Three women see a UFO on their way home from a late dinner in Kentucky back in 1976. Later after regression hypnosis they discover they had been abducted by aliens.
Three women see a UFO on their way home from a late dinner in Kentucky back in 1976. Later after regression hypnosis they discover they had been abducted by aliens.
Ep 28 The Kentucky Abductions
Hello and welcome back to the UFO and Aliens Podcast. I’m your host Rick Black. I record these shows on the weekend and they are released on Tuesdays. Well, this weekend, December 9th and 10th has been absolutely beautiful. Currently it is clear skies and 75 degrees. After I get done here, I’m going to have to go outside and enjoy this perfect weather. Maybe I’ll take Charlie for a walk. I’d love to hear what you think of the show. Send me an e-mail at and be honest with me. Tell me if you think it stinks.
Today I’m going to take you to Kentucky in 1976 where three women were allegedly abducted by creatures that came in a flying saucer.
The Kentucky Advocate, a newspaper published at Danville, Kentucky, printed an article on February 1st 1976 about UFO sightings in the area, one of the stories was told by Ms. Louise Smith, Ms. Mona Stafford and Mrs. Elaine Thomas. It was about their drive home to Liberty from a late dinner at the Redwoods restaurant which was five miles north of Stanford. The ladies said that when they were about one mile south of Stanford, they saw a huge disc-shaped object which was metallic gray with a white glowing dome. A row of red lights rotated around the middle and underneath were three or four red and yellow lights that burned steadily. The craft shot a bluish beam from the bottom.
The newspaper did not carry a lot of detail, but it did mention that the women got home in Liberty, at 1:25 a.m. They had left the restaurant at 11:15 p.m., and they should have gotten home by midnight. They had lost about an hour and 25 minutes.
The Kentucky Advocate article was forwarded to APRO by Field Investigator Bill Terry. APRO was the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization. According to J. Allen Hynek, it was one of the best civilian UFO groups at that time. APRO doesn’t exist anymore, but a large number of its members branched off and formed what became MUFON. Which was originally the Midwest UFO Network and became the Mutual UFO Network. Which we all know about today. So APRO was a good organization to look into this incident. APRO decided it was worth it to make the 60 mile trip to talk to the ladies. A few days later the investigator called back and told Headquarters he thought it was a case of abduction, and that the usual hypnosis procedures should be utilized.
A call was put in to Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle, APRO's consultant in psychology and he was asked to travel to Liberty to interview the women and possibly use hypnotic procedures to relieve their anxiety and obtain any repressed information. Headquarters found out that his Dr. Sprinkle wouldn’t be available until weekend of March 6th and 7th.
We’ve talked about Dr. Sprinkle before and I’ve said that at the end of his career, when he admitted that he had in fact been abducted by aliens, he kind of loses his credibility. I think, if I remember correctly, he lost his job when he came forward with that claim. But, let’s keep an open mind. When you are looking into something like this, I think it’s important to find out as much as you can. I wish I had more time to dig into this.
There is an article from Harvard that states “There is some evidence that merely hearing about the traumatic experience of a family member may cause post-traumatic symptoms in some people. It now appears that simply believing you have suffered a trauma may cause a genuine psychological disturbance. In particular, a patient's false memory of abduction by aliens, or the joint creation of such a pseudo-memory by a patient and a therapist, might itself be sufficient to induce symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
This doesn’t mean that what we are about to learn didn’t happen, but it doesn’t mean it did either. So we have to be careful when we read accounts like these.
It is important to note that although Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Thomas had known each other for many years, and Mrs. Stafford had known Mrs. Thomas for some time, Mrs. Smith had only gotten acquainted with Mona a few weeks before this incident.
On the night of the incident, Mrs. Smith left work at the usual time and went home. She is employed as an extension assistant for the Casey County Extension Office where her job consists of visiting families in the county, counseling them in food preparation and preservation, nutrition and gardening. She made herself a sandwich and soup, which she ate, then got into her 1967 Chevrolet which she had just purchased that day and drove to a gas station to get gas to get ready for the next day.
