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Info-ParaNet Newsletters Volume 1 Number 590
Info-ParaNet Newsletters Volume I Number 590
Monday, September 7th 1992
(C) Copyright 1992 Paranet Information Service. All Rights Reserved.
Today's Topics:
Cattle Mutilation Articles
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: agora.rain.com!krowell
Subject: Cattle Mutilation Articles
Date: 6 Sep 92 17:17:01 GMT
From: krowell@agora.rain.com (Keith Rowell)
The following cattle mutilation articles and two accompanying
sidebars written by me were published in the Jan-Feb 1992
issue of the Oregon MUFON Observer, the local MUFON chapter
newsletter. Of some note is the fact that we have three
independent lab tests showing that the tissue making up the
anomalously cut (serrated) incision on steer #4 was subjected
during the incision process to high heat of 200-300 degrees F
or above.
The Hood River mutilation article follows the Fazio one.
Some names are changed to protect identities. Everything else
is true and factual to the best of my knowledge and
understanding.
Keith Rowell 9-2-92
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Cattle Mutilations: A Personal Odyssey
by Keith Rowell
I don't know precisely when I first became aware of the cattle
mutilation stories, but it might have been with the Buzz
Willets stories in the Willamette Week newpaper in Portland,
OR, back in 1977. I was acquainted with the UFO literature for
only about three or four years at that time, and I can't quite
remember what my reaction was to the stories, but I did save
them and I saved very few UFO things in those days. Little did
I know at the time how involved I was later to become!
In the December 19, 1977, issue of Willamette Week, Willets
provided a good summary of the cattle mutilation mystery while
including news of some recent mutilations outside LaGrande in
August of 1977 followed by a September 28th mutilation near
Joseph, OR. He also ran down the various theories for the
mutilations: (1) unusual natural predators, (2) nationally
organized 'satanic' cult, (3) UFOs, (4) secret government
shenanigans. Being a hard-headed reporter, he apparently
favored number 4 since the last part of his long article
described an elaborate scenario involving a semi-truck rig
carrying a small helicopter which was removed, assembled, and
flown to the site of a herd of cows. The mutilations were then
done, the helicopter was flown back, disassembled and
repacked, and finally the semi moved on down the road Q all
within three or four hours with no sightings of the semi-truck
by people in the area!
+From what I knew then, I would say to Willets, 'Maybe so.'
+From what I know today, I would say, 'You're crazy!' Today it
is a matter of public record, gained through Congressional
hearings and painful court proceedings, that the CIA and other
intelligence agencies have in fact engaged in 'experiments' on
innocent and unknowing citizens of the United States. The LSD
'experiments' on some citizens in San Francisco in the 1950s
come readily to mind. (Martin A. Lee and Bruce Shlain. Acid
Dreams: The CIA, LSD, and the Sixties Rebellion. Grove Press,
1985. p. xviii.)
However, to my knowledge, there have been no longterm secret
'experiments' carried out on the public or on public or
private property outside government jurisdiction lasting over
decades. The cattle mutilations are now over 25 years
duration. The cattle mutilations are secret government
experiments? I don't think so.
As I made my way through the UFO literature over the years,
cattle mutilations popped up here and there. Usually, the
references were skeptical of the connection between UFOs and
the mutilations. I had collected a few books about the
mutilations [see Animal Mutilations: The Literature] over the
years and put them on my shelves unread.
In the late spring to early summer of 1989, a rash of cattle
mutilations broke out in central Oregon mostly south of Bend
near Fort Rock and La Pine. I knew about these from three
articles published in the Oregonian by correspondent Robert
Shotwell.
This piqued my curiosity, but I still didn't do much with the
literature that sat on my shelf. At this point, I went off to
the 1989 MUFON Symposium in Las Vegas, NV, where among others
to speak was Linda Multon Howe. She is by far the most
prominent cattle mutilation researcher today. After her talk,
I briefly made contact with her to inform her about the recent
mutilations in Oregon. She seemed interested in getting tissue
samples, and I left my card with her. She did not get in touch
with me to pursue the matter. I also let it drop.
Then in the fall of 1989 I was invited to speak at the
Portland UFO Group on the subject of animal mutilations and
UFOs. I accepted and then began to intensively read the
mutilation literature I had collected. I also wrote to Tom
Adams, who had put together some newsletters about cattle
mutilation in the 1970s and early 1980s. He sent me some
copies of Stigmata and a new newsletter, Crux.
