Hudson To Follow Up SOONER SAUCERs with Related Works

Following up her popular, SOONER SAUCERS, author Marilyn A. Hudon, Stroud, Oklahoma, will be releasing SOONER SAUCERS, VOL.2 and KANSAS ENCOUNTERS: UFO's OVER THE SUNFLOWER STATE.  

A late 2022 release is targeted.  She is still accepting detailed stories for inclusion in both volumes. Go to the blog page "UFO SKIES" for the contact form

Where Did It Go?

 Researching for some new projects (books on the UFO phenomena) I was tracking sightings reported from my home state. I found in 2020 a listing for a place, a date, a report.  I took several pages of notes.  Added it to the file to explore as I began the book on my home state.

I had been working on that project for some weeks, researching, collating, and gathering information and interviews. I pulled out those notes, and then decided to go back to the online collection of Project Blue Book to check out a detail or two.

It.Was.Not.There.

I double checked. I looked in the year before and after. I searched through the non-dated and illegible files. I dug into other sources and checked newspaper archives (which were oddly pretty blank for a time when there are several cases listed in Project Blue Book and newspapers in other locations).

I have searched for several days now and still no mention of that case, anything related to the location or the date. 

Given the history of certain parties when it comes to telling the whole story about what people were seeing and reporting and the less than perfectly factual representation of events, this author has to wonder.  Now, that another soon to be super secret project related to the search for answers to Unidentified Aerial Objects had been created...was that case file sharing more than was warranted good for someone?

So - the hunt goes on....I am baffled. Where did it go?

THOSE STRANGE 'CONTACTEES'

 Through out human history there have been periods in which a society advanced and moved away from long trusted belief systems, behaviors, and moral road maps. Everything "new" was questioned and held in suspicious regard. Change only brought chaos and uncertainty. Status-quo kept things conformed to what had always been and should always be.

"Little people", "Saint", "Angels", "Spirit Guides" or "Space Brothers" - humans appear to have always had times when they sought some power outside of themselves to vindicate a certain point of view. Often that was a plea to retain the old, sacred, tried and true ways. Sometimes it was to embrace a new vision of life and adopt new values and behaviors to improve life for everyone.  

The "Contactee Movement" of the late 1940's, the 1950's when they peaked, and even into the 1960's when they lingered appear to fit into that framework of being a response to the fear of technological changes brought by a world war, the atom bomb, and a new world where life moved at a hectic new pace and old ways were being shed like the skin of a snake.

Thus, motivated by fear, con artist greed and opportunity, and often simple spiritual and metaphysical beliefs, the people of Venus, Mars or "Clarion" came to call on simple Earth people to express messages of hope, of peace, and a call to repentance for evil ways and warring habits. They enlisted these people they identified as unique, the chosen ones, the messiahs of a technological age.

This quasi religious or spiritual aspect makes them unique - along with the strong presence of con artists in the mix - and suggests they are a separate phenomena from those who witness or experience other types of UFO or alien contact. One suggests other dimensions, spiritual systems and a response to changing society and the other suggests new technologies and potential non-terrestrial life forms.  The motives and methods of both suggest two totally different categories of human experience. 

STROUD, OKLAHOM AUTHOR SEEKS STORIES OF UFOS AND ODD EXPERIENCES.

 For some the found art in a backyard in Stroud, Oklahoma along Route 66 is a curiosity, a junk masterpiece, a bit of good ol' boy kitsch.  For others they see the link to the larger UFO and flying saucer mythos and cattle mutilation events as the inspiration. 

For the Stroud resident and author of SOONER SAUCERS: OKLAHOMA UFO'S FROM 1947 TO 1969 (Amazon 2020) and the upcoming SOONER SAUCERS. Vol. 2 (due out later this year) it is a reflection of the bizarre stories Marilyn A. Hudson has uncovered in her research and through stories shared with her for the book.

In fact, she has collected a growing list of sightings, experiences, and events all along Route 66. "I am always interested in more," she said in an interview. 

People through the decades have experience strange things all along the "Mother Road."  "I would like to hear from people with stories of sightings of objects, strange lights, and any really odd experiences cruising along the area of Route 66. "

The author has a "comment" form on her webpage, UFO SKIES (www.ufoskies.blogspot.com), where anyone can submit a story related to UFO's or odd events along Route 66.  "If a person does not want me to use their name just give me some initials. I will want details - time, place, details of the event - and what went on before and after. It is not enough to say there was this object in the sky unless information about which way it was moving, if it made sound, if it had any colors, smells associated with it. How fast did it move? How did move? What was the shape? Where exactly was the event or the object? To consider these stories in the wider context of events there has to be enough to locate where the event happened, what the weather was like, time of day, movements, and all the rest. So those are needed in any report. What time did it happen and when did it end? Every detail of the event is valuable in getting a picture of the experience."

Author Marilyn A. Hudson is ready to get her kicks on Route 66 - on the road or in the skies. 

1964 New Mexico Sighting

Socorro, NM, April 1964 

The sighting of an egg-shaped, white, object with an odd insignia on the side and sitting on tripod legs was reported by a local law officer. 

Sumner, NM, May of 1964

"The windows and *landing lights* looking from beneath appeared like the sketch below. Nothing was seen in the windows which were softly lighted. The round lights were very bright and prevented seeing the main body except as shaded."

 

Author Seeks Stories of Oklahoma UFO"s

 Oklahoma author and researcher, Marilyn A. Hudson whose 2020 book SOONER SAUCERS: OKLAHOMA UFO'S 1947-1969 is available on Amazon, is working on a volume 2 that will look at the post Project Blue Book years (1970-2021).   "I am seeking people who had experiences and are willing to seriously share what they observed or experienced. I am asking for as much details, especially, date, locale, time, and descriptions of direction, weather, and other details that will provide a better picture of the event. I would like to use names to make sure that it is as factual and scientific as possible. The topic of the work is a serious look at things for which people had no logical explanations," explained the author.

Her SOONER SAUCERS provided a detailed look at the reports found in Project Blue Book, the Air Force official project to study the unidentified flying objects for the state of Oklahoma. In light of the recent events that have made the study less a matter of open ridicule and once more a serious topic for science to explore, she adds, " Having more stories of substance will be a great contribution to the larger field of new science and understanding old mysteries."

Those wishing to share their own experience or sighting, please contact the author Marilyn A. Hudson and share your account in detail. "I want the second volume to be as fact based as possible to provide other researchers with important data."

Marilyn A. Hudson is on Facebook as well. 

Still a Good Read.

Axes of Evil: The True Story of the Ax-Man Murders: Elliott, Todd C., Levenda, Peter: 9781937584726: Amazon.com: Books

TULSA'S MOTHER SHIP OF 1966

From the files of my book, SOONER SAUCERS, one of my favorite - and almost unknown stories of Oklahoma UFO's. Sept. 1966, Tulsa.

As I learned early in my research, one has to go deep - into the witness reports and associated data on a event in Project Blue Book. Read them and not the conclusions made by others. Some with the Project had little faith in people and so ignored everything they said anyway. Several, including Dr. Menzel, had presuppositions that belied adherence to an open mind and the potential for learning new things.

As a result, when the spin-doctors finished with this event, well to read the summary of this event, it looks pretty ho-hum.

