Speaker 1: Hello, it's Richard mclin smith here with Unexplained on an
Speaker 1: end of season break. We'll be dipping back into the
Speaker 1: archive each week until season nine begins on Friday, October thirty. First,
Speaker 1: this week's episode takes us to the forests of Arizona
Speaker 1: in November nineteen seventy five, where a crew of loggers
Speaker 1: were finishing another hard day's work in the wilderness. It
Speaker 1: was meant to be routine, just another evening drive back
Speaker 1: to town through the darkening woods, a journey they'd made
Speaker 1: countless times before. But when the crew returned home that night,
Speaker 1: one of them was missing, leaving those left behind to
Speaker 1: relay a story so bizarre that it would divide not
Speaker 1: just their community, but the entire country. This is Unexplained,
Speaker 1: Season four, episode twenty, The Homecoming. Navajo County Deputy Sheriff
Speaker 1: Chuck Ellison was sitting down to eat dinner with his
Speaker 1: wife when the telephone rang. The voice on the other
Speaker 1: end was hard to read, both frantic and oddly hesitant
Speaker 1: at the same time. Ellison asked the caller to calm
Speaker 1: down and start again by telling him who he was.
Speaker 1: It was Kenny Peterson, came the speedy reply, and they
Speaker 1: needed the police right away. As Peterson went on to explain,
Speaker 1: he and his forestry Service co workers had been clearing
Speaker 1: a section of Arizona's Apache Sitgreave's forest earlier that night
Speaker 1: when something inexplicable had occurred, and now one of their
Speaker 1: crew was missing. But when Ellison pushed for more details,
Speaker 1: Peterson paused for a moment before replying that perhaps it
Speaker 1: would be better if they could explain it to him
Speaker 1: in person. Ten minutes later, after apologizing to his wife
Speaker 1: for having to leave so suddenly, Ellison pulled into the
Speaker 1: parking lot of Wilbur's Market shopping center in Habor, a
Speaker 1: small junction town about one hundred and fifty miles northeast
Speaker 1: of Phoenix, Arizona, where he'd agreed to meet Kenny. It
Speaker 1: didn't take long for the deputy to spot the man
Speaker 1: and his colleagues Mike Rogers, John Guillette, Alan Dallas, Dwayne Smith,
Speaker 1: and Steve Pearce all gathered together in an anxious huddle
Speaker 1: by the entrance, still covered in dust and debris from
Speaker 1: the day's shift. At least two of the group was
Speaker 1: struggling to hold back tears. In no mood to mess around,
Speaker 1: Ellison asked the men to explain exactly what was going on.
Speaker 1: They all looked sheepishly toward each other, as if they
Speaker 1: didn't quite know what they were going to say to him,
Speaker 1: until finally Mike began to speak. The twenty eight year
Speaker 1: old Mike was an independent contractor and the crew were
Speaker 1: his responsibility, so too, ultimately was the man who was missing.
Speaker 1: His name was Travis Walton, who also happened to be
Speaker 1: Mike's best friend. Ordinarily they would never have left him
Speaker 1: behind up there in the forest, but as Mike tried
Speaker 1: to explain to Ellison, these were far from ordinary circumstances.
Speaker 1: You're listening to unexplained, and I'm Richard McLean Smith. Like
Speaker 1: the rest of Mike Roger's crew, twenty two year old
Speaker 1: Travis Walton lived in Snowflake, a farming town located about
Speaker 1: thirty miles east of Habour with a population of just
Speaker 1: over two and a half thousand. It was founded by
Speaker 1: Mormon settlers in eighteen seventy eight and was comprised largely
Speaker 1: of life orise houses and small local stores, all overshadowed
Speaker 1: by the huge red bricked Church of Jesus Christ of
Speaker 1: Latter Day Saints that dominated the town square. Delinquency was
Speaker 1: not looked on lightly by the community, nor was anyone
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 effeckless hippie, and a friend were convicted
Speaker 1: of forging payroll checks from a local company. The pair
Speaker 1: were given two years probation and forced to pay the
Speaker 1: money back. In a town as small and god fearing
Speaker 1: as Snowflake, such reputations were hard to shake. Those who
Speaker 1: knew Travis, however, knew a different story. Some of his
Speaker 1: school teachers even considered him one of the smartest pupils
Speaker 1: that they'd ever taught. After dropping out of Northern Arizona
Speaker 1: University a few years b 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 Sick Creeves
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 themself. 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 Night'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 headlamps, and eased out of
Speaker 1: the clearing. They'd barely made it two hundred yards along
Speaker 1: the rugged forest track when Alan broke in from the back. Hey,
Speaker 1: what is that, he said, pointing toward a soft glowing
Speaker 1: light coming from out of the trees to the right.
Speaker 1: Have you guys never seen the moon? Mocked Kenny, only
Speaker 1: as the others were quick to point out the moon
Speaker 1: was already sitting high in the sky above on the
Speaker 1: other side of the truck. The soft white glow grew
Speaker 1: brighter as they continued on, slowly edging ever closer toward it,
Speaker 1: Now no more than one hundred yards from its source.
Speaker 1: The light bled out across the road before them, but frustratingly,
Speaker 1: whatever it was, remained obscured by the trees until eventually
Speaker 1: they reached a clearing and they were finally able to
Speaker 1: see it. A large disc like structure roughly twenty feet
Speaker 1: wide and eight feet high, hovering a good fifteen feet
Speaker 1: above the ground. It was so close they could even
Speaker 1: see the detail on its surface, how it was divided
Speaker 1: into a series of thin panels with a thin, darker
Speaker 1: band that seemed to circle all the way around it,
Speaker 1: and how its glow appeared to be coming from inside.
Speaker 1: Before Mike had even brought the truck to a stop,
Speaker 1: the side door was opened and Travis was gone, hurrying
Speaker 1: off toward it. The others yelled for him to come back,
Speaker 1: but Travis just kept on going, edging closer and closer
Speaker 1: toward it. Then came a strange noise that seemed to
Speaker 1: emanate from the craft, high pitched at first, before steadily
Speaker 1: shifting into something much lower, like a vast turbine engine.
