Wednesday, May 17, 2023

An Impressive New Book on UFO Witness Testimony

The Reliability of UFO Witness Testimony is a new book edited by Vicente-Juan Ballester Olmos and Richard W. Heiden, "the first major book to comprehensively focus on the discussion and current views on problems and challenges posed by the reliability of UFO testimonies."

A portion of table of contents.

"This is a cross-disciplinary compendium of papers by 60 authors from 14 different countries. They are specialists in social, physical, and biological sciences, including psychology (predominantly) as well as psychiatry, sociology, anthropology, history, philosophy, folklore, religion, journalism, engineering, computing, medicine, education, analysts with experience in the critical study of UFO perceivers, and other professionals. This volume shares thematically convergent ideas about the plausibility of alternate explanations for an alleged close-range UFO phenomenon. 

The 57 chapters in this book are divided into seven section headings: Case Studies, Psychological Perspectives, On Witness Testimony, Empirical Research, Anthropological Approach, Metrics and Scaling, and Epistemological Issues. " 

Of particular interest to readers here: Chapter 12 by Dr. Gary P. Posner, "The Legendary Cash-Landrum Case: Radiation Sickness from a Close Encounter?" Dr. Posner became interested in the medical aspects of the Cash-Landrum case in late 1981 and conducted his own research from a skeptical point of view. His 14-page examination focuses on the case from the book's perspective, witness reliability.

This 711-page book has been released online in the Academia.edu portal, from where it can be downloaded for free as a PDF: The Reliability of UFO Witness Testimony

Simultaneously, UPIAR Publishing House (Turin, Italy) has published two softcover, A4 format print editions, one in black & white, another in full color (ISBN: 9791281441002). The book can be purchased through this link: UPIAR Store


Tuesday, March 28, 2023

UFOs, Fame and Anonymity

 

Anonymity is a contentious issue in UFO research, drawing criticism for relying on unnamed witnesses, undisclosed sources, and the use of pseudonyms by authors and researchers. Then there is the UFO field’s long problem with the many types actively seeking attention, such as show business personalities, snake oil salesmen, cosmic televangelists, and hoaxers. Meanwhile, some sincere people who have had their name published have been subjected to ridicule, harassment, and the loss of their jobs. How can ufology seek truth and transparency while safeguarding the privacy of individuals?


Dr. Rank's Proposal


Dr. Peter Rank (1935-1988) was the Director of the Department of Radiology of the Methodist Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. In the 1980s, he served on the board of the Fund for UFO Research (FUFOR) and as a medical consultant for the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON). Dr. Rank is perhaps best remembered for consulting on the famous 1980 Cash-Landrum UFO case in relation to Betty Cash’s medical issues. When the U.S. Army investigated the case, Col. George Sarran sought out to Dr. Rank for his thoughts. The documentation shows that Rank was interested in cooperating with the investigation, but he desired “no public attention” relating to the UFO case.


Leonard Stringfield’s work on UFO crash retrievals received much criticism for relying almost exclusively on anonymous witnesses. Dr. Peter Rank supported Stringfield’s work and defended him in an article in The MUFON UFO Journal, March 1982, page 16. The key portions discussing the issue of identity exposure are reproduced below.


Witness Protection: A Comment

by Peter Rank, M.D.

For a generation now UFOlogists have been unconsciously assuming that "the Journalistic Model of reporting" is the one which demands the most credence. Information published in the media demand that such stories reveal the who, what, where, when, and why of the incident reported. It is assumed that such complete disclosure lends authenticity to the story involved and indeed is a requirement for believability. Most UFOlogists have adhered to this principle whenever possible. Such full disclosure according to the Journalistic Model has been counter-productive. In many cases, foreknowledge that their names would be published in the popular media has driven away UFO witnesses and certainly has driven away any informants who cared to comment anonymously about the Crash/Retrieval-Syndrome. 

It should now be clear to all dedicated UFOlogists more than a generation after Kenneth Arnold’s sighting, that a different manner of reporting UFO information than the Journalistic-Model is required. Perhaps another alternative should be adopted, Specifically the Medical Model of reporting scientific information, and do so in, accordance with case history technique. Medical literature frequently has need of describing objective and very personal information about patients. The literature is replete with such case histories. In all cases the patients’ anonymity is respected and the patient identified only by initials. These case histories are never challenged on the grounds that the patients full name is not disclosed, and the underlying integrity of reporting is assumed as a matter of fact. 

Might it not be useful for us to adopt a similar approach? Both witnesses and informants would thereby be protected. Witnesses could then report all their data to serious researchers with the clear knowledge that they and their families would never be identified in any publication which might provoke the popular media to descend upon them like locusts at a feast. Informants, many of whom are discussing information that is highly classified, perhaps several levels above the well known Top Secret category, may then feel free to "go public" with their information" without fear of retribution. This would encourage others to come out of the closet, and allow considerably more information to develop about the Crash/Retrieval Syndrome.  

There is obvious journalistic precedent for this practice. Journalists are, and always have been, very protective of their sources and have insisted in courts of law that their sources remain anonymous. Legal attempts to force journalists to reveal sources of their information have failed. This guaranteed anonymity has served as a mighty bulwark of a free journalism. It could also serve as a mighty bulwark for a more liberated investigative UFOlogy. 

…I have personally talked to a UFO witness, a CE-III subject, and several military types, and most seek to guard their privacy. It is quite clear that our first responsibility is to consider these people as "patients" who first of all need our assistance and support, and who need our guarantee that their privacy and good faith will not be abused.


Stigma and Unwanted Attention

Dr. Rank had those privacy concerns for himself. In 1983, Florida journalist Billy Cox interviewed him his analysis of the Cash-Landrum case for the Dec. 4, 1983, edition of Today.: “The doctor’s credentials are impressive: head of the radiology department at a major Midwestern university, a former medical school teacher and a former Army flight surgeon.” Rank didn't want his name published, and said: 

“I'm not afraid for my reputation that is not the issue. The issue is, this whole UFO business attracts all sorts of psychiatrically marginal people. And then they get on the phone and they wanna waste your time and they call you during practice hours and all that garbage and I don't have time for that.”

