Full Transcript for CARL HIGDON: ABDUCTED BY ALIENS 163,000 LIGHT-YEARS FROM EARTH?

00:04:42.240 of the forest had disappeared. There was no ordinary background noise, 64 00:04:42.579 --> 00:04:47.110 no birds calling, no rustling branches, no recognizable activity from 65 00:04:47.129 --> 00:04:52.970 the surrounding wilderness. Everything seemed unnaturally still. Then, Higdon noticed 66 00:04:53.029 --> 00:04:56.529 a strange sensation moving through his body. He described a 67 00:04:56.629 --> 00:05:00.410 tingling feeling, as though something unusual was happening to him physically. 68 00:05:01.069 --> 00:05:04.290 A sound from nearby caught his attention. He turned toward 69 00:05:04.310 --> 00:05:07.709 the trees. Standing there was a figure that he initially 70 00:05:07.769 --> 00:05:11.170 interpreted as a man. But as he looked closer, he 71 00:05:11.230 --> 00:05:14.790 realized this was no ordinary human being. The figure was 72 00:05:14.829 --> 00:05:18.470 approximately six feet tall, dressed in a black one-piece outfit 73 00:05:18.649 --> 00:05:22.139 with a wide belt. The belt featured a star-shaped design 74 00:05:22.379 --> 00:05:26.740 and a yellow emblem. Its physical appearance was particularly disturbing. 75 00:05:27.329 --> 00:05:30.750 Higdon described a slanted head, little or no visible chin, 76 00:05:31.129 --> 00:05:34.199 small eyes, and thin hair that appeared to stand straight 77 00:05:34.279 --> 00:05:36.980 out from the head. The legs were bowed, and the 78 00:05:37.160 --> 00:05:41.160 arms were unusually long. One arm ended in something resembling 79 00:05:41.199 --> 00:05:45.079 a rod or mechanical appendage rather than a normal human hand. 80 00:05:45.519 --> 00:05:48.379 The other appeared to terminate without a conventional hand at all. 81 00:05:48.860 --> 00:05:51.899 It was a bizarre-looking figure, and yet, according to Higdon, 82 00:05:52.160 --> 00:05:56.000 it didn't behave aggressively. Instead, it began speaking to him. 83 00:05:56.500 --> 00:06:00.279 In English, the being introduced itself using a name Higdon 84 00:06:00.300 --> 00:06:04.160 would later remember as Oso, sometimes referred to in accounts 85 00:06:04.300 --> 00:06:08.389 as Oso One. It reportedly began with an ordinary question, 86 00:06:08.910 --> 00:06:12.449 How are you? Higdon answered that he was fine. The 87 00:06:12.509 --> 00:06:16.529 conversation then took an even stranger turn. Aso asked whether 88 00:06:16.569 --> 00:06:19.829 he was hungry. Higdon said he wasn't particularly hungry, but 89 00:06:19.850 --> 00:06:23.209 the being produced a small container holding several pills. It 90 00:06:23.250 --> 00:06:26.329 reportedly indicated that taking one would eliminate the need for 91 00:06:26.439 --> 00:06:30.079 food for several days. Now, here's where the story takes 92 00:06:30.100 --> 00:06:33.939 an especially unusual turn. Higdon claimed that the container appeared 93 00:06:33.959 --> 00:06:36.899 to float toward him rather than being handed over normally. 94 00:06:37.579 --> 00:06:40.620 Despite the

circumstances, he accepted one of the pills and 95 00:06:40.720 --> 00:06:45.050 swallowed it. Why? That's a question worth considering. Here was 96 00:06:45.089 --> 00:06:47.370 a man standing in the middle of a remote forest, 97 00:06:47.670 --> 00:06:50.810 speaking to something that looked vaguely human, but was clearly 98 00:06:50.949 --> 00:06:54.490 unlike anything he had encountered before. He had just witnessed 99 00:06:54.529 --> 00:06:57.939 what he believed was an impossible event involving his rifle. 100 00:06:58.459 --> 00:07:01.860 And yet, rather than running away, he accepted a mysterious 101 00:07:01.959 --> 00:07:05.620 pill from the stranger. Perhaps he was confused, perhaps he 102 00:07:05.660 --> 00:07:09.310 was frightened, or perhaps the encounter had already affected his 103 00:07:09.370 --> 00:07:13.709 ability to make ordinary decisions. Whatever the explanation, Higdon was 104 00:07:13.769 --> 00:07:17.269 about to discover that the strange figure had something considerably 105 00:07:17.329 --> 00:07:21.149 more extraordinary in mind. also pointed toward him with its 106 00:07:21.269 --> 00:07:25.149 unusual appendage. And in the next moment, Higdon found himself 107 00:07:25.310 --> 00:07:29.410 inside something that appeared to be a transparent enclosure. The 108 00:07:29.470 --> 00:07:31.990 forest was no longer surrounding him in the way it 109 00:07:32.029 --> 00:07:34.850 had been moments earlier. He was about to take a 110 00:07:34.889 --> 00:07:38.089 journey that, according to his account, would carry him far 111 00:07:38.149 --> 00:07:41.850 beyond anything he could have imagined. When Higdon described what 112 00:07:41.910 --> 00:07:45.110 happened next, he gave investigators a picture of an experience 113 00:07:45.290 --> 00:07:48.149 that sounded more like science fiction than a hunting trip. 114 00:07:48.829 --> 00:07:53.350 He found himself inside a transparent, cube-shaped structure. The enclosure 115 00:07:53.389 --> 00:07:56.649 was approximately seven feet by seven feet, with enough room 116 00:07:56.670 --> 00:07:59.029 for its occupants and what appeared to be some sort 117 00:07:59.050 --> 00:08:02.569 of seating arrangement. It was unlike any aircraft he had 118 00:08:02.769 --> 00:08:07.319 ever seen. There were no conventional windows, cockpit instruments, or 119 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:11.860 recognizable controls. The walls appeared transparent, allowing him to see 120 00:08:11.879 --> 00:08:15.920 what was happening around him. Inside the structure were additional beings. 121 00:08:16.519 --> 00:08:19.279 The five elk he had been tracking were also present. 122 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:24.120 And according to Higdon, something about the animals was profoundly unusual. 123 00:08:24.740 --> 00:08:28.529 They appeared completely motionless. The elk that had been standing 124 00:08:28.550 --> 00:08:32.610 in the forest moments earlier were now inside this strange enclosure. 