Speaker 1: Navajo County Deputy Sheriff Chuck Ellison was sitting down to
Speaker 1: eat dinner with his wife when the telephone rang. The
Speaker 1: voice on the other end was hard to read, both
Speaker 1: frantic and oddly hesitant at the same time. Ellison asked
Speaker 1: the caller to calm down and start again by telling
Speaker 1: him who he was. It was Kenny Peterson, came the
Speaker 1: speedy reply, and they needed the police right away. As
Speaker 1: Peterson went on to explain, he and his Forestry Service
Speaker 1: co workers had been clearing a section of Arizona's Apache
Speaker 1: Sitgreave's forest earlier that night when something inexplicable had occurred,
Speaker 1: and now one of their crew was missing. But when
Speaker 1: Ellison pushed for more details, Peterson paused for a moment
Speaker 1: before replying that perhaps it would be better if they
Speaker 1: could explain it to him in person. Ten minutes later,
Speaker 1: after apologizing to his wife for having to leave so suddenly,
Speaker 1: Ellison pulled into the parking lot of Wilbur's Market shopping
Speaker 1: center in Haber, a small junction town about one hundred
Speaker 1: and fifty miles northeast of Phoenix, Arizona, where he'd agreed
Speaker 1: to meet Kenny. It didn't take long for the deputy
Speaker 1: to spot the man at His colleagues, Mike Rodgers, John Goulette,
Speaker 1: Alan Dallas, Dwayne Smith, and Steve Pearce all gathered together
Speaker 1: in an anxious huddle by the entrance, still covered in
Speaker 1: dust and debris from the day's shift. At least two
Speaker 1: of the group was struggling to hold back tears. In
Speaker 1: no mood to mess around, Ellison asked the men to
Speaker 1: explain exactly what was going on. They all looked sheepishly
Speaker 1: toward each each other, as if they didn't quite know
Speaker 1: what they were going to say to him, until finally
Speaker 1: Mike began to speak. The twenty eight year old Mike
Speaker 1: was an independent contractor and the crew were his responsibility,
Speaker 1: so too, ultimately was the man who was missing. His
Speaker 1: name was Travis Walton, who also happened to be Mike's
Speaker 1: best friend. Ordinarily, they would never have left him behind
Speaker 1: up there in the forest, but as Mike tried to
Speaker 1: explain to Ellison, these were far from ordinary circumstances. You're
Speaker 1: listening to unexplained and I'm Richard McClain Smith, like the
Speaker 1: rest of Mike Roger's crew. Twenty two year old Travis
Speaker 1: Walton lived in Snowflake, a farming town located about thirty
Speaker 1: miles east of Haber with a population of just over
Speaker 1: two and a half thousand. It was founded by Mormon
Speaker 1: settlers in eighteen seventy eight and was comprised largely of
Speaker 1: low rise houses and small local stores, all overshadowed by
Speaker 1: the huge red bricked Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Speaker 1: day Saints that dominated the town square. Delinquency was not
Speaker 1: looked on lightly by the community, nor was any one
Speaker 1: who deigned to be a little different. Back in nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy one, Travis, who with his long hair was dismissed
Speaker 1: by many as a feckless hippy, and a friend were
Speaker 1: convicted of forging payroll checks from a local company. The
Speaker 1: pair were given two years privation and forced to pay
Speaker 1: the money back. In a town as small and god
Speaker 1: fearing as Snowflake, such reputations were hard to shake. Those
Speaker 1: who knew Travis, however, knew a different story. Some of
Speaker 1: his school teachers even considered him one of the smartest
Speaker 1: pupils that they'd ever taught. After dropping out of Northern
Speaker 1: Arizona University a few years previously, Travis had been picking
Speaker 1: up work wherever he could find it. When Mike Rogers,
Speaker 1: a forestry contractor with nine years experience, procured another of
Speaker 1: his United States Forest Service contracts, Travis jumped at the
Speaker 1: opportunity to join the team. The job was to clear
Speaker 1: one thousand, two hundred and seventy seven acres of thick
Speaker 1: scrub brush from a section of the Apache Si Grieves
Speaker 1: National Forest known as Turkey Springs, which was about ten
Speaker 1: miles into the pine covered mountains just to the west
Speaker 1: of Haber. That Wednesday, November fifth, started out just like
