The Travis Walton Abduction Case

Travis Walton, Fire in the Sky

Hello ATS! For those of you that haven’t heard about the amazing abduction case of Travis Walton, this is one of my all time favorite UFO Abduction cases of all time. And is definitely one of the more prominent cases in ufology. According to Travis Walton and supporting peers, here is the story of his personal abduction from first hand witnesses and Travis himself.

I am still in the process of finishing up some of the latter parts of this thread, specifically the actual investigation that took place after the occurrence... all witnesses included Travis Walton himself took a polygraph test to validate their story. All but one person passed the test, with the one individual having a neutral test outcome.

If you are knowledgeable about this subject and/or you would like to add anything or continue the research in this thread please do not hesitate to contribute. Without further ado, I present to you the Travis Walton Abduction Case.

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“I looked at the vague but reassuring forms of the doctors around me. Abruptly my vision cleared. The sudden horror of what I saw rocked me as I realized I was definitely not in a hospital. I was looking square into the face of a horrible creature… with huge, luminous brown eyes the size of quarters! I looked frantically round me. There were three of them! Hysteria overcame me instantly.” – Travis Walton

Ripples spread across the globe as one of the most controversial, yet compelling alien abduction cases in history will forever be marked by the infamous events that occurred on the evening of November 5, 1975. A little after 6:00 pm in eastern Arizona, in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, seven loggers included Travis Walton experienced first-hand one of the most profound UFO/abduction cases in modern history. Preceding the encounter that occurred that night are some of the most compelling and well documented reports of alien abduction ever.

Most of us have heard the name Travis Walton thrown around in ufology to the point that we have done our own research in light of the case. Marked as one of the top alien abduction cases of all time, little detail surrounding this case has been provided in the light it deserves here on ATS. Considered one of the “gold-standard” cases among ufologists, this thread will attempt, in detail to describe the first hand experience of Travis Walton and the events that were to proceed that fateful November night…

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The Incident, Abduction

Travis Walton, born April 23, 1957, was a resident of Snowflake, Arizona in 1975 working as an ‘American’ logger at the time. Five other men by the names of Ken Peterson, John Goulette, Steve Pierce, Allen Dallis and Dwayne Smith were part of a seven man logging crew employed by Mike Rogers, contracted by the United States Forest Service. Rogers was hired to thin out scrub brush and undergrowth from a large area near Heber, Arizona. One of the most lucrative jobs Rogers had contracted, the crew was behind schedule and regularly working from 6:00 am to sunset in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest about 10.5 miles south of Heber, Arizona.

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Shortly after 6:00 pm on the evening of November 5, 1975 Walton and crew had just finished the work for the day. After packing up their equipment they began their long drive home under the falling dusk of night. Around 6:15 pm Walton and crew noticed a bright light which appeared behind an upcoming hill. As the seven men approached closer in their truck, what appeared before them was surely to change their lives. As described below by Travis Walton in a November 1975 interview with Jim Ryerson and Chuck Diamond of KOOL television, is his personal account of what was to unfold:

We'd just finished working, because it was getting dark. We packed up to leave and we all got in the truck and we were riding up the road, and we looked off to the right side of the road, and I saw a glow that I thought was a sunset or something. I was about to comment, when we came past the thicket that we were looking through to where we could see more clearly, and we saw a UFO hovering in the air, about thirty yards off to the side of the road. Everybody started yelling and they stopped the truck. I wanted to get a closer look and I got out of the truck and I started over there. Everybody was yelling to come back, to stop. I stopped to look back. Somebody called my name, and I turned back around, and it started to make a noise and started to move, and I took one step, I crouched down behind a log that was there, and just as I started to raise up, I was just going to stand up, I didn't have any intention of going any closer, but it was just as if I was struck. It was kind of a physical blow. It just knocked me back. I don't remember seeing any flash of light or anything like what they described. I just lost consciousness. When I regained consciousness, I was looking up at a light shining down on me from the ceiling. I could tell I was lying up on a bed or a table or something, because the ceiling was close. I was in a lot of pain. I couldn't quite bring myself totally awake.