125 00:08:33.049 --> 00:08:37.250 seemingly frozen in place. Higdon had no idea how they 126 00:08:37.289 --> 00:08:40.960 had been transported there. He also had no idea how 127 00:08:41.000 --> 00:08:44.179 he had been brought inside. The being he called Oso 128 00:08:44.419 --> 00:08:48.600 seemed perfectly comfortable operating the craft. Higdon described a control 129 00:08:48.659 --> 00:08:52.460 system involving levers that could apparently be manipulated using the 130 00:08:52.519 --> 00:08:56.919 creature's unusual appendage. The technology seemed to respond to gestures 131 00:08:57.200 --> 00:09:00.690 rather than the physical controls familiar to humans. He was 132 00:09:00.750 --> 00:09:03.720 then given some kind of headgear or helmet, which became 133 00:09:03.799 --> 00:09:07.019 part of the strange sequence of events. At this point, 134 00:09:07.259 --> 00:09:10.740 the enclosure began moving. but it wasn't traveling along the 135 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:14.740 forest floor. It was taking off. Higdon described watching the 136 00:09:14.820 --> 00:09:18.399 earth recede beneath him. He recalled seeing a spherical object 137 00:09:18.590 --> 00:09:21.929 that he interpreted as the planet itself. And then came 138 00:09:21.990 --> 00:09:25.090 one of the most extraordinary claims in the entire account. 139 00:09:25.870 --> 00:09:29.269 Aso reportedly told him they were traveling approximately 163,000 light 140 00:09:29.340 --> 00:09:35.830 years to the being's home. Consider the implications of that statement. 141 00:09:36.370 --> 00:09:41.220 The Milky Way galaxy is approximately 100,000 light years across. 142 00:09:41.860 --> 00:09:45.740 A journey of 163,000 light years would take a traveler 143 00:09:45.860 --> 00:09:49.860 far beyond the familiar boundaries of our own galaxy. Of course, 144 00:09:50.139 --> 00:09:53.279 there is no independent evidence that such a journey occurred, 145 00:09:53.690 --> 00:09:57.409 and the distance is part of Higdon's reported recollection. But 146 00:09:57.450 --> 00:10:00.879 the detail is important because it establishes the scale of 147 00:10:00.960 --> 00:10:04.379 what he believed was happening. He wasn't describing a short 148 00:10:04.460 --> 00:10:07.850 flight in a conventional aircraft. He believed he was being 149 00:10:07.970 --> 00:10:13.230 transported to another world. The journey itself was apparently very brief. 150 00:10:13.789 --> 00:10:17.850 Higdon later described the destination as an extraordinary environment filled 151 00:10:17.889 --> 00:10:21.730 with unusual structures. One of the most memorable features was 152 00:10:21.789 --> 00:10:25.029 a towering building that reminded him of Seattle's Space Needle. 153 00:10:25.649 --> 00:10:29.750 The structure was reportedly illuminated by an intense, rotating light. 154 00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:34.100 The brightness was so powerful that Higdon described having difficulty 155 00:10:34.159 --> 00:10:38.179 looking toward it. The beings themselves

also seemed affected by 156 00:10:38.220 --> 00:10:42.840 the brightness. It was an environment completely outside his experience. 157 00:10:43.539 --> 00:10:46.940 But the strangest part of this journey wasn't necessarily where 158 00:10:46.980 --> 00:10:49.919 he had been taken. It was what happened when he arrived. 159 00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:53.639 Because after traveling what he believed was an astronomical distance, 160 00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:56.600 Higdon was about to discover that the beings had not 161 00:10:56.659 --> 00:10:59.480 brought him there simply to show him their world. They 162 00:10:59.519 --> 00:11:02.960 apparently had a specific purpose. And he was about to 163 00:11:03.019 --> 00:11:05.500 find out that he wasn't what they were looking for. 164 00:11:15.769 --> 00:11:19.259 Upon reaching the destination, Higdon described being taken into an 165 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:25.139 area associated with the towering illuminated structure. The architecture was unfamiliar, 166 00:11:25.480 --> 00:11:30.070 and the surroundings appeared almost otherworldly. He recalled seeing several 167 00:11:30.110 --> 00:11:33.899 individuals who looked more human than Osso. In some accounts, 168 00:11:34.220 --> 00:11:38.470 these figures are described as five human-appearing individuals. There was 169 00:11:38.509 --> 00:11:42.529 something about the environment that suggested a controlled facility rather 170 00:11:42.570 --> 00:11:47.269 than an ordinary settlement. Higdon described a scanning apparatus, sometimes 171 00:11:47.350 --> 00:11:52.309 characterized as a glass-like shield or examination device. The impression 172 00:11:52.370 --> 00:11:56.740 was that he was being evaluated. Why would an extraterrestrial 173 00:11:56.820 --> 00:12:01.580 group transport a human hunter across an alleged distance of 163,000 174 00:12:01.580 --> 00:12:07.110 light years only to examine him? That question becomes central 175 00:12:07.139 --> 00:12:10.730 to the entire encounter. According to Higdon, the beings were 176 00:12:10.809 --> 00:12:14.190 searching for something they needed. He was apparently being assessed 177 00:12:14.370 --> 00:12:17.389 to determine whether he was suitable for their purposes. But 178 00:12:17.409 --> 00:12:20.629 whatever those purposes might have been, the evaluation did not 179 00:12:20.690 --> 00:12:23.870 go as they had hoped. The message he remembered was simple. 180 00:12:24.370 --> 00:12:27.899 He wasn't what they needed. Think about how unsettling that 181 00:12:27.940 --> 00:12:31.159 would be. You have supposedly been taken from your home planet, 182 00:12:31.500 --> 00:12:35.139 transported to an unfamiliar world, and subjected to an examination 183 00:12:35.179 --> 00:12:39.070 by beings whose technology is beyond your understanding. Then you're 184 00:12:39.090 --> 00:12:43.769 told that you aren't suitable. Suitable for what? Medical experimentation? 185 00:12:44.230 --> 00:12:48.250 Some kind of biological requirement? A mission involving human beings? 186 00:12:48.950 --> 00:12:52.610 Higdon's account never established a definitive answer. And that leaves 187 00:12:52.669 --> 00:12:55.309 us with one of the more frustrating aspects of the story. 188 00:12:55.750 --> 00:12:59.110 We have a reported destination, an alleged examination, and a 189 00:12:59.169 --> 00:13:03.470 stated rejection, but very little reliable information about the actual 190 00:13:03.529 --> 00:13:07.340 objective of the beings. At some point, Higdon was returned 191 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:11.100 to the transparent enclosure. The journey back apparently happened with 192 00:13:11.120 --> 00:13:14.909 the same strange efficiency as the trip outward. But the 193 00:13:14.950 --> 00:13:20.009 return wasn't a clean arrival. There was confusion, disorientation, and 194 00:13:20.029 --> 00:13:23.789 a substantial gap in his memory. Higdon would later struggle 195 00:13:23.840 --> 00:13:27.720 to reconstruct exactly what had happened during the experience. And 196 00:13:27.740 --> 00:13:30.820 when he eventually found himself back in Wyoming, the situation 197 00:13:30.840 --> 00:13:34.070 was far from normal. His truck wasn't where he remembered 198 00:13:34.129 --> 00:13:37.470 leaving it, the elk were gone, and the afternoon had 199 00:13:37.590 --> 00:13:41.509 somehow become night. Whatever had happened inside that transparent cube, 200 00:13:41.870 --> 00:13:44.840 Higdon was now back in the wilderness, with no obvious 201 00:13:44.909 --> 00:13:47.980 explanation for the events that had just taken place. Or, 202 00:13:48.299 --> 00:13:51.860 at least, no explanation that could be verified. By now, 203 00:13:52.159 --> 00:13:55.820 the afternoon was long gone. Carl Higdon had entered the 204 00:13:55.860 --> 00:13:59.330 forest during daylight, but when he eventually reappeared in the area, 205 00:13:59.669 --> 00:14:03.450 darkness had settled over the mountains. And there was another problem. 206 00:14:03.970 --> 00:14:07.830 He couldn't find his truck. Remember, Higdon had driven into 207 00:14:07.850 --> 00:14:11.340 the forest and parked in a particular location before setting 208 00:14:11.399 --> 00:14:15.279 out to hunt. Now, according to the account he gave investigators, 209 00:14:15.620 --> 00:14:19.039 the vehicle was approximately three miles away from where he 210 00:14:19.100 --> 00:14:23.179 remembered leaving it. It was also stuck in a muddy area. 211 00:14:23.700 --> 00:14:25.889 This wasn't simply a case of a hunter losing his 212 00:14:25.950 --> 00:14:29.429 bearings and walking in circles. The vehicle was a two-wheel 213 00:14:29.470 --> 00:14:32.509 drive pickup, and the location where it was discovered was 214 00:14:32.549 --> 00:14:36.730 reportedly so difficult to access that rescuers needed four-wheel drive 215 00:14:36.789 --> 00:14:40.289 vehicles to reach it and pull it out. Higdon eventually 216 00:14:40.350 --> 00:14:43.379 managed to use the

truck's radio to contact his employer, 217 00:14:43.720 --> 00:14:48.059 Roy Fleming, and explain approximately where he was. That call 218 00:14:48.100 --> 00:14:51.460 would set off a search and rescue effort involving several people. 219 00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:55.909 Among those responding were Sheriff Ogburn, Deputy Sheriff Ed Tierney, 220 00:14:56.230 --> 00:14:59.710 Roy Fleming, and several other local men. They entered the 221 00:14:59.750 --> 00:15:03.360 wilderness with four-wheel drive vehicles and began searching for Higdon. 222 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:07.980 At approximately 11.40 that night, they located him. But the 223 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:12.929 condition they found him in was alarming. Higdon was confused, disoriented, 224 00:15:13.169 --> 00:15:17.330 and struggling to communicate. He reportedly had difficulty recognizing his 225 00:15:17.490 --> 00:15:21.149 own wife, Marjorie, who had been waiting nearby with another couple. 226 00:15:21.700 --> 00:15:25.100 He was also reportedly shouting about the elk. They took 227 00:15:25.139 --> 00:15:29.559 my elk! It was an extraordinary reaction, particularly considering everything 228 00:15:29.600 --> 00:15:32.179 he would later claim had happened. He seemed to be 229 00:15:32.220 --> 00:15:34.360 in a state of distress, almost as though he had 230 00:15:34.440 --> 00:15:37.820 just emerged from an experience that his mind couldn't properly process. 231 00:15:38.879 --> 00:15:41.740 His wife and others had also witnessed something unusual while 232 00:15:41.779 --> 00:15:45.200 waiting for the rescue party. According to the investigation conducted 233 00:15:45.240 --> 00:15:48.570 by Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle, they observed a flashing light 234 00:15:48.590 --> 00:15:52.549 in the vicinity for approximately 20 minutes. The light reportedly 235 00:15:52.610 --> 00:15:56.389 changed between red, green, and white, pulsing as it moved 236 00:15:56.429 --> 00:16:00.289 through the darkness. Now, this observation is interesting because it 237 00:16:00.350 --> 00:16:03.889 wasn't simply Higdon describing something he believed he had encountered earlier. 238 00:16:04.809 --> 00:16:07.090 Other people were reporting an unusual light in the same 239 00:16:07.149 --> 00:16:10.360 general area during the search. That doesn't establish that the 240 00:16:10.399 --> 00:16:13.500 light was extraterrestrial, of course. It doesn't even establish that 241 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:16.659 it was connected to Higdon's experience. But it does add 242 00:16:16.720 --> 00:16:21.210 another curious detail to an already unusual evening. Higdon was 243 00:16:21.250 --> 00:16:24.610 taken to Carbon County Memorial Hospital at approximately 2 o'clock 244 00:16:24.629 --> 00:16:27.830 in the morning on October 26th. He would remain under 245 00:16:27.929 --> 00:16:31.769 observation until the following Monday. And while the medical examination 246 00:16:31.809 --> 00:16:34.820 did not establish that he had been abducted, the circumstances 247 00:16:34.860 --> 00:16:38.440 surrounding his condition would become an important part of the investigation. 