Then when one digs deeper, scanning the sketch included by the witness and the parts left out of his statement by AF officials - it gets - interesting.

The witness saw the object officials would label a plane disappear into a vast dark mass of a craft....That part, however, never made it into the final public explanation of the event.

THE LATEST UFO/UAP Report

 UFO SKIES: Is It Disclosure? In a Manner of Speaking...

One of the great mysteries of all time: are we alone in the universe? The topic of UFO/UAP phenomena has been around for many centuries. Kenneth Arnold's famed sighting of June 1947 - days before the Roswell Event - appeared to coin a term for the objects: flying saucers. In reality, that term can be found in a North Texas newspaper of the 1870's when a farmer described the strange object that sailed past overhead at great speed.

The Roswell Event - where the Army released they had one of the "saucers" and then they promptly recanted that and buried the story beneath a hard-to-swallow tale that painted the local military personnel of Roswell (then the only base for planes carrying nuclear weapons) and the local people of Roswell as ignorant yokels. Digging the knife into any would-be witnesses and all those who had said they had seen something were top brass, talking heads, and newspapers all with one agenda: ridicule anyone who says they have seen one of these things! One top ranking military officer inferred the only state not reporting seeing things in the sky was Kansas because it was a "dry state."  Thus, if you see anything you have to be drunk.  Reputation ruined. Period. By the way, Kansas had its own reports as well.

It is truly amazing to see the shift in how news, governments, and others are speaking about this subject. After, decades of the mandatory tone being ridicule, this tone of acceptance and recognition of the topic as a science-worthy field of discussion is amazing. 

 Major news outlets that once led with tongue-in-cheek speak about "little green men" (which was a way of casting the subject in the same arena as little pink elephants and not a reference to any green aliens!) are sitting up, adjusting their ties and hairdos and looking serious and somber as they file the story under, "series news."  

Amazing.

So, while it may not be the tell all disclosure some envisioned what is happening, and hopefully, will continue to happen, is to bring the subject into the room for serious discussion. 

While the very brief report released to the public says little, it does say some powerful things. It says the UFO/UAP is a real object based on scientific equipment that tracked them, based on highly qualified witnesses who saw them, and video evidence they could not refute.

The task force was mandated to study the best cases and present a report. From those best cases they were able to identify only one.  Then the task force recommendations read like reports presented by Dr. J. Allen Hynek decades ago: better science, more rigor, more study, and the openness to learn and accept what is discovered.

Now - governments and private groups - should come together to discover more and share more with a public unafraid of what may be discovered.

 So the UFOs Are Real. Now What? (msn.com)

--------

Be sure and read Marilyn A. Hudson's book, SOONER SAUCERS: Oklahoma UFO's 1947 to 1969. Available on Amazon.

BILLIE SCHAFFER: 1959 MYSTERIOUS DISAPPEARANCE ENDS IN MURDER

Mrs. Billie Shaffer of Seminole, daughter of Judge W.A. McDaniel's also of Seminole, and wife of an Air Force captain assigned to Greenland, went to see a doctor for treatment of mild depression and loneliness as a wife at home with her husband oversees. Then she went shopping with a friend and attended a dinner party.  She called home to her mother, who was taking care of her two children, and told her to expect her back in Seminole anytime from 12:15 to 1:30 a.m.. It was February 21, 1959.  

She enjoyed a last meal with friends and she left, purchases in her car, and headed back to Seminole from Oklahoma City.  She never made it. She was reported missing February 21, 1959. 

Her car was found, minus woman, with her purse, purchases and keys in the ignition with the motor running. The 1958 Buick Sedan had been abandoned along a road NE of Oklahoma City. It was just south of NE 10th southeast of the general area of Choctaw Road, east of Lake Hiwassee Road, Later examination by Highway Patrol found her hat crushed in a ditch and a dent in her back bumper.

She was found far from where she would have been headed. An massive search was launched when her car was found deserted along NE 10 and Choctaw Rd with all items inside and the motor running. Several noted its presence among them the Highway Patrol. When she did not arrive home to her parents to retrieve her children, her father launched a search.

Theories abounded those first days: she had been disoriented by the anti-depressants given her by the doctor and suffered amnesia, she was neurotic and sought to flee her husband for some slight, and similar ideas were disussed and resarched.

Teams of servicemen from Tinker, local police, Boy Scouts, and volunteers scoured the area for clues and answers.  However, first heavy rains and then snow - often a foot deep - prevented adequate searching of many isolated pockets where a person might have stumbled or fallen.

Her body was finally found in early spring - March 28, 1959 - three miles away from where her car had been abandoned -  in an isolated area near the Hiwasee Lake damn. Some salacious early accounts said she was dressed in only a slip but she was in a brown suit with a white collar, her hose were torn and her skirt scrunched up over her knees. Her feet were bare but one shoe was close by the body and another one found further away.

An 18 year old local hunter, Homer Draper, was checking his traps and hoping to catch some rabbit, when he found an expensive ladies shoe. The area was not one where a car could drive to and hard to get to on foot. He glanced down and 60 feet below the damn he saw a woman's body, face up and arms outspread.  The day turned suddenly much colder than the recent deep snows as he stood there near the old damn, along a path sometimes used as a Lover's Lane by locals surrounded by isolated farm pasture.

Like other murders of the time period the body was placed far into a field or similar remote area.  The area was about three miles north of Choctaw (and NE 23rd) and about one mile east of Lake Hiawassee Road. There were no visible signs of violence or cause of death. 

A Dr. William Jacques, OU Medical School Department of Pathology, assisted a Sheriff Bob Turner in the investigation of the body. She was clad in some clothes but  but had a skirt and a slip on with other  clothes nearby. The skirt was shoved  up some but there was no sign of sexual assault and no signs of the clothes being torn or ripped. 

Her other shoe was nearby. One revealed serious scuff marks along the side but the soles were oddly lacking in wear - especially given the fact she was in the middle of a rough area of a field and at the time period of her disappearance would have suffered in some weather had she walked away from her running car three miles away.

 It appeared someone had to have carried her to the area of the field where she was found.

Although there were no signs of knife, bullet, or blunt object blows, there were three odd facts. She had a drop of blood on the inside collar area behind her neck. There were bruises consistent with compression bruises around her neck such as would be seen in a strangulation. Some apparent predation, however, of her check and neck prevented definite identification of that as bruising from strangulation. Also, there had been a nosebleed.  Combined it raised several questions. Dr. Jacques was reported to have noted that nosebleeds did not accompany strangulation except - and then he recalled some injuries seen in the war where the assailant had utilized a judo hold to inflict a "sleeper's hold."

In addition, she had a unique set of diamond wedding rings, engraved, and they were on the body when it was found. 

Autopsy report indicated she only had her normal medicines in her blood stream and small amounts of alcohol and since she had come from a holiday dinner that was not too surprising. 

Several avenues and theories were explored. One of the most interesting involves a known drug corridor that ran throughout the region of the interstates, the Seminole-Asher- Ada area and paths south into Texas and East into Arkansas. This corridor was known to be an active pathway of organized crime, for drugs and for prostitution. People all through those paths had a tendency to turn up dead because they knew something or merely had the misfortune to see something they should not have seen.

