Was It People or Was It Aliens?
Storyteller: Doug Averill, retired owner and manager of the Flathead Lake Lodge
Doug Averill grew up as one of eight boys on his parents’ sprawling dude ranch, the Flathead Lake Lodge, in rural Montana. As a teen, the Averill boys ran wild. “We rode around as a little gang of cowboys,” he remembers. They’d saddle up and head off to check cattle on the three giant tracts of land the family managed, which formed a triangle around some of the state’s most remote rangelands.
One summer in the 1960s, the brothers came across a ghastly sight. There, on the ground, were three dead cows neatly arranged in a circle. No obvious wounds were visible, but their reproductive organs had been removed. “But there was never any blood. It was almost surgical removal,” Averill remembers.
During this decade, America was obsessed with aliens, and write-ups in the local newspapers posited that perhaps this was the work of extraterrestrials. People mused that aliens had taken the reproductive organs for testing. But one day, Averill and his friends came across a lance in their path. Attached to it was a cryptic note with a threatening message. “That’s when we thought, It’s gotta be people doing this,” he says.
Then things got really strange. Over the next few days, a series of odd events unfolded. First, the brothers stopped in at a local bar to grab a hamburger, leaving their horses in the back of a stock truck. The horses were packed in tightly, and the Averills were only gone for a few minutes. When they came back, the horse packed into the middle of the truck was mysteriously out—with no signs of a struggle. “We had no idea how they possibly could have gotten that horse unloaded without unloading all the others,” he says.
The next day, a new wrangler on the ranch fell off his horse and was badly injured. They’d all been riding together, but not a single other member of the crew saw the accident. “It was the weirdest thing,” Averill says. The man’s injuries were so severe that he was left permanently disabled.
Finally, the last terrible thing happened. An old camp cook drove out to meet the brothers and ride for a day. But when he arrived, the tailgate on his stock truck had somehow gone missing, even though it had been there when he’d loaded up. His horse, Betsy, had fallen out of the truck and been dragged behind the vehicle for who knows how long. They had to put her down on the spot. “To be honest, it just killed him to see what had happened to Betsy. We probably should have put him down, too,” remembers Averill. “Those three events were just boom, boom, boom—three things in a row that were so weird all tied together, because they were right after we saw that spear,” he remembers. Three things: like the three dead cows left in a circle.
Averill used to tell the stories from that summer around the campfire quite a lot. But over the years, he’s gotten new stories, and so they’ve been shifted out of rotation. Besides, they’re awfully grim. But he recently got a call about a downed bull, a buffalo. It was out in one of the most remote parts of his ranch. “A neighbor had seen a pack of 16 wolves, and normally, wolves don’t bother buffalo, but 16 of them? I thought, Well, maybe.”
He went to investigate. There, lying in a snow-covered field, was the bull. But there were no bullet holes or teeth marks or gashes on its corpse. Even stranger, scavenging animals and birds hadn’t touched it. “Not even the buzzards, which is really unusual,” he says. One other thing was amiss: its reproductive organs were gone. And there wasn’t a single footprint in the snow around it—or anywhere along the mile-long walk into the ranch from the nearest road.
Ask Averill whether he thinks he’s dealing with aliens or humans, and he’ll tell you he’s pretty sure it’s humans. “But I’d rather it was aliens,” he adds. After that summer back in the sixties, seeing what humans were capable of, he’d pick aliens any day.
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For my friend TG
Awww...Thank-you!
I remember cattle mutilations in the 80's. It was a big deal for awhile. The official explanation was predator's and insects, but aliens was a predominate topic in the 80's anyway.
They are actually still going on - it's just not as publicized. I think people got tired of the alien stories - SIGNS anyone?
I'm seeing that online now. Other explanations floated have been cults, cryptids like El Chupacabra and government testing. A reporter in 1975 followed the cult theory to an federal inmate, but no cult members were ever found. He later changed his idea to the government testing but could never get the FBI to follow up on that theory. In Dec 1975 his wife reported him missing. He turned up in the 90's in Mexico under another name. I'm still looking for Chuacabra...
