The Travis Walton Abduction

After a long day of work, especially hard labor, the last thing you want to do is worry about is aliens. On November 5, 1975, the last thing on Travis Walton’s mind was UFO’s.

Travis Walton had been working on the Turkey Springs tree-thinning contract in the Sitgreaves National Forest near Snowflake Arizona. Travis, Allen Dalis and John Goulette felled trees ahead of Dwayne Smith, Kenneth Peterson, and Steve Pierce were, who were piling the trees behind them. They worked past sundown, until quitting time finally came, at 6pm. He signaled for work to stop, and the team gathered up their chainsaws, gas and oil cans, and loaded them up into a 1965 International pickup. Then the 7 men arranged themselves for the ride.

Travis Walton circa 1975. Photo courtesy Michael H. Rogers

Travis rode up front, passenger seat, right next to the door, while their boss, Mike Rogers drove. Hot from work, they kept the windows down as they climbed up the ridge toward the Rim Road. It was then that a light, filtering through the trees, caught Travis’ eye. Considering the time of night, he quickly assumed it was just the glow from the sun setting in the west. That was until he realized, the sun had set at least 30 minutes before.

Curiosity kept him guessing, was it hunters camping out? Headlights of another vehicle in the distance? Perhaps a fire? His coworkers had caught sight of it too. They watched as they continued up the road toward the light. They hardly caught a glimpse of it through an opening in the trees as they drove past.

Travis couldn’t make sense of what he had seen. Maybe a crashed plane hanging in one of the distant trees? They drove on, stopping only when they could see without obstructions. It was a golden disc, stationary, hovering below the treetops. There could be only one explanation. It was a UFO.

The lights from the craft lit up the area, and Travis estimated it to have a diameter of fifteen to twenty feet, perhaps eight to ten feet thick. He described it as having a shape “like that of two gigantic pie-pans placed lip to lip, with a small round bowl turned upside down on the top.”

Travis did what any stunned, curious, and excited spectator would do. He got out of the truck and started toward the craft. He walked hesitantly, while the men in the truck questioned his actions. He made it all the way to the halo of light just underneath the ship. He was just a few feet away from being directly under the ship.

That’s when he picked up on a barely audible blend of low and high pitched mechanical sounds coming from the ship. His coworkers shouted at him to get away from the ship, but it was too late. The sounds from above had grown in intensity, the craft wobbling in a pattern like “the erratic spin of an unstable top.”

A bright blue-green ray of light shot out from the bottom of the craft, striking him with what he later described as “the numbing force of a blow that felt like a high-voltage electrocution.” His body arched backward, arms and legs outstretched, and his body was lifted off the ground and hurled backward through the air at least ten feet. From that instant, the world had gone dark, he couldn’t see, hear, or feel anything.

His coworkers, spooked by what they had just seen, started the truck back up and took off, driving frantically to get away before the ship could get to them. When they had put a good distance between themselves and where the incident took place, they began to question what had just happened. One said he saw Travis fall back, but nothing more. Another said it looked as though Travis had disintegrated. Another reported that he had seen him hit the ground.

They spotted another pair of headlights on the road, and then for a fleeting moment, saw the outline of a golden disc just through the trees. It raised into the air in a smooth vertical motion before taking off to the northwest at an incredible speed. They again, took off driving as fast as they could until they reached a turnoff, that would take them north to Heber. That’s when they made the decision to turn around and go back. They needed to find Travis and make sure he was okay.

When they reached the spot, they couldn’t see Travis anywhere. They looked, using the headlights of the truck and flashlights, and called out his name, but he was nowhere to be found. What’s more, they didn’t find any sign of a disturbance. No foreign objects, no markings on the vegetation, no burns, no tracks, no sign of a struggle.

Around 7:30 that night, Kenneth Peterson called police to inform them of Travis Walton’s disappearance. The deputy sheriff, Chuck Ellison, drove out and met the crew at a shopping center where the men, distraught, some in tears, related their story. Ellison notified Sheriff Marlin Gillespie, who drove out with officer Ken Coplan to interview the men.

Mike Rogers insisted they return to the site to search for Travis, preferably with tracking dogs. Unfortunately no dogs were available, but the police went with some of the crew back to the scene of the incident.

As they searched, the police, already skeptical, began to suspect there was more to the story than they were being told. Even they couldn’t find any physical evidence, and despite more police and volunteers, no trace of Travis was found. Knowing he was only wearing jeans, a denim jacket and a shirt, police worried that if he was out there, he would soon fall victim to hypothermia, thanks to the bitterly cold winter nights in those mountains.

By the morning of November 6, the area where Travis went missing had been thoroughly searched and no trace of him was found. That afternoon was spent searching with jeeps, officers on horseback, and even by helicopter.

Saturday, the story of Travis’ UFO abduction had made international news. News reporters and Ufologists alike began travelling to Snowflake, Arizona. Noted Phoenix UFO investigator, Fred Sylvanus, interviewed Mike Rogers and Duane Walton, Travis’ brother. During the interview, Duane reported he and Travis were quite interested in UFOs, and that some twelve years earlier, he had witnessed a UFO similar to the one witnessed by the logging crew. Duane reported that he and Travis had both decided that if they had a chance, they would get as close as possible to any UFO they might see. Duane also suggested that Travis would not be injured by the aliens, because “they don’t harm people.”

