Cascade County mutilations and mystery helicopters
Between 1974 and 1977 the Cascade County sheriff's office in Montana logged more than 100 reports of mutilated cattle, unmarked 'mystery helicopters' and, from December 1975, Bigfoot sightings.
1975 CE · 47.50, -111.30 · status: disputed
The account
Deputy Keith Wolverton, who led the inquiries, told the story with journalist Roberta Donovan in 'Mystery Stalks the Prairie' (1976). The flap overlapped the missile-site reports at Malmstrom.
The sceptical view
The Montana livestock laboratory examined dozens of carcasses and attributed the wounds to scavengers; the helicopter and Bigfoot reports were never linked to the deaths.
The researched reading
A flap of mutilations, mystery helicopters and Bigfoot in Montana. Scavengers explain the deaths, and the rest looks like a social panic.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A known natural phenomenon | 50% | The Montana livestock laboratory examined dozens of carcasses and attributed the wounds to scavengers. |
| Something known, misidentified | 15% | Mystery helicopters may have been ordinary aircraft or military helicopters from Malmstrom. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 12% | A wave of mutilation and helicopter reports, then Bigfoot, suggests a social panic. |
| Secret human technology | 10% | Military helicopters operating unannounced near Malmstrom are possible. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 5% | Some mutilations may have been deliberate acts. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 4% | Nothing found requires a non-human agent. |
| Undetermined | 3% | The share the reading had given to fabrication on doubt rather than evidence: the record does not settle it either way. |
| A poorly understood natural phenomenon | 1% | No unknown natural cause is needed. |
Official position: The Montana livestock laboratory attributed the wounds to scavengers; the helicopter and Bigfoot reports were never linked to the deaths.