AudioBlog: An 1897 Cattle Mutilation

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In 1897, cattle mutilation by Charles Lear. 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 April Bulletin

had lined more on mutilations, discussing the findings of April field investigators,

Bill Pitt, Lee Spiegel, and Kevin Randall. It was the opinion of April 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,

sound by its owners in the San Luis Valley of Colorado on September 8, 1967.

Shortly after that, in his article on the July August 1968, Flying Salsa Review had lined

West Virginia's enigmatic bird, John Keele mentions that cow and horse mutilations

are now common in the midst of sightings of 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 23rd,

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 bill. While the Advocate article remains elusive,

Reddit user Remsy2907 found an article in what appears to be the Globe Democrat that includes

the details of and references the Advocate article. According to the Democrat article,

dated April 26th, and headlined, the airship Steels Hamilton, a farmer who lived near Yates Center,

said that, last Monday at 10.30 o'clock, April 19th, he and his family stood mute and wonder and

fright as an airship appeared and proceeded to, in the reporter's words, swooped down upon the

cow lob and still a two-year-old heifer. Backing up Hamilton's story is an affidavit signed by

11 prominent citizens, including a sheriff and a justice of the peace stating that they believe

Hamilton's story to be true and correct. The details of the story are presented in Hamilton's

words, according to him, we were awakened by a noise among the cattle. He got out of bed,

went to the door thinking that his bulldog was performing some of his pranks and was astonished

to see an airship coming down over his cow lob, almost 40 rods from the house. He called his son

Wall and his tenant, Gid, Pesleyp, and after grabbing some axes, they ran to the corral.

When there were about 50 yards from the ship, it was no more than 30 feet above the ground.

Hamilton describes it as cigar-shaped, about 300 feet long, with a carriage underneath,

made of panels of glass or other transparent substance, alternating with a narrow strip

of some material. The rest of the craft was dark red. It was brilliantly lit from within and had

three external lights, an immense searchlight and two smaller lights, one red and one green.

The searchlight was pointed directly on Hamilton and the others, and then a great turbine wheel,

about 50 feet in diameter, which was slowly revolving below the craft, now began to buzz.

The craft rose up, and when it was about 300 feet high, it appeared to be hovering over two

year old heifer that seemed to be stuck to a fence. They went over to her and saw there was a

half inch red cable tied in a slip-notter under neck that went up to the ship. They tried to

free the cow, but were unable to, and they watched as the ship rose up and carried the cow away

towards the southwest. According to Hamilton, Link Thomas of Coffee County, about four miles west

of Leroy Kansas, found the hide of the cow, along with its head and legs in his field on Tuesday.

Hamilton was able to identify it by his brand on the hide. This story got widespread public exposure

thanks to Frank Edwards' best-selling 1966 book, Flying Saucers' Sirius Business.

And Jacques Filet included it in his 1965 book, The Anatomy of a Phenomenon, and his 1969 book,

Passport to Magonia. It seems, however, that the story was a hoax, and how this was discovered

is told in detail by Jerome Clark in his article Headlined, The Great Airship Hoax,

published in the February 1977 issue of Fate Magazine. According to Clark,

the truth about the affair came out in an article published in the January 28, 1943,

Kansas newspaper The Buffalo Enterprise. A week before, the paper had recounted Hamilton's

original tale, and this prompted Ed F. Hudson, who had been the editor of the farmer's advocate

in 1897, to write a letter to the Enterprise. According to Hudson, he had just installed a

small gasoline engine to replace hand power on his old country-cambo press and invited friends,

including Hamilton, to watch it operate. Hudson explains the origin of the story.

Hamilton exclaimed, now they can fly, hence the airship story that we made up.

Clark says the Enterprise article was discovered in 1976 by an American correspondent

of 14 times editor J. M. Ricard. Ricard sent Clark a copy, and Clark got a letter

seeking confirmation, published in the September 16th, 8th Center News. This got a reply from

Donna Steeby of Wichita, Kansas, who said that her 93-year-old mother, Ethel L. Shaw,

had heard the story from Hamilton himself. Shaw provided Clark with a statement.

According to Shaw, when she was about 14 years old, she was at the Hamilton House,

with Mrs. Hamilton, and their daughter, now, when Mr. Hamilton came in and said,

Ma, I fixed up quite a story and told the boys in town, and it will come out in the advocate

this weekend. Mrs. Hamilton was rather shocked by the story, with the girls weren't bothered,

as we felt it was just a fabricated story. Shaw goes on to say that it seems there were a few

men around who had formed a club, which they called Ananias, Flyers Club. To her knowledge,

the club broke up not long after the story was published. She adds that the men who signed

the affidavit knew it to be a falsehood, but simply went along with it for fun.

According to Clark, Lucius Farish had an article about the case, published in the April 1966

issue of fate in which he proclaimed, this case is one of the most astounding to be found on record.

The editor's note, at the end of Clark's article states,

Lucius Farish has asked us to convey his apologies to fate readers for his unwitting role in

publicizing this fallacious incident. Charles Lear is the author of The Flying Saucer Investigators,

available in its second edition at amazon.com.

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