◆ SpookStack

an ” pendezvous in Augint at the Rig Bend National Park in south Teaas, Makeig contacted the park superintendent, who * watched, but no gathering took place. When Hunkston promised to deliver a list . Of mute-mob names, Makeig waited __ patiently for several weeks, bat no fist *, arrived. 2: Bankston then compounted his cred- Dility probtems by hinting that a stock- . beoher’s daughter he had already fingered +, -“ as a member of the mute.mod was about “do .sometbing possibly baleful to + Makeig. Makeig took the veiled threat ° ” teriously and gave the Fort Worth police Ai $: Wolumindus data on she mute mob..“3! 1, a ie “per kiicd,” Mukeig tolf ore in Sepftm-" tere ber 3975, “EH want the police to have _Benty of leads.“ - : : Afound this time, Ciptain Keith Wol- verton, @ very diligent investigator from the Cascade County, Montana, sheriff's department, traveled to Marion Peniten- tiary © give’ Banksion a polygraph _ examination; Bankston failed on impor- * tant questions. Makeig followed up by a: Salling slieged members of the mutilation "nob —including : the alleged feader and found no “indication of iprolvement. = ta early Octobtr 1975, Makeig wrote 2! _teathing articic im the (Star-Telegram maou of Bankston's alicga- On be. ‘. oer 2 Ses, ithouree = bunk- ; ja Sine ae bod beans Sainahed in Texas. He td Le retitera iat a v hte 5 oth ah ee ta Re at ee ed ao ‘eng ne vw . we. ee we ie ee at Ede Sat . pr On wet 2) aoe: . Te ser Gees ’ ‘es ad a? * at Ea ET RI PE et re ar ee 4: “hyeterinarisn emnounced that .an animal. had autopsied had’ been injected with” * cteris or a toxin; his superiors told him fe o> 7, df be didn't shut up, he would be fired. T,-° . “s42*In Oklaheoma—where there had been _ i sae mute report in 1974—witizens and a a Diicidts grey alarmed over-the advent of - : *":2 2 mute plague in early 1975. Governor ae “David Boren ordered a full investigation q) 2 wnder ihe eegis of the Oklahoma Depart- F - 3 gent of Public Safety, which, after in- > > " gvestigating 26 possibly mutilaicd animals : . “and consulting various patholugists, theft . p devvestigators and radiation experts, issued . *-@ report dated March 3, 1975. ¢ ‘The report was = masterpiee of accu- : \ention. The animals had died of “natura! . “eeuses.” And who was chopping away at ~ « the carcasses? “II was the opinion of the | ad exk-force tmembers that the hurnan’ in- tots, Sern be cote sft inivideoh oe a pe ae * eh eee Gee ee ee ee ee eh Ay —Yended" to discover any <inwolvemre! ef.. " 4975--1 received 8 phone eall from the “aempting to et in on 0 fad ot young were often mating Sages the poumalt eam fe . rue arurieaTtoL Ly LYSTERY In Utah, a United Stati department Of Agriculture vetdrine vate ” anhouriced that an animal he had autopsied had been Injected with bacteria. or a toxin, My’ cow tongue had heen postm in Sacramento, Californta, and the » had used Chiistmas Hamp: with pobed angels on them. -Aha! [ tho @ clue! For were not Squeaky Fri and her pal Sandy Good running a: Sacramento right at that Ume, acnou imminent gore—enJ were they no! attired in cod robes and red‘iennis 5 Had they sent the tongue? ft wa a tion I was never able to anmer. £ BT could arrange to have toaeonse 2: gitts if they had sent the tongue. S¢ hat funged at President Ford with people dissecting deod caresses for bio- logical or experimental purposes [empha- sis added]." The Teport also stated: “We are of the opinion that the human In- volvement in mutilations is a fad gener- ated by publicity and is only temporary.” A fad! You know: Hula Hoops, phone- booth parking, the twist, riots against the war, and now sectectomny and teenagers with secret dried udder sacs hidJen in their closets. The report's prophecy « did, in fact, come true; the mutilations