210 lines
9.8 KiB
Plaintext
210 lines
9.8 KiB
Plaintext
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SUBJECT: TRIO STICK TO UFO STORY FILE: UFO2443
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From the Houston Chronicle
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September 15, 1991
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Section C, Metropolitan
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Page 1C, 7C
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Sunday Morning Edition
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Twice Burned, Not Shy
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Stung By Radiation, Ridicule, Trio Stick To UFO Story
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By Cindy Horswell
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Houston Chronicle
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DAYTON-- More than a decade after going public with
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their strange injuries an an even stranger tale of a UFO
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encounter, Betty Cash and Vickie Landrum are sticking by
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their story.
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Federal officials have pooh-poohed their claims and a
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judge dismissed
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their lawsuit against the US government for lack of
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evidence. In addition, the two women and Landrum's grandson,
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who was with them that night in 1980, say they have suffered
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public ridicule.
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Still they aren't backing down. In fact, they hope to
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revive their case.
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Whether it was piloted by little green men or by humans
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at the controls of a secret military project,Cash and
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Landrum insist they saw an Unidentified Flying Object that
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night---- and that they have the injuries to prove it.
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Their skin is so sensitive now it only tolerates cold
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showers, they say, and they must hide like hermits from the
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sun to avoid blistering. Medical bills are mounting, and so
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are their worries.
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Cash, a cafe owner, and Landrum, a waitress, blame these
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and other strange maladies on the intense heat that they say
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came from the bizarre diamond-shaped craft.
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The encounter, on Dec. 29,1980, occurred on an isolated
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road in the piney woods northeast of Houston in Liberty
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County, the two women say. Since then they have lived mainly
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on Social Security, saying they are too ill to hold jobs.
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But their story has spread internationally, including
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Omni magazine and several TV programs,and the mystery still
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arouses curiosity.
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Their lawsuit alleged they were injured by an
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experimental military craft that spewed radiation, or by a
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UFO under surveillance by military helicopters. Cash and
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Landrum have been besieged with telephone calls-- including
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some from anonamous tipsters telling of a top secret
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project, WASP-2, allegedly discontinued after radiation
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accidents.
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Their attorney, Clay Ford of Gulf Breeze, Fla., wants to
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reopen the case by showing government officials lied about
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record keeping procedures during pretrial proceedings.
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Meanwhile he is negotiating the sale of his client's
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movie rights.
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It all started when the two women and Landrum's
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grandson, Colby, then 7, drove to New Caney in search of a
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bingo game. The bingo halls had closed for the Christmas
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holidays, however, so they had dinner in that east
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Montgomery County town and headed home.
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The women say Colby noticed a bright light in the
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distance as they traveled down FM 1485 about 9 p.m..
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Quickly, they say, a large object emitting the light swooped
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over the tree tops and hovered over a spot just ahead.
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"I screamed for Betty to stop", said Landrum. "I do
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believe that if we would have continued we would have burned
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up".
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Red-orange flames belched downward as the object
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struggled to rise, then sputtered and plunged back toward
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the road, she said. The flames roared like a blowtorch, she
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said, and the object also made a shrill beeping noise.
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"It was a dull gray,metallic color and about the size of
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a water tower. It looked as if it would set the woods on
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fire," recalled Cash, who said she stood outside and watched
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for 10 minutes.
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Landrum said she and Colby also left the car but quickly
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returned, and the boy cowered on the floor.
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Finally, the UFO gave one last blast and flew out of
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sight with at least 23 helicopters in pursuit, the two women
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said.
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"It's been a nightmare that I wish I could forget," said
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Cash, now 62 and living in Alabama near her family.
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Her physician, Dr. Bryan McClelland of Birmingham,says
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she has a "textbook case" of radiation poisoning. He
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compares it to being three to five miles from the epicenter
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of Hiroshima. McClelland said a 1981 biopsy found radiation
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dermatitis.
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"The dry, thin skin on her hand resembles that of a
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90-year-old lady, with red and purple streaks," he said.
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Landrum's doctor declined comment on her ailments.
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Houston doctors who first examined the trio say they
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appeared burned, had puffy, swollen eyes and their hair came
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out in clumps. Though they couldn't settle on a cause, they
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did not rule out radiation.
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"The Cash-Landrum case could very well be the most
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important UFO incident to surface in the last 20 years,
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since there was something to examine afterwards," said John
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Schuessler, a McDonnell-Douglas space shuttle engineer and
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deputy director of the Mutual UFO Network.
