Somewhere in the Skies - Just Another Tin-Foil Hat | The Cisco Grove Close Encounter

Episode Date: December 20, 2024

On September 4th of 1964, one man would face off against a troupe of bizarre entities in an incredibly strange contact case. It would haunt him for the rest of his life. Subscribe to Just Another Tin Foil Hat on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JustAnotherTinFoilHat Patreon: www.patreon.com/somewhereskies ByMeACoffee: buymeacoffee.com/UFxzyzHOaQ PayPal: [e-mail] Website: www.somewhereintheskies.com Store: http://tee.pub/lic/ULZAy7IY12U YouTube Channel: CLICK HERE Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/somewhereskies/videos Order Ryan’s new book: https://a.co/d/4KNQnM4 Order Ryan’s older book: https://amzn.to/3PmydYC Twitter: @SomewhereSkies Read Ryan’s Articles by CLICKING HERE Opening Theme Song, "Ephemeral Reign" by Per Kiilstofte Produced by LIONSGATE Copyright © 2024. Ryan Sprague. All rights reserved. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/somewhere-in-the-skies. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to just another tinfoil hat with your host, Zilia Edgar. Join Zilia as she walks us through some of the most bizarre UFO cases and incidents of high strangeness. Today, we're going to be discussing a truly fascinating and absolutely fantastic case of entity contact, the Cisco Grove incident. On September 4th of 1964, 26-year-old Donald Shrum and two friends and coworkers of his, Tim and Vincent, had decided to drive out to Cisco Grove in Placer County, California, to do some bow hunting. Now, unfortunately for Mr. Schrum, at some point during the day, the trio became

separated by this particular ridge, and so nearing dark, he still hadn't joined up with his two companions. As a matter of fact, it was later uncovered that Tim was the only one who actually managed to make it back to the camp by himself. You know, after waiting a while and with no one showing up, he decided to go and search for his buddies by flashlight. He managed to find Vincent, and so the two made it back to camp and decided that it was far too dark and getting far too late to go searching for Donald. Now on another weird note, Vincent actually had spotted this bizarre, slow-moving meteor going through the sky. However, as you may imagine, this is by no means the strangest sighting of the evening, otherwise this would be a much shorter video.

So anyway, the two men decided that Donald being, you know, a capable outdoorsman, should definitely be fine fending for himself for the evening, with should being the key word here. Now, by this point in time, Donald had realized that he was most definitely lost, and wisely decided that he didn't want to try making his way through the forest after dark, especially as there had been reports of bears in the area. So he found a large tree growing next to a granite outcropping. Apparently, the branch was about, the first branch was about 12 feet off the ground. So Schrum actually climbed on a boulder next to it and then up into the tree and settled in for an uncomfortable night's rest. And I will say that the night was definitely uncomfortable, though

there wasn't much rest to be had. Shortly after he perched in the tree, Donald saw this white light moving underneath the horizon line. He said that it was moving from east to west, but going up and down as it did so, and that he first took it to be some sort of flashlight or lantern, until he saw the light go up and over a tree. Then he figured, it must be a helicopter that one of his friends had contacted the forest service, and here was his rescue coming. Immediately, Schrum jumped out of the tree and lit three signal fires, each spaced about 10 feet apart from the other, and started waving his arms trying to signal down this helicopter. At this point, the light stopped, turned, and headed straight for him. Now, it was also at this point

that Schrum realized that this was one heck of a bizarre helicopter, as it was absolutely soundless. This is what really terrified him the most by this point in time. Schrum claimed that the light appeared to be only about 8 to 10 inches in diameter, and after realizing that this was, as a matter of fact, not a helicopter, Schrum decided that it must be something which he had never given much thought to, a flying saucer. However, he said that given the size of the light, He figured a bunch of must just be a little dinky thing. So, little dinky thing or not, Schrum decided if this was, as a matter of fact,

some sort of flying saucer or alien spacecraft. He would probably be safer up in the tree rather than on the ground by his three signal fires. So he climbed right back up into the tree and sat perfectly still as the object maneuvered past him and then settled over a nearby canyon. It was in this position that Donald could see the totality of the object. What he first noticed were these three large,

