Three people suffer radiation burns after a fire-spewing UFO hovers near their car.

Betty Cash standing next to her car on a deserted road looking up at a flying disk in the sky with many lights (UFO)

Betty Cash encountered a UFO

Betty being escorted out of an emergency room by a doctor and nurse

Betty was treated for radiation

CASE DETAILS

Betty pointing to the sky while John Scheussler writes down notes

John Schuessler investigated the scene

On December 29, 1980, Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum, and Vickie’s 7-year-old grandson, Colby, were returning home after dinner on State Road 1485, near Dayton, Texas, on the outskirts of Houston. At around 9 P.M., according to Vickie Landrum, they noticed a bright light in the sky:

“You could see it through the trees. It started to get real close. Then I knew it wasn’t a plane.”

Betty Cash described what happened next:

“We didn’t know what it was, but we knew there was something that was lighting up the sky. We had begun to feel heat, and all of a sudden Vickie screamed for me to stop. And when I stopped, she went forward and her handprint was imbedded into the dash of the car. And I thought, well, I’ve got to see what this is. So I got out, walked toward the front of the automobile, and I stood there looking up to try to figure out what this object was. It was a diamond- shaped object. Then at the bottom, flames were shooting out. The heat was tremendous. It just felt like I was burning from the inside out. When I reached for the door handle, the door handle was so hot, I couldn’t even begin to hold on to it. I was more than scared. The only thing I was thinking was, are we going to get out of here alive?

Vickie Landrum said that just moments later, a large squadron of helicopters descended on the area:

“They were the large helicopters that have the double rotaries on them. I counted 22 and I knew they had to belong to the army.”

A two lane road in the woods with burn marks in a circular pattern

The craft had left its mark

For years Betty, Vickie, and Colby have battled with the government, trying to get clear answers about what actually took place that night. They’ve also fought against mysterious illnesses whose symptoms appeared just hours after the encounter. According to Vickie Landrum, later that night, at around 1 A.M., Colby woke up crying:

“He was begging me for water. He had a fever and he had vomited all over the bed.”

The next morning, Vickie and Colby were still suffering from nausea and what appeared to be severe cases of sunburn. Betty was in even worse shape. Her temperature was dangerously high and large red welts had appeared on her face and hands.

Over the next four days, Betty’s condition grew more serious. Vickie finally convinced her to see a doctor in Houston. He immediately admitted Betty to the hospital. Three weeks later, she underwent treatment for acute radiation poisoning. Betty was in the hospital six weeks. She lost more than fifty percent of her hair and patches of skin on her face. She was treated by Dr. Brian McClelland:

“There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind that Betty was exposed to high doses of radiation. As to what the source was, I can’t exactly say.”

After her release from the hospital, Betty asked for help from UFO investigator John Schuessler, a former NASA project manager:

“We had done several interviews with Betty and Vickie, and then we went out to the location where this happened. They were very clear on where it happened and how it happened. They told us exactly where along the road they stopped, because there were markers that identified the spot. They were able to point out exactly where they saw the object coming down out of the sky, over the road, and hovering there. They were able to point out a spot on the road that indicated that it had been heated to an extreme level of heating. It was burned, and it was very clear to the naked eye. Several weeks after we went to the spot and saw this burned area, someone dug up the road and hauled it away and replaced it with new asphalt. Some of the witnesses that watched this happen said people brought in unmarked trucks, dug up the road, put the material on the trucks, covered it with a tarpaulin, and drove away.”

A dark object in the sky with lights around it in a circular pattern (a UFO)

Was the military involved with the UFO?

John Schuessler also questioned everyone living within a 5-mile radius of the area:

“At least 10 other people had seen the object, and seven or eight other people had seen the helicopters. And their descriptions were all very similar to what Betty and Vickie described.”

One eyewitness was police officer L.L. Walker, who was in the area on the night that Betty and Vickie encountered the object:

“My wife Marie and I were returning from her mother and dad’s. As we were coming out of some tree lines, I saw a helicopter. It was shining a spotlight at the ground. Then I heard the noise of other helicopters behind it. And I stopped the car, ’cause I didn’t know what was going on. The helicopters were military and they were all flying fairly low to the ground, and all of them had search beams on. I thought maybe there was an airplane down, but they didn’t hesitate. They kept going in the same direction, which would probably intersect the area where Vickie said her encounter was.”

