ON THIS PAGE:
What interested me about this story from the start was the way it affected the witnesses' lives in the immediate aftermath and for years to come. This event would've been a brief hiccup in their early years if Travis and Mike had told the truth once they had their money. But they kept the secret, the story snowballed, and the witnesses' lives were changed forever.
Steve told me the reason his uncle took him to Gentry Tower two days after Travis disappeared was because his uncle (along with Steve's brothers and other relatives) "always thought it was the tower". His uncle was familiar with the tower and had seen it lit up before (and since). That afternoon, it wasn't lit up and from the ground there appeared to be nobody up there.
- Steve Pierce wrote his version of the events of Nov 5th, 1975, and the subsequent days and years, on his Facebook account in the last two months of 2021 and early 2022. I've reproduced his posts and photos here (with minor editing for clarity).
- I have had many months of personal communication with Steve (email and Facebook Messenger) and have included some relevant details.
- UPDATE: In September 2022, Steve told me the incident was a hoax - I wrote separately about what he told me in this blog post.
- This page was written before September and everything is reproduced with Steve's permission.
What interested me about this story from the start was the way it affected the witnesses' lives in the immediate aftermath and for years to come. This event would've been a brief hiccup in their early years if Travis and Mike had told the truth once they had their money. But they kept the secret, the story snowballed, and the witnesses' lives were changed forever.
Steve told me the reason his uncle took him to Gentry Tower two days after Travis disappeared was because his uncle (along with Steve's brothers and other relatives) "always thought it was the tower". His uncle was familiar with the tower and had seen it lit up before (and since). That afternoon, it wasn't lit up and from the ground there appeared to be nobody up there.
Steve Pierce's Story
All 6 of us saw Travis Walton zapped by some kind of craft. In Travis book, the first 5 days that he was gone didn't happen the way he said it happened. Mike and I never said it didn't happen. We just want the book changed to what really happened the 5 days he was gone. He wasn't there, so he shouldn't tell our story. ...[T]o this day he's never asked me one question about what happened that day. I've seen him at least 10 or 12 times in the past 10 years. We go on stage together [but we] never just sit down and talk, me and him. This is why I stopped doing shows with him cuz in the beginning, 10 years ago, Travis wanted me to follow the book cuz Travis said it was a truth. Eventually I just told Travis bite me. We got into it about a couple other things. Just going to have to read the story and read between the lines. [Dec 22, 2021]
The Eiffel tower has nothing over on the Travis Walton Tower. The Travis Walton Tower is more like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It leans in which ever direction it needs to in order to gain more attention and popularity not to mention money. ....Steve Pierce [Oct 29, 2021]
The Eiffel tower has nothing over on the Travis Walton Tower. The Travis Walton Tower is more like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It leans in which ever direction it needs to in order to gain more attention and popularity not to mention money. ....Steve Pierce [Oct 29, 2021]
Before
I start the story off in September. That's when we actually moved to Snowflake, my mom and my brothers.
It's late September and I'm the new kid in town. I am arguing with my mother. She says I have to either go back to school or get a job. I left the house to get away and went to the local Circle K. I hung out there and after awhile decided to start home.
As I was walking back, I noticed a woman walking towards me from the opposite direction. I recognized her, but had never been formally introduced. I knew nothing about her other than seeing her at the Circle K a few times. As we met up on the road, we stopped for a minute to talk. One thing led to another and she made me an offer I didn't want to refuse. Being the young stud that I was, I found the prospect of being with an older woman fascinating and totally exciting. She led me to the nearby high school, and it was there on the football field, under the goal post, that I was secretly hoping for a touchdown and what a touchdown it was! Afterwards, we went our separate ways.
That October 1975, I started dating an older woman who could buy me beer. I don't know if it was love or lust, but I was dating the best-looking woman on the mountain. My mom was still bitching about me getting a job.
One night my uncle and cousin came to our house in Snowflake to take a shower. You have to remember that they didn't have any electricity and running water out where they lived. While they were there, my cousin was telling me about Mike Rogers and that he needed some help on his crew. Of course they said it in front of mom, and she hired me on right there on the spot.
Since this was the end of October, it was really cold outside and I wasn't too happy, but I went anyway. My mom packed me a lunch everyday and I walked over to Mike's house. We were supposed to get paid on a regular basis, but as it turned out we had to wait a longer period of time. Mike had to get paid from the Forest Commission before we could get paid ourselves. My uncle and cousin didn't like this arrangement and figured they could make better money cutting firewood and taking it down to Mesa to sell, so they quit Mike's crew.
On Halloween day I was off for the weekend and mom said I had to go back to work with Mike come Monday morning. I tried to get mom to let me quit, but she said no. I told her that 3 guys had just quit.
