We don't know how much material Ledwith provided to Davis. All we know is that a discrete chunk of text focused on the 22 August sketching sessions was slotted into the eventual (1978) big report, along with miscellaneous in-line tidbits attributed to Ledwith.
On further perusals of Isabel Davis' report, the influence of Ledwith becomes significantly more appreciable.
Whilst the evidence has always been there, it's perhaps only now clearer how various pieces of this particular aspect's puzzle, seemingly fit together.
Isabel writes:
"It is at any rate verified that at least four or five shots were fired; Mr. Ledwith established the sequence of these (page 27).
He also obtained from the McCords a reliable statement about the guns in the farmhouse that night, and which of the men used each one (page 21)".
Therefore, it was Ledwith who, on page 27, outlined his understanding of the sequence,
As it would appear his evidence is also a mainstay of the next two pages, I have extracted all of same as one 'document', such that it can be viewed in context.
(Start)
When running away, the creatures seemed capable of extremely rapid movement (see below), and it was impossible to tell whether there were several of them, or whether there were only two or three that disappeared from one place and reappeared véy quickly in another.
The swiftness of these reappearances could easily have given the impression that there were many of them, but the figures given in the newspapers 10 or 22 or 15 - are almost certainly exaggerated; the episodes just described seem to be the only time when two were seen simultaneously.
When I interviewed her, Mrs. Lankford, in fact insisted that no more than one had ever been seen at a time.
Shots had now been fired at the creatures at least four times: first from the back door as the creature approached the house: second, the double shot from rifle and shotgun through the living room window; third, Lucky's shot from the front yard at the creature trying to touch Taylor's hair and fourth, the double shot at the creature in the tree.
Now, as the creature came round the corner of the house, Lucky brought the shotgun down to bear on it and fired at point-blank range. It sounded as if the shot had hit a metal bucket. The thing "flipped over," got up and ran off into the darkness, seemingly unhurt.
When a direct blast from a 12-gauge shotgun had no effect, Lucky made an obvious decision: he would leave the things alone.
The men went back into the house to try to think what to do next.
At some point, the lights over the front and back doors were turned on, and then someone noticed that whenever the creatures approached the house, they came from a dark part of the yard.
Was this an attempt at concealment? The rest of their behaviour makes it unlikely. It seems more probable that they disliked light As the sketches show (pages 44, 48, 51), the eyes were large and had neither pupil nor eyelid: that is, no method of accomodating to changes in the light.
Perhaps the most extraordinary feature of their behavior was their method of locomotion. Whenever they came toward the house they had an upright posture, walking slowly with their hands raised. (Talking to Mr. Ledwith the next morning, Mrs. Lankford said she thought the slow approach and raised hands meant that the creatures were trying to establish communication.)
When struck by shots on a tree-limb or on the roof, they performed their fantastic trick of not falling but floating toward the ground. But whenever they had been knocked over, while on the ground, by a shot, and had "flipped," in the Sutton's phrase, they moved differently. They lowered their hands to the ground and "ran" very rapidly - except that the arms seemed to furnish most of the propulsion; the thin legs, "as spindly as broom handles," seemed to be used only for balance and to move in unison.
The legs were inflexible. When the creatures "ran," the hip joints were flexed slightly - not much of a "bend" was necessary because their arms were so long and the huge hands so close to the ground. But the legs were never seen to bend as if there were a knee joint; they seemed inflexible, and might have almost been stilts. No one noticed the feet, although these must have been visible when the things floated. The arms were bent at the elbow when the creatures approached the house with raised hands, but no other flexibility of arms or hands was noticed, except for a slight movement of the taloned "fingers" when the hand reached down toward Taylor's head. Neither the eyes nor the head were seen to turn to "follow" the movements of the human beings.
One incident illustrates particularly well the creatures' reported ability to "float." a scraping or tapping noise was heard on the kitchen roof, and the men went into the back yard to see a creature moving up that roof. They shot at it and knocked it from the roof; then it "floated" to the back fence - a distance of some 40-odd feet - where it seemed to perch; they shot again, knocked it off the fence, and this time it scurried off into the weeds in the "all-fours" position'.
Except for the big glowing yellow eyes, the creatures were the same "color" all over. In the dark, this was a phosphorescent or luminescent glow, but when a light was turned on them this changed to a dull metallic look. The body surface gave the witnesses the impression that it was skin; if it was some kind of a space suit, as has been suggested, it covered them completely. The glow of the bodies increased when they were shot at or shouted at - as if noise affected the luminosity. The strange triangular ears - large, floppy, wrinkled like leather and pointed at the top - were seen by the women as extended somewhat outward, by the men as closer to the head. There was no hair, no indication of sex, and they gave off no smell.
The creatures made no noise at any time; the "mouth," if such it was (see sketches pages 44, 48, 51), never opened, and they made no sound when moving, although the weeds and bushes rustled when the creatures fled into them. The only noise associated with them was a slight scraping sound on the metal roof, as if the points of the talons were dragging lightly across it; this noise was also described as a tapping.
They never exhibited any behavior that could be described as hostile. They made no attempt to retaliate for the shooting. They never attempted to enter the house, simply stood at a door or window looking in. If performed by human beings, their actions would be interpreted as profound curiosity and persistence; but of course we can not know what their behavior meant. We do not even know that they recognized the shooting as a sign of antagonism.
The number of shots fired in all, by whom, and from exactly what positions, is not known, and statements on this point varied widely.
(END OF EXTRACT)
Continued in next posting....