Speaker 1: When suddenly a blinding blue light shot out from the disk,
Speaker 1: holding Travis in some kind of grip. With his body
Speaker 1: now completely rigid, he was slowly lifted a good foot
Speaker 1: into the air and suspended there for a moment before
Speaker 1: being flung hard onto the ground, skidding shoulder first into
Speaker 1: the stone and dirt, and there he lay completely still.
Speaker 1: That was enough for Rogers, who, with four kids of
Speaker 1: his own and the rest of his crew to worry about,
Speaker 1: turned the key and tore out of the clearing as
Speaker 1: fast as the truck could go, and then they were
Speaker 1: racing through the trees, bouncing over the dirt track at
Speaker 1: speed as Rogers did his best to keep the thing
Speaker 1: on the road, with the rest of the crew's deeming
Speaker 1: for him to keep going faster and faster, until it
Speaker 1: was just one bend too many, with a huge pine
Speaker 1: tree looming up before him, Rogers pulled hard on the
Speaker 1: wheel and brought the truck slamming into a pile of
Speaker 1: bulldoze dirt by the side of the road. The men
Speaker 1: looked frantically about for any sign of the strange craft,
Speaker 1: but saw nothing but the frigid dark and the bright
Speaker 1: half moon above. And for a moment there was silence,
Speaker 1: and then all hell broke loose. We've got to go back,
Speaker 1: yelled Kenny. No way, said Steve, as tears streamed down
Speaker 1: his face. We've got to get out of here. Kenny's right,
Speaker 1: said Mike, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.
Speaker 1: Only then had it dawned on him that, without even thinking,
Speaker 1: he'd abandoned his best friend alone out there with that thing,
Speaker 1: whatever it was. We're going back, he said. Finally, you
Speaker 1: can either come with me or you can wait for
Speaker 1: me here. With no one willing to take their chances
Speaker 1: in the forest alone, they headed back to look for Travis,
Speaker 1: but by the time they got to where they'd last
Speaker 1: seen him, he was gone. And that, as he finished
Speaker 1: explaining to an utterly perplexed Deputy Ellison, was when they
Speaker 1: decided to call the police. After hearing the men's story,
Speaker 1: Deputy Ellison reluctantly relayed it back to Sheriff Marlin Gillespie
Speaker 1: at the Navajo County Sheriff's office in Holbrook, another forty
Speaker 1: mile drive north of Habor. Though Ellison was quick to
Speaker 1: clarify that he didn't believe any of it, he had
Speaker 1: little doubt the men had experienced something traumatic. Less than
Speaker 1: an hour later, Sheriff Gillespie arrived with Deputy Kenneth Coplin
Speaker 1: in tow and Mike's crew repeated their extraordinary story for
Speaker 1: the second time that night, but Mike was getting impatient.
Speaker 1: They needed to get back up there and search for Travis.
Speaker 1: Kenny and Allan were keen to join, but by then
Speaker 1: all John, Dwayne and Steve, who at seventeen was the
Speaker 1: youngest of the group wanted to do was go home,
Speaker 1: taking Mike's truck. They headed back to his house to
Speaker 1: let his wife know what had happened, while the remaining
Speaker 1: three joined the sheriff and his two deputies and headed
Speaker 1: back toward Turkey Springs. It took a while to find
Speaker 1: the exact spot again, but soon the men were out
Speaker 1: in the cold air, flashlights in hand as they scoured
Speaker 1: the ground for any sign of Travis. But the men
Speaker 1: found nothing. No scarred or broken trees other than the
Speaker 1: ones the team had cut down, no scuff marks in
Speaker 1: the dirt, no sign of Travis's bootmarkings. Neither did they
Speaker 1: find any pieces of clothing or any blood for that matter.
Speaker 1: It was almost as if no one had ever been
Speaker 1: there at all. All that was clear was that Travis
Speaker 1: was gone. Sheriff Gillespie eyed Mike and his men with suspicion.
Speaker 1: Clearly Travis hadn't been abducted by a UFO, so what
Speaker 1: then exactly had taken place? And if he was still
Speaker 1: alive out here as the men claimed he might be,
Speaker 1: it was an awfully cold night to only be wearing
Speaker 1: plaid and denhim. Ellison notified more deputies and members of
Speaker 1: a local volunteer organization to join in the search, but
Speaker 1: by midnight there was still no sign of the missing man.
Speaker 1: Growing increasingly desperate, Rogers suggested it was time they notified
Speaker 1: Travis's mother. At fifty seven years old, Mary Kellett had
Speaker 1: raised Travis and his five siblings on her own after
Speaker 1: making a living running a boarding house in Phoenix. By
Speaker 1: nineteen seventy five, she divided her time between her home
Speaker 1: in Snowflake and a cabin in Bare Springs, a stretch
Speaker 1: of woodland a good ten miles to the southeast of Habor.
Speaker 1: It was funny, she thought, as she watched Deputy Copland's
Speaker 1: car pulling up outside the cabin. Just earlier in the day,
Speaker 1: she'd been overcome with the strange conviction that something terrible
Speaker 1: had happened to her son, Travis. When Mike stepped out
Speaker 1: of the vehicle, whom she knew well as a good
Speaker 1: friend of Travis's, her worst fears were confirmed. Once inside.
Speaker 1: Coplin was as clearly distraught. Rogers explained to Mary about
Speaker 1: what they'd seen that evening and how Travis had disappeared.
Speaker 1: It was odd, thought Coplan, how calm Mary seemed to
Speaker 1: be in the face of such unusual and disturbing news,
Speaker 1: almost as if it wasn't news to her at all.
