When Plague is Used as a Weapon: A Dark Story From Decades Past

My previous article was on the subject of the U.S. government’s deep concerns that, from the 1940s onward, enemy agents were secretly trying to bring down the nation’s cattle herd by using deadly viruses. That article began as follows: “There was a time when I thought it was at least feasible that cattle mutilations might be the work of aliens. That, however, was more than a few years ago. The more I dug into the mystery, the more I came to believe that the subject had far less to do with aliens and far more to do with government activity. Within in the field of Ufology, there is an acceptance that the first real animal mutilation case (as ufologists see it) was that of Snippy, a horse found dead under bizarre coincidences.” Now, let’s get onto today’s article. It is equally as chilling as the previous one. In many respects, even more disturbing. And here’s the reason why: Today’s article is a follow-up. It focuses on concerns the government had to the effect that those same enemy agents had chillingly turned their activities in the direction of the American people. A document prepared by the FBI’s Special-Agent-in-Charge at its Albuquerque, New Mexico office on June 22, 1950, titled Bacteriological Warfare – Espionage-Sabotage (Bubonic Plague), refers to rumors then flying around the U.S. government that an outbreak of bubonic plague in New Mexico’s rat population may have been the result of deliberate, bacteriological warfare-related activities by – once again – hostile, unknown forces.

The FBI noted with respect to its interview with a plague expert (who, in the files, is identified only as a Miss Greenfield) “[She] is acquainted with the presence of the plague among wild rodents in New Mexico and in the United States for several years. It has now reached an area from the West Coast to a line running north and south at approximately the border of New Mexico.” The FBI continued: “From August 1949 there were four cases among humans in New Mexico. Briefly, these four cases, one of which was fatal, were reported in New Mexico. Each case indicated that the victim had shortly before the illness, handled wild rodents which he had killed. The one case in New Mexico which was fatal was not diagnosed as the plague until after death.” It was all of the above that had the FBI concerned. And no-one could have blamed them.

Notably, the FBI subsequently received from the Public Health Service two charts displaying the outbreaks of plague in both New Mexico and the continental United States during that period. And as the FBI noted with respect to the Public Health Service: “…they have found positive evidence of the plague among wild rodents in the states lying west of a line directly north of the east boundary of the state of New Mexico.” The FBI’s Special-Agent-in-Charge at Albuquerque concluded his report with the following words: “Miss Greenfield has been requested to advise this office concerning any pertinent developments of the plague in New Mexico or in the United States that may come to her attention. In the event such developments are received, the Bureau will be immediately advised.” And, in essence, those are the significant, declassified portions of the file that relate to animal disease and death (and that soon began to be directed at the human population) that some people in the U.S. government perceived as potentially sinister in nature. We now know that senior elements of, and agencies within, the government were taking a deep and secret interest in cases of potentially unusual disease and death in the U.S. animal and human populations in the 1940s and 1950s. We may also consider it highly likely that very similar, secret interest and concern is still afoot today.

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