A secret desert base, a quiet valley next door, and a mystery the Army sat on for decades.
In 1968, ranchers near a secret Army test site in Utah woke up to thousands of dead farm animals. Which fluffy animal was it?
Sheep Roughly six thousand sheep died in Skull Valley, right next to the Dugway Proving Ground, where the Army quietly tested chemical and biological weapons.
Decades later, an Army report surfaced calling the evidence of a nerve agent "incontrovertible." Why did defense officials say they never bothered to publish it?
It wasn't particularly revealing The report stayed hidden until a Salt Lake Tribune reporter made it public in 1998, and even then the Army refused to accept responsibility.
Poison drifted over a valley full of farms, yet only the sheep dropped. What happened to the nearby cows, horses, dogs and birds?
Nothing at all No other animals seemed harmed, which puzzled investigators and gave doubters a reason to question whether a nerve agent was really to blame.
A fighter jet finished its test run over the desert, but a sprayer didn't fully empty. What trailed behind the plane as it climbed?
A deadly nerve agent The VX leaked out behind the F-4 Phantom, drifted north into Skull Valley, and settled over a huge flock of grazing sheep.
After TV news covered the dead sheep, public outrage pushed President Nixon to ban what kind of testing?
Open-air chemical weapons tests The scandal nearly got the Army Chemical Corps disbanded and even helped inspire Stephen King's novel The Stand.