Monday came and she made my lunch and off to Mike's I go. When I got there, Travis and Allen Dalis were fighting behind Mike's house. They were fighting over Dana, or some girl anyway. It was around that time that the song Everyone Was Kung Fu Fighting came out. Allen Dalis thought he could do karate and tried to do a roundhouse on Travis. As he spun around, he hit the ground. Travis is just standing there and I of course am laughing my ass off. Allen gets up and mumbles to me that he is going to kick my ass. For the past week, Allen had had an attitude towards me because I was dating Denise and he liked her. She thought Allen was creepy and wouldn't give him the time of day.
There were new guys on the crew, and that's were I met John and Herman Munster. The day ended up being terrible because Herman didn't know how to do his job. Tuesday came and went, and Wednesday morning rolled around.
It's late September and I'm the new kid in town. I am arguing with my mother. She says I have to either go back to school or get a job. I left the house to get away and went to the local Circle K. I hung out there and after awhile decided to start home.
As I was walking back, I noticed a woman walking towards me from the opposite direction. I recognized her, but had never been formally introduced. I knew nothing about her other than seeing her at the Circle K a few times. As we met up on the road, we stopped for a minute to talk. One thing led to another and she made me an offer I didn't want to refuse. Being the young stud that I was, I found the prospect of being with an older woman fascinating and totally exciting. She led me to the nearby high school, and it was there on the football field, under the goal post, that I was secretly hoping for a touchdown and what a touchdown it was! Afterwards, we went our separate ways.
That October 1975, I started dating an older woman who could buy me beer. I don't know if it was love or lust, but I was dating the best-looking woman on the mountain. My mom was still bitching about me getting a job.
One night my uncle and cousin came to our house in Snowflake to take a shower. You have to remember that they didn't have any electricity and running water out where they lived. While they were there, my cousin was telling me about Mike Rogers and that he needed some help on his crew. Of course they said it in front of mom, and she hired me on right there on the spot.
Since this was the end of October, it was really cold outside and I wasn't too happy, but I went anyway. My mom packed me a lunch everyday and I walked over to Mike's house. We were supposed to get paid on a regular basis, but as it turned out we had to wait a longer period of time. Mike had to get paid from the Forest Commission before we could get paid ourselves. My uncle and cousin didn't like this arrangement and figured they could make better money cutting firewood and taking it down to Mesa to sell, so they quit Mike's crew.
On Halloween day I was off for the weekend and mom said I had to go back to work with Mike come Monday morning. I tried to get mom to let me quit, but she said no. I told her that 3 guys had just quit.
Monday came and she made my lunch and off to Mike's I go. When I got there, Travis and Allen Dalis were fighting behind Mike's house. They were fighting over Dana, or some girl anyway. It was around that time that the song Everyone Was Kung Fu Fighting came out. Allen Dalis thought he could do karate and tried to do a roundhouse on Travis. As he spun around, he hit the ground. Travis is just standing there and I of course am laughing my ass off. Allen gets up and mumbles to me that he is going to kick my ass. For the past week, Allen had had an attitude towards me because I was dating Denise and he liked her. She thought Allen was creepy and wouldn't give him the time of day.
There were new guys on the crew, and that's were I met John and Herman Munster. The day ended up being terrible because Herman didn't know how to do his job. Tuesday came and went, and Wednesday morning rolled around.
The incident
Nov 5, 1975. 46 years ago tonight I saw Travis Walton zapped by some kind of craft. It moves back and forth, it made two different kinds of noise. Through the fear of tears I saw it take off. [Nov 5, 2021]
We all headed to the job site. I always had to smoke a joint to be able to deal with these jerks. That morning I had to use the bathroom and so you just picked a bush. As I am squatting, I feel something on my butt. I'm getting attacked by a swarm of wasps. I took off running. I had one hand trying to swat the wasps away and the other trying to pull my pants up. I came running towards John Goulette and he is just laughing his ass off.
At lunch time, Allen Dalis is still fucking with me. Someone brought up Dana. I looked at Allen and told him that I got her on the football field. I made a touchdown. At this point Mike and John are walking towards us and Allen said that Dana was Mike's sister. This was the day I first found out that Dana and Mike were related. Travis got this look on his face and got all pissed off. He went to the truck and stayed there the rest of the day. This is why Travis went to the truck that day.
Lunch is over, and Allen goes to the pickup to look in the mirror one last time, making sure his hair is still in place. Herman Munster and I start to stack the branches. Travis is in the truck saying that he is sick, but I think he was really pouting.
Mike has disappeared, to where I don't know. When he does return, he has decided that we are working till dark. This is very much out of the norm for us to do. We continue to work till it starts to get dark, so we begin to pack up and get ready to leave.
As we are heading down the log road, we see a light of some kind coming from in between the trees. We weren't sure as to what this light could have been so we speculated that perhaps it was from deer hunters out for hunting season, or it was the moon. John said it wasn't the moon. (It did not look like fire in the sky.)
Mike stopped the truck and Travis gets out. The object was just hovering in place and not moving. Allen tried to dig his way out through the floorboard and I scooted closer to the door. Allen sits back up and we are all watching Travis and the craft. Some were hollering for him to come back to the truck, but I'm not saying a word.