248 00:16:39.309 --> 00:16:42.309 there was also the matter of the missing time. The 249 00:16:42.370 --> 00:16:45.610 original timeline placed Higdon in the forest at approximately 4 250 00:16:45.610 --> 00:16:50.090 o'clock in the afternoon. He had contacted his employer around 6.30, 251 00:16:50.090 --> 00:16:54.570 and rescuers eventually located him at approximately 11.40 that night. 252 00:16:55.210 --> 00:16:57.990 The precise duration of the alleged abduction and the missing 253 00:16:58.029 --> 00:17:02.220 time interval varies in later retellings, but the central problem remained. 254 00:17:02.779 --> 00:17:05.460 Higdon was unable to account for a substantial portion of 255 00:17:05.500 --> 00:17:08.720 his time in the wilderness, and his explanation involved a 256 00:17:08.779 --> 00:17:17.750 journey to another world. When word of Higdon's experience began circulating, 257 00:17:18.049 --> 00:17:21.529 the case attracted the attention of UFO researchers. One of 258 00:17:21.549 --> 00:17:25.410 the most important investigators was Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle, a 259 00:17:25.450 --> 00:17:28.579 psychologist at the University of Wyoming who had become involved 260 00:17:28.599 --> 00:17:32.640 in the study of UFO encounters. Sprinkle wasn't simply interested 261 00:17:32.680 --> 00:17:37.160 in collecting sensational stories. He wanted to interview witnesses, examine 262 00:17:37.180 --> 00:17:41.849 their accounts, document physical evidence, and explore the psychological dimensions 263 00:17:41.950 --> 00:17:45.190 of what they reported. He was joined by Rick Kenyon 264 00:17:45.289 --> 00:17:48.150 and Robert Nantkis, both of whom had become involved in 265 00:17:48.170 --> 00:17:53.710 the initial investigation. On November 2nd, 1974, Sprinkle and Nantkis 266 00:17:53.950 --> 00:17:57.750 met with Higdon and his family. The interview lasted approximately 267 00:17:57.849 --> 00:18:02.430 four hours. They discussed the events of October 25th, photographed 268 00:18:02.450 --> 00:18:06.380 the area where the encounter reportedly occurred, documented Higdon's descriptions, 269 00:18:06.720 --> 00:18:10.140 and examined the physical object he claimed was the damaged bullet. 270 00:18:11.180 --> 00:18:14.180 They also used hypnotic procedures in an attempt to recover 271 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:18.500 details that Higdon could not consciously remember. And this is 272 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:22.990 where the case becomes particularly interesting. Because unlike many UFO 273 00:18:23.049 --> 00:18:26.559 abduction stories that rely almost entirely on a witness's recollection, 274 00:18:26.980 --> 00:18:30.579 Higdon's experience included several claims that investigators could at least 275 00:18:30.700 --> 00:18:35.299 attempt to examine. Let's start with the bullet. The mangled bullet. 276 00:18:36.019 -->

00:18:39.099 Higdon had kept the copper-jacketed projectile that he claimed had 277 00:18:39.160 --> 00:18:42.980 stopped approximately 50 feet from his rifle. Photographs were taken, 278 00:18:43.240 --> 00:18:46.289 and the object was eventually made available for examination by 279 00:18:46.329 --> 00:18:50.490 an APRO consultant in metallurgy, Dr. Walter Walker. The bullet 280 00:18:50.509 --> 00:18:54.349 was unusual enough to attract attention. Higdon's explanation was that 281 00:18:54.369 --> 00:18:57.190 it had struck some sort of invisible barrier, causing the 282 00:18:57.230 --> 00:19:01.559 lead core to separate from the copper jacket. That interpretation, naturally, 283 00:19:01.839 --> 00:19:04.940 raised a number of questions. What could cause a bullet 284 00:19:05.000 --> 00:19:08.059 to lose its lead core while leaving behind a severely 285 00:19:08.099 --> 00:19:11.789 deformed jacket? Could it have struck a hard object? Could 286 00:19:11.809 --> 00:19:14.250 it have been damaged in some other way? And was 287 00:19:14.289 --> 00:19:18.250 there any reason to connect its condition to an extraterrestrial encounter? 288 00:19:19.029 --> 00:19:22.299 The physical object was real and photographed, but its existence 289 00:19:22.359 --> 00:19:27.839 did not independently establish the extraordinary circumstances Higdon described. There 290 00:19:27.880 --> 00:19:31.880 was also an important limitation. The lead core was never recovered. 291 00:19:32.609 --> 00:19:35.589 Higdon and his family reportedly returned to the location during 292 00:19:35.609 --> 00:19:39.039 the summer of 1975 and searched the area using a 293 00:19:39.099 --> 00:19:42.940 metal detector. They were unsuccessful, so the bullet remained an 294 00:19:42.980 --> 00:19:45.950 intriguing piece of the case, but not a smoking gun 295 00:19:46.089 --> 00:19:49.769 in the literal or figurative sense. The truck that shouldn't 296 00:19:49.789 --> 00:19:53.880 have been there. Then there was the pickup. Investigators documented 297 00:19:53.890 --> 00:19:57.619 the circumstances surrounding its recovery. The vehicle had reportedly been 298 00:19:57.660 --> 00:20:00.799 found in a muddy location approximately three miles from where 299 00:20:00.839 --> 00:20:05.200 Higdon initially parked it. Several four-wheel drive vehicles had difficulty 300 00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:07.859 reaching the area, and the truck had to be towed out. 301 00:20:08.500 --> 00:20:11.940 This became one of the strongest physical questions surrounding the incident. 302 00:20:12.500 --> 00:20:15.240 How did Higdon get there? Had he driven the truck 303 00:20:15.289 --> 00:20:19.029 himself and become stuck? Had someone else moved it? Was 304 00:20:19.049 --> 00:20:22.650 the terrain simply more accessible than later descriptions suggested? Or 305 00:20:22.670 --> 00:20:26.789 was there something genuinely unusual about its location? The available 306 00:20:26.809 --> 00:20:29.549 investigation did

