Driving down the road, they could see the UFO in the
distance, and noted that the helicopters seemed to be
flying with the craft.  They described some of the
helicopters as having twin rotors, which seems to
indicate the distinctive CH-47 Chinook.  The Chinook
was developed by Boeing to serve the military as a
heavy-lift helicopter.  This would be an appropriate
helicopter to use if a crash recovery were in order, as
the flame emissions seemed to indicate.  It would also
be appropriate to deliver a large number of troops were
the situation to turn confrontational.

It is unclear if this was an intercept operation, or an
escort.  It is also unclear if this UFO was a manmade
aircraft on a test flight going horribly wrong, or a
crippled extraterrestrial space craft.

After dropping the Landrums at their home, Betty drove
on to her residence.  She was feeling ill by this time and
upon going into her house, noticed burns and blisters
on her skin.  Betty also started to vomit profusely.

Three days later, Betty checked herself into the hospital,
advising the emergency room staff of the blisters and
vomiting, but also displaying swollen eyes, neck, and
patches of hair that had fallen out.
THE CASH/LANDRUM CASE OF 1980 by Steven S. Bass
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One singular case in Ufology has always intrigued me.  It was 1980 and I was 11 years old.  During a time that I was
busy arguing with my parents about music and trying to prove it wasn´t TOO loud, begging my dad to let me grow
my hair long, and falling in love with every pretty girl I saw, a family in Texas was living a nightmare.

Driving down a lonely wooded road in the late evening near Huffman, Texas on December 29, 1980, Vicki Landrum
and her grandson Colby, accompanied by Vicki´s friend Betty Cash, saw an unidentified object above the street in
front of them.  They described the craft as diamond shaped and very bright.  As they drew closer, they could see
intermittent flames ejecting from the object.

Afraid but curious, Betty brought the car to a complete stop, and they got out of the car to better see the UFO.  
After a few minutes of staring at the craft, Vicki and Colby got back into the car, but Betty was mesmerized by the
sight, moving around to the front of the car and continuing to stare.  Vicki would later describe the light as
enveloping her friend.  

After a few minutes, the craft started to move away from the area.  As Betty returned to the car, they observed
numerous military-looking helicopters fly into the area.  Betty would later recall that the skin of her car was so hot
that she had difficulty opening the door, burning herself in the process.
Copyright © 2009 JFS
All three continued to have skin problems, pain and burning sensations, as well as problems with their eyes, and were
eventually treated for their symptoms.  Betty´s symptoms, by far, were the worse, obviously from her more direct
exposure.  Doctors would later relate all three victims' symptoms very closely to radiation exposure.  Betty would
soon be diagnosed with an aggressive form of skin cancer

As in the initial military press releases during the Stephenville, Texas sightings of 2007 and 2008, all military bases in
the area of eastern Texas, including bases in Louisiana, stated that their aircraft were not involved.

Betty, Vicki, and Colby would later be involved in legal action against the U.S. government over the illnesses,
contending that the presence of military helicopters during the sighting was conclusive to military involvement.  
Eventually resulting in a Congressional hearing, the Inspector General of the U.S. Army denied the service´s
involvement in the matter.  In the final ruling, military culpability was never proven and no damages were awarded.

Betty Cash passed away on December 29, 1998, on the eighteenth anniversary of the incident.

Interesting to note, while the U.S. government maintains that UFO´s do not exist and do not present a threat to the
citizens of America, which seems a bit redundant, the military ascertains that it was not their craft that emitted
radiation that night in 1980.  I believe what they are implying, then, is that UFO´s do not exist, unless it gets the
U.S. government off the hook for medical expenses.

There is a term I heard coined by Kathleen Marden, whose aunt and uncle, Betty and Barney Hill, were involved in an
extraterrestrial abduction in New Hampshire in 1961.  The term, pseudo-skeptic, is used to refer to so-called skeptics
and other learned persons who denigrate Ufology with intentional deceit, ascertaining that UFO´s do not exist and
that witnesses are either mistaken, simple/not very smart, dishonest, or just plain fantasy-prone.  Believing UFO´s
and aliens to be completely based in fiction, it is difficult for them to ignore a case such as the Cash/Landrum
Incident.  Radiation exposure is not an easy thing to encounter, especially on a deserted road in eastern Texas in
1980.

There are also those who would establish that UFO´s and Aliens are here to help us, to encourage us as we progress
into an advanced state of enlightenment, and they only have our best interests at heart.  This hogwash is difficult to
process when put against an intentional and/or negligent action such as this, which resulted in incredible suffering on
the part of Betty, Vicki, and Colby, three innocent people driving on a deserted road in eastern Texas in 1980.

References

The Cash/Landrum Incident NICAP Report   www.nicap.org/cashlan.htm

1980-The Cash / Landrum Piney Woods Encounter by Billy Booth  
ufos.about.com/od/bestufocasefiles/p/cashlandrum.htm

CAPTURED! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience by Kathleen Marden  kathleenmarden.googlepages.com/
At the bright young age
of forty,
STEVE BASS is a
Ufologist who believes in
the scientific approach to
the UFO phenomenon.  
An accomplished Frontier
Sciences journalist, Steve
Bass is Editor and
Publisher of
The Journal
of Frontier Sciences
and
contributes to the
American Chronicle and
its affiliates,
UFO Digest,
OpEd News, and the new
magEzine from Searching
for Bigfoot, Inc.'s own Bob
"JavaBob" Schmalzbach
named
FOOT PRINTS in
the MIND
.

Bass is a Certified Field
Investigator for the
Mutual UFO Network
(MUFON)
and a Fellow of
the
Research Institute on
Anomalous Phenomena

based in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

His contact email is
Steven.S.Bass@FrontierS
cience.us
.
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