While she was at the gas station, Mona Stafford, who was driving by, saw Louise's car, pulled her car into the station, at which point Mrs. Smith asked her if she would come home with her and help her put the collar on a jacket she was making, as she was having trouble fitting it. The two ladies, each in their own car, drove to the Smith trailer home and started working on the jacket. At about 8 p.m., Mrs. Thomas dropped by and the three lapsed into conversation about their favorite subject: art. Mrs. Stafford had planned to go to her sister's house to have her hair done and at about 9 p.m. said she'd better call her sister because it was getting late and besides, it was her (Mona's) birthday.
When Mrs. Smith learned about the birthday, she suggested that they all go over to the Redwoods for a late dinner and a sort of birthday celebration. Also, there was a painting on the wall of the restaurant which she had wanted to sketch. The restaurant, incidentally, is the only restaurant open at that time of night in that area.
The three drove the 29 miles to the restaurant, had their dinner and then pulled out sketch pads and went to work. A man at the restaurant asked Mrs. Smith to sketch him, which she did, and then she realized it was getting late, so the three paid their checks and left. Mrs. Smith drove, Mona sat in the middle of the front seat, with Mrs. Thomas on her right by the passenger window.
It was about 11:15 and the three were headed back home expecting to arrive by midnight. At Stanford, Kentucky, nine miles from Lancaster, they turned off Highway 27 and onto Highway 78 towards Hustonville.
Just outside Stanford, a curious thing happened. A bright red object appeared in the sky, which Mona Stafford at first thought was an airplane on fire. As the object descended from the right side of the road to a point ahead of them, they could see that it was not an airplane, but a huge object bigger than “two houses”. The object stopped about a hundred yards ahead of them, stretching across the road on both sides. It rocked back and for the for a couple of seconds, and then moved off to the left.
After Mona spotted the object, which was descending from their right to the left, she asked Louise to speed up as she thought it was a plane about to crash and she wanted to help any survivors. Mrs. Smith saw it clearly, but Mrs. Thomas didn't see it until it had stopped at treetop level at what they estimated to be one hundred yards ahead of them. All three of the women said the object was huge, Louise describing it as "as big as a football field," while Mrs. Stafford said it was at least as large as two houses. Now that’s a large discrepancy. But that’s okay. That actually is pretty common with witnesses. Some might see a brown car and some might see a black car when in reality, the car is gray.
Mrs. Smith said that the object rocked gently for about two seconds, then, she estimated its size, for it extended beyond the edges of the road and over the fields on both sides. The object moved across the road to their left, circling behind and above some houses, and then apparently came back to the highway and swung in behind the car.
At a point in their journey about a quarter of a mile beyond the houses, the inside of the car was lit up with a bluish light which came from behind. Mrs. Smith said that she first thought it was a state trooper approaching from behind, but realized almost immediately that it wasn't. At this point Louise and Mona were near panic. The car began to pull to the left and Louise screamed at Mona to help her control it. The speedometer was registering 85 miles per hour and both Mona and Mrs. Thomas shouted at Mrs. Smith to slow down. Louise held her foot in the air to show them and said,"I don't have my foot on the accelerator and I can't stop it!" Mona reached over and grabbed the wheel and they fought the force together. Then, quite suddenly, the women experienced a burning sensation in their eyes and Louise later described an additional pain which seemed to "go right through the top of my head! It was almost unbearable!"
The next sensation was that of some force pulling the car backward. Also, they got the feeling that the car was going over a series of "speed bumps". Mrs. Thomas began urging Louise to stop so that she could get a good look at the object, but Mona and Louise were too terrified. Elaine had only had a glimpse of the object as it had circled to their left and around behind them and later said about the object's beauty. "I can't describe it," she said, "I've never seen red that beautiful. I wanted to get out and look at it."
Then, the women said, they saw a strange, wide, lighted road stretching as far as they could see ahead of them. At the same time, Mona noted a red light came on on the instrument panel which indicated that the engine had stalled, despite the sensation that they were moving very fast.