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MUFON is a nationwide, 2,100-member organization that
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investigates and catalogs UFO sightings and incidents.
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Cash and Landrum say their health began deteriorating
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the night of the incident, with the severity depending on
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the amount of exposure of the intense heat. They say all
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three suffered problems, including red, blistering skin;
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nausea; diarrhea; headaches; and swollen, watery eyes.
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Later, they said, they experienced hair loss, open sores
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that were slow to heal, depressed immune systems and failing
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eyesight.
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"I couldn't take care of myself for two years," said
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Cash, who claims the longest exposure to the intense light.
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"I was either bedridden or in the hospital (including for
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three weeks just after the sighting)."
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Besides physical injuries, the trio suffered emotionally.
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Landrum, who still lives in Dayton with her grandson,
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said people stared at her and gave her a wide berth, calling
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her "the UFO lady".
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Colby, now 17 who had the mildest exposure and symptoms,
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was teased until he sank into a severe depression, Landrum
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said. She did not want the youth interviewed, but his
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journal gave some insight to his feelings.
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"I am not made fun of as much as I had been. But I am
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sick a lot, and my eyes are still very bad," he wrote
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recently. "I still look up when I go outside.I guess it is
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just a habit, but I always wonder what is up there. Lots of
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nights I lay awake wondering if other kids have gone through
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what I have."
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Since the three reported their encounter, others have
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said they saw the helicopters or a strange flying object
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that night.
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Dayton police Officer L.L.Walker and his wife Marie,
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reported seeing a half-dozen helicopters flying in "V"
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formation with searchlights. Belle Magee, then a bakery
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clerk in the area, reported seeing a bright light " like a
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football field but up in the sky" heading north toward New
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Caney.
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Also, a former Liberty County sherrifs deputy reported
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seeing an identical object almost two years later as he
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drove on an isolated road near Cleaveland.
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John Mark McDonald- now a Lake Jackson police officer-
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described it as diamond shaped, about half the size of a
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football field and the color of galvanized steel. The only
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difference between his sighting and the 1980 report was that
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his had red lights on each corner.
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"Everybody was riding me about reporting it -- thought I
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was crazy," McDonald said. "But I just knew it wasn't an
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airplane, because I've been working in the U.S. Army
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Reserves and know about every fixed wing (craft) there is."
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Today, Landrum and Cash are anxious for some answers.
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Cash still has the 1980 Oldsmobile she drove that night.
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She says the intense heat embedded Landrum's handprint in
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the padded dashboard.
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Also, she said two unidentified men in military uniforms
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once offered to buy the car. Dr. McClelland, who said his
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secretary witnessed the offer, suspects somebody wanted to
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get rid of the car because "ion (electrically charged atoms)
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tracks are visible on the chrome."
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Another quirk was the unexplained repair of a melted
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spot in the road where the incident occurred, Schuessler
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said.
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"I have photographs of a 15- to 25-foot area where even
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the center stripe was wiggly," he said.
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A year later, he said, the spot had been
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resurfaced.Schuessler said county officials denied any
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knowledge of the repair.
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The reported sighting has attracted numerous other
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responses, including some from the fringe. On one nationally
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syndicated TV special, two men using disguises and the names
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"Falcon" and "Condor" told wild tales of U.S. pilots having
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problems while testing a nuclear powered craft that had been
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acquired from extraterrestrials.
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Other tips are coming from callers who recently saw the
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UFO story aired on the Unsolved Mysteries TV program...
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Still others, claiming to be military people or their
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relatives, have called to say they flew helicopters that
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night, despite the pentagon's denial.
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At least two callers linked the UFO to a classified
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project, WASP-2, which they said was an experimental
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nuclear-powered craft abandoned after 1982 when it couldn't
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stop irradiating people.
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"The trouble is that most all the people with something
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significant to say were anonymous," said Schuessler.
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Paul M. Koloc, a retired U.S. Navy research physicist
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from Maryland, confirmed the existance of a research program
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called Winged Aircraft Special Projects. However, he
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theorizes the object Cash and Landrum reported may have been
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ball lightning, caused by a huge lightning bolt and hot
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gases.
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Lt. Col. George C. Sarran, an Army congressional liason
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who recently was sent to review the case, concluded that
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while there was no indication that anyone was trying to
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exaggerate the events, he also found that no "Army-related"
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helicopters were involved.
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"Sarran told me, 'I know something terrible has happened
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to you, but I don't know what it is,' " Cash said.
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Neither do she and Landrum.
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** end **
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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********************************************** |