Speaker 1: any other day, as one by one Rogers collected each
Speaker 1: of his crew members in his battered Crew Cab International
Speaker 1: from their homes in Snowflake, then headed off on their
Speaker 1: forty mile journey into the mountains. With it being November,
Speaker 1: there was always a slight chill in the air first
Speaker 1: thing in the morning, but it soon heated up when
Speaker 1: the sun came out. Though the work was arduous, cutting
Speaker 1: back all new growth less than six inches in diameter
Speaker 1: and gathering it up into great slash piles, Travis never
Speaker 1: tired of being up there on that mountain ridge with
Speaker 1: the fresh air in his lungs, wild horses galloping through
Speaker 1: the trees all around them, and that ancient forest stretching
Speaker 1: out below, older than the people whose name it took,
Speaker 1: older even than God themselves. Hours later, with darkness returning,
Speaker 1: and so too that light chill in the air, the
Speaker 1: men called it a day. Gathering their tools, they slung
Speaker 1: them into the back of Mike's truck before piling in themselves,
Speaker 1: Travis and Kenny up front with Mike, while the others,
Speaker 1: all smokers, sat in the back, gleefully lighting up. Mike
Speaker 1: switched on the engine, bathing the narrow forest road ahead
Speaker 1: in the light of the head lamps, and eased out
Speaker 1: of the clearing. They'd barely made it two hundred yards
Speaker 1: along the rugged forest track when Alleyn broke in from
Speaker 1: the back. Hey, what is that, he said, pointing toward
Speaker 1: a soft glowing light coming from out of the trees
Speaker 1: to the right. Have you guys never seen the moon?
Speaker 1: Mocked Kenny, only as the others were quick to point
Speaker 1: out the moon was already sitting high in the sky
Speaker 1: above on the other side of the truck. The soft
Speaker 1: white glow grew brighter as they continued on, slowly edging
Speaker 1: ever closer toward it, now no more than a hundred
Speaker 1: yards from its source. The light bled out across the
Speaker 1: road before them, but frustratingly, whatever it was remained obscured
Speaker 1: by the trees until eventually they reached a clearing and
Speaker 1: they were finally able to see it, a large disc
Speaker 1: like structure roughly twenty feet wide and eight feet high,
Speaker 1: hovering a good fifteen feet above the ground. It was
Speaker 1: so close they could even see the detail on its surface,
Speaker 1: how it was divided into a series of thin panels
Speaker 1: with a thin, darker band that seemed to circle all
Speaker 1: the way around it, and how its glow appeared to
Speaker 1: be coming from inside. Before Mike had even brought the
Speaker 1: truck to a stop, the side door was opened and
Speaker 1: Travis was gone, hurrying off toward it. The others yelled
Speaker 1: for him to back, but Travis just kept on going,
Speaker 1: edging closer and closer toward it. Then came a strange
Speaker 1: noise that seemed to emanate from the craft, high pitched
Speaker 1: at first, before steadily shifting into something much lower, like
Speaker 1: a vast turbine engine. When suddenly a blinding blue light
Speaker 1: shot out from the disk, holding Travis in some kind
Speaker 1: of grip, with his body now completely rigid. He was
Speaker 1: slowly lifted a good foot into the air and suspended
Speaker 1: there for a moment before being flung hard onto the ground,
Speaker 1: skidding shoulder first into the stone and dirt, and there
Speaker 1: he lay completely still. That was enough for Rogers, who,
Speaker 1: with four kids of his own and the rest of
Speaker 1: his crew to worry about, turned the key and tore
Speaker 1: out of the clearing as fast as the truck could go,
Speaker 1: And then they were racing through the trees, bouncing over
Speaker 1: the dirt track at speed as Rogers did his best
Speaker 1: to keep the thing on the road, with the rest
Speaker 1: of the crew screaming for him to keep going faster
Speaker 1: and faster, until it was just one bend too many,
Speaker 1: With a huge pine tree looming up before him, Rogers
Speaker 1: pulled hard on the wheel and brought the truck slamming
Speaker 1: into a pile of bulldoze dirt by the side of
Speaker 1: the road. The men looked frantically about for any sign
Speaker 1: of the strange craft, but saw nothing but the frigid
Speaker 1: dark and the bright half moon above. And for a
Speaker 1: moment there was silence, and then all hell broke loose.
