The Cisco Grove Incident, 1964: A Hunter Fights Aliens and a Robot for 12 Hours
On September 4, 1964, Donald Shrum (Donald Shrum), a 26-year-old American missile-tracking technician, was out bow-hunting in Tahoe National Forest, California, and was unexpectedly pulled into a life-or-death struggle that lasted 12 hours. Shrum claimed he was trapped in a tree by a party of three from a huge cigar-shaped craft—two small humanoids in silver suits and a metal robot that sprayed smoke—and that he fought for his life with his bow and a burning hat. This case, known asthe “Cisco Grove Incident” (Cisco Grove Incident), is one of the strangest close-encounter cases in the UFO literature, and one of the richest in action.
Course of events
On the evening of September 4, 1964, Shrum and two companions were bow-hunting in the Cisco Grove (Cisco Grove) area of Nevada County, California. Chasing a deer, he became separated from the others and lost in Tahoe National Forest. As night fell, afraid of being attacked by predators, he climbed a tall pine and prepared to spend the night in the tree.
Around 9 in the evening, Shrum noticed a light moving through the trees. At first he thought it was a helicopter sent by rescuers. He climbed down, excited, lit a signal fire, and waved. But when the light came within about 50 yards, he was shocked to find that the object made no sound at all. This was not any kind of human aircraft.
Shrum quickly put the fire out and climbed back to the top of the tree. He saw that it was a huge, dark, cigar-shaped craft, about 150 feet long, with a horizontal slit of light flashing along the top. More startling still, the mother ship then released a smaller scout craft. Right after that, three beings began closing in on the pine where Shrum was hiding.
Three beings
According to Shrum’s testimony, he described three types of beings to the investigators in detail:
The first two were small humanoids, a little over 5 feet tall, in seamless silver suits that covered the entire head. They wore black eye coverings like welding goggles. Their walk was slightly stiff, but their movements were orderly. The third being arrived later, and it looked more frightening than the first two—about 5 feet tall, shaped like a robot made of metal, with a pair of glowing red-orange eyes on a dark exterior and a narrow slit for a mouth. When this opening gnashed wide, it poured out a choking cloud of smoke.
A 12-hour fight to the death
The three beings closed in around the pine Shrum was in. They began spraying a knockout gas from their mouths or bodies, trying to force him out of the tree or knock him unconscious. More than once Shrum blacked out in the gas and fell onto a branch, waking to find himself still hanging among the limbs.
Shrum did not give in to fear. He took up his bow and fired hunting arrows, one after another, at the beings below. To his shock, the arrowheads burst into blue sparks when they hit—showing that these beings’ bodies were solid metal. When the arrows were gone, Shrum made a startling decision: he set his hunting hat on fire and hurled the burning pieces down at the enemies below.
The suffocating confrontation lasted a full 12 hours, from 9 in the evening until 9 the next morning. Only at dawn did the first humanoid give a signal like a whistle, and only then did the three beings withdraw to the craft. Shrum watched the cigar-shaped craft lift off in silence and disappear into the sky.
Military involvement and the investigation
After the incident Shrum was taken to a hospital with multiple bruises and burns, along with clear symptoms of psychological trauma, similar to what would later be called PTSD. Interviewed by investigators from the U.S. Air Force “Project Blue Book,” he gave a detailed account. Notably, Air Force investigators are said to have taken a special hunting arrow from Shrum—the head may have kept metal fragments from striking one of the beings—and brought it back to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for analysis. Where that arrowhead went, and what the tests found, was never made public.
Because Shrum himself worked as a missile-tracking technician at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the case was treated as unusually credible in the investigation. His technical background meant he could identify aircraft professionally, and he himself had started out a UFO skeptic. The U.S. Air Force marked the case “unexplained,” and the file is still kept in the Project Blue Book records.
Why the case matters
The Cisco Grove incident holds a distinctive place in the UFO literature. Unlike the passive experience of the victim in the great majority of UFO abduction cases, this one shows someone fighting back. It is also one of the few close encounters to include a “robot” type of being, and it has prompted wide discussion of whether several forms of alien life exist side by side.
Researchers have noted that the combination Shrum observed—a cigar-shaped mother ship plus a small scout craft—resembles a pattern in many later UFO cases. The incident has been taken up by numerous UFO documentaries and podcasts, including The Why Files feature “The Cisco Grove Mystery: Don Shrum’s Encounter with a UFO, Aliens, and a Robot,” which has drawn more than 3.2 million views on YouTube.
Related videos
The Why Files feature: The Cisco Grove Mystery
The feature documentary above, made by The Why Files, reconstructs the full course of the Cisco Grove incident in a vivid narrative style, using animation, archival material, and expert interviews to show viewers this extraordinary fight for survival.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What did Shrum see in the Cisco Grove incident?
Shrum saw a cigar-shaped craft 150 feet long release a scout craft. Three beings (two humanoids in silver suits and one metal robot) trapped him in a tree for 12 hours.
How did Shrum fight back?
He shot hunting arrows at the beings (the heads burst into blue sparks on impact, showing that the bodies were metal). After the arrows ran out, he set his own hunting hat on fire and hurled the burning pieces at them.
Did the U.S. Air Force investigate this incident?
Yes. Because Shrum himself worked as a missile-tracking technician at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, the Air Force “Project Blue Book” investigated him in detail and marked the case “unexplained.” It is also said that they took an arrowhead carrying metal residue.
What makes this incident unusual in UFO research?
It is one of the very few close encounters to include a “robot” type of being, and one of the rare cases in which the witness fought back with force. The cigar-shaped mother ship plus small craft in the incident has also shown up many times in later UFO cases.
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