The Cash–Landrum Incident was a sighting of an unidentified flying object in the United States in 1980. People who saw the object said it caused harm to their health and damaged their property. This was unusual because most UFO reports do not lead to legal action. However, a civil court case was started, but it was later dismissed.

Several skeptical researchers, including Philip J. Klass, Peter Brookesmith, Steuart Campbell, Curt Collins, and Brian Dunning, examined the details of the event. They questioned whether the incident truly happened as described.

Incident report

On the evening of December 29, 1980, Betty Cash (51), Vickie Landrum (57), and Vickie’s grandson Colby Landrum (7) were driving home to Dayton, Texas, in Cash’s Oldsmobile Cutlass after dinner. They said they saw a light above some trees around 9 p.m. while driving on a quiet two-lane road in a forested area. At first, they thought it was an airplane heading toward Houston Intercontinental Airport, about 35 miles away, and paid little attention to it.

A few minutes later, they saw the same light again, but it appeared much closer and brighter. They believed it came from a large diamond-shaped object hovering near the treetops. The object’s base was releasing flames and producing strong heat.

Landrum told Cash to stop the car, fearing they might be burned if they continued. A born-again Christian, she told Colby, “That’s Jesus. He will not hurt us.” Cash felt anxious and considered turning back but decided against it because the road was too narrow and the soft dirt shoulders might cause the car to get stuck.

Cash and Landrum got out of the car to look at the object, but Colby was very scared, so Landrum returned to the car to comfort him. Cash stayed outside, describing the object as “mesmerizing.” According to Jerome Clark, the object was very bright, a dull silver color, and shaped like a large upright diamond, about the size of the Dayton water tower. Its top and bottom were flat, and small blue lights surrounded the center. Flames shot out from the bottom, creating a cone-shaped effect. Each time the flames stopped, the object floated slightly downward, but it rose again when the flames returned.

The heat was strong enough to make the car’s metal body painful to touch. Cash used her coat to protect her hand from the door handle when she returned to the car. When she touched the dashboard, Landrum said her hand left an imprint in the soft vinyl that remained visible for weeks. Investigators used this as evidence to support their account, and it was shown in a 1985 HBO documentary titled UFOs: What’s Going On.

The object then rose above the trees and flew higher into the sky. A group of 23 helicopters approached it, surrounding it in tight formation. Cash and Landrum identified some of the helicopters as tandem-rotor Boeing CH-47 Chinooks used by military forces worldwide. Cash claimed the helicopters had “United States Air Force” markings.

With the road clear, Cash continued driving, saying she saw glimpses of the object and helicopters moving away. The encounter lasted about 20 minutes. According to John F. Schuessler’s book, the group was traveling southbound on Texas state highway FM 1485/2100 when they saw the object. The initial location of the object was reported to be just south of Inland Road, near the coordinates 30°05′33″N 95°06′39″W. However, Robert Sheaffer later wrote that the witnesses and Schuessler did not know the exact location of the event.

After the object and helicopters left, Cash drove the Landrums home and went to bed. That night, all three reported similar symptoms, though Cash experienced them more severely. They described nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, weakness, a burning feeling in their eyes, and a sensation like sunburn.

Over the next few days, Cash’s symptoms worsened, with large, painful blisters forming on her skin. On January 3, 1981, she was taken to the hospital and could not walk, had lost large patches of skin and hair, and was released after 12 days. Her condition did not improve much, and she returned to the hospital for another 15 days. In a 1985 HBO documentary, Cash said doctors changed her treatment from burns to radiation sickness after realizing she had been exposed to radiation. Later, she was treated for cancer.

The Landrums’ health was somewhat better, though both experienced lingering weakness, skin sores, and hair loss. In April 1981, Vickie was found to be developing a cataract in one eye, and Betty was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1983. Neither condition had been present before the UFO encounter.

Brad Sparks suggested that while the symptoms resembled those caused by ionizing radiation, the rapid onset was only consistent with a deadly dose. Since all three survived for years, Sparks believed the symptoms might have been caused by chemical contamination, possibly from an aerosol.

Gary P. Posner agreed that ionizing radiation was unlikely but noted many reasons to doubt the case. For example, Betty’s medical records showed little to no hair loss upon admission to the hospital, and her doctor diagnosed only skin swelling, not skin loss.

Eight months after the incident, during an interview at Bergstrom Air Force Base, Betty drew and signed a sketch of the object, describing it as a diamond. Vickie added flames shooting from the bottom and also signed the sketch. However, in their first written reports 34 days after the event, Betty said she could not see the shape clearly due to the brightness, and Vickie said only Colby claimed to see a diamond shape.