This interview didn’t help Travis or his logging team, as shortly after the Snowflake town marshal, Sanford Flake, announced that the entire affair was a prank engineered by Duane and Travis. He claimed that they had fooled the logging crew by lighting a balloon and “releasing it at the appropriate time.” Interesting enough, Sanford’s wife disagreed with him, suggesting that his story was “just as far fetched as Duane’s.”

Police didn’t let it go though, as they still had a missing person’s case on their hands. They made repeated visits to Travis and Duane’s mother, Mary Walton Kellett, often leaving her in tears. They even suggested that she was “hiding something. Or someone.”

Duane also interviewed with William H. Spaulding of Ground Saucer Watch. Spaulding suggested that if/when Travis returned, GSW could provide a doctor to examine him. He also said that Travis should save his first urination after returning, so it could be tested.

On Monday, November 10, authorities gave the crew polygraph tests, administered by Cy Gilson, an Arizona Department of Public Safety employee. His questions centered around whether any of the men had caused harm, or knew who had caused harm to Travis. He asked if they knew where Travis was buried and if they told the truth about seeing a UFO. The men all passed the test, denying harming Travis or knowing where his body was, and insisting that they had, in fact, seen a UFO.

Cy Gilson’s official report quotes, “These polygraph examinations prove that these five men did see some object they believed to be a UFO, and that Travis Walton was not injured or murdered by any of these men on that Wednesday.” The sheriff had no choice but to announce that he accepted the UFO story, saying, “There’s no doubt they’re telling the truth.”

Travis awoke on the cold pavement west of Heber, Arizona on the evening of November 10, five days after he had gone missing. When he looked up, he watched a light turn off on the bottom of a craft hovering above the highway before it took off, vertically into the sky.

He ran down the highway into Heber, and stopped at an Exxon station, using a pay phone to contact his sister. At 12:05am, his brother-in-law Grant answered. “They brought me back!” Travis exclaimed.

Grant took this as a prank call and nearly hung up, but chose to test his suspicions and agreed to go pick him up. He first drove to Snowflake and picked up Duane Walton, and together they drove to Heber.

They found Travis slumped in a phone booth. They got him into the truck and drove back toward home. Travis was sure he had just been unconscious for a couple of hours, only to discover he had been gone a solid five days.

Later that day, without having reported Travis’ return to the police, Duane drove Travis to Phoenix to meet with Dr. Lester Steward, for the confidential medical exam promised by William H. Spaulding of GSW. Unfortunately, Steward was not a medical doctor as they were promised, but rather a hypnotherapist. Travis and Duane spent the next 45 minutes trying to determine what exactly Steward’s qualifications were before leaving and returning home. Steward would later report that the Walton’s stayed with him for over two hours.

News of Travis’ return leaked out to the public and phone calls came rolling in. One from Spaulding, who was then told not to bother the family again. Another call came from Coral Lorenzen of APRO, a civilian UFO research group. She promised to arrange a medical exam for Travis at Duane’s home, by GP Joseph Saults and Pediatrician Howard Kandell.

The exam started at about 3:30pm that day. The exam found that Travis was essentially in good health, however they did notice a couple of unusual, and unexplained results. First, they found a small red spot in the crease of his right elbow. This spot was labeled consistent with a hypodermic injection, but strangely, the spot was not near a vein. The second was Travis’ urine analysis. If he had been gone for five days, with little or no food, as he insisted (which was supported by his weight loss) his urine should have had very high levels of ketone, however his urine was severely lacking. Also difficult to explain was his lack of bruising – which should be evident, considering the beam from the UFO shot him back and into the ground.

At this time, Travis had no choice but to relate his story to sheriff Gillespie.

After being struck, he awoke on a reclined bed, a bright light shining above him. He was in pain, and was having trouble breathing. While he originally thought he was in a hospital, he soon realized he was anywhere but the hospital. For one, he still had his work clothes on. Second, he could feel his shirt and jacket pushed up around his shoulders, and something cool and smooth was pressing down on his chest. He described it as being four or five inches thick, extending from his armpits to just above his belt, and was made of shiny dark gray metal, or plastic.

With blurry vision, he made out the forms of 3 figures, originally thought to be doctors, he soon realized were alien beings in orange jumpsuits. He described them as the typical “Greys”: shorter than five feet, big heads with no hair, large bulging eyes, all brown with very little white in them. Their ears, noses, and mouths “seemed real small, maybe just because their eyes were so huge.”

He managed to get to his feat, the device that sat on his chest crashed to the floor. He grabbed a nearby glass-like cylinder and tried smashing the end so as to create a sharp edge to fight with. It would not break, and the beings continued moving closer to him. He screamed desperately, threatening them, and while it did not stop them from approaching him, they did slow down.

With his back against the wall, the beings suddenly stopped, turned, and scurried from the room, leaving Travis alone. He took a moment to survey his surroundings before throwing the glass-like cylinder to the ground and then slipping out the door and into a curving hallway. No one in sight, he took off at a run, until he came across a room. He hesitated, but ultimately went inside.

