AudioBlog: An 1897 Cattle Mutilation

The cattle mutilation mystery and its association with UFO activity didn’t get the attention of researcher investigators until the 1970s. There is an article on page 2 of the March 1975 APRO Bulletin, headlined “More on Mutilations,” discussing the findings of APRO Field Investigators Bill Pitt, Lee Spiegel, and Kevin Randle. It was the opinion of APRO at the time that “no satisfactory evidence has emerged which links UFOs to mutilated animals.” The first mutilation to get the public’s attention was that of a horse named Snippy found by its owners in the San Luis Valley of Colorado on September 8, 1967. Shortly after that, in his article (page 8 of the pdf) in the July/August 1968 Flying Saucer Review headlined “West Virginia’s Enigmatic Bird,” John Keel mentions that cow and horse mutilations are “now common” in the midst of sightings of the Mothman and UFOs in the area around Point Pleasant. However, there is a report far earlier than this that, by most accounts, appeared in the April 23, 1897, Yates Center Farmer’s Advocate. This involves a mystery airship caught in the act of abducting a cow right in front of prominent Woodson County, Kansas, citizen Alexander Hamilton (not the one on the 20-dollar bill). While the Advocate article remains elusive, Redditt user Remseey2907 found an article in what appears to be the Globe Democrat that includes the details of and references the Advocate article. Read more →