by Charles Lear
In our last blog we looked at reports of 21st century UFO occupants. UFO researchers and investigators have given those that have a roughly human appearance the appropriate name “humanoid.” These creatures seem to be biological, but there have been occasional reports of robots accompanying UFO occupants. A dramatic 1989 report comes from the city of Voronezh in Russia. This involved a 9-12 foot tall humanoid with three eyes, and a small box-shaped robot. They both exited a banana-shaped craft and took a walk in a park in front of terrified onlookers. The incident was reported by the official Tass news agency, picked up by the American Press, and featured in the Oct. 11, 1989 New York Times. An incident that didn’t get much attention from the press, but did get a lot of attention from UFO investigators, was reported in 1964. It involved humanoids and robots in Cisco Grove, California, that displayed actions far more hostile than a stroll in the park.
According to the report, Donald Shrum, 28, was bow hunting with two friends in the Loch Leven Lakes region, southeast of Cisco Grove, on Friday night, Sept. 4, 1964. He became separated from his friends, and as it became dark, he decided it would be safer to remain where he was than to risk making his way back to camp in the darkness over rough terrain.
Shrum found a tree in a protected location, stood on a rock next to it and was just able to reach the lowest branch, 12 feet above the ground. He climbed up and fastened himself to a branch with his belt. As he settled in, he noticed a light moving below a nearby ridge to the north. It was white and reminded Shrum of a flashlight or lantern. It moved westerly and bobbed up and down. He then thought it might be a helicopter from the ranger station.
Shrum jumped down from the tree. Hoping to attract attention, he lit three fires on three rocks below the tree that were about ten feet apart. He stood between two of the fires and waved. The light stopped and then moved towards him. When it was between 50 and 60 yards away, it stopped and hovered just above eye-level between two trees. He didn’t see any shape associated with the light, and there was no sound. It occurred to him that he might be looking at a flying saucer, but if he was, it was tiny.
Shrum started to get scared and decided to get back up in the tree. He threw his bow up and climbed. He was clothed in camouflage from head to toe and stayed still in the dark in the hope that he would not be detectable by anything that might come looking for him.
The light then swept around him to the east and moved over a canyon to the south. At this point, besides the light, Shrum saw three, vertical rectangular panels in a stepped-down pattern with the light below. Shrum told an investigator that they shimmered like aluminum foil being shaken in front of a fire. He saw no form that indicated the panels and light were part of a single craft.
After watching for four or five minutes, he saw a flash in the second panel, and a dark object with a blinking light on top came out and quickly descended into the underbrush below. Soon after, he heard something “crashing” through the bushes. After five minutes, he saw a figure coming towards him that then stopped about 100 feet from the tree. It was a humanoid and about five feet tall. It had a light uniform with “puffs” around the joints, a helmet or hood, a dark face, and eyes “similar to welder’s goggles” that were “big as silver dollars.”
The creature was joined by another just like it, and the two of them moved to the tree and then stood under it looking up at him. He heard a “cooing noise, something like an owl would make,” come from what he thought was a ship up the hill, and the creatures seemed to respond to it as if it were a signal.
Shrum then saw two large, glowing orange-red eyes coming towards him that lit up a face and a square jaw. This creature was short and stocky and appeared to be a metal robot. It moved under the tree and then stopped.
The two humanoids continued to stare up at him. The creatures remained motionless for “awhile” until the robot moved to one of the fires, swept its arm through it, and scattered the embers. It then moved back to the tree, put a hand up to its mouth, and emitted a white vapor. Shrum didn’t smell anything, but when it got to him, he gasped for breath, lost consciousness, and fell across his bow. He regained consciousness in what he felt was a matter of minutes and started taking defensive action.
Shrum had six or seven books of matches with him. He lit one, threw it down, and the humanoids backed up. This inspired him to go “crazy with the fire.” He lit his hat, and it blazed up rapidly due to his hair oil. He threw that down, and the creatures moved 50 to 75 feet away and stayed there. At this point, he noticed that the “ship” was now back up in the air.
As the fire died down the creatures approached, and Shrum began setting fire to everything he could and throwing it down. He burned all of his camouflage, all of the paper in his wallet, including his hunting license, and managed to light some of the brush below the tree.
Shrum then dealt with the robot. He took aim with his bow and shot it. At that close range, the arrow had the velocity of a bullet. Shrum saw a flash on impact, and the robot was knocked back. He shot two more arrows until the robot was backed up against a rock.
Shrum climbed higher and re-secured himself. The robot was joined by another, and the two released more vapor which caused Shrum to black out. When he came to, he saw the humanoids trying to climb the tree. Shrum shook the tree, and the humanoids got back on the ground. This was repeated throughout the night, and Shrum got the impression that there were one or two more humanoids moving about in the brush. Finally, the robots released a large amount of vapor that caused Shrum to lose consciousness for an extended period of time. When he came to, all the creatures were gone.
With the sun coming up, Shrum made his way back to camp. After burning most of his clothing, he was left with just his T-shirt, pants, and shoes. He arrived at camp cold and weak, and his friend, Vincent Alvarez, made him some soup. Shrum then slept for six hours.
The case came to light after Shrum’s wife, Judi, contacted Victor W. Killick, a family friend who was in charge of the Sacramento City College Observatory. Killick wrote a letter to the commander of Mather Air Force Base, and Shrum was interviewed on tape by two officers from McClellan AFB. The case was referred to Project Blue Book, and they concluded that Shrum had encountered owls and other woodland creatures, and that his story had a psychological basis. An arrowhead was tested for trace metals and none were found.
The Air Force never returned the arrowhead and failed to contact Shrum with their evaluation, so Judi Shrum wrote a letter to Donald Keyhoe, director of the National Investigations Committee on Aerial Phenomena. She became aware of Keyhoe and NICAP after reading an article of his in the January 1965 issue of True magazine.
Keyhoe and NICAP were notorious for avoiding occupant cases, but they looked into Shrum’s story and stuck with it until 1968, when it was written up in a comprehensive report. Significantly, Isabel Davis, who investigated the Kelly-Hopkinsville Incident that involved goblin-like creatures, and Ted Bloecher, an avid humanoid investigator, had both joined NICAP during this period. Davis joined in 1966, and Bloecher joined in 1968. They were the coauthors of the publication, “Close Encounters at Kelly and Others of 1955.” Bloecher wrote up an extensive report on Shrum’s case.
In addition to NICAP, the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization investigated, and APRO founders Jim and Coral Lorenzen called the case “the most spectacular we have examined” in their 1967 book, “Flying Saucer Occupants,” which includes an account. John Keel wrote an account in an article for the February 1967 issue of SAGA magazine. In Keel’s version, Shrum, a painter at a missile factory, is described as a “U.S. government scientist.” The most accurate version by far is Bloecher’s report for NICAP.
Throughout their investigations, the researchers managed to keep Shrum’s name confidential. This case never appeared in the papers in spite of inquiries by reporters, and the Shrums were happy for it. People have had their reputations destroyed by reports that were far less strange.