flat rectangular panels arranged in formation. And although he didn't notice a strong outline to the overall object, he claimed that he did notice that the stars were blotted out in a large oval type shape. He later estimated the totality of the craft to have been about 150 feet long, which is a far cry from the tiny flying saucer that he first considered it to be. Now after about five minutes of this craft kind of hovering in that position, Donald claimed that there was this small object which came out of the center panel with a flash. This object was a small dome-like affair, he claimed, and appeared to land about half a mile

from where he was. Now shortly after this, Shrum claimed that he began hearing sounds as though something or a whole party of somethings was moving through the underbrush. A short time after the crashing noises had started up, Shrum noticed a bizarre figure approached the area. He claimed that it stood a little over five feet tall and was wearing a tight one-piece silver suit with these bizarre puffs at each of the joints. He claimed that it also was wearing some sort of hat or helmet which covered the head

and described the face as being flat and featureless, with the exception of two large, dark eyes, which reminded Shrum of welding goggles. He said that they were the size of silver dollars. Now, he said that it appeared to be messing around with the shrubs nearby, and it came within 100 feet of where he was perched when it was joined by another creature identical to itself. Now, this immediately caused Shrum to panic.

He claims that his only thought was how to survive this situation. So he decided that if he remained as still as possible up in the tree and combined with his camouflage outfit and foliage, that he would probably be pretty safe from view. Now, this assumption would be challenged really quickly, as suddenly one of the entities moved to the base of the tree. It was soon joined by the other one, and they both stared up at him with their large, dark eyes. Now, it's also really weird to note, but throughout this entire encounter, Shrong would hear these cooing or hooting noises, which the entities appeared to react to. And he claims he wasn't sure if this was just some sort of owl in the area, or if it was something directly related to the entities. He did notice that whenever they heard this noise, they would appear to look towards the direction of the ship, which was still hovering over the canyon.

Now, he also maintained that the whole night it was like they were receiving some sort of communication. And it's also really interesting to note that for the remainder of his life, Shrong would become highly anxious whenever he heard the sound. of owls hooting as he related it to this incident. Now just what I'm sure you were thinking this situation can't possibly get much worse. A third entity joined the party. This one Shrumm described as a robot-like affair and actually when discussing this incident he would just refer to it as the robot. He claimed that it appeared to be absolutely covered in some sort of metallic suit or maybe it was simply mechanical in nature. It had these two bright red-orange fiery flashlight

like eyes and this was actually the first thing that Shrum noticed as it approached the area, were these two big bright eyes. He said it looked like two flashlights, one right next to the other. And these illuminated this mechanical hinged jaw-like mechanism on its, I guess, what would term, face. Now, Shrum also noticed that as it approached the area, it actually brushed away the dying embers from one of his signal fires. In the sketch that he made at the instant, it looks like it brushed away the center one.

So this ushered in the entire night-long struggle between Shrum and these bizarre entities. The robot-like entity reached up to its mouth and released this cloud of white vapor, which, though absolutely odorless, had a decidedly bizarre and sudden effect on Shrum. He began gasping and blacked out, which he believed only lasted for about a few seconds. When he came to, he was incredibly nauseous and even dry heaved. Trum did the only thing he could think of and decided to fire at one of these entities with his bow and arrow. Now he stated, too, that he truly believed he could have killed one of the so-called biological

entities, and he didn't want to do that, as he felt that the robot was the real source of all of his issues. So, he shot an arrow at the chest of the robot, and claimed that when it made contact, there was this bright flash of light, and the robot was pushed back about two feet. Now, the entity is scattered, but soon all three returned to the base of the tree. Unfortunately, Schrum was only able to fire two more times before he was out of arrows. Now, so then at this point, he did the only thing he could think of, and recalling how the robot-like entity had brushed aside the remaining embers of his fire, lit a book of matches and tossed it down at the base of the tree. Not only did all three of the entities back far away from the book of matches, but Schrum claims that

