SUBJECT: TRIO STICK TO UFO STORY FILE: UFO2443 From the Houston Chronicle September 15, 1991 Section C, Metropolitan Page 1C, 7C Sunday Morning Edition Twice Burned, Not Shy Stung By Radiation, Ridicule, Trio Stick To UFO Story By Cindy Horswell Houston Chronicle DAYTON-- More than a decade after going public with their strange injuries an an even stranger tale of a UFO encounter, Betty Cash and Vickie Landrum are sticking by their story. Federal officials have pooh-poohed their claims and a judge dismissed their lawsuit against the US government for lack of evidence. In addition, the two women and Landrum's grandson, who was with them that night in 1980, say they have suffered public ridicule. Still they aren't backing down. In fact, they hope to revive their case. Whether it was piloted by little green men or by humans at the controls of a secret military project,Cash and Landrum insist they saw an Unidentified Flying Object that night---- and that they have the injuries to prove it. Their skin is so sensitive now it only tolerates cold showers, they say, and they must hide like hermits from the sun to avoid blistering. Medical bills are mounting, and so are their worries. Cash, a cafe owner, and Landrum, a waitress, blame these and other strange maladies on the intense heat that they say came from the bizarre diamond-shaped craft. The encounter, on Dec. 29,1980, occurred on an isolated road in the piney woods northeast of Houston in Liberty County, the two women say. Since then they have lived mainly on Social Security, saying they are too ill to hold jobs. But their story has spread internationally, including Omni magazine and several TV programs,and the mystery still arouses curiosity. Their lawsuit alleged they were injured by an experimental military craft that spewed radiation, or by a UFO under surveillance by military helicopters. Cash and Landrum have been besieged with telephone calls-- including some from anonamous tipsters telling of a top secret project, WASP-2, allegedly discontinued after radiation accidents. Their attorney, Clay Ford of Gulf Breeze, Fla., wants to reopen the case by showing government officials lied about record keeping procedures during pretrial proceedings. Meanwhile he is negotiating the sale of his client's movie rights. It all started when the two women and Landrum's grandson, Colby, then 7, drove to New Caney in search of a bingo game. The bingo halls had closed for the Christmas holidays, however, so they had dinner in that east Montgomery County town and headed home. The women say Colby noticed a bright light in the distance as they traveled down FM 1485 about 9 p.m.. Quickly, they say, a large object emitting the light swooped over the tree tops and hovered over a spot just ahead. "I screamed for Betty to stop", said Landrum. "I do believe that if we would have continued we would have burned up". Red-orange flames belched downward as the object struggled to rise, then sputtered and plunged back toward the road, she said. The flames roared like a blowtorch, she said, and the object also made a shrill beeping noise. "It was a dull gray,metallic color and about the size of a water tower. It looked as if it would set the woods on fire," recalled Cash, who said she stood outside and watched for 10 minutes. Landrum said she and Colby also left the car but quickly returned, and the boy cowered on the floor. Finally, the UFO gave one last blast and flew out of sight with at least 23 helicopters in pursuit, the two women said. "It's been a nightmare that I wish I could forget," said Cash, now 62 and living in Alabama near her family. Her physician, Dr. Bryan McClelland of Birmingham,says she has a "textbook case" of radiation poisoning. He compares it to being three to five miles from the epicenter of Hiroshima. McClelland said a 1981 biopsy found radiation dermatitis. "The dry, thin skin on her hand resembles that of a 90-year-old lady, with red and purple streaks," he said. Landrum's doctor declined comment on her ailments. Houston doctors who first examined the trio say they appeared burned, had puffy, swollen eyes and their hair came out in clumps. Though they couldn't settle on a cause, they did not rule out radiation. "The Cash-Landrum case could very well be the most important UFO incident to surface in the last 20 years, since there was something to examine afterwards," said John Schuessler, a McDonnell-Douglas space shuttle engineer and deputy director of the Mutual UFO Network. MUFON is a nationwide, 2,100-member organization that investigates and catalogs UFO sightings and incidents. Cash and Landrum say their health began deteriorating the night of the incident, with the severity depending on the amount of exposure of the intense