Convinced that the military was somehow involved, Betty and Vickie appealed to their senators. The Air Force agreed to a meeting at Bergstrom Air Force Base. As they entered the room, Vickie noticed a large map. The exact spot where the encounter had occurred was clearly marked.

According to Betty and Vickie, they were questioned for more than two hours. The interview was recorded by a military stenographer. In the end, the two men denied that any military or government operation had been conducted at that time and place. The women were told they were entitled to file a claim and the Air Force would review the case. Four weeks later, Betty and Vickie’s claims for medical damages were denied.

What did Betty Cash, and Vickie, and Colby Landrum see in the Texas sky on that winter night in 1980? John Schuessler offered two explanations:

“One is that it was an experimental craft of some kind, probably from our government. The other, it was an unidentified flying object, possibly extraterrestrial.”

Vickie Landrum:

“I don’t believe in little green men. And it had to be an object. It could have been a spacecraft that the government was carrying, but our government was carrying it.”

Betty, Vickie, and Colby continue to battle illnesses that doctors say could be the result of massive radiation exposure. Betty has been diagnosed with several types of cancer. She, Vickie, and Colby all have white blood cell counts that are far below normal. Their immune systems now have difficulty fighting off even minor infections. Dr. Brian McClelland:

“Vickie’s having visual problems. And there are lots of suggestions that they may be related to radiation as well, but that depends on the kind of exposure. And someone needs to tell us what the exposure was so we can figure it out.”

Betty Cash said that all she wants is information that could help her medically:

“If it’s a top-secret object that’s protecting the United States, then I could say I could forgive them for that. But at least they owe us to tell us exactly why we were burned, and what type of radiation that we were exposed to and how much.”

After the UFO incident, Betty Cash was hospitalized for cancer treatments at least once every year. She died 18 years later at the age of 69. The Air Force declined to be interviewed for this story. Their official position is that no military or government operation occurred.


Watch this case now on Amazon Prime in season three with Robert Stack and in season four with Dennis Farina. Also available on YouTube with Dennis Farina. Various seasons available now on Hulu.

 

35 Comments

  1. Trever

    Read an article about this so take it for what it’s worth. Someone said the craft was not ours and the government tried to reverse engineer it using nuclear power and issues arose. I think they said a man was inside trying to control it. They sent all the planes in to help guide him.

    Reply

  2. Zee

    Another case that happened 14 yrs in a different part of Texas is the case from Project Blue Book Case #10270. It was an exotic craft blocking the road. It has no visible means of propulsion but was believed to be man made because the individual seen outside the craft inspecting it.

    One thing to not is that this craft was some type of antigravitic vehicle that had no engines, flight surfaces etc. If it was man made then its alof safer than the Cash Landrum craft

    Reply

    • Harold

      what? man made is not safer. it’s the other way around, friend.

      Reply

      • Zee

        Not sure what your comment means. What i was saying was the craft from the case i mentioned above was anti-gravitic with no flight control surfaces. It also seemed a bit safer in operations The Cash Landrum craft seems to be an early NEPA prototype that went haywire.

        Reply

  3. Patrick

    Fascinating case. Sure seems like we reverse engineered a craft and it didn’t go well. Appears the military had to help guide this thing that went off the rails.

    Reply

    • GDB

      Yeah, it was definitely a corrupt demonikkk government project. Wish I could’ve been there. I live in Huffman now, couple miles from where it happened. George Foreman lives here also, right down the street from where this occured. Ironically, the older lady died on Dec 29th, 1998…the exact day it happened. Weird!

      Reply

  4. Allison

    I saw a “magazine” today more on of those collector guides sold by the magazines call “Mysteries of the Paranormal” and in it was a one page story about this case with comments from Chase and he said that that the government would come every few years to test their radiation levels and they would leave with kind of threat

    Reply

  5. Paul Rothchild

    If we knew what the governments of the world was hiding from us I think we would all be shocked! I knew a couple individuals who are honest people who do not tell tall tales, they swear to have seen large metal UFO’S, I believe them! There are too many credible folks ranging from airline pilots to Phillip Corso to Jim Penniston and a slew of other top military brass for incidences like this not to be true. If I remember correctly the lead investigator of Project Blue Book J. Allen Hynek went from a skeptic to believer, this says volumes. It is time the truth is told…enough of the lying!