Travis did not approach the craft head-on but rather approached it from the right side. He stopped beside some gathered brush. He bent down, and when he stood back up the craft started to rock back and forth. There was a humming and a beeping coming from the craft. A bluish green light came from the craft and zapped him. Travis hits the ground and I yell, "They got him!" Mike then started the truck and took off like a bat outta hell.
We stopped a ways down the road. We all get out of the truck. As we are getting out, we see it take off. Everyone else is deciding what to do but I am still saying nothing. Herman Munster says he has been disintegrated, and I said he wasn't because I saw him hit the ground. John and Kenny said that we should go back and look for him.
We ALL got our balls back and went back to look for him. When we got back to the supposed site we all got out. (I never believed we went back to the same place.) With me in the middle we walked single-file back to the site. Using the only flashlight we had, we continued through the trees. Herman Munster is behind me. I took ahold of a branch, pulled it back, and let it go. It flies back and hits Herman in the face. This of course starts us at each other again when Mike yelled at us to stop it, that we are looking for Travis.
With no sign of Travis in sight, we get back in the truck and head back to Heber. We stopped at a telephone sub-station that had two phones hanging on the wall. Kenny called the cops but doesn't tell them everything. The police tell us to meet them at a gas station off the highway. Two county Mounties and a city kitty shows up. We explained what happened, and one of the police officers were looking around the truck for anything suspicious. Finally he says that Mike had to go back with 2 others. The rest of us can go home.
Mike, Kenny, and Allen go back to look for Travis, while me, John, and Herman Munster take Mike's truck back to Snowflake. John dropped me off at home and I told my mom what happened. She didn't know what to say. She just looked at me strangely. Of course I got this look because I was the biggest pain in her ass. When everyone goes back to bed I head outside. I roll me a much needed joint and think, What the fuck just happened?
At lunch time, Allen Dalis is still fucking with me. Someone brought up Dana. I looked at Allen and told him that I got her on the football field. I made a touchdown. At this point Mike and John are walking towards us and Allen said that Dana was Mike's sister. This was the day I first found out that Dana and Mike were related. Travis got this look on his face and got all pissed off. He went to the truck and stayed there the rest of the day. This is why Travis went to the truck that day.
Lunch is over, and Allen goes to the pickup to look in the mirror one last time, making sure his hair is still in place. Herman Munster and I start to stack the branches. Travis is in the truck saying that he is sick, but I think he was really pouting.
Mike has disappeared, to where I don't know. When he does return, he has decided that we are working till dark. This is very much out of the norm for us to do. We continue to work till it starts to get dark, so we begin to pack up and get ready to leave.
As we are heading down the log road, we see a light of some kind coming from in between the trees. We weren't sure as to what this light could have been so we speculated that perhaps it was from deer hunters out for hunting season, or it was the moon. John said it wasn't the moon. (It did not look like fire in the sky.)
Mike stopped the truck and Travis gets out. The object was just hovering in place and not moving. Allen tried to dig his way out through the floorboard and I scooted closer to the door. Allen sits back up and we are all watching Travis and the craft. Some were hollering for him to come back to the truck, but I'm not saying a word.
Travis did not approach the craft head-on but rather approached it from the right side. He stopped beside some gathered brush. He bent down, and when he stood back up the craft started to rock back and forth. There was a humming and a beeping coming from the craft. A bluish green light came from the craft and zapped him. Travis hits the ground and I yell, "They got him!" Mike then started the truck and took off like a bat outta hell.
We stopped a ways down the road. We all get out of the truck. As we are getting out, we see it take off. Everyone else is deciding what to do but I am still saying nothing. Herman Munster says he has been disintegrated, and I said he wasn't because I saw him hit the ground. John and Kenny said that we should go back and look for him.
We ALL got our balls back and went back to look for him. When we got back to the supposed site we all got out. (I never believed we went back to the same place.) With me in the middle we walked single-file back to the site. Using the only flashlight we had, we continued through the trees. Herman Munster is behind me. I took ahold of a branch, pulled it back, and let it go. It flies back and hits Herman in the face. This of course starts us at each other again when Mike yelled at us to stop it, that we are looking for Travis.
With no sign of Travis in sight, we get back in the truck and head back to Heber. We stopped at a telephone sub-station that had two phones hanging on the wall. Kenny called the cops but doesn't tell them everything. The police tell us to meet them at a gas station off the highway. Two county Mounties and a city kitty shows up. We explained what happened, and one of the police officers were looking around the truck for anything suspicious. Finally he says that Mike had to go back with 2 others. The rest of us can go home.
Mike, Kenny, and Allen go back to look for Travis, while me, John, and Herman Munster take Mike's truck back to Snowflake. John dropped me off at home and I told my mom what happened. She didn't know what to say. She just looked at me strangely. Of course I got this look because I was the biggest pain in her ass. When everyone goes back to bed I head outside. I roll me a much needed joint and think, What the fuck just happened?