Speaker 1: We've got to go back, yelled Kenny. No way, said Steve,
Speaker 1: as tears streamed down his face. We've got to get
Speaker 1: out of here, Kenny's right, said Mike, wiping his eyes
Speaker 1: with the back of his hand. Only then had it
Speaker 1: dawned on him that, without even thinking, he'd abandoned his
Speaker 1: best friend alone out there with that thing, whatever it was.
Speaker 1: We're going back, he said. Finally, you can either come
Speaker 1: with me or you can wait for me here. With
Speaker 1: no one willing to take their chances in the forest alone,
Speaker 1: they headed back to look for Travis, but by the
Speaker 1: time they got to where they'd last seen him, he
Speaker 1: was gone. And that, as he finished explaining to an
Speaker 1: utterly perplexed Deputy Ellison, was when they decided to call
Speaker 1: the police. After hearing the men's story, Deputy Ellison reluctantly
Speaker 1: relayed it back to Sheriff Marlin Gillespie at the Navajo
Speaker 1: County Sheriff's office in Holbrook, another forty mile drive north
Speaker 1: of Haber. Though Ellison was quick to clarify that he
Speaker 1: didn't believe any of it, he had little doubt the
Speaker 1: men had experienced something traumatic. Less than an hour later,
Speaker 1: Sheriff Gillespie arrived with Deputy Kenneth Coplin in tow and
Speaker 1: Mike's crew repeated their extraordinary story for the second time
Speaker 1: that night, but Mike was getting impatient. They needed to
Speaker 1: get back up there and search for Travis. Kenny and
Speaker 1: Allan were keen to join, but by then Ball, John, Dwayne,
Speaker 1: and Steve, who at seventeen was the youngest of the group,
Speaker 1: wanted to do was go home. Taking Mike's truck, they
Speaker 1: headed back to his house to let his wife know
Speaker 1: what had happened, while the remaining three joined the sheriff
Speaker 1: and his two deputies and headed back toward Turkey Springs.
Speaker 1: It took a while to find the exact spot again,
Speaker 1: but soon the men were out in the cold air,
Speaker 1: flashlights in hand as they scoured the ground for any
Speaker 1: sign of Travis. But the men found nothing. No scarred
Speaker 1: or broken trees other than the ones the team had
Speaker 1: cut down, no scuff marks in the dirt, no sign
Speaker 1: of Travis's bootmarkings. Neither did they find any pieces of
Speaker 1: clothing or any blood for that matter. It was almost
Speaker 1: as if no one had ever been there at all.
Speaker 1: All that was clear was that Travis was gone. Sheriff
Speaker 1: Gillespie ey'd Mike and his men with suspicion Clearly Travis
Speaker 1: hadn't been abducted by a UFO, so what then exactly
Speaker 1: had taken place and if he was still alive out
Speaker 1: here as the men claimed he might be. It was
Speaker 1: an awfully cold night to only be wearing plaid and denim.
Speaker 1: Ellison notified more deputies and members of a local volunteer
Speaker 1: organization to join in the search, but by midnight there
Speaker 1: was still no sign of the missing man. Growing increasingly desperate,
Speaker 1: rogers suggested it was time they notified Travis's mother. At
Speaker 1: fifty seven years old, Mary Kellett had raised Travis and
Speaker 1: his five siblings on her own after making a living
Speaker 1: running a boarding house in Phoenix. By nineteen seventy five,
Speaker 1: she divided her time between her home in Snowflake and
Speaker 1: a cabin in Bare Springs, a stretch of woodland a
Speaker 1: good ten miles to the southeast of Haber. It was funny,
Speaker 1: she thought, as she watched Deputy Copland's car pulling up
Speaker 1: outside the cabin. Just earlier in the day, she'd been
Speaker 1: overcome with the strange conviction that something terrible had happened
Speaker 1: to her son, Travis, when Mike stepped out of the
Speaker 1: vehicle whom she knew well a good friend of Travis's.