even the craft shot up into the sky. So noticing this reaction, Schrum proceeded to light everything he had on fire, tossing each item down among the strange trio just as the previous item burnt out. He tore up his camouflaged overcoat, his hunting license, all the money he had on his person, and even his hat. He claims that each time the fire, began burning out, the entities would kind of creep back into the area, retreating again as he threw down the next object. By the end of this terrifying ordeal, all he was left with were his jeans, t-shirt, belt, and shoes. So once he was out of things to burn, he really felt like he was absolutely out of options. So he climbed further up into the tree and lashed himself to it with his belt

in case he was gassed again. And of course, he was. Now when Shrum came to, he saw that the two biological entities were trying to climb the tree in this ridiculous fashion, one trying to boost the other up to grab that lowest branch, which again was about 12 feet off the ground. So when he saw this, he grabbed the tree and tried to move it as much as he possibly could. As the two entities felt this movement, they would jump down, the robot would come back, shrumb would lose consciousness, come two, the entities would try to get up the tree. I mean, he claims that this continued all night, pausing only the several times that he threw down his remaining objects, which was his canteen, which

they inspected and tossed away fairly quickly, and then, all the loose change which he had in his pocket. Now, interestingly enough, the creatures expressed deep interest in the coins, even taking all of them away at the end of the encounter. So, I mean, not only do they harass this poor guy all through the night, then they take all of his remaining spare change. Schrum also claimed to have noticed three or four other humanoids which arrived on the scene sometime throughout the night, although these were combing the vegetation, just as the initial two had done at the very beginning of his harrowing encounter, and apparently expressed no interest in him or the goings-on at the base of the tree.

Some time throughout the night as well, another robot-like entity had joined the circus. Right before the dawn, the two robots moved close together at the base of the tree and faced each other. Schrum noticed that the whole area was illuminated and saw that there were these flashes of light kind of arcing between the two robots. Suddenly a cloud of vapor approached Schrum. He blacked out, and when he came to, all of the entities, as well as the craft, as well as his loose change, everything was gone.

So he finally made his way back to camp totally exhausted. On revisiting the site, he was able to claim his arrows, which he had fired at the robot, and claims that one of them did have this glob of metallic material on the tip. Unfortunately, this was claimed by the Air Force throughout this investigation, and from there, pretty much lost. So not only did Donald Shrum have physical effects linked to his night spent up in the tree in the cold, including a major cold and a bruised chest from the times of the tree knocked against him.

He also had lasting mental and emotional effects likened to PTSD. Though he spoke to several people about this instant, shortly after it occurred, he resolutely tried to snout the limelight for fear that he would literally be laughed out of his job. Now the case was investigated by the Air Force, like I just mentioned, and at first they suggested that Shrum must have run into some of those Galdar and teenage pranksters, you know, the ones with the Hollywood-style giant flying saucer prop and the knockout gas. And when Shrum wouldn't agree to that, signed off on the case with the exact same conclusion as the Simonton encounter.

Psychological. from all reports, Shrum was considered to be an average and sane person, not really given to making up ludicrous tales of flopped alien abductions. And I will say that if this was some sort of elaborate hoax, kudos to Mr. Shrum for risking pneumonia by burning his outerwear and his cap and spending a night belted to a tree. I mean, that takes some dedication. On another note, Shrum resolutely desired to stay out of the press for the longest time and even refused sums of money for his story. He had major concerns. about losing his job, which was as a welder for the Aerojet General Corporation. At the time of his

encounter, Aerojet did hold contracts with the U.S. government for the welding of rocket engines. So it's really not too much of a stretch to see why Shrum was so concerned about losing his job because of this weird encounter. So what do we make of this strange tale? Shrum truly believes that those entities were here studying the earth and that upon seeing him, plans changed. And they thought that in addition to their Manzanita Shrubs, they might actually bag a human being. Obviously, The question remains, though, too. Why exactly did they fail so miserably at capturing him? I mean, the nonsensical attempts to climb the tree, even the inefficacy of the knockout gas used.

