What happened to the Shermans' cattle?
Most likely: predators, disease and scavenging, read as mutilationAhead on the evidence, not yet confirmed. It needs two reviews to be accepted.
Where it stands
Four answers have been proposed. Predators, disease and scavenging, read as mutilation. leads, with evidence 3 for: partly supported by its tests. Three are still possible. Of the one narrower question under it, none is answered yet.
Why it matters
The cattle deaths are the only part of the story that should have left physical evidence. The family reported seven cows lost by June 1996, four vanished and three found partly mutilated, but had not called a vet or the sheriff[1]. NIDS later brought a veterinarian onto the ranch and says it examined carcasses[2]. A pathologist's finding would be the first hard datum in the case.
Answers 4
History
- Whiting: the Roosevelt vet who assisted NIDS with necropsies said its one case so far was not a mutilation, and put…For: Predators, disease and scavenging, read as mutilation.
- Van Eyck: the county sheriff's office said mutilation reports usually arrive one to three weeks after the animal is…For: Predators, disease and scavenging, read as mutilation.
- Van Eyck: four of the seven cows vanished without trace, which theft explains and scavenging does not.For: People killed, cut or stole the animals (theft, cult activity, harassment).
- Kelleher et al.: nIDS's 1998 necropsy of a Basin cow found its eye and ear cut with a sharp instrument.For: People killed, cut or stole the animals (theft, cult activity, harassment).
- Kelleher et al.: the one full NIDS necropsy from the Basin found no sign of heat or cautery in the cuts.Against: The deaths were caused by the same unknown phenomenon that produced the sightings.
- Kelleher & Knapp puts forward: people killed, cut or stole the animals (theft, cult activity, harassment).
- Kelleher & Knapp puts forward: the deaths were caused by the same unknown phenomenon that produced the sightings.
- Kelleher & Knapp: nIDS reports examining carcasses with unusual features.For: The deaths were caused by the same unknown phenomenon that produced the sightings.
- Goleman: the missing parts the family described (an eye, the rectum) are the soft tissues scavengers take first.For: Predators, disease and scavenging, read as mutilation.
- Sheaffer puts forward: predators, disease and scavenging, read as mutilation.
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