- From: Mark Cashman
<mcashman@ix.netcom.com Here is the straight scoop on the Hamilton
"cattle mutilation" story, from Jerome Clark, noted UFO historian and
editor of CUFOS IUR:
-
- Hi, Mark,
-
- Geez, so that yarn is still
circulating. It's positively unkillable.
-
- In 1976 I conducted an investigation
of the story and talked with the editor of the Yates Center, Kansas,
newspaper, which then ran a short article urging anyone who knew
anything about the story to contact me. I heard from a woman whose
mother had been at the Hamilton household in April 1897, when Alex
pulled up and jokingly took his wife about the tall tale he and
friends (members of a local liars club) had concocted. One of the
friends was the editor of the local paper. In 1943 the editor, looking
back on his career, remembered the hoax and the circumstances of its
creation.
-
- My expose first appeared in the
February 1977 issue of Fate. (I also write about it on page 17 of my
1996 book High Strangeness [UFO Encyclopedia #3].) Subsequently, Eddie
Bullard found a letter from Hamilton in a Missouri newspaper, the
Atchison County Mail (May 7, 1897), in which Hamilton cheerfully
acknowledged that he'd made up the tale.
-
- Best,
-
- Jerry Clark
This account
(of the mutilation and airship) actually was first published much
earlier (than in the mid 1960's book called ANATOMY OF A PHENOMENON by
UFO researcher Jacques Vallee) in Lorenzen's first book. It has been
reprinted many times since then. However, it has been called into
question a number of times, and I have just sent off an e-mail to UFO
historian Jerome Clark to determine the current status. The most
recent take on the story is that Hamilton and the signers of the
affadavit were actually members of the local Liars' Club, an
organization, essentially, of tall-tale tellers. I have yet to find a
full citation in any reference containing this assertion, however, and
am waiting for the response from Mr. Clark before offering a final
opinion.
-
- There are many good reports from the
1890-1920 period. However, many of the "high-strangeness" reports of
the period are believed to be hoaxes by journalists and others. But
there are a number of reports which contain many of the components of
current sighting reports, and which are probably valid. At any rate,
the Fund for UFO Research (FUFOR) at http://www.fufor.org has a few
large publications dealing with the flaps of this period which are
listed at http://www.fufor.org/fufor-pub.htm and include
-
- UFOs of 1896-97: The Airship Wave by
Robert G. Neeley, Jr. H011 Fund-sponsored The most thorough analysis
ever done of the wave of "airship" reports in the US just before the
turn of the century. Spiral-bound, 324 pp. $50.00
-
- The 1912-1913 British Phantom Airship
Scare Catalogue by Watson et al. H012 An exhaustive compilation of
more than 300 sighting reports. Spiral-bound, 509 pp., illustrated
$80.00
-
- The 1912-1913 British Phantom Airship
Scare by NIgel Watson, et al. H013 A summary report of this heretofore
unresearched sighting wave. Stapled, 29 pp., illustrated $6.00
-
- The hoax story as it was posted
originally here
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