You just really have to wonder why they couldn't get their act together, and abduct one measly human being stranded in the middle of nowhere with no help coming right next to their mothership. I mean, between the advanced extraterrestrial biological entities and the robots, you really think they could have put their heads together and figured out something. The fear of fire is also very interesting and perhaps even more interesting. and perhaps even more interesting considering the action of retreating when the fire was brightest, and then kind of drawing back in when it began sinking down. This is definitely something I have heard more in connection with cryptids, especially such as Bigfoot,

or specifically regarding a hatred of light, paranormal entities such as ghosts. Here also, it's really intriguing that not only were the entities involved, but the craft as well. I mean, why would a craft hovering quite a bit further away than the entities fear these tiny little fires? Given the massive stresses of space flight, we must assume that these little, Itty Bitty Flames caused by books of matches and burning hat did not really pose a material threat to the ship itself. To me, what it seems like is that the entities and the craft match behavior, and this might be kind of a dead giveaway that they're all the same package, that despite their apparent

differences in appearance, you know, they're actually just all part of the same phenomenon, and that's why the behavior matched regardless of, you know, what it would actually be like. I will also say that the throwing of coins bears a slight similarity to another folkloric protection usually employed against witches, vampires, and fairies. The scattering of grains or other small objects. The concept is that the entity will not continue on their quest to, I don't know, absolutely destroy you or something, until the objects are all counted. And this is a well-documented belief across many traditions. On a very odd note, maybe this is a step too far into the world of risky conjecture. I'm also reminded of Karen's Oval, the tradition of coins placed with

the deceased as payment for their passage into the land of the dead. Of course, in this case, Shrum just desperately wanted to get back to the land of the living. And, you know, of course, Schrum maintained that maybe they just liked the coins because they were shiny. Or, as some investigator mentioned to him later, they may have been collected as he believed he was the object of for further study.

A note on this belief in study as well, this case like countless others, kind of falls into that trope of aliens researching this planet. Now, when the first humanoids showed up, they were messing around with a manzanita plant. The several other humanoids also appear to be considering the underbrush, without so much as a thought to whatever was going

on with Shrum. I've mentioned this before, but where we see aliens gathering plant samples, previous generations saw fairies tending to plant life, an indelible connection between the good folk and the natural world. The other really interesting thing is that this account truly was ushered in by a light anomaly, and each time it escalated, light anomalies were also involved. Notably when the flash appeared when the dome-like object flew out of the big ship, when the first thing Shrum noticed about the robot where its bright eyes, even the last thing he noticed being the arcs of light between the two robots. I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again.

There's the concept mentioned by Keel that perhaps light anomalies are the only truly real part of the phenomenon. And so I find it really intriguing that here, again, the appearance of light kind of seemed to mark the alteration of this experience at every turn. And while on the topic of lights as well, remember how Shrum, believing

the light in the sky was a helicopter, lit the three signal fires to flag it down. He did indeed attract its attention, of course, only it wasn't a ranger's copter. On a strange note as well, I find it odd maybe simply coincidental, that shrumlet the three fires and the center fire was put out by the robot according to his sketch. And the object appeared with these three luminous panels, the center of which disgorged this dome-like object. Again, perhaps coincidence, perhaps something else.

On a final note, and truth be told, this case is really, really interesting, and we could just absolutely analyze the heck out of every single angle. I really want to mention the owls. Now, owls as a screen memory, are definitely a common enough belief across abduction literature, but the The notion of owls having additional importance has also been noted by researcher and experienceer Mike Leland. And in this case, it's interesting to see that the entities appear to react to what may have been an owl or may have been something else. Either way, I find it totally intriguing that thereafter, Schrum maintained a very specific

fear whenever he heard owls, and it harkened him right back to that experience. So, you know, as to whatever this case truly was or wasn't, I can tell you what I'm pretty sure it absolutely wasn't. And that is a group of teenage hoaxers facing off against one of one of the ones. framed California smackdown in the middle of nowhere. For today, I am Zilia Edgar. Signing off. This has been just another tinfoil hat with Zelia Edgar.

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