Cattle Mutilations: an Episode of Collective Delusion

Cattle Mutilations: An Episode of Collective Delusion James R. Stewart During the late summer and early fall of 1974 the areas of northeastern Nebraska and eastern South Dakota experienced a rash of "cattle mutilations. " In most instances dead cattle were discovered with parts of their anatomy missing. The parts of the body most frequently mutilated were the sex organs, ears, and the mouth. The episode reached its zenith during early October when discoveries of mutilated cattle were being reported on a daily basis to law-enforcement officials throughout the area. It subsided almost as quickly as it had begun, and although other areas of the country have subsequently reported the same phenomenon, there has been no media coverage of any further mutilations in this area. The cause of the mutilations was, and in fact still is, controversial. Some persons believed that it was the work of members of a Satan-wor- shipping cult whose ceremonies called for the blood and parts of animals. Others believed that the mutilations were the work of extraterrestrial beings whose purpose was to examine the physiological makeup of cattle, or simply to terrorize human beings. Still others felt that the mutilations were the work of small predators who, after having discovered the carcasses of already dead animals, proceeded to eat the accessible parts. What follows is a detailed account of the outbreak, culmination, and precipitous decline of the cattle-mutilation episode. The episode The mutilation episode was apparently triggered by the more-or-less si- multaneous reports of a cattle mutilation and the alleged sightings of UFOs and a "monster-thing" in the area. The initial discoveries of mutilations occurred in northeastern Nebraska during the latter part of August. The "thing" and UFO sightings were reported on the front pages of area newspapers during the first week in September. The close occurrence of Spring/Summer 1977 55 these events provided the perceptual framework for a new view of the cause of the cattle mutilations. The authorities had been at a loss to explain the first mutilations and had offered little speculation about their cause. Area residents quickly as- similated the new information, and the bizarre explanations became in- creasingly popular. The authorities played an important role throughout the entire episode. In explaining the first mutilations they had been extremely cautious and conservative; but after the mysterious sightings they came to the conclusion that not only couldn't the bizarre explanations be discounted, but they might, in fact, be correct. Newspaper accounts after the first week of September indicate that most local authorities had become convinced that the mutilations could not have been the work of normal human beings or the postmortem activ- ity of small predators. Either blood-thirsty cultists or extraterrestrial b e i n g s were considered by an increasing number of persons to be responsible for the mutilations. The director of male admissions at the South Dakota State Mental Hospital offered yet another explanation. He reasoned that the mutilations were the work of a deranged, psychotic personality. He also warned residents that such individuals often graduated to humans as their next victims. He even went so far as to offer a hypothetical descrip- tion of the person (or persons)—a young male from a farm background with high levels of hostility toward his parents and other authority figures. The inability of the social-control agencies to satisfactorily explain the early reports of cattle mutilation was probably one of the major factors contributing to the significant increase in both the number of reported mutilations and the area over which they occurred. Within a short time reports of mutilations had spread from northeastern Nebraska throughout eastern South Dakota. In fact, the episode can be more adequately analyzed by breaking it down into two rather distinct phases—the Nebras- ka phase, lasting roughly from August 15 until September 30, the South Dakota phase, lasting approximately from September 15 until October 31. This distinctness is best illustrated by contrasting the number of newspaper column inches in the major area newspapers devoted to each state's reported mutilations during these time periods. It is apparent that as the Nebraska episode waned in interest the South Dakota episode gained momentum. However, at the time these 1. The newspapers used in this study were the Sioux City Journal, the Yankton Press and Dakotan, the Sioux Falls Argus-Leader, and the Aberdeen American-News. 56 THE ZETETIC events were not analyzed as separate because of their geographical prox- imity and because the mass media in the area generally report the news of both states. Column inches of news concerning cattle mutilation in four daily area newspapers Nebraska mutilations South Dakota mutilations August 11-20 0 0 August 21-31 34 0 September 1-10 51 0 September 11-20 78 10 September 21-30 5 52 October 1-10 0 123 October 11-20 0 82 October 21-31 0 13 November 1-10 0 0 The precipitating