Those who forget the Seventies are doomed to repeat it:
No signs of struggle, no blood spills, and no noticeable tracks. Authorities in Texas have little to go on in their investigation after six cattle were found dead in three separate counties, all with their tongues missing.
Via Hot Air. For those who are not old enough to remember this: cattle mutilations were one of those weird situations that really got noticed back in the 1970s. Ranchers would find cows dead in the fields, with bits either hacked, ripped, or cut out (depending on who you asked). Sometimes there were tracks, usually not; and a lot of the dead cows weren’t touched by local scavengers, which apparently happened here, too.
So, what causes it? Go ahead and roll 2d6, then consult the table below.
| 2 | Cryptids |
| 3-5 | Mundane Government Cover-up |
| 6-8 | Illuminati |
| 9-11 | Aliens |
| 12 | Elvis |
I’m only being slightly facetious: nobody knows who’s doing it, but everybody knows who to blame. Personally, over a decade of professional experience has taught me that the real answer is likely “a mixture of coincidence, happenstance, incorrect reporting, and a certain amount of copycat behavior” – but that’s really boring, right? That’s why I’m gonna go with ‘Elvis’ for my ostensible answer. I won’t have to justify it to anybody, but imagine the payoff if I’m right!
You forgot “cult”.
And if you go with “illegal alien Santeria enthusiasts”, you can check at least three boxes.
Roll 1D6 to determine how *many* options are in play.
“Natural causes misunderstood” is always my favorite explanation.
I.e. I seem to remember an experiment ‘proving’ that the scalpel- like precision noted in some cases was just the normal tearing caused by rot in a corpse, and the ‘ no predators will touch it’ says more about the environmental imbalance on castle farms than anything else — wolves and big cats aren’t avoiding the carcass, they’re almost extinct.
I assure you that cougars are far from endangered, and wolves are a very real threat to your herd in a number of states.
But we’re talking about scavengers. Coyotes, buzzards, ravens, and crows. All of which have had a population explosion over the past several decades.