卡什-兰德鲁姆事件 – 1980年

中文版

卡什-兰德鲁姆事件是1980年美国一起被报道的不明飞行物目击事件，目击者坚称该事件对其健康造成了损害。这是极少数最终进入民事法庭审理程序的UFO案件之一。

由于据称对目击者及其汽车造成了物理影响，该事件可归类为第二类近距离接触。

事件经过

持怀疑态度的UFO研究者彼得·布鲁克斯密斯写道：

“对UFO研究者而言，这起案件或许是现代最令人困惑和沮丧的案例——原本以确凿证据开端的罕见现象，最终却陷入死胡同、否认与官方推诿的迷宫之中。”

1980年12月29日晚，贝蒂·卡什、维姬·兰德鲁姆及其7岁孙子科尔比·兰德鲁姆在外出就餐后，驾驶卡什的奥兹莫比尔Cutlass轿车返回得克萨斯州代顿市的家。

约晚9点，当车辆行驶在密林间一条偏僻的双车道公路上时，目击者称观察到树梢上方有亮光。起初他们以为这是飞往约35英里外休斯顿洲际机场的飞机灯光，并未在意。

几分钟后，在蜿蜒道路上，目击者再次看到同一光源，但此时它已近在咫尺且异常明亮。他们声称光线来自一个巨大的菱形物体，悬停在树梢高度。该物体底部喷射火焰并释放出巨大热量。

维姬·兰德鲁姆担心靠近会被灼伤，要求卡什停车。但维姬对该物体的看法很快转变——作为重生基督徒，她认为这是耶稣再临的征兆，对孙子说：”那是耶稣，他不会伤害我们。”（克拉克，175页）

焦虑的卡什曾考虑调头，但因道路狭窄且雨后路肩松软而放弃。

卡什和兰德鲁姆下车观察物体。但科尔比惊恐万分，维姬迅速返回车内安抚孩子。卡什留在车外，”被这奇异景象迷住了”，杰罗姆·克拉克写道。（克拉克，175页）他继续描述：

“该物体异常明亮，呈暗金属银色，形如巨大直立菱形，大小堪比代顿水塔，顶部和底部呈平面而非尖状。中心环绕蓝色小灯，随后几分钟内底部周期性喷射火焰，向外扩散形成锥形光晕。每次火焰消散时，UFO便向道路方向下降数英尺；当火焰再次喷发时，物体又回升相同距离。”（克拉克，175页）

目击者称热量强烈到使车身金属烫手——卡什表示最终返回车内时不得不用外套保护手部。维姬触摸仪表盘时，手掌竟在软化的乙烯基材料上留下印记，数周后仍清晰可见。调查者将此手印视为证词证据，但未留下任何照片记录。

随后物体升至更高空。目击者声称当它升越树梢时，一群直升机逼近并紧密编队将其包围。卡什和兰德鲁姆数出23架直升机，后辨认出其中包含全球军方使用的纵列双旋翼CH-47支奴干直升机。

道路畅通后，卡什继续驾车前行，称瞥见物体与直升机逐渐消失于远方。

从首次发现到物体离去，目击者称遭遇持续约20分钟。根据约翰·F·舒斯勒相关著作的描述，观察者当时正沿得克萨斯州FM 1485/2100公路南行时声称目击该物体。据同一描述，物体最初位置位于内陆公路以南，约北纬30.0926°，西经95.1109°。

其他目击者调查者后来找到代顿警探拉马尔·沃克及其妻子，他们声称在卡什-兰德鲁姆事件发生地附近、大致相同时间看到12架支奴干型直升机，但未报告发现大型菱形物体。

1981年4月某日，一架CH-47飞抵代顿。科尔比看到后情绪激动。维姬决定带他前往直升机降落点，希望地面接触能减轻恐惧。当他们抵达降落区时，发现已聚集大量人群，等待许久才获准进入机舱与飞行员交谈。维姬与另一访客均声称飞行员表示曾到该区域检查哈夫曼附近遇险的UFO。当维姬表达见到飞行员的喜悦并提及自己是被UFO灼伤者之一时，飞行员拒绝继续交谈并迅速将他们请出机舱。

健康问题UFO与直升机离去后，卡什送兰德鲁姆一家回家后休息。当晚三人均出现相似症状，卡什尤为严重。所有人出现恶心、呕吐、腹泻、全身无力、眼部灼烧感及类似晒伤的症状。