factors created a growing anxiety and gave legitimacy to the UFO or blood-cult explanations of the mutilations. During the peak of the episode, radio and television broadcasts and newspapers contained daily accounts of any newly discovered mutilations. In addition media coverage generally contained interviews with law-enforcement officials, veterinarians, or other knowledgeable persons. These interviews often confounded rather than elucidated the search for the cause of the mutilations and frequently contained unsupported personal opinions. The following headlines are typical of the confusion which prevailed during the episode: "Stories of a 'Thing' Told by Others Here" (Sioux City Journal, 1 September 1974). "Veterinarian Says Flying Objects, Cattle Mutilations May Be Related" (Sioux City Journal, 6 September 1974). "Farmers Check Herds in Wake of Mutilations" (Sioux City Journal, 20 Sep- tember 1974). "Mutilators Psychotic, Says Yankton Mental Unit Officer" (Sioux City Journal, 3 October 1974). "Doctor Says Cattle Mutilations May Switch to Human Victims" (Sioux Falls Argus-Leader, 3 October 1974). Spring/Summer 1977 57 "Cattle Mutilations Have Farmers Jittery; Officials Blame Predators" (Sioux Falls Argus-Leader, 8 October 1974). "Mutilations Spook Area" (Aberdeen American-News, 17 October 1974). Law-enforcement officials warned people to be on the lookout for strange incidents in their area. They also encouraged local residents to band together and form patrols to survey the farm lands during the night hours when most of the mutilations were thought to have occurred. Many groups followed this suggestion and some groups even went so far as to arm themselves. Despite the increased vigilance, the night patrols never observed anything suspicious or unusual. A few groups also offered re- wards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the mutilations. However, no local residents were ever questioned or arrested. There were 75 to 100 reports of mutilated cattle before the episode ended during the latter part of October. The decline in the number of reported mutilations seems to have begun in the same manner in both Ne- braska and South Dakota. Meetings were held which were attended by law-enforcement officials, state veterinarians, and interested farmers. The general conclusion reached at these meetings was that in the vast majority of instances the cattle had simply died of natural causes and the teeth marks and tearing actions of small predators had caused what was termed the "mutilations. " While not everyone agreed with the findings, it was ob- vious that after sifting the evidence, officials were convinced that the mutilations were, in fact, a natural phenomenon. The reports of the two state veterinary-diagnostic laboratories stated that every animal brought to them had died of natural causes and that predators, by tearing away the soft parts of the carcass, had been responsible for the apparent "mutilations. " When the reports of these two meetings were broadcast by the area mass media the episode quickly subsided. That the episode occurred at all shows that there was a partial break- down of the normal social-control forces. The failures of the social-control agents stemmed from their being suddenly confronted with an unusual situation which was not adequately covered by the accepted norms of explanation. Local law-enforcement personnel have little, if any, experience in determining causes of cattle deaths. Consequently, they were inclined to adopt the farmer's explanations in the absence of any solid refuting evidence of their own. The same was true of some local 58 THE ZETETIC veterinarians. Rarely do they examine dead cattle; instead that are usually asked to treat living animals. It should be pointed out, however, that many officials remained skep- tical throughout the entire episode. These persons preferred to wait until the evidence was examined by knowledgeable experts before coming to any conclusions regarding the cause of the mutilations. Their cautious statements reflected the doubts they harbored, but their disclaimers of cult or UFO involvement were usually overshadowed by the more exciting accounts offered by persons with questionable credentials. As the episode progressed there continued to be a lack of evidence to support the claims of the "believers, " while at the same time the prestigi- ous reports of the state laboratories supported the skeptics' version of the mutilations. The death knell of the episode was sounded when the South Dakota Crime Bureau issued a statement which said that, in their estima- tion, the deaths of the cattle were natural, and they could find no evidence that would support a more detailed investigation. Thereafter no more reports of mutilations appeared in the newspapers in the area. Analysis This episode appears to be a classic case of mild mass hysteria.2 Accounts of similar hysteria have been previously reported in Seattle, Washing- ton (Medalia and Larsen 1958), Mattoon, Illinois (Johnson 1945), and southern Louisiana (Schuler and Parenton 1943).

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