Mystery in History Cattle Mutilations Part 2

About the mystery in history involoving cattle mutilations including possible solutions.

MYSTERIOUS HAPPENINGS

The Event: Cattle Mutilations

Possible Solutions: Unidentified flying objects, a satanic cult, the CIA, military experimenters, uranium companies, pranksters, predators, blackleg disease, vampire bats. Take your pick. The UFO theory was the first to gain a substantial following because it explained the lack of tracks and the reports of mysterious lights in the sky. But some ranchers who had lost cattle to mutilators claimed that the flying objects they had observed were quite identifiable. They were, in fact, helicopters. But whose helicopters? In 1973 there was much talk of airborne cattle rustlers, but suspicion soon shifted to the military, which has access to more helicopters than anyone else. Cascade County, Montana, site of the 1975-1976 rash of mutilations, is the home of Malmstrom Air Force Base. Many other mutilations, particularly in Colorado, have occurred near military bases.

One theory has it that the cattle are picked up at one spot, operated on at a second spot, and then lowered to the ground somewhere else. No tracks, no footprints, and no traces of blood. The culprits could be military or CIA operatives studying the effects of nerve gas or radioactivity. A related theory, propounded in New Mexico in 1979, has it that the mutilations are part of a modern-day range war in which a group of powerful ranchers have gotten together to intimidate smaller ranchers and scare them into selling their land.

In early 1975 investigators in Gregg County, Texas, uncovered evidence of a satanic cult, the Sons of Satan, and allegations were made that these devil worshipers were using the blood and body parts of animals in their predawn rituals. Elsewhere in Texas, similar accusations were made against a motorcycle gang called the Devil's Disciples. Public sentiment turned against the satanists. Rev. Robert King, minister of the Church of Satan in Fort Worth, Tex., defended the members of his congregation, or "grotto," in a statement to the press in April, 1975. "Satanists are getting the blame for everything," King complained, "just like the Communists did in the 1950s. Well, my family's got a lot of investments in cattle. Why should I want to see cattle killed?" In fact, no positive connection has ever been proved between satanic cults and cattle mutilations.

You Are Here: Trivia-Library Home » Mysterious Events and Happenings » Mystery in History Cattle Mutilations Part 2
« Mystery in History Cattle Mutilations Part 1Mystery in History Cattle Mutilations Part 3 »