WHAT HAPPENED TO FLOPSY, AND WHY WON'T THE GOVERNMENT INVESTIGATE?


Pottawattamie: A flop-eared saddle horse named Flopsy belonging to nineteen year old Kristen Rea of Losh's Mills is at the center of a gruesome mystery. The three year old pet gelding was pastured at a horse farm outside of town and was last seen alive on December 1st of this year. The animal was happily capering about at feeding time as usual with no unusual behavior whatever. The next morning, however, the horse was missing. After a second morning passed without the animal returning from pasture for grain and water, farm owner Horton Wings contacted the Rea family and the authorities and the search for the horse began.

     Flopsy was found dead in a ravine about six miles from the stable. Lying on its left side, all skin and flesh above its shoulders was gone without trace---indicating the skillful use of the sharpest of knives. Nothing remained of the head but the clean, exposed skull. The rest of the animal was untouched. Despite the mutilation, no evidence of blood was found anywhere around the body. Soil samples taken also indicated no blood seeped into the ground under the remains. The animal had been completely exsanguinated.

     Within a hundred yards of the body several dark spots to the northeast and southwest were discovered. These are round in shape measuring between two and three feet in diameter. The grass in these circles did not appear to have been burned but rather crisped in a single, short burst of intense heat. Soil samples taken here showed the rootmat to be similarly browned. A test for radioactivity revealed that radiation at the site was one half of one percent higher than normal---not a dangerous difference, but a difference none the less. Two bushes near the dead animal were also flattened. Around the body numerous small holes were discovered that looked to be "punched" into the ground by an unknown apparatus. Under one of the bushes, Miss Rea discovered bits of her horse's mane. It is interesting to note here that in spite of several snowfalls since the animal's discovery, snow melts on contact with the browned spots, despite accumulation around them.

     Strangely, no tracks of any kind were found in the area of soft ground where the body was discovered, not even those of the horse itself. Imprints in the ground over 100 feet to the south indicate that Flopsy had been galloping at a high speed in the direction of the ravine, but the tracks stopped suddenly and without explanation.

     Further forensic examination of the body revealed that in addition to a total absensce of blood, the carcass was inexplicably devoid of spinal fluid and brain tissue. In summer, brain tissue commonly liquefies within hours after death, however the chill December weather should have preserved the organ. Authorities have suggested scavangers, dogs perhaps, consumed the missing portions, yet this does not explain the lack of tracks or other physical evidence to that end, nor does it explain the surgical precision with which flesh was removed from the head and neck. Laboratory tests have been unable to determine a cause of death for poor Flopsy.

     Local residents, independent of knowledge of the missing horse, reported strange formations of lights in the area the night of December 1st. This has many speculating on the involvement of UFOs. Fred J. Rummelhoff, Jr. claims that early in the morning of December 2, he saw a low flying helicopter near the area where the horse was found. He identified the helicopter as similar to an Apache type fitted with some sort of strange electronic gear instead of weapons. The helicopter was painted entirely black without any markings. Calls to the local airport's control tower met with initial resistance and then assurance that no air traffic was in that area on the morning in question. The Rea family has petitioned the government to admit to any knowledge of clandestine participation in the growing number of animal mutilations in Iowa. Black Helicopters are frequently sighted in connection with mutilations of this type, and have been a common thread in this phenomenon since early in 1974.

     On July 15, 1974, a white helicopter and a black twin engine aircraft were seen by Robert Smith, Jr. in Honey Creek, Iowa, near the Nebraska border. The helicopter opened fire on Smith while he was operating his tractor in the field. Neither craft had registration markings of any kind (which are required by law), and authorities were unable to track them. The incident came amid rumors that the United States had been developing a new, quiet, jet-powered helicopter for use in Vietnam. The presence and agressive behavior of such craft in the proximity of numerous cattle and farm animal mutilation sites has fueled speculation of government complicity or well funded and equiped cultists collecting organs and blood for use in their rituals.

     The county meanwhile has issued a health-order for the immediate disposal of the carcass, but the Rea family is pushing for release of the remains directly to them. Capt. Donald Rea, formerly of the Air Force, publicly contends a desire to bury the animal but private sources close to the family suggest that he has been offered a cash sum for the remains by an interested party in Hopkins Grove.

     (further information on this subject: Michael D. Albers, The Terror , pp. 13-15; Kenneth M. Rommel, Jr., Operation Animal Mutilation , pp22-23; Fredrick W. Smith, Cattle Mutilation , p. 21)





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