not establish that the vehicle had been moved 307 00:20:29.589 --> 00:20:34.019 by anything other than ordinary physical means. But the circumstances 308 00:20:34.039 --> 00:20:37.920 were sufficiently unusual to remain part of the case's enduring mystery. 309 00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:42.099 And there was another detail. During interviews, Higdon described the 310 00:20:42.140 --> 00:20:45.819 beings apparently causing objects to disappear or move through some 311 00:20:45.859 --> 00:20:50.589 kind of unusual process. Under hypnotic questioning, he even suggested 312 00:20:50.609 --> 00:20:53.009 that the truck had been made to disappear and reappear 313 00:20:53.089 --> 00:20:58.259 somewhere else. That is an extraordinary claim. Unfortunately, no independent 314 00:20:58.339 --> 00:21:01.119 evidence established that the truck had ever vanished or been 315 00:21:01.160 --> 00:21:06.119 transported through some unknown technology. The medical examination. Higdon was 316 00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:09.599 admitted to Carbon County Memorial Hospital shortly after being recovered. 317 00:21:10.119 --> 00:21:14.039 The physician who treated him was Dr. R.C. Tonko. According 318 00:21:14.059 --> 00:21:18.980 to Sprinkle's later investigation, Tonko remembered Higdon as disoriented and confused. 319 00:21:19.740 --> 00:21:22.460 He was reluctant to be touched, complained about bright lights, 320 00:21:22.700 --> 00:21:26.369 and had difficulty with his eyes. The attending nurse, Ella Pedersen, 321 00:21:26.710 --> 00:21:29.670 also remembered him as being in a depleted condition. She 322 00:21:29.710 --> 00:21:32.500 described him as listless, as though all his energy had 323 00:21:32.519 --> 00:21:36.710 been drained. This is significant because it provides independent testimony 324 00:21:36.930 --> 00:21:40.170 about Higdon's condition after the incident. But we need to 325 00:21:40.230 --> 00:21:43.890 be careful about what that actually proves. It supports the 326 00:21:43.930 --> 00:21:47.690 fact that he was experiencing physical and psychological distress. It 327 00:21:47.730 --> 00:21:51.420 does not establish what caused it. Some later versions of 328 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:54.920 the story claim that medical testing revealed extraordinary vitamin levels, 329 00:21:55.339 --> 00:22:00.099 or that old tuberculosis scars had mysteriously disappeared from his lungs. However, 330 00:22:00.420 --> 00:22:04.680 Sprinkle's investigation records a more complicated picture. Dr. Tonko did 331 00:22:04.740 --> 00:22:07.549 not recall telling Higdon that his blood was unusually rich 332 00:22:07.640 --> 00:22:11.410 or supercharged. He also reported that the hospital x-rays were normal. 333 00:22:11.970 --> 00:22:15.470 Higdon's earlier tuberculosis history could not be fully verified through 334 00:22:15.490 --> 00:22:19.009 the original medical records available to the investigators. So those 335 00:22:19.049 --> 00:22:22.950 more dramatic medical claims should be treated cautiously. The genuine 336 00:22:22.990 --> 00:22:26.430 medical observations are interesting enough without adding details that the 337 00:22:26.470 --> 00:22:30.220 investigation couldn't substantiate. And that brings us to the man 338 00:22:30.259 --> 00:22:35.109 who spent considerable time trying to understand what Higdon remembered. Dr. 339 00:22:35.910 --> 00:22:40.150 Leo Sprinkle. Because his investigation would eventually become one of 340 00:22:40.190 --> 00:23:00.299 the most important written records of this extraordinary case. As 341 00:23:00.319 --> 00:23:04.759 the investigation continued, Sprinkle conducted additional interviews with Higdon and 342 00:23:04.799 --> 00:23:08.220 his family. Hypnotic procedures were used in an attempt to 343 00:23:08.259 --> 00:23:11.660 explore the gaps in his memory. These sessions produced more 344 00:23:11.740 --> 00:23:15.410 details about the alleged journey, the beings, the strange enclosure, 345 00:23:15.730 --> 00:23:19.549 and what had happened at the destination. One particularly interesting 346 00:23:19.650 --> 00:23:22.890 aspect was Higdon's description of the way the aliens supposedly 347 00:23:23.049 --> 00:23:28.369 operated their technology. He described objects moving without conventional physical contact. 348 00:23:28.930 --> 00:23:32.230 He also provided further information about the examination he believed 349 00:23:32.250 --> 00:23:36.079 had taken place. But hypnosis presents a major problem when 350 00:23:36.119 --> 00:23:40.309 investigating extraordinary experiences. It is not a reliable way to 351 00:23:40.369 --> 00:23:44.809 retrieve accurate memories. People under hypnosis can become more confident 352 00:23:44.849 --> 00:23:48.109 in details that are inaccurate, and suggestions from an interviewer 353 00:23:48.329 --> 00:23:51.950 can influence what they remember or report. That doesn't mean 354 00:23:52.009 --> 00:23:56.089 Higdon was deliberately inventing anything. It means the additional details 355 00:23:56.170 --> 00:24:01.150 obtained under hypnosis cannot automatically be treated as independent confirmation 356 00:24:01.410 --> 00:24:04.750 of the original story. Sprinkle understood that there were competing 357 00:24:04.789 --> 00:24:08.119 explanations and that the evidence needed to be evaluated carefully. 358 00:24:08.779 --> 00:24:13.079 He also explored Higdon's personality, background, and reputation among people 359 00:24:13.119 --> 00:24:16.720 who knew him. Several acquaintances regarded him as an honest 360 00:24:16.849 --> 00:24:22.029 and quiet-spoken individual. The investigation also included psychological assessment and 361 00:24:22.109 --> 00:24:26.710 polygraph testing. Sprinkles' published account described Higdon as being regarded 362 00:24:26.809 --> 00:24:30.170 as truthful in most areas, although the results concerning the 363 00:24:30.299 --> 00:24:35.180 UFO experience itself were more complicated. A polygraph