Below are 2 pages from the official report (see pg. 20) of the incident by W. H. Spaulding and J. A. Spaulding filed on November 13, 1975 based upon the statements of the seven men. As described in the report the object was a “brilliant white” solid metallic saucer approximately 15 feet in diameter and 8 feet thick. The object was estimated to be between 90-100 feet in distance from the truck, hovering approximately 20-22 feet off the ground emitting a high and low pitch electrical sound.

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[edit on 15-1-2010 by xX aFTeRm4Th Xx]

Reportedly, when Walton began to stand up and was about to return to the truck, he was hit by a blue flash emitted from the saucer 18 to 29 inches wide. Upon contact Travis was lifted into the air, arms and legs outstretched, and shot back stiffly some 10 feet all while caught in the glow of the light. As Walton lay motionless on the ground after the incident, hysteria echoed from the other six individuals as Rogers, driving the truck, fled the scene.

Later, Rogers claimed he was convinced Walton was dead and was afraid the saucer was going to perpetuate the encounter by attacking the truck. After fleeing for a quarter of a mile and skidding off the road, Rogers stopped the truck. After consensus the crew decided to turn back and search for Walton, of which they did for about 30 minutes. To their surprise there was no trace of Travis Walton or the object they had just witnessed.

The Incident, Experience

“Walton’s experience stands out by virtue of its not being particularly bizarre as far as abduction accounts go” – Terry Matheson

The last memory that Travis had during the abduction was being blown back by the beam of light and experiencing a lot of pain. As he came to, still not fully conscious, Walton describes feeling as if he were in a hospital setting starring up at three human like figures blurred in shadow cast from the lights above.

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Described as dressed in a brownish-orange clothing with underdeveloped facial features and completely void of hair, Walton struck two of the figures with the back of his arm sending them across the room. In fright, Walton preceded to grab a cylindrical glass tube to defend himself from the alien creatures. To his surprise, the figures fled the room leaving Travis alone for several minutes. In a complete utter shock Walton ran about 30-40 feet down a small corridor into a dimly lit empty room. Looking back from the direction Walton original came from, were clear and visible walls but transparent in the fact that he could see stars though them at the same time.

Amid the completely empty room was a chair with some-sort of controls and buttons located around it. After sitting in the chair and abruptly observing the controls an apparent human entered the room and escorted him across the ship/building. Described by Walton, the figure was, “friendly looking. He gestured and smiled, but there were no words.” The figure resembled the exact appearance of a human with hair and facial features, whom was wearing a clear helmet of some sort.

I heard somebody come in, and I turned around, and it was a man, just like people. I mean he wasn't like the other creatures, or whatever, at all. He looked just like you and I, except he had a helmet on, sort of a clear helmet.

I started babbling questions to him, and I ran over there, and he wouldn't answer me. He just took me by the arm and wanted me to go with him. And I thought maybe he can't hear me through the helmet. – Travis Walton

As described by Walton, he followed the figure across the ship and was lead into a small room with a chair in which he sat down. After taking his seat, three other human like figures entered the room and proceeded to place a mask over his face, similar to an oxygen mask. Shortly thereafter Walton fell into some type of induced sleep and when he came to, the entire ordeal was over… Or so he thought.

So we went out through the door, down to the right, and out to the left. There was a small room there. It had doors on it, and it was kind of like an air lock. It was just a small room with nothing in it, and then there was a door that went outside. And it was a ramp that went down, and it was cool outside. I could feel wind. There was a draft or something. It was a large room, that this thing was sitting on the floor in there, and it was shaped like the drawing that they made, like the thing we saw the first time, only bigger. And there were two other things in there—other UFO….. to look like flying saucers, kind of, except that they were rounded and oval-shaped, and they were really shiny, like chrome. It was a big room, like there was a lot more room in there. And there was a curved ceiling. It curved this way, and it had flat ends to the room. I came out of the door, out of that first ship, facing this way, and there was a doorway across in the far wall. He'd led me across there and through that doorway, down a hallway, to a room, and I'd had a burning in my chest, and it was starting....I felt better....I was trying to get this man to tell me what....you know, I asked him if he was from Earth and just anything I could think of, and he wouldn't answer.