Speaker 1: About an hour later, Coplin made his goodbyes and headed
Speaker 1: back to Sheriff Gillespie to report his findings. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: Rogers drove Mary in her car to her daughter Allison's
Speaker 1: home in Taylor, a town just south of Snowflake. Alison,
Speaker 1: who lived with her husband Grant Neph, was especially close
Speaker 1: to Travis and was understandably devastated to hear the news.
Speaker 1: Skeptical of the story, however, she demanded to hear again
Speaker 1: from Mike exactly what had happened, but he could only
Speaker 1: tell her what he knew. A few hours later, unable
Speaker 1: to work eight any longer, Mary called her son Dwayne
Speaker 1: at his home in Phoenix to give him the worrying news.
Speaker 1: Though Dwayne was Mary's second oldest son, she'd always considered
Speaker 1: him the most mature, and it was often to him
Speaker 1: that she first turned in times of stress. Minutes later,
Speaker 1: Dwayne jumped into his car and started out on the
Speaker 1: two hundred mile journey to Snowflake to meet up with
Speaker 1: the others. At eight a m. The morning after Travis's disappearance,
Speaker 1: a number of search teams assembled in Turkey, Springs to
Speaker 1: assist the Navaju County and Silver Creek Sheriff's officers in
Speaker 1: their continued search for the missing man. Among them were
Speaker 1: a group of US Forest Service personnel drafted in for
Speaker 1: their knowledge of the local area. Mike Rogers, Kenny Peterson,
Speaker 1: and Allan Dallas were back too to help with the search.
Speaker 1: That morning, the thirty or so search team, starting from
Speaker 1: the point that Travis was last seen, began the laborious
Speaker 1: task of scarring the forest of any sign of him,
Speaker 1: a search that would eventually encompass a region of roughly
Speaker 1: a mile squared. As the forestry workers scoured the area
Speaker 1: for any sign of unusually broken trees or foot markings,
Speaker 1: it was hard to ignore just how dry the whole
Speaker 1: area was, with some of the dead brush piles being
Speaker 1: almost a year old and the floor carpeted in dry
Speaker 1: pine needles, though no one gave it much credence. If
Speaker 1: some kind of craft had indeed lifted off from around there,
Speaker 1: the whole place would have gone up in flames. Elsewhere,
Speaker 1: Sheriff Gillespie and Deputy Ellison were looking for something a
Speaker 1: little different, trying to square the obvious distress shown by
Speaker 1: Mine and his crew the previous night. With the ridiculous
Speaker 1: cock and bull story they had given them, Gillespie and
Speaker 1: Ellison had got to thinking could it be whether it
Speaker 1: was premeditated or the result of a tragic accident That
Speaker 1: the men knew only too well where Travis was after all,
Speaker 1: because they had buried his body. As the two police
Speaker 1: kept one eye on the men for any sign of
Speaker 1: suspicious activity, their other was kept firmly on the ground,
Speaker 1: looking for any sign of recently disturbed earth or fresh
Speaker 1: piles of dirt and of course blood. Later that afternoon,
Speaker 1: Mary and Dwane also joined the search, with Mary seeming
Speaker 1: once again far too calm for Deputy Copland's liking. By
Speaker 1: the afternoon, however, the search teams were yet to find anything.
Speaker 1: With little else to go on share, Gillespie suggested contacting
Speaker 1: the nearest firewatch tower. Perhaps they had seen something that night.
Speaker 1: At the very least, it would end all the ridiculous
Speaker 1: talk about UFOs. Sadly, however, the guard stationed at the
Speaker 1: tower only a few miles to the west, had gone
Speaker 1: off 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 kerfuffle was heard
Speaker 1: in the reception running through. He was startled to find
Speaker 1: Dwayne and Mike Rogers, 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: Dwayne 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, Dwayne 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 Dwaine, 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 Twain chimed in with something unexpected.
Speaker 1: He had also seen one almost identical to what Mike
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 left 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 Sanford 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 rumours were becoming
Speaker 1: a struggle for the rest of Mike's crew, too, 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 Rogers,
Speaker 1: Kenny Peterson John Gullette, Steve Pearce, 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 Cy Gilson. Gilson also happened to be an expert
Speaker 1: in polygraph testing, and he was there to give them
Speaker 1: a lie detector test. Steve Pearce went white at the
Speaker 1: sheer mention of the device. It was just as his
Speaker 1: mother had been telling him. It didn't matter if he
Speaker 1: had anything to do with Travis's disappearance. This was how
Speaker 1: the law really worked. They were going to try and
Speaker 1: pin something on him, and one way or another, if
Speaker 1: Steve wasn't careful, he would not be leaving that station
Speaker 1: anytime soon. Alan Dallas also grew suddenly nervous, a reaction
Speaker 1: not lost on Sheriff Gillespie. As the Sheriff then explained
Speaker 1: to them, since they had no evidence to back up
Speaker 1: any of their claims, he'd been forced to take drastic action.
Speaker 1: If they couldn't find Travis, at the very least, he
Speaker 1: could dismiss their ridiculous story, and if they were telling
Speaker 1: the truth, none of them had anything to worry about anyway.
Speaker 1: Having been observing the men closely since they arrived, Gilson
Speaker 1: was quick to pick out Steve, the youngest and clearly
Speaker 1: 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 spulled
Speaker 1: out endlessly under the needles, No, said Steve, quickly, looking
Speaker 1: anxiously toward 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 again, all
Speaker 1: giving the exact same answers as Steve, and not once
Speaker 1: deviating from their story. No, they didn't harm Travis, nor
Speaker 1: know of anyone who did. And yes, they did see
Speaker 1: a UFO that night. At ten pm that evening, the
Speaker 1: men were sent home, after which Gilson presented Gillespie with
Speaker 1: the results, the sheriff could only gorpe in amazement. According
Speaker 1: to Gilson, not one of the men, with the exception
Speaker 1: of Alan Dallas, whose results were deemed void, could be
Speaker 1: determined to have lied about their experience, or, as Gilson
Speaker 1: understood it, going by the results, the chances that all
Speaker 1: five had cheated the test was something in the region
Speaker 1: of one in seventy eight thousand. As Gillespie reported to
Speaker 1: the press soon after, there's no doubt they're telling the
Speaker 1: truth right down the line. I feel sure that all
Speaker 1: six of them saw a UFO. It was close to
Speaker 1: midnight on Monday when the phone rang in Allison and
Speaker 1: Grant Nef's home in Taylor. Having just gone to bed.