cannot establish 364 00:24:35.220 --> 00:24:39.400 whether an extraordinary event actually occurred. At best, it measures 365 00:24:39.500 --> 00:24:43.630 physiological responses associated with questioning, and its results are not 366 00:24:43.690 --> 00:24:48.150 definitive proof of truthfulness. Still, Sprinkles' assessment of Higdon as 367 00:24:48.210 --> 00:24:51.440 a person is worth mentioning. he did not come away 368 00:24:51.500 --> 00:24:55.529 believing that he had encountered an obvious fraud. In his 369 00:24:55.529 --> 00:25:00.410 1979 publication, UFO Phenomena and the Behavioral Scientist, Sprinkle devoted 370 00:25:00.519 --> 00:25:04.019 an entire chapter to the investigation. It was a detailed 371 00:25:04.059 --> 00:25:08.880 examination that included interviews, photographs, medical information, the bullet, and 372 00:25:08.900 --> 00:25:12.470 the various interpretations of the encounter. and his final position 373 00:25:12.670 --> 00:25:16.940 was particularly interesting. Sprinkle admitted that the investigation had not 374 00:25:17.000 --> 00:25:20.680 established the validity of the UFO experience. He couldn't prove 375 00:25:20.720 --> 00:25:24.470 that Higdon had encountered an extraterrestrial being. He couldn't prove 376 00:25:24.490 --> 00:25:27.589 that a spaceship had transported him to another planet. But 377 00:25:27.650 --> 00:25:31.210 Sprinkle did believe that Higdon was describing a genuine experience 378 00:25:31.390 --> 00:25:34.769 that had happened to him. In other words, Sprinkle distinguished 379 00:25:34.809 --> 00:25:37.910 between believing that a witness was sincere, and believing that 380 00:25:37.950 --> 00:25:42.359 the witness's interpretation of an event was necessarily correct. That 381 00:25:42.420 --> 00:25:48.240 distinction is crucial. A person can genuinely experience something frightening, confusing, 382 00:25:48.519 --> 00:25:53.440 and seemingly impossible without necessarily understanding what happened. And in 383 00:25:53.500 --> 00:25:57.349 Higdon's case, the mystery was far from resolved. Because the 384 00:25:57.410 --> 00:26:02.099 more investigators examined the account, the more questions emerged. Why 385 00:26:02.140 --> 00:26:05.200 had the beings approached him? Why were they searching for something? 386 00:26:05.799 --> 00:26:08.519 Why had they apparently taken the elk? And what did 387 00:26:08.539 --> 00:26:11.579 they mean when they decided he wasn't suitable? There was 388 00:26:11.740 --> 00:26:16.200 one possibility that Sprinkle himself considered particularly interesting. He noted 389 00:26:16.259 --> 00:26:19.420 Higdon's reported history of a vasectomy and raised the question 390 00:26:19.440 --> 00:26:22.089 of whether this could somehow relate to the beings' decision 391 00:26:22.329 --> 00:26:25.890 that he wasn't what they needed. It was speculation, not 392 00:26:25.930 --> 00:26:30.809 an established explanation. but it introduces an unsettling possibility. What 393 00:26:30.849 --> 00:26:33.829 if the encounter, assuming it happened as described, was not 394 00:26:33.910 --> 00:26:37.250 simply an accidental meeting? What if Higdon had been selected 395 00:26:37.289 --> 00:26:40.150 for a specific purpose? And what if the beings were 396 00:26:40.170 --> 00:26:45.349 looking for a particular biological characteristic? The investigation never answered 397 00:26:45.390 --> 00:26:50.970 that question. So, after all the interviews, medical examinations, physical evidence, 398 00:26:51.230 --> 00:26:55.569 and psychological evaluations, what are we actually left with? The 399 00:26:55.630 --> 00:26:59.730 Carl Higdon case has several competing explanations, and none can 400 00:26:59.750 --> 00:27:04.849 be completely ignored. Let's look at the possibilities. The Extraterrestrial 401 00:27:04.950 --> 00:27:08.940 Abduction Theory The most obvious interpretation is the one Higdon 402 00:27:08.960 --> 00:27:13.460 himself believed. He encountered an extraterrestrial being, was taken aboard 403 00:27:13.500 --> 00:27:18.069 an advanced craft, transported to another world, examined, and eventually 404 00:27:18.180 --> 00:27:22.589 returned to Earth. Supporters of this explanation point to several details. 405 00:27:23.210 --> 00:27:27.039 The unusual bullet recovered from the reported encounter. The difficult 406 00:27:27.079 --> 00:27:30.880 location where his pickup truck was discovered. His confused physical 407 00:27:30.920 --> 00:27:35.000 condition after being found. The unusual flashing light observed by 408 00:27:35.079 --> 00:27:38.009 people waiting for the rescue party. The fact that several 409 00:27:38.049 --> 00:27:41.809 investigators considered Higdon sincere and found no obvious reason to 410 00:27:41.849 --> 00:27:45.960 believe he was deliberately fabricating the story. The transparent craft, 411 00:27:46.220 --> 00:27:50.000 the unusual humanoid, and the alleged journey are also distinctive 412 00:27:50.099 --> 00:27:53.539 elements that separate this case from an ordinary UFO sighting. 413 00:27:54.240 --> 00:27:57.809 But there is a significant problem. None of those details 414 00:27:58.009 --> 00:28:02.930 independently demonstrates extraterrestrial involvement. The bullet could have been damaged 415 00:28:02.970 --> 00:28:07.460 through ordinary means. The truck's location, while unusual, does not 416 00:28:07.539 --> 00:28:11.720 establish that it was transported by unknown technology. The flashing 417 00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:15.380 light was never conclusively identified, and there is no independent 418 00:28:15.460 --> 00:28:19.349 evidence of a journey to another planet. The extraterrestrial explanation 419 00:28:19.390 --> 00:28:22.250 remains possible within the boundaries of the story, but it 420 00:28:22.289 --> 00:28:27.640 has not been demonstrated. The psychological explanation. Another possibility is 421 00:28:27.660 --> 00:28:31.579 that Higdon experienced a

