The Netflix revival of the reality series "Unsolved Mysteries" has a new group of episodes, including an especially disturbing outing featuring ranchers, a law enforcement officer, and a journalist from Oregon, talking about gruesome, baffling cases of cattle mutilations.

The episode, "Mysterious Mutilations," includes cases in several Oregon counties, including Grant, Wheeler, Gilliam and Umatilla. Ranch owners describe coming across cattle who have been left for dead, with organs removed, and other body parts that have been taken.

The cases they describe left the ranchers stumped, as they found no blood, vehicle track marks on the ground, or signs of struggle.

MT Anderson, a ranch owner in Grant County, says that when he reported finding a heifer who was dead and had been mutilated, authorities investigated and then told him the heifer was killed by a bear.

Considering that the animal had been cut with almost surgical precision, Anderson says, he found that conclusion hard to believe. "Last I checked," Anderson says, bears "don't pack knives."

Mat Carter, a rancher in eastern Oregon, also talks about his experience, finding a dead and mutilated cow, with, again, no blood, tracks or signs of struggle apparent.

Jeremiah Holmes, with the Wheeler County Sheriff's Office, says that since 2019, there were five confirmed cases of cattle mutilation in the county.

He could find, he says, "no way to explain it," but adds that he's convinced the cattle weren't killed by predators.

Stephen Allen, editor and publisher of The Times-Journal, in Condon, is also interviewed, as is Herschel Lantis, a rancher who came across a bull that had been killed and mutilated.

"I've seen a lot of stuff," Lantis says, but he'd never seen anything like that. "There was just something really strange about the whole deal," he says, and adds that when he drives by the spot where he found the animal, "my hair will stand up on the back of my neck."

The episode also includes interviews with a Colorado veterinarian and "an unexplained livestock death investigator," and delves into the history of cattle mutilations, which spiked in the 1970s, when several states reported cases of the crimes.

Vintage news reports and contemporary interviews all touch on the bizarre nature of cattle mutilation, and how it remains unexplained, though plenty of theories -- UFOs and cults among them -- have been floated as possible perpetrators.

"Unsolved Mysteries" originally aired on NBC, beginning in 1987. The series was revived by Netflix in 2020, offering more "Real cases of perplexing disappearances, shocking murders and paranormal encounters," as Netflix describes it. The current season, Volume 5, includes a warning that the "Mysterious Mutilations" episode features graphic images and accounts of animals that have been killed.

-- Kristi Turnquist covers features and entertainment. Reach her at 503-221-8227, [email protected] or @Kristiturnquist