The story goes like this. In a two week period of May of 1989,
three ranchers near Fort Rock experienced what they thought
were mysterious deaths of some of their cattle -- 23 head in
all. One rancher, Gordon Wanek, happened to be a friend of a
correspondent to the Oregonian by the name of Robert Shotwell.
Wanek told Shotwell about the mysterious deaths and reported
the deaths to the local sheriff's office.
The office apparently made a preliminary investigation, and an
officer by the name of Ron Johnson told Shotwell that it
looked to him and to the ranchers involved that the cattle had
been mutilated in some deliberate fashion, presumably by a
person or persons.
Within a week and a half of the mutilations, an official task
force was formed consisting of representatives from the Oregon
State Police, the Deschutes and Lake county sheriff's offices,
the U.S. Forest Service, and the federal Bureau of Land
Management. Around the beginning of July, the task force
completed its evaluation of what killed the cattle. Mike
Dugan of the Deschutes count district attorney's office issued
a report which said that the cattle died as a result of
unspecified natural causes and were subsequently attacked by
natural predators, such as coyotes. He said they could find
no evidence of a (satanic) cult being involved nor could they
determine that the cattle had died from eating poisoned
grained, which was stated earlier in the investigations by a
Tumalo veterinarian, Martin Warbington. Warbington was not
part of the official task force investigation.
I decided to phone Robert Shotwell, the Oregonian
correspondent, just to check the facts in his three Oregonian
stories. On the 27th of November, I called up Shotwell and
found him quite ready to talk to me, and he seemed to answer
all my questions readily. He said:
No mysterious lights or UFOs of any kind were reported to
Shotwell in or around the time of the mutilations in May.
The sheriff officer, Ron Johnson, has since been fired from
his job, and Shotwell left me with the impression that he was
fired because he talked freely early in the investigation
about his ideas about the mutilations. Today, Johnson refuses
to talk to Shotwell. As you can imagine, there are hard
feelings on Johnson's part about the whole affair.
Shotwell said that all of the people officially involved with
the investigation have never talked freely with him both
during and now after the investigation. Shotwell still has not
seen a copy of the official report and can't seem to get one
from the DA's office.
Skip Schultz, our local MUFON state director of
investigations, said that MUFON investigator Greg Long has
tried to get a copy of the report through the mail and has
failed so far. Also, Tom Adams, a nationally known
investigator and collector of mutilation information, has
received no replies from the Deschutes county sheriff's office
nor from the Bend newspaper office regarding his inquiry for
more information than appeared in the three Oregonian articles
by Shotwell.
All of Shotwell's information for his three articles came from
three sources: Ron Johnson, Gordon Wanek and the other
ranchers, and Martin Warbington, the Tumalo veterinarian.
Official sources didn't want to talk to him.
The Shotwell information formed the core of my own 'research'
at the time of my PUFOG talk. But, fate would soon take an
interesting turn, involving me deeper in the animal mutilation
phenomenon and allowing me a real, firsthand investigative
opportunity.
In early June 1990, Carlo Sposito, a good friend I'd met at
PUFOG meetings called me up to see if I wanted to work with
him on some suspected, genuine cattle mutilations. I said,
'Yes, absolutely!' The Vancouver Columbian newspaper had just
published some short articles about animal mutilations in the
Vancouver area. We talked with the reporter who did the
stories and eventually obtained some sheriff's department
reports about the mutilations. Carlo pursued a few of the
reports on his own and then called me in on the Fazio brothers
series of mutilations. We had the perhaps unprecedented
experience of beginning an investigation and having yet
another mutilation occur after our investigation had begun on
the same owner's property! The following is a summary of the
circumstances of the Fazio brothers' cattle mutilations.
Between June 1 and October 1 of 1990, five cattle were
apparently mutilated artificially on the property of the New
Columbia Gardens Farms, Inc., near Vancouver, WA. These
mutilations occurred to cattle owned and grazed on three of
the corporation's adjacent pasture lands, all mutilations
being within one mile of each other.