随后数日，卡什症状恶化，皮肤出现大面积疼痛水疱。克拉克记载，1981年1月3日送医时，卡什”无法行走，大片皮肤脱落，头发成簇掉落。住院12天后出院时状况未明显改善，后再次住院15天。”（克拉克，176页）

兰德鲁姆祖孙健康状况稍好，但仍持续虚弱、皮肤溃疡和脱发。

为MUFON检查目击者医疗记录的放射科医生写道：”我们有强证据表明这些患者遭受了电离辐射的继发性损伤，也可能存在红外或紫外线成分。”（引自克拉克，176页）

但布拉德·斯帕克斯认为，尽管症状与电离辐射所致相似，但发病速度仅符合致命剂量特征——若真如此，患者数日内必死无疑。鉴于所有受害者事后存活多年，斯帕克斯推测症状源于某种化学污染，可能是气溶胶。

调查维姬·兰德鲁姆致电多个美国政府机构与官员。联系NASA时，她被转介给长期关注UFO的航空航天工程师约翰·舒斯勒。舒斯勒与民间UFO研究组织MUFON的同僚展开调查，后撰写相关文章与著作。CUFOS天文学家艾伦·亨德利也对此案进行过简要调查。

鉴于支奴干直升机的出现，目击者认为至少美国武装部队某分支目睹了该物体——即便未进行护送或追击。但调查者未能找到直升机与军方关联的证据。

1982年，陆军监察长办公室中校乔治·萨兰启动唯一一次彻底的政府调查。他未能找到目击者声称的直升机属于美军的证据。萨兰表示：”兰德鲁姆女士和卡什女士可信……声称在UFO遭遇地附近看到12架直升机的警员夫妇也是可信证人。未发现任何人试图夸大事实。”（引自克拉克，177页）

1998年，记者兼UFO怀疑论者菲利普·J·克拉斯提出质疑：

“舒斯勒1981年初检查贝蒂汽车时用盖革计数器检测放射性，未发现异常。他访问（据称）事发地时想必也检测过放射性，同样未发现异常……舒斯勒未提供贝蒂遭遇UFO前的健康数据，也未提供维姬或科尔比的既往病史。”（原文强调）

其他UFO研究者指出，能对人体造成伤害的高能电离辐射（如伽马射线）不会诱发物体放射性，也不会在区域残留辐射。

布鲁克斯密斯同样写道：”怀疑者始终提出直白根本的问题：这三人据称遭遇前的健康状况如何？”

法律诉讼最终，卡什与兰德鲁姆联系参议员劳埃德·本特森和约翰·托尔，后者建议向伯格斯特龙空军基地的军法索赔办公室提交申诉。1981年8月，卡什、兰德鲁姆和科尔比接受该基地人员长时间问询，被告知应聘请律师寻求伤害赔偿。

在律师彼得·格斯坦（Peter Gersten）无偿接手此案后，该案在美国法院系统审理了数年。卡什（Cash）和兰德勒姆（Landrum）向美国政府索赔2000万美元。

1986年8月21日，一名美国地方法院法官驳回了他们的诉讼，指出原告未能证明直升机与美国政府有关联，且军方官员作证称，美国武装部队并未拥有大型菱形飞行器。

媒体报道 该事件同时获得了小报媒体和主流媒体的报道。1981年，维基·兰德勒姆（Vickie Landrum）出现在美国广播公司（ABC）热门电视节目《难以置信》（That’s Incredible）中。她在演播室观众面前接受催眠，并在催眠状态下讲述了UFO事件。维基·兰德勒姆和贝蒂·卡什（Betty Cash）均出现在1989年美国电视特别节目《UFO掩盖真相？直播！》（UFO Cover Up? Live!）中，该节目由迈克·法雷尔（Mike Farrell）主持。她们讲述了遭遇UFO的经历、随后的健康问题及法律诉讼。卡什-兰德勒姆事件还被电视节目《未解之谜》（Unsolved Mysteries）和《目击》（Sightings）报道。2009年，科尔比·兰德勒姆（Colby Landrum）出现在《UFO猎人：外星辐射》（UFO Hunters: Alien Fallout）中。

晚年 巧合的是，贝蒂·卡什于1998年12月29日去世，享年71岁，距离她声称的近距离接触事件整整18年。

维基·兰德勒姆于2007年9月12日去世，距离她84岁生日仅差七天。

English Version

The Cash-Landrum Incident was a reported Unidentified Flying Object sighting from the United States in 1980, which witnesses insist was responsible for damage to their health. It is one of very few UFO cases to result in civil court proceedings.

It can be classified as a Close Encounter of the Second Kind, due to its reported physical effects on the witnesses and their automobile.

