Cisco Grove Abduction Attempt
On the Labor Day weekend of 1964, three men from the Sacramento area of California drove into the mountains near Cisco Grove, not far from Truckee, to do some bow hunting. The bow hunting season, which precedes the usual deer season, had just commenced. On the afternoon of September 4, the three were hunting a ridge some distance from their camp.As dusk approached, they were separated from each other. D. Shrum, was to proceed along the ridge and approach camp from a certain area. When he reached the end of the ridge, he found that it ended in a sheer drop to the canyon below and he realized he would have to retrace his path and find another way to get to camp. He started back, in the dusk, and came into a canyon with a granite outcropping, few trees, and sparse brush. At this point, he heard what he thought was a bear by the crashing sounds it made, and took refuge in a tree. Shortly, confident that the bear had gone, he got down and built three small signal fires hoping to attract the attention of rangers, not knowing they had left the area already.
Then Mr. Shrum saw a light below the horizon and thought it was a lantern and that his friends were looking for him. But when the light darted up and over a tree, he realized it wasn’t a lantern and thought perhaps a search and rescue helicopter was coming. When the light came in his direction, then stopped, and hovered motionless without any sound, he realized this was something out of the ordinary and went back up into the tree.
This tree is important to the story. It is 25' to 30' high, big enough at the base so that it cannot be circled by a man’s arms, completely branchless up to 12', with sparse but sturdy limbs above it. Mr. Shrum climbed to the 12' mark and stayed there for a time.
The light Mr. Shrum had seen appeared to be 8" to 10" in diameter, and white. It appeared to be accompanied by two or three other objects which stayed at a regulated distance from it. Remember at this point that it was dark with a moon rising, but nevertheless this canyon is partly shaded from the moon’s light. Shapes and things were therefore indistinct. The light then circled around Mr. Shrum’s tree, a flash was seen, and a dark object fell to the ground. Then he noticed a dome shaped object 400 to 500 yards away, apparently on or near the ground.
Noises like someone moving in the brush attracted Mr. Shrum’s attention, and he saw a figure emerge from a patch of manzanita brush. The creature seemed to be examining the manzanita. Then, from a slightly different direction, another figure approached and the two came toward the tree in which Mr. Shrum perched, stood at the base, and looked at him. He occasionally heard a cooing or hooting noise to which the two always reacted, but doesn’t know if the sound came from them or an owl in the area. The reaction from the entities might have simply been curiosity about the noise. The only other noise he heard during the night was the sound of movement in the brush, and once he heard the sound of a generator.
At this point, a third figure came from the direction of the dome, it seemed to move in a different manner than the first two, making more noise, seemed to run into bushes, going over or through them rather than around, as the others did. The descriptions of these three figures are:
Numbers one and two were about 5' 5", Mr. Shrum’s best estimate. They were clothed in a silvery grey material with a covering that went up over the head straight from the shoulders. No facial features were visible at any time. The third entity was grey, dark grey, or black. It, too, had no discernible neck, but two reddish/orange eyes that glowed and flickered where the head would be. It had a mouth which, when it opened, seemed to drop open, making a rectangular hole in the face. The mouth extended completely across the face area.
Mr. Shrum saw figures number one and two more clearly than the other, for they came in from an area bathed in moonlight. Figure number three came in on the shadowed side of the canyon. Its eyes appeared to be about 3" in diameter.
The first two figures attempted to get to Mr. Shrum by boosting one another up the tree, but apparently did not know how to climb a tree. The third entity, which Mr. Shrum calls a robot, seemed to be just watching and waiting, near the base of the tree. Then the nightmare began.
Mr. Shrum readily admits he was badly frightened. He realized the object on the hill must have been a flying saucer although he knew little about them except from newspaper accounts. Throughout the night, the robot tried to gas him with smoke which issued from its mouth while the other two looked on, or tried to climb the tree. Mr. Shrum climbed higher, belted himself to the trunk, the section where he finally settled was 4" in diameter) and began lighting pieces of his clothing and throwing it at them. First, he lit his cap, which flared up brightly, probably due to hair dressing which is quite oily, and threw it down. The two figures backed up and away from the tree. Then the robot opened its mouth, Mr. Shrum saw a puff of white smoke or gas, and seconds later, he became light headed, then lost consciousness. Each time this happened, he would awaken, probably only seconds later, sick and retching. He would then light another piece of his clothing or throw something at them to try to discourage them. He succeeded in starting several small fires on the ground, hoping to attract attention from someone, or to discourage his tormentors. Altogether, he tore apart his camouflaged oversuit, his jacket, and his cap.
Before he began setting fires, Mr. Shrum shot three arrows at what he thought was the chest section of the robot. When the arrows hit, they struck a spark as they made contact with the robot, suggesting that it was made of metal, and succeeded in knocking the robot away two or three feet. Occasionally, the robot would get downwind before releasing the gas, which Mr. Shrum said he never saw after it left the robot’s mouth.
Mr. Shrum threw his canteen down, which one of the silver suited entities picked up and both of them examined. All in all, he threw his bow, his canteen, and a pocketful of silver coins, besides bits of burning clothing and paper.
Finally, at about dawn when the east was just starting to get pinkish with the first light of the sun, the two men figures stood back from the tree, another robot joined the first and they stood facing each other at the base of the tree. Then, sparks and a glow filled the area between their chests, and a cloud of the gas issued from them. This time, Mr. Shrum did not know for certain where the gas came from. He blacked out and when he came to, they were gone. He was extremely nauseated, and was hanging, limp and exhausted, his head and legs and arms dangling. He feels they left him for dead. He was bitterly cold from exposure, having only his T-shirt, levis, underclothing, socks, and boots left. He waited a while, got down, and looked around.
Mr. Shrum said he got another scare when he spotted smoke issuing from near a rock, but found it was only the smoke residue from one of the fires he had started during the night. He tried to orient himself, then started for camp. Finally, sick and frightened and exhausted from his ordeal and the cold, he lay down. He then heard one of his friends whistling, got up and the two located each other, then went back to camp.
When Mr. Shrum arrived at camp, he found that one of the other men had nearly gotten lost, but had been close enough to camp to see the lantern and get there safely. The other man had apparently seen the craft, for he told about the bright, glowing large light which slowly came down, the evening before. Mr. Shrum told his friends about his experience, and they believed him, not only because they knew him, but because of the light seen by one of them.
Shrum's wife saw him immediately after the incident and confirmed that he was badly traumatized and covered with scratches.