The Farms pastures where the cattle were mutilated are located
between the Columbia River and Vancouver Lake, which is a
large, shallow lake of about 8 square miles in size just west
of the Vancouver city limits. The Farms properties lie within
a rural, agricultural region on the fringe of the greater
Portland metropolitan area. This is opposite Sauvie Island,
which is on the Oregon side of the Columbia River.
Not more than100 steers were grazed and fattened for market
during 1990 on the corporation's patures. This small number of
steers meant that the owners and employees kept a close eye on
the health of all the animals. In fact, this circumstance
enabled the investigators to take advantage of perhaps a
unique opportunity in cattle mutilation investigations. One
of the Farms' pastured steers died during the latter half of
our investigations, and Richard, one of the owners of the
corporation, graciously offered to deposit the dead animal
nearby the last mutilated steer. This afforded the
investigators the opportunity of investigating the predation
of a naturally dead steer.
The Environs
A dairy farm operates along Lower River Road between the Farms
property and the Vancouver city limits. Alcoa Aluminum runs a
plant situated near the Columbia River also between the Farms
property and the Vancouver city limits. The entrance to
Vancouver Lake Park comes just before the turnoff to Lower
River Road as you go on your way to the Farms property. The
Park skirts the western edge of the Lake.
Mutilation Descriptions
In this report, the mutilated steers are named by number in
the order of their discovery by the investigators. The
following is a chronology of events surrounding each mutilated
steer.
Mutilation # 1
Mutilation #1 was discovered the first week of July by a field
hand in a one by one half mile sized pasture near Lower River
Road while he was mowing the field. Richard Fazio reported #1
to the Clark Count sheriff's department on or about June 25 as
a mysterious death. A sheriff's deputy arrived the same day
and took a statement from Richard. The deputy observed the
steer, took at least six snapshot (color negative) photos for
the record, and wrote up his report. The sheriff's department
then notified a Clark County veterinarian, Randy Lee, who
visited the site of #1 on June 26. Lee examined the carcass on
the assumption that the steer was shot by an unknown
assailant. He found no obvious signs of gunshot wounds. He
also took the time to skin the animal to look for internal
signs of gunshot wounds. He found none. A Vancouver Columbian
newspaper reporter, David Cuillier, picked this report up and
published a brief account of the mutilation in the Vancouver
Columbian.
Mutilation #2
Mutilation #2 was discovered by field hand James on July 5. He
reported it to Richard Fazio. Richard called Carlo, and he and
Carlo visited the site of #2 on July 5. Mutilation #2 was not
reported to the sheriff's department or police. On July 6,
Carlo , Richard, and I visited #2 and while we all three were
driving in Richard's pickup truck there, Carlo spotted #3 in
the same pasture about a 1000 feet north of the site of #1 and
#2. Mutilation #2 was examined by Carlo . He found two small
oblong holes in the hide on the lower neck. I took about 10
slides of #2 with a Minox GT (snapshot type) camera.
Mutilation #2 was in an advanced state of decomposition. The
contents of the stomach(s) had broken through and was spilling
onto the ground. Mutilation #2 was about 50 feet from standing
water, and the ground underneath and immediately surrounding
the carcass was quite muddy. The field hand, James, had been
near the site of #2 shortly after the time of #1's discovery
and #2 was not there at that time. The distance between #1 and
#2 was about 200 feet. #2 was northwest of #1.
Mutilation #3
Mutilation #3 was discovered by Carlo as Carlo, Richard, and
I were riding in Richard's pickup truck south along Lower
River Road on July 6. We all visited #2 first at the south end
of the pasture where #1 and #2 were found. Mutilation #1 was
buried by a field hand before July 6. Mutilation #3 was about
2000 feet north of #1 and #2. Carlo examined #3 which was
still in a state of rigor mortis. I took about ten slides with
a Minox GT (snapshot type) camera. Randy Lee visited #3 one or
two days after July 6.
After visiting #2 and #3, we happened to see a sheriff's
cruiser on Lower River Road, and we stopped him to report #3
verbally. Richard Fazio discouraged the deputy from writing up
a formal report on #3 because at the time Richard thought that
vandals might be causing the deaths of his steers. He did not
want any curiosity seekers bothering him or his property.
Mutilation #3 showed the usual missing tongue, serrated cut
hide, and removal of anus and genitals. The large patch of
hide removed was nowhere to be found within a radius of 200
feet of the steer, which was true of all the animals.