A week of hell
I'm not even 18 and I am already accused of a bank robbery and now murder, but the bank robbery is another story.
November 1975 is the month I learned ladies love Outlaws.
Nov 6, 1975. The next morning I'm laying in bed and I can overhear my mom speaking to the cops from the front porch. The police are telling my mother that they are going out there to look for Travis, although they suspect that he is dead but they don't know which one of us killed him.
I was thinking to myself that my mom is never going to believe anything I say for now on. I grabbed up my boots and out the back door I went. I'm thinking that they will get us out there, find a dead body, and none of us will get away.
I went across the wash to the trailer park. I hung out there all day until my girlfriend came home and then I went over there and explained to her what had happened. By now of course the whole town knows what is going on and my girlfriend was told to stay away from me as I was still a suspect in the disappearance and possible murder of Travis.
I decided to go home, and on the way some people hollered out to me that we had killed Travis. By the time I got home that evening my mom had told me that someone had stopped by and said that Travis hadn't been found and that he was missing. By this time, the news had spread worldwide. People were coming from all over the world.
November 1975 is the month I learned ladies love Outlaws.
Nov 6, 1975. The next morning I'm laying in bed and I can overhear my mom speaking to the cops from the front porch. The police are telling my mother that they are going out there to look for Travis, although they suspect that he is dead but they don't know which one of us killed him.
I was thinking to myself that my mom is never going to believe anything I say for now on. I grabbed up my boots and out the back door I went. I'm thinking that they will get us out there, find a dead body, and none of us will get away.
I went across the wash to the trailer park. I hung out there all day until my girlfriend came home and then I went over there and explained to her what had happened. By now of course the whole town knows what is going on and my girlfriend was told to stay away from me as I was still a suspect in the disappearance and possible murder of Travis.
I decided to go home, and on the way some people hollered out to me that we had killed Travis. By the time I got home that evening my mom had told me that someone had stopped by and said that Travis hadn't been found and that he was missing. By this time, the news had spread worldwide. People were coming from all over the world.
Nov 7 1975. I have had nightmares all night. Seeing this craft zap Travis. I finally doze off and get a little bit of sleep. When I finally do get up there are news reporters at the door trying to get my picture. People have come from all over the world. Every motel in the area is filled to capacity.
It's Friday morning and the entire town, even my family, thinks I am involved in a murder. Since it's the weekend and everyone is off of work, it seemed as if the whole world had come to town. I had never seen it so busy and I am pretty sure the Circle K made more money that weekend than they ever had. It didn't matter where I went that weekend, I ran into someone who treated me with malice. They already had me guilty before I was even proven guilty.
My uncle came by later that morning. He took up the responsibility in looking after us boys after my father passed away. We went for a ride and I took him back to the site. On the way there I told him exactly what happened. He just listened and didn't say much. I'm not sure if he believed it or not. I think he was more concerned with there being a murder charge.
Eventually we ended up by the forest ranger lookout tower [Gentry Tower]. We looked around the area and didn't find anything out of the ordinary. It never occurred to us to look up into the tower, but since there wasn't anyone around we really couldn't just go on up there.
We stayed a while longer and it was starting to get dark. I told him I wanted to leave before it really got dark, and he just kind of chuckled. We started back to the house. He dropped me off at the house because I was supposed to meet my girlfriend later on that evening. I went on over there and sat in her car waiting for her and her mother to get home.
There were some headlights that were approaching so I leaned down on the seat so they couldn't see me. I overheard my girlfriend's mother tell her that she needed to stay away from me because everyone thought that we had killed Travis. I waited till they got into the house and then I went and knocked on the door. She let me in, and her mother was really polite considering the situation and she went on into the other room. I looked at my girlfriend and I noticed there just happened to be a certain sparkle in her eyes that I had never seen before. That's when I realized she was loving this outlaw badness.
Three hours later, I ran into Allen Dalis at the Circle K. The Circle K was the hotspot . He was telling me that the National Enquirer was at the hotel and they wanted to talk with me. As we were talking, some people drove by singing a song: "Travis Walton, Travis Walton, Ufo Ufo, where did Travis Walton go?" Allen and I just looked at each other.
I eventually walked over to the hotel. When I got there, the staff from the Enquirer wanted me to sign some documents that I would keep quiet and not talk about the incident. I told him, Well hell, everyone already knows about it. I told him I wasn't going to sell out this easy, so I left and went home. I snuck in the back way, of course. I was worn out anyway. That night the nightmares returned.
Nov 8 1975. It's a Saturday morning and I'm still laying in bed. The last 2 yrs since my dad passed away I have been the new kid in town in 4 different towns in 2 different states. Seemed like every time we moved, things got just a little bit worse. I don't think my mom really believed me because she kept telling me I needed to find the Lord. She said I needed to get on my knees and repent.