The use of pseudonyms by legitimate researchers is not that an unusual practice in academic work. Their identity is generally shared with a few trusted colleagues, but not publicly shared, due to security or privacy concerns. As for government of industry whistleblowers, leakers etc., could be handled with the journalistic model for anonymity, where the source’s identity is known only by the author and at least one editor. The emphasis should not be on the name of the source, but on the veracity of the data.


From Col. Sarran's notes talking to Dr. Rank:
"no public attention"

The Missing Ingredient

Science, medicine, and journalism have professional standards. Ufology is mostly populated by amateurs with little or no oversight. As it is, no more trust can be put in anonymous sources than in the testimony of imaginary friends. Ufology must abandon its entertainment-based model and grow up and adopt an ethical code of professional conduct. 

There is a place for anonymity in ufology exactly as Dr. Rank suggested decades ago. The identities of witnesses should be handled like those of patients in a scientific or medical study, where the data is shared, but not their identity and personal details. That would deny any charlatans and hoaxers the fame they seek. More importantly, it’d protect witnesses and encourage more people to speak openly their UFO sightings without the fear of exploitation or ridicule.

. . . 


For Further Reading

Neuroskeptic. “Anonymity in Science.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences vol. 17,5, 2013: 195-6. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2013.03.004 

Keerie, Catriona et al. “Data Sharing in Clinical Trials - Practical Guidance on Anonymising Trial Datasets.” Trials vol. 19,1 25. 10 Jan. 2018, doi:10.1186/s13063-017-2382-9

The New York Times:  How The Times Uses Anonymous Sources, June 14, 2018

Wednesday, December 14, 2022

The NSA Cash-Landrum UFO Document


UFO documents from the U.S. government are rare for events beyond 1969. In a collection of files hosted by the Central Intelligence Agency, one was recently discovered, notes on the Cash-Landrum UFO investigation discussed by the secret psychic spy program. 

Before examining the document, let’s look at the people and agencies involved. In the foreword to the 2014 edition of The Invisible College, Jacques Vallee talked about a group formed as a byproduct of his UFO research with Dr. J. Allen Hynek in the early 1960s:

“…a small cadre of dedicated researchers... began exchanging data and analysis on a regular basis.... Dr. Hynek called this informal network “the Invisible College”… In later years the movement started by this group became integrated in a larger, multi-nation volunteer research effort joined by many individuals... the questions we had raised have remained current: What is the nature of unidentified aerial phenomena?”

 

The Intelligence Community

In September 1972, Jacques Vallee was working as a computer scientist at the Stanford Research Institute in California. His journals (Forbidden Science Vol. II) reveal how Vallee met Dr. Harold “Hal” E. Puthoff, who also worked at SRI, and “invited me to visit his lab. He told me about paranormal experiments he was starting under government sponsorship…” Puthoff was a theoretical physicist with a background including engineering work and three years active duty as a Naval Intelligence officer with NSA. He and Russell Targ were developing a project to use psychics in intelligence gathering, later designated “remote viewing.” 

The next day, “Over lunch at SRI I found out that both Ingo [Swann] and Hal were keenly interested in UFOs and the secrecy attached to the subject.” In November, Puthoff introduced Vallee to a psychic he was testing, Uri Geller. Vallee was supportive of the parapsychology research, but was not convinced when, “Uri told me he himself had no power, everything came from the saucers.” 

SRI: Puthoff and Geller appear in this video clip.

Puthoff continued to introduce Vallee to government contacts. In October, Vallee met Howell McConnell, who shared some similar interests (psychic phenomena, mysticism, UFOs) and monitored the SRI psychic project for the National Security Agency. McConnell told Vallee about the NSA’s skeptical approach. “I work for a bunch of bureaucrats… But an Agency like ours can take no risks. So we keep an eye on things. If something does happen, they'll be able to say they were aware of the situation, that one of their analysts was informed, his documentation up to date..."

In Nov. 1973, Puthoff told Vallee that he’d found “the leader of the CIA group that monitors the UFO field.” Recently, “a biologist, was put in charge. Hal says the new man doesn't want to see me yet.” In Feb. 1974, Puthoff called to “tell me that his main Intelligence contact was at his house... that I meet him…” Thus, 

Vallee met, “Dr. Christopher Green nicknamed Kit, a dynamic bespectacled young man of medium build with alert brown eyes. … Green had counterparts in every branch of the Executive. Like Howell McConnell they mainly operated ‘out of personal interest,’ with the blessing of higher-level managers. They occasionally exchanged data, but he claimed little was done with it.” 

Green worked for the CIA’s Office of Scientific Intelligence, and a small part of his duties involved keeping an eye on reports of paranormal claims that might be of government interest. They met again in May 1974, and frequently discussed the UFO topic, but Vallee was frustrated that Green could provide no evidence of a cover-up of alien bodies and saucers. Meanwhile, Green was quietly making connections in the field. In an April 1975 entry, Vallee wrote, “Kit is now talking to every ufologist worth his salt.” (Despite this, Kit Green managed to keep his name out of print in ufology until the early 1990s). Two of Green’s 1970s contacts were in a team based in Houston, Texas.

Kit Green established friendly sources in two ufologists, Richard Niemtzow, M.D., and John F. Schuessler, a McDonnell Douglas employee contracted by NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Schuessler was a founding member and deputy director of the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), but he also launched his own elite organization in 1976. Schuessler’s Project VISIT (Vehicle Internal Systems Investigative Team) consisted of “professional members, doctors, aerospace engineers and scientists” focused “on the scientific and engineering study of the internal systems of Unidentified Space Vehicles (USV) and of the physiology of the beings which occupy these vehicles." (In plain language, flying saucers and aliens.) 

