By Natalie Myers
On November 5 1975, arguably the most well-known UFO abduction case ever documented happened. The case of Travis Walton. The case has been chronicled in a bestselling book and subsequent $20 million movie in 1993. One of the convincing things about this case is his vehement of the same story even all these years later.
The case begins at the end of a hard days work in Sitgreaves National Forrest in Arizona. Walton, who was 22 years old at the time, and his forestry co-workers were on their way home. From their truck they observed a saucer shaped object that was glowing and creating odd noises in the woods. It was hovering above the ground and appeared to be metallic. The group stopped to get a closer look.
Travis felt compelled to leave the safety of their truck to get nearer despite his colleagues shouting at him to come back. A huge beam of bright blue/green light then emerged from the craft that knocked him 20 foot in the air, dropping to the floor unconscious.
The guys in the truck watched on as they saw the huge beam throw Travis into the air and him landing in an awkward way. They assumed that he was dead from the position of his body. Terrified and not knowing what to do, they drove off without him.
The woodcutting crew fled, returning a short time later to retrieve the body. When they went back Travis had disappeared so they left again, more confused as to what had occurred.
Upon returning home, the work crew reported what had happened to authorities from a local mall by telephone. Understandably, this was met with raised eyebrows; most thinking it was a fabrication to cover up the murder of Travis.
Deputy Chuck Ellison took the call and then met the group finding them visibly shook up and distressed. It was now around 8pm. Ellison would later state “if they were acting, they were awfully good at it”.
Getting frustrated by the apparent delays in effort to look for their friend, the crew began to get more concerned. Eventually a number of officers from the sheriff’s department went to the exact site of the spectacle, however Travis was nowhere to be seen nor was there any indication that an abnormal event had occurred.
The crew then started the process of informing the Walton family of the disappearance, still unsure what they had experienced.
It wasn’t until the next day with renewed sunlight that further and more detailed searches of the abduction site could be carried out. Multiple locals assisted the police in the exploration of the area however as had been the case the night before, nothing was found and nothing seemed out of place.
In the following days, local media would find out about the story and drew their own conclusions about the event. They found the rest of the men continued to be critical of the police investigation and Rogers was vocal about them being unable as a crew to complete their work in the forest.
As the days went on with no sign of Travis, people began to get very concerned about his safety no matter which side of the fence they believed in. The nights in that region were extremely cold and Travis only had with him the clothes on his back. It appeared more and more to Police this would result in a dead body being discovered and would not be a rescue mission as first thought.
It was at this time that the crew were offered the first chance to take lie detector tests, the results of which remain contested to this day. The group all submitted willingly as a way to assure their innocence. Cy Gilson, a respected man with in the field of polygraph testing undertook the job. All men passed with the exception of Allen Dalis who had ‘inconclusive’ results.
Inconclusive results don’t mean that you fail a polygraph. These results can come about if people perhaps don’t fully understand the question, are under extreme stress or intoxicated. Interestingly only around 5% of people have an inconclusive result, the rest of the 95% of people simply pass or fail.
We are now late into the early hours of 11 November 1975. Travis’s sister in law receives a call. The person on the end of the phone was Travis himself. Dazed and confused he manages to explain he is at a local petrol station. The family rushed to help him and after initially taking Travis to see his Mum, his brother Duane decided that Travis needed to be checked by medics and took him straight to a local hospital.
Travis’s story then begins……
He remembers being hit by the beam of light then nothing until he awakes on a bed in pain and aching all over. He recalls being surrounded by three five-foot bald alien beings dressed in orange suits. He particularly remembers them having large heads and eyes. “They were brown with not much white in them”, he stated.
With panic setting in, Travis leapt of the bed and grabbed a glass tube to use as a weapon. Unable to break it, he shouted as loud as he could and waved and pointed at the beings. Surprisingly, their reaction was to wave back. Then they left the room
Travis then decided he needed to escape so also left the room and headed into a long corridor. He entered another room, which was round with an odd shaped chair in the middle. Lights began moving around the room as he moved and reminded him of a planetarium screen. Pressing buttons on the chairs he was able to move the lights around in different directions.
He then met a tall figure dressed in a blue suit with a “glass domed” helmet. He beckoned Travis to follow him which he did, noticing that he was going down a ramp into a large enclosed space, similar to that of an aircraft hangar. He then realised he had walked off the ship and noticed that two similar crafts had landed close by. He again noted the being that had shown him off the ship had very large eyes.