Speaker 1: Her worst fears were confirmed. Once inside, Coplin watched as
Speaker 1: a clearly distraught Rogers explained to Mary about what they'd
Speaker 1: seen that evening and how Travis had disappeared. It was odd,
Speaker 1: thought Copland, how calm Mary seemed to be in the
Speaker 1: face of such unusual and disturbing news, almost as if
Speaker 1: it wasn't news to her at all. About an hour later,
Speaker 1: Coplin made his goodbyes and headed back to Sheriff Gillespie
Speaker 1: to report his findings. In the meantime, Rogers drove Mary
Speaker 1: in her car to her daughter Alison's home in Taylor,
Speaker 1: a town just south of Snowflake. Alison, who lived with
Speaker 1: her husband Grant Nef, was especially close to Travis and
Speaker 1: was understandably devastated to hear the news. Skeptical of the story, however,
Speaker 1: she demanded to hear again from Mike exactly what had happened,
Speaker 1: but he could only tell her what he knew. A
Speaker 1: few hours later, unable to wait any longer, Mary called
Speaker 1: her son Dwayne at his home in Phoenix to give
Speaker 1: him the worrying news. Though Dwayne was Mary's second oldest son,
Speaker 1: she'd always considered him the most mature, and it was
Speaker 1: often to him that she first turned in times of stress.
Speaker 1: Minutes later, Dwayne jumped into his car and started out
Speaker 1: on the two hundred mile journey to Snowflake to meet
Speaker 1: up with the others. Are you always taking care of
Speaker 1: your family? Do you often take care of others and
Speaker 1: not yourself? Now it's time to take care of yourself,
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Speaker 1: eight am the morning after Travis's disappearance, a number of
Speaker 1: search teams assembled in Turkey Springs to assist the Navajo
Speaker 1: County and Silver Creek Sheriff's officers in their continued search
Speaker 1: for the missing man. Among them were a group of
Speaker 1: US Forest Service personnel drafted in for their knowledge of
Speaker 1: the local area. Mike Rodgers, Kenny Peterson, and Alan Dallas
Speaker 1: were back too to help with the search. That morning,
Speaker 1: the thirty or so search team, starting from the point
Speaker 1: that Travis was last seen, began the laborious task of
Speaker 1: scouring the forest for any sign of him, a search
Speaker 1: that would eventually encompass a region of roughly a mile squared.
Speaker 1: As the forestry workers scoured the area for any sign
Speaker 1: of unusually broken trees or foot markings, it was hard
Speaker 1: to ignore just how dry the whole area was, with
Speaker 1: some of the dead brush piles being almost a year
Speaker 1: old and the floor carpeted in dry pine needles. Though
Speaker 1: no one gave it much credence if some kind of
Speaker 1: craft had indeed lifted off from around there, the whole
Speaker 1: place would have gone up in flames elsewhere, Sheriff Gillespie
Speaker 1: and Deputy Ellison were looking for something a little different,
Speaker 1: Trying to square the obvious distress shown by Mike and
Speaker 1: his crew the previous night with the ridiculous cock and
Speaker 1: bull story they had given them. Gillespie and Ellison had
Speaker 1: got to thinking could it be whether it was premeditated
Speaker 1: or the result of a tragic accident That the men
Speaker 1: knew only too well where Travis was, after all, because
Speaker 1: they had buried his body. As the two police kept
Speaker 1: one eye on the men for any sign of suspicious activity,
Speaker 1: their other was kept firmly on the ground, looking for
Speaker 1: any sign of recently disturbed earth or fresh piles of
Speaker 1: dirt and of course blood. Later that afternoon, Mary and
Speaker 1: Dwayne also joined the search, with May seeming once again
Speaker 1: far too calm for Deputy Copland's liking. By the afternoon, however,
Speaker 1: the search teams were yet to find anything. With little
Speaker 1: else to go on, Sheriff Gillespie suggested contacting the nearest