A minor acquaintance of the dead woman was found to be a nurse from Ada named Adeline Thomas. She was involved in some manner and degree with a narcotics ring. She decided to turn state's evidence and on the day she was supposed to testify she disappeared. She was found sitting in her car in a residential area of Ada and complaining of terrible throat pain. A few days later she died from her injuries. An autopsy revealed injuries incredibly similar to those on the neck of the airman's dead wife.

A madman at work? A crazed psychopath? Or someone who had the misfortune to be seen in the company of a person with ties to a narcotics ring - possibly one run by organized crime with far reaching tendrils. 

Did she perhaps intersect with the Thomas woman from Ada and that casual relationship was mis-interpreted by the narcotics ring?  Did Billie encourage the Thomas woman in some way so the nurse decided go to authorities and  tell all? There was never any evidence found of Billie being linked to the narcotics ring or any other criminal activities.

The scenario might be as simple as a woman driving home, seeing something, or being mistaken for someone else. Fingered and then followed, someone could have hit her bumper and then when she got out of her car, motor still running, she was attacked and killed. Then her body taken three miles away and disposed of in an area known by locals for its remoteness just as winter blizzard was expected that would hide the body for weeks. That fits the known facts. 

One other thing - the area where her body was found was one known most to locals - so her killer may have been someone in the area with an ear to the ground for out of the way, hard to reach, and suitable body dump sites. Billie Geraldine Schaffer was born  29 October 1920 and her grave marker reads her death was recorded as February 21, 1959.

Thanks to Oklahoma City reader Jeff Dees for bringing this 1960 issue of Master Detective to my notice. His mother had kept it and had assured him it was a very accurate retelling of events. 

LIVING UNKNOWN SOLDIER

 An amazing fact. In both WW1 and WW2 there were "living unknown soldiers." A couple made the news but one has to wonder if there were not others in those conflicts and other before or since? There was an old story, French I believe, of a man who returned to his home but was later identified as being another man entirely. That story did not end well. It seemed to set a trend for such - all too true - tales. In February 1945 a man was rescued and in the hospital was identified by the field identification as "Charles A. Jameson, 49; religion, Catholic; citizenship American, the Cutty Sark."

In a comma, he was examined, shrapnel wounds riddled his back and various other infections resulted. The military, the Merchant Marines, the Coast Guard, the Red Cross, other countries - everyone tried to locate some record of such a man. He could recall details of every steam ship company in the world. He recognized when shown photographs, the Royal Navy's gunnery school in Gosport, England. No records surfaced.

No crew photos revealed his face. Searches for a ship The Cutty Sark revealed no modern ship of that name; later memories of being a crewman aboard the Hinemoa conflicted as to the man's story of it sinking in the Atlantic (it had sunk in the English Channel).

Later research suggested he might have been a POW or a spy but evidence is scant. His tattoos revealed a mixture of American and British naval symbols and phrases (one seeming to read U.S. Navy). He seemed to remember ships and places from the turn of the century better than more recent events and so he may have been suffering from dementia (such Alzheimer's were older memories are fresher than recent ones).

Although a patient in the hospital for 12 years (due largely to a battle with those infected wounds) - no friend, relative, work mate ever visited him there. Apparently, to this day, just who Charles A. Jameson was, remains a mystery.

An excellent article on this subject of Charles A. Jamison or Jameson can be read on this site

OKLAHOMA UNSOLVED

 April 29, 1986, a Lawton wife and mother Aileen Conway, was found burned to death in a car that had crashed on a lonely, isolated rural road. Ruled at first an accidental death, her husband and children soon became convinced that was wrong and worked tirelessly to get authorities to delve deeper into the case. Too many things did not add up.

Indications were that the care had been going about 50-60 mph when in ran into a low metal railing over a narrow bridge. It burst into flames, burning so hot that the car was consumed, metal merging with metal in the inferno.  Tests by the authorities (including the state Fire Marshall) indicated the material of her car had flame retardant qualities that should have put out any normal blaze or minimized its impact. Tests proved similar material doing just exactly what it was supposed to do. To burn as hot as the fire in the car did, an accelerate would be need to feed the flames.

Her family had found, additionally, several clues that something had odd had occurred. The ironing board had been set up , with the iron on. A bath was run but not used. A phone was off the hook. A yard hosed filling or topping up an outdoor pool was left running. Her purse was left inside the house. 

One of the biggest puzzles was why was she on that desolate, isolated, county road in the first place? Her family could not find any clues or reasons why she would have been there, that time or any other. Especially given the conditions left at home. Theories included her being a victim of local robbery spree gone bad but that leaves as many questions as it answers.

Aileen Conway died a mysterious and, to date, still unsolved death on April 29, 1986. That tragedy still haunts family and friends to this day.

An oddly similar death occurred  in March 1956 when a young wife, a student at the university in Alva, Oklahoma was returning to her home near Avard. The tragic death of Mildred Ann Newlin Reynolds, known by most friends as Ann, involved a lonely and isolated stretch of country road, a car that burned at an unusually high level, tracks of a possible second vehicle, and what looked like an attempt by one driver to turn around. 

Her young coach husband, and many others, were eyed as possible suspects. The event occurred - as with the Lawton case - on a stretch of country road far away from the nearest residence. In the Reynolds case the victim was simply heading toward the farm she and her husband lived on. 

There were anomalies : the tire tracks, a shoe and blood outside the vehicle and on the side of the road (although her body was found laying slumped from driver side onto the passenger side, and what looked like something might have been stuck in the gas tank opening to speed up fire reaching the gas tank.  See more at LACY NEWLIN'S STORY.

The Man With the Ax :Villisca and Beyond

Has the answer been found for, not only the haunting and horrible murders of Villisca, Iowa in 1912, but others both before and after? Have so many deaths finally been solved?  There is an excellent chance that is the case.

Several years ago this author published a book called WHEN DEATH RODE THE RAILS after finding some stories in Oklahoma of death by proximity to railroads that stretched the boundary of credulity. It was a first effort, filled with early author mistakes and  the quoted material from old newspapers, known for their atrocious spelling liberties, was sometimes mistaken for my own shortcomings. It did serve to launch me into a world of true crime and mystery writers that was a delight.  I encountered several other researchers who were also exploring strange deaths related to proximity to the railroads as well as those committed by an axe-welding fiends.  MURDERED IN THEIR BEDS by Troy Taylor was one with its close examination of the Villisca, Iowa murders and communications with TC Elliot  about several southern cases, proved supportive and informative after the fact and both graced me with mentions in their books.

Another such acquaintance with a keen interest in such topics gifted me this year with a copy of the 2017 book THE MAN FROM THE TRAIN by Bill James and Rachel McCarthy James. The subtitle says it all "Discovering America's Most Elusive Serial Killer."  The authors start with the Villisca murders and make the links to other, all too similar, crimes noted early on in Kansas and Colorado.  They soon find others and the book unfolds in gripping and oft times horrific details.

What truly sets this work apart is the criteria established to categorize crimes by their unknown man from the train from other crimes similar but significantly different. Given the hurdle of such historic research when one is faced with irregular records, non-existent records, garbled and sensationalized journalism and the tendency for police and communities to not think in terms of a truly random crime without motive or meaning, the result is impressive. 

 The casual writing style fits the topic, no one wants to be bogged down by academic formality when writing what is basically a true-to-life "who dun it."   The chronology and organization would have been easier to follow had it been more linear. It does hop around a bit and that can be confusing. They also have an entry in Wikipedia on the work, a singular credit, given that sources often overly stringent protocols and less than evenly distributed approvals.