VISIT was stated to be an informal private effort, not associated with Schuessler’s employer or the U.S. Government. Vallee heard something to the contrary, that Dr. Green was tasked by the CIA to check on their UFO work:

October 15, 1978: “Kit has a friend [Dr. Richard Niemtzow] in Houston… McDonnell Douglas is continuing their quiet but well-funded study with John Schuessler, also monitored by the agency. They seem to be looking for exotic alloys.”  In an early 1979 entry, Vallee said he and Green had discussed the notion of a secret U.S. UFO program. Green told him he’d recently had a “conversation with John Schuessler, who thinks the secret project isn't at CIA but at NRO…”

The CIA had told Green the government was no longer interested in UFOs, but he continued his interest in the topic. Vallee wrote in May 1978, “Kit is in close contact with most of the UFO groups, so his interest is only confidential among the uninformed.”


1980s and the Cash-Landrum UFO Investigation

In the spring of 1981, news coverage began about a major UFO case, an incident near Huffman, Texas. It took almost two months for it to surface, but two women and a boy, Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum, and her grandson Colby, claimed to have been injured by a massive fiery object on Dec. 29, 1980. Their evening drive had been blocked by the terrifying UFO, and when it flew away it was followed by a flock of military helicopters. Cash became ill afterwards and spent much of the following weeks in the hospital. Their UFO report was not made until Feb. 2, 1981, but then the investigation was delayed until the end of the month, when John Schuessler started by interviewing the witnesses.


The C-L case received national publicity, and it was given a credibility boost due to the involvement of Schuessler, whom the witnesses and media regarded as a scientist from NASA. Since it was the most dramatic case in several years, ufologists found it fascinating. So did Dr. Kit Green, who was intrigued by the medical aspect, the reported physiological effects. There was nothing published at the time to document his interest, but Jacques Vallee’s, Forbidden Science Vol. III had an entry from 26 September 1981 that gives us an indication:

“Kit… spoke of the Cash-Landrum case in Texas that John Schuessler keeps studying: Three witnesses were exposed to radiation from a hovering object. For the first time a real medical study has been conducted. Kit is afraid two of the witnesses may die from the experience.”


1982-1983: The Army Investigation and the Lawsuit

In 1982, Department of the Army Inspector General (DAIG) ordered Lt. Col. George Sarran to determine whether Army helicopters were involved in the C-L incident, but his mission was not to investigate the UFO report. To be thorough, Sarran contacted several ufologists, John Schuessler, the primary investigator; his former VISIT colleague Capt. Richard C. Niemtzow; M.D., USAF; and Dr. Peter Rank, Radiologist. Although not named in the documentation, John B. Alexander says that both he and his friend U.S. Navy Captain Paul Tyler (medical consultant for the Remote Viewing program) were also consulted. In his report, Sarran eliminated the Army as a suspect, and he found no evidence of helicopters flying by any other U.S. government entity - or by anyone else. However, Sarran had interviewed both Mrs. Cash and Landrum, and he explicitly described them as “credible.” 

In December of 1982, the legal effort by the witnesses against the U.S. government began. They still insisted military helicopters were involved in the UFO, and felt their medical problems were the result of it. Their attorney filed a damage claim against the Air Force for a total of 20 million dollars. 

Tabloid coverage of the C-L legal effort.

1983 was a busy year for the case, with much media coverage of the incident, and of the $20,000,000 claim and potential lawsuit. Ufology was aggressively covering it as well, in newsletters and club magazines. But there was some U.S. government-related discussion of the C-L case that wasn’t revealed until about 30 years later. In 2011, the Central Intelligence Agency declassified a document about its remote viewing program. It contained handwritten notes about government-related ufologists involved in the investigation of a UFO case, and of sending a doctor associated with the program to examine the witnesses.


The “Star Gate” UFO Document

Few UFO-related documents were produced by the U.S. government in the 1980s. However, one surfaced when the CIA declassified some papers on December 1, 2011, as part of their “STARGATE” (Remote Viewing program) collection. It was an undated NSA document, 6-page long, handwritten, no author indicated, apparently notes during a conference. The topic for the first few pages was on people in the timeline of “Soviet Parapsychology Research. Halfway down page 5, the topic abruptly changed, recording the discussion of a UFO case in Texas, as if it were breaking news. The rushed notes are ungrammatical sentence fragments, and many of the words are illegible. Below is a transcription of some of the key excerpts:

Hot activity UF[O]
CE3 Texas much medical Data so good will go to Houston to see patient.
… low level radiation… 52 yr old [woman] neighbor & grandson…
Object… light… got out & 15 or 20 mins stopped…
Fleet of helicopters… Object so bright… becomes very ill burns blisters form…
talked to Vallee… GM [grandmother] retinal burn cataracts…
John Schuessler VISIT team investigating… hair on woman fell out…
Kit has permission to talk to her Dr & one of his physicians consultants.
Woman not getting better worse…
Kit is calling Dr look for blood - low level ionizing radiation.
lot of [screwy theory?] about this -
Kit offered to take [case if?] Schuessler can get $…

To view the document itself, see the PDF at the CIA FOIA Reading Room:
 
Handwritten Notes on Soviet Parapsychology Research (1930s – 1970s) and on Remote Viewing Research in the U.S.

The NSA notes unquestionably refer to the Cash-Landrum UFO incident of 1980. The author of these notes has been identified as Howell McConnell of the NSA, based on comparison with his other documents in the Stargate collection. His notes were probably made during a Remote Viewing meeting where Hal Puthoff or an associate read or summarized a Cash-Landrum report to the program participants. In the discussion, Jacques Vallee was referenced, but the central figure was “Kit,” who was interested in the medical aspect and might personally investigate. That was Dr. Christopher “Kit” Green.

What prompted a discussion of the C-L case in 1983, and why was there a sense of urgency? Aside from the mainstream media, possibly the most important items were by John Schuessler, and one by Richard C. Niemtzow, M.D. in the MUFON UFO Journal, January 1983, “Radiation UFO Injuries.” There’s no indication of any government follow-up to the NSA notes. What little official documentation relating to the C-L case all pertains to the (ill-fated) legal case.

There’s no direct evidence that Dr. Kit Green became involved in investigating the case due to the discussion recorded in this NSA note. However, it documents the strong interest by Green, Puthoff, and other players in the Remote Viewing story, people who continued to discuss and examine the Cash-Landrum case from then on.


