WEBVTT - Travis Walton 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:03.880 High Strange is released weekly every Thursday, brought to you 0:00:03.920 --> 0:00:07.080 absolutely free, but if you want to bene the whole season, 0:00:07.320 --> 0:00:11.000 it's available right now on Apple Podcasts for all Tenderfoot 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:15.160 Plus subscribers. You'll also get exclusive bonus episodes throughout the season. 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:17.480 For more information, check out the show notes. 0:00:17.960 --> 0:00:23.119 Enjoy the episode. 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:27.800 We were headed home. Worked thirty miles from home, so 0:00:27.840 --> 0:00:30.800 it's a bit of a drive. We loaded up all 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:33.280 our equipment in the back of the truck. 0:00:33.320 --> 0:00:33.560 There. 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:38.720 Everybody's tired, so there was various conversations going on in 0:00:38.760 --> 0:00:42.840 the truck. Two here or too there like that. As 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:46.160 we were jouncing along this little logging trail, I could 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:51.240 see a glow through the trees up ahead. The whole 0:00:51.440 --> 0:00:56.560 clearing there had this really strange glow to it, sort 0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:58.720 of a feel. I don't know, maybe there was some 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:01.160 kind of electrical charge in the air, so I'm just 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:05.760 had a really weird vibe to it. It made things 0:01:05.760 --> 0:01:08.679 you see at work all day look really strange in 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:13.200 this strange glow. We got to a point where we 0:01:13.200 --> 0:01:15.399 were past the thickest part of the growth and we 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:19.679 could see the source of this light boom therewise. It 0:01:19.720 --> 0:01:20.920 was unmistakable. 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:35.560 Welcome to high strange. I traveled to Snowflake, Arizona, to 0:01:35.600 --> 0:01:39.720 meet with a man named Travis Walton. In nineteen seventy five, 0:01:40.040 --> 0:01:42.160 he was working with a logging crew deep in the 0:01:42.160 --> 0:01:45.200 woods outside of town when they encountered a flying saucer. 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:49.360 There were seven witnesses in the truck who all claimed 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:52.520 to have seen the same thing. But the story only 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:57.080 really begins there, because immediately after their alleged UFO sighting, 0:01:57.600 --> 0:02:02.200 Travis Walton would go missing five whole days, while his 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:06.120 coworkers were interrogated by police and under suspicion of murder. 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:08.720 On the night of November. 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:11.320 Fifth, nineteen seventy five, as Travis and his crew were 0:02:11.400 --> 0:02:14.040 driving home, they noticed a bright light in the sky 0:02:14.400 --> 0:02:18.000 that lit up all the surrounding trees, and as they 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:21.919 reached a clearing, the source of this light came into focus. 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:28.720 Boom, there it was. It was just unmistakable. It was 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:34.359 clearly a metallic disk. Nothing between us and it. Some 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:39.560 indistinct glow suddenly becomes this craft hovering there. I yelled 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:42.200 might stop the truck, and as soon as he stopped, 0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:44.320 I threw open the door, thinking this thing would just 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:48.440 take off. It's just a real common thing. You get 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:51.680 a glimpse of a wolf or a mountain lion or something, 0:02:51.680 --> 0:02:54.120 and you try to call the attention of the crew. 0:02:54.400 --> 0:02:57.240 It's gone before they came and turned their head. I 0:02:57.320 --> 0:02:59.280 kind of had that feeling about it, that it would 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:03.120 just be gone. I got close, so I jumped out 0:03:03.160 --> 0:03:08.680 and started towards it. I just acted on impulse. It 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:12.560 definitely alarmed the other guys. They're calling at me to 0:03:12.600 --> 0:03:14.000 get back in the truck. 0:03:15.639 --> 0:03:16.600 Most lying head. 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:19.920 I was just hoping it would take off before I 0:03:19.960 --> 0:03:26.520 got any closer. It was a pale, golden color, metallic. 0:03:27.480 --> 0:03:30.240 It's kind of like when you look at a television screen. 