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THINK ABOUTIT ABDUCTION REPORT
Date: December 29, 1980
Sighting Time:
Day/Night: Night
Location: Huffman, Texas
Urban or Rural: –
No. of Entity(‘s):
Entity Type:
Entity Description:
Hynek Classification: CE-II (Close Encounter II) Observation of an object in close proximity to the witness, where physical traces (impression, burn, medical effect, etc.) are left or (electrical effect, heat) are felt
Duration:
No. of Object(s): 1
Height & Speed:
Size of Object(s):
Distance to Object(s):
Shape of Object(s): Diamond
Color of Object(s):
Number of Witnesses: Multiple
Source: NICAP Source
Summary: A terrifying encounter with a flame belching UFO on a lonely road near Huffman, Texas, resulted in appalling injuries for the three innocent victims. According to Bob Pratt, “the case remains one of the most important in the history of ufology. It has never been resolved. Someone in the U.S. knows exactly what happened to Betty and Vickie and Colby but they have remained silent despite all the suffering – and ridicule – those three endured.”.
Full Report
Artist’s impression of the close encounter. (Above)
Left to right: Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum and Colby Landrum.
HUFFMAN, TEXAS – On the evening of December the 29th 1980, Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum and Colby Landrum had visited several small towns in the Piney Woods area of east Texas looking for a bingo game, but discovered that all games had been canceled while the clubs made preparations for the Christmas and new year celebrations. Instead they settled for a meal in a road side restaurant in New Caney.
Betty Cash was then a 51 year old business woman who owned a restaurant and a grocery store. Vickie Landrum, then 57, worked for Betty in the restaurant and also occasionally as a school meals assistant. Colby Landrum, Vickie’s grandson, was then 7.
After leaving the restaurant some time between 8.20 and 8.30 pm, Betty drove them along Highway FM 1485, a road usually used only by people who live in the area because it is so isolated. Although only about 50km from Houston the area is sparsely populated and is covered by oak and pine trees, and dotted with swamps and lakes.
It was about 30 minutes later when the three noticed a bright UFO above the tree tops some distance away. Colby was the first to spot it and pointed it out to the others. As they drove on it appeared to get larger and larger. As they realized that the object was approaching the road only a short distance ahead they began to get worried but hoped to get by it in time and leave it behind. But before they could do so the object had straddled the road blocking their way.
Vickie screamed “Stop the car or we shall be burned alive!” The object, many times larger than the car remained hovering at tree top level and sending down an occasional large cone of fire like a rocked blast. In between these blasts it would settle downwards some 7.5 meters or so only to rise up again on the next cone of fire. Vickie described it as being “like a diamond of fire”.
When Betty eventually brought the car to a stand still the UFO was only 60 meters away. It looked as if it was made from dull aluminum and glowed so bright that it lit up the surrounding forest like daylight. The four points of the diamond were blunt rather than sharp and blue spots or lights ringed its centerline. Had the UFO not come to rest over the road the cone of fire from its lowest point would have set the forest on fire. The object also emitted an intermittent bleeping sound.
The three of them got out of the car to take a better look at the object. Vickie stood by the open door on the right hand side of the car with her left hand resting on the car roof. Vickie is a committed Christian who does not believe in UFOs or extraterrestrial life and when she saw the bright object she thought it was the coming of the end of the world. Because she expected to see Jesus come out of the light she stared at it intently.
Colby begged his grandmother to get back in the car and hold him and after about three minutes she did so and told him not to be afraid because “when that big man comes out of the burning cloud it will be Jesus.” As Vickie held Colby she screamed at Betty to get back in the car with them. But Betty was so fascinated by the UFO that she had walked round to the front of the car and stood there gazing at it. Bathed in the bright light she stood there even though the heat was burning her skin. Eventually as the object began to move up and away she moved back to the car door. When she touched the door it was so painfully hot that she had to use her leather jacket to protect her hands as she got back in the car.
As the three of them watched the departing UFO, a large number of helicopters appeared overhead. As Betty said, “They seemed to rush in from all directions…it seemed like they were trying to encircle the thing.” Within a few seconds the UFO had disappeared behind the trees lining the road. It was then that they realized how hot the interior of the car had become. They switched off the heater and put on the air conditioner instead.
When the effects of the bright light had worn off, Betty started the engine and they drove off down the darkened highway. After a mile or so of twisting road they were able to join a larger highway and turn in the direction of the departing UFO. This was about 8km and five minutes later. The object was clearly visible some distance ahead and looked like a bright cylinder of light. It was still lighting up the surrounding area and illuminating the helicopters.