Mutilation #4
On October 2, Carlo called David Cuillier, reporter for the
Vancouver Columbian, and found out about mutilation #4.
Mutilation #4 was found in a separate New Columbia Garden
Farms, Inc., pasture. The location of #4 in relation to #1,
#2, and #3 was about two miles slightly east of north. On
October 3 or 4, Carlo called Richard Fazio and Randy Lee. On
October 5, Lee visited the site and took a sample of #4 around
the lip where it looked like some mutilation had occurred. He
otherwise left the carcass intact.
On October 6, Richard, Carlo, and I visited the site. Carlo
took tissue samples with a scalpel and otherwise examined the
carcass. I took over 30 slides with closeup (Nikon) equipment.
On October 8, Carlo and Lee's, secretary, Marilyn, who was
keenly interested in the mutilation business, visited the
site. Marilyn took VHS video of Carlo giving a general
description of the state of the carcass at that time. Carlo
visited the carcass on October 9 and took more (color
negative) photos with a 35mm camera.
On October 13, Carlo, Randy Lee, and I visited the site once
more. More general observation and examination of the carcass
was done. I took another 30 slides. Carlo and Randy opened up
the carcass to take both lung tissue samples and body fluid
from deep inside the thorax of the animal.
Mutilation #5
On October 6, Richard, Carlo, and I discovered the location of
mutilation #5. This was located about 1.5 miles slightly east
of north of the location of mutilations #1, #2, and #3. This
was located from memory by Richard having been told the
approximate whereabouts by a neighboring farm owner back in
July. I took about ten slides and Carlo made general
observations. These photos show traces of the characteristic
serrated hide cut.
Non-Mutilation
On October 19, Richard had a steer die of shipping fever. He
volunteered to haul the animal out to the site of #4 for us to
do comparison observation of predation on the two carcasses.
We eagerly agreed. He placed the non-mutilation animal about
30 feet from the carcass of #4. On October 25, Carlo visited
the site of #4 and the non-mutilation to do general
observation and take about 20 (color negative) photos. On
October 31, Carlo again visited the site of #4 and the
non-mutilation for more general observation.
Tissue Analysis
Tissue samples were taken from three of the steers: mutilation
#2 and #4, and the non-mutilation. Tissue samples of #4 were
sent to John Altshuler, who is an associate of Linda Howe, and
by the veterinarian, Randy Lee, to the Veterinary Diagnostic
Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State
University.
The director of a Portland area forensic laboratory has
sectioned and examined tissue from #4 and believes that the
cells around the serrated cut area have been subjected to
unusually high heat. He also believes this heat could not have
been caused by any decomposition processes within the carcass
of the animal or by any direct or indirect effects caused by
natural predation related to insects or large predators.
John Altshuler, who is a medical doctor specializing in
hematology and pathology, received tissue samples of
mutilation #4 from Carlo. John told Carlo over the phone that
the mutilation #4 sample was visually very similar to samples
he had received of other suspected mutilations.
Randy Lee sent a tissue specimen consisting of 'fixed tissue'
from a 'hereford cross steer' male, 2 years old, which was
received by the lab on 12 February 1991. Jody Jones Lee, DVM,
signed the 'Report of Laboratory Examinations'.
The 'Pathologist Report' states:
'HISTOPATHOLOGY: Sections of skin from a steer are examined.
All sections display moderately severe post-mortem autolysis.
The notched edge does exhibit a band of coagulation necrosis
consistent with a heat induced incision, such as with an
electrosurgical unit. Numerous bacteria are present on the
skin, except in the area of coagulation necrosis. This is
consistent with a specimen collected via electrosurgical
excision.
DIAGNOSIS: Coagulation necrosis of the skin.
COMMENT: It is not possible to tell whether this lesion was
caused by a laser. It does appear consistent with a
heat-induced injury.'
UFO events
But what about the UFO connection to these mutilations. It
turns out there there are some, but they are not exceedingly
strong, just suggestive. And they are there, although many
mutilation cases have no associated UFO reports.
The Adams's
Toni and Helen Locklear of Vancouver, WA, were trying out
their new video camera along Lower River Road in December of
1988. When they spotted a UFO. They then proceeded to video
tape 10 minutes of the UFO.