Incident

Skeptical ufologist Peter Brookesmith wrote:

“To ufologists, the case is perhaps the most baffling and frustrating of modern times, for what started with solid evidence for a notoriously elusive phenomenon petered out in a maze of dead ends, denials, and perhaps even official deviousness.”

On the evening of December 29, 1980, Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum and Colby Landrum (Vickie’s seven-year-old grandson) were driving home to Dayton, Texas in Cash’s Oldsmobile Cutlass after dining out.

At about 9.00 p.m., while driving on an isolated two-lane road in dense woods, the witnesses said they observed a light above some trees. They initially thought the light was an airplane approaching Houston Intercontinental Airport (about 35 miles away) and gave it little notice.

A few minutes later on the winding roads, the witnesses saw what they believed to be the same light as before, but it was now much closer and very bright. The light, they claimed, came from a huge diamond-shaped object, which hovered at about treetop level. The object’s base was expelling flame and emitting significant heat.

Vickie Landrum told Cash to stop the car, fearing they would be burned if they approached any closer. However, Vickie’s opinion of the object quickly changed: a born again Christian, she interpreted the object as a sign of the second coming of Jesus Christ, telling her grandson, “That’s Jesus. He will not hurt us.” (Clark, 175)

Anxious, Cash considered turning the car around, but abandoned this idea because the road was too narrow and she presumed the car would get stuck on the dirt shoulders, which were soft from that evening’s rains.

Cash and Landrum got out of the car to examine the object. Colby was terrified, however, and Vickie Landrum quickly returned to the car to comfort the frantic child. Cash remained outside the car, “mesmerized by the bizarre sight,” as Jerome Clark wrote. (Clark, 175) He went on,

The object, intensely bright and a dull metallic silver, was shaped like a huge upright diamond, about the size of the Dayton water tower, with its top and bottom cut off so that they were flat rather than pointed. Small blue lights ringed the center, and periodically over the next few minutes flames shot out of the bottom, flaring outward, creating the effect of a large cone. Every time the fire dissipated, the UFO floated a few feet downwards toward the road. But when the flames blasted out again, the object rose about the same distance.” (Clark, 175)

The witnesses said the heat was strong enough to make the car’s metal body painful to the touch—Cash said she had to use her coat to protect her hand from being burnt when she finally re-entered the car. When she touched the car’s dashboard, Vickie Landrum’s hand pressed into the softened vinyl, leaving an imprint that was evident weeks later. Investigators cited this handprint as proof of the witnesses’ account; however, no photograph of the alleged handprint exists.

The object then moved to a point higher in the sky. As it ascended over the treetops, the witnesses claimed that a group of helicopters approached the object and surrounded it in tight formation. Cash and Landrum counted 23 helicopters, and later identified some of them as tandem-rotor CH-47 Chinooks used by military forces worldwide.

With the road now clear, Cash drove on, claiming to see glimpses of the object and the helicopters receding into the distance.

From first sighting the object to its departure, the witnesses said the encounter lasted about 20 minutes. Based on descriptions given in John F. Schuessler’s book about the incident, it appears that the observers were southbound on Texas state highway FM 1485/2100 when they claimed to have seen the object. The initial location of the reported object, based on the same descriptions, was just south of Inland Road, approximately at 30.0926°N 95.1109°W.

Other witnessesInvestigators later located a Dayton police officer, Detective Lamar Walker, and his wife who claimed to have seen 12 Chinook-type helicopters near the same area the Cash-Landrum event allegedly occurred and at roughly the same time. These other witnesses did not report seeing a large diamond-shaped object.

One day in April 1981, a CH-47 flew into Dayton. As Colby watched he became very upset. Vickie decided to take him to the spot where the helicopter had landed with the hope that it would seem less frightening on the ground. When they reached the landing zone, they found a lot of people there already and had to wait some time before they were allowed to go inside the helicopter and talk to the pilot. Vickie and another visitor both claim that the pilot said he had been in the area before for the purpose of checking on a UFO in trouble near Huffman. When Vickie told the pilot how glad she was to see him, because she had been one of the people burned by the UFO, he refused to talk to them further and hustled them out of the aircraft.

Health problemsAfter the UFO and helicopters left, Cash took the Landrums home, then retired for the evening. That night, they all experienced similar symptoms, though Cash to a greater degree. All suffered from nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, generalized weakness, a burning sensation in their eyes, and feeling as though they’d suffered sunburns.