Speaker 1: Grant roused himself awake and stumbled to the receiver, nef residence.
Speaker 1: Who's this, he muttered wearily. Then a scared and faint
Speaker 1: voice crackled up from the other end of the line.
Speaker 1: It's Travis. I'm in a phone booth at the Hebre
Speaker 1: gas station. I need help. Please come and get me.
Speaker 1: Grant stood for a moment, trying to think. It certainly
Speaker 1: didn't sound like Travis, and since the family had been
Speaker 1: fielding crank calls ever since his disappearance, it seemed reasonable
Speaker 1: to assume that this was just another one. Don't call
Speaker 1: here again, Grant said, But just as he was about
Speaker 1: to hang up, the voice came back, more desperate this time. Wait, Grant,
Speaker 1: it's me Please, I'm hurt and I need your help.
Speaker 1: Please come and get me. Not long after Grant nef
Speaker 1: hung up the phone. In the early hours of Tuesday morning,
Speaker 1: just over thirty miles away in the Navajo County Sheriff's
Speaker 1: office in Holbrook, Sheriff Marlin Gillespie was enjoying a rare
Speaker 1: moment of peace with the search for Travis Walton called
Speaker 1: off for the day and all his deputies gone home.
Speaker 1: The well liked larman took a moment to reflect on
Speaker 1: the events of the previous week. First and foremost, a
Speaker 1: young man was missing, and no matter what anybody else said,
Speaker 1: though he couldn't rule anything out, it was his duty
Speaker 1: to take the family at their word that they knew
Speaker 1: nothing about any of it, and if so, that was
Speaker 1: a family desperately worried about the fate of a brother
Speaker 1: and a son. Of the rest of it, he couldn't
Speaker 1: make head nor tail he certainly wasn't ready to accept
Speaker 1: that Travis might genuinely have been attacked and possibly even
Speaker 1: abducted by a UFO. And yet, as his own man,
Speaker 1: sy Gilson had attested, Travis's co workers, in all statistical
Speaker 1: likelihood were telling the truth about what they'd seen. And
Speaker 1: hadn't he too seen the odd unexplained object or light
Speaker 1: in the sky from time to time driving those quiet
Speaker 1: forest roads alone at night. Just then the phone rang
Speaker 1: startled Gillespie grabbed the receiver. The local phone company had
Speaker 1: traced a call placed close to midnight to Allison and
Speaker 1: Grant Nef's property from outside a gas station in Haber,
Speaker 1: the town closest to where Travis had gone missing. It
Speaker 1: must be him, thought Gillespie. And yet, if it was Travis,
Speaker 1: why hadn't he called the police instead. It was barely
Speaker 1: thirty minutes later when Deputy Chuck Ellison and Lieutenant A. M. Romo,
Speaker 1: on Gillespie's orders, pulled up to the Haber gas station,
Speaker 1: with the place completely deserted. Ellison and Romo made their
Speaker 1: way over in the dark to the three phone booths
Speaker 1: at the front of the store and began dusting for
Speaker 1: Prince in the end, However, there were just too many
Speaker 1: to be able to tell whether Travis had been there
Speaker 1: or not. Meanwhile, at the junction of Highway seventy seven
Speaker 1: and two seven seven, the road out to Phoenix from Snowflake,
Speaker 1: Deputy Glenn Flake, roused from bed by an excited Gillespie,
Speaker 1: sat in his patrol vehicle keeping a firm eye on
Speaker 1: the road ahead. By two a m. However, he'd seen
Speaker 1: no sign of any vehicles belonging to the Walton family.
Speaker 1: A short time later, Flake pulled up to Travis's mother,
Speaker 1: Mary Kellett's home. Seeing lights on inside, he stepped out
Speaker 1: of his car and quietly headed toward the front door
Speaker 1: when he noticed Travis's brother Dwayne siphoning petrol from a
Speaker 1: vehicle on the driveway. Surprised to see the deputy, Dwayne
Speaker 1: explained that he'd been late getting back from the Sheriff's
Speaker 1: office earlier in the day, so had missed the chance
Speaker 1: to get more gas for his car in preparation for
Speaker 1: his return to Phoenix that morning. Since Dwayne said nothing
Speaker 1: about Travis, Flake thought it reasonable to assume that perhaps
Speaker 1: it wasn't him after all, that had called the nef
Speaker 1: property earlier that night. And with that he said his
Speaker 1: goodbyes and returned home to bed. It was around lunchtime
Speaker 1: the next day the reports began filtering through that Travis
Speaker 1: was back and being treated in a hospital in twoson, Arizona,
Speaker 1: angered not to have been kept in the loop. A
Speaker 1: deeply frustrated Gillespie is finally called by Dwayne late on
Speaker 1: Tuesday to inform him that Travis isn't in Tucson after all,
Speaker 1: but at home with him in Glendale, just outside of Phoenix.
Speaker 1: Dwayne was still talking when Gillespie slammed down the phone,
Speaker 1: grabbed his hat from the peg, and piled into his
Speaker 1: patrol car. In the past five days, Gillespie's office had
Speaker 1: spent over ten thousand dollars looking for Travis, damaging several
Speaker 1: expensive vehicles in the process. One of the departments horses
Speaker 1: had also been put down after sustaining a devastating injury
Speaker 1: during the search. Coupled with the countless hours Gillespie had
Speaker 1: put in fielding one call after another from news outlets
Speaker 1: all over the world regarding Travis's bizarre disappearance, it was
Speaker 1: fair to say, at the very least the sheriff deserved
Speaker 1: some answers it was late in the evening by the
Speaker 1: time Gillespie arrived at Dwayne's house. At first sight of
Speaker 1: the sheriff, Dwayne did his best to apologize for not
Speaker 1: alerting him sooner, while insisting that he only had Travis's
Speaker 1: best interests at heart. Unmoved, Gillespie demanded to see Travis immediately.