By this time the helicopters were spread out over an 8km distance. One main group was near the UFO but moving in an erratic flight path. As they watched from their new vantage point they counted 23 helicopters. Many of them were identified as the large double rotor CH-47 Chinooks, the others were very fast single rotor types and appeared to be of the Bell-Huey type but were not properly identified. A lot of air crew members must have seen the UFO that night.
As soon as the UFO and helicopters were a safe distance ahead Betty drove on. When she reached an intersection she turned away from the flight path of the UFO and towards Dayton where the three of them lived. She dropped Vickie and Colby off at their home at about 9.50 and went home by herself. A friend and her children were there waiting for Betty but by this time she was feeling to ill to tell them about what had happened. Over the next few hours Betty’s skin turned red as if badly sun burned. Her neck swelled and blisters erupted and broke on her face, scalp and eyelids. She started to vomit and continued to do so through out the night. My morning she was almost in a coma.
Some time between midnight and 2am Vickie and Colby began to suffer similar symptoms, although less severe. At first they suffered the sunburn like condition and then diarrhea and vomiting. It was a miserable night for all three victims.
The following morning Betty was moved to Vickie’s house and all three were cared for there. Betty’s condition continued to deteriorate and three days later she was taken to hospital. The burns and swelling altered Betty’s appearance so radically that friend who came to visit her in hospital did not recognize her. Her hair began to fall out and her eyes became so swollen that she was unable to see for a week.
The appearance of helicopters at UFO sightings is becoming a common event, and the large number of helicopters at this incident is just another link in the chain. One thing is for certain, it is virtually impossible to be mistaken about the presence of CH-47 helicopters when you are directly beneath these large and noisy machines. The evidence of all the witnesses was consistent. They were interrogated separately about both the UFO and the helicopters and all gave consistent descriptions and sketches that indicated they had seen a large number of CH-47s.
Finding out where the helicopters had come from was a more difficult task than identifying them. according to a official at Houston Airport abound 350 to 400 helicopters operate commercially in the Houston area but they are all of the single rotor type, there are no CH-47s. The official also said that because helicopters fly on visual flight rules they do not have to contact the tower. Other information provided by Houston was that outside a 24km radius from the airport helicopters must stay below an altitude of 550 metres, and that due to a technical limitation the Houston control radar is restricted to a minimum altitude of 600 metres around the Huffman area.
The US army’s Fort Hood press officer, Major Tony Geishauser, told the Corpus Christi Caller that no Fort Hood aircraft were in the Houston area that night. “I don’t know any other place around here that would have that number of helicopters,” he said. “I don’t know what it could be….. unless there’s a super secret thing going on and I wouldn’t necessarily know about it.”
All other bases in Texas and Louisiana denied they were responsible for the helicopters seen at the incident.
Betty, Vickie and Colby were not the only witnesses to the strange happenings at Huffman. An off duty Dayton policeman and his wife were driving home from Cleveland through the Huffman area the same night and also observed a large number of CH-47s. A man living in Crosby, directly under the flight path, reported seeing a large number of heavy military helicopters flying overhead. Oilfield laborer Jerry McDonald was in his back garden in Dayton when he saw a huge UFO flying directly over head. At first he thought it was the Goodyear airship, but quickly realized it was something else. “It was kind of diamond shaped and had two twin torches that were shooting brilliant blue flames out the back”, he said. As it passed about 45 meters above him he saw that it had two bright lights on it and a red light in the center.
Since their encounter Vickie and Colby have been plagued with periodic outbreaks of skin troubles, as if they were more susceptible to infection than before. But the most far reaching injury has been the damage to their eyes. Their eyelids became infected very rapidly and have never fully recovered. Since the incident Vickie has had to have three new pairs of spectacles with successively stronger prescriptions to match the deterioration of her eyesight. Her eyesight continues to deteriorate and she still suffers from periodic infections. She fears she may eventually go blind. Colby has suffered similar problems but has needed only one new pair of glasses. Within a few weeks of the encounter, Vickie had lost about 30 per cent of her hair, and had large bald patches on her head. When it grew back it was of a different texture. Colby lost only a small patch of hair on the crown of his head, this too grew back in time.
Betty’s injuries seemed even worse. She experienced a severe sunburn like condition and developed large water blisters, some as large as golf balls, over her face head and neck. One of these covered her right eyelid and extended across her right temple. She also developed a long term aversion to warm water, sunshine or other heat sources. In the year following the encounter she has spent five periods in hospital, two of those in intensive care. She lost over half of the hair on her head and has also had skin eruptions, many as big as a large coin, which leave permanent scars.
Doctors are baffled by these symptoms but speculate that they could be caused by some kind of radiation.