I have seen this video and it shows very clearly two distinct,
apparently high flying, extremely thick and robust
'condensation trails'. They look like no condensation trails I
have ever seen, however.
Columbia River Orange Ball with Recorded Sound
In the fall of 1980, an orange, glowing UFO was observed to
move at low altitude and slow speed along the Columbia River
starting around the Sauvie Island area and proceeding up river
to cross the I-5 bridge, which connects Portland and
Vancouver. I-5 is the main Oregon/Washington artery. It
disappeared somewhere around the Government Island area, which
is near Portland International Airport.
The UFO was observed by a policeman who called a local radio
station at the time of observation, and the radio station
recorded a sound thought by the policeman and other witnesses
to be emanating from the UFO. The UFO sound recording was
later sent on to the Center for UFO Studies, where it was
eventually analyzed by a highly qualified acoustics expert.
The expert concluded that the sound on the tape would have
been almost impossible to duplicate in the open-air situation
of its recording.
Lois and Joan
Lois and Joan live less than a mile from the Farms pasture
where mutilations #1, #2, and #3 were found. Their rented
house is right on Lower River Road back toward Vancouver from
the pasture.
Late one night they both heard loud noises akin to farm
machinery in the direction of the Farms pasture from their
house. They thought this was odd since they had never heard
'farm machinery noise' so late at night in their more than two
years of living in this location.
About two years earlier, Marty and Shawn witnessed typical UFO
activity Q anomalous lights and a UFO itself Q along Lower
River Road and in the environs around their house.
Rachel
Rachel, a neighbor and friend of Richard Fazio, lives north of
the Fazio property along Lower River Road in an old farm
house. She goes past the Fazio property every workday at night
since she worked in Vancouver cleaning offices at night during
the period of the Fazio mutilations.
During one night around 3 AM when she was routinely driving
north along Lower River Road back home after working at her
night time office cleaning job, she noticed two lights in a
field. This was the same field that mutilations #1, #2, and #3
were found. The two lights were very near the location of
mutilations #1 and #2. These two small, white/yellowish lights
and their movement brought to mind the thought that two people
must be looking for something in the field with flashlights.
However, she was spooked enough by the sight of lights 'that
weren't supposed to be there at that time of night' that she
thought better of her first impulse to stop and investigate.
She drove on to her house and didn't return.
Fazio Mutilations Conclusions
We observed no evidence whatsoever of 'satanic' cult activity
anywhere around the Fazio mutilations. We heard no evidence
about strange vans, cars, or trucks 'with government markings,
etc.', anywhere around the Fazio mutilations. The sheriff's
department found no evidence of vandals, prowlers, etc.,
anywhere around the Fazio mutilations, and have pursued no
legal actions against any vandals, prowlers, etc. But, we do
find typical UFO activity near in location and some near in
time also to the Fazio mutilations. Therefore, we arrive at
the preliminary conclusion that UFO activity is probably
responsible.
Remember, we have proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the
mutilations are indeed artificial since the laboratory
analysis of the tissue making up the serrated cut shows the
application of high heat of 200 to 300 degress Fahrenheit,
according to John Altshuler and the forensic laboratory
director.
After the October mutilation, the Fazio's have reported no new
mutilations.
As you can imagine, this firsthand investigative experience
has convinced me more than ever that those 'crazy mutologists'
are really on to something. And lots of people in positions of
power don't really want to seriously investigate. I guess I
can't see how the officials who investigated the Fort Rock/La
Pine mutilations could have possibly misinterpreted what was
going on. How could they have missed the telltale serrated
incisions which are present on most mutilations, as I
understand it? This is a give-away. Even if none of the Fort
Rock/La Pine mutilations exhibited the serrated incisions,
there are still enough other symptoms to at least conclude
that the mutilations are artificially done.
+++++++++++++++++++SIDEBAR++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mutilations: The Facts
The facts about animal mutilations are hard to come by.
Remember, just like UFOs, there have been very few publically
available establishment studies of the phenomenon. Only the
Rommel Report qualifies as a bonafide establishment study. At
any rate, here are the facts as most ufologists understand
them.
The animal mutilations are usually reported of cattle, but
horses, pigs, goats, and other domesticated animals are
sometimes reported. Rarely, dogs and cats are reported along
with deer and other wild animals.
