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Betty Money, Vickie Landrum, and Colby Landrum |
The Money-Landrum case of December 29, 1980, has launched as a lot controversy, rumors, and myths as some other UFO episode in historical past. The three witnesses: Betty Money, Vickie Landrum, and Colby Landrum, claimed to have encountered a |
By Curt Collins |
terrifying huge diamond-shaped UFO hovering above a rural freeway close to
Huffman, Texas. They stated the item emitted intense warmth and light-weight, and when it
lastly moved away, it was pursued by a fleet of unmarked helicopters.
Afterwards, the witnesses got here to imagine the U.S. authorities was concerned and
in a subsequent cover-up of the incident.
Probably the most compelling ingredient of the case is the reported accidents suffered by
the witnesses. Afterwards, Betty Money had probably the most extreme issues, and she or he
was hospitalized for a number of weeks with a batch of mysterious signs
together with nausea, complications, pores and skin lesions, and ultimately, hair loss. Medical doctors
in the end suspected Betty had been uncovered to ionizing radiation publicity,
however Betty’s blood check outcomes had been unfavourable. Nonetheless, there have been many
tales about individuals burned by UFOs, and the Money-Landrum case was promoted by
its ufologist investigator because the prime instance. The witnesses disagreed with
the extraterrestrial rationalization; they thought they had been the victims of a
defective nuclear-powered US secret plane. On the time, there was widespread
public mistrust of nuclear vitality and weapons, so it was simple for many individuals
to imagine the story, and that the federal government would need to conceal it.
The primary cover-up was by witnesses themselves. Supposedly, fearing their
story wouldn’t be believed, they initially saved it secret. Weeks later, when
they let the story out, the investigations of the case failed to offer
solutions. In time, it grew to become one in all ufology’s hottest unsolved mysteries,
and sure parts of the story have taken on a mythological lifetime of their
personal. Questions definitely stay.
Black Helicopters or Paranormal Visions?
The Money-Landrum case intersected with tales circulating about sinister and
mysterious unmarked black helicopters flown secretly by the U.S. navy.
For the reason that Seventies, conspiracy theories had linked helicopters to cattle
mutilations and UFO sightings, so ufologists had no bother accepting them as
a part of the story. On this case, the presence of the helicopters recommended
that they had been there trying to intercept the item, or that the UFO
itself was a part of a covert navy operation.
A number of investigations discovered no proof of helicopters, navy or
in any other case, flying within the space on the night time of the sighting. Some ufologists
clung to the idea of a large navy cover-up, whereas others theorized
that the helicopters the witnesses reported weren’t bodily objects, however
slightly paranormal or holographic projections created by the UFO itself, as a
decoy or defensive measure.
Black Mission or Alien Replica Automobile?
One of many earliest and most enduring theories about UFOs is that they’re
secret experimental navy plane. Through the years, this interpretation has
merged reality and fiction, fueling legends of alien craft at Space 51. The
witnesses themselves believed a model of this; that they had been unintentional
victims of radiation leaking from check flight of a nuclear-powered plane
gone incorrect.
One other narrative promoted by
Richard Doty
was that the item was alien or alien-derived however operated by the U.S.
navy. This concept aligned with the notions of Paul Bennewitz, who believed
in covert treaties between the U.S. authorities and aliens. He stated they
allowed the aliens to have interaction in abductions and cattle mutilations in alternate
for his or her superior know-how. The UFO within the Money-Landrum story was supposed
to be a defective try and fly a artifical craft primarily based on the alien’s science.
Mom Hen or Mom Goose?
The MUFON investigator who took the Money-Landrum case grew to become the de facto
press supervisor for the witnesses and joined them in interviews and tv
protection of the story. All through the Nineteen Eighties, the case remained newsworthy due
to the lawsuit pursued by the witnesses in opposition to the U.S. authorities. When
fellow researchers got interested and requested medical knowledge on the case,
they had been refused on the premise that it was proof to be introduced in court docket.
Taking protecting possession of the story, the investigator introduced it and
the witnesses solely in probably the most favorable mild. With unsupportive materials
ignored or suppressed, it grew to become a UFO cover-up of one other type. The
Money-Landrum story started turning into extra of a spooky UFO fable – or
parable.
Justice or Cowl-up?
The witnesses pursued
legal action against the U.S. government, looking for compensation, alleging that the federal government’s involvement within the
incident made it liable for his or her struggling. Past the documentation of
Betty’s well being issues, the one actual proof their lawyer might produce
was their testimony. In the meantime, the protection provided statements produced from NASA
and navy branches denying that that they had any plane matching the
description of the UFO. The choose dismissed the casein 1986, so it by no means went
to trial. The failed authorized battle was portrayed by proponents as one other stage
of the cover-up.
The UFO cover-up. That’s the broadly held dogmatic perception in a large
authorities venture or coverage to hide proof of UFOs and aliens. The
perception is so widespread that the cover-up angle is commonly exploited by
promoters as a justification for his or her lack of tangible proof. A few of
their instances merely can’t be true until the federal government has in some way made all
the proof disappear. The prime instance of a case that collapses and not using a
cover-up is the Roswell saucer crash story. Inside that situation, basically,
the absence of proof is proof, and any authorities denial equals
affirmation.
The Money-Landrum UFO case does a bit of higher than that. Though the
investigation of it was considerably delayed and imperfect, we’ve bought a
wealth of documentation
of the case from a wide range of sources. There are interval statements from the
witnesses, paperwork from a number of investigations, together with the U.S.
authorities’s probe into the occasions. There’s little doubt that because of the
involvement of ufologists, that the witnesses’ story was modified. Nevertheless,
even the Military’s investigator discovered the witnesses to be credible. So, we’re
left to surprise… How a lot of the story was true? Presumably, the story was
created round Betty’s medical issues, a ploy for monetary help. If
so, it failed when the authorized case was dismissed. If it was false, why did
Betty and Vickie combat so arduous the remainder of their lives for his or her story to be
heard?