Speaker 1: Dwayne hesitated for a moment before showing the sheriff through
Speaker 1: to the living room. Gillespie was in the process of
Speaker 1: detailing exactly just what lengths his department had gone to
Speaker 1: to help Dwayne and his family when the sight of
Speaker 1: an exhaust looking Travis stretched out on the sofa stopped
Speaker 1: him in his tracks. It wasn't that he seemed physically different,
Speaker 1: although he'd never seen Travis with five days of beard
Speaker 1: growth before, but something about his demeanor had changed. Then
Speaker 1: Gillespie realized what it was. It was shock. The sheriff
Speaker 1: quietly took a seat next to the young man and
Speaker 1: began by asking him to describe everything he could remember
Speaker 1: about the last few days. Travis glanced nervously toward Dwayne,
Speaker 1: who nodded for him to begin. As Travis went on
Speaker 1: to recount, he remembered being up on the ridge in
Speaker 1: the forest, seeing the object glowing in the trees, and
Speaker 1: then having the overwhelming urge to get close to it.
Speaker 1: He just turned back to see Mike and the others
Speaker 1: begging for him to return to the truck, when he
Speaker 1: was engulfed in a blinding white blue light. In an instant,
Speaker 1: he felt as though he'd been hit on the back
Speaker 1: of the head by a baseball bat and that his
Speaker 1: whole body was being electrocuted. The next thing he knew,
Speaker 1: he felt as though he was waking up from a
Speaker 1: deep sleep, but in excruciating pain, as if his whole
Speaker 1: body had been burned inside and out. Finally opening his eyes,
Speaker 1: he found himself lying down on some kind of table
Speaker 1: with a large rectangular light above him. Gathering his thoughts.
Speaker 1: Though he didn't recognize the place, he assumed he was
Speaker 1: in a hospital of some sort, thinking that he must
Speaker 1: have sustained an injury on the job and his friends
Speaker 1: had brought him in. Looking down his body, he could
Speaker 1: see that his shirt and jacket had been pushed up
Speaker 1: toward his shoulders, leaving his chest and belly exposed over
Speaker 1: which seemed to be some kind of device scanning his
Speaker 1: body slowly with his eyes beginning to focus, he was
Speaker 1: able to make out three blurry figures stood around him,
Speaker 1: dressed in bright orange and wearing white surgical masks, which
Speaker 1: he assumed to be doctors, only realizing with horror moments
Speaker 1: later when he locked eyes with one of them that
Speaker 1: these weren't like any doctors he'd seen before. Panicking, he
Speaker 1: leapt from the table, knocking the scanning device to the floor.
Speaker 1: As two of the figures approached, Travis stumbled back into
Speaker 1: some kind of instrument tray, Then, grabbing whatever came to hand,
Speaker 1: he prepared to defend himself. It was only then that
Speaker 1: he observed the figures properly for the first time. They
Speaker 1: were each about five feet tall, uncannily familiar with their
Speaker 1: two arms, legs, and five digits on each hand, but
Speaker 1: that was where the familiarity ended. Their bodies seemed unusually
Speaker 1: light weight, while their skin was bright white, without a
Speaker 1: crease or wrinkle anywhere to be seen. Their eyes were
Speaker 1: big brown discs about an inch and a half in diameter,
Speaker 1: and their hands had no fingernails. As Travis went on
Speaker 1: to explain, he was just about to attack them when
Speaker 1: they ran from the room, leaving him all alone. Seeing
Speaker 1: his chance, he bolted out into the corridor and ducked
Speaker 1: into some kind of control room that was completely empty
Speaker 1: except for a chair in the middle of it covered
Speaker 1: in levers and buttons. But as he made his way
Speaker 1: toward it, the walls began to disappear, revealing a giant,
Speaker 1: three hundred sixty degree panoramic map of the stars that
Speaker 1: wrapped all around him as if he were standing alone
Speaker 1: in the VARs of space. Moments later, Travis was joined
Speaker 1: in the room by what he assumed at first was
Speaker 1: another human man of large muscular build wearing a blue
Speaker 1: outfit and a bubble helmet over his head. Only when
Speaker 1: Travis saw the intense color of his electric blue eyes
Speaker 1: did he realize he wasn't human at all. Travis pleaded
Speaker 1: for his help, nonetheless, in response, the being led him
Speaker 1: through an airlock into what looked like some kind of
Speaker 1: aircraft hanger. Stepping out onto a ramp, Travis realized he
Speaker 1: was exiting some kind of craft that was similar to
Speaker 1: what they'd seen in the woods, but considerably larger in size.
Speaker 1: From there, no longer feeling any pain, he was led
Speaker 1: through another series of doors and corridors, until finally he
Speaker 1: came to a bright white room occupied by three other
Speaker 1: figures similar to the man who led him there. The
Speaker 1: beings then lifted him onto a table and placed some
Speaker 1: kind of respiratory device over his face. The next thing
Speaker 1: he knew, he was lying on the pavement in the
Speaker 1: freezing dark, staring up at the stars in the night sky.
Speaker 1: Looking frantically about. He realized with relief that he was
Speaker 1: back in Arizona, somewhere on the highway just outside of Haber.
Speaker 1: Dehydrated and disorientated, he stumbled to the Haber gas station,
Speaker 1: from where he made the call to his sister's home.
