The 1897 Cow Abduction Hoax

On April 23, 1897, the Yates Center Farmer's Advocate, a Kansas newspaper, published an astonishing account. On the evening of April 19, local rancher Alexander Hamilton, his son, and a hired man witnessed a large, cigar-shaped UFO hovering over a corral. Hamilton reported seeing 'six of the strangest beings I ever saw' inside a carriage beneath the UFO. As they approached, they heard a calf crying and found it tangled in a fence with a rope extending upward. 'We tried to free it but couldn’t,' Hamilton recalled, 'so we cut the wire to watch as the ship, along with the heifer, slowly ascended and vanished to the northwest.'

The following day, Hamilton searched for the missing calf, only to discover that a neighbor had found its butchered remains in his pasture. Hamilton claimed the neighbor was perplexed by the absence of any tracks in the soft ground, adding to the mystery of the story.

Hamilton's claim was soon supported by an affidavit, signed by a dozen respected citizens, affirming that 'for truth and veracity we have never heard [Hamilton's] word questioned.' The story quickly spread, making its way into newspapers across the United States and even reaching Europe.

The tale resurfaced in the 1960s when ufologists rediscovered it, gaining renewed attention through books and magazines. However, in 1976, a Kansas woman came forward, revealing that shortly before the story was published in the Farmer's Advocate, Hamilton had boasted to his wife that the story was entirely fabricated. Hamilton was a member of a local liars' club known for inventing outlandish tales. According to the woman, 'The club soon broke up after the 'airship and cow' story. I guess that one had topped them all.'