Kentucky Abduction Case

From TinWiki.org

On January 6, 1976, something extraordinary happened to three women in Stanford Kentucky. Mona Stafford, Louise Smith, and Elaine Thomas were returning home after celebrating Mona's thirty-sixth birthday when they claim to have been abducted by aliens. Thirty years later, their story is still regarded as one of the most thoroughly investigated cases of alien abduction ever.

1 Recalling what happened
2 Investigation
- 2.1 Additional Witnesses
3 Aftermath
4 References
5 External links
6 Relevant Discussion Threads

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Recalling what happened

The three women were on their way home from a late birthday dinner, driving southwest on Route 78, just after 11:15. They spotted an intense red glow high in the eastern sky that seemed to be moving towards them. As it grew closer the women became increasingly alarmed. The light continued to get closer until it positioned itself to the right of the car at tree-top level. The witnesses then clearly saw the object as disc shaped with many round windows. Each window had blinking red lights moving in a counterclockwise direction around it. The UFO was topped with a luminous blue dome.

Mona Stafford recalls the dome as being blinding and as it reflected off the objects metallic surface, she realized it was very large, well over 100 feet. At this point the UFO flipped on its side and emitted some sort of bluish white light into their vehicle.

Things got vague at this point. Stafford recalls Smith stopped the car and got out, only to have Stafford pull her back in. The three women were petrified with fear and Stafford noticed a “dead silence,” even the wind seemed to stop. At this point the UFO’s lights switched off, but Smith was horrified to discover the car was moving at 85 mph. She took her foot off the accelerator, but the car didn’t slow down. Smith recalls asking Stafford to help her control the vehicle but it was to no avail. To Stafford it felt like the car was being pulled down a long straight road of nothing- no lights, no houses, nothing the women recognized. Even stranger, the engine was not running and the women recall their skin tingling as if burned.

One hour and 20 minutes later the three women found themselves in a familiar landscape. They were one mile outside of Stanford, eyes tearing, heads hurting, and desperate to get home. When they finally got to Smith’s trailer house, they went inside and gulped down glass after glass of cold water. The women were puzzled when they saw the kitchen clock, which read 1:25. There was nearly an hour and a half of missing time. The three tried to reconstruct the night’s events, even calling the state police who expressed no interest. Eventually Stafford and Thomas went home for the night. The next morning, all three awoke with continual sickness, including raw skin, burning eyes, blisters, and headaches.

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Investigation

News of the incident leaked unbeknownst to the witnesses, and ufologists approached them for an interview. The ladies declined but were later persuaded by the Texas-based Mutual UFO Network (MUFON). One of the MUFON investigators, ufologist Leonard H. Stringfield, noted the effects of the incident were still apparent. All three ladies suffered sudden weight loss. Stafford’s eyes were still somewhat inflamed, and Smith revealed a pinkish-gray mark the size of a half dollar on her neck.

The most terrifying aspect of it though was the missing time. Stringfield suggested hypnosis in order for the women to recall what happened. University of Wyoming psychologist R. Leo Sprinkle, who was also an Aerial Phenomena Research Organization (APRO) consultant, administered the hypnosis on Stafford. As Dr. Sprinkle’s probing brought her to the unrecalled part she became hysterical. Later, Stringfield would question her further, even offering Stafford a drawing of alien beings, to which she declared the drawing to be very similar to what she had seen. Stringfield’s actions would later be criticized by some who felt he was implanting images into the mind of a woman in an impressionable psychological state.

At this point, the investigation began to lose its steam due to lack of funding, but was resuscitated when one member of MUFON brought in the National Enquirer. A deal was negotiated and Sprinkle was brought to Kentucky and the women were paid for their cooperation. All three women took a polygraph test and passed it, which was hardly surprising as the three were devout Christians with good reputations.

Next the women would all undergo separate hypnosis, and although the details were a bit vague, their stories seemed compatible. Stafford remembered the sensation of being in a volcano or somewhere underground (other abductees have made similar claims). She also recalled being in an operating room that was all white, with white lights and four small beings. Thomas recalled being in a cocoonlike device which choked her everytime she tried to speak or think. She also recalled there being small gray-skinned beings. Smith remembered the least, but spoke of an intense heat and that she had the feeling of being examined. Sprinkle would write in his observations that all three women became extremely emotional when recalling the events, Smith having the most difficult time as she wept, moaned, tossed and shook violently. Sprinkle also noted that each woman seemed to have been taken to a different location and had a different examination.

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Additional Witnesses

On the evening the three women would experience this extraordinary event, numerous local residents reported seeing an object generally described as “oval-shaped, very large, with a brilliant circle of lights.”

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Aftermath

A week after the hypnosis Stringfield called Smith to ask how she was doing. She was home ill in bed and had described another horrific story. Apparently the night before she had awakened from sleep after a mysterious voice contacted her. It instructed her to return to the site of the encounter, to which she felt compelled to obey. She had returned to the site and stood there for some time before returning to her vehicle and leaving. Stafford would also claim another encounter, in which a small being actually stood in her kitchen.

For awhile Sprinkle took calls from the women as they sought reassurance and information. Unfortunately, the three never fully recovered. Smith moved to Las Vegas, while Stafford spent awhile in Florida before returning to Kentucky. Thomas died in 1978. Their story remains one of the greatest documented abductions ever.

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