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:33.200 It's a source of light, but at the same time, 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:36.520 the light from the window is reflecting off the screen. 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:41.360 I could see the surrounding trees reflected off the surface 0:03:42.360 --> 0:03:46.360 at the same time it was glowing. Guys were yelling 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:48.240 at me to get back in the truck and swearing 0:03:48.240 --> 0:03:51.000 at me, let's get the hell out of here. I 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:53.880 didn't want to act scared. I was trying to act brave, 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:59.840 but I was terrified. The sound that was making was 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:06.280 very complex mixture of tones. There was a high pitched frequency, 0:04:07.800 --> 0:04:11.320 and there was a low, throbbing, sort of a real 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:16.919 super base note. The frequency there was so wide that 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:19.839 it was kind of like off the range of human hearing. 0:04:20.760 --> 0:04:23.719 The really low notes you sort of felt in your body. 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:29.280 The sound suddenly got louder when it started to move. 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:33.799 When I jumped for cover, I just sort of dove 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:37.720 down and forward behind the log. But what they did 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.279 was it brought me that much closer to the craft, 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:45.640 and now I'm practically underneath it, screaming at me and 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:48.599 swearing at me to get back in the truck. Stood 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:51.640 up to run back to the truck, and as soon 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:55.040 as I did, bam, something hit me, kind of a 0:04:55.080 --> 0:05:00.440 stunning force, electric shock, feeling like getting hit by truck. 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:06.359 They saw me fly through the air and land like 0:05:06.400 --> 0:05:15.400 a dead body. I was almost immediately unconscious. 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:23.360 On November fifth, nineteen seventy five, Travis Walton had an 0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:24.680 experience that would change the. 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:25.719 Course of his life forever. 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:29.920 His six coworkers claimed to have seen Travis struck by 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:33.039 a bluish green beam of light and sent him flying 0:05:33.080 --> 0:05:36.679 twenty feet in the air. Terrified out of their minds, 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:39.920 the men panicked and sped into town for help. At 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:42.479 the time, the six men were convinced that Travis was 0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:44.800 killed by that strange beam of light, and on their 0:05:44.839 --> 0:05:47.560 way into town, pulled off the road to gather their thoughts, 0:05:48.160 --> 0:05:51.080 quickly deciding they needed to go back, but when they 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:54.880 got there, Travis was gone. The men drove to the 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:58.640 sheriff's department to report him missing, only to find out 0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:01.560 they would instantly become suspects in its disappearance. 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:07.000 The encounter took place in the Sitgreaves National Forest in 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:11.520 eastern Arizona, on the edge of the Mogoyan Rim. 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:14.880 They just knocked him backwards through the air, like as 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:16.960 if some sort of an explosion had gone off in 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:17.520 front of him. 0:06:17.880 --> 0:06:18.880 It was that dramatic. 0:06:19.360 --> 0:06:22.720 After seeing travistruck, the other crew members did not want 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:25.560 to investigate anything. They left the area. 0:06:26.440 --> 0:06:29.919 Mike Rogers and the other five witnesses returned only to 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:34.039 find Travis missing. After they told their astounding story to 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:38.560 the police, they came under suspicion of murder and attend 0:06:38.640 --> 0:06:43.160 search for Travis Walton proceeded for three days, dogs and helicopters. 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:46.240 They were unable to find him or any signs of 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:46.960 where he was. 0:06:48.320 --> 0:06:51.520 Travis was missing for five days as people searched the 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:55.279 woods for him. 0:06:55.440 --> 0:07:00.000 Meanwhile, according to Travis, his nightmare was really just beginning. 