Further Studies, 1985 to Present

The connection Hal Puthoff made with Jacques Vallee back in 1972 blossomed into a permanent expansion of the Invisible College, uniting an elite set of proponents of Remote Viewing, UFO studies, and the paranormal. They regarded the Cash-Landrum incident as not only genuine, but as the premier UFO injury case, and worthy of further study.

1985-88: The Advanced Theoretical Physics Project

In 1985, John B. Alexander put together the Advanced Theoretical Physics project. Dr. Hal Puthoff was a key member of ATP, and he kept his colleague Jacques Vallee informed of the group’s activities. Vallee called ATP, "the Secret Onion," and Forbidden Science Volume III (2016), has his entry for July 24, 1985:

"There was a meeting on frontier subjects in Washington recently. When Hal [Puthoff] arrived he discovered the topic was UFOs, and the overall project was structured in multiple layers, like an onion. The meeting was classified above top secret, under a codeword. Fifteen attendees reviewed cases like Kirtland AFB, Cash-Landrum and Tehran. They included Howell McConnell and [Paul] Tyler. Kit [Green] had been invited but couldn't attend.”

The Advanced Theoretical Physics project.

Alexander wrote in UFOs: Myths, Conspiracies, and Realities, “We explored the Cash-Landrum case in depth because of lawsuits initiated against the U.S. Government under the assumption that the incident was caused by an experimental craft of ours that had caused the serious injuries.” 

McConnell, the author of the NSA C-L document was part of the group, and several other players had ties to the psychic spy program. Ed Dames was a relative newcomer. Alexander intended to use remote viewing in the ATP’s UFO investigations. 

While not officially related, the Star Gate files have a document dated 26 January 1988, on the remote viewing session of “GP,” Gabrielle Pettingell. The interviewer was “ED,” Ed Dames and their target was the “Cash-Landrum Object." It produced a vague drawing and description of a black glossy object in a hangar - somewhere.

Around the same time, Kit Green and John Schuessler reviewed the medical data on the witnesses in the C-L case. They co-wrote a paper, later referenced by Dr. Green as: “Green & Schuessler, unpublished findings of a pair of well-documented human cases…Cash-Landrum 1987.”


1995-2004: NIDS 

In 1995, Robert Bigelow created the National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS), “a privately funded science institute engaged in research of aerial phenomena, animal mutilations, and other related anomalous phenomena.” Under chairman Dr. Kit Green, their all-star science advisory board included Colm Kelleher, Hal Puthoff, John B. Alexander, Jacques Vallee, and John Schuessler. 


1997: The Sturrock Panel

In 1997, Physicist Peter A. Sturrock of Stanford University directed an independent scientific review of UFO cases conducted by an international panel of scientists. Three of “the usual suspects” participated, Hal Puthoff, John Schuessler, and Jacques Vallee. Sturrock published a paper on it in 1998: “Physical Evidence Related to UFO Reports: The Proceedings of a Workshop Held at the Pocantico Conference Center, Tarrytown, New York, September 29 – October 4, 1997.” The Cash-Landrum case was presented in “Physiological Effects on Witnesses,” which was later presented as chapter 15 (pp. 100-104.) of Peter Sturrock’s 1999 book on the study, The UFO Enigma: A New Review of the Physical Evidence.

Getting back to NIDS, they undoubtedly discussed the Cash-Landrum case, as Schuessler published his book on it in 1998. Additionally, their website hosted two papers mentioning the case, and the NIDS-associated 2005 Knapp-Kelleher Hunt for the Skinwalker book included a review of the C-L story. NIDS came to an end when Robert Bigelow announced that NIDS was being deactivated in Oct. 2004. As we shall see, history suggests instead that it was closed for remodeling. 


2007-2012 BAASS - AAWSAP - AATIP

In 2007, Robert Bigelow’s NIDS was reborn as Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies (BAASS), evidently created to secure the contract for the Advanced Aerospace Weapon Systems Applications Program (AAWSAP), known better today by the nickname AATIP. In their 2021 book, Skinwalkers at the Pentagon, the authors “acknowledge the extraordinary intelligence, vision, and decades of knowledge of UAP history that Christopher Green, Hal Puthoff, Jacques Vallee, Eric Davis, and John Schuessler contributed by advising both BAASS and DIA on designing the multiple projects that constituted AAWSAP.” 

Puthoff, Vallee, and Schuessler in Jan. 2009, working on AAWSAP subcontracting.

The BAASS-AAWSP contract was camouflaged as conventional aerospace research using vague language also applicable to UFO studies, including: “propulsion… power generation…human effects… armament (RF [radio frequency]) and DEW [directed energy weapons]). BAASS was contracted to produce scientific papers in 12 technical subjects for use as Defense Intelligence Reference Documents (DIRDs). 

Puthoff contracted Dr. Kit Green, who delivered, “Anomalous Acute and Subacute Field Effects on Human Biological Tissues” in 2009. When later disclosed, the paper became infamous for being the only DIRD to specifically reference UFOs. It mentioned the Cash-Landrum encounter on 7 occasions, and was treated as a benchmark case for UFO injury studies. John Schuessler’s 1996 booklet, UFO-Related Human Physiological Effects, was a key reference for Green's paper. The 2009 “BAASS Ten Month Report” for AAWSAP reportedly cited the Cash-Landrum case in its discussion of key historical cases, and their plans to create a “medical physiological UAP effects program.”

AAWSAP was terminated in 2012 after the government funding to Bigelow was not renewed. Exactly how the DIRD relating to the C-L case was used has not been disclosed.


2018-Present: UAPTF – AARO and NASA?

The current U.S. investigation of UFOs began as the Unidentified Aerial Phenomena Tack Force (UAPTF) in 2018 but has evolved into the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO). Participants are said to include “representatives with all relevant and appropriate security clearances from" across branches and agencies, including the CIA and NSA. To date, the program has only indicated an interest solely in contemporary military cases. However, NASA is also conducting an independent study of their own, which will include significant historical cases in their review of “data gathered by civilian government entities, commercial data, and data from other sources.” Though they are not tasked to investigate, their study will surely include the Cash-Landrum UFO case. 