Do they name the man? Yes, they do and they present a more than credible argument that it could truly be that individual. And no, this column's author will not name names -  read the book and enjoy the discovery for yourself.

See an earlier posting on the Taylor and Elliot books.

THE TERROR TIMES - HALLOWEEN IN OKLAHOMA 1960'S AND 1970'S - From Marilyn A. Hudson's work "Oklahoma Halloween"

The "Terror Times": 1960 and 1970's in Oklahoma Halloween

Marilyn A. Hudson from her book "Oklahoma Halloween" (On Amazon)

October 29, 2011   · 6 min read  ·

Television  to  Terror   (1960-1969)    

‘Be wary then: best safety lies in fear.” Shakespeare, Hamlet.   

In the 1960’s the concept of the “Spook House” or “Haunted House” began to gain wider popularity.   Communities, schools, clubs, and churches were soon sponsoring them.  Workers transformed empty buildings, houses, halls, and even stores were soon a popular rage.  Despite some early day tragedies in such community haunted houses they persisted as popular attractions. In the wider society it was a time of revolution as Civil Rights, Vietnam, student protests, increased drug use, and the sexual revolution were creating earthquakes of change.  The attempt to totally control childhood continued as the teen years continued to reshape themselves. Safety was a watchword of the decade as youth were trained in proper street safety, stranger danger, and not getting in with the wrong crowd. Social pressures, urban overcrowding, poverty and other issues created a sometimes dangerous environment at the best of times in some areas. Idealistically advisors envisioned a new Halloween based on giving and social responsibility, while news accounts often provided examples of just the opposite.   The delinquent to deputy route was re-employed to train younger kids to avoid the risky behaviors of the season. The idealism was a little tarnished as the end of the decade neared. Unsettling stories reared their heads; stories of apple treats that hid needles, razor blades and similar dire surprises began to circulate and dampen the holiday excitement. Costumes once more celebrated the hand made touch, often with accessories purchased from the local store.  The selection of costumes was now a major process as children mulled their choices of cartoon figures, comic book characters, television and movie themed outfits against the old standbys of hobo, princess, or cowboy.  Costumed marches around local schools became popular, with parents, neighbors and friends coming to see the show as school children, straining at the leash to get home to really prepare for Halloween, went on parade.       Sources: Wallace, Edyth Thomas. “New Halloween Practice Stresses Pleasure in Giving.” The Oklahoman (Oct. 30, 1960): 42. German, Hugh. “Prank suspected in State Tragedy.” The Oklahoman (Nov. 13, 1960):162. “Quiz Slated in Halloween Fatal Beating.” The Oklahoman (April 13, 1961):30. “3,200 Spooks to get Badges for Halloween.” The Oklahoman (Oct. 28, 1961): 13. Wallace, Edyth Thomas. “Safety First on Halloween is Important.” The Oklahoman (Oct. 30, 1966):64. “Goblins Ready for Halloween”. The Oklahoman (Oct. 26, 1969):146. “Halloween Tricks Turn Out Vicious.” The Oklahoman (Nov. 1, 1969):7. “Razor-in-Apple Tale False: Trick Boomerangs.” The Oklahoman (Nov. 6, 1969):29.        The Goblins   Will Get You  (1970-1979)     Mid-decade many audiences clustered around the television to see comedy sketches and the ABC television debut of the spandex and face paint rock group KISS on the “Paul Lynd Halloween Special” (1976).  This should have been a clear signal that the holiday was a changing and not necessarily for the better as the holiday moved center stage into profit columns. Deep seated suspicions and fears regarding the holiday continued as the urban legends of horrific deaths by candy were repeated each season. These “Contamination tales”, according to Nicholas Rogers, arose in the 1960’s but peaked in the 1970’s.  There is a little evidence, however, that any true random Halloween candy tampering has ever occurred resulting in the death of a child.          This, despite decades of urban legends stating that very “fact.” There have been no Halloween multiple deaths by drug, poison, or sharp object.  News articles cried not warning each year, but no hard information was ever included to verify the dire details they listed.  Real life tragedies, however, do exist from that time. A Pasadena, Texas boy died after eating cyanide laced candy gathered on Halloween.  The poison, however, came from his own father after the man had acquired a large insurance policy on his son.  Originally sentenced to die on Halloween, the Supreme Court granted a stay.   The original “Candyman” finally went to his death, one of the first by lethal injection, in March 1982. Other stories turned out to be either clear hoaxes spread by children or attempts to cover family drug use.  The ‘razor blade in the apple’ appears to be nothing but a fraud.   A review of “Halloween Poisonings” at Snopes.com can be compared to an academic article by Bajwa, “Needle Ingestion via Halloween Carmel Apples” in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings (Oct. 2003).  It seriously begs the question which came first: The story of the contamination or the contaminations? Did the early urban legends become self-fulfilling prophecy by century’s end? The classic horror films were castrated as they moved to television and transformed into such offerings as the inane “Munsters”.  In time, regular “Halloween” themed episodes of popular weekly programs and specials would, like a modern day Frankenstein’s monster, take on a life of their own. The general social and political upheaval of the 1960’s was reflected in the changes in how Halloween was celebrated in the 1970’s. In just as strong a manner as the revolutionary minded of the “hippies” years assaulted the traditions, values, and religions of main stream America, the 1970’s saw just a forceful a movement as those elements attempted to reassert themselves.  This was also the decade of the Bicentennial and a return, or a rediscovery of traditional costumes, customs, and manners. Values criticized and derided by the communes, free love, and other social constructions of the counter-culture, now gave rise to mainstream entertainments such as All in the Family and MASH.   Affirmations of traditional values of home, friends, and family were seen in popular series such as The Little House on the Prairie (1976), The Brady Bunch (1969-), Happy Days (1974), Good Times (1974) The Waltons (1972) and Laverne and Shirley (1976). 

 

This was also a time when the established religions, especially evangelical Christianity responded to the more worrying aspects of the new “liberality” of society.   The loss of social control in general meant a loss of influence by the components of society: education, local government and religion. 

 

Suddenly, the familiar rules of social control were, like the buggy at the turn of the century, being torn apart and reassembled on the slippery slope of a steep barn.  Many were at a loss as to how to cope with these social changes happening all around them. Attempts to assert local values, curb behavior, and re-establish the ‘traditional’ activities did occur, however, and more community and home based events were planned.  Seen as a contributing factor in the overall devolution of society, Halloween for many heralded a submission to paganism and an invitation to rampant demonic activity within a community.  