He then recalls being led into a room with two male and one female human like beings, again with enormous eyes. These figures had no helmets on. The woman in the group approached Walton with a mask like item and at this point, Travis remembers nothing until he woke up by the petrol station where a disc shaped object, metallic in colour, flew off at impossible speed.
Many theories were debated once Travis reappeared. Some people felt he had been drugged and attacked. He had no evidence of head trauma and a toxicology screen showed nothing that was sedative was in his system. If he was assaulted- who did it and why?
He had five days of facial hair and was malnourished; indicating that wherever he was it was not of his own doing. Some of the blood tests indicated strangely that even though he was gaunt in appearance, it appeared as if he had received some nutrition and fluid intake.
On the evening of 10 November it is worth noting that Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota reported sightings of a bright object in the sky, shining like a star and moving across the horizon. It was approximately 1-2000 feet up and was making no noise and witnessed by a number of people.
In addition a number of hours before Walton was found, a witness reported lights above her house in a V formation, glowing orange. She then passed out awaking in a large chair with dim lights around her. Several human like figures were walking around her. She then woke up and was back in her own lounge. Coincidence?
Travis went under hypnotic regression early on after his return. He was only able to recall around two hours after the initial strike from the light beam stating his mind would not allow him to access time after this point. Travis described a feeling that if he did explore this memory further he may die.
The men’s experiences were recorded far and wide. The national Enquirer even awarded the group £5000 for ‘Best UFO Case of the Year’ (pictured)
There are still those sceptical of the events of November 5 1975 for a wide variety of reasons
Logging contract
Mike Rogers, to whom the contract was awarded to had already applied for one extension to his agreed deadline of work with the Arizona forestry Commission. This had led to hefty fines, It was abundantly clear that the crew would also miss this second deadline which would have meant he would be unable to pay them their wages and would face even more financial penalties. Winter was also on its way which would have slowed work down even more.
Did the group create this hoax as a method to avoid completing the logging job and voiding their contract ? This surly would have tarnished any reputation that Mike Rogers had within his niche profession. Even the Forestry commission themselves felt the group didn’t have much to gain from such an elaborate con.
Previous contact
Famed sceptic Philip Klass pointed out in his review of the case that Walton was a huge UFO fan and both him and his family had made claims previously about alien encounters. Perhaps this was the case and would in my opinion back up his story in many ways as abductees often tell of lifelong visitations that sometimes span across family generations.
Credibility
People have written over the years that Travis Walton simply isn’t a credible witness. They cite his “drug addiction” and “prison time” among the reasons to distrust him. Whilst it is true that Walton admits to recreational cannabis use on occasions, this isn’t the same as being a hard core junkie. He also never spent any time in jail. He did receive probation for a payroll fraud but was reportedly very ashamed by this and didn’t make any further unlawful decisions.
There was also concern raised regarding Walton’s mother Mary. The officers who spoke with her regarding her son’s disappearance described her demeanour as ‘odd’. She showed little concern for his alleged abduction and just carried on with life. Others suggested she was deeply private and independent and would not show any emotion with strangers, stating this was not an unusual way for her to respond given the strange circumstances.
Financial gains
Travis decided to put pen to paper and write a book about his experiences titled ‘The Walton Experience’.
Walton’s book was later made into a film, which after costing around $20 million to produce, only just above broke even. Walton and his wife made cameo appearances in the movie but the roles were unpaid, however this could support the belief that he enjoyed the attention afforded to him after the abduction and through subsequent years. His novel was re-released under the ‘Fire in the Sky’ title to coincide with the movie’s release.
Today
After all these years and very out of the blue came a Facebook post from Mike Rogers on March 19 2021 stating
“I. Michael H. Rogers, being of sound and rational mind, do hereby give notice that I am no longer to be considered a witness to Travis C. Walton’s supposed abduction of November 5, 1975.”
He later clarified that it wasn’t a hoax, but concluded that sentence with “as far as I know… rumour has it that a remake of Fire in the Sky is in discussion and that the group don’t see eye to eye on monies associated with the project.” Mike Rogers is also penning a book on the incident so further publicity at this time could be advantageous.
Walton’s story remains the same after all these years that what happened that night and the days that followed are fact. He even took a further polygraph 20 years after the incident along with Mike and Allen in which all men passed. This used modern and up to date technology.
Travis is a regular on the UFO and conference circuit, recounting his story for all to hear. His failure to deviate his story even now only adds to the credibility of this truly fascinating and most famous UFO abduction case