The Circle K is just down from my house and I decided to walk on down there. As I am walking, the city kitty of the town, Officer Flake, passed me on the road. He turned the car around so he could speak to me out of the driver's side window. Let me tell you about this town. Snowflake got its name from two men named Erastus Snow and William Jordan Flake. They were Mormons sent down from a state called Deseret, which is now modern-day Utah. There were a few officers, a lawyer, and a few others with the last name of Flake. They thought they ran the town because of their relations from their ancestral history to those that claimed the land.
For some reason, Officer Flake was convinced that Allen was the one who committed the murder and was confused as to why the rest of us would cover it up. I told him that that wasn't what happened, and that what I had been saying all along was the truth. Officer Flake said to me, "We know you didn't kill Travis but we know you know who did." He told me that in the state of Arizona you don't need to have a body to be convicted of murder, and "you're just as guilty as they are cuz you knew about it, so you might as well tell me what really happened. You should just tell me the truth of what really happened before you take that polygraph test."
That was the first time that I had ever heard of the polygraph test. He tried to bust me for one thing and another all the way to Valentine's Day.
I told him, "I'm telling you what I saw that's true." He looked at me and said, "Give me a call if you change your mind," He drove away. As he is driving away, I'm scratching my head thinking, What the hell is a polygraph test? Travis is missing and County Mounties going to give me a test.
I'm still dazed and confused as to what is really happening. Up until now I have never heard of a polygraph test. I finally located Allen on the other side of town. I still at this point didn't really know any of the crew members except Allen. When I approached him, he was surrounded by a group of people. This was the first time I had encountered Travis Walton's family.
I pulled Allen to the side and I asked him what a polygraph test was. He told me that it was a test to determine if you are lying or not. He further explained that they hook you up to wires and a machine that registers your answers. I told him that there was no way I was doing this. As we continued to stand there and talk, a swarm of vans pulled up and surrounded us. It was several news crews looking for the story. Allen and Travis's brother nearly broke their necks running over people trying to get in front of the camera. I found my opportune moment to slip away undetected, so being the in-and-out guy that I am I take off. Finding myself alone, I once again light a joint and wonder what the hell am I going to do now?
That night I try to get some sleep but the nightmares just keep coming back and back.
Nov 9 1975. The pandemonium is starting to gather speed and I am trying very hard to stay away from everyone. When I arrived home that evening, my mom informed me that the police had once again come to the house. She told me that we had to be in Holbrook in the morning to take the polygraph test. Since I was a minor, a parent had to accompany me to the courthouse. The rest of the evening she kept a diligent eye on me. I think she was afraid that I would try and bolt.
Later on that evening I got to really thinking about what Allen's mother said and it really had me worried. She said that this was going to be a set-up and it would make us all look guilty. Of course my mother was still standing by her convictions that I really needed to find Jesus. Well, one thing I can say is that I may not have known where to look for Jesus, so I was really hoping He would find me. I guess you could safely say that we needed some divine intervention.
Nov 10 1975. The last five days my mom has been really adamant about me finding God and getting right, but then again, she has been telling me this for the last 17 yrs. As we were leaving Snowflake to go to Holbrook, I wondered why the town seemed deserted. Well I got my answer when we got into Holbrook. Everyone from miles around was there at the courthouse.
My mom was the only one allowed into the courtroom with the rest of us because I was a minor. I have tried to tell Travis this for the last 35 yrs, but of course he never believed me till Paranormal Witness came out. After the day had come to a close, and from how they treated me, I have never looked at law enforcement the same again.
Nov 10, 1975. 46 years ago today was the most scariest day of my life. [Nov 10, 2021]
The morning of the polygraph test, I got up and looked out the window. To my surprise there wasn't anyone about. Mom and I got dressed and started on our way. We were quiet the entire trip. We never said a word to each other. I guess we were both lost in our own thoughts. The last five days my mom has been really adamant about me finding God and getting right, but then again, she has been telling me this for the last 17 yrs.
As we were leaving Snowflake to go to Holbrook I wondered why the town seemed deserted. Well I got my answer when we got into Holbrook. Everyone from miles around was there at the courthouse.
When we finally arrived in Holbrook, we made our way to the courthouse. The scene was overwhelming as there were people coming from every direction and every which way.
The crew and I were let into the courthouse along with the polygraph examiner, the police and my mother. No one else from the outside was allowed to go in. My mom was the only one allowed into the courtroom with the rest of us because I was a minor. I have tried to tell Travis this for the last 35 yrs, but of course he never believed me till Paranormal Witness came out.
The polygraph examiner began to explain to us the format on how the test would be administered. This brought some ill-refuted responses as we were uneasy as to the questions they were going to ask. As the ensuing argument begins to escalate, I am once again staying quiet and minding myself.