0:07:04.760 --> 0:07:08.440 But next thing I knew, I was waking up. 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:13.240 What'd you see around you when you woke up? 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:16.640 It was just a light above me, and the ceiling 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:18.840 was so close. I figured that maybe I was in 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:25.720 the hospital. The light wasn't all that bright, but it 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:29.000 hurt my eyes to look at it. Everything else was 0:07:29.040 --> 0:07:32.120 really dark, and this light was above me like that. 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:37.320 I was in a lot of pain. I felt like 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:44.160 something was seriously wrong. I felt mortally wounded. I finally 0:07:44.200 --> 0:07:49.560 did look around. Everything was blurry. I couldn't focus real good. 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:54.040 I could see what I thought were doctors standing over me. 0:07:56.080 --> 0:07:58.640 I assumed they were doctors at first, cause my vision 0:07:58.800 --> 0:08:03.120 was blurry. As soon as I could focus, I could 0:08:03.160 --> 0:08:08.760 see these weren't doctors. Pretty soon my vision cleared and 0:08:08.800 --> 0:08:17.480 I could see the faces of these creatures. They were small, hairless, 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:23.800 huge eyes, and I think that partially explained the dim 0:08:23.880 --> 0:08:32.480 light in there. The large eyes. I was terrified. It 0:08:32.520 --> 0:08:35.720 was straining the limits of my mind to cope with 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:42.800 the situation. That instant jolt of fear made me much 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:48.600 more fully awake I felt mortally wounded. I felt like 0:08:48.640 --> 0:08:57.040 I was dying, and I associated this pain with seeing them. 0:08:57.320 --> 0:09:00.959 I tried to roll away from them, rolled off of 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:05.719 the table. They had some kind of a device on 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:14.880 my chest that fell off. I backed away, screaming, crying. 0:09:19.440 --> 0:09:21.560 They weren't close enough to actually hit, but I was 0:09:21.640 --> 0:09:24.760 making it clear that if they did approach me, that 0:09:24.800 --> 0:09:30.480 I would fight against them. With them, I was thinking 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:35.319 of fighting my way past them because there was a door, 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:38.880 an opening. It looked like escaped to me. It was 0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:42.480 the only way out. I was gonna fight my way 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:48.000 past them and try to escape. I immediately figured I'm 0:09:48.040 --> 0:09:50.480 inside that thing that I saw. You know, that all 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:54.920 came together real fast. Before I could put that little 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:58.719 plan into action, they suddenly stopped turning and went out 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:03.360 the door. That was my chance to escape, find a 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:10.560 way out. I went in the other direction, just a narrow, 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:19.200 cramped hallway. I was having trouble breathing. It hurt to breathe. 0:10:19.760 --> 0:10:24.520 I felt suffocation. I don't know whether that was an 0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:27.840 injury to my chest or lungs or heart or something, 0:10:29.240 --> 0:10:33.000 or if there was something not appropriate for humans in 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:37.000 the interior of that craft. But I was just desperate 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:40.359 to find my way out of it, in a irrational 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:43.280 panic sort of way, thinking I could just find a 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:46.480 way to open a hatch and drop to the ground. 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:49.960 You know, I didn't really have a picture in my 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:53.040 mind of the layout of this craft. I was just 0:10:53.280 --> 0:11:01.440 blindly looking for openings. There was a room. I approached 0:11:01.520 --> 0:11:07.920 some instruments controls of some kind, thinking that they might 0:11:08.400 --> 0:11:12.760 open the door. Fooling with these buttons and levers and 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:19.120 things didn't seem to do anything at all. There was 0:11:19.520 --> 0:11:22.720 panicked and irrational as I was, I still had the 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:25.760 idea that what I was doing could make things a 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:29.640 lot worse. But there