In April 1981, a CH-47 helicopter landed in Dayton. Colby became upset when he saw it, so Landrum took him to the landing zone to make it less frightening. When they arrived, they met the pilot, who said he had previously checked on a UFO near Huffman. When Landrum told him she had been burned by the UFO, the pilot refused to speak further and asked them to leave. This was due to confusion, as the pilot did not know about the encounter.

Aftermath

Cash and Landrum contacted their U.S. Senators, Lloyd Bentsen and John Tower. The senators advised the witnesses to file a complaint with the Judge Advocate Claims office at Bergstrom Air Force Base. In August 1981, Cash, Landrum, and Colby met with personnel at Bergstrom Air Force Base. They were told to hire a lawyer and seek financial compensation for their injuries.

Attorney Peter Gersten took the case for free. The case went through the U.S. courts for several years. Cash and Landrum sued the U.S. federal government for $20 million. Officials from NASA, the Air Force, and the Army and Navy gave testimony.

A U.S. District Court judge dismissed the case on August 21, 1986. The judge concluded that no U.S. government agency had a UFO and that no military personnel had operated the reported helicopters.

The incident was covered by both tabloid and mainstream media.

Betty Joyce Cash (née Collins) died at the age of 69 on December 29, 1998, 18 years after her claimed close encounter.

Vickie Marzelia Landrum (née Holifield) died at the age of 83 on September 12, 2007.

Investigations

Landrum called several U.S. government agencies and officials about the event. When she called NASA, she was directed to John Schuessler, a NASA aerospace engineer who had long been interested in UFOs. With help from members of the civilian UFO research group Mutual UFO Network (MUFON), Schuessler studied the case and later wrote articles and a book about it. Astronomer Allan Hendry of the Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) also briefly looked into the Cash–Landrum case.

Because Chinook helicopters were seen, the witnesses believed that a branch of the U.S. Armed Forces might have seen the object, possibly even chasing it. However, investigators found no proof that the helicopters were connected to any military branch.

In 1982, Lt. Col. George Sarran of the U.S. Army’s Office of the Inspector General conducted the only detailed official government investigation into the reported UFO encounter. He found no evidence that the helicopters the witnesses described belonged to the U.S. Armed Forces. Sarran said, "Ms. Landrum and Ms. Cash were credible… the policeman and his wife [who saw 12 helicopters near the UFO encounter site] were also credible witnesses. There was no sign that anyone was trying to exaggerate the truth." (quoted in Clark, p. 177)

In 1994, UFO skeptic Steuart Campbell suggested that the witnesses might have seen a mirage of the star Canopus, which was directly in line with the road.

In 1998, UFO skeptic Philip J. Klass raised doubts about the story told by Cash and Landrum:

When Schuessler checked Betty’s car in early 1981 using a Geiger counter, he found no radioactivity. He likely checked the site of the (alleged) incident and found no unusual radiation. [Schuessler] provided no medical records about Betty’s health before the UFO incident. He also provided no medical records about the health of Vicki or Colby before the event.

UFO researcher Curt Collins described the Texas Department of Health’s Bureau of Radiation Control’s failed attempts to find any leftover radiation near the reported incident. He quoted a 1981 Houston Chronicle article in which Russ Meyer, manager of the state’s public health department in Houston, said, "If there had been large amounts of radioactive contamination, some would still be there." The article added, "However, certain types of radiation—such as ultraviolet light, infrared light, and low-energy X-rays—might not leave any traces." Other researchers noted that high-energy ionizing radiation, like gamma rays, can harm humans but does not make objects radioactive or leave behind radiation in an area.

Skeptical British ufologist Peter Brookesmith wrote: "Skeptics have always asked a basic question: What was the health of the three people before their alleged encounter?" Brookesmith also said, "To ufologists, the case is one of the most confusing and frustrating in modern times, because it started with strong evidence for a rare phenomenon but ended with many unanswered questions, denials, and possibly even official secrecy."

In December 2018, Brian Dunning studied the case and shared his findings on the Skeptoid podcast. He found that Cash’s doctor’s notes linked her hair loss to an autoimmune disease called alopecia areata. He also said her other symptoms could have started before the incident, and Landrum’s only known illness was developing cataracts in one eye. Dunning concluded:

"In my experience, it’s possible that Cash and Landrum honestly but mistakenly blamed their health problems on what they saw. They might have even exaggerated details to get the Air Force to pay for their medical care. When you strongly believe the Air Force harmed you, you might not see it as wrong to stretch the truth—like claiming the helicopters had 'Air Force' markings, adding symptoms to people who didn’t have them, or even faking sunburn marks on your arm—just to get what you think is a fair settlement."

According to Texas Monthly, "To this day, there is no clear explanation of what happened that night."

Note: The article by Pamela Colloff has an incorrect date of 1969. The actual event happened 11 years later, around 1979 or 1980.