I was led down the hallway. The man sat me in a chair, and in a room with three other people that were like himself. They were dressed in blue. And he went out....there was a door on the other side....he went on through, and I sat in the chair, and I tried to get the people to talk to me that were there, and they didn't have things on their head, and so I thought that maybe they could hear me, but they wouldn't answer either. There were two men and a woman in the room after the first man left. A man and a woman came from around the table, and they each took me by the arm and they led me over to the table, and got me up on the table, and finally I don't know why I should cooperate with them. They put a deal over my face. It was kind of like an oxygen mask thing. It was kind of clear plastic and it had a round, black thing on it about that big, just attached to it. I looked up at the ceiling which was just all solid light. There wasn't any light fixture or anything, but light in the room, just coming from the ceiling, and that was the last I remembered. I went to sleep. Until I woke up. I was lying on the pavement. It was very cold. I woke up very suddenly, and I looked up the roadway. I was lying outside. It was night. And I could see a light on the bottom of a flying saucer that looked just like the rounded ones that were inside there. And it was very shiny, but the only light came out of the bottom, and that went off, and it went straight up, just really fast, just without a sound. – Travis Walton

[edit on 15-1-2010 by xX aFTeRm4Th Xx]

The Incident, Return

Around midnight on November 10, 1975 Grant Neff, Walton’s brother-in-law answered his home telephone. To his surprise a weak voice came over the line, “This is Travis. I’m at a phone booth at the Heber gas station, and I need help. Come get me!”

After speculating if the call was from a ‘prankster’ Neff and Duane Walton drove to the Heber gas station, in skepticism that it was really Walton. Collapsed in one of the phone booths at the gas station, Neff and Duane Walton found Travis in a frantic and emaciated state. Wearing the same clothes and sporting a thick beard Travis Walton was finally back home.

By afternoon the following day, word had spread of Walton’s return. News agencies and researchers began flocking to Snowflake, Arizona in hopes to capture any bit of information from Walton’s ordeal.

Shortly after Walton’s return a medical examination on Walton concluded that he was essentially in good health. However, two interesting features were noted in the report. A small red spot, consistent with that of a hypodermic injection, was noted on Travis’s right elbow. However this blemish was not near any of Travis’s veins, later leading critics to argue that he had injected drugs into his system. But to the dismay of such critics, no trace of drugs were ever found in Walton’s system. Also, surprisingly enough, urine samples from Walton indicated a lack of acetones in his body. This was unusual because if Travis was indeed gone for five days with little food and water, as he insisted, his body should have begun breaking down fats in order to survive; in turn resulting in very high acetone levels. Critics of Walton’s story would late argue this inconsistency as evidence against his abduction.


Further information regarding to actual investigation and events to proceed can be found at these sources… A very extensive and public investigation was conducted, and several conclusions have been drawn regarding the case by several prominent figures in the UFO field. I suggest reading more if you are truly interested and drawing you own conclusions, as this is just the tip of the iceberg.
www.mufon.com...
en.wikipedia.org...
www.ufoevidence.org...

And if you haven’t seen it, Fire in the Sky, is a Hollywood film made about Walton’s encounters and is great movie in my opinion. True for the most part, and doesn’t really blow the story out of proportion too much. Here is a small clip of the abduction, from the movie. A little dramatic but fairly truthful!

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I would be very interested to see the opinions of others regarding this case. Also, if you have any more information about the case, please feel free to further elaborate.