was a change in light from 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:32.720 the door I had come through. When I turned and 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:40.160 I saw a man that I immediately concluded was someone 0:11:40.200 --> 0:11:43.800 there to save me from these monsters. Looked like a 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:50.800 human being, but different and unusual ways to I ran 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:55.920 up to him and started screaming about these creatures. He 0:11:55.920 --> 0:12:00.280 didn't really react much to what I was saying. I 0:12:00.320 --> 0:12:02.200 thought maybe he couldn't hear me because he had a 0:12:02.240 --> 0:12:05.600 helmet on. He took me by the arm to lead 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:08.520 me out of there. I was only too willing to go. 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:14.400 Took me out of the craft. There was a ramp 0:12:15.200 --> 0:12:20.720 not stairs going down looked really too steep to be 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:24.760 walking on, but it wasn't slippery at all. It was 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:30.679 much brighter outside. It had been comparatively dark in the 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:35.240 interior of this craft. The whole ceiling lit up with 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:39.560 what looked like sunlight coming through a lot cooler, wasn't 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:43.440 as hot. I tried to look around a little bit. 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:49.200 There was some other disc shaped metallic craft of a 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:54.400 different configuration, more rounded. But mainly I was very concerned 0:12:54.440 --> 0:12:58.679 with where I was being taken, and I had a 0:12:58.720 --> 0:13:03.160 growing anxiety about not getting any response from this guy. 0:13:04.760 --> 0:13:07.400 This room that we were in was huge. It was 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:12.880 real high ceilings and very airy and empty. But he 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:17.000 took me through some doors and down a hallway into 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:21.480 another room, and here were some people dressed like him, 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:27.319 except without the helmets. So I'm thinking, finally, somebody can 0:13:27.360 --> 0:13:31.720 tell me what's going on. So I start begging for answers, 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:37.839 demanding answers. Was still not getting any response, which really 0:13:38.000 --> 0:13:41.000 set off the alarm bells. They were trying to get 0:13:41.000 --> 0:13:43.880 me to lay down on this table there, and I 0:13:43.920 --> 0:13:49.160 started to resist, and so I tried to fight them. 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:54.920 I was still very weak. I was feeling real shaky 0:13:55.000 --> 0:14:00.800 and wounded. They didn't have that much trouble getting me down, 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:05.600 in spite of my adrenaline from a fear, just screaming 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:10.559 and fighting. They seemed much stronger than me, and they 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:14.720 overpowered me and put me on that table and one 0:14:14.760 --> 0:14:18.960 of them put a mask over my face and I 0:14:19.000 --> 0:14:24.040 tried to get it off. Immediately before I could, I 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:24.720 blacked out. 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:35.560 This story sounds absolutely unbelievable, trust me, I know. But 0:14:35.640 --> 0:14:39.040 while Travis Walton was missing for five days, the police 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:43.040 also found this unbelievable. The six men who witnessed Travis 0:14:43.080 --> 0:14:45.560 being struck by the beam from the craft were being 0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:49.560 investigated for murder. Five days feels like a very long 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:51.800 time to keep up a hoax when you're starting to 0:14:51.800 --> 0:14:53.320 face potential murder charges. 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:55.880 Out of the five days Travis was. 0:14:55.920 --> 0:14:59.920 Unaccounted for, he remembers only one hour total and nothing else. 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:04.320 This was a very emotional thing for Travis's family and 0:15:04.600 --> 0:15:09.160 emotional for us. Travis was my best friend and our 0:15:09.200 --> 0:15:12.840 whole lives have been disrupted by this. We wondered if 0:15:12.840 --> 0:15:14.200 we would ever see him again. 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:19.880 Arrangements were made for PSI Gilson, a highly qualified polygraph 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:23.560 examiner to conduct the polygraphs on the six witnesses to 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:28.400 Travis Walton's UNO encounter. Did the utmost care in administering 0:15:28.440 --> 0:15:31.840 these light detected tests was exercise. Because the men were 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:33.520 under suspicion of murder. 