The mutilation of "Snippy" the horse was the death and alleged dissection of a Colorado horse that was first widely-reported on October 5, 1967. Mainstream experts concluded the death was the result of natural causes, though sensationalized press and unsubstantiated folklore questioned whether the death and mutilation might be linked to satanic cults, intelligence operations, or even flying saucers. [1] The skeletal remains are currently part of a UFO tourism attraction.
On October 5, 1967, the papers across the country published sensationalized headlines such as "Flying Saucers Killed My Horse!". [2] [3]
Press accounts told the story of "Snippy", a 3-year-old Appaloosa mare that was stabled at the Harry King Ranch of Alamosa, Colorado. [4] [5] [6] [7] Press reported that Snippy had failed to return to the ranch for her usual evening drink on September 7, prompting a search. On September 9, rancher Harry King found Snippy dead and mutilated about a quarter of a mile away. [4]
According to press reports, King found the animal completely skinned, with the meat of the neck and shoulders missing, leaving only bleached bones. [4] Cuts were described as "completely smooth", and it was reported there was a total absence of blood in the animal and on the ground. King noted an absence of tracks around the dead horse. [4]
The following day, King returned to the site with Snippy's owners, Burl Lewis and his wife. [4] The site was now reportedly pervaded with a "sickening sweet odor" and the once-bleached bones had turned a bright pink. Mrs. Lewis reporting handling a piece of the horse's flesh and described it as "sticky" and slick; She reported her hand began to burn and turned red, the burning continued until her hand had been washed. [4] The Lewises phoned Alamosa County Sheriff Ben Phillips, who told them that the death was probably due to "a lightning strike" and never bothered to visit the site.
The group reportedly discovered indications of an aircraft landing—the terrain featured "circular exhaust marks", "squashed bushes", and circular indentations in the dirt. [4] A geiger counter alleged reported high radiation counts around the exhaust marks and flattened bushes. By September 23, the bones had allegedly turned black. [4]
The press reported the rancher's mother, Agnes King aged 87, claimed a large object passed over the ranch house the day of the Snippy's disappearance, though she could not identify the object because she was not wearing her glasses. Other local UFO reports were discussed. [4]
The story was republished by the wider press and distributed nationwide; this case was the first to feature speculation that extraterrestrial beings and unidentified flying objects were associated with mutilation. [8] By December 1, civilian UFO researched from NICAP reported that the case was "neither a UFO case nor particularly mysterious." [9] That week, Snippy's bones were turned over to a local veterinarian for preservation. [10] [11] Later press coverage mentions that the horse had been shot "in the rump". [11] [12] Two students from Alamosa State College confessed to sneaking out into the pasture and shooting the horse several weeks after the case was publicized. [13]
A subsequent investigation by the Condon Committee concluded that "There was no evidence to support the assertion that the horse's death was associated in any way to abnormal causes". [14] In 1968, Edward Condon, leader of the committee, recalled the Snippy case as the "most bizarre" report that his group had investigated. [15]
In 1968, the story was further propagated by paranormal author John Keel and sci-fi comics creator Otto Binder. [16]
Beginning in the 1970s, the US experienced waves of cattle mutilations which were likened to Snippy's death. [17] Mutilation investigator Linda Moulton Howe revisited the Snippy case, interviewing witnesses for her 1989 book An Alien Harvest. [18] According to her sources, the horse was not actually named "Snippy"; Snippy had been the sire of the "mutilated" mare, which was actually named "Lady". Despite this, Snippy remains the common name used to refer to the dead horse. [19]
The preserved skeleton was passed from owner to owner until 2021, when the skeleton was obtained by the UFO Watchtower, a Colorado tourist attraction. [20] [21]
UFO conspiracy theories are conspiracy theories which argue that various governments and politicians globally, in particular the United States government, are suppressing evidence that unidentified flying objects are controlled by a non-human intelligence or built using alien technology. Such conspiracy theories usually argue that Earth governments are in communication or cooperation with extraterrestrial visitors despite public disclaimers, and further that some of these theories claim that the governments are explicitly allowing alien abduction. According to the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry little or no evidence exists to support them despite significant research on the subject by non-governmental scientific agencies.
Cattle mutilation is the killing and mutilation of cattle under supposedly unusual, usually bloodless circumstances. This phenomenon has been observed among wild animals as well. Worldwide, sheep, horses, goats, pigs, rabbits, cats, dogs, bison, moose, deer and elk have been reported mutilated with similar bloodless excisions; often an ear, eyeball, jaw flesh, tongue, lymph nodes, genitals and rectum are removed.
Ufology, sometimes written UFOlogy, is the investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by people who believe that they may be of extraordinary origins. While there are instances of government, private, and fringe science investigations of UFOs, ufology is generally regarded by skeptics and science educators as an example of pseudoscience.
The extraterrestrial hypothesis (ETH) proposes that some unidentified flying objects (UFOs) are best explained as being physical spacecraft occupied by extraterrestrial intelligence or non-human aliens, or non-occupied alien probes from other planets visiting Earth. In spite of ardent believers that various UFO sightings are verifiable evidence for the hypothesis, no rigorous analysis has ever concluded as much.