- aFTeRm4Th


[edit on 15-1-2010 by xX aFTeRm4Th Xx]

I just wrote a good reply and scored a rare ATS 503 error.

I don't have time now. Work. Just to say that the OP is great and we can do with more and more of them in this section. Info, data and illustrations make an attractive and clear read.

The Travis case is one of interest and as messy as the best UFO accounts always are. Motivations remained unclear in all parties and it's difficult to really get into the bare facts.

This thread should get some good posts. Some of the experts and long-time UFO buffs always have an opinion on this incident. I'll look forward to reading it fully after work.

S&F

reply to post by xX aFTeRm4Th Xx


Thank you for your well written revisit of this very interesting case, xX aFTeRm4Th Xx.

It has been quite a while since I thought about the Walton incident.

Hey...was that Doggett from the X-files driving the truck?

A S & F for you

Kind regards
Maybe...maybe not

[edit on 15-1-2010 by Maybe...maybe not]

reply to post by Maybe...maybe not


It really was Dogget. Or what ever his name is . But anyway ...
The thing I find interesting about this case is the sheer amount of lifeforms this particular abductee came into contact with , according to his statements, and the fact that unlike other abduction cases, he reported being taken to a place which contained other craft, some sort of staging and examination area seems like. This is strange because it is not something which is echoed stronly by other accounts of abduction. More often than not abductees report that thier entire expirience occurs within a single craft as far as they can accertain. This particular group of UFOnaughts , as described, seem to have more of a realistic, or at least familiar mode of operation, using the craft to secure the target, then examining him at a secondary location. This would be more in line with familiar human traits. For example some rapists and murderers will abduct a person from a location, and requiring solitude for thier sick works , will remove thier victim to a more secure and secluded location, reducing risk of discovery and interuption. Of course the motive is slightly different, but one could assume that the reason for his removal might be largely the same in this case, setting this case apart from other similar incidents.
The question is , where is this second location? Seems to me that the most likely would be an abandoned airfeild or industrial park of some sort, these being locations with big enough buildings to accomodate more than one craft at a time , as described. Of course , baring in mind we have no way to tell the range and speed of the craft which took Mr Walton, we cannot realy guess with any accuracy , where location two may have been. I wonder if any members have any thoughts on this matter, and pertaining to figuring out how far away location two may have been?

reply to post by TrueBrit


G'day TrueBrit

I agree with you that Walton's account of his "abduction" describes a far more complex encounter & environment than other abduction accounts that I can recall.

It sounds more like a movie script.

Could that be a motivation to hoax such a thing? Could he have done that just to make a whole lot of money?

Do you know if he made any money from selling the movie rights?

I might see if there is any reference to that in the links provided by the op.

It's a crazy old topic, this abduction stuff!

Kind regards
Maybe...maybe not

reply to post by TrueBrit


G'day again TrueBrit

The only reference I could see in the links to financial gain for Walton were the claims he did this to break his forestry work contract without penalties.

That wouldn't seem to be much of a reason to make up something that would dog you for the rest of your life.....

Or maybe people just get into these "hoaxes" over their head.

Or maybe people do get abducted.

Who knows.......

reply to post by Maybe...maybe not


Well I dont suspect the gentleman of any wrong doing at this point. Im more trying to think about the story as told, and the implications of its details, in which as you are no doubt aware, the devil resides!
I am specificaly interested in the unique movement of the victim from one location to another. This implies a mode of thought not prevalent from UFOnaughts in other accounts. Usualy there is no need to move the subject from one craft to another, because the UFO and its occupants do not usualy appear to consider capture or destruction a realistic outcome of thier presence or discovery. One assumes that this is because they trust thier tech to protect them. Reasonable given the accounts of its effectiveness. However, these particular UFOnaughts seem to be aware of and respectful of the need to conduct in seclusion , the activity of examination, and also did not appear to have such facilities on board the primary craft (the one that took the subject). This is so rare ! Look up any other account of abduction you fancy ,examinations , if they are to be performed , take place on board the vessel which captured the subject in the overwhelming majority of cases. Fascinating implications... Forgive me while my mind crunches through those for an hour or so !