 

As a result, “Fall Festivals”, “Reformation Day Fetes” and “Autumn Activities” were substitutes for local families and children.  Civic centers, church halls, and school gyms celebrated the changing season without any of the traditional “Halloween” décor of ghosts, bats, spider webs, or simmering cauldrons.  Door-to-door visits were replaced by strolls down mall storefronts and past officially sanctioned parking lots where car trunks held goodies and games         

 

 

Sources “Halloween Approaching.” The Oklahoma (Oct. 22, 1971): 34. “Treat Kills Texas Boy: Cyanide Found in Candy.” The Oklahoman (Nov. 2, 1974):1. “Halt Halloween (Letter to the Editor)”. The Oklahoman ( (Nov. 10, 1974):26. Winter, Christine. “Halloween Childish Fun or Terror?” The Oklahoman (Oct. 26, 1975):102. “Cancellation of Halloween Uncalled For.” The Oklahoman (Oct. 31 1977): 17 “Ghost Hunt Good Sport: Take a Haunting Tour.” The Oklahoman (May 28, 1978):102..      ----Marilyn A. Hudson, 2009

BOOK ON OKLAHOMA UFO'S AND ANNOUNCEMENT GOVERNMENT HAS "OFF WORLD" VEHICLE! : ALL WITHIN A WEEK OF EACH OTHER

Talk about your lucky coincidences! As Marilyn A. Hudson published her new work on the news and

stories of UFO's over Oklahoma from 1947 to 1969 there was something else in the works. 

The U.S. Government has announced that they have a "off world" vehicle. (see Popular Mechanics ) :

"The astrophysicist Eric Davis, who consulted with the Pentagon’s original UFO program, told the Times that after he examined certain materials, he came to the conclusion that “we couldn’t make [them] ourselves.” In fact, Davis briefed a Department of Defense (DOD) agency as recently as March about retrieving materials from “off-world vehicles not made on this earth.”"

So, as Hudson asserts in her book, maybe it is time to reevaluate what we think we know and this topic, remove it from the jokes bag and do some serious consideration of possibilities. Hudson's book is available in Kindle and print formats on Amazon.

DRESSING AS A MAN: CROSS-DRESSING, TRANSGENDER, AND SEARCHES FOR FREEDOM

In my research for my book, Oklahoma Bad Girls, I encountered numerous stories of women masquerading as a male for one reason or another.  I learned that many cities (such as Oklahoma City) had laws and ordinances prohibiting that with fines and jail time possible). The reasons were varied and it is impossible to label all such cases as evidence of alternate lifestyles. The young women often did it because they did enjoy the freedom of male attire (did they burn their corsets, I wonder?) and opportunities denied them as females.  Some, it is true, sought to live a life as a man for other reasons - often marrying as a person of another gender.

One of the stories I discovered was mentioned in the Oklahoma of December 22, 1906 and recounted a story out of Phoenix.  A"Nicholai (Nicholas) Dereylan" was said to have died, post-death, it was revealed that "He" had been a "She" and lived many years as a man.

Death records from Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona verified the death of one "Nicholas C. De Raylan", a female about 33 years of age, who had died December 18, 1906 of pulmonary turberculosis, born in Russia.  A burial permit was issued Dec, 23, 1906 by J.M. Burnett, Coroner for Greenwood Cemetery to Mohn and Drsicoll, undertakers.

Fast forward and members of the community in Phoenix discovered this story, arranged for a tombstone, and recognition of the unique presence of a transgender individual in their midst at such an early time. The article at AZ Central , "Transgender Man Given Back His Identity" highlights the effort of these citizens to clarify the situation. (https://www.azcentral.com/picture-gallery/news/local/karinabland/2019/11/18/transgender-man-given-back-his-identity-phoenix-cemetery-nicolai-de-raylan/4224296002/).

The memorial at Find-A-Grave for "Nicolai Konstantinovich De Raylan.. 1873-1906, is located at https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/172411509/nicolai-de_raylan

THE RED LIGHT DISTRICT: OKLAHOMA CITY'S WILD YOUTH

The 'red light district' of early Oklahoma City had been the area of "Bunco Alley" (a short block located on Grand Avenue later called Sheridan and between Front Street (Santa Fe) and Broadway where it met its southern match in a terminus called 'Battle Row').  It soon moved, as it would several times over the decades, to the entire 400's block of West 2nd Street (Robert S. Kerr Street later). Traveling west from Hudson on 2nd to Walker the following established businesses could be found on both north and south sides of the street (called 'Harlot's Lane'):

• Etta Woods and Her Creole Girls (Have not found a name associated with this location on the north and opposite to Nina's)
• Nina Truelove's (South side)
• Madame Brentlinger (aka Jean La Monte), Red Star. She had supposedly come from Leadville with Big Anne Wynne
• Red Onion, Madame Clayton (another or the same is located at one time on Alabaster Row according to postcard in the Griffin book)
• Madam McDonald's 'The Arlington', (Middle of the block, south side)
• Big Anne's 'Place 44', supervised by Effie Fisher (Corner of 2nd and Walker, south side)
• Noah's Ark, supervised by 'Big Liz' and 'Dude'  (North side)

Smaller brothels were interspersed along the street as well.


Sources:
Daily Oklahoman
McRill. "...And Satan Came Also"
Owens, Ron, Oklahoma Justice: The Oklahoma City Police (1995)
Griffin, Terry L. Oklahoma City: Land Run to Statehood (pg. 20)
'Hell's Half Acre." http://www.okchistory.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=245:hells-half-acre&catid=41:people&Itemid=78

Fort Riley : Ghosts and UFO Tales

In north central Kansas sits historic Fort Riley established as "Camp Center" in 1852 and a year later renamed with its current designation. Originally it was established to protect pioneers coming through on two major trails. The fort was associated with the western front in the Civil War and in later efforts with the Native populations of the western territories.  Although home to numerous Army infantry units it has long been associated with 1st Infantry Division (1955-1996). 

For many, during WW1, it was home to "Camp Funston" and gained notoriety for the Spanish Influenza that broke out there and was carried around the world by soldiers.

A wife variety of ghosts 'haunt' the Fort and its surroundings. For more on them visit.https://www.legendsofamerica.com/ks-fortriley/

In more recent decades, two stories of Fort Riley have been incorporated in to the mythos of Unidentified Flying Objects.  Philip Corso in his controversial and challenged book, The Day After Roswell, alleged one of the alien bodies from the Roswell, New Mexico crash in 1947 had gone through the Fort on its journey to Wright-Patterson in Ohio. 

Later, a tale from December of 1964 alleged that before 2:00 a.m. Dec. 10, 1964, returning soldiers were tasked to assist with a search for a crashed UFO. Intense searchlights from low flying helicopters swept far corners of the Fort landscape with orders to kill anyone interfering.  The recovered disc was  35-48 ft. diameter and 12-18 ft. tall with a fin like protrusion and aluminum like skin. It had black squares about 9 inches that jutted out from the rim.

MYSTERIOUS WITNESSES: Who was Jefferson Villars?

The need for anonymity stems from many sources: fear of reprisal, fear of ridicule, fear of losing status, reluctance to deal with being in the spotlight, fear of losing a job or even life. The field of UFO research has been bedeviled by many such unnamed sources.

One was a mysterious Jefferson Villar who submitted several photos, drawings and a detailed account of seeing a UFO sailing though his neighborhood in the "Eastborough" township area of Wichita, Kansas on 27 June 1967.

His story is a part of a Project Blue Book file "xxxx xx 7574428 WichitaAreaKansas" - it is filed amid a group of 'illegible' reports either badly faded or having a cover sheet faded enough that it was not easily read that a quick scan did not provide date or place. In many of these, however, there are dates, names and details within the declassified documents themselves. If anyone bothers to look.