The animal is reported to be mutilated with a sharp instrument
of some sort, many times in a 'cookie cutter' style with
serrated edges. An ear or eye may be missing. The lower jaw
may have flesh removed. The tongue may be cut out from deep
in the throat. The sex organs and rectum may be 'cored' out,
sometimes to a fairly deep depth. No blood or very little
blood is associated with these strange wounds in the animal.
Little blood is found on the animal itself or on the ground
around the animal.
Almost always there are no tracks leading up to or away from
the dead carcass. Animals have been reported from wet, soggy
ground or in snow where you would normally expect to find some
sort of tracks.
The carcass is reported to be left alone by normal scavengers,
like coyotes, for an abnormally long time. Some mutilation
reports claim that the carcass has suffered no large predator
damage for a week or more at a time. When a cow dies
normally, scavengers attack the carcass within a 24 hour
period and can have it scavenged down to the bones within a
few days.
Mutilations happen almost always at night. As far as the
seasons go, they seem to occur less frequently in the winter
time, but occur more or less equally in the spring, summer,
and fall months.
Animal mutilations have been reported from Australia, Canada,
England, continental Europe, Puerto Rico, and some South
American countries. Reports are practically non-existent for
Africa and Asia. This is probably due to a lack of reporting.
In the United States, most mutilations occur to cattle and are
centered in the western states, though some mutilations have
occurred in just about every state of the Union since 1967.
Estimates of the total number of mutilations within the U.S.
and Canada vary from 5000 to 15,000 from 1964 to today. These
estimates are very speculative though.
+++++++++++++++++++SIDEBAR++++++++++++++++++++++++
Mutilations: The Literature
In 1986, an invaluable resource for ufology was published:
Eberhart, George Eberhart, a librarian and UFO researcher
wrote and compiled UFOs and the Extraterrestrial Contact
Movement: a bibliography. (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press,
1986. 1298pp. ISBN 0-8108-1919-8.) Two volumes: Volume One Q
Unidentified Flying Objects, Volume Two: The Extraterrestrial
Contact Movement. An invaluable resource!
This huge bibliographic work has over 15,000 citations to
books, articles, movies, TV appearances, dissertations,
conferences, etc., about UFOs and related information
including cattle mutilations.
+From George Eberhart's UFOs and the Extraterrestrial Contact
Movement: a bibliography, we learn that the animal mutilation
literature consists of 26 monographs (a term that includes
books and pamphlets) and 77 magazine articles. (Newspaper
articles are not listed in the bibliography, but I would ball
park guess that about 2000 articles have been written in the
25 years of the mutilation phenomenon.) Out of the book
literature only 6 are over 150 pages. The majority are self-
published or are published by one-at-a-time publishers. Here
are the 'big' names in the publishers: Stackpole, Manor, Times
Books, Sunbelt Press (New Mexico), the State of New Mexico
(Rommel Report), and Bantam. Note that the only book readily
available to the reading public in used bookstores or in
public libraries is a debunking book (Bantam) written by
Daniel Kagan and Ian Summers.
+From these 26 monographs, four books stand out as fairly
easily obtainable and substantial in their treatment of the
the subject.
Howe, Linda Moulton. An Alien Harvest: Further Evidence
Linking Animal Mutilations and Human Abductions to Alien Life
Forms. Littleton, CO: Linda Moulton Howe Productions, 1989.
455pp. ISBN 0-9620570-1-0.
Donovan, Roberta and Keith Wolverton. Mystery Stalks the
Prairie. Raynesford, MT: T.H.A.R. Institute, 1976. 108pp.
Kagan, Daniel and Ian Summers. Mute Evidence. New York:
Bantam Books, 1983. 504pp. ISBN 0-522-23318-1.
Albers, Michael D. The Terror. New York: Manor Books, 1979.
504pp. ISBN 0-532-23311-5.
Howe's Book
Howe is a producer of TV documentaries and has even won a
regional Emmy award for one of them. She is a graduate of
Stanford University and even boasts a Miss Idaho title in her
background.
Howe's book has just been published this year in the spring
and is therefore not in Eberhart's bibliography. But, I feel
certain that it will get top billing as the best of the pro
cattle mutilation books in the next edition of his
bibliography.