. . .


For additional information, see my previous Blue Blurry Lines articles on these topics: 

The US Government’s Cash-Landrum UFO Investigations (2019)

AATIP's UFO Medical Study and the Cash-Landrum Case (2020)

For further information on the players and events, see the epic examination by Isaac Koi:

Remote Viewing & UFOs: Stargate, Galactic Federation + the Aviary (2015) 


A Special Acknowledgement

Thanks to the friend who pointed the NSA document to me, then helped identify its author. Best wishes to you in your related research.


Friday, October 7, 2022

The Cash-Landrum UFO: 1980s Recording of Witnesses Interviews


The Cash-Landrum UFO case received a lot of national media coverage, but few of the local broadcasts have been preserved. One was recently posted on YouTube by the account, “Eyes On Cinema,” titled, “Rare 25-minute interview with Vickie and Colby Landrum on the Cash-Landrum UFO incident, 1980.”
It’s audio of interviews with the two witnesses while visiting the sighting location a few years after the events. Unfortunately, the source and date of the recording was not stated, and the poster has not responded to requests to identify it. In May 21-25, 1984, KHOU, television channel 11 in Houston ran a five-part series on the C-L case by reporter Mitch Duncan. It’s a strong possibility that this recording was part of the material by Duncan filmed for those broadcasts.


Mitch Duncan, KHOU, circa 1984

The recording begins with the participants traveling by automobile to the Cash-Landrum UFO sighting location. The two witnesses present were Vickie Landrum and her grandson Colby, who were 60 and 10 years old in 1984. The audio is very good, but contains noises from the car trip to the site, and once they reach the location, from passing traffic. Below is a complete transcript of the recording as presented on YouTube. There’s also some cross-talk that’s been edited for clarity. Three segments of recordings are evident, but it’s not known what other breaks or edits the tape may contain.


To properly evaluate the recording, there’s some background that’s needed for context. This interview was conducted over three years after the UFO incident, and the story was well on its transformation into legend. The witnesses were pursuing a legal case against the U.S. government for the injuries they claimed, which kept their story newsworthy in the eyes of the media. This recording is not an unbiased account or a cross-examination of the witnesses. It was made by a sympathetic newsman who was asking them to tell their side of the story. The interviewer asked leading questions based on his limited knowledge of events, some questions based on faulty premises. Vickie Landrum indulged him, giving the reporter the answers she thinks he wants without making any corrections. The interview is short on specific details about the sighting, instead focusing on the plight of the witnesses.


Despite any flaws, the interview is one of the best and it features lengthy, vivid accounts from both Vickie and Colby Landrum about their experiences. It provides the most compelling answer to the question: What was it like to be there?




Interview: During the Drive to the Location


Vickie Landrum


Vickie Landrum: It was between 9 and 9:15, we was coming back from New Caney, we had been to a bingo game. Betty Cash, my grandson Colby Landrum and me, and um we started seeing the light over to the left of us. And it seemed to be way off and - but we got to wondering what it was. And uh the trees every once in a while would make it disappear, and then it would come back into view. And as we went down the road, well it seemed to get brighter.


Q: Were you afraid at all?


VL: Not at first, we was just curious, to you know, and wondering what it was and uh because Colby kept saying uh “See it Grandma, see it Grandma,” uh he'd say, “See it aunt Betty,” and uh so we said “yeah we see it,” and he'd say, “What is it?” and we said, “Well, we don't know,” you know.


Q: Did you estimate what color it was, or how big it was?


VL: Well it was um, when we first saw it it was um about half as big as a water tower and it looked um, you know, it was a big bright kind of glowing light, you know, and um so as we traveled on down the road well uh, it disappeared and then it come back into view and um…


Q: Nobody was following you at all?


VL: No, we were going like we were going toward where it was, and it was kind of like it was floating, uh on to the - closer to the left of us, and um, so when we get down here I'll show you exactly where it's at.


Q: Were there any other cars on this road?


VL: No, there was none. If it's, you know, it was kind of cloudy and had been bad, it was um, when it's like that there's not very many people to travel through here because it's, you know, in the wintertime people stay at home mostly.


Q: What time of year was this?


VL: It was um, the 29th of December of 1980. 


Q: Not down here? 


VL: Uh huh, right on down here.


Q:What about you, Colby,  what'd you think of all this?


Colby Landrum: Well, it was scary. One of the things I’ll never forget.


Q: Light bright?


CL: Yeah, it was real bright.


Q: Ever seen anything that bright before?


CL: No.


Q: What would you say it looked like to you?


CL: It looked like a diamond.


Q: A diamond? Did it have any lights blinking on and off?


CL: No.

Q: It was a white light?


CL: No, it was -  it looked like fire.


Q: It looked like fire? Were you scared at all?


CL: Well, I'll tell you what, scareder than you would ever get.


Q?: Was it making a big noise like a train or… jet?


CL: It sounded like… a jet engine.


Vickie Landrum: Now, right a little bit further down.


Q: About where that sign is?


VL: Yeah just a little past that sign. 


Q: Okay now, once we get past this sign, what began to happen?


VL: [Garbled] down a little bit further. Well, all at once I saw it and when it come in to the left of us. And um I screamed. On down a little bit further, right along about here.

And it was raining and everything, we couldn't pull over it out of the road but it it's just like it - it come down and it was just, you know, hanging up there. And um… 


Q: Was it blocking your path?


VL: Well, I - I feel like if we had’ve went on we would have burned up because you could feel the heat from it. And it was um, about the size of a water tower and when the fire come out - out the bottom of it, it would - it never did get only just, you know, past, you know, up above the treetops.


Q: I thought you saw something, that there was actual flame shooting out of it?


VL: Yes sir, the flame when it would come down, it would lift, and when it would let off, it would ease back  like it was going to come down, you know?

Q: And making a loud noise?


