162 lines
8.3 KiB
Plaintext
162 lines
8.3 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: WOMAN SAYS CLOSE ENCOUNTER LEFT SCARS FILE: UFO1276
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NEWS CLIPPING SERVICE
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DATE OF ARTICLE: March 15, 1989
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SOURCE OF ARTICLE: Post-Herald
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LOCATION: Birmingham, Alabama
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BYLINE: Kathy Kemp
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========================================================
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(C) Copyright 1989 ParaNet Information Service
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All Rights Reserved.
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THIS FILE WAS PROVIDED BY THE UFO NEWSCLIPPING SERVICE
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AND PREPARED BY PARANET ALPHA -- PARANET INFORMATION
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SERVICE
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PARANET INFORMATION SERVICE BBS
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PARANET ALPHA
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DENVER, COLORADO
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NOTE: THESE FILES ARE NOT FOR REDISTRIBUTION OUTSIDE
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OF THE PARANET INFORMATION SERVICE NETWORK
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========================================================
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WOMAN'S CLOSE ENCOUNTER WITH UFO LEFT LASTING SCARS
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By Kathy Kemp
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Post-Herald Reporter
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Cr: L. Phillips
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LINCOLN--Betty Cash thought the world was coming to an end.
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In the Bible, she knew, it was written that a great flame
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would destroy the Earth. And all she could see as she stood on
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that lonely stretch of Texas road and stared toward the heavens
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was scorching ball of fire.
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"It lit up the sky like it was daylight," Mrs. Cash says,
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sitting in the den of her sunny mobile home on Lake Logan Martin
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in rural Talladega County.
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"That's the first thing that came into our minds, that the
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world was ending. That thing was so bright, it took us a while
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to get our sight to where we could see it was actually an object.
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"I have never been so terrified. All we could think of was
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how are we going to get out of here without being burned alive."
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Eight years have passed since Mrs. Cash--along with her
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friend Vickie Landrum and Mrs. Landrum's grandson, Colby--
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confronted what they thought was the apocalypse.
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The group had gone out the night of Dec. 29, 1980, in search
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of a bingo game, forgetting that the halls would be closed for
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the Christmas holidays. They were returning to their homes in
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Dayton, Texas, on a deserted stretch of road near New Caney when
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they had what UFO researchers would later refer to as a close
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encounter of the second kind.
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After their eyes had adjusted to the ball of fire, the women
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and the young boy began to make out a diamond shaped object that
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was spitting flames toward the ground. As the flames shot out,
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they could hear a whooshing sound, and the object--which Mrs.
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Cash says was about the size of a country water tower--would rise
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a bit higher in the sky.
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Later, while she lay in a hospital bed with burns and what
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appeared to be radiation poisoning, Mrs. Cash would tell a
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fantastic tale. Mrs. Landrum and Colby, who were treated for
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similar symptoms, would confirm her story.
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They said that 23 helicopters--the sophisticated double
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rotary models that they later identified as CH-47 chinooks--were
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flying around the fiery object, as if they were trying to either
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pull or escort it to another location.
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They said that although the temperature at the time was in
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the 40's, their car got so hot that Mrs. Cash had to use her
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leather jacket like a potholder as she opened the driver's door
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to get back in. An indentation in the dashboard of Mrs. Cash's
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1980 navy blue Cutlass is actually the handprint of Mrs. Landrum,
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who rested her palm on the dash as she stared out the windshield,
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they said.
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Since then, both women have developed numerous health
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problems, and Mrs. Landrum's grandson has shown signs of
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emotional distress. Mrs. Cash said she was in the hospital for
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six weeks with blisters, burns, headaches, vomiting and diarrhea,
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and she has photographs of herself that show great clumps of hair
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missing from her scalp.
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Mrs. Cash, who grew up in Birmingham and had lived in Texas
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30 years, returned to Alabama in early 1981 to live with her
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mother, who provided the nursing the hospital told her she
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needed. Divorced from her first husband in 1979, Mrs. Cash
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married again several years ago and moved into the mobile home by
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the lake.
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Although many have dismissed their experience as imaginary,
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Mrs. Cash and the Landrums have a strong ally in the Texas based
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Mutual UFO Network, a international non profit organization that
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investigates and documents UFO sightings.
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"As far as I'm concerned, it's one of the most spectacular
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cases I've ever seen," says John Schuessler, a Houston engineer
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and MUFON deputy directory. Schuessler, who has been with MUFON
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since the late 1960s, investigated the Cash-Landrum case shortly
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after it happened and has followed it ever since.
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"It's a very real situation. Something happened to them.
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They were mistreated by some kind of object. You can call it a
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UFO. That doesn't mean it was from outer space.
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"Whatever it was, I'm convinced that their health state
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changed drastically right after it happened. I have doctor's
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statements confirming (Mrs. Cash's) burns. And we also had a
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number of people in the area who saw what they saw, only not so
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close."
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Convinced that the fiery object was something the United
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States military was moving from one location to another, Mrs.
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Cash and the Landrums filed a multimillion dollar lawsuit against
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the government. A Texas judge refused to hear the case, but the
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women haven't stopped trying to get their story told in either a
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courtroom or--better yet, they believe--a congressional hearing.
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Encouraged by MUFON and Schuessler, Mrs. Cash has written
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dozens of letters--mostly to government agencies and politicians,
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who thus far have been able to offer little more than sympathy.
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The government has denied any knowledge of the incident Mrs. Cash
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has described. Schuessler says MUFON investigators weren't able
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to find any military personnel who would acknowledge that a group
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of helicopters was in the area that night in 1980.
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Most recently, Mrs. Cash has been writing to U.S. Sen.
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Howell Heflin, D-Ala. In a letter dated Jan. 31, Heflin told
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Mrs. Cash that he has contacted the U.S. Department of Defense
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and asked for an investigation of Mrs. Cash's claims and a full
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report.
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"I honestly don't think we'll have to go back to court," she
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says. "I think the government's going to break down and do
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something."
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In the meantime, she and Mrs. Landrum, who still lives in
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Texas, continue to talk publicly about their experience.
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Articles about their ordeal have appeared in newspapers and
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magazines around the world. Several television shows have
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featured them, including "That's Incredible," "Good Morning,
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America" and a syndicated special called "UFO Coverup." In the
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latter show, which aired last year, two other participants whose
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identities were concealed said they worked for the government and
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that the Cash-Landrum incident was a top secret maneuver in which
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the U.S. military was transporting the alien craft.
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Mrs. Cash says she isn't convinced that what she saw came
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from another planet. She believes the diamond shaped object was
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a military project--perhaps a nuclear powered torch designed to
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light up a modern day battlefield, as one MUFON investigator has
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suggested.
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If the government was responsible, Mrs. Cash says, it should
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have to pay her medical bills. Since the incident, she developed
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breast cancer that required mastectomy, and she still has bouts
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with diarrhea, headaches and stomach cramps, she says.
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MUFON's Schuessler believes Mrs. Cash may never learn what
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happened that night.
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"It had to be something very unusual," he says. "It burned
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the road below, and it burned the trees. My personal theory is
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that it was some kind of helicopter unit, like the one in Iran,
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when they attempted to rescue the hostages."
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Mrs. Cash, 60, says she won't give up until someone in
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Washington gives her some answers.
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"Before 1980, when I heard somebody talk about UFOs, I'd
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laugh about it," she says. "I'd think, 'Boy, these people are
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ready for the little men in the white coats.'
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"But honey, this made a believer out of me."
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=================================================================
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5/89
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