In the Pacific Northwest, authorities have found evidence of at least 10 cattle mutilations, all unsolved, since the 1960s. Paranormal enthusiasts cry “alien invasion” at the mere mention of a new case and deniers say it’s nothing more than hoaxers getting a rise out of the vicarious attention. But, there might be something else at play here. Something far more sinister.
Cattle mutilations, UFO’s, conspiracies oh my!
Above is an image depicting the locations of unsolved cattle mutilations in the U.S. between 1967 and 1989. Remember this image…
On five different occasions between June and October 1990, a Vancouver farmer named Richard Fazio found five of his cattle dead with their carefully dissected remains — including eyes, tongues and organs — scattered across three different pastures along the Columbia River.
An Oregon State University analysis at the time found the animals’ wounds were consistent with “electrosurgical excision” and “heat-induced injury,” possibly from a laser.
It is evidence exactly like this that has steered the imagination for so long, but Christopher O’Brien, an author that headlined last Sunday night’s (2/21/16) Paranormal Pub at Portland’s McMenamins Mission Theater, believes that the mysterious deaths are tied to a much darker plot.
Speaking during a recent phone interview O’Brien said, “That’s the most popular plot line. But, it’s been railroaded by tireless believers propagandizing a cultural meme of aliens coming down mutilating cattle when there is very little evidence to support that.”
O’Brien contends that only about one in every 10 cattle mutilations might have a connection to extra-terrestrials possibly trying to learn about humans through cows (the thought being that cattle hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein in red blood cells, is nearly an exact match to that found in humans).
But, after more than two decades working with veterinarian pathologists, biologists and police, O’Brien believes the mutilations could be part of a “covert environmental monitoring process perpetrated by a shadowy operation with highly advanced technology.”
“As far as I’m concerned, this could be the greatest unsolved serial crime spree in history,” O’Brien said. “There could be multiple groups involved.”
According to O’Brien’s book, “Stalking the Herd: Unraveling the Cattle Mutilation Mystery,“ the motives likely run the gamut, and change over generations, from testing for nuclear radiation and bacterial-weapons fallout to monitoring food-borne diseases.
“This is a serious thing,” he said. “I’m not some crazy conspiracy theorist from the black helicopter crowd. This is science reporting.”
Despite O’Brien’s distaste for theories involving UFOs, the cover of “Stalking the Heard” features an illustration of a cow being beamed up into the sky.
The Richard Fazio cattle mutilation case was investigated and although no conclusive answers were agreed upon at the time, neighbors to the Fazio property told Clark County sheriff’s investigators that they had heard strange sounds that summer. The kind of sounds they couldn’t attribute to any farm machinery; and a woman driving home late one night also reported being startled by a “little man” apparently carrying a “flashlight” in one of the pastures.