Last week, Yellowhammer News revisited Sand Mountain’s unsolved cattle mutilation phenomenon that occurred nearly three decades ago.
The mutilations, which occurred in DeKalb and Marshall Counties, and are currently taking place in the American West, remain a mystery to this day.
Following the story’s publication, Yellowhammer News editor Dylan Smith joined FM Talk 106.5’s “Midday Mobile” with host Sean Sullivan to discuss the unexplained occurrences.
“I’m sure there are several of y’all who have an opinion on this because this is a story that’s bounced around this state and elsewhere,” Sullivan told listeners. “So I’ve heard this story, or discussion of this story, over time in people that are interested in UFOs, in people that run cattle, and just regular Alabama folks.”
According to Smith, the cattle mutilations in Alabama’s Appalachian region could possibly be an phenomenon that is never solved.
“Cattle farmers, just unsuspectedly, found dozens of cattle mutilated. There’s no explanation for it,” Smith began. “They walked upon the cattle and they saw no evidence, no tracks, no blood on the cattle, but nearly perfect incisions that appears to have been made with extremely high heat to extract various organs from these cattle. As one could suspect, these farmers were absolutely just floored. I mean, how can you explain it? There’s no evidence. They provided the evidence to field experts. They were unable to explain it. Law enforcement didn’t know what was happening. And it’s just one of those unsolved mysteries that we may fully never understand.”
Conversation begins at 22:20. Listen below:
Sullivan then questioned why authorities were not able to identify a cause of death for the cattle other than by way of organ extraction.
“From all the research we’ve done on this, it really appears as if the extraction itself killed the cattle because there was never any indication as to what the cause of death could have been,” answered Smith. “It’s not like the cattle were shot, and then they extracted the organs. Sean, another interesting aspect of this story is that none of the organs extracted from the cattle hold any commercial value whatsoever. So it’s not like someone was trying to profit and make a quick buck or two. No, why would you just randomly extract organs from these cattle? What would be the use for it?”
The reporter went on to point out that UFO sightings in the town of Fyffe coincided with the mutilations, which he asserted added to the story’s intrigue.
Sullivan added that he intended to pay a visit Fyffe UFO Days, an annual festival that celebrates the town’s unique history of unexplained aerial activity.
The South Alabama radio host mentioned the story’s reference to a strange substance located on a victimized cow whose genitals and rectum had been carved out in a neat incision.
“That’s where it gets very interesting,” Smith noted. “It was three different elements that were found. One of them was titanium, that was the most prolific element found, I believe, in the substance. The Fyffe PD described it as a ‘flaky, white’ substance. OK, so they collected the substance, they put it in a cigarette wrapper. It came in contact with a ball-point pen, and once it touched that ball-point pen, it really just dissolved in some sort of weird liquid state.”
Smith cited that a molecular biologist who studied the substance advised that the compound of elements was not something that could have been found in nature.
“It’s something unexplainable,” he proclaimed. “And you’re not crazy to think that this is something unknown. Like, we don’t know it. So it’s OK that we’re just asking the question. What is this from? Who did this?”
“I’m glad that this discussion has kind of become mainstream, right? Because used to, if you were alarmed by this or you just wanted to have a discussion about it in the public forum, you were just this tin-foil hat type of person,” said Smith. “[I]t’s OK to report on, it’s OK to talk about because it’s something that is occurring. We just don’t know what it is.”
