What in the World Happened to My Swamp Cooler?

Have you ever seen anything like this in your life? The inside of my swamp cooler looks like a crime scene. While we love swamp coolers here in Western Colorado, I'm sure nobody wants to deal with anything like this. What happened?

Upon removing the panels from my evaporative cooler last Sunday, I was greeted by something that looks like the trailer for the movie "The Shining." Since when is our water red?

Believe it or not, I do clean the interior of this unit from time to time. Granted, it's been a couple of weeks since I last ran this thing. Historically, the water in cooler has become a little funky from time to time, but it has never turned blood red.

This thing is obviously a sinus infection just waiting to happen. A slightly distressed phone call was immediately placed to my air-conditioning repairman buddy. His recommendation:

You need to put a zinc anode in it definitely for next year. - Bob

Personally, I think an exorcism is in order. Do you know any exorcists? We've all seen nasty water, but never anything of biblical proportions like this.

After draining the water, no signs of rust could be found. With the absence of rust, the only thing I could figure is some poor little bird or mouse got caught in the motor and met a grisly demise.

Following an intense internet search, I'm still at square one. What on earth happened inside my swamp cooler?