One day in April 1981 a CH-47 flew into Dayton. As Colby watched he became very upset. Vickie decided to take him to the spot where the helicopter had landed in the hope that it would seem less frightening on the ground. When they reached the landing zone they found a lot of people there already and had to wait some time before they were allowed to go inside the helicopter and talk to the pilot. Vickie and another visitor both claim that the pilot said he had been in the area before for the purpose of checking on a UFO in trouble near Huffman. When Vickie told the pilot how glad she was to see him, because she had been one of the people burned by the UFO, he refused to talk to them any more and hustled them out of the aircraft.
The UFO organization VISIT later located the pilot and questioned him. He admitted to knowing about Vickie and Betty’s encounter with the UFO but maintained that he had not been in the area in December and had nothing to do with any UFO. Unless another pilot decides to come forward it seems that the source of the helicopters will remain a mystery.
The Cash-Landrum Incident: Evidence, Denials and Deductions
Colby Landrum
Years later Vicki still had visible skin problems that would occasionally appear
Vickie had lost about 30 per cent of her hair, and had large bald patches on her head. When it grew back it was of a different texture. Colby lost only a small patch of hair on the crown of his head, this too grew back in time. Betty’s injuries seemed even worse. She experienced a severe sun burn like condition and developed large water blisters, some as large as golf balls, over her face head and neck. One of these covered her right eyelid and extended across her right temple. She also developed a long term aversion to warm water, sunshine or other heat sources. In the year following the encounter she has spent five periods in hospital, two of those in intensive care. She lost over half of the hair on her head and has also had skin eruptions, many as big as a large coin, which leave permanent scars.
John Schuessler meeting with the trio during a documentary filming of the Cash-Landrum incident
In early January of 1981, I was catching a ride from a buddy who lived in Conroe, Texas, and we necessarily traveled that same roadway (FM 1485) on our way to work on the east side of Houston. We usually left well before sunrise to reach our jobsite by 7:00 AM, as the commuter traffic up there around Conroe was legendarily bad. So it was still dark when we hit the road. This would have been shortly after the Cash-Landrum incident transpired, but we didn’t know that, as the story had not yet reached the press.
Outside of New Caney, Texas, on a stretch of 1485 that was particularly desolate at the time, we encountered a nondescript sawhorse roadblock and what I supposed was a contract road crew working in the dark, using only a spotlight tree to illuminate what appeared to be some serious road repairs. In fact, we were turned back to New Caney because the entire road was closed.
I thought this was odd because there were no “detour” nor “road closed” nor “men working” warning signs, and it was highly unusual for road repairs to shut down both sides of a thoroughfare. Unless, of course, it was an emergency job. We assumed that a petroleum tanker had crashed and burned, damaging the road and warranting a rush repair.
By the light of our headlights, we could see quite a bit of heavy equipment — a couple of beaten-up and unmarked dump trucks, an unmarked front-end loader, an unmarked road grader, and a couple of other bulky vehicles hidden by the darkness. I guessed that it was a blacktop machine, because we could smell creosote and asphalt in the air. None of the road crew were wearing reflective gear, either, which I thought was pretty peculiar. They were tearing up and laying a new road. In the dark.
Capt. John Camp: OK, Ms. Landrum, what are your hopes or aspirations with coming and talking with us today?
Betty Cash: Well, that’s what I’m hoping for, there has to be an answer somewhere, you know?…
Colby Landrum: Right!
Vickie Landrum: … And what better place is it than a part of the government, because they’re supposed to protect us anyway, right? Because my husband went over there and fought for two and a half years… he got two purple hearts out of the deal, and if you’re not protected, what did he go over there for?
Capt. John Camp: OK. Alright, now I’ll have to confirm what, ah… I think it’s… Representative Williamson said: that since 1969 the Air Force no longer has been made… has been the responsible agency to investigate UFO sightings… some of the history that the Congressman told you is correct… ah… before 1969 there was a Project Bluebook… which Project Bluebook basically was just to keep up with all the sightings… all incidents where individuals had seen UFOs and what had happened. In 1969, that was one of the things that Congress said that the Air Force will not do anymore. Then in 1974 – 1975, the President of the United States at that time recommended that NASA, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration see if it would serve any national interest to reopen Project Bluebook with the idea of researching UFOs and occurrences as they happen in the United States. It was the response back of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration that they not reopen Project Bluebook. Now the reason I’m telling you this is that once you tell you me your story today, I am without any power at all to do anything here at this level…
Betty Cash: (agitated) Well now, what can we do??
