The Cash–Landrum incident: three witnesses report a flaring diamond-shaped object and military helicopters in Texas (1980)
Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum and Colby Landrum reported a flaring diamond-shaped object near Huffman, Texas, on 29 December 1980, followed by about 23 helicopters. The Army Inspector General found no military involvement; their $20 million claim was dismissed in 1986 and no identification was made.
- Case number
- TU-1980-900001
- Date
- 30 December 1980
- Location
- Near Huffman, Harris County, Texas, USA
- Coordinates
- 30.093° N, 95.111° W
- Shape
- other
- Colour
- Unknown
- Witnesses
- 3
- Status
- unresolved
Case summary
On the evening of 29 December 1980, Betty Cash (51), Vickie Landrum (57) and Landrum's grandson Colby (7) reported that while driving near Huffman, Texas, they saw a light that resolved into a large diamond-shaped object hovering at treetop height, its base expelling flames that flared outward in a cone. Landrum, a devout Christian, told the boy the object was Jesus and would not hurt them. The three said the heat made the car's metal body painful to touch, and that about 23 helicopters, some identified as CH-47 Chinooks, then surrounded the object before it departed.
All three reported illness that night, with nausea, vomiting, skin burning and weakness; Cash was hospitalised in early January 1981 and described her treatment as beginning for burns and later for radiation sickness. She was treated for breast cancer from 1983. Lt Col George Sarran of the Army Inspector General's office conducted the only formal government investigation in 1982, finding no evidence the helicopters belonged to US forces while describing the witnesses as credible.
Cash and Landrum sued the federal government for $20 million; after testimony from NASA and the armed services that no agency had operated the reported helicopters, a court dismissed the case on 21 August 1986. Skeptics including Philip J. Klass, Robert Sheaffer and Steuart Campbell, who proposed a mirage of Canopus, have questioned the account; Texas Monthly noted in 1997 that no conclusive explanation had been reached.
Nearby strategic sites
- Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay — 1300 km away