period of confusion, altered perception, or 422 00:28:31.700 --> 00:28:35.140 memory disruption. Hypnosis may then have helped construct a more 423 00:28:35.240 --> 00:28:39.630 elaborate narrative around an experience he couldn't initially explain. This 424 00:28:39.769 --> 00:28:43.369 doesn't require assuming that Higdon was lying. Human memory is 425 00:28:43.410 --> 00:28:48.049 remarkably complicated. people can experience genuine events, lose portions of 426 00:28:48.069 --> 00:28:53.980 their recollection, and subsequently fill gaps with interpretations influenced by questions, expectations, 427 00:28:54.359 --> 00:29:00.140 and imagination. The combination of a stressful hunting trip, isolation, disorientation, 428 00:29:00.460 --> 00:29:05.049 and possible physiological factors could have contributed to an unusual experience. 429 00:29:05.670 --> 00:29:08.730 The difficulty is that this explanation also doesn't account neatly 430 00:29:08.950 --> 00:29:13.000 for every reported circumstance, particularly the physical location of the 431 00:29:13.059 --> 00:29:16.180 truck and the observations made by the search party. The 432 00:29:16.279 --> 00:29:19.849 Ordinary Accident Theory There is also the possibility that Higdon 433 00:29:19.890 --> 00:29:23.190 became lost, suffered some sort of accident or medical episode, 434 00:29:23.490 --> 00:29:27.299 and subsequently misinterpreted portions of what happened. Perhaps the bullet 435 00:29:27.339 --> 00:29:30.500 struck an object. Perhaps he wandered farther than he realized. 436 00:29:31.079 --> 00:29:34.890 Perhaps he became confused and drove into difficult terrain. A 437 00:29:34.950 --> 00:29:40.460 combination of ordinary events could have produced a genuinely frightening experience. However, 438 00:29:40.759 --> 00:29:44.500 the available evidence doesn't establish exactly how such a sequence 439 00:29:44.579 --> 00:29:47.380 would have unfolded. And there is a reason this case 440 00:29:47.420 --> 00:29:50.970 continues to attract attention. Unlike a simple report of a 441 00:29:51.029 --> 00:29:54.400 strange light in the sky, Higdon's account involved a series 442 00:29:54.440 --> 00:29:58.250 of events that investigators could partially document. There was a 443 00:29:58.329 --> 00:30:01.809 damaged bullet. There was a stranded vehicle. There was a 444 00:30:01.930 --> 00:30:05.170 search operation. There were witnesses who described his condition when 445 00:30:05.190 --> 00:30:08.369 he was found. Those details make the case worth examining. 446 00:30:08.829 --> 00:30:12.059 They don't prove the extraordinary explanation, but they also make 447 00:30:12.099 --> 00:30:15.119 it difficult to dismiss the entire episode with a casual 448 00:30:15.160 --> 00:30:19.140 wave of the hand. The most unusual possibility. There is 449 00:30:19.319 --> 00:30:23.190 one more interpretation worth considering. What if the experience wasn't 450 00:30:23.250 --> 00:30:27.390 a conventional alien abduction at all? Some researchers have suggested 451 00:30:27.619 --> 00:30:31.400 that UFO encounters may involve phenomena that don't fit neatly 452 00:30:31.500 --> 00:30:35.700 into the traditional idea of spacecraft traveling between planets. Could 453 00:30:35.720 --> 00:30:39.079 the experience have involved an altered state of consciousness? Could 454 00:30:39.140 --> 00:30:43.859 some unidentified environmental phenomenon have contributed to the events? Could 455 00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:47.200 Higdon have encountered something that his mind interpreted through the 456 00:30:47.339 --> 00:30:51.460 imagery and technology available to him? These are questions rather 457 00:30:51.500 --> 00:30:54.200 than conclusions, but they bring us back to something that 458 00:30:54.220 --> 00:30:58.849 makes UFO research so difficult. The witness describes an experience, 459 00:30:59.309 --> 00:31:03.410 investigators document the available evidence, and then everyone attempts to 460 00:31:03.509 --> 00:31:08.880 fit those observations into an explanation. Sometimes the explanation is obvious, 461 00:31:09.420 --> 00:31:13.599 sometimes it isn't, and occasionally the evidence simply doesn't take 462 00:31:13.660 --> 00:31:17.170 us far enough. The Carl Higdon encounter took place more 463 00:31:17.210 --> 00:31:22.119 than half a century ago. On October 25th, 1974, an 464 00:31:22.279 --> 00:31:25.680 oil field worker went into the Wyoming wilderness to hunt elk. 465 00:31:26.279 --> 00:31:30.049 By the time the evening ended, he had been found confused, exhausted, 466 00:31:30.369 --> 00:31:33.049 and stranded with his pickup truck in a remote location. 467 00:31:33.750 --> 00:31:35.940 He told a story that would eventually become one of 468 00:31:35.960 --> 00:31:40.400 the more unusual cases in the history of alleged alien abductions. 469 00:31:41.039 --> 00:31:44.019 And unlike many stories that gradually grow more elaborate through 470 00:31:44.099 --> 00:31:48.279 decades of retelling, Higdon's encounter received serious attention from UFO 471 00:31:48.339 --> 00:31:53.049 researchers almost immediately. The original newspaper account appeared just four 472 00:31:53.130 --> 00:31:58.369 days after the incident. Dr. Leo Sprinkle began investigating within days, 473 00:31:58.690 --> 00:32:02.680 and his work eventually produced a substantial written examination published 474 00:32:02.759 --> 00:32:06.910 in 1979. That investigation remains one of the most important 475 00:32:06.970 --> 00:32:10.819 sources for understanding the case because it includes contemporary interviews, 476 00:32:11.079 --> 00:32:16.420 Higdon's own statements, medical information, photographs, and the investigator's assessments. 477 00:32:17.089 --> 00:32:19.930 It also reveals something important about the way the story 478 00:32:19.950 --> 00:32:23.890 has evolved. Some versions circulating today contain details that are 479 00:32:23.930 --> 00:32:27.599 more

