Mutilation Nation
This week, we discuss the cattle mutilation wave that hit the heartlands of the United States during the 1970s. This is how the near-collapse of the cattle industry and the end of the Vietnam War precipitated rumors of secret cults, extraterrestrials, cryptids, and a secret government conspiracy all hell-bent on slicing up cows. And also how this all relates to radical right-wing political movements in the American West.
Bonus Content: Close Encounters of the Doggy Kind and some Trotsky quotes
Primary Sources:
Michael J. Goleman, Wave of Mutilation: The Cattle Mutilation Phenomenon of the 1970s
Christopher O’Brien, Stalking the Herd: Unraveling the Cattle Mutilation Mystery
Bill Ellis, Raising the Devil: Satanism, New Religions, and the Media
Kansas City 41 Action News, Rancher mystified by cattle mutilations
KFOR Oklahoma News 4, Ranchers on edge after cow found mutilated in Oklahoma pasture