As the examiner prepares to begin the test, they walk up to me and say they will take the quiet one first. (We did not draw straws like it says in Travis's book.) I guess they decided, since I was the quietest and the youngest, they would start with me in the hopes that I would give in under pressure. I am led to the examiner's room and needless to say I am scared to death.
They began to hook me up to the wires and connect me to the polygraph register. The test took about 2 hours and they kept asking me the same questions over and over. When the test was finally concluded they took me out back to a fenced-in area where the prisoners had their recreation time. Every 2 hrs another crew member appeared till we were all there.
Mike asked about the results and we were told that we all passed except for Allen. Apparently he had refused to take the test. The sheriff was completely stunned that we had all passed. He already had it in his mind that we would flunk and that we were guilty, and he had no choice but to let us go. On the way back home I said to my mom: "I told you we didn't kill him."
After the day had come to a close, and from how they treated me, I have never looked at law enforcement the same again.
Nov 11, 1975. I had been watching the news the following evening to see what would be said about the polygraph test. At this point, there was still no word on Travis.
Just happened to be that this evening as I was watching the news, they had announced that the ship the Edmund Fitzgerald had sank. To my surprise, it happened to sink on the very day that we took the polygraph test. About a year later the song The Edmund Fitzgerald came out. It totally blew my mind. It put me in a place that I didn't want to be. The nightmares returned and it brought to mind the torment that I had went through. The Edmund Fitzgerald was 17 yrs old on the day it sunk. I was 17 the day I took the polygraph test. What a coincidence.
It's Friday morning and the entire town, even my family, thinks I am involved in a murder. Since it's the weekend and everyone is off of work, it seemed as if the whole world had come to town. I had never seen it so busy and I am pretty sure the Circle K made more money that weekend than they ever had. It didn't matter where I went that weekend, I ran into someone who treated me with malice. They already had me guilty before I was even proven guilty.
My uncle came by later that morning. He took up the responsibility in looking after us boys after my father passed away. We went for a ride and I took him back to the site. On the way there I told him exactly what happened. He just listened and didn't say much. I'm not sure if he believed it or not. I think he was more concerned with there being a murder charge.
Eventually we ended up by the forest ranger lookout tower [Gentry Tower]. We looked around the area and didn't find anything out of the ordinary. It never occurred to us to look up into the tower, but since there wasn't anyone around we really couldn't just go on up there.
We stayed a while longer and it was starting to get dark. I told him I wanted to leave before it really got dark, and he just kind of chuckled. We started back to the house. He dropped me off at the house because I was supposed to meet my girlfriend later on that evening. I went on over there and sat in her car waiting for her and her mother to get home.
There were some headlights that were approaching so I leaned down on the seat so they couldn't see me. I overheard my girlfriend's mother tell her that she needed to stay away from me because everyone thought that we had killed Travis. I waited till they got into the house and then I went and knocked on the door. She let me in, and her mother was really polite considering the situation and she went on into the other room. I looked at my girlfriend and I noticed there just happened to be a certain sparkle in her eyes that I had never seen before. That's when I realized she was loving this outlaw badness.
Three hours later, I ran into Allen Dalis at the Circle K. The Circle K was the hotspot . He was telling me that the National Enquirer was at the hotel and they wanted to talk with me. As we were talking, some people drove by singing a song: "Travis Walton, Travis Walton, Ufo Ufo, where did Travis Walton go?" Allen and I just looked at each other.
I eventually walked over to the hotel. When I got there, the staff from the Enquirer wanted me to sign some documents that I would keep quiet and not talk about the incident. I told him, Well hell, everyone already knows about it. I told him I wasn't going to sell out this easy, so I left and went home. I snuck in the back way, of course. I was worn out anyway. That night the nightmares returned.
Nov 8 1975. It's a Saturday morning and I'm still laying in bed. The last 2 yrs since my dad passed away I have been the new kid in town in 4 different towns in 2 different states. Seemed like every time we moved, things got just a little bit worse. I don't think my mom really believed me because she kept telling me I needed to find the Lord. She said I needed to get on my knees and repent.
The Circle K is just down from my house and I decided to walk on down there. As I am walking, the city kitty of the town, Officer Flake, passed me on the road. He turned the car around so he could speak to me out of the driver's side window. Let me tell you about this town. Snowflake got its name from two men named Erastus Snow and William Jordan Flake. They were Mormons sent down from a state called Deseret, which is now modern-day Utah. There were a few officers, a lawyer, and a few others with the last name of Flake. They thought they ran the town because of their relations from their ancestral history to those that claimed the land.
For some reason, Officer Flake was convinced that Allen was the one who committed the murder and was confused as to why the rest of us would cover it up. I told him that that wasn't what happened, and that what I had been saying all along was the truth. Officer Flake said to me, "We know you didn't kill Travis but we know you know who did." He told me that in the state of Arizona you don't need to have a body to be convicted of murder, and "you're just as guilty as they are cuz you knew about it, so you might as well tell me what really happened. You should just tell me the truth of what really happened before you take that polygraph test."
