of children, group counseling, case management, and social work services.  Morgan later switched gears and settled as an RV Park owner in Roswell, New Mexico. 

Near the beginning of the Cold War, the U.S. Army Air Force sent out a press release announcing they had recovered a “flying disc” from a ranch near Roswell. U.S. Army officials quickly retracted the flying saucer claim and stated that the debris was actually from a weather balloon, but eyewitnesses claimed they had seen alien bodies taken from the site.

In 1994, the U.S. Air Force released a report admitting that the weather balloon story was made up and clarifying that the “alien bodies” were actually test dummies from a previously classified spy device called Project Mogul. The “Roswell incident” has resulted in decades of skepticism of the government’s story from UFO researchers and general civilians alike.

Investigator turned business owner

Morgan was first interested in the criminal justice field because she “wanted to help children and be a part of the solution in fixing our broken court system.” Her experience at Trine was a bit unconventional, as she worked full-time on top of being a full-time student. 

After graduating, Morgan and her husband, who worked as a travel nurse, lived on the road in 32 states for eight years.

“Roswell was a sleepy desert town with great hunting that we kept coming back to. I worked for the previous park owners every time we took a contract in Roswell as a park manager,” Morgan shared. “The previous park owners were retiring and asked us if we were interested in buying.”

“We were ready to come off the road,” Morgan said, “After years of traveling, the last six COVID ICU contracts were the final push to come off the road.” They accepted the previous park owners’ offer and have remained stationary for three years now.

Owning a business has its ups and downs. “There are serious costs to operating a business [...] We work 24/7 as park owners. The phone may ring at 3 in the morning and unfortunately we have to answer it. I own a souvenir store in addition to the park,” Morgan said. “Every day I learn something new about my business [...] If a business is not willing to adapt and grow, it will fail.”

The mysteries of Roswell, New Mexico

“I have 65 sites; 45 are reserved for monthly guests. These sites are at 100% occupancy year round,” Morgan said. “All of our monthly guests are here in the area for contract work. I currently have 18 travelers in the medical field, [and] I have solar field workers, Pipe-liners, DOT paving crews, [and] a crew here that is building a helium plant. They are all in the area to build or supply a service to the community.”

Her remaining sites are set aside for nightly or weekly guests solely there as tourists. “A good portion of our tourists are foreigners, as the ‘Roswell incident’ is taught about in history classes in foreign countries,” Morgan shared. “A lot of Americans don’t know anything about Roswell, [so] it is fun to watch those who don’t know anything about ‘the incident’ learn and hear their opinions.”

Along with the frequent foreign tourists, Morgan has hosted UFO experts, scientists, and NASA crews at the park.

“This year we actually had a number of NASA guys here studying the solar eclipse,” she said.

Due to the low population, Roswell has very little light pollution. “You can see the Milky Way clear as day,” Morgan shared.

“We do see lots of strange things in the skies over Roswell,” Morgan revealed, “but we never know if it’s the government, a foreign government, Elon Musk or aliens.” 

All in all, owning and operating the park has been a rewarding experience for Morgan and her husband.

“Our park has been operational for 78 years and we are in year 3 of ownership. We hope someday to pass the legacy to our child and ensure the park’s existence for another 78 years,” she said.