BFRO #2393: The Georgia chopper crash story has been debunked. See msg from P. Caulkins in the investigator notes

📍 Location

📝 Description

[Prefatory Note 1: Some, but not all, of the grammar, spelling and structure from the original submission was edited for clarity. Usually we don't do this at all, to preserve the "voice" of the witness, but it was necessary in this case due to the length of the report, and by the request of the witnesses after he re-read his report online.][Prefatory Note 2: The few statements and insertions shown in brackets [like this] were added by the investigator, and were based on statements of the witness in the interviews. They are inserted at the relevant points of the narative to give a clear picture of the events described.][Prefatory Note 3: The recent information gathered (November 11, 2004) can be found at the bottom of the report.]Here is the story from witness David K.:"In 1985 I was assigned as a Military Policeman to the US Army Garrison at Fort McPhearson, Ga.(Atlanta). We recieved a alert for my squad to go and secure the crash site of an AH-1 (Cobra) helicopter that belonged to the Texas Army National Guard that crashed in the Chatahoochee Forest, North of the Ranger Camp. We were helicoptered into the ranger camp with our gear and we boarded a "Duece" (2 1/2 ton truck) for the ride to the crash site.We made it to within about 1/4 mile of the site and had to carry our gear in. We relieved the Rangers that were guarding the site (the crash occured about 12 hrs earlier) and set up camp. Our job was to keep people out of the area (curiosity seekers, news people, etc.) until the crash investigation team arrived and took over. The crash site was small, about 100 feet by 30 feet because the Cobra crashed in one piece and then burned, so the whole area had that fuel smell and that "burned flesh" smell. The photos below are from the official accident investigation report. It is uncertain whether these photos were taken the day before or the day after the animal encounter. The accident investigation report was obtained by Larry Lesh, MSgt, USAF (Retired)Click on these images for larger versions. We set up camp adjacent to the wreckage about 50 feet away and posted our guard shifts. (I will not name complete names here because of 2 reasons, 1. some of the people involved refused to even talk about it afterward. 2. I do not know where they are today.) My squad consisted of 5 men:SGT Ken R. - Patrol Supervisor (NCOIC) SPC Rodney T. - MP SPC Shaun N. - MP PFC Tim A. - MP PFC David K. (Me)-MP We finally got the camp set around 6:00 pm and the sun was going down. A large fire was built in our perimeter (which was pretty stupid in retrospect due to the large amount of fuel on the ground from the crash) and had set 4 hour shifts. Myself and SPC Shaun N were on the second shift (10:00 pm-2:00 am) we finally racked out about 8:00pm to get some shut-eye. Around 10:00 pm I woke to the most god awful howl/scream you could imagine and when I looked at SGT Ken R, SPC Rodney T and PFC Tim A, you would have thought that they saw a ghost! All three had their 45's out (we were armed with [45's] with two 6 round magazines) cocked, locked and ready to rock!All were visibly shaken. Myself and SPC Shaun N got up and asked what the hell was that, the only answer we got was another howl/scream that was about 50 feet to our east (from the direction of the wreckage) at which time SGT Ken R started dousing the fire from a 5 gallon water can and then told us to spread out online. He told us to keep our flashlights off until he told us and then told us to move out to the wreckage keeping online. His words were "If these locals wanna F*** with the Army then lets give em what they want." At this point as we started to move out I could hear metal being pulled, thrown and moved around at the crash site and I kept looking for a light down there as I was moving. About 30 feet away SGT Ken R turned on his mag-lite and what I saw scared the S*** out of me: 3 creatures were there among the wreckage and they were not bears! the closest one (about 10 feet away) was holding a piece of metal from the heicopter and stood on 2 legs at least 7 1/2 feet tall, covered in hair except for the face, which looked like a chimp, the one behind him(15 feet away) was dragging part of the pilot's body from the wreckage, he (or she) was larger than the first one, however it was stooped while dragging the body. My estimate was over 8 feet tall with the same facial features. I only saw the 3rd one briefly 40 feet away as it was fleeing. SPC Rodney T. was the first one to fire [after dropping the only flashlight] which sent everyone into "Dodge City" mode [basically shooting everywhere]. [Important detail from the interview: The flashlight was dropped before the first round was fired, so none of the rounds fired were aimed precisely at the animals. These soldiers were shooting in the dark. ]After SGT Ken R. got everyone to stop shooting and got us calmed down (yea right!) we reloaded a fresh clip and circled the wagons so to speak. This all lasted about 20 min from start

🔍 Circumstances

5 total witnesses involved 2 were sleeping - (myself and SPC Shaun N.) 3 were guarding - (SGT Ken R., SPC Rodney T., PFC Tim A.)

🌤️ Weather Conditions

10:00-11:00 pm Light Conditions: dark but clear Weather: clear and about 60 degrees

ℹ️ Additional Details

10:00-11:00 pm Light Conditions: dark but clear Weather: clear and about 60 degrees

🔗 Sources (1)

👥 Community Contributions

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