Number Six, Spring-Summer 1979
(Project Stigma, Paris,
Texas)
Source: Archives For the Unexplained (AFU.se), Norrköping, Sweden
Project Stigma was run by the late animal mutilation researcher Thomas
(Tom) R. Adams.
Quote from the newsletter issue:
“HELICOPTERS – A SPECIAL REPORT
Project
Stigma is currently preparing a special report to consist largely of a catalog
of reports ot unidentified helicopters at or near mutilation sites. We have
knowledge of over 200 such sightings and we are seeking data regarding those
which have yet to be reported. For those who have doubted the likelihood of a
link between ‘mystery choppers’ and the ‘mystery choppings’, the report will
serve to convincingly illuminate the connection. We would appreciate hearing
whether our readers would prefer an 8½″ X 11″ report (or an 8½ X 11 STIGMATA?) rather than the current 8½″ X 7″ size. Watch for an announcement
regarding the helicopter report and catalog in the upcoming STIGMATA #7.
A CLOSER LOOK
1977
- October
Washington
- Snohomish county: We are indebted to Jacob
Davidson of Seattle for providing us with a series
of consistently fine reports by investigator Jerry Phillips of Everett, Washington.
Phillips interviewed rancher and horseman Jack Henning regarding the mutilation
of one of his colts.
A
vet, Dr. John Carr, was called to the scene and he declared that the colt died
from loss of blood via some unknown procedure. There was no blood on the ground
and only a small amount in the heart and chest cavity. There were no tracks or
signs in the 3-inch grass in the area. It looked ‘as though the colt had been dropped
out of the air’. In the same field, 30 to 40 feet of electric fence
was down, with two fence posts snapped off at the base. There were no tracks
around the fence. Henning left the carcass in the field so he could keep an eye
on it. Then, (quoting from Phillips’ report): On the second day a cobweb-like
material developed over the open wound. Later the second day a large German
shepherd dog was observed coming into the field. When he spotted the dead
animal he stopped, smelled the air, made a circle around it and continued on
its way. The third day, a coyote which had been seen in
the area several times in previous months, came into the field, circled
the animal several times, then began eating on the head and neck. He would not
go near the rear of the horse. Mr. Henning went out to have a look and found
plenty of evidence on the ground and in the grass to show where the coyote had
dug his paws in when pulling at the neck hide.....Mr. Henning brought the mare
and her other colt out and tried to get them near the dead colt. Neither one
would come within 50 feet
of it. He tried laying hay next to it and they still would not approach it. Mr.
Henning has two labrador dogs…..he turned them loose to see what they would do.
They circled the animal, but would not get within 20 feet of it.
Henning
told Phillips that he had been working with the surviving colt before the
killing and she was fairly gentle. After the mutilation she stood in the barn
and quivered. Henning had difficulty even approaching her for a week. The mare
was very possessive and protective of her colts, and she would become very
upset if anyone even walked between them. There was no evidence that she tried
to interfere when the victim colt was in danger that morning. Afterward, ‘she
acted as if the colt had never existed’.
1978
– April through August
Missouri
– Lincoln County: By now we assume that most readers of this
publication are aware of the reports of livestock mutilations, UFO and
unidentified helicopter sightings, anomalous odors (and even a June encounter
with a 4-ft.-tall ‘ape’) – all in Lincoln County (with some ‘spillover’ into adjoining
counties), and especially around the community of Elsberry.
These
events received a relatively substantial amount of nationwide publicity. We
wanted to refer interested readers to a couple of published accounts regarding
these incidents:
International
UFO Reporter (1609
Sherman Ave., Suite 207; Evanston, Illinois 60201 – $12.00 per year). This
publication and its editors (Dr. J. Allen Hynek and Allen Rendry) are allied
with the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS). The August 1978 issue of the IUR
features an account of a UFO sighting in the Elsberry area (p. 3) and a
separate article on the UFO and mutilation activity there throughout the
summer. The latter article labors to downplay both the UFO activity and the
mutilations, not to mention any possible ‘link’ between them. We have been
aware of CUFOS’ grimly opaque attitude toward the mutilation phenomenon. A
CUFOS staff member once advised one of their many volunteer investigators
scattered across the country not to ‘bring cattle mutilations into the
picture’. The staffer claims, in his letter to the investigator, that ‘this is
a personal opinion’, then insolently directs the investigator to ‘be careful
not to relate UFOs with mutilations, when you are speaking as a Center representative,
before you have consulted the Center about its opinion in this matter’. We have
become weary (and wary) of attempts to refute the validity of classic mutilations
(and some of the peripheral phenomena often associated with them) by referring
to bits of information excised from the total body of data (of course, we
recognize the possibility that CUFOS may simply be the victim of bad
information and/or indifferent investigation). The UFO/mutilation link remains
valid circumstantially. Beyond that, it cannot be proven or disproven.