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:38.080 Convinced that these men had murdered Travis, the sheriff ordered 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:42.000 Arizona State Police polygraph examiner Psyke Gilson to conduct light 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:43.560 detector tests on the crew members. 0:15:44.640 --> 0:15:49.360 Once the tests got underway, he started changing his mind 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:52.360 very quickly. After he had test at about three of 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:57.080 the six, he seemed to be acting differently. By the 0:15:57.080 --> 0:15:59.560 time he had tested all of us, he seemed to 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:02.920 be able. I talked to him after the test and 0:16:03.040 --> 0:16:07.280 he indicated to me, but apparently. 0:16:06.840 --> 0:16:07.520 He was wrong. 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:14.720 Unofficially, he said that he believed that we had told 0:16:14.760 --> 0:16:19.560 the truth because five of us passed the test. He 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:22.440 wrote in his report that we had told the truth. 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:25.560 That apparently there had been a UFO. 0:16:27.240 --> 0:16:30.200 Five out of the six men passed their polygraphs and 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:33.520 the last was found to be inconclusive. While the Sheriff's 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:36.160 department tried to make sense of their outlanders story and 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:40.600 debated pressing charges, all of a sudden, Travis magically reappeared 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:44.480 around twenty miles away from the original site. 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:49.200 When I woke up, I felt the cold, hard payment 0:16:49.400 --> 0:16:54.680 under me. There was a light above. I just looked 0:16:54.680 --> 0:16:58.280 to see where the light was coming from. Then I 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:03.640 could see this shiny surface, this craft, and it went 0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:09.560 off just as I looked, shot up into the sky. Uh. 0:17:09.600 --> 0:17:12.399 I could see the lights of the town down below. 0:17:14.160 --> 0:17:18.960 Ran down there was a building with some lights on, 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:24.520 and pounded on the door, screaming like a maniac. Nobody came. 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:31.440 Nobody came, So I ran farther into town. I ran 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:36.560 down there and found a row of telephone booths. Made 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:38.760 a collect call to my family. 0:17:57.280 --> 0:18:00.440 On November eleventh, Travis called his brother in law from 0:18:00.440 --> 0:18:01.280 this phone booth. 0:18:03.200 --> 0:18:05.399 When did you first learn that you had been missing 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:05.760 it all? 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:09.200 When my brother picked me up and put me in 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:17.040 the truck, and he literally picked me up. He was 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:20.800 talking about how traumatic it was for my mother, and uh, 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:23.640 he could tell that I thought this was the same night, 0:18:25.280 --> 0:18:28.320 This conscious interval in there was not that long. It 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:32.240 certainly wasn't five days. I didn't know who that five 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:35.520 days had gone by. And he said, try, I must 0:18:35.600 --> 0:18:39.480 fill your face and I had a five day growth 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:46.560 of beard. That was the stunner. I was just so 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:50.760 completely in a state of terror that I I couldn't 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:56.520 even speak. I was just too messed up. When he 0:18:56.640 --> 0:19:02.120 was embracing me, he on to me and took care 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:06.760 of me. I was in terrible shape. 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:11.960 In the five days he was missing, Travis remembers only 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:15.560 two hours and those, he says, were aboard the spacecraft. 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:17.679 Where was he the rest of the time? 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:29.200 When was it that you were maybe first reported missing? 0:19:29.520 --> 0:19:33.160 Immediately they went straight to the sheriff and told him 0:19:33.200 --> 0:19:37.120 what well. They said, one of her crew is missing. 