ON THIS PAGE:
- Five men were led to believe they witnessed a flying saucer and an abduction on Nov 5, 1975.
- The three surviving witnesses stand by their testimony. Their lives were changed forever - not for the better - and each has his own interpretation of what happened.
- Several marriages took place between the witnesses and their families after the incident.
- Travis Walton and Mike Rogers have never publicly confessed to the hoax, although Mike frequently reminds us he is not a witness to the abduction part of the tale.
One lie, three lives...
It changed my life in a way I'm kinda sorry about. I had to leave here. I can't stand there and have somebody call me a liar... I moved to a place where nobody knew me.
- John Goulette, 2013*
I hated Travis for a long time after this because my whole world was just tore up. People thought we were lying, thought we were crazy... My mom still don’t believe it, she thinks this is all from the devil.
- Steve Pierce, 2013*
My big theory about what it was all about, that it was an intentional display of this mythology of the phoenix... I believe it was done on purpose. Some day we’re gonna find out why.
[The abduction site] is just a special spot for me. I mean, what an experience...
[crying] It's something I haven't gotten over. I wish I could.
- Ken Peterson, 2013*
A few breathless moments observing a "UFO" changed seven young men’s lives forever.
Whatever the reason Mike and Travis (and his brother Duane) hoaxed the others, they could never have guessed at the time that they would become superstars in the UFO community for the rest of their lives. Travis has often said he wishes this hadn't happened to him. When Art Bell (Midnight in the Desert, 2015) asked if the incident had defined his life, he replied: "Yeah it has. Actually, I have to say regrettably."
Everything snowballed from one prank, and it caught up their five innocent crewmates.
Those five men believed they'd seen a UFO and that it had abducted their co-worker. They were under suspicion of murder, and ridiculed afterwards in a small town where residents generally believed it was a hoax. Their families didn't believe them.
They went their separate ways and didn’t reconnect until the 2010s.
Steve Pierce didn't talk about it for 35 years. By his own admission he became a "hobo" with a drinking problem, then a long-haul trucker, had several marriages (even he's lost count), and has had regressive hypnotherapy. He believes alien sightings are actually spirits, and has seen them himself.
In personal correspondence (July 2021-Oct 2022) Steve told me his side of the story. He expressed bitterness that his own theories are laughed at, while the alien abduction story is accepted as the truth. He finally started talking about the incident again (around 2012) in an attempt to put forward his ideas - that the government used mind control to whisk Travis away to Area 51. He has spoken at 7 or 8 UFO conferences in the past decade to tell his version of events, and done a few podcast interviews over the years.
In our conversations he was initially adamant that there was no hoax, although he never believed aliens were involved.
"If I ever had thought Fire in the Sky was a hoax, I never would have made myself known to the Ufology community. I never would have fought so hard to get the truth out there."
We discussed discrepancies in the official story, and Steve made these statements:
"10 years ago when I first came out, I was like, Wow, people actually believe this s--- [alien abduction]. My wife and kid were so fascinated by it, so I jumped on the bandwagon. I never never really believed it happened the way Travis said it happened. I don't believe we went back to the same spot where Travis was zapped. I even told Travis couple times: I don't believe we drove back to the same spot where it happened. He said, You were just 17, you were confused."
"I always knew something wasn't right about that night the night it happened." - Steve Pierce, Aug 2021
Steve also asked me to publish this statement:
"I'm through with Fire in the Sky. I have nothing anymore to do with Mike, Travis, John, and Kenny. I believe Mike and Travis will do anything for money. The fetus** was the last straw."
John Goulette is also a long-haul trucker and sometimes does interviews. As of July 2021 he still believes he saw a flying saucer. His succinct response to the idea it was a hoax: “Wow. What bullshit this is.” (Facebook comment on my page, July 14th, 2021)
In a lengthier exchange with me two weeks later, he could not accept Mike drove along Rim Road to the tower even though he admits they were driving for up to 15 minutes, and he did not even seem to know where the work site and "official" abduction site were.
UPDATE July 2024: Steve Pierce posted on his Facebook that Goulette has died.
Ken Peterson spent the first few years after the incident desperately regretting that he missed the opportunity to be taken along with Travis. At the time of this 2010 interview he’s divorced, living alone in a trailer without the internet or a decent cell phone plan. He finds absurd correlations and signs everywhere, relating not only to Travis’s “abduction” but to his entire life. He spends two or three days a week researching UFOs at the library and has camped out at (what he believes is) the abduction site several times.
Whatever the reason Mike and Travis (and his brother Duane) hoaxed the others, they could never have guessed at the time that they would become superstars in the UFO community for the rest of their lives. Travis has often said he wishes this hadn't happened to him. When Art Bell (Midnight in the Desert, 2015) asked if the incident had defined his life, he replied: "Yeah it has. Actually, I have to say regrettably."
Everything snowballed from one prank, and it caught up their five innocent crewmates.
Those five men believed they'd seen a UFO and that it had abducted their co-worker. They were under suspicion of murder, and ridiculed afterwards in a small town where residents generally believed it was a hoax. Their families didn't believe them.
They went their separate ways and didn’t reconnect until the 2010s.
Steve Pierce didn't talk about it for 35 years. By his own admission he became a "hobo" with a drinking problem, then a long-haul trucker, had several marriages (even he's lost count), and has had regressive hypnotherapy. He believes alien sightings are actually spirits, and has seen them himself.