Speaker 1: It was all true, insisted Dwayne, as he then explained
Speaker 1: to the sheriff. He'd been out at his mother's home
Speaker 1: in Snowflake when they got the call from Grant, their
Speaker 1: brother in law, informing them that Travis was alive. Having
Speaker 1: raced off with Grant to pick him up from the
Speaker 1: gas station, they found him huddled down inside one of
Speaker 1: the phone booths, still wearing the clothes he'd gone missing
Speaker 1: in despite it being well below freezing. According to Dwayne,
Speaker 1: Travis was so traumatized when they arrived that he tried
Speaker 1: to run away, not realizing who Dwayne was at first.
Speaker 1: When they finally got him in the car, the clearly
Speaker 1: disorientated Travis was convinced he'd only be missing for a
Speaker 1: few hours. When Dwayne then told him to feel the
Speaker 1: beard on his usually clean shaven face, Travis was shocked
Speaker 1: to find it had been more like five days. Sheriff
Speaker 1: Gillespie ran a hand through his hair. Could it be,
Speaker 1: he asked, that he really was hit on the head
Speaker 1: by a baseball bat. Perhaps one of his coworkers had
Speaker 1: done it and then drugged him afterwards. Perhaps he really
Speaker 1: had woken up in a hospital after all, but the
Speaker 1: effect of the hit on the head and the drugs
Speaker 1: had left him confused and discombobulated. But the brothers were
Speaker 1: having none of it. For a start, there was no
Speaker 1: injury to his head, nor to any other part of
Speaker 1: his body for that matter. According to Dwayne, this was
Speaker 1: one of the first things he checked when Travis got home,
Speaker 1: shortly before helping him into a hot bath to warm
Speaker 1: him up. He also claimed to have weighed his brother beforehand,
Speaker 1: finding that he'd lost at least ten pounds in the
Speaker 1: days since he disappeared. That first day since Travis's apparent
Speaker 1: return had been an eventful one for Dwayne and his brother,
Speaker 1: as they went on to explain to Sheriff Gillespie. It
Speaker 1: was back during the search for Travis that Dwayne had
Speaker 1: been approached by William Spaulding from the euphology Group Ground
Speaker 1: Saucer Watch, an organization first founded in ninety In fifty
Speaker 1: seven that sought to provide a legitimate outlet for people
Speaker 1: to report sightings of unusual aerial phenomena without the fear
Speaker 1: of ridicule. Having dealt with a number of similar cases before,
Speaker 1: Sporting advised Dwayne to contact him should Travis be found alive.
Speaker 1: In return, GSW would provide a free medical examination and
Speaker 1: shelter from the inevitable media storm that would follow in
Speaker 1: the hope of gaining proof that he had been abducted
Speaker 1: by an unknown sentient species, if indeed that was the case.
Speaker 1: As it transpired, according to Dwayne, Travis was already back
Speaker 1: at his mother's house in Snowflake the night Deputy Flake
Speaker 1: saw Dwayne in the driveway siphoning gas for his car.
Speaker 1: Realizing that he wouldn't be able to keep Travis's apparent
Speaker 1: return a secret for long, Dwayne informed the press that
Speaker 1: he was being taken to a hospital in Tucson to
Speaker 1: recuperate from his exhausted ordeal that morning, the pair then
Speaker 1: traveled to Phoenix, whereby they immediately contacted Spaulding, who gave
Speaker 1: them an address for a doctor Lester Stewart, who would
Speaker 1: be conducting the medical exam when they arrived there soon after, however,
Speaker 1: the brothers were surprised to find doctor Stewart's office located
Speaker 1: in a fairly run down westward Hoe hotel. They only
Speaker 1: became more concerned when they saw the sign on doctor
Speaker 1: Stewart's door, which read hypnotherapist. After thirty minutes or so
Speaker 1: of Travis detailing what he could about his missing five days,
Speaker 1: it became clear that not only was Stuart ill equipped
Speaker 1: to carry out a full medical exam on him, but
Speaker 1: that he wasn't a medical doctor at all. Returning home frustrated,
Speaker 1: Dwayne was then contacted by Coral and Jim Lawrenson from
Speaker 1: another UFO organization called the Area Phenomena Research group. Much
Speaker 1: like ground Sourcer Watch, at pro prided themselves on their
Speaker 1: rational scientific approach to the UFO phenomena, with a large
Speaker 1: staff of consulting PhD scientists among them, most notably doctor
Speaker 1: James Harder, a civil and hydraulics engineering professor from the
Speaker 1: University of California, Berkeley. Famed UFO researcher j Allen Heineck
Speaker 1: described at PRO as one of the best to civilian
Speaker 1: organizations of its day. Still desperate to prove what had
Speaker 1: happened to him, Travis agreed to then let APRO conduct
Speaker 1: the medical exam. That afternoon, doctor Howard Kendall, predominantly a
Speaker 1: pediatrician and general practitioner, doctor Joseph Saltz, arrived at Dwayne's
Speaker 1: house to assess the apparent abductee. Kendall and Salts were
Speaker 1: shown into a bedroom where Travis was waiting for them,
Speaker 1: lying down on the bed in his shirt and jeans.
Speaker 1: Doctor Kendall's report would later state that from the moment
Speaker 1: they saw him, it was clear that Travis was suffering
Speaker 1: from extreme stress and anxiety. Kendall and Salts observed that
Speaker 1: his vital signs were all normal, with no overt signs
Speaker 1: of weight loss, though his mouth was unusually dry, suggesting
Speaker 1: a high level of dehydration. Examining his body for any
Speaker 1: signs of bruising or damage. Curiously, doctor Kendall discovered a
Speaker 1: two millimeter wide red spot in the crease of Travis's
Speaker 1: right elbow, much like a needle puncture wound. Travis suggested
Speaker 1: that it might have been a thorn wound picked up
Speaker 1: at some point while he was working out in the forest.