dramatic than those established in the original investigation. The 480 00:32:27.640 --> 00:32:32.369 claims about extraordinary blood results and disappearing tuberculosis scars, for example, 481 00:32:32.710 --> 00:32:35.589 are not supported by the medical information Sprinkle was able 482 00:32:35.630 --> 00:32:39.690 to verify. The distinction matters. A strange story doesn't need 483 00:32:39.890 --> 00:32:43.369 every embellishment attached to it to remain interesting. In fact, 484 00:32:43.589 --> 00:32:47.369 the documented uncertainties are what make the Higdon case so compelling. 485 00:32:47.970 --> 00:32:50.710 We know that Carl Higdon went hunting. We know that 486 00:32:50.750 --> 00:32:53.789 he was later found in a confused condition. We know 487 00:32:53.829 --> 00:32:57.140 that his vehicle was recovered from difficult terrain. We know 488 00:32:57.180 --> 00:33:00.619 that his wife and others reported an unusual flashing light 489 00:33:00.680 --> 00:33:04.599 during the rescue operation. We know that investigators photographed the 490 00:33:04.660 --> 00:33:08.539 unusual bullet and interviewed people who had encountered Higdon shortly 491 00:33:08.680 --> 00:33:11.779 after the incident. We also know that the investigation failed 492 00:33:11.799 --> 00:33:15.619 to establish that an extraterrestrial encounter had taken place. What 493 00:33:15.660 --> 00:33:18.450 we don't know is what caused the events that night. 494 00:33:19.029 --> 00:33:22.630 And that is where the story ultimately rests. The case 495 00:33:22.670 --> 00:33:28.009 remains an alleged abduction, not a verified extraterrestrial encounter. There 496 00:33:28.069 --> 00:33:31.769 is no publicly established physical proof that Higdon traveled to 497 00:33:31.809 --> 00:33:36.410 another planet, and no independently verified identification of the being 498 00:33:36.470 --> 00:33:39.789 he called Oso. But the story has endured because of 499 00:33:39.849 --> 00:33:43.630 its unusual details and because the original investigation took the 500 00:33:43.690 --> 00:33:46.829 time to examine them rather than simply dismissing the witness. 501 00:33:47.549 --> 00:33:50.720 And perhaps the most unsettling aspect isn't the claim that 502 00:33:50.779 --> 00:33:54.940 Higdon visited another world. It's the possibility that, if his 503 00:33:54.980 --> 00:33:58.750 account was even partly accurate, the beings he encountered were 504 00:33:58.829 --> 00:34:03.000 searching for something specific. They apparently approached him, offered him 505 00:34:03.039 --> 00:34:07.640 a strange substance, transported him somewhere beyond his understanding, and 506 00:34:07.700 --> 00:34:11.440 subjected him to an examination. Then they decided he wasn't 507 00:34:11.480 --> 00:34:14.159 what they needed. What did they need? Were they looking 508 00:34:14.179 --> 00:34:16.989 for a particular type of human being? Were they conducting 509 00:34:17.050 --> 00:34:20.010 some kind of biological research? Were the elk part of 510 00:34:20.030 --> 00:34:23.909 the objective? Or was the entire sequence a distorted interpretation 511 00:34:24.010 --> 00:34:27.420 of something far more ordinary? We don't have the answers, 512 00:34:27.840 --> 00:34:31.110 and perhaps we never will. Imagine returning to the Medicine 513 00:34:31.150 --> 00:34:34.789 Bow National Forest today. The mountains are still there. The 514 00:34:34.849 --> 00:34:38.550 trees still stretch across the valleys. The same remote wilderness 515 00:34:38.590 --> 00:34:41.559 surrounds the area where Carl Higdon said his life took 516 00:34:41.579 --> 00:34:46.139 an extraordinary turn. Somewhere out there, the story of October 25th, 517 00:34:46.139 --> 00:34:51.710 1974 remains frozen in time. A hunter takes aim. A 518 00:34:51.789 --> 00:34:55.690 bullet travels strangely through the air. A figure emerges from 519 00:34:55.710 --> 00:34:59.030 the trees. And somewhere between the familiar world of the 520 00:34:59.070 --> 00:35:03.579 Wyoming wilderness and the impossible destination described by Higdon, a 521 00:35:03.679 --> 00:35:08.380 huge piece of the story disappears. Maybe Carl Higdon encountered 522 00:35:08.440 --> 00:35:12.440 something from another world. Maybe he experienced a frightening combination 523 00:35:12.480 --> 00:35:16.199 of ordinary events that his mind struggled to understand. Or 524 00:35:16.239 --> 00:35:19.119 perhaps there is something about the UFO phenomenon that we 525 00:35:19.199 --> 00:35:22.659 still haven't learned how to investigate properly. Whatever the truth 526 00:35:22.699 --> 00:35:26.639 may be, one question continues to linger. If Aso and 527 00:35:26.659 --> 00:35:29.659 the others really were searching for something, why did they 528 00:35:29.699 --> 00:35:34.130 choose Carl Higdon? And more importantly, were they finished looking? 529 00:35:34.860 --> 00:35:37.989 Because the next time someone walks alone through a remote forest, 530 00:35:38.289 --> 00:35:41.210 hears a branch snap behind them, and turns to find 531 00:35:41.269 --> 00:35:44.469 a stranger standing between the trees, they might want to 532 00:35:44.530 --> 00:35:48.369 think twice before accepting an invitation. You've been listening to 533 00:35:48.449 --> 00:35:52.139 Stranger Things. Until next time, keep your eyes on the skies, 534 00:35:52.500 --> 00:35:57.380 question everything, and remember, sometimes the strangest things aren't found 535 00:35:57.420 --> 00:36:01.039 in the darkest corners of the universe. Sometimes they're waiting 536 00:36:01.219 --> 00:36:10.380 just beyond the tree lines. Thank you.