In personal correspondence (July 2021-Oct 2022) Steve told me his side of the story. He expressed bitterness that his own theories are laughed at, while the alien abduction story is accepted as the truth. He finally started talking about the incident again (around 2012) in an attempt to put forward his ideas - that the government used mind control to whisk Travis away to Area 51. He has spoken at 7 or 8 UFO conferences in the past decade to tell his version of events, and done a few podcast interviews over the years.
In our conversations he was initially adamant that there was no hoax, although he never believed aliens were involved.
"If I ever had thought Fire in the Sky was a hoax, I never would have made myself known to the Ufology community. I never would have fought so hard to get the truth out there."
We discussed discrepancies in the official story, and Steve made these statements:
"10 years ago when I first came out, I was like, Wow, people actually believe this s--- [alien abduction]. My wife and kid were so fascinated by it, so I jumped on the bandwagon. I never never really believed it happened the way Travis said it happened. I don't believe we went back to the same spot where Travis was zapped. I even told Travis couple times: I don't believe we drove back to the same spot where it happened. He said, You were just 17, you were confused."
"I always knew something wasn't right about that night the night it happened." - Steve Pierce, Aug 2021
Steve also asked me to publish this statement:
"I'm through with Fire in the Sky. I have nothing anymore to do with Mike, Travis, John, and Kenny. I believe Mike and Travis will do anything for money. The fetus** was the last straw."
John Goulette is also a long-haul trucker and sometimes does interviews. As of July 2021 he still believes he saw a flying saucer. His succinct response to the idea it was a hoax: “Wow. What bullshit this is.” (Facebook comment on my page, July 14th, 2021)
In a lengthier exchange with me two weeks later, he could not accept Mike drove along Rim Road to the tower even though he admits they were driving for up to 15 minutes, and he did not even seem to know where the work site and "official" abduction site were.
UPDATE July 2024: Steve Pierce posted on his Facebook that Goulette has died.
Ken Peterson spent the first few years after the incident desperately regretting that he missed the opportunity to be taken along with Travis. At the time of this 2010 interview he’s divorced, living alone in a trailer without the internet or a decent cell phone plan. He finds absurd correlations and signs everywhere, relating not only to Travis’s “abduction” but to his entire life. He spends two or three days a week researching UFOs at the library and has camped out at (what he believes is) the abduction site several times.
I do
Several marriages took place between the witnesses and their families after the event:
- Mike Rogers married John Goulette's sister.
- Allen Dalis married another of John's sisters.
- Travis Walton married Mike's sister Dana.
Legacy
On November 5, 1975, thirty faked seconds of wonder and a few minutes of manipulated panic altered the course of these men’s lives. What happens when they find out the truth? Nobody likes to be wrong. Nobody likes to admit they were hoaxed. How much harder it must be for them to admit they were wrong, and hoaxed, and deceived, for 40+ years in an internationally famous case.
How do Travis Walton and Mike Rogers continue to justify what they did to these men? The hoax itself is understandable - young men staging a UFO to win prize money. But they have persisted with the lie through the decades. They've sat in the same interview room, or at the same conference table, as the innocent witnesses and stayed silent about the deception.
Do they have any regrets? Will they ever come clean? Do they value truth?
Or is money the only thing that matters?
Travis seems to have convinced himself - even though his own story is a hoax - that he's doing good in the UFO community by maintaining the fiction:
'There’s a degree of responsibility to try and make something good come of it... if I can direct what’s happened in a way that I can make something good happen in the world, I’m looking for it." - Travis Walton, 2013*
He is the "poster boy" for plausible alien encounters, validating the experiences of others. Lately he's reconsidered the encounter - he claims he was resurrected by the aliens after they accidentally fatally zapped him. Truly a Christ-like figure, with a "rebirth" symbolism that Ken Peterson has run with.
Mike Rogers is working on a new masterpiece: a painting of Christ.
How do Travis Walton and Mike Rogers continue to justify what they did to these men? The hoax itself is understandable - young men staging a UFO to win prize money. But they have persisted with the lie through the decades. They've sat in the same interview room, or at the same conference table, as the innocent witnesses and stayed silent about the deception.
Do they have any regrets? Will they ever come clean? Do they value truth?
Or is money the only thing that matters?
Travis seems to have convinced himself - even though his own story is a hoax - that he's doing good in the UFO community by maintaining the fiction:
'There’s a degree of responsibility to try and make something good come of it... if I can direct what’s happened in a way that I can make something good happen in the world, I’m looking for it." - Travis Walton, 2013*
He is the "poster boy" for plausible alien encounters, validating the experiences of others. Lately he's reconsidered the encounter - he claims he was resurrected by the aliens after they accidentally fatally zapped him. Truly a Christ-like figure, with a "rebirth" symbolism that Ken Peterson has run with.
Mike Rogers is working on a new masterpiece: a painting of Christ.
The trauma of this event has never gone away. Travis Walton, Paranormal Witness, 2012 |
*Travis: The True Story of Travis Walton, released in 2015 with interviews that were filmed in 2013. Emphasis mine.
**In this August 2021 interview, Travis tells the story of a fetus that was allegedly removed by aliens to be raised in a "more nurturing environment."
**In this August 2021 interview, Travis tells the story of a fetus that was allegedly removed by aliens to be raised in a "more nurturing environment."
(c) Charlie Wiser 2021-22