- Brad Sparks, a nuclear radiologist who examined the case for MUFON, determined the type of radiation was NOT ionizing radiation which is the only kind of radiation that causes ‘radiation sickness’, infrared, microwave and UV radiation as well as visible light radiation do not and cannot cause radiation sickness. If the Cash-Landrum trio had true radiation sickness from ionizing radiation they would have been dead within days or weeks because the onset of symptoms was so rapid (within 1/2 hour) and so severe that as symptoms of supposed ionizing radiation syndrome it indicates a 100% fatal dose. Due to the obvious lack of “systemic involvement” in this case (which would have been 100% fatal if whole-body in nature) there is a possibility this could have been some kind of “radiomimetic” effect, which many chemicals are known to induce (e.g., nitrogen mustards in chemical warfare are radiomimetic). source
- It is a known fact that Betty Cash was isolated to a basement level of the hospital where she was being treated for her injuries within a HAZMAT containment room. All doctors and nurses who were treating her were required to wear the proper hazardous materials protective garb. One of Betty’s close friends recounts thisoften overlooked fact in a History Channel documentary about the case.
- John Schuessler, lead MUFON investigator on the Cash-Landrum case concluded that the craft “…wasn’t one of ours. We still don’t have the technology to hoist the kind of vehicle the witnesses described, which we estimated was at least 90 feet tall. If it had been a military project, the helicopters would’ve probably been there from the beginning. But everyone who saw them said it looked like they were trying to catch up to it.”
Stephen Michalak exhibiting a grid-like
burn pattern on his abdomen
Mr. Michalak states he approached the object but was unable to see inside due to a bright yellow bluish light which blocked his vision. He endeavored to communicate with the personnel inside the object [in English, Russian, German, Italian, French and Ukrainian], but without result. As he approached within a few feet of the object, the door closed. He heard a whining noise and the object commenced to rotate anti-clockwise and finally raised off the ground. He reached out with his left gloved hand and touched the object prior to its lifting off the ground; the glove burned immediately as he touched the object.
As the object left the ground, the exhaust gases burned his cap, outer and inner garments, and he sustained rather severe stomach and chest burns. As a result of these he was hospitalized for a number of days. The doctors who attended and interviewed Mr. Michalak were unable to obtain any information which could account for the burns to his body. The personal items of clothing which were alleged to have been burnt by the UFO, were subjected to an extensive analysis at the RCMP Crime laboratory. The analysts were unable to reach any conclusion as to what may have caused the burn damage.
Soil samples taken by Mr. Michalak from the immediate area occupied by the UFO were analyzed and found to be radioactive to a degree that the samples had to be safely disposed of. An examination of the alleged UFO landing area was made by a radiologist from the Department of Health and Welfare and a small area was found to be radioactive. The Radiologist was unable to provide an explanation as to what caused this area to become contaminated. source
Jim Penniston: They are asking me if I see binary code? I see the binary code. They are time travelers… They are us.
Hypnotherapist: How far in the future?
Jim Penniston: A long time. Very long time.
Hypnotherapist: What do they need?
Jim Penniston: Not sure, but it has to do with chromosomes? Or something like that.
Hypnotherapist: How do they get that?
Jim Penniston: They take it.
Hypnotherapist: From where?
Jim Penniston: From the other people’s bodies….They (the time travelers) were interrupted (in Rendlesham Forest). They are having problems…The odds are against them. source
- The Rendlesham craft were described as giving off brilliant red light that was almost difficult to look at.
- One of the craft appeared to exude what looked like “dripping molten metal” along with an intermittent red flame.
- Intense heat and verifiable radiological after-effects were associated with both events.
- The Rendlesham & Cash-Landrum craft all shared design elements that included diamond and pyramid shapes. Perfect geometric shapes seem to be a common denominator among the vast majority of UFO’s, especially those associated with dimensional time travel.
Jim Penniston |
As I discussed earlier, while under hypnosis Jim Penniston described the alien visitors, saying that they are “travelers from our future.” They have been coming here in ‘teams’ with each team assigned a different ‘task,’ a different mission. Each team targets certain groups within the populace when it arrives within our timeline, rather than just encountering people randomly. When the psychologist asks him why, Penniston – still under hypnosis – says, “They’ve got a serious problem. The world isn’t like it is now. It’s darker, in bad shape. It’s very polluted and much colder.” He goes on to recount that the visitors from the future also have serious social problems and difficulties with reproduction. Accordingly, one of the travelers’ main tasks is to obtain sperm and eggs in order to keep the species alive. The species in question, he says in response to the psychologist’s question, is us. “They’re humans.”
- The Cash-Landrum craft was dangerous and exhibited unpredictable behaviour, this could be evidence of AI and/or an RPV that has lost control.
- The helicopters sent to intercept it were in such numbers that we can conclude this was a non-typical event for the military. There should be a focus on obtaining FOI documentation related to spec-ops missions during that time frame.
- The incident was a logistical nightmare for the military and it’s quite surprising that nothing has bubbled up to the surface from those involved 34 years later. This shows the level of lockdown imposed on all of those that were associated with it.
- It most certainly was not the second coming of Jesus Christ.
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