Speaker 1: After the preliminary examination, Dwayne then handed doctor Kendall a
Speaker 1: jar that he claim aimed contained Travis's urine, which William
Speaker 1: Spaulding had advised him to collect. The sample was later
Speaker 1: found to be normal, displaying no evidence of drug use
Speaker 1: or anything else untoward, with the exception that it contained
Speaker 1: no trace of acetone. Had Travis not eaten in the
Speaker 1: last few days, ordinarily, acetone, which is created when fat
Speaker 1: stores are broken down in the body, would be present.
Speaker 1: If Travis had indeed lost ten pounds, an absence of
Speaker 1: acetone would have been deeply unusual. Intriguingly, the doctors also
Speaker 1: noted that the combination of Travis's unmarked body and the
Speaker 1: fact that it was relatively odorless despite apparently not having
Speaker 1: used any soap since his return, seemed to suggest that
Speaker 1: wherever Travis had been for the past five days, it
Speaker 1: wasn't outside in the woods. Sheriff Gillespie having listened to
Speaker 1: it all with quiet patients, thanked the brothers for bringing
Speaker 1: him up to speed, then stood up to leave. Sensing
Speaker 1: the sheriff wasn't entirely convinced by the story, Travis made
Speaker 1: a request. Since his coworkers had taken a polygraph test,
Speaker 1: it only made sense that he should be able to
Speaker 1: take one too. Perhaps then people might believe him. We'll
Speaker 1: be in touch, said the sheriff, before thanking the young
Speaker 1: men again for their time and heading out. The following day, Wednesday,
Speaker 1: November twelfth, Travis and Dwayne were moved into the Sheraton
Speaker 1: Hotel in Scottsdale, courtesy of The National Inquirer. By the
Speaker 1: nineteen seventies, The Inquirer, a notorious and controversial tabloid that
Speaker 1: had previously promoted fascist causes, was enjoying a resurgence as
Speaker 1: the nation's go to paper for all things celebrity and bizarre,
Speaker 1: with a particular interest in apparent altercations with UFOs. Having
Speaker 1: managed to get hold of Coral and Jim Lawrenson before
Speaker 1: Travis's medical examination, the paper struck a deal with both
Speaker 1: Travis and Apro to cover all costs in their efforts
Speaker 1: to prove he was telling the truth. In return, Travis
Speaker 1: gave them exclusive rights to his story. Later that afternoon,
Speaker 1: doctor James Harder of the University California, Berkeley arrived at
Speaker 1: the hotel to conduct a regressive hypnosis session with Travis,
Speaker 1: in which, while apparently under hypnosis, Travis repeated the exact
Speaker 1: same story he told everyone else about his experience on
Speaker 1: board a UFO. Afterwards, Travis is informed by Sheriff Gillespie
Speaker 1: that a polygraph test has been arranged for him in
Speaker 1: two days time, to be conducted by cy Gilson, the
Speaker 1: same individual who tested his coworkers. The test is agreed
Speaker 1: on the one condition that remained a secret from the press. However,
Speaker 1: the test is abruptly canceled at the last minute by
Speaker 1: Dwayne when he receives a call from a reporter an
Speaker 1: hour before the test is due to be taken, wanting
Speaker 1: to know where it's taking place. The next morning, a
Speaker 1: new story breaks in the Phoenix Gazette with the headline
Speaker 1: UFO case is linked to drugs by expert. The expert
Speaker 1: turned out to be none other than doctor Lester Stewart,
Speaker 1: the hypnotherapist that Dwayne and Travis had blown off after
Speaker 1: spending only a few minutes with him at his office
Speaker 1: in the westward Hoe Hotel. Only the way Steward told it,
Speaker 1: it had been more like two hours, in which he
Speaker 1: had ample time to assess the patient. It was his
Speaker 1: conclusion that Travis had made the entire thing up, going
Speaker 1: on to speculate that his cosmic visions had been nothing
Speaker 1: but the hallucinatory effects of LSD. William Spaulding was also
Speaker 1: quoted in the article stating that in fact, it had
Speaker 1: been Dwayne and Travis that specifically asked him to set
Speaker 1: them up with a hypnotherapist. Spaulding, having only days before
Speaker 1: been so convinced of Travis's story he was willing to
Speaker 1: offer them financial support to prove it. Was now convinced
Speaker 1: more than ever that it was all just a hoax.
Speaker 1: Though we can never know for sure whose version of
Speaker 1: events is the truth, it has been pointed out that
Speaker 1: it would have been physically impossible for the Walton brothers
Speaker 1: to have spent even one hour with doctor Stewart and
Speaker 1: got back to Dwayne's home in time to receive the
Speaker 1: later phone call from Coral and Jim Lawrenson that doctor
Speaker 1: Stewart was found not to even have a license to
Speaker 1: practice medicine in the United States also cast further doubt
Speaker 1: on his credibility. The sudden attack, as some have suggested,
Speaker 1: appeared to have been made out of spite more than
Speaker 1: anything else, in retaliation for Travis's rejection of Spauting's help.
Speaker 1: The following week, doctor James Harder released his own assessment
Speaker 1: to Travis on behalf of apro coming to the conclusion that,
Speaker 1: one way or another, whether the events had occurred or
Speaker 1: not as Travis said they had, Harder had little doubt that,
Speaker 1: at the very least, Travis believed he was telling the truth.
