Myrna Hansen

Early Encounter

On May 5, 1980, near Cimarron, New Mexico, 28-year-old Myrna Hansen was driving home with her 6-year-old son when she witnessed five unidentified flying objects descend into a pasture below. The objects appeared to target livestock—specifically cattle. Hansen reported missing time of approximately four hours, with fragmented memories of the event leading to a period of confusion and distress.

Hypnotic Regression

Facing incomplete recollections of the incident, Hansen sought help through regression hypnosis. Between May 11 and June 3, 1980, she underwent sessions with Leo Sprinkle, a University of Wyoming professor who had pioneered the use of hypnotic regression in UFO abduction cases over the prior decade. Sprinkle's work was already influential in the emerging abduction research community, and Hansen's case would become one of his most cited studies.

Account Under Hypnosis

During regression, Hansen recounted a detailed abduction narrative that became pivotal in UFO lore. She described entities in white suits emerging from one of the UFOs. Crucially, she witnessed the live mutilation of a cow using an 18-inch knife—a detail linking her case to the contemporaneous cattle mutilation phenomenon that was sweeping New Mexico and the Southwest. The mutilators then allegedly captured both her and her son. Though her son was taken separately, Hansen resisted her captors and was undressed for a physical examination. Most significantly, she reported being transported to an underground facility where she observed humanoid figures and containers—tanks or vats—holding what she described as body parts suspended in liquid.

The Dulce Base Connection

Hansen's precise descriptions of underground chambers, tunnels, and chambers became formative to the later crystallization of the Dulce Base legend. Although the Dulce Base mythos has been associated with various claims and whistleblowers (most notably Phil Schneider), Hansen's testimony from 1980 predates much of the public Dulce narrative and has been cited by believers as early corroborating evidence for an underground alien-military installation in northern New Mexico.

Investigation and Official Attention

Following the regression sessions, Hansen came to the attention of Paul Bennewitz, an Albuquerque-based MUFON (Mutual UFO Network) researcher who was becoming increasingly prominent in UFO circles. Bennewitz helped coordinate further investigation and brought broader attention to the case within ufological communities. Critically, the incident also attracted the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, which reportedly began surveillance of Hansen and her son in the aftermath. This official attention lent weight to the case within ufology, though it also raised questions about what, if anything, the government knew or feared about the incident.

Legacy and Credibility

Hansen's case remains contested in UFO research. Believers view her testimony as genuine evidence of extraterrestrial abduction and underground alien operations on U.S. soil. Skeptics point to the hypnotic regression method itself as potentially suggestive—critics argue that regression hypnosis can inadvertently produce false memories or confabulation, especially when subjects are asked leading questions by invested investigators. The lack of physical evidence beyond Hansen's account (and the absence of veterinary documentation for the alleged cow mutilation) further complicates verification. Nevertheless, her detailed underground facility descriptions have become canonical in certain UFO subcultures, particularly those focused on secret government-alien collaboration.