At what seemed to be a split second later the women saw a street light ahead and realized that they were coming into Hustonville, a full eight miles beyond where they had encountered the strange aircraft. They wondered among themselves how they had gotten there so fast, then became quiet while they proceeded on into Liberty.
When they arrived at Mrs. Smith's trailer, they all went inside. Mrs. Smith went into the bathroom, took off her glasses and splashed water on her face, when she did this, her hands and face began to burn with searing pain. All three had red marks on the backs of their necks, measuring about three inches long and one inch wide, with clearly defined edges, giving the appearance of a new burn before it blisters. Louise and Elaine's marks were in the center of their necks between the bases of their skulls and the top of the back, and Mona's was on the left side of her neck, behind her ear. They didn’t know where they got the marks, which disappeared two days later. All three were experiencing burning and tearing of their eyes, but Mona Stafford had a much more severe case of conjunctivitis (an inflammation of the conjunctiva membrane of the eyes). Also known as pinkeye.
Prior to washing her hands, Louise had taken off her watch and was startled to see that the hands of her watch were moving at an accelerated rate of speed, the minute hand moving at the speed of a second hand, and the hour hand was moving also. When her hands and face starting burning because she had exposed them to water, she forgot about the phenomena of the watch and doesn’t remember when it returned to normal or when she reset it.
Concluding that something was wrong, the three ladies went next door to the home of Mr. Lowell Lee, and told him what they had seen. He asked them to go into separate rooms and sketch the object and when finished, he found the resulting sketches to be almost identical.
Although all the women had trouble with their eyes, only Mona Stafford sought medical help, as her problem was so severe. The doctor who examined her found no explanation for the pain and tearing but gave her some eye drops which helped very little.
All three of the women had good reputations. Mrs. Smith, is a tall, thin woman who was 44 years at the time, who was widowed when she was a young woman and brought up her son and daughter by herself. She has two grandchildren and busies herself in her spare time with painting and sketching and gospel singing. She performs around Casey county with the Jubilee Echoes, consisting of herself, a 14-year-old boy singer and a bassist who is a police lieutenant in Danville. She is a lifelong member of the Baptist church and attends services regularly at the Poplar Springs Baptist Church in Liberty. Inquiries to such people as police personnel, her minister and employer, elicited only good comments. Several weeks after her experience she had lost a lot of weight, going from 125 to under 100 pounds.
Mona Stafford was 35, the former owner of an arts and crafts shop in Liberty and unemployed except for secretarial work which she does for her father, who owns a mobile trailer park. She was once married but has been divorced since 1970 and lives in a trailer home parked near her parents' home. She is a devout Christian, a member of the Hilltop Church of Christ near Liberty. She also lost weight amounting to 17 pounds.
Elaine Thomas was 48, a housewife and had lived in Casey County, Kentucky all of her life. She and her husband Otis lived several miles out of Liberty. At the time, they had a grown daughter and three grandchildren. Mrs. Thomas is also a lifelong churchgoer and is a member of the Contown Church of Christ.
The reputation of the women was important to APRO because it gave them a reason to go forward with their investigation. There was a problem when APRO and Dr. Sprinkle went to Mrs. Smith house. A bunch of investigators from MUFON and CUFOS met them and claimed that they had gotten there first and it was their investigation and APRO should not be allowed to enter. Sprinkle, being a gentleman and a scholar did not want to intrude. It was a big mess with all groups wanting Dr. Sprinkle to go forward with his hypnotic sessions but the different groups arguing about the release of the story. Also, during meetings before Sprinkle's arrival, some representative of MUFON or CUFOS had told Mrs. Smith (she doesn't recall who) that the ladies should be careful about having anything to do with APRO because "they would call in the National Enquirer" and they would receive much unwanted publicity. Later, in a letter from Jerry Black, a MUFON investigator and, consequently, a CUFOS investigator, suggested that the ladies contact the National Enquirer about their experience, which was a surprise considering their reluctance to have anything to do with that paper if APRO was on the case.
