The Cash/Landrum Case of 1980

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.

Betty, Vicki, and Colby would later be involved in legal action against the U.S. government over the illnesses, contending that the presence of military helicopters during the sighting was conclusive to military involvement. Eventually resulting in a Congressional hearing, the Inspector General of the U.S. Army denied the service´s involvement in the matter. In the final ruling, military culpability was never proven and no damages were awarded.

Betty Cash passed away on December 29, 1998, on the eighteenth anniversary of the incident.

Interesting to note, while the U.S. government maintains that UFO´s do not exist and do not present a threat to the citizens of America, which seems a bit redundant, the military ascertains that it was not their craft that emitted radiation that night in 1980. I believe what they are implying, then, is that UFO´s do not exist, unless it gets the U.S. government off the hook for medical expenses.

There is a term I heard coined by Kathleen Marden, whose aunt and uncle, Betty and Barney Hill, were involved in an extraterrestrial abduction in New Hampshire in 1961. The term, pseudo-skeptic, is used to refer to so-called skeptics and other learned persons who denigrate Ufology with intentional deceit, ascertaining that UFO´s do not exist and that witnesses are either mistaken, simple/not very smart, dishonest, or just plain fantasy-prone. Believing UFO´s and aliens to be completely based in fiction, it is difficult for them to ignore a case such as the Cash/Landrum Incident. Radiation exposure is not an easy thing to encounter, especially on a deserted road in eastern Texas in 1980.

There are also those who would establish that UFO´s and Aliens are here to help us, to encourage us as we progress into an advanced state of enlightenment, and they only have our best interests at heart. This hogwash is difficult to process when put against an intentional and/or negligent action such as this, which resulted in incredible suffering on the part of Betty, Vicki, and Colby, three innocent people driving on a deserted road in eastern Texas in 1980.

References

The Cash/Landrum Incident NICAP Report www.nicap.org/cashlan.htm

1980-The Cash / Landrum Piney Woods Encounter by Billy Booth ufos.about.com/od/bestufocasefiles/p/cashlandrum.htm

CAPTURED! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience by Kathleen Marden kathleenmarden.googlepages.com/