Over the next few days, Cash’s symptoms worsened, with many large, painful blisters forming on her skin. When taken to a hospital emergency room on January 3, 1981, Clark writes, Cash “could not walk, and had lost large patches of skin and clumps of hair. She was released after 12 days, though her condition was not much better, and she later returned to the hospital for another 15 days.”(Clark, 176)

The Landrums’ health was somewhat better, though both suffered from lingering weakness, skin sores and hair loss.

A radiologist who examined the witnesses’ medical records for MUFON wrote, “We have strong evidence that these patients have suffered secondary damage to ionizing radiation. It is also possible that there was an infrared or ultraviolet component as well.” (quoted in Clark, 176)

However, Brad Sparks contends that, although the symptoms were somewhat similar to those caused by ionizing radiation, the rapidity of onset was only consistent with a massive dose that would have meant certain death in a few days. Since all of the victims lived for years after the incident, Sparks suggests the cause of the symptoms was some kind of chemical contamination, presumably by an aerosol.

InvestigationsVickie Landrum telephoned a number of U.S. government agencies and officials about the encounter. When she telephoned NASA, Landrum was steered toward NASA aerospace engineer John Schuessler, long interested in UFOs. With some associates from civilian UFO research group MUFON, Schuessler began research on the case, and later wrote articles and a book on the subject. Astronomer Allan Hendry of CUFOS also briefly investigated the Cash-Landrum case.

Due to the Chinook helicopters’ presence, the witnesses presumed that at least one branch of the United States Armed Forces witnessed the object, if they were not escorting or pursuing it. However, investigators could find no evidence linking the helicopters with any branch of the military.

In 1982, Lt. Col. George Sarran of the Department of the Army Inspector General began the only thorough formal governmental investigation into the supposed UFO encounter. He could not find any evidence that the helicopters the witnesses claimed to have seen belonged to the U.S. Armed Forces. Sarran stated that “Ms. Landrum and Ms. Cash were credible … the policeman and his wife [who claimed to have seen 12 helicopters near the UFO encounter site] were also credible witnesses. There was no perception that anyone was trying to exaggerate the truth.” (quoted in Clark, 177)

In 1998, journalist and UFO sceptic Philip J. Klass, found a few reasons to doubt the story by Cash and Landrum:

when Schuessler inspected Betty’s car in early 1981 and used a geiger counter to check for radioactivity, he found none. Presum-ably [sic] he also checked for radioactivity when he visited the site of the (alleged) incident, and found no abnormal radiation … [Schuessler] provides NO medical data on Betty’s health PRIOR to the UFO incident. Nor does he provide any medical data on the prior health of Vicki or Colby. (emphasis in original)

Other UFO researchers point out that high-energy ionizing radiation of the kind that can cause damage to human beings (e.g. gamma radiation) does not induce radioactivity in objects, and would not have left behind any residual radioactivity in the area.

Similarly, Brookesmith writes, “Sceptics have always asked a blunt and fundamental question: what was the trio’s state of health before their alleged encounter?”

Legal actionEventually, Cash and Landrum contacted their U.S. Senators, Lloyd Bentsen and John Tower, who suggested that the witnesses file a complaint with the Judge Advocate Claims office at Bergstrom Air Force Base. In August 1981, Cash, Landrum, and Colby were interviewed at length by personnel at Bergstrom Air Force Base, and were told that they should hire a lawyer, and seek compensation for their injuries.

With attorney Peter Gersten taking on the case pro bono, the case wound its way through the U.S. Courts for several years. Cash and Landrum sued the U.S government for $20 million.

On August 21, 1986, a U.S. District Court judge dismissed their case, noting that the plaintiffs had not proved that the helicopters were associated with the U.S. Government, and that military officials had testified that the United States Armed Forces did not have a large, diamond shaped aircraft in their possession.

Media coverageThe Incident received coverage in both the tabloid press and mainstream media. In 1981, Vickie Landrum appeared on That’s Incredible, a popular ABC television program. Vickie was hypnotized in front of a studio audience; under hypnosis she recounted the UFO incident. Vickie Landrum and Betty Cash both appeared on the 1989 U.S television special, UFO Cover Up? Live!, hosted by Mike Farrell. They related their account of the UFO encounter and their subsequent medical problems and legal battles. The Cash-Landrum event was also depicted on the television programs Unsolved Mysteries and Sightings. In 2009, Colby Landrum appeared on UFO Hunters: Alien Fallout.

Later years Coincidentally, Betty Cash died at the age of 71 on December 29, 1998, exactly 18 years after her claimed close encounter.

Vickie Landrum died September 12, 2007, seven days before her 84th birthday.