Unsolved Mysteries – Mysterious Mutilations

By starrymag | October 16, 2024

By: Sammi Turano

 

 

Grant County, Oregon. MT Anderson talks about his ranching career and working with animals for the past 25 years. In June 2021, he claims one of his heifers wasn’t acting right so he followed her on the trail. He decided to check on her in a couple of days.

The next morning, he found her dead and mutilated. He shows the area where she was found and describes the disturbing scene. There were no tracks or blood anywhere, so he had no idea how it could have happened. MT wonders if she could have been darted prior to her death, but also wondered how anyone would have known cattle would be around that day.

MT called the sheriff, who claimed the heifer was killed by a bear. He thinks this could not have been the case due to the nature of the death.

Mat Carter, another rancher, talks about how he would hear about these types of mutilations, but didn’t experience it for himself until August 2020, when he found one of his own cows dead in a disturbing, mutilated fashion. Another similar mutilation took place in 2022. There was no signs of blood or tracks at the scene of the crime. He also called the police, who could not find anything.

Deputy Jeremiah Holmes, who works for the Wheeler County Sheriff’s Office talks about another case involving a mutilated animal that was killed in the same way as MT and Mat’s. He says there was no way to explain how the cow could have died.

Stephen Allen, who works for a local newspaper, talks about investigating the case and talking to Jeremiah. He began to think that something was going on, so he began his own investigation with the encouragement of those who have had their animals killed.

Herschel Lantis remembers seeing a dead animal while with his grandson in March 2020. He says it was like nothing he had ever seen and the whole thing gave him the creeps.

Darwin Hodges remembers hearing about animal mutilation from his father since the 1970s. He explains what he saw the first time he saw a mutilated animal and how the scene was scary and disturbing, especially since the mutilation was so precise

Dr. Julie Sperry is a veterinarian who has experience with dealing with animal mutilations. She admits that she ‘pooh poohed’ it at first, but soon began to realize there was more to it that met the eye when she looked into how the animals died. She realized that the way the animals were attacked proved that this was not a predator attack. At this point, she decided to do an investigation of her own.

Christopher O’Brien is an author who has done extensive research into animal mutilation. He claims it has been happening since the 1600s, but back then, nothing was really investigated.

He goes into a case about a horse named Snippy in the 1970s and how its mutilation freaked out its family. There was speculation that UFOs or flying saucers could have been involved, leading to people waiting for the UFOs to return.

By then, fourteen states had reported animal mutilations. There were hundreds of thousands of cases reported and possibly more that hadn’t been reported.

Christopher also explains how a classic mutilation takes place.

More news report on other mutilations and how one man named Eli had several of his animals killed.

Everyone wonders how a mutilation like this could possibly happen, especially since the animals are so strong and are in some cases, prey animals. Other questions include why there is no blood at the scene and why it takes so long for the animals to be discovered.

The biggest question is WHY?

Another theory is that it is some kind of satanic cult who are sacrificing the animals.

The UFO theory seems to be popular with several ranchers.

In the 1970s, there were government helicopter sightings by where the mutilations took place, making people wonder if there is a correlation.

There is also the thought that a serial killer may be involved.

One of the biggest worries is that someone might witness something and get killed themselves.

Mat shares that his daughter was home alone the night of the killing, which made him worry about his family’s safety.

 

Many of the most recent cases (from 2018-2023) have taken place in the Texas area.

 

The case is still under investigation.