Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest
*Travis Walton in reference to himself, on Art Bell podcast Aug 7, 2015
UPDATE Sep 2022: Steve Pierce tells me this UFO event was a hoax, with Gentry lookout tower used as the UFO.
The case
Nov 5th, 1975, Heber, Arizona
On their way home from work in Turkey Springs, seven woodcutters come upon a glowing flying saucer. Travis Walton (22) jumps out of the truck to get a closer look, and is struck down by a powerful blue bolt.
The crew boss, Mike Rogers, drives away in a panic. He and the others return a few minutes later and find no sign of Travis or the UFO.
When a search party also fails to find any trace of Travis, the crew falls under suspicion of murder. They are given lie detector tests, which they pass.
Travis reemerges in the middle of the night with an amazing tale of being aboard the UFO and meeting aliens. He has only two hours of memories, and is shocked to discover he’s been missing for five days.
On their way home from work in Turkey Springs, seven woodcutters come upon a glowing flying saucer. Travis Walton (22) jumps out of the truck to get a closer look, and is struck down by a powerful blue bolt.
The crew boss, Mike Rogers, drives away in a panic. He and the others return a few minutes later and find no sign of Travis or the UFO.
When a search party also fails to find any trace of Travis, the crew falls under suspicion of murder. They are given lie detector tests, which they pass.
Travis reemerges in the middle of the night with an amazing tale of being aboard the UFO and meeting aliens. He has only two hours of memories, and is shocked to discover he’s been missing for five days.
SPOILER ALERT: It didn't happen like this.
SUMMARY of what the evidence (on these pages) indicates:
- Travis Walton had previously talked to his workmates about wanting to meet aliens. He and others including his crew boss Mike Rogers had just watched The UFO Incident (Betty & Barney Hill case).
- Travis and his domineering older brother Duane cooked up a hoax with Mike's help, perhaps in hope of winning the National Enquirer's $100,000 prize for best UFO story of the year.
- That day, Travis and Mike were missing from the work site for several hours. Three of the crew "got stoned" during the lunch break.
- Mike made the crew work 2 hours later than usual - until dark. He drove home a different way, west along Rim Road (as reported initially, and not south per the official story), and stopped when they saw a "UFO" - Gentry Tower, lit up from inside.
- Travis jumped out for a closer look. An accomplice in the tower flashed a blue spotlight beam on him. He fell back on the ground.
- Mike drove off in a fake panic. 15 minutes later he took the crew back to a different spot to "look" for Travis.
- They called in the cops when they got back to Heber, and Mike took the sheriff to what is now the official site, a few hundred yards from the work site. They also visited Travis's mother who was staying in a cabin a few miles away. She was unperturbed by the news her son had been abducted by aliens.
- A five-day manhunt failed to locate Travis, since it never went near the tower where Travis was hiding out.
- The crew was suspected of foul play, but passed polygraphs (taken while Travis was still missing) that asked if they'd harmed him and if they'd seen a UFO. Even Mike, who was in on the hoax, could truthfully answer that he had not harmed Travis and had seen a UFO.
- The accomplice dropped Travis off 5 days later, in Heber near a phone booth, and Duane picked him up.
- Although Travis dismally failed (and covered up) the Enquirer's polygraph a few days later, the magazine gave him and the crew $5000 for the story.
I've written some Twitter threads on this case, if you'd prefer to read my analysis in summary form:
- Response to claims made by Peter Robbins & guests 7/26/21 when they attempted to debunk the Gentry Tower theory.
- Key points from Travis’s appearance on Jimmy Church 7/26/21, where he contradicts Peter Robbins & guests, and attempts to debunk the Gentry Tower theory.
- Investigation of Forest Service watchers in lookout towers and how it relates to Travis’s disappearance.
- The official abduction site is referred to as a clearing, but contemporaneous accounts do not describe a clearing.
- Do skeptics pick and choose which polygraph tests to accept or reject in a case like Travis Walton's? Do believers in his case do the same thing?
- Analysis of Travis’s strange fetus-abduction tale from his 8/8/21 interview.
- Analyzes Travis’s incurious recollections of his UFO abduction, from his 8/8/21 interview.
- Developments in Travis’s story (8/21/21): comments from witnesses Steve Pierce and John Goulette.
- Mike Rogers’ changing story in an Oct 2021 interview.
- The producer told me how his proposed TV show was going to frame Travis's confession.
- Steve Pierce says "It was a hoax."
- Summary of the hoax written on the 48th anniversary.