At any rate, it was for this reason, after the waste of several hundred dollars, APRO was unable to complete the case. Then, after the National Enquirer contacted the ladies, Dr. Sprinkle, because of his participation in the "Blue Ribbon Panel" of National Enquirer experts, was called upon to go back to Liberty and regress the women.
His report of the weekend of March 6 and 7 is quite sketchy except for his characterization of the three women as reliable, sincere, etc., because Saturday was largely wasted in arguing about who should have "control of the case." Incidentally, the MUFON people wanted to make use of Sprinkle's expertise, "as long as he was there." But they admitted they neither had the consultants nor the funds to send in someone expert in hypnotic techniques to carry out the trance sessions.
On the 23rd of July, the National Enquirer arranged for the three women to take a polygraph test. The all passed, but the polygraphist did state that before the examination of the ladies they had already been interviewed by Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle and the members of the MUFON. How much or how little these previous interviews played a part in what they now believe about this alleged encounter cannot be determined. He couldn’t discount the fact that previous interviews could have influenced their personal beliefs as to whether or not this alleged encounter did or did not occur.
That is an excellent point. The interviewers showing sketches of UFO types to a witness before they make their own renderings of what they saw, is highly suggestive, as is the display of any drawings of occupants. This apparently was done by MUFON representatives prior to the polygraph test or the trance hypnosis carried out by Dr. Sprinkle on the next day, the 24th of July. APRO has a complete transcript of the trance sessions which have been examined by the staff. While Robert Pratt of the Enquirer, and Dr. Sprinkle, who has had extensive experience in this phase of UFO research, were careful not to lead the subjects, some very suggestive or leading questions were asked by Mr. Stringfield and Mr. Black of MUFON.
It sounds very much to me that someone botched the investigation. There were simply too many people involved in this case.
Here is the transcript from Dr. Sprinkle.
". . .Mrs. Smith suffered much as she relived the experience. The behaviors, e.g., weeping, moaning, tossing her head, shuddering, and shaking, etc., were evident to those of us who observed her. Especially as she seemed to "relive" an experience of a fluid material covering her face. Her smile, and evident relief in "seeing the street light" at the end of her hour and one-half loss-of-time experience was dramatic and indicated that she was "safe" in the car, once again, and returning home with her friends." Sprinkle then goes on to recount Louise's claim that her pet parakeet, who, according to her claims and the claims of others who observed the bird, refused to have anything to do with her after the UFO experience. Others could approach the bird and it would not react wildly; however, whenever Louise came close to the bird, the bird would flutter and move away from her. The bird died within weeks after the UFO experience.
Mona Stafford. . ."responded well to the hypnotic suggestions and she was able to describe impressions which led her to believe that she had been taken out of the car, and that she was alone on a white table or bed. She saw a large "eye" which seemed to be observing her. She felt as if a bright white light was shining on her and that there was "power" or energy which transfixed her and held her to the table or bed. She experienced a variety of physiological reactions, including the impressions that her right arm was pinned or fastened; her left leg forced back under her, with pain to the ankle and foot; pressure on the fingers of the left hand, as if they were forced or squeezed in some way; a feeling of being examined by four or five short humanoids who sat around in "surgical masks" and "surgical garments" while observing her. At one point, she sensed that she was either experiencing out-of-the body travel, or else she was waiting outside of a large room in which she could view another person, probably a woman, lying on a white bed or observation table. She perceived a long tunnel, or a view of the sky, as if she had been transported to an area inside a large mountain or volcano. Although, she wept and moaned and experienced a great deal of fatigue as a result of the "reliving" of the experience, she felt better the next day; she expressed the belief to me that she now had a better understanding of what happened during the loss-of-time experience.
