The Cash-Landrum UFO Incident

On the night of December, the 29th 1980, three individuals would witness a massive UFO and this event would change their lives forever. Unlike other UFO sightings and even some abductions, the witnesses would suffer appalling injuries that would hinder their lives and eventually lead to the death of two of them. This event is widely regarded as one of the most well documented and well-studied close encounters of the second kind. Besides the three witnesses, many others would witness the craft as well as the large number of military helicopters flying around that night. This incident became to be known as the Cash Landrum Case, named after the three witnesses. 

The first witness was Betty Cash. Betty then was a 51-year-old businesswoman who owned a restaurant and a grocery store. The second witness was Vickie Landrum. Vickie was 57 at the time and worked for Betty in the restaurant. Colby Landrum, Vickie’s grandson, was the third witness. At the time he was then 7.

Just outside Houston, Texas in the town of Huffman, around 9pm on December 29th, 1980, Betty, Vickie and Colby had been driving around the Piney Woods area of east Texas looking for a bingo game. After finding out all games had been canceled. they decided to eat at diner in New Caney.

After finishing their meal around 8:20, Betty drove them home on Highway FM 1485, a remote road used only by people who live in the area because it is so isolated. Around 50km from Houston the area is surprisingly sparsely populated and is covered by oak and pine trees, with swamps and lakes.

Around 30 minutes later, Colby spotted a bright light above the tree tops a good distance away. He pointed it out to the women, and, as they continued driving it appeared to be getting larger and larger. Soon though, the three would realize the object was getting closer and closer to the road and they began getting worried. 

The woman thought, based on the speed it was going they could drive by it and avoid it altogether. But soon they realized the object had cut in front of them and was hovering right above the road. As they saw the burning, diamond shaped craft, Vicki screamed that they would be burned alive if they kept driving. The object was hovering and also shooting down flames of fire occasionally. 

As the car eventually came to a full stop, the ufo was around 60 meters away. The witnesses would later describe it as being aluminum like and glowing so bright that it lit up the surrounding forest like daylight. The four points of the diamond were dull rather than sharp and blue spots circled around the object. It also let out some type of beeping sound as well. The fire was so dense and powerful under the ufo that if it hadn’t been over the road, a forest fire would have ensued. 

Ad they watched the diamond shaped UFO, the car interior and exterior became heated and hot, which prompted the three exited the vehicle. Feeling a burning sensation on their faces, the three watched the craft. Colby would get back in the car and beg his grandmother, to get back in. Vicki, a devout Christian, eventually got back. Vicki was convinced seeing the object, it was the end of the world, and that Jesus would soon appear.  Becky stared at the object in a trance like state. 

Betty was so fascinated by the UFO that she walked in front of the car and stood there gazing at it. the bright light penetrated her skin burning it, yet she stood there completely in bliss. Eventually as the object began to hover up and away, she moved back to the car door. When she finally grabbed the car door handle it was so painfully hot that she had to open it using her leather jacket to protect her hands. As the witnesses all were in the car and the object had left, they then realized just how hot the car was and turned the ac on in the dead of winter. 

As the UFO began leaving, military helicopters would begin circling the area and came flying in from all directions. Some of the helicopters were identified as large double rotor CH-47 Chinooks, which are extremely loud and undeniably used in the military. Colby would later state he counted 23 helicopters that came to the spot. These and others would then begin spreading out as the UFO was not found nearby. 

After the helicopters had dispersed from the scene, Betty, Vicki and Colby drove back to Dayton where Betty dropped Vicki and Colby off at home. Betty would return home around 9:50 pm. there, a friend and her children were waiting for her, but Betty was already starting to feel extremely sick from the event. She was so sick in fact that she couldn’t even tell them what happened. 

Betty, Vickie and Colby were not the only witnesses to the strange events that night. A Dayton, Texas policeman who was off duty and his wife were driving home from Cleveland through the Huffman area the same night and they too also observed a large number of CH-47s helicopters. 

Another witness was A man living in Crosby, who was directly under the flight path of the craft, and he reported seeing a large number of heavy military helicopters flying overhead. 

Jerry McDonald, who worked in the oilfields was in his garden in the backyard in Dayton and he reported seeing a huge UFO flying directly over his head. At first, he thought it was the Goodyear blimp, but quickly realized it was something else. it passed about 45 meters above him and  he saw that it had two bright lights on it and a red light in the center.

He was quoted as saying “It was kind of diamond shaped and had two twin torches that were shooting brilliant blue flames out the back”.

Like Betty Cash and the Landrums , he reported seeing a diamond object with flames. While the incident itself might have been quite fascinating for the women, the aftermath was extremely painful and life altering. While many ufo sightings and abductions lead to incredible psychological pain, seldom do many of the victims suffer intense, apparent physical pain. In the Cash Landrum Case, almost immediately the women began experiencing excruciating pain which proves that something strange happened on the night of December 29th, 1980. 

After returning home after dropping off the Landrums, Over the next few hours Betty’s skin turned red as if she had a bad sun burn. Her neck swelled, and large blisters erupted and broke on her face. she even had blisters on her scalp and eyelids. She started to vomit and continued to do so nonstop during the night. By morning she was worse and almost in a coma.