Meanwhile, we heartily recommend objectivity between and among mature and
consenting adults.
Pursuit
(R.F.D. 5 – Gales Ferry, CT 06335 – subscription/membership for one year is $10.00;
Pursuit is the journal of the Society for the Investigation of the
Unexplained). ‘Mutilations: The Elsberry Enigma’ by editors R. Martin Wolf and
Steven N. Mayne appears in the Winter 1979 edition. This is more like it: a
simple recounting of the evidence, anecdotal and otherwise, gathered by the
authors during their investigation in the Elsberry area. And where conclusions
are not warranted, they are not drawn. The article includes a chronological
listing of extramundane events (beginning with a mutilation in 1975) and
details on diverse Fortean occurrences. The interesting thing is, Project
Stigma has since become aware of many other unusual events in the Lincoln County area which are not recounted in
the Pursuit article, thanks primarily to the investigations of David Perkins, Cari Seawell and Bill McIntyre. There is
more to be heard, and read, regarding the Lincoln County
happenings.
1978
- December
South Carolina
- Orangeburg County: Around
8:00 PM on Wednesday, December 6th, farmer Richard Fanning, accompanied by his
wife and another couple, drove out to feed Fanning’s several hundred hogs. As
they approached the bog pen, all four saw a circle of light along with four
smaller lights (two red, two green) hovering over nearby treetops. The four
were frightened by the noiseless apparitions and decided that the hogs could be
fed later. As the witnesses drove from the scene, they were followed by the
large white light and the red and green lights for about 300 yards. Suddenly ail
five lights returned to hover over the area of the hog pen. After three or four
minutes, all of the lights went out.
Fanning
did not return to feed the hogs until Friday morning, December 8th. Be found
one hog ‘standing up dead. I kicked him and he fell over’. Fanning told reporter
Roberta G. Boman of the Times and Democrat (Orangeburg, SC)
that a second dead hog lay nearby with its jawbone removed. He told Boman that
‘the body was sort of like sponge, with all the weight gone, kind of like jelly
(Fanning said the hog, normally weighing 200 lbs., weighed no more
than approximately 50
pounds). In my opinion, no animal got that hog.’
Fanning
went on to exclaim that ‘I was scared, and I'm not scared of many things. I go
hunting and fishing a lot. Never seen anything like it. It’s the weirdest thing
I’ve ever seen in my life. I’m an outdoorsman, and I wouldn’t have said nothing
unless the other three people saw it too.’ (Our thanks to Leonard Stringfield
for advising us of the Fanning case.)
MUTES
IN THE MEDIA
***
Sandler International Films of Hollywood, California has been gathering new material
to be used in updating ‘UFOs Past, Present and Future’, a documentary film
which was originally released in the mid-1970’s. The Sandler crew has filmed
interviews in Colorado and New Mexico as part of a segment on animal
mutilations to be included in the new film. It is understood at this writing
that the film is to be distributed via syndication to television stations
across the country, beginning in the fall of 1979. The ‘on-camera spokesman’ or
narrator for the new film is Dr. Jacques Vallee, author of the controversial
new book, Messengers of Deception (see STIGMATA #7).
***
At press time, ABC-TV News has, for several weeks, been filming an investigative
report on animal mutilations, to be aired (possibly in two parts) on the ‘20-20’ news-feature program in the
early summer (‘20-20’
will apparently be seen weekly on Thursday nights during the summer). Project
Stigma investigators conferred with correspondent Dave Marash and his crew in
early May, and we were impressed with their sincerity and in-depth approach.
Assuming the story is aired, watch for impressive eye-witness accounts of UFOs
and mystery helicopters in mutilation-prone areas.”
Wikipedia article: “Elsberry,
Missouri”:
Related posts:
realtvufos.blogspot.com/search?q=“Cow+Mutilations”
Elsberry, Missouri
(Google photo)
Satellite photo of Elsberry,
Missouri (tageo.com)
(tageo.com photo)
