Dartmoor

The Daily Mail
 Friday, July 15, 1977
 "Flying Saucer"
 
 
 
 Men in face masks, using metal detectors and a geiger counter,
 yesterday scoured a remote Dartmoor valley in a bid to solve a
 macabre mystery. Their search centred on marshy grassland where
 15 wild ponies were found dead, their bodies mangled and torn.
 
 All appeared to have died at about the same time, and many of the
 bones have been inexplicably shattered. To add to the riddle,
 their bodies decomposed to virtual skeletons within only 48
 hours.
 
 Animal experts confess they are baffled by the deaths at Cherry
 Brook Valley near Postbridge.
 
 Yesterday's search was carried out by members of the Devon
 Unidentified Flying Objects centre at Torquay who are trying to
 prove a link with outer space.
 
 They believe that flying saucers may have flown low over the area
 and created a vortex which hurled the ponies to their death. Mr.
 John Wyse, head of the four man team, said:
 
 "If a spacecraft has been in the vicinity, there may still be
 detectable evidence. We wanted to see if there was any sign that
 the ponies had been shot but we have found nothing. This incident
 bears an uncanny resemblance to similar events reported in
 America."
 
 
 A representative of the Dartmoor Livestock Protection Society and 
 the Animal Defence Society said:
 
 "Whatever happened was violent. We are keeping an open mind. I
 am fascinated by the UFO theory. There is no reason to reject
 that possibility since there is no other rational explanation."
 
 
 
category:Devon