Speaker 1: Harder's assessment was made partially from the medical evidence, but
Speaker 1: also on account of another apparent abduction case that had
Speaker 1: supposedly occurred three months previously. The case involving US Air
Speaker 1: Force Sergeant Charles Moody had never previously been reported, and
Speaker 1: yet Moody's description of the beings that he allegedly encountered
Speaker 1: bore a striking similarity to those described by Travis, also
Speaker 1: being five foot tall, with large bald heads, large eyes,
Speaker 1: and unusually lightweight bodies. The National Enquirer would eventually publish
Speaker 1: the story, for which Travis was paid two thousand, five
Speaker 1: hundred U S. Dollars equivalent to twelve thousand dollars today,
Speaker 1: with each of his co workers receiving just over four
Speaker 1: hundred dollars. Over time, the national interest in Travis's story
Speaker 1: began to die down, until eventually the news outlets stopped calling,
Speaker 1: and the colorful array of out of towners and UFO
Speaker 1: buffs headed back to wherever they had come from. By
Speaker 1: the new year, Sheriff Gillespie, still none the wiser, with
Speaker 1: no one to prosecute or charge for Travis's bizarre disappearance,
Speaker 1: closed the case two months later. In February nineteen seventy six, Travis, Dwayne,
Speaker 1: and their mother Mary would all be given polygraph tests
Speaker 1: set up by the Aerial Phenomena Research Group, which concluded
Speaker 1: that all three were telling the truth with regards to
Speaker 1: their own experiences during those extraordinary days in November nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy five. In the months and years that followed, the
Speaker 1: people of Snowflake remained divided, with some convinced it was
Speaker 1: a hoax and others not entirely sure. Being a Mormon settlement,
Speaker 1: many took umbradge to the heresy at the heart of
Speaker 1: Travis's story that the creatures he'd encountered were very much
Speaker 1: not in what they considered to be God's image. Though
Speaker 1: they accepted that God had created other worlds and populated
Speaker 1: them with people, that those people might look a little
Speaker 1: different was a stretch too far for their beliefs. As
Speaker 1: for the rest of the crew, the event appeared to
Speaker 1: affect them in different ways. Kenny Peterson would eventually leave
Speaker 1: the town, making his way to Mexico, where he married
Speaker 1: settled down for a time before returning to Snowflake. Though
Speaker 1: Mike Rogers was stripped of the Turkey Springs contract, he
Speaker 1: was eventually paid in full for the unfinished job and
Speaker 1: continued to work successfully as a contractor. Dwayne Smith and
Speaker 1: Allan Dallas later underwent hypnotic regression, and both maintained their
Speaker 1: original version of events pertaining to the night that Travis disappeared.
Speaker 1: Despite all the many strange looks and subsequent mickey taking
Speaker 1: that came with being part of the story, John Gouleette
Speaker 1: had no regrets, saying later only that he was glad
Speaker 1: to have experienced it. All seven men involved have never
Speaker 1: altered their story once to this day, with Steve Pearce,
Speaker 1: who was suffering from financial hardship at the time, even
Speaker 1: said to have turned down a ten thousand dollar offer
Speaker 1: to retract his story. Travis Walton would eventually settle down
Speaker 1: and marry Mike Rodgers's sister Dana, with the pair taking
Speaker 1: up residents above a local store on Snowflake's main Street.
Speaker 1: In nineteen seventy eight, he published a full account of
Speaker 1: his story in the book The Walton Experience that was
Speaker 1: later adapted into the nineteen ninety three film Fire in
Speaker 1: the Sky. He continues to lecture about his apparent abduction
Speaker 1: to day. In the summer of nineteen seventy six, a
Speaker 1: report was produced by journalist and prominent UFO skeptic Philip
Speaker 1: Klass that purported to provide a detailed forensic analysis of
Speaker 1: Travis Walton's story, demonstrating that it had been entirely fabricated.
Speaker 1: Class's claim hinged largely on new and highly controversial information
Speaker 1: that he'd unearthed during his investigation. As it turned out,
Speaker 1: the polygraph test that Travis eventually took in February nineteen
Speaker 1: seventy six was not the first polygraph test he'd taken
Speaker 1: on the subject of his apparent abduction. In fact, he'd
Speaker 1: sat for one as early as November sixteenth, less than
Speaker 1: a week after his return. Organized by the Aerial Phenomena
Speaker 1: Research Group and witnessed by a representative for the National Inquirer,
Speaker 1: the test was conducted by John McCarthy, the director of
Speaker 1: the Arizona Polygraph Laboratory, who determined on balance that Travis
Speaker 1: was not telling the truth. Both the National Inquirer and
Speaker 1: APRO agreed not to publish the result. It was a
Speaker 1: few nights later. The Deputy Glen Flake was sat in
Speaker 1: the Navajo County Sheriff's office in Holbrook, fielding one call
Speaker 1: after another from news outlets across the world, desperate to
Speaker 1: know more about the forestry workers and the UFO. With
Speaker 1: the phones finally having calmed down, Flake was taking a
Speaker 1: moment of downtime when a burst of static from out
Speaker 1: of the station radio was followed by a flurry of
Speaker 1: excited voices discussing a strange light that was currently hovering
Speaker 1: near the mountains just to the east. Flake listened in
Speaker 1: as the voices two deputies stationed at Pinetop, a town
Speaker 1: just fifty miles to the south, detailed the light and
Speaker 1: how it seemed to just be sitting there in the
Speaker 1: sky and slowly changing from red to white to blue.
Speaker 1: Seconds later, a third voice broke in in excitement, another deputy,
Speaker 1: this time from Saint john Sheriff's station, about forty miles
Speaker 1: to the east. They could see it too, Whatever it was,
Speaker 1: he said, it was no aeroplane. Deputy Flake grabbed his coat,
Speaker 1: stepped out into the freezing cold night, and turned his
Speaker 1: eyes to the east. Well, I'll be damned, he said,
Speaker 1: as they're clearly discernible in the sky. Just above the
Speaker 1: forest sat a small bright light changing slowly from red
Speaker 1: to white to blue. Thank you as ever for listening, unexplained.
Speaker 1: As an av Club Productions podcast created by Richard McLain Smith.
Speaker 1: All other elements of the podcast, including the music, are
Speaker 1: also produced by me Richard McLain Smith, unexplained. The book
Speaker 1: and audiobook is now available to buy worldwide. You can
Speaker 1: purchase from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Waterstones and other bookstores.
Speaker 1: Please subscribe to and rate the show wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts, and feel free to get in touch with
Speaker 1: any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on
Speaker 1: the show. Perhaps you have an explanation or a story
Speaker 1: of your own you'd like to share. You can find
Speaker 1: out more at Unexplained podcast dot com and reaches online
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