The Walton Abduction

On November 5th, 1975 logger and local resident in Snowflake Arizona, Travis Walton was victim to an alien abduction. While his wasn't the first case of Alien Abduction, it was probably one of the most note-worthy, due to incredible suspicion of murder, and the amount of circumstantial evidence that was collected regarding the case. 

I regularly check up on this case for my Alien Encounter Blog, and I thought I might review a few recent insights with you guys here on Hub Pages.

Travis had been working on a logging contract with his long-time friend Mike Rogers, trying desperately to finish a the contract in the Sitgreaves forest. The gathered crew of seven being Mike Rogers, Travis Walton, Ken Peterson, John Goulette, Steve Pierce, Allen Dallis, and Dwayne Smith. After completing their logging that night, the crew piled into Rogers' Truck, and made their way back to Snowflake.

While driving on their way home, they noticed a very bright light in the distance, and made their way to it. As they drew close, they found a silvery disc-like object floating 20 years in the air, and being about 8 feet in diameter. 

According to the group, Travis leapt from the Truck, being amazed with the craft. He moved under it, and was excited by the thing. Then a stream of blue-white light struck out from the craft, hitting him in the chest, and knocking him prone. Then, he was lifted into the air, and brought aboard the ship. 

The remaining crew fled from the scene, afraid that the disc was chasing them. After about a quarter of a mile, they stopped, and returned to the spot to get Travis. When they returned, both Travis and the disc was gone, and they searched for about 30 minutes in the general area.

They pulled over, and telephoned the local sheriff at a local shopping center, initially saying only that a logger had gone missing. When he arrived, they related the story of the encounter to him, seeming incredibly distraught. He even noted, that although he was a skeptic of the story, that "if they were acting, they were good at it."

As more staff arrived, and volunteers, a manhunt through the mountains began in earnest. They feared that if Walton was not found, that he might suffer from hypothermia. However, no trace of him was found, nor physical evidence of the event.

The authorities began to doubt the story, and suspected foul play. At first, the crew was hesitant to take a polygraph examination, but after public pressure mounted, they did so. In the account, all six of the men answered that they none of them had harmed Walton, and that they had seen Travis Walton being taken by a UFO. Dallis didn't complete his polygraph examination, and it was later found out its because he lied about a criminal record and feared that it would be discovered during the examination.

On November 10th, Grant Neff got a phone call from a caller claiming to be Travis. Grant had considered that it was a hoax, but the caller called again, and seemed very genuine. As a result, Duane and Grant drove out to the gas station where the caller had made the call from, and found Travis. He was in the same clothing, and seemed not to have eaten or shaved in the time he was gone. He also thought that he had only been gone for a matter of hours.

Duane didn't immediately contact the Police, which would lead people to believe that he had actually been involved in some sort of hoax in some manner. 

The Walton case differs in large amount, from the traditional abduction narrative. Some see this as detrimental, while others claim that this adds legitimacy to the narrative.

The case was made into a movie 'Fire in the Sky' in the early 90s, and is considered to be one of the most popular abduction cases of all time.