[edit on 15-1-2010 by TrueBrit]

I personally don't think Walton staged the event for money. I think too many people would have to be in on it, at least the six other witnesses.The more people involved would mean less of a cut for each person and more chance of inconsistencies in their stories. Then they would all have to learn to pass the lie detector tests, or against all laws of probability pass.

If I remember correctly police officers (i think with dogs?) could find absolutely no trace of Walton in the forest. They suspected that he could be hiding out somewhere but there was just no evidence of him walking anywhere from the abduction site and no where he could have hidden for 5 days.

I remember seeing the film when I was younger and crapping my pants but it turns out the scary scene with the needle in the eye and the 'alien goo' was not in Travis's original account. A bit unecessary in my opinion and only serves to reinforces the 'evil' alien stereotype we see so often in Hollywood....but maybe that was the idea?

reply to post by xX aFTeRm4Th Xx



Great thread, S/F...

The movie did actually exaggerate somewhat in the on-board encounter sequence, they omitted the human-like beings and made the encounter much more gruesome than Walton actually reported, as well made the "Greys" look different than was reported also.

As far as the actual case goes, it is a classic but controversial case. There were three tests given to Walton, and he did fail one of them actually, he passed one and was inconclusive on the other. His friends did well on the tests however, but even they still had some shady behavior that has not been adequately explained IMHO.

Another aspect of this case is the ufologist who investigated it and interviewed Walton. There has been speculation of the case being inflated or just made up in an effort to gain publicity and money.

Other then those aspects it is a good case, but like all other ufological cases is still unsolved and in this case likely will be unless it is a hoax and that is found out. It is definitely a case that needs to be taken with seriousness and apparent legitimacy in my opinion. There are some links I will find and post later(as I have to go right now) that explain and detail what I said above.

Again, great thread. Keep up the nice work.

I also thought the movie was a bit dramatized. But this case has always been my favorite when it comes to plausibility.

Travis seemed to be of moderate to high intelligence. Coupled with very little to gain, I tend to believe something happened closer to what he and the group said happened rather than some kind of scam. Just too many details to keep straight, and for what? Reputations of being "those weird alien-story guys"?

We will never really know, but their story has the ring of truth.

Great post. You've a lot of detail, that's not generally covered in the many retelling of this event. Travis was a curiosity; they weren't harmful - until Travis became violent leading to his eventual release.

Travis has much more to tell. He wasn't examined in a cursory manner on the ship and released - he was taken to a jointly managed base. Further hypnosis is required to enter the layers that were created to shield his mind from what happened. In the days that he was taken, he was clearly fed etc. He'd have observed clothing, insignias, leadership structure, as well as environmental facets. He didn't reference the women as being attractive, or mechanical in their dealings with him, or working with the partners.

There's not too much more to this event; what remains is worth digging, only if Travis is willing. That's the question - I don't think he want's to enter a deeper level to discover.

Many years ago, long before the movie about Walton, Fire in the Sky, but after the 1978 book The Walton Experience, I reviewed the info on the case and wrote an article. My thesis was that Walton had ignoramusly put himself in harms way by moving under the low hovering UFO and the ray blast was done literally to save his life. But he was severely damaged nonetheless and he was taken to repair the damage--if not to revive--him and later returned as are typical abductees. In a word, his initial experience had none of the characteristics of a typical abduction case.

The article was never published, but I did send him a copy. I never received a reply acknowledging or denying my contention. Several years later I heard Walton speak of his encounter at Dr. Leo Sprinkle's Rocky Mountain UFO Conference in 1998. I noted that he had accepted into his account my explanation for his being taken up. It made sense to him too.