Howe's book is big and glossy. It includes many facsimiles of
documents and many illustrations. It is well-produced and is
published by Howe herself. She is convinced that the cattle
mutilations are definitely related to the UFO and gathers a
lot of evidence to try to convince you of that.
Donovan and Wolverton's Book
The other reasonably substantial book, but nothing like
Howe's, is on the pro cattle mutilation side.
Donovan is a retired Montana newspaper reporter, and Wolverton
was a captain in the sheriff's department of a Montana county
that was particularly hard hit by mutilations during the
1970s. Their book is an attempt to tell the factual story of
Wolverton's investigation of cattle mutilations, UFOs, and
tall, hairy creatures (bigfoot) in the period between August
of 1974 and May of 1976 near the town of Great Falls and the
Malmstrom US Air Force Base.
There are a number of gory pictures of mutilated cattle in the
book, and the first third tells of Wolverton's investigations
into these. The middle third is devoted to the numerous UFO
reports seemingly associated with the cattle mutilations. And
the last third goes into some rather far out stories with a
chapter about some bigfoot sightings. You get a sense of
context for the cattle mutilations with Donovan and
Wolverton's book. Also mentioned are mysterious helicopters
associated with some mutilations.
Kagan and Summer's Book
Kagan and Summer's book is a chatty book that tells you a lot
about the cattle mutilation scene in addition to the facts
about the mutilations themselves. Kagan and Summers both hail
from back East, specifically New York City. Kagan is a
jack-of-all-trades publisher, writer, singer, managing
director, and former correctional officer, and Summers is a
science fiction 'author/packager'! (I am not kidding about
this. Their book includes biographies of both of them in the
back.)
According to John Keel, pro-UFO author, their book is almost
entirely the product of Kagan, and Summers went along for the
ride.
The book starts out fine. They tell us that Summers first
learned of the cattle mutilations while he was a guest on a
Denver radio talk show. He was promoting his latest book.
They tell us that they have open minds and begin by
accumulating as much written information from as many people
as they can.
They soon learn that there is an 'underground mutology
network' along with the official establishment. The mutology
network consists of self-appointed investigators, whereas the
official establishment, of course, consists of mainstream
police officers, government officials, and veterinary
pathologists. After 150 pages out of 500, Kagan and Summers
reveal themselves to be thoroughly enamored of the
establishment viewpoint. The Rommel Report, a report written
for the district attorney of the first district of New Mexico
in June of 1980, held all the answers to them. This report
was compiled and presented by an ex-FBI agent, Ken Rommel.
The reasoning and information in this report coupled with
Kagan and Summers' basic ignorance of the far-reaching nature
of the UFO mystery, and I believe their ignorance of the
literature of the paranormal in general, convinced them that
there was essentially no mystery in the cattle mutilation
phenomenon.
The last half of the book consists of a description of their
visits to various cattle mutilation venues, but without
apparently ever examining a single alleged cattle mutilation
themselves. However, they talked to quite a few people
involved in one way or another with the cattle mutilation
phenomenon. By the last half of the book everything is
interpreted according to their idea that there really is no
mystery.
Albers' Book
Albers' book is a straighforward, reporter-style book about
the facts of the mutilation situation. In many ways, it is the
soberest of the whole lot since he explores all the major
explanations after a good presentation of the evidence and
circumstances. He arrives at the UFO as the probable culprit.
The book is not impressive though because of the lack of
pictures.
No Major Investigative Reporting Books
To me, a very strange thing about the cattle mutilations is
that despite the widespread and longterm nature of the
subject. And, despite the abundance of easily gathered
evidence, in contrast to the UFO, there is a real lack of
literature covering the mutilations. There are a lot more
books about bigfoot than the cattle mutilations. There are
even more books about the Loch Ness Monster. It seems to me
that cattle mutilations are ripe for the picking for any
enterprising young journalist with experience and connections.
He or she could do a great expose on the cattle mutilation
coverup and bring it to national attention. Well, we can only
hope. . .
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Hood River Mutilation Discovered
by Keith Rowell
On November 10th or 11th of last year, Ken Packer discovered
a dead and mutilated, seven year old cow of his in the pasture just a
100 yards out his back door. Packer, a Hood River, Oregon, orchard
farmer in his forties said that it took him only a few minutes of
examination to determine that his cow was mutilated and not simply
dead of disease followed by predation. The cow was a descendent of
his prize-winning herd of 20 years ago. Today, he doesn't show his
cattle like he used to, but still likes to keep a few head around. They
number around 20. He is sure the cow was not sick before he found it
mutilated.