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:40.679 He might be dead, and the sheriff's ears purke of 0:19:40.960 --> 0:19:45.200 oh yeah. The night that they reported it, they did 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:48.199 go back to the site. All three of the lawmen 0:19:49.160 --> 0:19:52.680 went out there with the crew, and the next day 0:19:52.760 --> 0:19:54.560 this massive man hunt. 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:59.679 And attend search for Travis Walton proceeded. For three days, 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:03.639 dogs and helicopters. They were unable to find him or 0:20:03.680 --> 0:20:05.320 any signs of where he was. 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:08.920 The crew had been through five days of attacks of 0:20:09.000 --> 0:20:12.639 being accused of murdering me. They figured this was just 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:16.760 a cover up for a murder, including my brother. He 0:20:16.880 --> 0:20:20.560 definitely thought that they'd killed me and got very aggressive 0:20:20.600 --> 0:20:23.880 with them trying to get him to fess up. They 0:20:23.880 --> 0:20:26.280 figured this was just a cover up. They were going 0:20:26.320 --> 0:20:28.960 to find the body and these guys were gonna hang 0:20:29.040 --> 0:20:35.040 for it. Each crewman was interviewed by a different law 0:20:35.119 --> 0:20:39.879 enforcement officer and they wrote in their report the descriptions, 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:43.600 how do seven people have the same hallucination? 0:20:45.040 --> 0:20:48.440 The six witnesses to Travis Walton's UFO encounter have made 0:20:48.440 --> 0:20:52.560 several statements in the years following, all collectively maintaining their stories. 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:57.320 I found some quotes from each of them. Alan Dallas said, 0:20:57.640 --> 0:21:03.359 we couldn't believe what was happening. Horror was unreal. Kenneth Peterson. 0:21:04.040 --> 0:21:06.600 I saw a bluish light come from the machine and 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:09.679 Travis went flying like he've been touched by a live wire. 0:21:10.680 --> 0:21:13.920 Steve Pierce that ray was the brightest thing I've ever 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:15.680 seen in my whole life. 0:21:15.840 --> 0:21:16.560 Dwayne Smith. 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:20.840 The UFO was smooth and giving off a yellowish orange light. 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:24.840 Mike Rogers in nineteen seventy five said, I've been working 0:21:24.920 --> 0:21:27.080 these woods for over ten years, and this is the 0:21:27.160 --> 0:21:28.719 damnedest thing that's ever happened to me. 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:30.800 Then again in nineteen ninety five. 0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:33.439 I've been working these woods for over thirty years, and 0:21:33.520 --> 0:21:35.560 this is still the damnedest thing that's ever happened to 0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:39.359 me and John Goulette. I know what I saw, and 0:21:39.440 --> 0:21:43.639 it wasn't anything from this earth. Let's take a step 0:21:43.680 --> 0:21:46.400 back here and just look at what we know. Travis 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:49.800 has not changed his story in nearly fifty years, which, 0:21:49.880 --> 0:21:53.159 if he were lying, is at least pretty impressive. I 0:21:53.200 --> 0:21:55.959 feel like if I was part of some elaborate abduction hoax, 0:21:56.320 --> 0:21:58.880 the second the police started framing me for murder, I'd 0:21:58.880 --> 0:21:59.760 probably hang it up. 0:22:00.560 --> 0:22:02.160 Sorry, we're just kidding. He's right here. 0:22:02.720 --> 0:22:06.000 I definitely wouldn't demand for truth serum or a polygraph test. 0:22:06.960 --> 0:22:09.800 Travis also lost over ten pounds during the five days 0:22:09.800 --> 0:22:13.720 he was missing. Objectively, I feel like there's probably three 0:22:13.760 --> 0:22:18.160 potential explanations for all this. A. Travis and the six 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:20.920 other men are lying, and they've kept this gag going 0:22:20.960 --> 0:22:23.919 now for nearly half a century. But for the story 0:22:23.960 --> 0:22:26.479 to be entirely made up, Travis had to have been 0:22:26.520 --> 0:22:31.040 hiding for five days somewhere, intentionally starving himself and not shaving. 0:22:31.680 --> 0:22:34.399 In this scenario, it seems likely that someone else had 0:22:34.440 --> 0:22:37.080 to be involved to pull it off. Everyone in town 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:41.680 was searching for Travis, even his own brother b They 0:22:41.720 --> 0:22:45.560 experienced something else out there, something just as unexplainable, but 0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:47.840 they were all convinced it was a spacecraft when it 0:22:47.880 --> 0:22:51.040 actually wasn't. Maybe it was some sort of natural phenomenon 0:22:51.200 --> 0:22:55.040 and it created this bizarre sensory illusion. But whatever it was, 0:22:55.240 --> 0:22:58.280 it still clearly injured Travis, and maybe from there he 0:22:58.359 --> 0:23:00.679 was in some sort of coma state for days, just 0:23:00.720 --> 0:23:05.280 wandering in the woods somehow not killing himself or see 0:23:05.840 --> 0:23:07.800 it really happens. 