Cash-Landrum Incident

A diamond of fire over a Texas road, ringed by Chinooks. The radiation burns were real enough to sue over.

December 29, 1980, near Huffman, Texas: Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum, and her grandson encountered a diamond-shaped object venting flame over the road, escorted — they and other witnesses reported — by nearly two dozen Chinook-type helicopters. All three developed radiation-sickness-like symptoms documented in medical records; Cash's health never recovered. Their lawsuit against the US government was dismissed when no agency admitted operating such a craft. The case connects the black-helicopter file (the escort) and the retrieval question: whatever it was, something official appeared to be shepherding it.