The 1974 Carl Higdon Abduction Case

by Brent Raynes

Friday, October 25, 1974, started out as a very ordinary day, but it ended up being an extremely unusual day for an oil driller named Carl Higdon! Mr. Higdon was hunting elk south of Rawlins, Wyoming, on the north edge of what is known as the Medicine Bow National Forest, when he came over a hill and spotted five elk. He raised his rifle, took aim and fired, but the bullet inexplicably went only about fifty feet through the air and then dropped to the ground. A puzzled Higdon walked over and picked the bullet up, and then stuck it in a fold of his canteen pouch.

Then Higdon heard a sound like a twig snapping to his right, and looking in that direction saw a “man” standing in the shadow of some nearby trees. The “man” stood about six foot two inches and was dressed in a black suit with black shoes and wore a belt with a star where the buckle usually is, with some sort of yellow emblem it. The “man” also was bow-legged, had a slanted head, no apparent chin, and thin hair that stood straight up. Higdon guessed that his weight was about 180 pounds.

The mysterious stranger asked Higdon if he was hungry, Higdon said yes, and the “man” then tossed him four “pills” contained in a transparent cellophane type package. Higdon later remarked that he ordinarily doesn’t like to even take an aspirin, so he isn’t sure why he took the pill. The stranger explained that the pills were “four-day” pills, whatever exactly that meant. Presumably they kept hunger at bay for four days. At any rate, he identified himself as “Ausso.” He asked Higdon if he’d like to go with him, and Higdon replied that he guessed so.

Suddenly Higdon found himself seated in what resembled a high-backed “bucket seat,” with “bands” around his arms, with a football helmet looking thing on his head with wires coming out of it that trailed behind him. He also noticed that he was in a transparent cubicle of some sort. Ausso was there also, and manipulated three levers on a console nearby. Higdon noticed in a mirror above and to the right that the elk seemed to be behind him in some sort of “cage” or something. Just as when he had first encountered them they were still not moving. He noted that the cubicle only seemed to be about seven feet square.

Then Ausso moved the largest lever, whereupon the cubicle seemed to be moving. Soon Higdon noticed a basketball shaped object underneath the cubicle, and he wondered if it was the earth. There was another being in the cubicle with them that “just disappeared” when they landed, for within a short span of time they arrived on another world. Ausso explained that they had just traveled 163,000 “light miles.”

Outside Higdon said that he saw a tower, possibly 90 feet tall, with a brilliant revolving light. He put his hands over his eyes as the light hurt them. Standing around outside the tower were five human looking people, dressed in ordinary clothing, who appeared to be talking to each other. One was a gray-haired man, guessed at 40 or 50 years of age, a brown haired girl of about 10 or 11, a blond girl of 13 or 14, a young male of 17 or 18 with brown hair, and a blond haired 17 or 18 year old girl.

Higdon accompanied Ausso into the tower, where they went up something like an elevator and entered a room together. While Higdon stood on some sort of platform a “glassy” kind of shield came out from the wall and Ausso stood on the opposite side of the shield from Higdon. Then after about three or four minutes the shield or whatever it was moved back into the wall. Ausso then informed Higdon that he was not what they needed and so they would return him. So they returned to the elevator and went back down and out the main door and soon Higdon found himself back inside the cubicle. Ausso was holding Higdon’s gun, which he described as primitive, but said he’d like to keep it, but that was not allowed, and so he returned it to Higdon. Then again he moved the longest lever (again simply by pointing his arm at it), and then the next thing Higdon knew he was standing on a slope back on earth. Then his foot hit a rock and Higdon fell and hurt his shoulder, neck and head.

Higdon was confused and disoriented at this point. He didn’t know who he was or where he was! He walked past his truck and about a mile down a rough road through the woods and then returned to his truck. He heard a woman’s voice, and finding it coming from his CB radio he called for help. He told the woman that he didn’t know who he was or where he was. Around 11:30 that night help arrived. Higdon was still dazed and even had difficulty recognizing his wife.

It was about 4:15 p.m. when Higdon first encountered the five elk and it was about 6:30 p.m. when he made the call on the CB radio. The rescue party had a great deal of difficulty getting his two-wheel-drive truck out of the woods. In fact, it had to be towed out as the road was too rough to be driven over. Reportedly, unidentified lights were seen in the same area where Higdon had been found. Wyoming psychologist Dr. R. Leo Sprinkle investigated Higdon’s account and reported that Higdon seemed sincere and credible and felt that his story should be taken seriously, though the testimony of a single witness is often difficult to evaluate.

References:

1. The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters, edited by Ronald D. Story. Published by New American Library, a division of Penguin Putnam, Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014. 2001. ISBN: 0-451-20424-7. Pages 241 to 243. Submission by Coral and Jim Lorenzen.

2. Encounters With UFO Occupants, by Coral and Jim Lorenzen. A Berkley Medallion Book, published by Berkley Publishing Corp., 200 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016. 1976. SBN: 425-03093-8. Paperback. Pages 227 to 230.