That was the first time that I had ever heard of the polygraph test. He tried to bust me for one thing and another all the way to Valentine's Day.
I told him, "I'm telling you what I saw that's true." He looked at me and said, "Give me a call if you change your mind," He drove away. As he is driving away, I'm scratching my head thinking, What the hell is a polygraph test? Travis is missing and County Mounties going to give me a test.
I'm still dazed and confused as to what is really happening. Up until now I have never heard of a polygraph test. I finally located Allen on the other side of town. I still at this point didn't really know any of the crew members except Allen. When I approached him, he was surrounded by a group of people. This was the first time I had encountered Travis Walton's family.
I pulled Allen to the side and I asked him what a polygraph test was. He told me that it was a test to determine if you are lying or not. He further explained that they hook you up to wires and a machine that registers your answers. I told him that there was no way I was doing this. As we continued to stand there and talk, a swarm of vans pulled up and surrounded us. It was several news crews looking for the story. Allen and Travis's brother nearly broke their necks running over people trying to get in front of the camera. I found my opportune moment to slip away undetected, so being the in-and-out guy that I am I take off. Finding myself alone, I once again light a joint and wonder what the hell am I going to do now?
That night I try to get some sleep but the nightmares just keep coming back and back.
Nov 9 1975. The pandemonium is starting to gather speed and I am trying very hard to stay away from everyone. When I arrived home that evening, my mom informed me that the police had once again come to the house. She told me that we had to be in Holbrook in the morning to take the polygraph test. Since I was a minor, a parent had to accompany me to the courthouse. The rest of the evening she kept a diligent eye on me. I think she was afraid that I would try and bolt.
Later on that evening I got to really thinking about what Allen's mother said and it really had me worried. She said that this was going to be a set-up and it would make us all look guilty. Of course my mother was still standing by her convictions that I really needed to find Jesus. Well, one thing I can say is that I may not have known where to look for Jesus, so I was really hoping He would find me. I guess you could safely say that we needed some divine intervention.
Nov 10 1975. The last five days my mom has been really adamant about me finding God and getting right, but then again, she has been telling me this for the last 17 yrs. As we were leaving Snowflake to go to Holbrook, I wondered why the town seemed deserted. Well I got my answer when we got into Holbrook. Everyone from miles around was there at the courthouse.
My mom was the only one allowed into the courtroom with the rest of us because I was a minor. I have tried to tell Travis this for the last 35 yrs, but of course he never believed me till Paranormal Witness came out. After the day had come to a close, and from how they treated me, I have never looked at law enforcement the same again.
Nov 10, 1975. 46 years ago today was the most scariest day of my life. [Nov 10, 2021]
The morning of the polygraph test, I got up and looked out the window. To my surprise there wasn't anyone about. Mom and I got dressed and started on our way. We were quiet the entire trip. We never said a word to each other. I guess we were both lost in our own thoughts. The last five days my mom has been really adamant about me finding God and getting right, but then again, she has been telling me this for the last 17 yrs.
As we were leaving Snowflake to go to Holbrook I wondered why the town seemed deserted. Well I got my answer when we got into Holbrook. Everyone from miles around was there at the courthouse.
When we finally arrived in Holbrook, we made our way to the courthouse. The scene was overwhelming as there were people coming from every direction and every which way.
The crew and I were let into the courthouse along with the polygraph examiner, the police and my mother. No one else from the outside was allowed to go in. My mom was the only one allowed into the courtroom with the rest of us because I was a minor. I have tried to tell Travis this for the last 35 yrs, but of course he never believed me till Paranormal Witness came out.
The polygraph examiner began to explain to us the format on how the test would be administered. This brought some ill-refuted responses as we were uneasy as to the questions they were going to ask. As the ensuing argument begins to escalate, I am once again staying quiet and minding myself.
As the examiner prepares to begin the test, they walk up to me and say they will take the quiet one first. (We did not draw straws like it says in Travis's book.) I guess they decided, since I was the quietest and the youngest, they would start with me in the hopes that I would give in under pressure. I am led to the examiner's room and needless to say I am scared to death.
They began to hook me up to the wires and connect me to the polygraph register. The test took about 2 hours and they kept asking me the same questions over and over. When the test was finally concluded they took me out back to a fenced-in area where the prisoners had their recreation time. Every 2 hrs another crew member appeared till we were all there.
Mike asked about the results and we were told that we all passed except for Allen. Apparently he had refused to take the test. The sheriff was completely stunned that we had all passed. He already had it in his mind that we would flunk and that we were guilty, and he had no choice but to let us go. On the way back home I said to my mom: "I told you we didn't kill him."
After the day had come to a close, and from how they treated me, I have never looked at law enforcement the same again.
Nov 11, 1975. I had been watching the news the following evening to see what would be said about the polygraph test. At this point, there was still no word on Travis.
