Every Town - Their Hair Was Falling Out Days After a UFO Encounter - The Horrifying Cash Landrum Incident

Episode Date: June 21, 2024

It was just after Christmas, December 29th of 1980 when 3 regular folks cruising through the small town of Dayton Texas ran into an unidentified object that would change their lives forever. 👀 Watch This Episode On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/scarymysteries 🎧 Our Other Podcast Scary Mysteries: https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZooEZMoZ421WdsOVJhVkT 💀 Exclusive Videos, Podcasts & Perks: https://www.patreon.com/scarymysteries  👁 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrew.fitzg 👁 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@andrewfitzgerald 👁 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scarymysteriesofficial 🗣 Business Inquiries, questions and comments hit us up at [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Everytown has a dark side. You're driving home at night on a desolate road when all of a sudden you catch a glimpse of a light up above the tree line. You, of course, assume it's a plane or maybe a helicopter, but as the light gets closer, you realize it's something else entirely, and it might not even be from our planet. Sounds insane, but that's exactly what went down back in 1980 for a trio down in Texas, who were just headed home and not expecting much at all. They came face to face with the UFO that night and changed the course of their lives forever. And this is the story of the Cash Landrum UFO incident as it's become to be known.

And it's a weird one that is all the earmarks of a government cover-up looking to conceal the truth from everybody. Hey guys, it's Andrew, and thanks so much for joining us for another episode of Everytown. Today we're headed to the small town of Dayton, Texas, where something huge happened in the woods one evening that to this day remains a mystery. After encountering a UFO, three people became deathly ill, and no matter how hard they tried to find answers as to what had caused it,

they got stonewalled at every turn. The result is one of the only civil suits ever to reach the court system that involved an unidentified flying object at its core. Let's head down to the southwest now, and hear about what exactly went down that December evening that set off a wild chain of events. It was just after Christmas, December 29th of 1980, when three regular folks cruising through the small town of Dayton, Texas,

ran into an unidentified object that would change their lives forever. Betty Cash, 51-year-old homemaker, her friend, 57-year-old Vicki Landrum, and Vicky's seven-year-old grandson, Colby, had just gone out to eat at a local restaurant. And after they paid the bill, they hopped in to Betty's Oldsmobile Cutlass and headed home. As they drove towards Vicki's house, they exited the main highway and were on a two-lane, desolate stretch of roads surrounded by dense forests on either side.

It was then that a quick flash of yellow light above the treetops caught Betty's attention. She didn't think much of it, assuming it must be a plane approaching Houston airport, which was 35 miles southwest of them. But as they continued driving, the light didn't disappear into the distance, and they didn't see or hear any plane. Instead, the yellow light got brighter and larger, becoming more intense with each passing moment. And then suddenly, as they came around the bend of a tight corner, the three of them came face to face with a sight that made no sense at all. Right in front of them was a huge metal object, some kind floating just above the road, though none of them recognized it as anything they had ever seen before. Vicky was overcome with a deep fear and instinctively yelled at Betty to stop the car.

The Oldsmobile came to a halt in the narrow dirt road, while all three occupants stared in shock at the incredible craft, too stunned to even react. Betty wanted to turn around, but the road was so narrow that she was scared of getting stuck in the mud on the sides of the road. This object emanated in intense heat, a light extreme. extremely strong. This craft resembled a massive vertical diamond, the flat top and bottom, apparently for landing purposes, and it was easily as large as the city's water tower. Its dark gray metallic core was surrounded by blinking blue lights, while bursts of orange fire periodically erupted from its flat base, as if power by some sort of propulsion system. Each time the flames crackled,

the craft briefly lifted into the air, before slowly settling back down. down towards the road. Vicky and Betty got out of the car to go take a closer look, but with that, a frightened Colby began screaming in absolute terror. At just seven years old, he didn't understand what was happening, not that anyone really did, but Vicky, a devout Christian, tried to calm him down by saying they were witnessing the second coming of Christ. That's Jesus. He won't hurt us, she said, though her words did little to comfort him. While she held on to Colby in the back seat, Betty was seemingly mesmerized as she stood on the road trying to get a closer look at this thing. It was clear whoever or whatever was inside was staring right back at her.

Betty was out there for several minutes, all the while the heat intensifying. With young Colby in a sheer panic at this point, Vicky called her back to the car. That heat was so intense that Betty couldn't even open the car door. The exterior of the Oldsmobile burnt her, so she had to use her coat wrapped around her hand for protection. And once inside, Betty touched the dashboard, leaving an imprint of her hand because the plastic was essentially melting. The diamond-shaped craft, then let out a large burst of flames and ascended above the treetops as it rose higher into the sky. As they got their bearings for a moment, they then heard the familiar sound of helicopters approaching. In a tight formation, they whizzed past, seemingly chasing after this UFO.