Villar hand wrote his letter 29 June 1967 and enclosed undeveloped film he had taken the date of the observation at about 2 p.m. in the afternoon, looking south, and observed the somewhat zigzag movement of the object as it headed northwest. He snapped a series of images showing the progression through the area including one close up image that was very clear.  He drew an image of the object that showed a sphere with projections so that it had a profile somewhat like Jupiter or Saturn with their rings showing.

The witness was duly contacted when they needed more information (via the many paged form) but letters were returned. He had supposedly been leaving Wichita to move to Union City, New Jersey. The mail returned. The films were developed; they sent originals to the University of Colorado for examination.  Due to the need for the additional information from the long form, the returned mail and no clues - they closed the file and labeled it "Insufficient Data."

Who was Jefferson Vallar? Where did he go? Investigation to date has found no such person? His zip code for one communication was 67208. This is a designation for Eastbourgh in the Wichita area and eastern part of the county of Sedgwick. East of the enclave is Beech Aircraft.

Know who this man was? I would love to tell his story!  Email me and let's set the record straight.

Want more on just UFO's visit https://ufoskies.blogspot.com/

See a different photo at this site.

THE MISSING BRIDE OF 1958: MOORE, OKLAHOMA

The Crown Motel, 9501 S. Shields in Moore (OK), was owned by the Blasdell family and managed by son Jim Blasdell in May of 1958.  It was on a busy thoroughfare in the growing south Oklahoma City suburb and linked drivers to the four quadrants of the compass.  One was  the southern linking US 77 and the new Interstate I-35.

A future thinking manager Blasdell was adding and upgrading his holdings. Seeing the growing need for living space he added apartments. All around Oklahoma City was booming and expanding and the future looked bright.  The Naval training facility in Norman was once more drawing people for training and the University there was growing as well. 

The motel was in a prime location. It was a short jog to US 77 to take one south to Norman and north to Oklahoma City.  This military facility was located in the area of the present “South Campus” of the University of Oklahoma and just north of HWY 9 in Norman.

Author Hudson in front of area where the hotel once stood

A young couple, married barely two weeks, took a room there.  The young husband was reporting for duty to the Navy Air Training Center in Norman and the bride would search for their first real home. Carol Ann Hlavac Batterman was an attractive young woman with a friendly disposition making and keeping friends easily. She had a savings account back in Illinois and wrote her parent’s long letters regularly.  She had married just two weeks prior to her disappearance; she and her husband were originally from the Chicago, Illinois area.

She had long brown hair, usually worn loose to nearly her shoulders. Her olive complexion was tanned and dotted with freckles on her nose and forehead. Over her clear eyes arched two bold eyebrows. Her smile was very open and pleasant and revealed two prominent front teeth.  On that morning her husband took their car to work, and the plan was that she would follow by bus and they would later go house hunting in Norman. 

That day, no doubt eager to make a good impression on her new husband and prospective landlords, she dressed with special care for the expedition.  She slipped into a beige suit, high-heeled shoes, and proudly slipped on her yellow Provo Township High School class of 1956 ring with a black stone worn on her right hand, and a wedding band with 13 engraved stars (it was engraved on the inside with their initials  and wedding date ( "DB to CH - 5/17/58"). She put approximately $35 in a small white purse (6" x 3-4") and the couple’s only room key.  As the motel door closed behind her, the room held all her clothing, makeup, jewelry, and $100 in cash.

She was last seen waiting for a bus outside of the Crown Motel in Oklahoma City at 3:35 p.m. on May 31, 1958. She never got on the bus and was never seen or heard from again.

The road in front of the motel

Witness reports varied.  One story from June recounted someone seeing her voluntarily enter a white ’55 or ’56 Chrysler station wagon with an OK auto tag.  Another reported a witness seeing a gray pickup truck, possibly a 1953 Ford, stop at the curb near Batterman shortly before she vanished. The witness could not be sure if the vehicle was connected because something interrupted the line of sight and when it was cleared the vehicle, and the young woman, were both gone. It's unclear if the driver of the truck (reported wearing a large cowboy style hat) had anything to do with her disappearance.

Oddly, in early June, a room key was returned via the mail to manager Blasdell of the Crown Motel. It was thought it was the room key last seen with the missing bride.  The lead was an intriguing mystery but ultimately a dead end.

East of Norman, was Reynolds Lake, a reservoir and dam, east of Lake Thunderbird . It was just north of HWY 9 and close to present SE 224. The caretaker, Mrs. E.F. Kelly, of the fishing resort reported in June having seen a woman struggling with two men in a white station wagon. It appeared she was attempting to jump from the vehicle but the men restrained her.    Several days later the caretaker reported she loaned a shovel to two men who claimed they had to dig worms.  She did note they did not appear to have any fishing equipment with them.  As a result, the lake became epicenter to searches for the missing woman.

Three years later, her young husband was living in Tennessee, seeking a divorce so he could marry another woman and start a new life.  Of Carol Ann there was no word.  Significantly, her savings account remained untouched and her parents, to whom she had written so often and at length, never heard from her again. They retained hope, however, that she was somewhere well and safe.

A retiring police officer in 1973 looked back at the case of Carol Ann Batterman as one that still baffled him with its apparent unsolvable nature. To this day, she is listed as missing, because although she was declared dead to accommodate the remarriage of her husband, a body was never found.

The time period of her disappearance was riff with undercurrents of crime beneath the "Leave It to Beaver" domestic bliss projected in the era.  Across the country in these years other young wives will also strangely go missing and some of their cases also remain open or unsolved.

Silken webs may also stretch out from that same Naval Base in Moore - Norman to touch other crimes. A busy crossroads of highways, military bases with changing personnel, and a growing university leave many possibilities.


Carol Batterman is still listed as a missing person on The Charley Project. They gave me permission to use the photo. This author had brief contact in 2014 with a researcher working with her family hoping to finally solve the case (Weston DeWalt, of DOCUMENTARY SCIENCES (Research l Investigation l Analysis) in Pasadena, California USA). Several Capitol Hill High School students in south Oklahoma City and other young women in the region had disappeared in the late 1950's and the possibility of a serial killer in the region seemed possible to this researcher. On that sunny May, however, the young bride eager to find a new home to begin married life joined that day a select group of unfortunate travelers whose journey was into oblivion in a vehicle fashioned of mystery and unanswered questions.

--Marilyn A. Hudson, c2014, updated 2019

The Cinderella of West Texas: The Disappearance of Andrea Lopez Phares (1955)

THE CINDERELLA OF WEST TEXAS: THE DISAPPEARANCE OF ANDREA LOPEZ PHARES

Late in the night of May 4, 1955, near Hale Center in the West Texas panhandle, a 21 year old pregnant wife encountered, close to her home, the man who would end her life and the life of her unborn child.  The young “Latin-American” woman, newspapers agreed, was “pretty”, “had a nice shape”, was “fair complexed”, with lovely long black hair. She also wore cat-eye eyeglasses, loved driving her husband’s new Lincoln Continental, and her husband “allowed” her to carry large sums of cash around because it made her happy. The woman dubbed by newspapers as leading a "Cinderella" life apparently found her life taking a sharp turn that fateful day.

On that fateful day her husband, a 44 year old prosperous cotton grower on leased land west and north of Hale Center, said they were at home, alone, at around 7 p.m. and she received a call, spoke Spanish to the caller, and then said she was going into town. Her husband told reporters that she asked, “I suppose you don’t want to go with me?” to which he said he responded with a sleepy, “Don’t think so.” She then left about 8 p.m. driving away in the Lincoln with her eyeglasses left behind at the house.

The next few hours are a mystery. The young wife and soon-to-be mother, Andrea Lopez Phares, was never seen again.

Andrea Lopez was born about 1935 in Matamoros and had at least two brothers, Andy and Gene Lopez. Before coming to Hale Center was said to have lived in Weslaco, Texas. When she met C.W. “Bill” Phares she was working as a cotton weigher for his operation.

C.W. “Charles William” (known as “Bill”) Phares was born in 1912 in Ada, Oklahoma to Thomas and Nettie Phares. He served in the Army in WW2 from Oklahoma and married there. He is listed on the 1940 census in Brown Township, Seminole county, Oklahoma with his wife Helen, two children (eldest born in New Mexico) and a brother-in-law.  Newspapers indicated he had arrived in about 1945-51 in Texas living in the area of southeast Hale County.  This seems proven because records indicate a daughter born there in March of 1951.  Newspaper accounts provided sketchy and oft times conflicting details of the Phares family prior to 1955.  At that time small pieces of information came forward indicating he had a brother named Jack, a sister named Iva Bottoms, and a relative named Bill Ellis. His arrest in January of 1956 in Pontotoc county, Oklahoma indicated his family association with that region and that his father was named Thomas.

Charles William Phares’s  image appears at least twice in newspaper accounts related to the disappearance of his young wife; hers was found only one time. In those images he appears very different. In one, taken shortly after the disappearance he is pointing to the portion of missing mat in the auto’s trunk, caption to the image revealed he was offering a $1000 reward for information about his missing wife. He is a burly man with glasses, a straw western style hat that had been pushed back off his dark hair enough to reveal a slightly receding hairline and looks a man entering his middle years.

Andrea and C.W. Phares became involved, it is believed, before he finalized his divorce from his first wife, Helen Keller Welch Phares.    Andrea and “Bill”, newspapers reported, married in Mexico when she was 19. Then in September of 1954, he married her again in a Baptist Church in either Hale Center or in Clovis, New Mexico (accounts seem to differ). 

Hale Center, Hale County, Texas in the 1950’s was classic west Texas thirty some miles north of Lubbock. It was largely flat interrupted by small indentations and officially classed as a semi-arid landscape occupied by hardy souls numbering less than 2,000.  To the north and west was a section of the Muleshoe Sandhills that stretched in to the next county and further west. The town was severely destroyed in the middle of the sixties by a tornado but valiantly rose from the ashes. Today, this “Oasis of the Plains”, has grown and changed some but retains its feel of small town life and history. 

Cotton Fields of Hale County, TX. Public Domain Image

May 4, 1955

What is known about that night is subject to which story is believed.  There is the story that emerged post May 4, 1955 and the story that emerged post the January 30, 1956 newspaper accounts of Phares’ arrest for murder.

According to various accounts offered via newspapers, C.W. “Bill “ Phares selected to stay at home, alone,  when his wife said she was going into town around 8 p.m. He claimed she received a phone call, spoke briefly in Spanish and then told him she had an errand.  Phares had claimed that two weeks before the disappearance masked gunman had held him demanding $2000. On that night he stayed home while his seven month pregnant wife drove into town with $1400 in cash.

According to the husband, the car’s odometer showed it had been driven some 150 miles. The abandoned vehicle, with the wife’s papers and billfold still inside, was found on the east side of town the next day (opposite the side of town where the Phares farm was located). The ignition wires had been ripped out.  Also missing, was a cut or ripped out section of the trunk floor mat and a heavy blanket kept there. 

Despite widespread searching, the family that included her two brothers Andy and Gene Lopez and brother-in-law Jack Phares and sister-in-law- a Mrs. Iva Bottoms, no sign of the woman’s body was ever found.

In July it was noted the Phares farm had been sold and Phares had gone to family back in Oklahoma seeking work in the oil fields there. He inferred the tragedy had ruined him financially and emotionally. Later newspapers indicate he arrived in Oklahoma in December so his exact whereabouts are debatable.

The January 1956 Arrest

The carefully structured story first issued after the woman’s disappearance had begun to show signs of internal collapse by year’s end.  In November of 1955, road crews had found a .357 magnum pistol buried near the road to Abernathy (between Hale Center and Lubbuck). The gun was traced to one sold by a New Mexico gun dealer (either in Hobbs or Clovis, accounts vary). Phares claimed it had disappeared a month after the May 1955 disappearance.

Early the next year (January and February 1956), police are arresting Phares in Oklahoma and returning him to Texas where he is charged with the death of his 21 year old and seven-month pregnant wife. His brother, Jack Phares, is charged with perjury for claiming he had not been at the farm but at the cinema.

Quickly, another version of the night’s events are laid out across newspapers. On the day and evening of May 4, 1955 Andrea and C.W. had been at home along with brother Jack, sister Iva Phares Bottoms, and other kin. Mrs. Iva Phares Bottoms substantiated that a quarrel broke out between the young couple and Andrea left early twilight in the Lincoln. Jack claimed C.W. got in his own old model Chevy and followed her shortly after sun-down.  

C.W., it was alleged, did not return until 11 p.m. claiming he had not found Andrea and enlisting the help of his family members: Mr. and Mrs. Bill Ellis, Iva Bottoms, and Jack. They spent the next several hours searching Plainview, Olton unsuccessfully.  At 4 a.m. C.W. reported his wife missing to local police and shortly after dawn the Lincoln was found east of Hale Center with ignition wired ripped, billfold inside, and items missing from the trunk.

Significantly, Texas Rangers Gene Graves, W.E. Renfrow, and Raymond Waters, along with Hale County Sheriff Tom Anderson, all seemed convinced the woman was dead and that she had probably been shot by her husband. They did keep the cause open admitting strangulation or physical violence was also a feasible cause. Once retrieved in Oklahoma, Phares was driven around a wide area associated with the likely events of May 4, 1955: Hale Center, Plainview, Olton, Abernathy and the Sandhills of northwest Hale and northeast Lamb counties. Volunteers were on site in this last location but winds curtailed effective searching for signs of a recent grave. Recent information (9/11/19) from the Texas Department of Public Service under which the Texas Rangers operate, states they have no records of rangers being involved in the 'murder investigation' of Andrea Phares.

Quickly acquired lawyers from nearby Lubbock moved to bring both men before   Judge E.A. Bells (64^th District Court) under a writ of habeas corpus (a legal move that forces authorities to bring forward the evidence causing a person to be held). The law did that, presenting the retrieved pistol and the buried watch and rings as evidence, along with the testimony of family. The Judge refused to release the men but did lower their bonds. The case moved forward to a grand jury.  

Later February 1956 a posse from Hockley, joined one from Lamb County and the Petersburg Riding Club joined a group of Latin Americans with shovels who were seeking likely spots a body might have been buried.

Although C.W. “Bill” Phares received most of the newspaper space, the Lopez family suffered during this same time. Various fortunetellers, psychics, dousers, and con artists preyed on the family in the traumatic months after Andrea disappeared. They reported how such attempted to bilk the family out of funds to locate their missing relative, her grave, or to receive messages from the grave. A year after  her disappearance her brothers Andy and Gene were prominent among those searching with tractors and backhoes the now abandoned Phares Cotton Farm and locations in the region where a body might have been buried.