    Reply

  6. Rj

    Larry is right, this happened in Huffman near the old club Rain-out-Hang-out

    Reply

    • GDB

      Yep, my brother’s band, Movin’ On Band, played at Rain Out Hang Out many times. I moved to Huffman in 2003, still live here. It happened down the street from George Foreman’s house. On fm2100, between Inland and Kingwood streets.

      Reply

  7. debra price

    i saw the show that mike farrell did and i also saw the unsolved mysteries epesode

    Reply

  8. Jordan Z

    My father, his first wife, and my grandmother were witnesses questioned by local news and the Air Force this night. I was raised in Liberty my entire life and was told by my father of this story many times. He is not a believer in anything but this night changed it all!!

    Reply

  9. Kelli Barron

    That also happened to be on my dad’s 33 birthday.

    Reply

  10. Kyra

    I was watching Paranormal Declassified S1 E3 today on travel channel and a retired Air Force intelligence agent (Richard Doty) made reference to this case stating that it was the Air Force that was flying the craft using “reverse alien technology”. They allowed Vickie Landrum and her family to believe it was “aliens” because they did not want the truth to be known, According to the retired Air Force disinformation intelligence officer. Kind of interesting that it was brought up in another case but it made sense. The air force would not be held responsible for this family’s medical problems if disinformation and outlandish stories are circulating. It’s a shame because they deserve to know the truth, especially if they are negligent.

    Reply

  11. Ve

    Christmas day we had an encounter! My husband and I and my 2 kids seen what seem like a UFO right next to us going 70-75 mph ! I started recording alot of crazy stuff was in the sky ! There was bright lights and one of them came down ! I was so excited that I had gotten alot of things on video ! There is this street before getting to 1314 that is just big pine trees ! We seen one of the lights come down, I thought I was gonna see what it was since it was so bright ! But when we got to where it was coming down there was nothing there ! I was looking at the videos excitingly telling my husband I got some good ones ! When all of a sudden I felt like something was looking at me ! I looked to the right of me and the was a huge thing about 5 feet from us car level to us ! It was led color with 2 bright lights on each side ! I completely froze! My husband was like why did u get so quite and I was like omg look at whats next to us ! I was terrified because it felt like it was looking at us but obviously there was no eyes! So hard to explain! It also felt like time slowed down and we were going slow motion! I tried my best to keep it together to not scare my kids ! (Which also seen it) when we finally got to the traffic light to turn on 1314 ! This thing stopped went behind our car and shot straight back up in matter of seconds! And when we where turning into the street we were going to it was right above where we were going like it knew exactly where we were going ! Till this day im in shook can’t believe what happened! If anyone else seen any Christmas day in the Crosby/Dayton area please email me! I have alot of video evidence. Unfortunately when it was next to us I completely frozen n didn’t record that ! My husband is really good with measurements and said this thing was between 8-10 feet wide and 4-5 height! Im still trying to process what happened to us !

    Reply

  12. Kevin

    I went high school with Coby and he still had red rash on his face and got sick easy even in High school. He told me his Grandma had cancer and Radiation poisoning. They never got an answer from what happened that night. I haven seen him since High School when he was dating Heather.
    I still live close to Dayton and have seen many UFO’s and Military Helicopters flying over my property to this day. There is definitely a lot of strange things in this area. The stories of the goat man along the Trinity River, strange objects flying following my wife and children. I have always keep an open mind because of this story and my own.

    Reply

  13. Daniel Miller

    These two women Betty and Vicky and also the grandson Kobe in my opinion everybody that comments on here should write a letter to the President of the United States and ask him to compensate their families and give an explanation to Kobe even if he hast to keep it private somethings should be done I’m gonna write Donald Trump about it and the governor of Texas

    Reply

  14. JV

    I remember when this happened. That night my mother came home and was carrying on about some very strange bright lights over the lake that she had watched move very quickly. Not like any aircraft she had ever seen. My mother was not one to imagine weird stuff or believe in extraterrestrials. In fact, she was so shaken that it had me a little scared. We went out searching for these aircraft but never saw anything further. It wasn’t until sometime later that we learned of the other incident and figured out that it was the same night.