Speaker 1: firewatch tower. Perhaps they had seen something that night. At
Speaker 1: the very least, it would end all the ridiculous talk
Speaker 1: about UFOs. Sadly, however, the guards stationed at the tower
Speaker 1: only a few miles to the west, had gone off
Speaker 1: duty at five PM. The search continued the next day,
Speaker 1: this time with the help of search dogs from Arizona
Speaker 1: State Prison, but still no evidence of Travis's whereabouts or
Speaker 1: any sign that any unidentified flying object had been in
Speaker 1: the vicinity was found. On Saturday morning, Gillespie was back
Speaker 1: in his office in Holbrook when a kafuffle was heard
Speaker 1: in the reception running through. He was startled to find
Speaker 1: Dwayne and Mike Roger's demanding to know why no one
Speaker 1: was up on the ridge looking for Travis. The pair
Speaker 1: had gone out to join the third day of the search,
Speaker 1: only to find nobody there. Having begun to suspect that
Speaker 1: some kind of hoax was being played out, Gillespie was
Speaker 1: somewhat taken aback by the evident concern and passion in
Speaker 1: Dwaine and Mike's demand. Within an hour, the search was reinstated,
Speaker 1: with horses, jeeps, and a rescue helicopter brought in for
Speaker 1: good measure, having flown in helicopters during his time in
Speaker 1: the military. That afternoon, Dwane joined the helicopter crew in
Speaker 1: the air, peering down at the gaps in between the
Speaker 1: trees for any sign of his brother. He couldn't decide
Speaker 1: whether to be worried or relieved when by the end
Speaker 1: of the day they'd once again failed to find anything.
Speaker 1: Back in Snowflake, a Volkswagen van pulled into the town
Speaker 1: square to join the throng of news vans and other
Speaker 1: unfamiliar vehicles that had been steadily descending on the town.
Speaker 1: By then, news of Travis's disappearance and the unusual explanation
Speaker 1: behind it had spread far and wide, with many journalists
Speaker 1: and UFO enthusiasts keen to investigate the wild story for themselves.
Speaker 1: One such enthusiast was Fred Sylvanus from Phoenix, who for
Speaker 1: the past twenty years had conducted field research for the
Speaker 1: Arizona Regional UFO Project. That afternoon, Fred was put in
Speaker 1: touch with Mike and Dwain, who agreed to join him
Speaker 1: in his van for an interview. Mike began with an
Speaker 1: account of the craft they'd seen, how pretty it had been,
Speaker 1: like a fancy new car, he said, and how he'd
Speaker 1: been almost mesmerized by just how beautiful a thing it
Speaker 1: was to look at. Then Dwain chimed in with something unexpected.
Speaker 1: He had also seen one almost identical to what might
Speaker 1: described in Broad Daylight twelve years before. Not only that
Speaker 1: he and Travis had discussed UFOs at great length and
Speaker 1: what they would do if they ever got close to one,
Speaker 1: which was what asked Fred, they would try to establish
Speaker 1: contact with it. Of course, came Dwaine's reply. It was
Speaker 1: an alarming admission to Sylvanus, since he was previously under
Speaker 1: the impression that none of the men involved had any
Speaker 1: prior interest in UFOs. In his experienced opinion, evidence of
Speaker 1: such interest was often a red flag where stories of
Speaker 1: apparent sightings and abductions were concerned. And then came another
Speaker 1: troubling revelation, this time from Mike. As it turned out
Speaker 1: he and his crew were wildly behind schedule on their contract.
Speaker 1: Having already received one extension, the crew were struggling to
Speaker 1: meet their second deadline, as Mike let slip to Sylvanus,
Speaker 1: perhaps with all that had been going on, the Forestry
Speaker 1: Service might be willing to offer them a second extension.
Speaker 1: There was just one final question, said Sylvanus, before wrapping up.
Speaker 1: Where did the pair think that Travis was now? Wherever
Speaker 1: he is, said Dwayne. It is not on this earth.