I love cryptids.... Sasquatch is my favorite.
Does it say why he disappeared for all those years?
It was Aliens....
No, only that he was found running a English learning school under a new identity.
Again I love the idea, but at this point we should have bodies and bones at the very least. Though some of the weirder sea creatures have found their way onto beaches.
I believe that they are actually from a different plane than ours & they tend to slip through from time to time - as we do into their world. I'm just a weirdo.
I think that's a real possibility
I find it extremely amusing when I explain to some people that I do not believe our existence is linear, but more like plains that all exist at once & we can move between them - explains aliens, ghosts, cryptids etc... so many of them laugh and point at me while maintaining that there is some old white bearded guy sitting in the clouds in a land they call heaven - that only they can get to & animals are not allowed. I shake my head & usually let them laugh.
I don't want to go to Heaven where I won't see Missy, Buster, and George again
I like that idea and so wish it were true. I'm not going to say it's not true either.
I know what you mean. If I thought I couldn't see my furries again I would be lost.
It is part of my belief system. I believe when my existence ends here I travel to Summerland - a place of my own where my "soul" (I call it essence) can recuperate from the grind of this world. Then I can choose to return to this plane anew or another plane OR stay in Summerland with my furries around me. Another option is to become a goddess (god) like so many before us. I know I am weird.
Nah. I have my reasons for believing that there are different plains of existence, but most wouldn't believe it or buy into my reasoning... and that's okay. I'm comforted by the thought that I will see my loved ones [human and fur babies alike] again someday.
I just think that most people are too afraid of judgement to admit their thoughts and beliefs and the potential reasons they believe.
I can't blame them. The religious discussions around here are brutal for the believers
For me it is more - why should I explain it all to them when they will scoff. I am not afraid of judgment anymore (I was when I first recovered my Pagan roots), but now it is more I feel free and they just bring me down with their eyerolls and snickering.
There are people here I agree with politically that I will not discuss spiritual issues with. I once tried to tell someone that I do believe in a higher power but it was all based on emotion and not based on reason. Still wasn't good enough. I had to "walk" away.
They (the ones to whom you are speaking of) tend to leave me be about my beliefs. They don't get in my face about it at all & tend to defend my right to follow my path to Mr. Christianity. I have seen them do what you said they do to others & I think walking away is the best option.
Feel free to express here. I will run down those that judge & ridicule - I don't care what they think.
I can tell and I understand how you're feel.
I watch way too many "documentaries" on aliens and UFOs. But I can't resist them.
The cook whose horse fell off the truck? He might have thought he shut the tail gate but if he didn't latch it properly it could have came open and the horse fell out.
As for the mutilations and the missing horse....I have no answers
I am that way with cryptids & ghosts.
I bet the ancient astronaut theorists have a couple.
You know they do. I haven't watched my favorite wild-haired, orange skinned theorist lately.
I'm not really big into cryptids, but it's not because I don't believe they exist... I've just never had any experiences maybe. I think that this universe is just to large to say that we're the only "intelligent" life in it. Hell, we don't have intricate, detailed information about everything on this planet, let alone what might be on another. Our planet, at least in my opinion, is hiding a lot. We don't see it all, because there's simply too much to explore and in a few instances, we don't have the methods to explore such things. I suppose that's why I loved the movie "Abyss." The unexplained is very interesting to me, but I've not really followed cryptids like TG has.
We're the aliens, landing on the moon, flying helicopters (unmanned) on Mars, lol.
I saw a funny meme on Face Book today. Two Martians are having tea and one says to the other "I just saw a UFO!" and there was a drawing of the drone in the background
Sorry but gotta say...You wouldn't know you are dragging a horse along the road?
I thought that also...could be dementia?
I believe spooky things happen in this world, and there is some sort of supernatural realm.
I don't believe thousands of travelers from other galaxies or planets have visited earth. But if you believe that UFO's are "real" that is what you have to believe.