0:23:08.240 --> 0:23:10.240 He spent five days on the UFO. 0:23:11.080 --> 0:23:13.280 For all intent and purposes, he spent five days on there. 0:23:13.320 --> 0:23:16.000 He did come in contact with some beings or human like, 0:23:16.080 --> 0:23:18.080 but they weren't human obviously. 0:23:18.200 --> 0:23:21.280 Duane, you know your own brother probably better than anybody else. 0:23:21.640 --> 0:23:22.560 Do you believe the story? 0:23:22.960 --> 0:23:24.760 I've never seen him play a practical joke and as 0:23:24.800 --> 0:23:25.520 adult lie. 0:23:26.760 --> 0:23:29.160 What do you say to those who just say, oh, 0:23:29.200 --> 0:23:29.880 you're friendshit? 0:23:30.720 --> 0:23:35.400 Well, you know, to each his own. People have all 0:23:35.480 --> 0:23:40.240 kinds of theories and beliefs anything in today's world, all 0:23:40.320 --> 0:23:44.720 kinds of contending points of view and theories and stuff. Everything, 0:23:44.800 --> 0:23:50.720 It all comes down to facts and reasoning. Are your 0:23:50.760 --> 0:23:56.720 facts true and complete, and is your reasoning valid. Failure 0:23:56.760 --> 0:24:03.080 to prove is not disproof. I've gotten very abstract in 0:24:03.560 --> 0:24:07.840 how people should evaluate claims. You see it back and 0:24:07.880 --> 0:24:12.840 forth with these political debates. If you have something, lay 0:24:12.880 --> 0:24:16.560 it out there, invite examination. 0:24:18.880 --> 0:24:21.920 It makes complete sense to me how any rational person 0:24:22.160 --> 0:24:26.360 would hesitate to believe Travis Walton's story, And personally, I'll 0:24:26.359 --> 0:24:29.480 tell you I myself was very skeptical throughout the whole 0:24:29.480 --> 0:24:32.560 process up until he finally sat down to tell me 0:24:32.600 --> 0:24:36.040 a story. I don't consider myself an expert in human 0:24:36.040 --> 0:24:38.840 deception by any means, but I have dealt with a 0:24:38.880 --> 0:24:42.879 lot of liars in my time as a podcaster, murder suspects, 0:24:43.000 --> 0:24:46.720 drug dealers, actual murderers, you name it. And there was 0:24:46.760 --> 0:24:50.719 something sincere about Travis. I'm convinced that even if this 0:24:50.800 --> 0:24:55.440 didn't actually happen, at this point, Travis Walton himself still 0:24:55.480 --> 0:24:56.000 believes it. 0:24:56.800 --> 0:24:58.960 I don't know mother Travis Walton selling the truth or not. 0:24:59.000 --> 0:25:02.840 As I stand here totally open minded. The Travis Walton 0:25:02.920 --> 0:25:05.720 cases I understand that had a fair amount of polygraph 0:25:05.800 --> 0:25:09.080 involvement before I was asked who become involved. 0:25:10.119 --> 0:25:14.120 This is Cleve Baxter, an interrogation expert for the CIA. 0:25:14.640 --> 0:25:17.000 Before Travis Walton reappeared. 0:25:17.040 --> 0:25:20.920 After the alleged production, the Arizona Department of Public Safety 0:25:21.000 --> 0:25:23.320 got quite concerned that there may have been foul play 0:25:23.600 --> 0:25:26.359 and that these six individuals on that tree cutting team 0:25:26.840 --> 0:25:29.800 may have committed to crime and were trying to hide 0:25:29.800 --> 0:25:34.200 the crime, perhaps by reporting the UFO abduction. The six 0:25:34.320 --> 0:25:37.080 were tested by cy Gilson of the Arizona Department of 0:25:37.080 --> 0:25:37.800 Public Safety. 0:25:38.160 --> 0:25:41.720 Five of them passed. One of them is inconclusive merely. 0:25:41.440 --> 0:25:43.720 Because of the person's general nervous tension, not because there 0:25:43.760 --> 0:25:46.199 was any failure. In other words, we have three determinations 0:25:46.480 --> 0:25:49.320 in polygraph testing and our opinion they're being truthful. 0:25:49.320 --> 0:25:51.520 In our opinion they're being deceptive or what we don't know. 0:25:54.000 --> 0:25:57.440 There was certain forensic that went on at the site. 0:25:59.560 --> 0:26:04.160 There was there with a Geiger counter. They found evidence 0:26:04.240 --> 0:26:12.040 of elevated radiation. Seven witnesses all passing police light detector tests, 0:26:12.880 --> 0:26:17.639 and every theory to try to explain it away has failed. 0:26:20.160 --> 0:26:21.639 Do you want people to believe you? 0:26:22.240 --> 0:26:24.800 I think it's important for people to understand that this 0:26:24.960 --> 0:26:28.639 is real. You don't want to believe it, fine, have 0:26:28.760 --> 0:26:29.320 it your way. 0:26:29.640 --> 0:26:32.600 Do you realize how unbelievable it could sound to somebody. 0:26:32.640 --> 0:26:36.480 Oh yeah, I understand, you know, from the outside, especially 0:26:36.520 --> 0:26:42.000 somebody who doesn't know about the physical evidence. I understand 0:26:42.000 --> 0:26:44.200 how it can sound to people who don't want to 0:26:44.200 --> 0:26:46.880 believe it. Then I have to look very far to 0:26:46.920 --> 0:26:51.639 find a reason not to. You ever had a political 0:26:51.800 --> 0:26:55.080 argument in the recent years, you can see how people 0:26:55.119 --> 0:27:00.159 can be impervious to facts. How do you know what's true? 0:27:00.760 --> 0:27:06.040 How do you evaluate claims? What's a fair examination of 0:27:06.080 --> 0:27:11.640 the evidence. I really think the entire society would benefit 0:27:11.760 --> 0:27:16.399