The Cash Landrum Incident happened on December 29 1980 in rural Texas near Dayton. The main witnesses were Betty Cash Vickie Landrum and Vickies seven year old grandson Colby Landrum. These were not thrill seekers or UFO hobbyists. They were ordinary people driving home after dinner.
Late in the evening they were traveling on a dark country road when they suddenly saw a bright object in the sky ahead of them. At first it looked like a star but it quickly became clear it was something much closer and much bigger. When they rounded a bend in the road they saw it clearly hovering just above the trees.
The object was diamond shaped or like two cones joined at the base glowing intensely bright. It was giving off flames from the bottom and making a roaring sound like a blowtorch or jet engine. The heat was so intense that it began to melt the dashboard of the car and burn their skin even though they were still inside the vehicle.
Betty Cash who was driving stopped the car because she was afraid it would stall. She got out to look at the object despite the heat. This was a huge mistake. The air felt like it was on fire. Her eyes burned her skin burned and she felt weak and nauseous almost immediately. She described the heat as unbearable and said it felt like standing too close to an open furnace.
Vickie Landrum and her grandson stayed in the car. Vickie later said she believed the object was a sign from God and began praying. Colby was crying and screaming from fear and pain.
Then things got even stranger.
From behind the trees and over the road came helicopters. Not one or two but many. Estimates range from twenty to over thirty helicopters. They surrounded the object flying in formation as if escorting or controlling it. Some witnesses later said they appeared to be large military style helicopters similar to Chinooks.
Eventually the object slowly rose higher into the sky accompanied by the helicopters and disappeared from view. The witnesses were left shaken burned and confused.
Within hours and days all three began to suffer severe symptoms.
Betty Cash became violently ill. She experienced nausea vomiting diarrhea extreme weakness hair loss and blistering burns on her skin. She was hospitalized multiple times over the next weeks and months. Doctors noted symptoms consistent with radiation exposure although no official diagnosis of radiation poisoning was ever recorded.
Vickie Landrum also became sick though less severely. She suffered burns nausea and eye problems. Young Colby developed sores on his face and experienced nightmares and anxiety for years afterward.
The witnesses reported the incident to authorities including the Air Force. At first the military denied any involvement. But the helicopters were the key issue. Civilians do not own fleets of heavy military helicopters operating at night in formation.
Believing the US government was responsible the witnesses filed a lawsuit in 1982 against the United States government seeking damages for their injuries. The case argued that if the helicopters were military then the government was responsible for whatever object they were escorting.
The lawsuit ultimately failed. The government stated there were no records of such a helicopter operation and no evidence that the military was involved. Without official documentation the court ruled there was not enough proof to hold the government liable.
Betty Cash never fully recovered. Her health declined over the years and she died in 1998. Vickie Landrum lived longer but maintained until her death that what they saw was real and that the government knew more than it admitted. Colby grew up and later reaffirmed his memories of the event saying it stayed with him his entire life.
What makes the Cash Landrum Incident stand out is the combination of physical injuries multiple witnesses including a child and the alleged presence of a large organized military response. Even skeptics struggle to explain the helicopters and the reported heat and burns.
Possible explanations range from a secret military test gone wrong to an experimental aircraft to something genuinely unknown. No explanation has ever been officially accepted.
More than forty years later the case remains unsolved and is still cited as one of the strongest examples of a UFO encounter with real world physical consequences.
If this had happened today with cell phones dash cams and satellites the outcome might have been very different. Instead it remains a chilling mystery buried in court documents medical records and the memories of three people who never sought fame and paid a heavy price for what they witnessed.
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by PuzzleheadedFilm2535
2 Comments
In 1980, three witnesses in Dayton, Texas encountered a blazing UFO accompanied by helicopters, felt severe heat, and later experienced lingering physical injuries.
I’ve always wondered if this could’ve been a test of some kind of nuclear-powered aircraft or rocket, something human-made. The scorching and damage on the car being perhaps heat damage and more like radiation-type burns. Could be wrong though!