Unexplained phenomena do exist. No point attributing anything to this other than 'currently we cannot explain'.
In your opinion.
Why is 'unexplained' = 'currently we cannot explain' a problem? Yes, my opinion is that we should try to find an explanation but hold with 'we do not currently know' until we have secured an explanation.
One can attribute an unexplained phenomena to pretty much anything; that is a personal preference and everyone has that right, but on what basis is this attribution an approximation of truth?
Ancients believed that volcanic activity was the result of an angry god. They would have been better served to treat this as an unexplained phenomenon rather than engage in human sacrifice.
Correct. And in my group I have specified that if you do not believe fine, but I will not allow others beliefs to be ridiculed in the name of YOUR truth. Because you do not know either.
Where do you find ridicule in my comment??
But that is what I stated:
That statement to me is that if you believe it is something else than your beliefs have no point.
This group is not a search for truth - it a group for people to share stories - that is all - it is not "in search of"
That statement from me is that if something is unexplained then it is unexplained. Anyone can attribute anything to that which is unexplained.
You seem to be reading a hell of a lot of negative into my statement rather than simply noting that it is the perspective of one who is science-oriented. And my science-orientation should come as no surprise to anyone on this forum.
Am I prohibited from weighing in?
I just came across a promoted article on the home page and opined.
Not prohibited, but the rules are restated above. This group is not for deep science discussion - it is a group for fun story telling & paranormal experiences. There are plenty of other groups & seeds here that want that deep discussion & arguments. We do not want or need them here.
Well characterizing my comment as 'deep science discussion' is a bit much. And I did not click and read about the group hosting this article; the article is promoted to the front page so I took it as just another public article. Another option is for you to not promote articles and keep them within your group. It is not fair to expect us to all go to a group and read up on rules for each article that appears on the front page. Alternatively, consider copying the applicable rules as Red-box rules in the body of your promoted front-page articles.
So now you get tp decide what is posted to the front page? And when you click on a seed the HOST group is right there. Maybe you should check out the rules of said group before commenting & then complaining when you are told the rules afterwards.
I typically do not have a problem with your comments, but in this group belief in things other than science is allowed & never ridiculed. As I stated this group is not a search for "the truth".
I never wrote or implied anything remotely close to that!!
Good grief Veronica, why are you attacking me? Why read things into my comments that are nowhere close to what I wrote?
I have tried to offer suggestions so that you can get your desired effect. People do not, as a rule, click on the groups before engaging in a front-page article. I bet you do not do that for other groups. If you promote an article to the front page (rather than keep it within the group you control) then the normal practice on this site for imposing special rules on an article is to use the Red-box rules. It is easy to do. Just include the applicable rules in the body of your article (with a red font color).
A little melodramatic. I am responding to you this way because instead of accepting what I told you the rules of the group are you are fighting with me about my article. Once you told me you didn't know the rules - I put them up & you continue to berate me on what I should do.
As if we don't all know that - if you had just accepted the rules as I posted them instead of being argumentative I wouldn't be yakking at you.
I am not berating you in any way. I offered the standard course of action followed by convention on this site. This is a way to help you get what you wish.
Okay, I did not know that you knew about Red-box rules. You did not use them with this article so I wanted to ensure you knew of the option.
Why are we still discussing this? You got the rules now - let it go.
Ok, Veronica and TiG, I like you both very much and consider you my NT friends. I think there is a lot of respect between you, too, also, so seeing the two of you argue is making me uncomfortable.
Something I have learned in this discussion. When I post something in my groups and promote it to the front page I will try to remember to use Red Box Rules so there will be no confusion.
Bump elbows and make up. I bet both of you learned something from this discussion, too, right?
Can't have that.
I apologize TiG - <elbow bump>
But Mom......
I apologize Veronica.
All's good. I will put the rules in my articles from now on, but I can't say that for any articles the members post.
Keep sqawking and I'll turn this car around...