The Condon Committee was the informal name of the University of Colorado UFO Project, a group funded by the United States Air Force from 1966 to 1968 at the University of Colorado to study unidentified flying objects under the direction of physicist Edward Condon. The result of its work, formally titled Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects, and known as the Condon Report, appeared in 1968.
Jason Eric Massey was an American murderer who was executed in 2001 for the murders of two teenagers.
Charles Byrne, or "The Irish Giant", was a man regarded as a curiosity or freak in London in the 1780s for his large stature. Byrne's exact height is of some conjecture. Some accounts refer to him as being 8 ft 2 in (2.49 m) to 8 ft 4 in (2.54 m) tall, but skeletal evidence places him at just over 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m).
The Tulli Papyrus is claimed to be a transcription of an Egyptian papyrus dating from the reign of Thutmose III. The claim originated in a 1953 article published in Doubt, the Fortean Society magazine, by Tiffany Thayer.
Linda Moulton Howe is an American investigative journalist and Regional Emmy award-winning documentary film maker best known for her work as a ufologist and advocate of a variety of conspiracy theories, including her investigation of cattle mutilations and conclusion that they are performed by extraterrestrials. She is also noted for her speculations that the U.S. government is working with aliens.
William Kenneth Hartmann is an American planetary scientist, artist, author, and writer. He was the first to convince the scientific mainstream that the Earth had once been hit by a planet sized body (Theia), creating both the Moon and the Earth's 23.5° tilt.
Skinwalker Ranch, previously known as Sherman Ranch, is a property of approximately 512 acres (207 ha), located southeast of Ballard, Utah, that is reputed to be the site of paranormal and UFO-related activities. Its name is taken from the skin-walker of Navajo legend concerning vengeful shamans.
Horse-ripping, or horse slashing, is an animal cruelty phenomenon involving serious injuries in horses, often involving mutilation of their genitalia and slashing of the flank or neck. It has not been established, however, how often these injuries are caused by human cruelty. "Horse-ripping" is not an entirely neutral term since it implies there is always a human act behind the mutilations.
The Mariana UFO incident occurred in August, 1950 in Great Falls, Montana. The sighting, filmed by local baseball coach Nick Mariana, is believed to be among the first ever motion picture footage of what came to be called an unidentified flying object (UFO). The U.S. Air Force, after a short investigation, concluded that what Mariana had actually filmed were the reflections of two F-94 jet fighters, a claim that the Air Force would later retract.
From July 12 to 29, 1952, a series of unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings were reported in Washington, D.C., and later became known as the Washington flap, the Washington National Airport Sightings, or the Invasion of Washington. The most publicized sightings took place on consecutive weekends, July 19–20 and July 26–27. UFO historian Curtis Peebles called the incident "the climax of the 1952 (UFO) flap"—"Never before or after did Project Blue Book and the Air Force undergo such a tidal wave of (UFO) reports."
The McMinnville UFO photographs were taken on a farm near McMinnville, Oregon, United States, in 1950. The photos were reprinted in Life magazine and in newspapers across the nation, and are often considered to be among the most famous ever taken of a UFO. UFO skeptics have concluded that the photos are a hoax, but many ufologists continue to argue that the photos are genuine, and show an unidentified object in the sky.
The interdimensional hypothesis is a proposal that unidentified flying object (UFO) sightings are the result of experiencing other "dimensions" that coexist separately alongside our own in contrast with either the extraterrestrial hypothesis that suggests UFO sightings are caused by visitations from outside the Earth or the psychosocial hypothesis that argues UFO sightings are best explained as psychological or social phenomenon.
Endangered Species is a 1982 American science fiction horror film directed and co-written by Alan Rudolph, and starring Robert Urich, JoBeth Williams, Peter Coyote, and Hoyt Axton. It follows a former New York City police officer (Urich) who relocates to a rural Colorado town, where a newly appointed sheriff (Williams) is investigating a series of bizarre cattle mutilations.
John Olsen Lear was an American aviator and UFO conspiracy theorist. A son of Learjet magnate Bill Lear, Lear set multiple records, later flying cargo planes for the CIA during the Vietnam era. In the 1980s, he began speaking of alien collusion with secret governmental forces, and in the second half of the decade, Lear was "probably the most influential source" of UFO research.
The 1947 flying disc craze was a rash of unidentified flying object reports in the United States that were publicized during the summer of 1947. The craze began on June 24, when media nationwide reported civilian pilot Kenneth Arnold's story of witnessing disc-shaped objects which headline writers dubbed "Flying Saucers". Such reports quickly spread throughout the United States; historians would later chronicle at least 800 "copycat" reports in subsequent weeks, while other sources estimate the reports may have numbered in the thousands.
Gabriel L. "Gabe" Valdez was a long-time New Mexico State Police officer and New Mexico Gaming Control Board investigator. Valdez is most remembered for leading the criminal investigation into unsolved livestock mutilations in 1970s New Mexico.
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