    Reply

    • Bill

      I have never heard of this incident until today. It caught my attention because I had an experience with an unknown craft about 15 miles east of Dayton, Tx. (Hwy 73) in January 1977. Was going back to school (college) in my senior year after Christmas break about 4:30 in the morning.

      There were no helicopters or flames coming out of the craft, but I can assure you it was not man-made. I first saw it as a soft glow on the road a couple miles ahead. When about 1/2 mile from it, in less than a blink of an eye, it appeared 300-400’ above the road. It did not accelerate but simply disappeared from the ground position and instantly reappeared ~300’ above the road.

      It started moving towards me and I had pulled over & gotten out of my car to see it directly without going through any glass. It stayed at about 300’ above the ground and passed by me about 100 yards to the north WITHOUT making ANY SOUND.

      I have only told 4-5 people in my life and have been tempted to undergo hypnosis to see if there is anything else I do not recall.

      Reply

  15. Larry

    This happened in Huffman not Dayton. About a mile from my house. When I was a kid a our bus route went right over the mark in the road, which was faded by the 90’s but still visible. They’d repave the patch of asphalt several times in attempt to cover it, which it eventually did. The funny thing is, after they’d repave it a few days later it’s like the stain of the markings would start to permeate through the asphalt. I’ve lived in this town for 30 years and I’ve had two UFO sightings one was very similar to the Cash Landrum sighting. The other was a ball of light, slightly larger than a basketball. Many people in town have seen both types of UFOs, and my neighbor from across the street filmed one that you can see on YouTube if you search Huffman UFO.

    Reply

    • Sarah

      Larry can you email me, would love to discuss this as we are making a film act this incident.
      Sarah

      Reply

    • GDB

      Larry, you’re right. It happened on FM 2100, between Inland & Kingwood streets, near George Foreman’s house in The Commons subdivision. I live in Huffman now, since 2003, and my wife and I occasionally hear military choppers flying near our house which is near the Dairy Queen. I was told this area is a military flight path that is north/south…stretches from Huffman, west to Dayton. Makes since to me, the 1980 incident is true, it was a government project. Not sure if that craft was experiencing problems or the little guy (human) inside wanted to practice landing the damn thing…but he definitely got away from all the trees and hovered above FM 2100, thinking he would burn the trees and start a huge fire. Wish I could’ve been there…I would’ve thrown a rock at that confounded craft! lol

      Reply

  16. Kevin Marsh

    I never looked into this case heavily, but according to leading UFO authority Dr. Steven Greer, information from an USAF intelligence officer says that this event was the result of a captured alien vehicle the military was flying which was powered by a man made nuclear power plant because we did not know how the alien power source worked. The craft had a leak or core breach which gave the victims radiation sickness. See information from Dr. Greer here at just after 14 minutes into it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3r3N5_-af4

    Reply

  17. Bill Blaski

    What caused the radiation?

    Reply

  18. Anonymous

    Just a possibility, could have been an experimental nuclear powered soviet craft violating U.S. airspace with the U.S. helicopters after it quietly (capture).

    Reply

  19. Anonymous

    A military pilot did mention to cash that he was involved in a “military exercise” that night but when she tried to further question him he changed his story

    Reply

  20. Tasha

    My self and parents seen the same thing on highway 36 which is a very isolated Road near platina California… I know aliens are real…

    Reply

  21. Kelli Barron

    I was only two months old at the time.

    Reply

  22. Ricky

    I was 11 years old when this happened i used to ride the school bus with colby and his sister. Betty cash use to own a small pet store in dayton.the day after this happened 2 of the helicopters landed where the post office is now

    Reply

  23. Ray

    My mother and her father had the exact same experience on September 11th, 1980 or 1981 in a suburb of Anderson, South Carolina. Many in the town saw it and it made news. No one knows what it was

    Reply

  24. Robert

    Vickie Landrum died on September 12, 2007 seven days before her 84th Birthday

    Reply

  25. patrick lyle mccauley-curtin

    woah i would never wanna be burnt like that

    Reply