The Legendary Cash-Landrum Case: Radiation Sickness from a Close Encounter?

One night in December 1980, Betty Cash (then age 51), her friend Vickie Landrum (57), and Vickie’s grandson Colby (7), allegedly witnessed, at close range, a massive, hovering, diamond-shaped, porthole-encircled, fire-spewing object, which was soon to be escorted away by more than 20 military helicopters. This case’s notoriety revolves primarily around Betty’s saga, as she was more exposed to the object than the others and thereafter manifested the most significant illnesses, some of which have been attributed to “radiation sickness” from her UFO close encounter. However, the nature of the principals’ medical signs and symptoms (and the absence of another) provide reason to seriously doubt, if not discount, the role of ionizing radiation. Thus, the reliability of the testimony not merely of the eyewitnesses, but of others who have contributed to Cash-Landrum’s standing as the classic “UFO radiation” case, merits critical scrutiny.