VL: Yes sir, and uh when the flame would come way down, it sounded like, you've heard um um, let me explain to you this way uh uh, like when anybody's doing welding then you know how that the sound, except it was loud, loud, loud. And when it would come down, well that's what it would lift up in the um it just set there suspended. And Betty got out, Betty Cash and walked past the front of the car because she was trying to find out what it was. Colby and me we got out for about um two or three minutes, I guess, and uh he was trying to get away from it to run, and um I grabbed a hold of him and he and pushed him back in the car, and he grabbed ahold of me of pulling and screaming for me to get back in the car.


And I got back in the car and I was begging Betty to get back in the car, because I felt like we were going to burn up, and um so um, all I could think of - I've been raised that, you know, the world will be destroyed by fire, you know, and the whole area looked like it was, you know, from the light of it, looked like that the whole woods was going to be set on fire. And uh Colby was screaming and everything, and I was afraid that he was going to have a heart attack, so um I begin to talk to him that, you know, if he saw a big man, it would be Jesus and he'd come to carry us to a better place. And um he asked me what about his papaw [grandfather], and I said we’d go through Dayton and pick him up. That's all I could think of to calm him down enough that he - with that - that he wouldn't die, because I've always felt like that anybody could be scared enough that they would die. And um I was scared and he was scared, and Betty got back in the car and she was scared, but when it that last flame came way down it lifted off, and it went over to the right of us and it just gradually went up and went - it didn't foof off it,  just, you know, gradually went, and we when it got out of our way we started on down and we could see it, but we saw that - we saw helicopters.


Q: How many helicopters?


VL: And they were well a lot of - I mean they were more and more, ‘cause they a - helicopters just kept coming you know from all directions and they were the kind that - uh reason we were so curious about them, they had the double rotaries to them you know the kind that we never - I had never saw before.


(Break in recording)


Interview at FM 1485, the Sighting Location


(Picture from Feb. 1981)


Q: What happened when you got out of the car?


VL: Well uh when I screamed for her to stop, uh it would have went on under it. We'd have burned up. And um, we got out in the car, um to see if we could figure out, you know, what it was. And I think we got out in the car to run, but Colby was screaming and hollering and trying to get away from me and I knew if I let him away I don't know where I'd have caught him or not, so I grabbed him and pushed him back in the car.


Q: Was it threatening you at all? Coming towards you?


VL: No, it was just hanging there and when the fire come down, it would lift. And then when the fire let up it was like it was coming back down again and it was hot.


Q: Was it hot?


VL: It was real hot.


Q: What happened to you?


VL: And um, well I didn't realize at the time anything was happening to me, except I was afraid. I got back out when - we got back in the car and I finally got Betty back in the car and it lifted and went over to the right of us we was on our way home, well um I had a headache and Betty had taken a terrible headache. And um, Colby said he was burning and it was just like we had been out in the heat and got sunburned. You know how the um wind and anything will chap you in the wintertime, and you feel like you, you know, you burning? Well that's the way we felt. And I got home and put uh baby lotion on us and by one o'clock we was blistered. And Betty, uh the lady that was with us Betty Cash, she had big blisters on this side of her, on her neck and on her face, and it was big old knots, they hadn't come out into blisters. And um, I tried for from - it was on the 29th of December, and I tried till the 2nd of January before I got her into a hospital or got a doctor to see her because she didn't have any people here. And I  - somebody had to take care of her. And when I got her in the hospital, all of ‘em down there asked if we was a burn patient. 


Q: Were you burned?


VL: And she said no. Yeah, but I mean, I wasn't as bad as she was, so I felt like that I had to stay able to take care of Colby and to take care of her.


Q: What did the doctor say to you when he examined all three of you?


VL: Uh, well, he that's what he asked is have - had we been burned. And we told him not his, you know, no because we hadn't we thought he meant like burned with fire, or, you know, something like that. And um, when Betty broke out in those big old blisters and all of her hair started falling out, well um, they couldn't understand it, and he couldn't find out what was wrong with her. And uh so um, I knew it had to be something that happened with the object, because we were all three of us, we had the same symptoms, we were hurt bad.


Q: Where were you hurt the worst?


VL: Well um, just my eyes.


Q: Medically, what exactly happened to you and Colby?

VL: Uh…


Q: Did it hurt your eyes?


VL: It hurt our eyes. Uh, because my eyes swelled and they teared when I'd go to sleep at night, next morning my pillow would be completely wet. And it looked just like they were just gonna deteriorate.


Q: What did it do to your skin?


VL: Well, same thing the blisters and and then the blisters you know when they started getting better they were runny blisters and and it's like that my whole hand was going to bleed, my arm…” 


Q: What did the doctors say when they examined you?


VL: They, um, said it had to be some sort of radiation.


Q: From the symptom you were experiencing? Were you experiencing anything else besides burns?


VL: Vomiting. Vomiting, and um like him [Colby] he had no control over his bowels or his kidneys. And we couldn't eat, and we drink water -  I mean it was just like we were dying for a drink of water. We didn't want  - we didn't want Coke, we didn't want nothing but water. We couldn't get enough water.


Q: When you came out of the car and looked and you saw this thing move away, what exactly went on when you saw it lift off?


VL: Well, I said, I was setting back in the car, I hadn't got back in the car and I said, “Thank God It's going,” you know, and I said uh “let's wait a minute and we'll be ready, uh then maybe we can, you know, get under so when it lifted, well um, we Betty cranked the car up and we moved on under it, I mean on down the road because it had drifted over to - to the left of us and, um that’s when we begin to see the helicopters.


Q:What kind of helicopters?


VL: Well um,


Q: What made you think they were helicopters?


VL: Because, uh, they sounded - I mean the rotaries and everything. You could hear the swish of them, you could hear the roar of them. You could see them from the uh, glow from the object, you could see the helicopters.


Q: This object, was it suspended by a cable or something from one of the helicopters?


VL: Well, I could - we couldn't tell, but it uh, you know, when it was hanging there you know like it was going to fall. We could hear a beep, and it was a loud beep a shrill, real shrill beep.


Q: How many helicopters were there in the air?


VL: Um well, we didn't count them here, when we we went on down it's about four miles, we 

stopped and we counted the helicopters. I counted 22.