heat. They say all three suffered problems, including red, blistering skin; nausea; diarrhea; headaches; and swollen, watery eyes. Later, they said, they experienced hair loss, open sores that were slow to heal, depressed immune systems and failing eyesight. "I couldn't take care of myself for two years," said Cash, who claims the longest exposure to the intense light. "I was either bedridden or in the hospital (including for three weeks just after the sighting)." Besides physical injuries, the trio suffered emotionally. Landrum, who still lives in Dayton with her grandson, said people stared at her and gave her a wide berth, calling her "the UFO lady". Colby, now 17 who had the mildest exposure and symptoms, was teased until he sank into a severe depression, Landrum said. She did not want the youth interviewed, but his journal gave some insight to his feelings. "I am not made fun of as much as I had been. But I am sick a lot, and my eyes are still very bad," he wrote recently. "I still look up when I go outside.I guess it is just a habit, but I always wonder what is up there. Lots of nights I lay awake wondering if other kids have gone through what I have." Since the three reported their encounter, others have said they saw the helicopters or a strange flying object that night. Dayton police Officer L.L.Walker and his wife Marie, reported seeing a half-dozen helicopters flying in "V" formation with searchlights. Belle Magee, then a bakery clerk in the area, reported seeing a bright light " like a football field but up in the sky" heading north toward New Caney. Also, a former Liberty County sherrifs deputy reported seeing an identical object almost two years later as he drove on an isolated road near Cleaveland. John Mark McDonald- now a Lake Jackson police officer- described it as diamond shaped, about half the size of a football field and the color of galvanized steel. The only difference between his sighting and the 1980 report was that his had red lights on each corner. "Everybody was riding me about reporting it -- thought I was crazy," McDonald said. "But I just knew it wasn't an airplane, because I've been working in the U.S. Army Reserves and know about every fixed wing (craft) there is." Today, Landrum and Cash are anxious for some answers. Cash still has the 1980 Oldsmobile she drove that night. She says the intense heat embedded Landrum's handprint in the padded dashboard. Also, she said two unidentified men in military uniforms once offered to buy the car. Dr. McClelland, who said his secretary witnessed the offer, suspects somebody wanted to get rid of the car because "ion (electrically charged atoms) tracks are visible on the chrome." Another quirk was the unexplained repair of a melted spot in the road where the incident occurred, Schuessler said. "I have photographs of a 15- to 25-foot area where even the center stripe was wiggly," he said. A year later, he said, the spot had been resurfaced.Schuessler said county officials denied any knowledge of the repair. The reported sighting has attracted numerous other responses, including some from the fringe. On one nationally syndicated TV special, two men using disguises and the names "Falcon" and "Condor" told wild tales of U.S. pilots having problems while testing a nuclear powered craft that had been acquired from extraterrestrials. Other tips are coming from callers who recently saw the UFO story aired on the Unsolved Mysteries TV program... Still others, claiming to be military people or their relatives, have called to say they flew helicopters that night, despite the pentagon's denial. At least two callers linked the UFO to a classified project, WASP-2, which they said was an experimental nuclear-powered craft abandoned after 1982 when it couldn't stop irradiating people. "The trouble is that most all the people with something significant to say were anonymous," said Schuessler. Paul M. Koloc, a retired U.S. Navy research physicist from Maryland, confirmed the existance of a research program called Winged Aircraft Special Projects. However, he theorizes the object Cash and Landrum reported may have been ball lightning, caused by a huge lightning bolt and hot gases. Lt. Col. George C. Sarran, an Army congressional liason who recently was sent to review the case, concluded that while there was no indication that anyone was trying to exaggerate the events, he also found that no "Army-related" helicopters were involved. "Sarran told me, 'I know something terrible has happened to you, but I don't know what it is,' " Cash said. Neither do she and Landrum. ** end ** ********************************************** * THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo * **********************************************