Does Emil Strainu's Nebraska incident hold up?

I was reading one of the DarkLore volumes and I ran across an interesting incident in the article about Pyschotronic Warfare in Romania. It quotes the following incident in Emil Străinu's book Psychotronic War (or Warfare).

One of the strangest events with psychotronic connotations began on the morning of March 12, 1984, when the towns of Thomasville and Tucks, in the US state of Nebraska, were attacked from clear of some strange military personnel. The National Guard and later the army intervened, but towards the surprise of all the attackers was not affected by the bullets received. It was succeeded, however, in the "first day of fighting," the downing of more than 20 attacking soldiers. Eyewitnesses reported that the attackers looked strange, more they seemed dead for a very long time. The big surprise was that on the night of the same day, killed, "resurrected from the dead" and resumed military operations, attacking intervention.

The next day and night, things repeated themselves identically, and the respective localities were turned into a real battlefield. After the two days when the localities had reached some ruins, they have suddenly appeared specialized, airborne troops, armed with strange weapons, sending laser beams destructive on attackers.

Under the command of a small Chinese, the newly arrived troops managed, by magic, to exterminate them. effectively on all attackers, in a record time of only a few hours, after which they disappeared in one direction unknown evacuating with them the remains of the attackers.

Much later, a real scandal broke out in the media, which had a project in the foreground US Army's top secret, called "Fighters Beyond the Mist", initiated by a Chinese psychotronist the name of Shi Chang, nicknamed "the father of horror", who had created specialized troops of "zombie" soldiers, a subunit of such fighters escaping control in unclear circumstances and rebelling, according to the episode presented above.

The American military authorities wanted to cover up these deeds, putting the destruction of the two localities on account of a tornado, in the official reports not mentioning anything about what happened in reality. Then, the army representatives presented to the press a report according to which Professor Shi Chang he had died a year ago, even indicating where he was buried. Some military specialists and media representatives confirmed that the experiment was real and that it was continuing.

(This is a translation from the PDF available online, which is more or less what was in DarkLore.)

I grew up in Nebraska in the 1980s, so the fact that something so strange had happened close to me intrigued me. So I decided to investigate, and that's where I started having my doubts about the story.

The first natural step was to determine where Thomasville and Tucks were in Nebraska. I expected them to be in the western part of the state, but I was surprised because they are ... nowhere.

There's a Thomasville in Georgia, North Carolina, and Alabama. There are no cities named Tucks in any of those states, or in Nebraska, either. (The closest match I got was that Thomasville Furniture Industries had a branch in Omaha, NE; they opened in 1904.)

I have a book titled Nebraska Place Names (Lilian L. Fitzpatrick), which was published in 1960. No mention of either city there, either. (My parents bought it before 1980, btw.)

Unfortunately, the trail ends there, because Străinu doesn't say where he read/heard this story.

Now, I suppose it's possible that events happened as described, and that subsequently, every mention of Thomasville and Tucks was removed from history (newspapers, books, etc.), but we're talking about 1984 levels of control. An alternative is that an incident similar to the one above happened, but names and/or dates have been changed (invented?) to hide the trail. Another is that the events never happened.

Any thoughts?

a reply to: Proginoskes
I'm unsure as to what DarkLore is, is it a book series? And if there are no towns with that name even, I'd say it's fiction my friend. Perhaps check to see what U.F.O. reports ther are in that time and go from there. That's throwing all skepticism to the wind and saying "they"covered it up and changed the town names.

a reply to: Proginoskes


Ummm…I’m thinking the old anthology…”Strangely Enough”…has more meat than this Dark Lore bone you’ve tossed us…

I mean…what it sounds like your saying is that a contingent of Chinese laser wielding other dimensional zombies…invaded the Nebraska flatland…defeated the US military…and vanished back where they came from…and then the military completely removed any trace of the two villages…

Erm…sounds legit to me…







YouSir

I like it .
I don't know if it is believably interesting , but it is interestingly believing.

originally posted by: Gothmog
I like it .
I don't know if it is believably interesting , but it is interestingly believing.

Ummm…so your saying that it isn’t believable…but it’s interesting that peeps be believing this…right…?

That’s what my brain deciphered with little sleep and no caffeine…





YouSir

a reply to: Proginoskes

The first natural step was to determine where Thomasville and Tucks were in Nebraska. I expected them to be in the western part of the state, but I was surprised because they are ... nowhere.

The tale sounds made-up.

But your comment is notable. I've done this as well with one book of strange tales, ruins, etc. that was written by an author well known for such writing.

Truth is, looking up these claims to check on them takes the fun away. Not that all the tales were bogus. One I recall was of a boat that left the Gilbert Islands, supposedly had a motor in great shape, plenty of fuel, etc. Then -- missing (per the book). Poking around the 'net, though, I learnt the boat and crew had turned up again. A storm had taken them far, far off planned course and when they found land, it was the Solomon Islands, very far from their port of origination. Now, at the time the author wrote the book, he may not have known the outcome of the story. But, while gratifying to follow up on the report, it also removed the "woo factor".

So, yes, not surprised those towns turned out to be non-existent. Whoever wrote that was a bit clever as those place names sound as if they could be found in Nebraska.

Cheers

a reply to: Woodswatcher

I'm unsure as to what DarkLore is, is it a book series?

Sorry about that. Yes, it is. darklore.dailygrail.com... From the site:

Welcome to the official website for Darklore, a journal of exceptional observations, hidden history, the paranormal and esoteric science. Bringing together some of the top researchers and writers on topics from outside of mainstream science and history, Darklore will challenge your preconceptions by revealing the strange dimensions veiled by consensus reality. Contributors include Alan Moore, Robert Bauval, Daniel Pinchbeck, Loren Coleman, Nick Redfern, Robert Schoch, Blair Blake, Michael Grosso, Paul Devereux, Stephen Braude, Mike Jay, Lynn Picknett & Clive Prince and many others. Darklore offers only the best writing and research from the most respected individuals in their fields.

The article I'm talking about was written by Robert Schoch.

originally posted by: YouSir
a reply to: Proginoskes


Ummm…I’m thinking the old anthology…”Strangely Enough”…has more meat than this Dark Lore bone you’ve tossed us…

Yes, it is. (Sorry, I forgot to mention that.)

a reply to: F2d5thCavv2

In a lot of the books I read, I will usually find a few things to check out online (like updating), and occasionally wind up here at ATS. Some things lead to further "leads" for me to read, and others (like this one, evidently) turn into dead ends.