This interpretation of the event tells us two things. First, that the ETs are not without the ability of taking responsibility for some of their (and our) actions. Note, "responsibility" does not necessarily imply compassion or other emotional human mind sets. Second, Walton was worth saving and not a mere casuality of collateral damage. (Or was it that there were witnesses?) Third, it gives a validity to the entire case as a reason for his being taken which was not mentioned let alone elaborated upon in his book.

Anyone wanting to comment on the case should read the book. While I assume that it was probably ghost written, it contains a lot of detail not found in any account written by others. Words of caution: in no way should the movie be taken as a definite presentation of his eperience.

[edit on 15-1-2010 by Aliensun]

reply to post by Aliensun


Completely genius, it makes perfect sense that if beings from another star system had technology to traverse the universe such as that, they may also have a high touch with nature and other beings, feeling horrible to have to leave someone in the forest they probably returned to collect mr walton and tend to his health before deploying him back on earth...

A lot has came out about Travis Walton and how he hide out at a friends house during the days he was missing. One of the guys later admitted that they all had tacks in their shoes that they would press down on when asked a question during the lie detector test. Travis was not abducted, it was all done to make money so he could get his logging buisness going.

Its a shame that Mr Walton never went ahead and had full hypnotic therapy to complete the picutre. If we could only identify the location he was taken to, we might be able to connect that incident with something a little concrete... Maybe

Originally posted by Mr_skepticc
A lot has came out about Travis Walton and how he hide out at a friends house during the days he was missing. One of the guys later admitted that they all had tacks in their shoes that they would press down on when asked a question during the lie detector test. Travis was not abducted, it was all done to make money so he could get his logging buisness going.

I've never heard this story - I'd like some back up for this (like his buddies admission you speak of). Claiming to have been abducted by aliens is hardly a business booster! These guys lost their contract after this, didn't gain business.

I met him and his brother years back just after their book came out - I have no reason to doubt one iota of their story - and would hope anyone trying to discredit it comes up with more than hearsay...

reply to post by Kandinsky


I appreciate the support! and feel like this is one of the better abduction cases, controversial at the least! It is interesting the hear Walton's actual story from his own words, and then with all of the information I have uncovered in the research. If you have the time to do a little digging, the mufon link provides an overwhelming bank of historical records and data pertaining to this case. I did most of my research into this case a while back, but in the process of refreshing my memory. There are a lot of interesting reports from well-known UFO enthusiasts including Dr. Hynek... and a bunch of great articles from media sources in the area and around the country. I will try to add information to this thread as I come across it.

reply to post by Maybe...maybe not

Again, thank you for your thoughts as well! Hopefully this thread will be a good refresher for those that have heard about this case before. And even better, open the minds of others that have never heard of this case before. These types of cases are the true gems in this field. Whether true or not (I believe true :duh, it at leasts sparks an interest into the field. And that is exactly what got me to do my research and able to draw my own, systematic and factual based opinions on the reality of UFO's and aliens.

Oh ya, and yes it most definitely is dogget from the x files. Lol, just a few years before his prime, and some long shaggy hair, great observation

reply to post by TrueBrit


Agree! it is fascinating that Walton came in contact with several different types of life forms... Possibly a connection to the idea that an interstellar union between various extraterrestrial life forms may actually exist? We can really only ponder until first contact, but there are some great connections that can be drawn from this story. Maybe Star Wars really wasn't that far from the truth

I also concur that the psychology behind the events that occurred during the abduction is rather interesting as well! Never really looked at it that way... But based off of life here on Earth, it seems that for the most part, these 'beings' are following the same subconscious psychology that a human would follow in their shoes... For the most part...

Regarding the location and after reading several documents and records pertaining to this case... I believe Walton was abducted, taken from Earth to a so-to-say "mother ship" far into space and this is where he recounts his experience. Travis stated that while on board the ship, he could see stars and basically outer space through the transparent walls. Most of what he describes just seems too alien to be somewhere here on Earth.