Speaker 1: Many in the town had been uttering it among themselves,
Speaker 1: but it was Snowflake Town Marshall Sandford Flake who said
Speaker 1: it the loudest that all this talk of UFOs and
Speaker 1: Travis Walton being abducted was complete rubbish. Some put this
Speaker 1: down to an ongoing grudge with Travis due to a
Speaker 1: disagreement from a previous year, but either way, Flake was
Speaker 1: determined to put an end to the nonsense. Having deduced
Speaker 1: that Travis had orchestrated the whole thing in collaboration with
Speaker 1: his brother Dwayne, using some kind of balloon to fool
Speaker 1: his colleagues, Flake became convinced that he was merely hiding
Speaker 1: out at his mother's cabin in bear Lake. In the
Speaker 1: days since Travis's disappearance, Marshall Flake made a number of
Speaker 1: unannounced visits to Mary Kellett's cabin, hoping to catch the
Speaker 1: family out, one time, even bringing a documentary crew with
Speaker 1: him from the United Kingdom, but Mary could only tell
Speaker 1: him what she had told everyone else, that she had
Speaker 1: no idea where her son was. Such rumors were becoming
Speaker 1: a struggle for the rest of Mike's crew, who who
Speaker 1: couldn't step outside their homes without being harassed by reporters
Speaker 1: or neighbors telling them to give up the hoax and
Speaker 1: tell the truth about what happened. On Monday morning, with
Speaker 1: Travis now having been missing for five days, Mike Rodgers,
Speaker 1: Kenny Peterson, John Goulette, Steve Pierce, Alan Dallas, and Dwayne
Speaker 1: Smith received an ominous request to assemble at Sheriff Gillespie's
Speaker 1: office in Holbrook. The men arrived on the assumption that
Speaker 1: they would be giving another statement about the events of
Speaker 1: the previous Wednesday. What they found was something a little different.
Speaker 1: Greeting them alongside Gillespie was Arizona Department of Public Safety
Speaker 1: employee Si Gilson. Gilson also happened to be an expert
Speaker 1: in polygraph testing, and he was there to give them
Speaker 1: a lie detect a test. Steve Pierce went white at
Speaker 1: the sheer mention of the device. It was just as
Speaker 1: his mother had been telling him. It didn't matter if
Speaker 1: he had anything to do with Travis's disappearance. This was
Speaker 1: how the law really worked. They were going to try
Speaker 1: and pin something on him, and one way or another,
Speaker 1: if Steve wasn't careful, he would not be leaving that
Speaker 1: station anytime soon. Alan Dallas also grew suddenly nervous, a
Speaker 1: reaction not lost on Sheriff Gillespie, as the Sheriff then
Speaker 1: explained to them, since they had no evidence to back
Speaker 1: up any of their claims, he'd been forced to take
Speaker 1: drastic action. If they couldn't find Travis, at the very least,
Speaker 1: he could dismiss their ridiculous story, and if they were
Speaker 1: telling the truth, none of them had anything to worry
Speaker 1: about anyway. Having been observing the men closely since they arrived,
Speaker 1: Gilson was quick to pick out Steve, the younger and
Speaker 1: clearly most anxious of the group, as a possible weak link.
Speaker 1: If they had indeed concocted the whole thing up together,
Speaker 1: it was Steve, he reasoned, that was most likely to
Speaker 1: break Alone in the interview room, Gilson took a moment
Speaker 1: to calibrate the equipment, then asked for Steve to be
Speaker 1: sent in. After nervously taking a seat, Gilson proceeded to
Speaker 1: connect Steve to the machine, pulling the wires tightly across
Speaker 1: his chest, before asking him to sit up and try
Speaker 1: his best to relax, And then, after switching on the machine,
Speaker 1: Gilson began, did you cause Travis any serious physical harm?
Speaker 1: Last Wednesday? Afternoon, asked Gilson, as the graft paper spoiled
Speaker 1: out endlessly under the needles. No, said Steve, quickly, looking
Speaker 1: anxiously towards the fragile arms of the machine as they
Speaker 1: flickered lightly across the page. Gilson nodded to himself, then
Speaker 1: jotted something down in his notebook. I'm not lying, said
Speaker 1: Steve with quiet determination, Ignoring him. Gilson continued, do you
Speaker 1: know if Travis Walton was physically injured by some other
Speaker 1: member of your work crew last Wednesday? No, said Steve emphatically.