The room was spherical, dimly lit, with nothing but a single high-backed chair sitting in the very center. He was hesitant to approach the chair, concerned that someone would be seated in it, but another glance behind him showed that the hallway was still empty, and so he chose to push further. He carefully walked towards the chair, and in doing so, the lights in the room grew dimmer and dimmer. Stepping backward, they would get brighter and brighter. Having reached the chair, the walls were dark, reflecting the speckled deep black of space.

The chair was empty, but had controls on each of its arms. Hoping one would open a door for him to escape, Travis pushed a green button. When nothing happened, he pushed another and lines on the screen moved. He pushed another and the lines rapidly changed angles, then stopped. Pressing more buttons did nothing. He sat down in the chair and carefully took hold of a T-lever. He slowly pushed it forward, and the stars on the walls appeared to rotate around him slowly. When he released the lever, the stars held their position. Concerned he was actually flying the ship, he decided it was best to leave it alone, not wanting to crash.

He stood up and walked back to the edge of the room, looking at what he believed to be other doorways, but finding no way to open it, he returned to stand beside the chair. It was then that he finally heard a sound, just behind him. He spun around, expecting more of the alien beings, but what he saw surprised him. It was a tall human figure, wearing blue coveralls with a glassy helmet. He took Travis by the arm and led him out of the room, down the hall and through a closed doorway, that slid open into the wall. They entered into a bare room, and the door behind them shut quickly and silently.

The room was small, no more than seven by five by twelve feet. They stood there in silence for approximately two minutes, despite Travis’ attempts to engage the man in conversation. Then another doorway, this time in front of them, slid open.

They stepped outside, and were greeted with warm light and fresh air. Travis breathed in deeply, then noticed that the aches and pains he had been experiencing were almost completely gone. They descended a ramp, seven or eight feet down to the ground. What he thought was outside, was merely outside of the other craft, but he was still inside, in fact, he was in a large metallic room which would best be described as similar to an aircraft hangar. He was led to another room, where he was met with three more humans, a woman and two men. They resembled the man who had led him there, except they weren’t wearing helmets. He again tried asking questions, and received no response.

They led him by the arm to a small table where he was quickly seated. The woman held a device similar to an oxygen mask on his face, but before he could fight back, he passed out. The next time he awoke, was on the highway, just outside of Heber.

Hearing his story, sheriff Gillespie suggested he had been hit on the head, drugged, and taken to a hospital where he mixed up the events of a routine exam with the UFO ideas he already had in his head. But Travis dismissed this idea, knowing that there had been no trace of head trauma or drugs in his system. He then offered to take a polygraph test, take truth serum, or even undergo hypnosis to support his account. Gillespie said a polygraph would be sufficient, and began making arrangements for it.

In the meantime, Travis and Duane drove to Scottsdale, Arizona to meet with APRO consultant, James A. Harder. Harder hypnotized Travis, hoping to uncover more details of the past five days. Interesting enough, Travis’ conscious recall and unconscious “memory” were the same, and he could only account for about two hours of time. During this session, Travis encountered a mental “block” and said that if they were to continue, he would die.

At the same time, William H. Spaulding of GSW announced to the press that during his and Dr. Steward’s time with Travis, they had questioned him for a solid two hours, during which time they were able to uncover inconsistencies in his account.

The arrangements for Travis’ polygraph test were made, but word of the exam was somehow leaked to the press. Hearing this, Duane canceled the exam, thinking the sheriff had broken his promise to keep the test a secret. Gillespie maintained his innocence, and said that in a sensational case such as this, it was difficult to keep anything secret for long.

The National Enquirer wished for Travis to take a polygraph, and arranged for one, after assuring Duane that he and Travis would have power to veto any public disclosure of the test results. Though there was concern about Travis’ mental state, John J. McCarthy, of the Arizona Polygraph Lab, said he would take Travis’ nervous state into consideration.

Travis failed the polygraph, and McCarthy also claims he tried to cheat. Travis claimed that McCarthy behaved unprofessionally, thus skewing the results. The official report stated, “Based on his reaction on all charts, it is the opinion of this examiner that Walton, in concert with others, is attempting to perpetrate a UFO hoax, and that he has not been on any spacecraft.”

It was agreed by the Waltons, APRO, and the National Enquirer that the results of the polygraph would be kept secret, yet eight months later, that decision was made public, and more charges of deception and cover-up were made.

Travis would later take and pass two additional polygraph tests, and it was publicly argued that McCarthy had been biased and had asked Travis embarrassing, irrelevant questions in order to create conditions that would result in a negative result. Even recognized polygraph experts were divided on the validity of McCarthy’s test, one even asserting that his method was “more than 30 years out of date.”

Others proceeded to claim that the “incident” was pure fabrication for financial gain, and perhaps it was, we may never know. What we can say is that The National Enquirer awarded Travis and his coworkers a $5,000 prize for “best UFO case of the year” after they allegedly passed polygraph tests administered by the Enquirer and the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization.