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T H E--S A L T--F O R K--A B D U C T I O N S

By Tom Wertman and Phyllis Budinger


On August 29-30, 2014 two men were on a fishing/camping trip at an Ohio state park (Salt Fork, Cambridge, Ohio). The older man (43) was accompanied by a young man (19) who was his daughter’s boyfriend. The older man is a construction worker who owns his own business. They were camped by the lake shore with chairs about two feet from the water, and would routinely stoke the fire every hour. There was no one else in the vicinity.

Late in the evening the two men saw a light low in the sky. It moved back and forth to tree top level. About 1:30 a.m. they heard a shrill ‘woman-sounding” voice. It should be noted that many stories of ‘high strangeness’ abound (bigfoot, hauntings, UFOs) at Salt Fork.1 There is a cave in the park with a waterfall where a girl supposedly died. The men became increasing nervous. After 1:30 a.m. the older man’s wife and daughter could not contact them. The men have no recollection of what happened for three hours. They became ‘aware’ at 5:19 a.m. in the morning. The fire was out. The men grabbed their belongings, returned to the pickup truck and changed clothes out of their fishing clothes. As the older man changed clothes he noticed his shirt was inside out! They also noticed markings on their bodies. One witness found that he had marks over an estimated 40% of his body. It should be noted that no alcohol was in their cooler, only water.

Following is a Google map of the site. The craft was suspected to have landed somewhere in the open area to the right of the tree. Tom interviewed the men and visited the site.



He submitted the clothing worn by the fishermen to me to determine whether there was anything anomalous related to the abduction. The clothing from the older man included: cargo shorts, zippered sweatshirt, belt, hat, underwear. The younger man’s clothing included: cargo shorts, red and black striped polo shirt (outside layer), navy blue long sleeve polo shirt (middle layer) white sleeveless shirt (inside layer – undershirt), underwear, belt, socks. The complete analytical report on the clothing analysis can be found on the Black Vault website. (http://www.theblackvault.com/casefiles/analyses-of-two- experiencers-clothing-worn-during-an-abduction-salt-fork-state-park-ohio.) The clothing was first examined for any visual stains and spots, and then for any areas which fluoresce under UV light. All spots, stains and UV fluorescing areas found on the clothing were analyzed. Only the cargo shorts and sweatshirt of the older man, i.e. outer clothing, was examined because the other apparel did not have any stains/UV fluorescing material. The same was essentially true of the young man’s clothing. Only the cargo shorts, both polo shirts, and sleeveless shirt contained stains worth analysis. Following are photographs of the clothing examined.






Older Man’s Clothes

Cargo Shorts




UV Fluorescing Stains on the Cargo Shorts




Zippered Sweater




UV Fluorescing Stains on Sweatshirt Sleeve







Younger Man’s Clothes


Cargo Shorts




Striped Polo Shirt




Navy polo shirt




Sleeveless Undershirt




It should be noted that these clothes were exposed to the environmental conditions encountered on the fishing trip. They were not new and were exposed to other contaminants encountered wherever they were worn. For example, the older man did contract work and wore the zippered sweatshirt for that. Laundry soap and fabric softener residues are also a possibility. This analyst understood that finding something anomalous would be like looking for the proverbial “needle-in-a-haystack”. But certainly the attempt was worth a shot.

There were two objectives of this project. The first was to identify any stains and spots left on various pieces of clothing for anomalies which may be related to the abduction. The second was to compare these results to two other analyses done by this laboratory. One was done on the dress Betty Hill wore during her abduction2 and the other done on an experiencer’s tee shirt worn during an abduction in Winnipeg, Canada3. Other assorted characteristics were also compared. There are two detailed tables in the formal analytical report. An abbreviated table follows.



The comparison indicates possible component types which appear on clothing from all three experiencers. These are long chain carboxylic acid salts, one of which may specifically be zinc stearate. So this is flagged as a component to look for in future analysis of clothing from experiencers. Is this the “needle-in-a-haystack”?

Long chain carboxylic acid salts are very ordinary materials, and were not thought to be anomalous in previous analyses. These types of compounds have a plethora of uses. Some are used in bar soap and stick deodorant in personal hygiene products. While there is a probability some may originate from these products, not all are believed to be from these sources. Some of these components were found on clothing areas where there is low probability of originating from a hygiene source.

It is also interesting that, for the most part, the carboxylic acid salts were found in UV fluorescing areas of the clothing. Many experiencers are reported to have UV fluorescing stains on their person or clothing.4 It should be noted that something does not have to be exotic or of unknown composition to be of alien origin.

Tom also collected four soil samples. I have examined them, and the results of the analysis are in the process of being written up. Following is a Google map of the landing site, and it shows where the samples were taken. Past analysis of soils from UFO landing sites suggest that the soils have slightly higher magnetite (iron oxide mineral) than the surrounding soil. It is speculated that the UFO propulsion system acts as a magnet, which drags the magnetite up to the surface. In that case, my iron measurements suggest a UFO has not only landed, but also indicates the location it had set down. This is shown on the map.


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