by UFO History Buff & Author, Charles Lear
In last week’s blog, we began looking at documents that provide a behind the scenes look at the rivalry between the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization and the Mutual UFO Network. APRO was founded in 1952 by Coral and Jim Lorenzen and MUFON was founded in 1969 by members who split off from APRO amidst bad feelings. Things came to a head during the investigation of the 1981 Cash-Landrum incident. As it was reported to have taken place in Huffman, Texas, APRO handed the case over to the director of the Houston-based Vehicle Internal Systems Investigative Team, John Schuessler, who was also the deputy director of MUFON. Coral wrote an article one and a half years after the reported incident that was published in the June 1982 Vol 30, No. 6 APRO Bulletin headlined “Rumors Permeate Cash-Landrum Case” wherein she claimed to know that what witnesses Betty Cash, Vickie Landrum, and Colby Landrum saw was a “U.S. experimental aircraft.” She also insinuated that Schuessler, MUFON director Walt Andrus, and former Project Blue Book consultant and founding director of the Center for UFO Studies J. Allen Hynek were part of a cover-up as they all had ties to various government organizations. Schuessler responded with a five-page letter to Jim Lorenzen defending himself and pleaded that if APRO had real knowledge of what it was the witnesses saw, he should share it as all three witnesses, particularly Betty Cash, seemed to have suffered the effects of radiation poisoning. This week, we’ll begin with Coral’s response. Read more