The first is an odd little piece, about which I found a couple small articles. The other is a much more significant, widely covered and contemporary-ish event. For around two weeks in the spring of , female students attending Council Bluffs High School were in a state of high alert.
Numerous young women had reported being assaulted in the vicinity of the campus. Fortunately, the mysterious beastly attacker was unable to cause any significant harm, other than a couple of torn socks. While this may sound like the plot of a Bert I. Gordon film, law enforcement at the time took the matter seriously. The Ape-Man remains at large.
In the late s, the United States government conducted a series of underground nuclear tests under the name Operation Mandrel. Also in the late s, the United States government was trying to figure out a way to use nuclear warheads for peaceful, constructive purposes under the name Project Plowshares.
On September 10, , in a small western slope community located just north of I between the towns of Parachute and Rifle, these two distinct entities joined forces for Project Rulison. The surrounding area was evacuated, including mine workers in the region in case the shockwaves caused collapse. The device was then detonated. The result was a 40 kiloton yield nearly three times the size of the Hiroshima blast , the shockwave of which was felt for miles around, resulting in minor damage to some of the few homes in the area.
The detonation was extremely effective, in the sense that it released a tremendous amount of natural gas from the vaporized rock. Unfortunately, as might have been predicted and, in fact, was predicted by some , the resulting natural gas was determined to be highly radioactive, and therefore unsuitable for commercial use.
