Was the mystery surrounding the local cattle mutilations in 1975 ever solved? We sliced into it.

Cattle mutilated in Fremont County are found in the same area with living animals such as the scene above where the dead calf, right, was found right with other cattle. The cattle have removed footprints left by the mutilators when the live animals are attracted and approach the dead ones, according to Fremont County deputy sheriff Terry Thompson. Caption dated Oct. 13, 1975. | Courtesy Idaho Falls Post Register SOUTHEASTERN IDAHO — A mysterious phenomenon took place in southeastern Idaho in 1975 when dozens of cattle were being found mutilated. The story on the cattle mutilations was featured in our weekly Looking Back column, which looks back on what life was like during different periods in east Idaho history. RELATED: Cattle mutilation spree spreads fear in eastern Idaho What was happening? The cattle mutilations in southeastern Idaho were first reported on Sept. 19, 1975, in Fremont County, according to the Idaho Falls Post Register. The Post Register published its first article in a series investigating the mutilations on Oct. 11, 1975, stating that there were up to 23 reported cases throughout the Upper Snake River Valley. The article explained that mutilated cows usually have sex organs removed, in addition to eyes, ears, and their tongue. However, not all animals had the same parts removed, which led law enforcement to believe more than one person was performing the mutilations. In some cases, the blood of the animals had been drained too. “The people are real scared here,” Fremont County deputy sheriff Terry Thompson told the Post Register. “We are doing everything we can to catch those cattle mutilators.” Local farmers organized patrol groups to watch over the farms at night, and patrol stations were situated in various spots on the county road. All cars approaching the stops were checked to see who was inside, and they were asked what they were doing in the area. Farmers also advised people not to be out after 10 p.m. and said nobody should be in the fields late at night. Gov. Cecil D. Andrus even ordered Idaho Air National Guard pilots to “intensify their surveillance” of range lands during helicopter training flights. Andrus thought if the pilots knew what to look for, they could help the sheriffs and cattlemen “in combating the recent rash of cattle mutilations.” Thompson said when the people involved in the mutilations were caught, they’d face a felony charge of grand larceny. If their vehicle was found on a farmer’s property, it would be impounded and sold at a public auction, with the profits going into the county fund. Investigation underway On Oct. 14, 1975, the Post Register said the weekend’s reports brought the number of confirmed cattle mutilations in east Idaho to 31 with possible mutilations having also taken place in Bonneville County. If the Bonneville County reports were confirmed as mutilations — law enforcement was waiting for the autopsy reports — it would bring the total to 37. Terrall Hanson was a Jefferson County sheriff’s deputy at the time these cattle mutilations were happening. He spoke with EastIdahoNews.com and said he was the one responsible for taking photographs for the county of the mutilated animals, then printing the pictures off and filing them. Hanson said he photographed “a couple dozen” mutilations in Jefferson County. “We didn’t have the most,” Hanson pointed out about the mutilations. “Fremont County seemed to be getting hit the hardest.” By Oct. 23, 1975, cattle mutilations had been reported in the following southeastern Idaho counties: Fremont, Cassia, Teton, Franklin, Caribou, Power, Madison, Bingham, Jefferson and Clark. “We’d get together as a group with Fremont County, Madison County, Jefferson County, Bonneville County, Teton County, Butte County — anywhere that our borders touched anywhere — about once a month,” Hanson recalled. “Whatever officers were working on those mutilation cases, they would get together and … compare notes.” Fremont County cattlemen and farmers are patrolling with Fremont County law enforcement officers attempting to apprehend cattle mutilators. Some of those on patrol are, left to right, Blaine Orgill of Egin, and Melvin Bradshaw, and Bob Davis, Egin Bench farmers. At the right is Terry Thompson, Fremont County sheriff’s deputy. Caption dated Oct. 12, 1975.| Courtesy Idaho Falls Post Register The mutilations had law enforcement baffled. Hanson explained that very little blood was found around the mutilated animals and that the cuts in the animals were “very precise.” Thompson told the Post Register all the mutilations in his county appeared to have been done with a surgical knife “because of the clean, slick cuts found on the animals.” Hanson said veterinarians would examine the mutilated cattle but they had a hard time determining the cause of death. “(The cattle would) be lying there like they were asleep (but) missing their sex organs, their utters, sometimes an eye would be removed or a tongue,” Hanson recalled. “(Autopsies) were expensive but even the farmer would say, ‘We got to pay for this. We’re going to find out who is killing our cattle.’ They’d send them and find that animal didn’t have hardly any blood left in its system.” It was later revealed that dogs in Fremont County were also found mutilated during this timeframe, similar to how the cattle were, then left at the St. Anthony dump. Fremont County sheriff Tom Stegelmeier said some of the dogs had been skinned. One horse was also mutilated in Fremont County. “Everybody was on edge,” Hanson recalls. “You made sure that if you went out to check somebody’s field, you went up to their house and you told them, ‘I’m going to be checking your field tonight’ and they’ll say ‘Yeah, we are too.’” If you pull in anywhere out there with a vehicle (without talking to the homeowner), there’s a good chance somebody was going to shoot you out there.” The Idaho Cattlemen’s Association was offering a $1,000 reward to anyone who provided information leading to those involved in the cattle mutilations. The Fremont-Madison Cattlemen’s Association was also sponsoring a reward fund for the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for the mutilations in those two counties. Theories circulate There were a handful of theories about who — or what — was mutilating the cattle. The speculations ranged from humans, predators (such as coyotes) to a devil worship group or aliens and their UFOs. “I know officers that talked about what are the possibilities if we did have an alien ship pull up and they could gravitationally suck that cow right up off the ground and take it up in their