Q: 22 helicopters. 


VL: Colby said “There's another one,” and I said “Yeah, that makes 23.” But I actually counted 22. And I could  have counted one once or, you know, or twice maybe, but if they'd have been eight or ten of them that big of helicopters, it would have been too many.


Q: Were they chasing this object?


VL: Well, they were,  uh it was like as if they were around it, and and coming to it and everything, like it was - this object was in trouble. And they were, you know, maybe gonna, you know, be there in case it fell or something.


Q: What happened then, when you saw the helicopters and this object in the air?


VL: Well, it um, kept drifting off to the right of us. And when we got almost to Dayton, we could 

yet look back and see the uh, the object, the glow of the object, and there were yet helicopters coming  - yet coming, and going toward it.


Q: What do you think all this was?


VL: I think it's something the government has, and it got out of control.


Q: You don't think it was a spaceship from another planet… you think it was Earth-bound.


VL: No, I sure don't. I think it was Earth. I think it was made by man. 


Q: What do you think all this was?


VL: I think it was something the government had up there. If they didn't - if it wasn't government, the government knew about it, because the helicopters were up there and they were our government helicopters. If they don't know about it, somebody's done ripped them off. 


Q: Did you contact the Air Force after your incident happened and ask them what they were doing out here?


VL: Yes, sir, and they said they wasn't out here. They said the helicopters don't fly at night. I know they fly it.


Q: Did you try to contact the Air Force about what you saw?


VL: Yes, sir, we went to uh, um Austin to the [Bergstrom] Air Force Base and begged them for help.


Q: What did they tell you?


VL: They said if we wanted any help we would have to find us a lawyer and file some papers.


Q: Did they deny having these helicopters in the area?


VL: Oh they didn't know nothing about it, but they had the map spread out, and we couldn't see because our eyes were burning so bad, and the lady that was in there pinpointed the road to us. But yet they didn't know nothing about it.


Q: Did the Army have anything to do with this? Did you try to contact the Army?


VL: We've tried to contact everybody. And everybody denies it. But a pilot - one of the, um National Guard Pilots said they were called out that night by Montgomery County Sheriff's department, but when he was [contacted] he didn't know nothing about that either. He said that Miss Cash and me told him. Miss Cash wasn't with me when he told me, it was my friend, because Miss Cash was in the hospital.


Q: Why were they called out?


VL: For this object.


Q: They were investigating an object.


VL: Right.


Q: But you don't think it was extraterrestrial. You think it was an Air Force project, and they should be responsible for the damage they caused you and your family.


VL: Right, right. Well, if - if it wasn't put there by the government, the government knew about it, and they have control over the airways. Why didn't they stop it before it hurt us?


Q: What happened to Colby?


VL: Well um, like I say, he - he got - most of his hair come out, and he had this diarrhea, and had no control over his bowels or his kidneys, and he was blistered. 


Q: Did the doctors say that was the radiation poisoning?


VL: And they said there's a possibility that was radiation poisoning, and if we could - said we need to find out the kind of radiation it was, because if  - if it was radiation, by the time he's 15 to 18 years old, he'll come down like with leukemia, but it won't be leukemia. And if they was to treat him for leukemia, it could kill him because of the radiation that would be in his body.


VL: And did you tell the Air Force what your doctor told you?


VL: Yeah.


Q: What did they tell you?


VL: They said well there was nothing they could do about it, and if we wanted to do anything about it, we'd have to - if we could find us a lawyer, we'd have to find us a civilian lawyer and file these papers


Q: When you told the Air Force about this, did they absolutely without a doubt deny anything was up at all, or did they say no comment?


VL: Well, they wouldn't comment on it, but um... 


Q: They didn't deny it.


VL: They didn't deny it. They didn't comment on it, no they didn't deny it. And um…


Q: What do you plan to  - that's serious? [Colby] could come down, you know, in his later years that could affect his health. What are you gonna do?


VL: That's why I'm fighting now. 


Q: What are you doing now?

VL: Well, I'm - I'm trying to find out what it was. If I can't find out what it was, maybe I can find out what kind of radiation it was putting out. Because we certainly didn't pull our hair out, we didn't burn ourselves, and I didn't, uh, injure my eyes to where I can't see out of one of them. And I sure wouldn't injure a little seven-year-old boy, because I love him with all my heart.


Q: You still have marks on your hands?


VL: Right. And I'll carry them as long as I live, I guess, on my arms. On my feet. [Shows him.]


Q: Those are all from the incident that occurred three years ago?


VL: Right. And think I don't have something to fight about?


Q: What about your eyesight?


VL: Well, I can't see none on the side vision of this side. And it's just like I'm using one eye. I can't see how to read anymore, I can't drive the automobile no more. So when I have to go somewhere I have to get either my daughter, or my daughter-in-law, or my grandson to carry me or I walk.



Colby Landrum Interview at the Location


Colby Landrum

Q: So when you and your grandma were driving down here, you saw that bright light, were you afraid?


Colby Landrum: Well, not at first, but after we got on closer to it I got scared.


Q: Did it hurt you?


CL: Well, it burned us. When I got home, and when I went to sleep my grandma - I had blisters on me. And um, well, it wasn’t the same night, the next morning I had a bunch of blisters on my face and um, I - my grandma doctored me.


Q: Did you feel sick at all?


CL: Yep, vomited a bunch.


Q: What do you think it was out there?


CL: Out there that night?


Q: Yeah. 


CL: Well, all I can think of is the government project.


Q: If you didn't know about the government, what do you think it might be?


CL: I don't know.


Q: What exactly did it look like to you? Do you think it was being chased by helicopters? 


CL: I think so.


Q: What exactly did it look like to you, do you think it might have been a spaceship?


CL: A diamond. No, it couldn't have been a spaceship.


Q: Why do you say that?


CL: I don't believe in spaceships. 


Q: And it looked like a diamond-shape?


CL: [Apparently nods yes.]


Q: Did it move fast or slow?


CL: It moved slow.


Q: Was it loud?


CL: Yeah, it was as loud - it - it sounded like a jet engine, but it sounded like about five jet engines put together. 


