One singular case in Ufology has always intrigued me. It was 1980 and I was 11 years old. During a time that I was busy arguing with my parents about music and trying to prove it wasn´t TOO loud, begging my dad to let me grow my hair long, and falling in love with every pretty girl I saw, a family in Texas was living a nightmare.
Driving down a lonely wooded road in the late evening near Huffman, Texas on December 29, 1980, Vicki Landrum and her grandson Colby, accompanied by Vicki´s friend Betty Cash, saw an unidentified object above the street in front of them. They described the craft as diamond shaped and very bright. As they drew closer, they could see intermittent flames ejecting from the object.
Afraid but curious, Betty brought the car to a complete stop, and they got out of the car to better see the UFO. After a few minutes of staring at the craft, Vicki and Colby got back into the car, but Betty was mesmerized by the sight, moving around to the front of the car and continuing to stare. Vicki would later describe the light as enveloping her friend.
After a few minutes, the craft started to move away from the area. As Betty returned to the car, they observed numerous military-looking helicopters fly into the area. Betty would later recall that the skin of her car was so hot that she had difficulty opening the door, burning herself in the process.
Driving down the road, they could see the UFO in the distance, and noted that the helicopters seemed to be flying with the craft. They described some of the helicopters as having twin rotors, which seems to indicate the distinctive CH-47 Chinook. The Chinook was developed by Boeing to serve the military as a heavy-lift helicopter. This would be an appropriate helicopter to use if a crash recovery were in order, as the flame emissions seemed to indicate. It would also be appropriate to deliver a large number of troops were the situation to turn confrontational.
It is unclear if this was an intercept operation, or an escort. It is also unclear if this UFO was a manmade aircraft on a test flight going horribly wrong, or a crippled extraterrestrial space craft.
After dropping the Landrums at their home, Betty drove on to her residence. She was feeling ill by this time and upon going into her house, noticed burns and blisters on her skin. Betty also started to vomit profusely.
Three days later, Betty checked herself into the hospital, advising the emergency room staff of the blisters and vomiting, but also displaying swollen eyes, neck, and patches of hair that had fallen out.
All three continued to have skin problems, pain and burning sensations, as well as problems with their eyes, and were eventually treated for their symptoms. Betty´s symptoms, by far, were the worse, obviously from her more direct exposure. Doctors would later relate all three victims' symptoms very closely to radiation exposure. Betty would soon be diagnosed with an aggressive form of skin cancer.
As in the initial military press releases during the Stephenville, Texas sightings of 2007 and 2008, all military bases in the area of eastern Texas, including bases in Louisiana, stated that their aircraft were not involved.
| Click on the 'NEXT' arrow for page 2 |
 |
UFODIGEST.COM All rights reserved. FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This website distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107.
|
Today:
Printer
friendly version
Steve Bass is a Ufologist who believes in the scientific approach to the UFO phenomenon. He is an investigator and State Section Director for the Mutual UFO Network, and a Fellow of the Research Institute on Anomalous Phenomenon based in Kharkiv, Ukraine. He is also a journalist for UFO Digest and American Chronicle. Email Steve at 
