I really enjoyed this Radio Misterioso episode freaturing Blur Blurry Lines Cash-Landrum writer and researcher, Curt Collins. There were some very instructive points in this episode for those who follow thinking about UFO's as some infernal personal addiction. Recently we've heard Greg Bishop call for a focussed investigation on a case by case basis to see if there's anything there or not. As Curt described early on in the pursuit of the story, some of these UFO cases are as graspable as eels swimming in oil. This conversation did a pretty good job at getting at a fairly large chunk of this specific case and gave us clarity instead of the usual debunker/believer/researcher game of murder ball that goes on. This show tried to peel back the layers to get to the core of what is still a live story as pointed out above regarding the potential of a helicopter pilot interview.
Some of the highlights for me included Curt's very patient temperament with Greg where right at the start of the episode Bishop was trying to provide a synopsis of the case and got critical information wrong about the case. In some ways this was the main point for me, how in the broken telephone of retelling a story the UFO story gets altered with certain parts magnified while others recede. Here was the host, as if scripted, attempting to retell the Cash-Landrum case and had to be corrected on critical features multiple times. As Curt points out early on in this excellent interview it's one thing to tell your story, but it's something else when another person retells the story. This is a vital aspect of story-telling in our culture, how the story becomes modified and mythologized over time, depending on its importance in the culture and who all is eager to hear the tale. Some listen with a discerning ear and some just like a good story - so too is the Paracast Forum and all involved in the pursuit of such slippery stories.
For UFOs buffs the Cash-Landrum is a critical case as its familiar surface story presents itself, in some corners, as a case of military involvement with an alien technology. It is also described as the best researched case. It features a diamond shaped craft spitting fire, while floating above a remote road in East Texas creating havoc for an unsuspecting vehicle carrying two women and a young child. It has blue cabin lights across the middle of it and burned a swirl into the road - the entire road was once replaced secretly in the night btw. The UFO produced a blinding burning light so hot the car could not be opened with bare hands, handprints were left on the heated dash, people got diarrhea and one person was hospitalized with swelling, blistering and even had their hair fall out - if that's not radiation poisoning from a UFO than what is right? And to top it off, this strange diamond shaped craft was escorted by a squadron of military helicopters. Wow - what a tale! But then, when you actually get into the story a very different set of facts are revealed.
I'll stop there because it's really worth listening all the way through. In this show we get an inkling into how we can find better insight into all those many other UFO stories, also in need of similar rigorous and diligent investigation, from a dispassionate writer who just wants to get to the core of the case. If anyone's going to do it with Cash-Landrum I suspect it will be Curt Collins. There was one quote early on in the episode where Mr. Collins provided his own way of understanding the case, "I just felt like there was a layer of wishful thinking applied to the story, and selective interpretation and apparently some omission of details that were unfavourable to the story." I wonder just how many UFO cases fall victim to this pattern? Will we always choose to render and repeat the
fantastic as what we believe was seen, versus trying just to get at what it was the witness saw in the first place. Because after hearing this episode, i no longer see this ship, when i think Cash-Landrum…but I used to.
Still, a good story. Everyone should tell more stories that are important to them.
There's always different versions of the tale, and if you search long enough; ultimately,
you will find the one you were meant to listen to, at last.