. . . "Mrs. Thomas had been rather quiet during the initial interview in March, 1976, although it was obvious that she is perceptive and aware of other people's attitudes and feelings. Like the
others, she has lost weight, but she has also experienced some personality changes. She dresses a bit more colorfully now, and she is more willing to talk and to share her ideas with others. She, too, experienced a similar reaction during the hypnotic techniques: she apparently was responding well to suggestions to go deeper; when she "relived" the UFO experience, she experienced a great deal of emotional reaction. Her main impression was that she was taken away from her two friends, and that she was placed in a "chamber" with a window on the side. She seemed to recall figures which moved back and forth in front of the window of the chamber as if she were being observed. Her impression was that the observers were four-foot-tall humanoids, with dark eyes, and grey skin. One disturbing aspect of the experience was the memory that she had some kind of contraption or "covering" that was placed around her neck; whenever she tried to speak, or think, the contraption or "covering" was tightened, and she experienced a choking sensation during these moments. At first, Mrs. Thomas interpreted the memories as indication that she was being choked by hands or that she was being prevented from calling out to her friends; later, however, she came to the tentative conclusion that an experiment was being conducted, and the experiment was to learn more about her intellectual and emotional processes. She recalled a "bullet-shaped" object, about an inch and one half in diameter, being placed on her left chest; she previously had experienced pain and a red spot at that location.
". . .During the polygraph examination, and during the initial hypnotic sessions, each UFO witness was interviewed separately from the other witnesses. After the initial description of impressions, the women were invited to attend the additional hypnosis sessions, so that each woman could observe the reaction of the other two women. During these sessions, there was much emotional reaction, which seemed to arise from two conditions: the compassion of the witnesses for their friend, who was "reliving" the experience and releasing emotional reactions to the experience; also, it seems as if the description by one witness would "trigger" a memory on the part of another witness, even if the experiences seemed to be "similar" or "different."
"Certain similarities were observed: a feeling of anxiety on the part of each witness regarding a specific aspect of the experience. For Ms. Smith, it was the "wall" and the "gate" beyond which she was afraid to "move psychologically"; for
Ms. Stafford it was the "eye" which she observed and the impression that something evil or bad would be learned if she allowed the eye to "control" her; for Ms. Thomas, it was the "blackness" which seemed to be the feared condition or cause for anxiety. Each woman seemed to experience the impression that she had been taken out of the car and placed elsewhere without her friends and without verbal communication. For Ms. Smith, the lack of verbal communication was most distressing; although she had the feeling of "mental communication" that she would be returned after the "experiment."
"Differences were noted in that each woman seemed to have a somewhat different kind of "examination," and in a different "location." Ms. Smith did not have a clear impression of the location, although she did recall a feeling of lying down and being examined; Ms. Stafford had the impression of being in a "volcano or mountainside," with a room in which a bright light was shining on a white table with white clothed persons or humanoids sitting around and observing her; Mrs. Thomas recalled impressions of being in the dark chamber with grey light permitting a view of the humanoids who were apparently observing her."
In his conclusive paragraphs Dr. Sprinkle reports:
"In my opinion, each woman is describing a "real" experience, and they are using their intelligence and perceptivity as accurately as possible in order to describe the impressions which they obtained during the hypnotic regressions session. Although there is uncertainty about their impressions, especially in regard to how each person could be transported out of the car and relocated in the car, the impressions during the "loss of time" experience are similar to those of other UFO witnesses who apparently have experienced an abduction and examination during their UFO sighting.
"Although it is not possible to claim absolutely that a physical examination and abduction has taken place, I believe that the tentative hypothesis of abduction and examination is the best hypothesis to explain the apparent loss-of-time experience, the apparent physical and emotional reactions of the witnesses to the UFO sighting: the anxiety and the reactions of the witnesses to their experiences which have occurred after their UFO sighting
So what do you think? I have a hard time with Dr. Sprinkle, when he came forward and claimed that he himself had been abducted by aliens, I stopped believing him. Also, the botched investigation, with leading the women possibly influencing what they remembered make me a little skeptical. I think it’s very possible that they all did see a UFO, but because of the interview with MUFON and CUFOS, the rest could be planted.
Believe none of what you hear and half of what you read.
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