Cash and Landrum counted 23 helicopters in total, and in later interviews about their encounter, were able to recognize some of them as Boeing, CH-47 Chinooks with tandem rotor systems, clearly visible on the sides of some, with the words U.S. Air Force. With the road now clear, Cash drove on catching glimpses of the object and the helicopters fading off into the distance. From the first moment they saw it up until their departure, and they said this encounter lasted about 20 minutes. When the craft and its military escorts disappeared into the dark night, they left a stunned

silence in its wake. It was almost as if nothing had happened, just business as usual as they drove back to Vicky's house. And this was much more than just a story, though, that these three would tell during dinners or out at campfires about the time they encountered aliens. Because when they got home that night, that's when the real horror began to set in. Betty drove Vicky and Colby home in a state of shock. No one even uttered a word as they all knew what they had seen and that there was no logical explanation. Betty made it back to her house, unlocked the front door and sat down on the couch.

Not long after that, she ran to the bathroom, nauseous. She wouldn't get much sleep that night. not just because of what she saw, but she became very weak and ill. She threw up, had diarrhea, and a burning sensation in her eyes. When she talked to Vicky the following day, she found out that both her and Colby experienced the same sort of symptoms, only theirs weren't as intense. Over the next couple days, Betty's skin began to develop large blisters, almost like a severe sunburn. Then patches of her hair began falling out in the shower and in the sink. when she combed it. That was enough for her to rush to the hospital.

By January 3rd, Betty was admitted to the emergency room. By this time, she was barely able to walk in on her own accord. Doctors were baffled by her mysterious illness. Initially, they thought she had suffered severe burns from a fire. She told them what had happened with the encounter, but they assumed that perhaps there was abuse happening in her household. Maybe someone had done this to her, and she was covering it up with this tail of a close encounter.

Eventually, they began treating her as having radiation poisoning. After 12 days, she was healthy enough to leave the hospital, but came back a few days later and would stay another week. Meanwhile, a few miles away, Vicky and Colby were also dealing with their ongoing health issues, though they didn't need to go to the hospital. This wasn't just some sort of coincidence for the three, though. It was clear that what they had witnessed that fateful night was some. somehow related to their sudden and serious illness.

The reason Betty had it the worst was because she was the one who got closest to it. The symptoms Betty experienced resembled those caused by ionizing radiation. This type of radiation can come from the sun, microwaves, and x-ray machines, and in low doses, it doesn't pose a huge problem. The quick onset of her symptoms, though, would have meant a massive dose resulting in certain death within days. Since all the victims lived for years after the incident, it's since been suggested that the cause of the symptoms was actually some form of chemical contamination, like a large dose of aerosol. In the end, though, no one was able to figure out what exactly made the three of them sick.

They were looking for answers, of course, to help heal their ailments, but strangely, it appeared like they were the only ones who saw this UFO. And they couldn't believe no one was talking about this, and the U.S. military to this day have denied sending out helicopters in that area on the night of December 29th. A police officer and his wife did eventually come forward, claiming to have witnessed something unsettling. A dozen Chinook helicopters flying over the force of Dayton, seemingly involved in a secret mission. However, they didn't see the diamond-shaped object. But other than that, nobody was speaking up, and there was complete silence. And had the government come forward and acknowledge the situation which had caused so many health problems,

Betty and Vicki may have dropped the issue, but after running into nothing but red tape in denial, leaving that the government was deliberately hiding the truth, they then set out on a mission for the truth. Their first action was to contact their senators, Lloyd Benton and John Tower. They explained the entire story of what they had seen that night. The massive bright object floating over the road, the bursts of orange fire, and the sudden appearance of mysterious military helicopters, the senators listened carefully and advised them to file a formal complaint with the military authorities. On August of 1981, nearly a year after the frightening incident, Betty, and young Colby had the

opportunity to share their incredible story face-to-face with officials at Bergstrom Air Force Base. They were questioned for hours about every detail of what they had seen. The military officials were very impressed by the consistency and sincerity of their accounts. In fact, they advised them to hire a lawyer and sue the government for compensation due to the terrible injuries and illnesses they had suffered after that night. Betty and Vicky then set out to sue the federal government, depending answers and compensation for the terrifying events they witnessed. and they hired a lawyer named Peter Gersten, who agreed to represent them without charging assent. With Gerston's assistants, they filed a hefty lawsuit seeking $20 million against the federal government,

they argued that the military was definitely involved in some way in the incident, and that they deserved compensation for the consequences. And this marked the beginning of a lengthy legal battle that spanned years. and they summoned numerous high-ranking officials from NASA, the Air Force, the Army, and the Navy to testify. Betty and Vicky repeatedly asserted that the helicopters they saw belonged to the military and were clearly monitoring the extraterrestrial object. They presented evidence, including detailed drawings of the enormous diamond-shaped metal craft. Additional witnesses, like the police officer and his wife,