virtu- ally ceased until the fall of 1975, when mutilations occurred: in the norths est part of the state. ane Mie iss jail. « o here had been mutilations on bout a month efter | recive sides of Colorado -in’ Noveriber': 90403 ‘wongte bovsien Twas in They spread in the spring of 1975, end . redo, for a poctry reading and s k by the fall, animals were being carved up = and E decided to diive doun wo | all over the state. Fibert County, ia par- County, which had been bauly | ticular, expericnced a summer and fall of the 1975 mute wave. My family Serror of the sort that talk-show comedi- drove along Colorsdo’s Rovte & ans ascribe to the strects of New York area of vast terrzin and fences th. City. People were afraid to venture fer * for miles, broken oogasionally bya abroad in country where * helicopters entrance. - hovered at night and anusiss cattle lav * weet we arrived id Kigis, thet stiff and mutilated inthe dawn. + I went do the sheriffs officr . yearned that a. muzifation had Po: ‘Despite the organized efforts of Haw- . “enforcement offiwials, the mutilations coe - Shier wih unison Re “ i Ent snows fell inthe fall; then they ‘cams * Feturaed frock The Chole eet: _ be a virtua! hah. The investigation hod » tity laboratory in Fest Cottim, white * gotten Wiser over the year: They Bow. sien the animiul—s temale Sits “for. bn ‘autopsy: Later, ects. met + blood drinkers.of sex-crazed Satanigts; if - Of the Derill’s pone mopped he: f ts nd . 7 vane withcER SND WTIENER 2. = @ch wrirdes were involved, the thinking _“dresied men with tilver-buckled be. t an “™ ~-: Even he the Star-Telegram: ‘articles ab--. went,.it wa ooly. pcripheralty, and a "Western shins: ‘who footed at | t. Pape > “Peared, however; mutitation’ were discoy:- rcavel for the reafwifiagos in.the shoppe, frankly,” ad Mert - ‘Hagesrya: ts af f, ot He , ered in ten more states, and were becom- * Band. The conversation tas Shout ta Tie. tee! * ing Increasingly weird; in Montana and . , mv VERY OWN LINGUA DONA EXCIsa - . Mulilitions. . * if i. ° “New Mexico, for instance, wounds were’ - J did not wint to become’ involved’in -> Elbert County fed hod is firm n fy ¢ 4 "x found to bave serrated edges. In Utah, a ‘this tase. In New York, where I five, -‘tons én early Apeil 1975, and © ' [- " United States, Department of Agriculture here had been several small items about Visited’ Ia July, the fumber was | 30; the Sure was to swell to aro: dy Fall: The cSumy Was 0 bivere*" mutilators, os there were only thre” iff’ 3 offi officers to cover 1864 square x eeteccoo oor ostd catch tne 7 cers would geil. clowe, and then th would vanish. The sheriff toid ne Vieinam the copter pilots had ka: hug the landscape even in rugsed 80 83 to muffle their own sour. There was an unstated etutuds the sheriff and hés.mon that, becau: * implications, was aetful w- think Somehow, in some way, the Gui is involved in the emulations *. " passep py siuTmatoas- Rt owas alnwet dark at ee | sheriff's affice ahd drove oo sve thong i BAS Weg eres the mutilations in the, press early, 1975; I had wads te ine ws way Be marked «n-sac (animal sacrifices}— opened - “during. my | investigation of the . nowt 73891 a i Bianson clan in [970 and: (97i—and forgoticn aboyt them. My mind jisd been | “pombarded for too many 'years-with gore datz, atv! [ really wanted a respite from the imapes of violence and snuff-buflery, especially regarding the killing of cattle. Then one morning—it was June 18, office of my literary agent. The caller said chat package forwarded to me from the’ publiher of ony Mammon bouk was evinc- ing odotifcrousness. Upon my urging. the wtappings were removed; inside was 8 for in which tesided a iarge cow's © “tongue. I instantly recalled sty Bile of emuntitutian clips and! the fect thal tongues