Speaker 1: And then do you know if Travis Walton's body is
Speaker 1: buried or hidden somewhere in the Turkey Springs area? No,
Speaker 1: came Steve's emphatic reply. Again. Then, finally, did you tell
Speaker 1: the truth about actually seeing a UFO last Wednesday when
Speaker 1: Travis Walton disappeared? Steve looked Gilson in the eye, and then,
Speaker 1: after only a moment's pause, yes, he said. One after
Speaker 1: the other, Mike's crew came and gave their answers to
Speaker 1: the same set of questions, taking about twenty minutes at
Speaker 1: a time as they went over and over it again,
Speaker 1: all giving the exact same answers as Steve and not
Speaker 1: once deviating from their story. No, they didn't harm Travis,
Speaker 1: nor know of any one who did. And yes they
Speaker 1: did see a UFO that night. At ten p m.
Speaker 1: That evening, the men were sent home, after which Gilson
Speaker 1: presented Gillespie with the results. The sheriff could only gorb
Speaker 1: in amazement. According to Gilson, not one of the men,
Speaker 1: with the exception of Allan Dallas, whose results were deemed void,
Speaker 1: could be determined to have lied about their experience, or,
Speaker 1: as Gilson understood it, going by the results, the chances
Speaker 1: that all five had cheated the test was something in
Speaker 1: the region of one in seventy eight thousand. As Gillespie
Speaker 1: reported to the press soon after, there's no doubt they're
Speaker 1: telling the truth right down the line. I feel sure
Speaker 1: that all six of them saw a UFO. It was
Speaker 1: close to midnight on Monday when the phone rang in
Speaker 1: Allison and Grant Neff's home in Taylor. Having just gone
Speaker 1: to bed, Grant roused himself awake and stumbled to the
Speaker 1: receiver nef residence. Who's this, he muttered wearily. Then a
Speaker 1: scared and faint voice crackled up from the other end
Speaker 1: of the line. It's Travis. I'm in a phone booth
Speaker 1: at the Heber gas station. I need help. Please come
Speaker 1: and get me. Grant stood for a moment, trying to think.
Speaker 1: It certainly didn't sound like Travis, and since the family
Speaker 1: had been fielding crank calls ever since his disappearance, it
Speaker 1: seems reasonable to assume that this was just another one.
Speaker 1: Don't call here again, Grant said, But just as he
Speaker 1: was about to hang up, the voice came back, more
Speaker 1: desperate this time. Wait, Grant, it's me Please, I'm hurt
Speaker 1: and I need your help. Please come and get me.
Speaker 1: You've been listening to Part one, Unexplains, Season four, episode twenty.
Speaker 1: The Homecoming. Part two will be released next Friday, December
Speaker 1: sixth Unexplained. The book and audiobook, featuring ten stories that
Speaker 1: have never before been covered on the show, is now
Speaker 1: available to buy worldwide. You can purchase through Amazon, Barnes
Speaker 1: and Noble, and Waterstones, among other bookstores. All elements of Unexplained,
Speaker 1: including the show's music, are produced by me Richard McClain smith.
Speaker 1: Please subscribe and rate the show wherever you listen to podcasts,
Speaker 1: and feel free to get in touch with any thoughts
Speaker 1: or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show.
Speaker 1: Perhaps you have an explanation of your own you'd like
Speaker 1: to share. You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast
Speaker 1: dot com, or Twitter at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at
Speaker 1: Facebook dot com. Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast. Now, it's time
Speaker 1: to take care of yourself. To make time for you,
Speaker 1: Tell a doc gives you access to a licensed therapist
Speaker 1: to help you get back to feeling your best. Speak
Speaker 1: to a licensed therapist by phone or video anytime between
Speaker 1: seven a m. To nine pm local time, seven days
Speaker 1: a week. Teledoc Therapy is available through most insurance or employers.
Speaker 1: Download the app or visit teledoc dot com. Forward Slash
Speaker 1: Unexplained Podcast Today to get started. That's t e ladoc
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