5 7 Fe Mossbauer spectroscopy has been used to study the noncolinear spiral antiferromagnetic coupling in FeOCl. The paramagnetic to antiferromagnetic transition occurs at 85+/-1 K. Our Mossbauer studies confirm that the preferential orientations of the spin of Fe 3 + which are crystallographically of equivalent sites are parallel to the b and c axes with varied timescale of spin-spin relaxation as a result of competition among the intralayer antiferromagnetic superexchange coupling, ferromagnetic direct exchange coupling, and mixed interlayer dipolar-dipolar interaction.