The stars
Travis Walton - woodcutter, zapped and abducted/resurrected by aliens
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Mike Rogers - crew boss, truck driver (his brother was a high school friend of Travis)
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The crew
(Descriptions from Fire in the Sky, 1996)
Steve Pierce - woodcutter, witness (17 years old, a few weeks on the crew)
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John Goulette - woodcutter, witness (easygoing, Allen's sidekick, ex-Navy)
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Ken Peterson - woodcutter, witness (childhood friend of Mike's; quiet, conventional, a deep thinker)
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Allen Dalis - woodcutter, witness (on the crew since summer, a history of fighting; ex-Navy)
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Dwayne Smith - woodcutter, witness (John's friend from Phoenix, only three days on the crew)
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The bit parts
Duane Walton, older brother of Travis, hatchin' plans and cookin' up plots
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Sheriff Gillespie from Holbrook
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- Mrs Kellet - Duane and Travis's mother
- "Betty" - unknown accomplice
- Philip Klass - skeptic with a standing offer of $10,000 (from 1966-2005) to find ET on Earth
- William Spaulding - UFO investigator from Ground Saucer Watch
Steve Pierce demonstrates the "sneaker toke", Jun 2022
This case is heralded as one of the most credible alien abduction stories in history, largely because (until recently) none of the seven witnesses has ever recanted their statements that they saw a UFO in the forest that day.
What really happened to Travis Walton? (Note: He does not claim to have shared squash recipes with ET.)
For me, the more interesting question is: What really happened to the guys in the truck? Well, it turns out at least some of them got stoned at break time, as Steve Pierce explains in this Jun 2022 interview with Erica Lukes.
But back to the truck...
What really happened to Travis Walton? (Note: He does not claim to have shared squash recipes with ET.)
For me, the more interesting question is: What really happened to the guys in the truck? Well, it turns out at least some of them got stoned at break time, as Steve Pierce explains in this Jun 2022 interview with Erica Lukes.
But back to the truck...
1960s International double cab pickup
If this incident was a hoax, it required the witnesses to be fooled so they would be credible.
These pages show how Travis Walton, along with Mike Rogers and at least one accomplice, perpetrated the hoax on the other five men in the truck.
Mike’s role was key - not only did he have to stop the truck in the right place, and drive off at the right moment; he also manipulated the emotions of the crew, ramping up their fear, so that they’d come to believe they really had seen an incredible UFO zap Travis, then disappear with him without a trace.
So, how did the hoaxers do it?
What was their motivation?
What has been the lasting impact on the innocent witnesses?
Click on the links at the top of each page to navigate to areas of interest.
Thanks to those who have pointed me in the right direction with my research.
Notes:
A few wise words from Travis (p.38):
These pages show how Travis Walton, along with Mike Rogers and at least one accomplice, perpetrated the hoax on the other five men in the truck.
Mike’s role was key - not only did he have to stop the truck in the right place, and drive off at the right moment; he also manipulated the emotions of the crew, ramping up their fear, so that they’d come to believe they really had seen an incredible UFO zap Travis, then disappear with him without a trace.
So, how did the hoaxers do it?
What was their motivation?
What has been the lasting impact on the innocent witnesses?
Click on the links at the top of each page to navigate to areas of interest.
Thanks to those who have pointed me in the right direction with my research.
Notes:
- Unless otherwise stated, “the book” and page numbers refer to Fire in the Sky by Travis Walton (1996). When I cite Walton's first book (The Walton Incident) instead, I've designated it as Walton (1978). The books have mostly identical chapters (with different page numbers) but the revised book has additional material at the front and back.
- Bill Barry's Ultimate Encounter: The True Story of a UFO Kidnapping (1978) is also cited.
- Times and dates from correspondence and social media may not be accurate, as screenshots may have been taken from a different time zone.
- Phone calls made to, from, and between, UFO researches and family friends while Travis was missing (quoted on Three Dollar Kit) are archived here and can also be found on The Walton Experience Facebook page where the first is described as a 1985 (they mean 1975) hoax call to a radio show in order to dismiss some of what the caller says, but he's clearly talking to Gribble from NUFORC, not a radio host.
A few wise words from Travis (p.38):
My six co-workers and I know that the incident did, in all reality, happen. We have our memories to help us accept the truth of our incredible experience. You are not so fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on where you’re sitting). You have only your powers of reason.
Thanks, Travis. I used them.
Read on...
How did a fake UFO fool five guys? Look out!
(c) Charlie Wiser 2021