swore that they had seen a dozen large Chinook military copters in the area that same night. However, the government remained steadfast in their denial. Witness after witness on their side came forward to refute any knowledge of an extraterrestrial craft or military involvement with the helicopters. They claimed they had no idea what Betty and Vicky were even talking about, and that nothing was in the sky on the evening in question. The legal battle dragged on bitterly for five years. years. In that time, in 1981, Vicky developed a cataract in one eye, and in 83, Betty was diagnosed

with breast cancer. Both of these issues, they thought, could be further problems caused by the craft that night, but it's impossible to say for sure. When it was all said and done, I'm sure you can guess how this all played out. On August 21st of 1986, a federal district judge ruled in favor of the government, and dismissed cash in Landrum's case against them. And so, who do you believe? The trio in the car that night, or the U.S. government? Take a second. Think about it. Over the years, this case has been explored by many authors, filmmakers,

skeptics, and everyone in between. HBO made a documentary in 1985 called UFO's What's Going On, where it shows the imprint of Betty's Hand on the dashboard, when it essentially melted and then hardened again. On the other side, skeptical investigators say they uncovered that Betty had been diagnosed with alopecia before the UFO incident, which explains the hair loss. While that's possible, it doesn't explain the severe burns at all. One of the most surprising and controversial ideas comes from Dr. Stephen Greer,

a well-known American UFO researcher and trauma surgeon, look deep into this case. Greer, who had previously shared UFO information with the White House, claimed during a 2020 interview, but the Cash Landrum incident actually involved military personnel trying to operate an extraterrestrial spacecraft that had either landed or crashed on Earth. According to Greer, based on his alleged sources, a UFO of alien origins and landed or crashed in the area.

When the military arrived, instead of just observing it, well, they made the bold decision to try to try to. piloting it themselves. The major issue is that the human pilots couldn't figure out the extraterrestrial energy system powering the spacecraft. In a desperate attempt to get it working, they supposedly installed a small portable electric generator inside it, using it as an improvised power source. And Greer suggests that this earth-based power generator installed by the military is what

caused the mysterious flames and intense heat that Betty, Vicky, and young colds. be witnessed coming from the bottom of the huge diamond-shaped object. This actually makes sense a bit when you consider that almost every other UFO's sighting, specifically the ones caught on camera, the ones the military has acknowledged our true unidentified crafts, never show any heat signatures or signs of propulsion. In other words, these crafts don't use fuel in the way we do to power rocket ships by burning it off. They have an entirely different mode of transportation, one that seemingly uses natural forces of some kind to get from point A to point B in the blink of an eye. But even more alarming as Greer's claim that this artificial power source installed by the military

began emitting massive and unsafe levels of radiation. According to this theory, it's this radiation that would have caused the shocking and painful symptoms, burns, and alleged radiation injuries suffered by the three victims. So as to what really happened that night, well, it's hard to say. that he really did go to the hospital for severe burns and spent almost a month there trying to heal herself. Unless you think the three of them are lying, then they did all experience some severe ailments and sickness. And could they be lying about the whole thing? I guess. That's one hell of a move to bring it all the way to a lawsuit against the U.S. government if you're making the whole thing up.

You may say it's a cash grab and they wanted to try to make some easy money, but at the time they brought this thing too, court, they already had enough press coverage, both in the tabloids and mainstream media, to go on and write books or ink movie deals and get cash that way, if that was their sole motivation. And so then, why try and sue if they knew they were lying? Surely they'd lose. Also, if it was fabricated, why bring the seven-year-old grandson into the fray? Seems unnecessary to do that. The only thing he's going to do is maybe mess up the story. and tell everyone one day that he was told to make it all up. He never did that. And on the other side, you have the U.S. government. Who from time to time, I don't know if you know, but they've lied.

Hidden projects of the UFO cases. And there are many, many examples that over time have come out to reveal that lies were told. The government always gets away with it because it was in the best interest for everyone and the security of our country. Betty Cash, passed away at 71 years old on December 29th, 1998, 18 years exactly to the day of that close encounter. Vigilandrum passed away on September 12th of 2007, just seven days before her 84th birthday. And to this day, there is no definitive explanation for the events of what went down that night over in Texas. I have a feeling some people know for sure, but as for us ever knowing the truth, well, I wouldn't hold your breath.

So that's it for this week's episode of Everytown. Hope you all enjoyed it. If you like this podcast, and there's a lot more content we have for you to check out as well, you can always watch this episode and others on our Scary Mysteries YouTube channel. We'll go listen to the Scary Mysteries podcast for two new episodes each week. And for exclusive podcasts and videos, consider supporting us on patreon.com slash scary mysteries.

We get into some even darker content. We really appreciate everyone over there. who helps make what we do possible. Thanks for tuning in today. Remember to come back next week for another episode for what's scary, strange, and mysterious stories because you never know. Maybe your town will be next.

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