All across the Texas panhandle, Texans have been asking themselves, "what caused a giant crack to open in the ground in Claude?" The tiny hamlet is located east of Amarillo.

The finest scientific minds have so far been unable to answer that question. Amarillo Globe News reports that the crack is hundreds of yards long and up to 50' deep. Was it caused by recent rains? Or, could it be a "joint" in the Earth's surface? Or, is it the result of an earthquake fault? Note that that Claude crack is just miles from the much larger trench Palo Duro Canyon.

Through my telekinesis Sputnik mind control ray, I've determined that both Steve Quayle and Whitley Strieber will soon be considering the possibility that this could be the result of a space alien experiment gone horribly wrong.