ship,” Hanson remembers hearing at the time. “Then they could dissect and do what they wanted and study that animal, then come back and lay it right back down on the ground cause they don’t need the carcass cause they don’t eat meat.” These two mutilated cows were found Wednesday by Parker and Wilford area farmers as the number of mutilations in the area continues to grow. The dead yearling, left, was found in the Wilford area Wednesday and had been dead for several days. The yearling was minus its ears, tongue and sexual organs. Fremont County deputy Terry Thompson checks the body of a dead cow, right, found on the Margaret McMinn farm in Parker. The cow was killed early Wednesday morning and had its sexual organs removed and part of its blood had been drained. The sheriff’s office has no leads on who is performing the mutilations. Caption dated Oct. 2, 1975. | Courtesy Idaho Falls Post Register Hanson mentioned another theory was that it could be witchcraft. He said at the same time as the mutilations, they had more reports of Wiccans in the community. “I remember going up with the Madison County sheriff at the time and we went up behind a place up by Heise that was close to Madison County but it was into Jefferson County. We’d been told by somebody that that’s where the witches would meet,” Hanson said. “We found an area in the forest that had weird stuff hanging from trees. But you could never catch anybody going in or out.” A mysterious plaque On Oct. 13, 1975, the Post Register reported an item was discovered that “could be connected” with the mutilations in Fremont County. The item was described as a white plaque with black lettering and a temple-shaped object in its center. It was found on a telephone pole in Wilford. The article said some Fremont County farmers who saw the plaque said it was located near where the first reported cattle mutilation happened. A similar sign was also spotted in Chester, where another mutilation was reported. “The plaques are leading Fremont farmers to believe an occult group is involved in the mutilations,” the article states. “The plaques may link mutilations in other areas where mutilations are being reported.” A forum on the mutilations was held at Idaho State University on Dec. 2, 1975. Mr. Wigginton, an ISU associate professor of English and long-time student of the occult, spoke at the event. He speculated that students of Mithraism, an ancient religion that required vast amounts of blood for its practitioners, might be involved in the mutilations. Wigginton drew on a blackboard what had been described to him as a “wooden plaque with a carving or etching on it.” He drew what “appeared to be a temple with two tall columns in front of it, six windows near the top of it and what looked like a rising or setting sun behind it.” He said this plaque might be someone’s attempt to depict a Mithrean temple, which is known only from ruins excavated by anthropologists. In attendance at the forum was Fremont County deputy sheriff Terry Thompson. When the audience was invited to ask questions, Thompson stood up and announced he had one of the plaques from an area where 10 or 12 mutilations occurred. The article said that’s when a “hush fell over the room.” “We collected it. We found that it was for a place called the House of Carpets in Idaho Falls. We found that it had blood on the top of it, like a thumbprint, and we investigated that,” he said. “We found that the man who put the sign up had hit his finger while installing it.” Thompson confirmed Wigginton’s drawing on the blackboard was a “good representation of the plaque confiscated.” No further information about the plaque or the man responsible for putting up the sign was mentioned in the article. Hanson doesn’t remember any of these plaques being seen in Jefferson County. Cattle mutilations happening across the country While cattle mutilations had locals on high alert, southeast Idaho wasn’t the only place being affected by the strange and sudden cattle deaths. The problem was much bigger. Mutilations were happening across the state and throughout the country. In Oct. 1975, the Post Register said cattle mutilations had been reported in at least 18 western states within the past six months. “They were all very similar,” Hanson said about the mutilations in southeastern Idaho and those outside of the Gem State. Documented cases and unverified reports of cattle mutilations. This picture is from Oct. 23, 1977. | Courtesy Idaho Falls Post Register One article from 1977 that talked about the mutilations around the country said they started in late 1974 and peaked in the summers of 1975 and 1976. But The Idaho Statesman published an article in 1990 that said the mutilations had been going on worldwide and across the nation dating back to the late 1960s. “Although (Idaho) doesn’t keep track of cases, one research group estimates that as many as 1,500 cattle mutilations have been reported in Idaho since 1973,” The Idaho Statesman wrote in 1990. “Using that figure, the loss to ranchers would be about $1 million. And police believe at least half the mutilations never get reported. In other words, the problem may be much worse than the reported cases indicate.” An unsolved mystery About 90 cases of cattle mutilations were reported in Idaho in 1975, according to the Idaho State Journal. The following fall, in Sept. 1976, there had only been one possible case of a mutilation in southeastern Idaho, but the lab results were inconclusive. A special investigating team said it had “no strong clues why it is different this year.” Earlier that year in April 1976, law enforcement officials from Idaho, Montana and Colorado gathered in St. Anthony for a two-day discussion on the cattle mutilations. A questionnaire circulated at the meeting found most officers felt humans were responsible for the mutilations. However, in 1975, Idaho Attorney General Wayne Kidwell said in an investigative report that most reported cattle mutilations in Idaho appeared to have been caused by predators. He said there was no conclusive evidence of human involvement. Articles continued to be published throughout the years regarding cattle mutilations. The Idaho Statesman reported local sheriffs’ departments investigated at least 30 cattle mutilations in southeastern Idaho in the fall 1989, which was more than at anytime since the mid-’70s. “It was a mystery, and it still is,” Hanson told EastIdahoNews.com. “As far as I know, nobody ever definitively said, ‘This is what it is.’ … There was never anybody to charge.”The post Was the mystery surrounding the local cattle mutilations in 1975 ever solved? We sliced into it. appeared first on East Idaho News.
Source: eastidahonews.com