Encounter Atlas
Cattle mutilation reports describe livestock found dead with parts removed, such as an eye, an ear, the tongue or sex organs, with clean-looking cuts, little blood, and no tracks around the body. Ranchers sometimes reported lights or unmarked helicopters nearby.
The modern story began in September 1967 when a horse called Snippy was found near Alamosa, Colorado with the flesh stripped from its head and neck. Reports surged across the West in the 1970s. In 1979 a federal grant paid for an investigation in New Mexico led by retired FBI agent Kenneth Rommel. His 1980 report concluded that the cases were consistent with normal predators and scavengers.
Veterinarians explain the clean 'surgical' cuts as the work of birds, insects and decomposition. Theories have also blamed cults, secret government projects and the chupacabra.
Browse 10,622 US Air Force Project Blue Book case files on the map or by state.
What witnesses report
- A carcass with eyes, tongue or ears removed
- Smooth-looking cuts
- Little or no blood on the ground
- No tracks around the body
- Lights or helicopters at night
Famous cases
- 1967Snippy the horse
Alamosa, Colorado - 1979Rommel investigation begins
New Mexico
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