On this day in conspiracies

The Deseret News, the Salt Lake City newspaper of the Latter-day Saint community, publishes a letter from correspondent Joseph C. Rich reporting that a monster has been seen in Bear Lake by several settlers. Descriptions vary wildly from witness to witness: a head like a cow, an otter, a crocodile, or a walrus; a length of forty to fifty feet or much less; short legs or none at all.

Arnold brings in two Army Air Forces intelligence officers from Hamilton Field, California, Capt. William Davidson and 1st Lt. Frank Brown, who interview Dahl and Crisman and take away sample fragments. A reporter, tipped by an anonymous caller who seems to know everything said in Arnold's room, begins tracking the meetings.

Three near-identical letters arrive at the Vallejo Times-Herald, San Francisco Chronicle, and San Francisco Examiner, each carrying one third of a 408-symbol cryptogram and a demand that it be printed. The writer claims responsibility for the killings.

NASA's own press release calls the shadowed mesa a formation that 'resembles a human head,' releasing the image to illustrate a Martian curiosity. Viking chief scientist Gerald Soffen immediately calls it 'a trick of light and shadow.'

Just over two months later, Panama's General Omar Torrijos dies when his Panamanian Air Force Twin Otter crashes into a hillside in poor weather. The near-coincidence of two Latin American leaders killed in aircraft accidents within weeks feeds immediate suspicion that neither was an accident.

US District Judge J. Frederick Motz sentences Pelton to three concurrent life terms plus a concurrent ten-year term and a $100 fine; the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirms the conviction in 1987.

Basson, who had contested being compelled to appear, testifies before the TRC for roughly twelve hours, disputing the commission's account while confirming the outline of a large, secret programme.

Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov, described by U.S. prosecutors as a Russian organised-crime figure, is arrested in Venice. Manhattan U.S. Attorney James Comey's office charges him with conspiring to fix both the pairs and ice dance results through a vote-trading scheme. Tokhtakhounov denies the allegations.

South Africa’s Committee of Inquiry into Farm Attacks reports on thousands of cases from 1998 to 2001. It finds the great majority of attacks are criminal, aimed at robbery, and that it could not identify a general racial or political motive. The finding directly contradicts the campaign-of-extermination claim.

The New York Times publishes "Jeffrey Epstein Hoped to Seed Human Race With His DNA," reporting that Epstein spoke to scientists and others about a plan to impregnate as many as 20 women at a time at Zorro Ranch, part of a longstanding fascination with transhumanism and eugenics. The Times notes there is no evidence the scheme was ever carried out.