Packer immediately noted the eye was missing along with
some hide around the eye socket. At first he thought that the cow
had been shot by a vandal, but soon ruled that out when he saw how
it was mutilated and that no meat had been taken. As he walked
around the animal, he discovered that the entire udder and
surrounding hide was also removed, apparently with some sharp
instrument because the hide was not torn as it is when predators do
their work. Also gone were the rectum, vulva, and vagina. When he
came back to the head, he bent down, looked into the mouth, and
much to his astonishment, the tongue was gone, apparently cut off
toward the back of the mouth.
Because he felt this animal died in an unusual manner, Packer
called the Hood River sheriff's department. Both he and the sheriff's
deputy examined the carcass the next day. Packer noted that the
animal looked the same with no obvious signs of large animal
predation. In fact, Packer maintains that predation did not start
until about two weeks after the animal died.
In early December, Erick Byler, a Salem-based MUFON field
investigator, learned of the Hood River mutilation through some
friends of some friends. Byler called Skip Schultz, MUFON State
Director, and they both decided to pursue an investigation. Byler
called Packer and found that the animal was still left undisturbed
where it fell in the pasture. Byler and Carlo Sposito, veteran
mutilation investigator, traveled to Hood River to do a preliminary
investigation on December 13th.
The next day Carlo called in Keith Rowell, MUFON field
investigator out of Clackamas county. They arrived about noon,
talked again to Ken Packer, and the three of them proceeded to the
mutilation site. Carlo took numerous close-up photos as he gathered
various tissue samples in and around the areas of mutilation Q eyes,
abdomen, rectal area, and mouth. Keith concentrated on making a
complete video tape record of the mutilated animal and its
immediate environment.
Eight different tissue samples were taken and preserved in
Formalin for later analysis by interested laboratories. For past
mutilation tissue samples, Sposito has obtained analyses from three
different laboratories. Careful manipulation of the cut hide edges
revealed that some felt smooth and flexible, whereas other areas
adjacent to the same cut edge felt hardened and ridged or bumpy.
One distinctive hallmark of genuine mutilations is the so-
called cookie-cutter style of cut edge. Laboratory analysis of this
cookie-cutter incision in past mutilations shows that high heat of at
least 200 to 300 degrees Fahrenheit has been applied to the cookie-
cutter incisions, perhaps during the actual cutting of the tissue. One
Oregon State Veterinary Laboratory report of a recent mutilation
sample speculated that electrocautery may have been used.
Rowell talked further with Packer about his experiences with
ordinary animal death followed by predation and decomposition of
the carcass. Packer said over the years he has witnessed this a
number of times. In his experience, large animal predators start
working on the animal within 24 to 48 hours. Coyotes and others
usually find an opening in the underbelly area and continue to work
on and enlarge that before they go elsewhere. They certainly don't
remove the tongue, udder, rectum, eyeball, etc., overnight Q not in
his experience anyway.
Packer volunteered a story about a cow of his calving way out
in a back pasture. Because of work pressures, Packer could not get
the newborn calf back to his barn for the evening. Sadly, in the
morning, large predators, probably coyotes, had already gotten to the
calf. It was half eaten by the time Packer got back the next day. In
contrast, his mutilation lay just as he found it the first day for
around two weeks before the predators began working on it. When
Sposito and Rowell arrived a month after the death, predation and
decomposition was obviously in progress, but they believe that some
remains of the original cookie-cutter incisions were still in
evidence. Later laboratory analysis may confirm this speculation.
The mutilation was found in the pasture where the animal
normally lived, just inside a seven foot fence. Beyond the fence is
the apple orchard Packer was about to spray when he discovered the
animal. The animal was positioned directly in the normal path the
rest of the herd travels from their barn to the upper pasture. This
lower part of the pasture near Packer's house is filled with Douglas
Firs, and the animal was at the drip line of the trees.
Historically, genuine cattle mutilations have been associated
sometimes with typical UFO activity. So, Rowell asked Packer about
this. Packer said he knew of no UFO activity in the Hood River area
during 1991. Packer noticed no other unusual activity of any kind
that might be associated with the death of his cow.
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