When the Judge lowered the Phares brother’s bonds there may have been several things influencing that decision. What may have influenced the Judge was the troublesome discovery that Bill Phares had buried his wife’s wrist watch and engagement and wedding rings in a culvert near a bridge not far from the cotton farm. Phares’ explanation was that he had found them in the jacket he had worn that early May and was afraid police would think he had something to do with his wife’s disappearance. So, instead, he wrapped them up and buried them. They were located by Texas Ranger W.E. Renfro of Lubbock. Renfrew would later comment that this case was one he always wished they had been able to settle before he retired.

An additional factor in the decision may have been the discarded gun. A few months after the disappearance a road crew turned up a .357 magnum pistol in a ditch 3 miles north of Abernathy, TX (a short 16 miles south from Hale Center and on the way to where Phares said he was born in Lorenzo, Texas, circa 1911). The pistol was traced back to Phares as one sold to him Feb. 24, 1955 by a Clovis, NM dealer. 

Grand Jury Fails to Indict Husband

Despite these rather significant issues, a grand jury convened failed to indict and the men went free. Coupled with the apparently unaddressed claims that Jack Phares had lied about being at the home that night and that he had heard his brother confess to having murdered his wife and buried her in the sand hills nearby, the decision of the grand jury is thought provoking.  Phares was reported to have moved, by 1959, to Arizona. A recent search of death notices found Phares had died in Oklahoma. His grave memorial indicates he was  C.W. “Bill” Phares (Charles William Phares) born 1912, in Ada, Pontotoc, Ok and that he died and was buried in the same county in 1988.

Every few decades, the haunting story of the young mother-to-be was revisited, recapped, and yet always concluded the same chilling way. No one, anywhere, had ever seen the young wife after that fateful day in May of 1955.  There was one suspicious rumor that showed up from the Oklahoma panhandle but it was questionable on many levels and was not picked up or repeated with any belief. 

Soon, it will be 65 years since that event, and the mention of Andrea Lopez Phares, appears to have been removed from the missing networks checked online. Originally found prior to 2014 she  was not listed as the time of the writing of this essay. She is not listed under cases solved or closed. Requests to agencies have gone unanswered. In 1969, newspapers recapped the story of this Latin-American Cinderella tale that took a dark turn and quoted a member of the law who admitted the case had slipped to the back burner and no one had looked at it for awhile. Sometimes a case can grow too cold and the hoary frost of neglect builds.

As early as late May 1955, local police and law enforcement were pretty convinced the young woman was dead. Newspapers did not recount any other suspects beyond the husband and police never admitted such. So many unanswered questions remain.

1.       What are the details of the alleged kidnapping attempt of C.W. “Bill” Phares, two weeks before the disappearance?

2.       Why did he have the habit of carrying large amounts of cash around with him and why did he ‘allow’ his wife to do so at the time of her disappearance? Especially in light of the attempted ransom demand claimed by Phares.

3.       Why does her pregnancy play such a small role in discussions of her disappearance?  Few newspapers included the fact she was pregnant or that she was seven months along.  Early conjecture in newspaper columns and comments appeared to be that she must have run off with another man but at seven months pregnant that story seems awkward. Such missing persons cases in the 1940’s-1960’s often enlarged the salacious possibilities even at the cost of accuracy.

4.       When she left that last night she did not take her glasses. What was her prescription for (reading farsightedness, nearsightedness, did she need them to drive? Especially at 8 p.m.?)  The only photograph found of her in a newspaper (another oddity) shows her nicely dressed and wearing eyeglasses. Why did she not take them that last night?

5.       What about the missing rings and watch? Why did her husband think it made sense to bury them? He had no need to hide them or to try explain how they came to be in his coat.

6.       Why did his brother Jack Phares claim that C.W. “Bill” Phares had confessed to him of the killing and subsequent burial? What happened to the flip-flop claims about where he was the night of the disappearance?

7.       Why was the car’s wiring ruined? Why was the trunk mat ripped leaving a gap and the blanket taken? How did the car thief/murderer get away from the scene of the abandoned car? A logical rationale would be that someone wanted the car to remain exactly where it was found. A much loved car simply abandoned might have been too tempting to a passerby. Did someone want to make sure he would get the car back? The ripped out section of mat might have been blood stained due to injury to either the wife or the fetus. The blanket would make a handy carryall for an injured or dead body. A dead body might have bleed or released bodily fluids necessitating the removal of the incriminating rug. One wonders, if and when, her remains are located will they be associated with a ripped out section of car mat and a heavy blanket?

8.       If the husband’s claim that the night added some 150 miles is true that might mean that someone could have driven anywhere in a 70-75 mile radius of the Hale Center farm house to dispose of her body. It is interesting to note that a .357 magnum pistol tracked to Phares had been dumped near Abernathy, Texas.  How many miles might have been added in the process of dumping a body, burying a handgun, and jewelry before driving to the other side of Hale Center – as far away from the cotton farm – as possible?

      

      Finally, one of the most troublesome questions in this mystery. Why were the wires of the Lincoln ripped out in the first place? Why was not this car stolen and simply driven away? Did someone want to make certain the car did not leave the area?

 The Theories

Three possible scenarios might account for disappearance and have been expressed by researchers over the years:

The flighty young Latin-American woman grew bored with the hard life on the cotton farm and left with a lover or family members.   As a young girl born into poverty who married the boss winning the right to drive a fancy car and live in a neat stucco and wood farm house carrying lots of cash in her wallet, this explanation seems thin.

Someone kidnapped her. Her husband claimed he had been taken by masked gunman demanding money just two weeks earlier. This also seems farfetched for two reasons. If this had been the case, why was no ransom demanded and why did Phares allow his pregnant wife to carry large sums of cash and drive unaccompanied?

Looking over the stories as they appear in newspapers across several states some things appear to stand out and point toward a single conclusion.

Is it possible that trouble broke out at the farm house that late afternoon or nearby on the evening of May 4, 1955? Did this result in violence occurring (perhaps involving the .357 magnum?), and the young woman being driven away (perhaps in the trunk?) by someone in the Lincoln Continental while an accomplice followed?  

As police seemed certain at the time, was she driven to a place where her body could be easily disposed of (in the sand hills as claimed by Jack Phares?). Who took off her watch and rings? Were a blood soaked car mat and a blanket buried with her?  On the drive back, was the gun buried, the car abandoned with wires ripped out to insure no loss of the beloved auto, and did someone pocket the $1400 alleged to be on  her person, and did someone then bury her jewelry and watch. 

Andrea's Disappearance Turns 65 in 2020

As this case prepares to turn 65, the woman in question would be about 81 in 2020 and the child, if it was alive, might be turning retirement age.  A cold case for some, a haunting loss for others, and a reminder that for those lost we should never stop looking. As of September 2019, The Doe Network reports they never received a listing for this missing person. The Charley Project does not show her listed and neither do various Texas missing person sites.  If someone did her and her unborn child harm, the books should never close until justice can write ‘finished’ at the end of the story.

After all, in the end, there is no statue of limitations on the truth.

--Marilyn A. Hudson (based on research originally conducted in 2014-2015, printed in the work 'Into Oblivion' (now out of print) and augmented by additional research in 2019. All data from public documents, records, and statements related to the investigation).