The Landrums would begin to experience their symptoms later.  between midnight and 2am Vickie and Colby began to suffer similar symptoms, although less severe. At first, they began to get something sunburn like, but then diarrhea and vomiting began. 

The next morning Betty was moved to Vickie’s house and all three were cared for there. Betty’s condition continued to worsen and three days later she went to the hospital. The burns and swelling altered Betty’s appearance so radically that a friend who came to visit her in the hospital didn’t recognize her. Her hair was starting to fall out and her eyes became so swollen she couldn’t see for a week.

Doctors were perplexed and confused by these symptoms and guessed that they were caused by some type of radiation. The doctors just weren’t sure of what could have caused this, and as a safety precaution, Betty was moved into a HAZMAT room in the basement level of the hospital. Visits to her were limited in the beginning because doctors couldn’t assess whether she was a danger to others or not.

Perhaps one of the most fascinating pieces of evidence surrounding the radiation or perhaps the case in general comes from Brad Sparks, a nuclear radiologist who examined the case for MUFON, 

Sparks determined the type of radiation was NOT ionizing radiation which is the only kind of radiation that causes ‘radiation sicknesses. Microwave and UV radiation as well as visible light radiation do not and cannot cause radiation sickness. It’s important to note all the victims showed signs of radiation sickness. One other thing that Sparks found concerned the onset of the radiation. The three experienced the radiation sickness so quickly that if it had been ionizing radiation they would have died in weeks. 

If the Cash-Landrum trio had true radiation sickness from ionizing radiation they would have been dead within days or weeks because the onset of symptoms was so rapid (within 1/2 hour) and so severe that as symptoms of supposed ionizing radiation syndrome it indicates a 100% fatal dose. 

This finding raises the question what type of radiation exactly did the witnesses encounter?

One fascinating thing about this case as well is this incident occurred the night before the Rendlesham forest incident in England. That incident is considered one of the most famous in the world and shockingly there are similar characteristics between the two. Intense heat and verifiable radiological after-effects were associated with both events. Both events had craft that shared design elements including diamond and pyramid shapes. 

Still, this isn’t the first time a person has suffered similar radiological effects from a close encounter of the second kind. On May 20, 1967, around lunchtime, Stephen Michalak, an industrial mechanic from Winnipeg, was prospecting in the Falcon Lake area of Manitoba, Canada when he alleged to come into physical contact with a landed UFO. Michalak would later experience radiation sickness and burns. The area was examined as well and found to be radioactive. We will examine this case, regarded as one of Canada’s most famous, in more detail in future episodes. 

After the event, John Schuessler of MUFON was one of many who would examine the event. He organized a team of specialist that were able to find additional eyewitnesses as well as scorch marks on nearby trees. Perhaps evidenced of a military cover – up was the discovery that the stretch of highway where the sighting happened was quickly repaved just days after the event. There was no paper trail with Montgomery County or the state of Texas. 

An unnamed witness later came forward and stated driving to work in the early dark hours, he saw a road crew paving the road where the UFO was seen. He was routed another direction and thought it was weird at the time because both sides of the road were closed. at the time he wasn’t aware of the UFO sightings and only later did he make the connection. 

A History channel episode of UFO Hunters would examine this and uncover the remote road was indeed completely replaced with new pavement. 

After all the suffering the women went through, they were convinced that this was an experimental craft from the US military and that it had caused their illness. As such, they filed a lawsuit against the US govt in 1982. However, Legal attempts to get answers from the government failed again and again because it could not be proven that the UFO or the helicopters were US government property. 

Finally in 1986, A judge dismissed the entire case in citing expert testimony that no such craft existed in the military.

Theories 

Over the years, there’s been various theories as to what the Landrums and Betty Cash saw that night. 

The most popular is that this was an experimental military craft. This seems to be the most popular theory due to the number of military helicopters seen in close proximity to the craft. Many feel that the helicopters wouldn’t have been able to get to the craft so quickly unless it was a military exercise. 

Others dispute this though and point out if a ufo had come down and had been ground level for some time, the military could have mobilized and reached it. The radiation from the craft also leads some people to believe that this was an experimental nuclear-engine powered military craft. However, it’s unlikely the military would fly something emitting radiation in the public. For something like this they would almost certainly fly it in one of their restricted areas, where only military is allowed. 

The second theory holds this was a ufo. This seems to be the theory that makes the most sense. The craft was described as 90 feet tall and today 43 years later, we don’t have anything that large capable of flying. Also, the fact the Rendlesham forest incident occurred, and the radiation was non-ionizing yet caused immediate sickness leads many to conclude it was from an unknown origin. John Schuessler, lead MUFON investigator on the Cash-Landrum case concluded that the craft wasn’t one of ours. 

The last theory holds this didn’t occur. Ghis seems extremely unlikely given the pain and suffering the witnesses occurred, both physically and mentally. The events would affect the rest of their lives. Also, the incident was seen by multiple witnesses. 

This case has been studied intensely for decades, and to date were no closer to solving this mystery than we were 40 years ago.