1980 · FM 1485 between New Caney and Huffman, northeast of Houston, Texas
Cash-Landrum: the burning diamond and the helicopters at Huffman
Context photo: a US Army Boeing Vertol CH-47C Chinook (68-15868, 180th Aviation Company) at Middle Wallop, England, on 6 July 1984. It is the helicopter type investigators identified from the witnesses' descriptions; it is not one of the aircraft seen on 29 December 1980. · Mike Freer (Touchdown-aviation), via Wikimedia Commons (GFDL 1.2)
When29 December 1980, about 21:00
WhereFM 1485 between New Caney and Huffman, northeast of Houston, Texas
Backing4 independent
Witnesses2 named
Evidencedocuments, official records
In their own words
“when we got out on this country road, it just set down, almost level with the treetops ... it had lit up the entire sky ... the lights were so bright, and the heat was so intense, I got out of the car”
Betty Cash, witness, recorded interview at Bergstrom AFB, 17 Aug 1981 · source
Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum and Vickie's seven-year-old grandson Colby were driving home on a back road near Huffman. They reported a blindingly bright, diamond-shaped object shooting flames from its underside, hanging just above the treetops. It was so hot that the car was too hot to touch. As it left, it was surrounded by many twin-rotor helicopters they took to be military; they counted 23 and 26. All three became ill afterwards: burns, blisters, hair loss and vomiting. Betty Cash was hospitalised for weeks. They pressed a claim against the U.S. government. On the record are their recorded interview with Air Force claims officers at Bergstrom AFB (17 Aug 1981) and an Army Inspector General inquiry (Lt. Col. George Sarran, 1982), which, by the secondary accounts, couldn't trace the helicopters. A federal suit was dismissed in 1986. No source for the object or the helicopters has ever been established.
Evidence, in date order (4)
- 29 Dec 1980Vickie Landrumwitnesssecond adult witness; counted 26 helicopters and was injured Transcript of Bergstrom AFB interview, 17 Aug 1981 (CUFON transcription via NICAP)
- 29 Dec 1980Jerry McDonaldwitnesssaw a diamond-shaped object with blue flames from his garden in Dayton NICAP case report (Schuessler-based narrative)
- Jan 1981Parkway Hospital records (quoted by the Birmingham News)documentCash's admissions for burns, hair loss and related symptoms *Birmingham News*, 29 Feb 1989, Scottie Vickery, "Lincoln woman says she saw, was hurt by UFO in Texas" (transcription)
- 1982Army Inspector General (Lt. Col. George Sarran)officialfound the witnesses credible and could not trace the helicopters Richard Hall, "The Cash/Landrum Incident" (from *The UFO Evidence* vol. II, pp. 226-229)
How plausible · Very high
Three people were injured with hospital records, another named witness saw the object, and an Army inquiry found them credible but could not trace the helicopters.
- ●●Access At the roadside.
- ●●No gain sought They lost money.
- ●●Consistent over time Same account for years.
- ●●Independent convergence Other named witnesses saw helicopters and the object.
- ●●Checkable details check out Army IG and court records.
- ●●Fits secrecy practice Helicopters never traced.
Plausibility weighs how well an account fits where secrecy hides the documents by design, so missing records never count against it. Strength measures what is documented. Assessed 2026-10-23.
On the record
- Bergstrom interview, 17 Aug 1981 (firsthand, recorded): Betty Cash: "it was on Farm Market Road 1485 between New Caney and Huffman approximately between nine and nine-thirty at night on December the twenty-ninth, 1980." They had gone looking for a bingo game and eaten at a truck stop at Highway 59 and FM 1485 at about 8-8:30. "when we got out on this country road, it just set down, almost level with the treetops ... it had lit up the entire sky ... the lights were so bright, and the heat was so intense, I got out of the car ... I knew that there was no way we could go under it the way the fire was shooting out the bottom of it." The car was a 1980 Oldsmobile Cutlass. Helicopters: "there was helicopters completely around the object ... They were the ones that had two deals, two rotors on them ... I counted twenty three." On markings: "'United States Air Force'". She wrote out exactly what she saw and initialled the paper. "Vicki says she counted 26." The helicopters followed the object toward Crosby and Intercontinental Airport, "on both sides of it and looked like they were trying their best to get around the top of it". Injuries: "I was completely blistered ... I stayed in the hospital for a month, maybe a little bit longer ... at Parkway Hospital in Houston." She reported continuing diarrhoea, weakness, severe headaches and failing eyesight. Vickie Landrum: "I was in the incident ... and so was Colby Lee." Colby: aged seven, "going to be eight in January". The officers did not offer the witnesses any finding during the interview, as far as the transcript runs.
- Hospital dates (quoted by the *Birmingham News*, 1989, from records): Cash was admitted to Parkway Hospital on 2 Jan 1981 and discharged on 14 Jan, then readmitted on 25 Jan and released on 9 Feb. She was treated for swelling of the head, severe headaches, hair loss, nausea, poor vision and skin burns. A later St. Vincent's (Birmingham) record reads: "She had in the past an exposure to some form of irradiation". Hall gives the first admission as 3 Jan 1981, which is a minor conflict.
Claims
About 12 of the helicopters were CH-47 Chinooks (analysis (Schuessler and colleagues, per Hall), from witness sketches and descriptions.)analysisSourced, unconfirmed
An off-duty Dayton policeman and his wife, driving home through Huffman that night, saw many CH-47s; a Crosby resident saw heavy military helicopters overhead (firsthand claims as reported by NICAP's case report. None of them is named in what I read.)firsthandSourced, unconfirmed
Oilfield worker Jerry McDonald, in his garden in Dayton, saw a diamond-shaped object with "two twin torches that were shooting brilliant blue flames out the back (firsthand claim, quoted in the NICAP report. The original interview is not identified.)firsthandSourced, unconfirmed
Fort Hood press officer Maj. Tony Geishauser told the *Corpus Christi Caller* that no Fort Hood aircraft were in the Houston area: "I don't know any other place around here that would have that number of helicopters ... unless there's a super secret thing going on (secondhand (newspaper quoting an official), via NICAP. The *Caller* article has not been seen.)secondhandSourced, unconfirmed
In April 1981, a CH-47 pilot who landed in Dayton said he had been in the area before "for the purpose of checking on a UFO in trouble near Huffman", then refused to talk further (secondhand. The chain: an unnamed pilot to Vickie Landrum and one other visitor, then reported in the NICAP report. The pilot is unidentified.)secondhandSourced, unconfirmed
The Army IG's Lt. Col. Sarran found the witnesses credible but could not trace the helicopters to any Army, National Guard or Reserve unit. In early 1982 the Air Force said none of its helicopters was involved (secondhand (Hall, *UFO Evidence II*). The IG report has not been seen.)secondhandSourced, unconfirmed
Where
FM 1485 between New Caney and Huffman, northeast of Houston, Texas
30.1°N 95.2°W
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Sources
- Transcript of Bergstrom AFB interview, 17 Aug 1981 (CUFON transcription via NICAP)
- Richard Hall, "The Cash/Landrum Incident" (from *The UFO Evidence* vol. II, pp. 226-229)
- NICAP case report (Schuessler-based narrative)
- *Birmingham News*, 29 Feb 1989, Scottie Vickery, "Lincoln woman says she saw, was hurt by UFO in Texas" (transcription)
- NICAP case directory (orientation)