Black helicopter sightings shifted from rural cattle-mutilation contexts to urban military ones in 1993

Evidence

Keith claims to have records of sightings as early as 1971, though he could fi nd none between 1985 and 1993. He links the pre-1993 sightings to reports of western cattle mutilations but claims that those thereafter “more often were seen in urban settings and fl ying in formation, or in the context of covert military maneuvers.” — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 363

Categorization

• XREF: The gap in sightings 1985-1993 and the 1993 pivot track neatly onto major federal sieges (Ruby Ridge 1992, Waco 1993) — the conspiracy theory appears to have been recharted by real events.