Q: What did you see out there that night, did you see helicopters?


CL: Yes, about twenty-three of them.


Q: What were they doing?


CL: They were right above - above the object.


Q: 23 helicopters, I mean they're big helicopters. 


CL: Oh yeah.


Q: How big was that object would you say? As big as a helicopter or…


CL: Bigger than a helicopter. About as big as a water tower.


Q: And the helicopters were over it. What were they doing, shining lights on it or anything?


CL: No. Not really, they were guarding it.


Q: Did the helicopters have their lights on, so you could see if they were Army, or Air Force, or could identify what they were?


CL: Well, you couldn't really tell, but they were double-rotary like the government’s helicopters.


Q: Now those double-rotary propellers are used by helicopters that haul around big things, they’re transport carriers.


CL: [Response drowned out by traffic noise. Possibly mentions dreams] …not scared anymore.


Q: Are you scared anymore?


CL: Well, I don’t have, - I hadn't had a nightmare about it for about a …


Q: What kind of nightmares did you have about it?


CL: Well, like it was.


Q: I mean what did you dream about that scared you?


CL: About the object.


Q: What was it doing to you?


CL: It was about that night. It - just like I was out here again.


Q: You don't dream about that anymore?


CL: No. Well, I hadn't for a long time.


Q: So you're not scared anymore.


CL: Well, sometimes I think about it and I get scared.


Q: What are your friends at school think?


CL: Well, most of them don't believe me.


Q: Does that bother you?


CL: No, because I know it's true.


(END)



Analyzing the Interview: Facts and Flaws


In many respects this is the best recorded account of the sighting, with minimal editing or interruptions to the witnesses' accounts. It’s interesting to hear what parts of the story are emphasized and how some familiar parts are omitted, like Vickie’s handprints on the dashboard, or Betty having to use her jacket to open the hot car door handle. Due to the questions asked, we get a good feel for the sensations and emotions they experienced during the encounter, and for the impact it had on their lives. 


The recording features Vickie leading the reporter to the UFO sighting location. This is notable because in September 1981, investigator John Schuessler told radiation investigators from the Texas Department of Health that the witnesses were unable to pinpoint the site, only say that it was a stretch of road “between a beer joint and some kind of highway warning sign.” After a few years of interviews and reenactments, Vickie could show them a spot. For details, see, The Cash-Landrum Incident: The Suppressed Case Files


The interviewer incorrectly assumes all three witnesses were examined by doctors, not just Betty Cash. Rather than correct him, Vickie implies she did not get medical treatment because she had to stay home to take care of Colby. Later, when asked about what the doctors thought about Vickie’s ailments, she answers regarding Betty's puzzling about if her illness might be from radiation exposure.


John Schuessler's photos documenting Colby Landrum's hair loss.

When he asks her about Colby’s condition following the UFO encounter, Vickie exaggerated it, particularly when saying, “most of his hair come out.” The two photos circulating allegedly showing Colby’s hair loss depict a bare patch about the size of a dime. The missing patch of hair appears more consistent with an encounter with chewing gum and scissors than radiation poisoning.


Vickie told the reporter about a dire warning from a doctor who'd said that in his teens, Colby might develop a disease that mimicked Leukemia. What Vickie didn't say was that she heard that from Dr. Peter Rank, a radiologist who consulted for MUFON that had never examined any of the witnesses, only read Betty's medical reports from his office in Wisconsin. She also neglected to mention that after reviewing the details Dr. Rank wrote to her, "... speaking as one who works with ionizing radiation every day in my practice, let me also hurry to assure you that [if you were exposed] this does not indeed mean you folks will suffer any serious injury. ...Mrs. Cash's normal blood count in the hospital favor that the injury, due to whatever caused, is not severe in an internal sense."


Exaggerations aside, Vickie’s testimony comes off as sincere and genuine. So did Colby’s performance for the most part. However it is a bit stilted at times, as if some of Colby's answers and terminology came from repeating what he’d heard his grandmother say.


When Vickie talks about getting Betty into the hospital, “because she didn't have any people here,” that’s not accurate. Betty’s adult son Bill (Toby) Howard was visiting her house, there the night she returned from the sighting. Also, Betty’s brother, Jesse L. Collins, lived nearby, in Houston. 


Vickie said the helicopters were coming in from all directions, estimating 23 were involved, but admitted her count may have been off. She said miles later when they were almost back home to Dayton they could still see the glow from the UFO and that more helicopters were still “coming, and going toward it.” This is overlooked in most case analysis, and would take the number of aircraft involved to an even more incredible number, and expanding almost everything else from the timetable the UFO should have been visible, the area involved, and multiply the number of witnesses who should have been aware of such an epic protracted and noisy military aerial operation.


Vickie talks about the denials of a National Guard helicopter pilot she met, but that comes from her misunderstanding of his description of having been dispatched in 1977 for another UFO sighting in the area. For details, see:  Exonerating the Helicopter Pilot.


It’s strange that there's no direct mention of the legal case, just Vickie’s talk of “fighting.” The goal of the video was to portray the plight of the witnesses and get the audience to empathize with them, and in that regard, it was a success. If the case had been tried in the court of public opinion, the Cash-Landrum story might have had a different ending.



For Further Study


On Feb. 2, 1981, Vickie Landrum called The National UFO Reporting Center to ask for help with the sighting she'd had with Colby and Betty Cash. The recording of that call and a transcript are at the link below.

Cash-Landrum: Phone report of UFO to NUFORC


On August 17, 1981, Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum,and Colby Landrum visited Bergstrom Air Force Base to tell their story and ask for help. The meeting was recorded and later furnished to the witnesses. The links below are to a transcript made of that tape.

CUFON: Bergstrom Air Force Base C-L Interview Part 1
CUFON: Bergstrom Air Force Base C-L Interview Part 2


There's a myth that the Cash-Landrum UFO had a ring of blue lights, but as Colby said in this interview, there were no such lights. See the article linked below for further details on how the witnesses originally described the UFO.

The Cash-Landrum UFO: The True Picture