Just happened to be that this evening as I was watching the news, they had announced that the ship the Edmund Fitzgerald had sank. To my surprise, it happened to sink on the very day that we took the polygraph test. About a year later the song The Edmund Fitzgerald came out. It totally blew my mind. It put me in a place that I didn't want to be. The nightmares returned and it brought to mind the torment that I had went through. The Edmund Fitzgerald was 17 yrs old on the day it sunk. I was 17 the day I took the polygraph test. What a coincidence.
I found out on the evening of the 11th that Travis was back. Since Travis was back, the show was over and everyone returned home. The town looked completely deserted.
The aftermath
After his return, I mostly kept to myself. That following Valentine's Day I got married. Before the ceremony, I had gotten a side job to earn the money to buy a wedding band. I had taken a job cutting down trees and hauling them away for later to be cut as firewood. When I returned from taking the trees off, there was Mike Rogers talking to the guy that I was working for. Mike underbid me for the job, and it was taken away from me and given to Mike. Naturally I was pissed. He had never paid me for working for him in the beginning and now he has taken a job away.
Before you can be married in Catholic Church you have to be counseled by the priest. He wanted to talk to me and so I met with him. I'm not sure what it was that I actually said (and really there is no telling) but he told me I didn't have to come back and that he would marry us anyway. He crossed me and I left. We got married in the Catholic Church and it was packed. Everyone was there, but 6 people who were not invited. The tux that I was wearing made me look like Eric from the 70s show. Lol
I got married and we moved to Taylor. The road we lived on had visibility as to who was coming and going up and down the road. My wife at the time saw Officer Jim Click coming down the road towards the house. She asks me what I had done this time. To my knowledge nothing, but then again I'm someone could think up something.
He came up to the door and told me that Philip Klass had gotten ahold of him, and said that he would give me 10,000 dollars if I admitted that Travis's disappearance was all a hoax. At the time I had no idea who Philip Klass was. [This "bribe" was a misunderstanding, as Klass made no such offer - see Robert Sheaffer's article.]
On July 6 1976, I was in the hospital with my wife in Snowflake. She was having a baby. The National Star magazine was hunting me down. They showed up at the hospital and had surrounded me on both sides, so I couldn't get away from either side. They were asking me questions about the disappearance and about Travis. I told them that Travis was the kind of person that when he showed up at a party, everyone else left.
When the magazine came out, there were 2 pictures that were featured, one of Mike and one of me alone. Thirty five years later, on 11/11/11, I haven't seen Travis in 35 yrs. Travis and I did a conference together and this was the first time he had seen the results of the polygraph test. I had also taken the magazine along as well. In the magazine itself, when you opened it up it became one huge page.
Travis and I were staying at a friend of David's. Someone at the house had taken the magazine from me and fixed the back of it to become a poster. I put it in my room when it was finished, and when it was time to leave, it was missing. I confronted Travis about it and he admitted taking it. He said he would trade me a book for the poster. I was thinking that the book was a lie so why would I want it? He never did give me the poster back.
Aug 17, 1977. A day I remember very well. I move back to Texas where I was born in Fort Worth. I had a good job. Things were looking good for now. I was at the swimming pool where I lived. My wife hollered out the door, "Telephone!" So I started walking back to my apartment. As I was walking back, somebody at the pool had the stereo on. The news came on and said that Elvis Presley had passed away.
I'm back in [Fort Worth] Texas working at a place called Texas Steel. My uncle had gotten me the job there I worked in the furnace as a ladle fixer. It was hot work, but the hotter it was the more money you made. By this time I pretty much just quit talking about what happened. People just looked at me weird or just didn't speak to me at all. Most of my family thought I was a plain-out liar. To this day some still believe I am lying, or being tricked into believing something that really wasn't there. My uncle was the only one that believed in me and we weren't even blood-related.
I was making really good money and got me a 48 Ford pickup truck. It didn't have a motor in it. I got me a Chevy motor, a 327. I changed the motor mounts in the pickup and slid it in.
Well, Philip Klass called me one day. It took me years to figure out how he found me, but he offered me 10,000 dollars to say it was a hoax. He wants me to confess that it never happened. My exact words to him were: "If I say this was a hoax, how do we prove it?" He told me I needed to go back to Arizona. I asked him what I would be looking for. He said some kind of generator. I told him that it would have to be a big-ass generator. I told him I would think about it.
A few years have passed and he is still contacting me at least once a month. He was a really nice guy till he mentioned Travis. You have to remember this is the 70s and there wasn't any internet. I always thought he was a newspaper reporter. I didn't know who he was till 2011 when I became involved with Fire in the Sky.
I was really thinking about taking the money. I guess I really wanted to piss in Mike and Travis's Wheaties after what Mike had done to me.
My wife at the time took the car and the kids and went back to Snowflake. While she was gone, Philip Klass called me again, and by this time I was already feeling pretty low. So I got my old Ford took off to Snowflake. I had a friend that lived in Utah that wanted me to come up there and work. So when I got to Snowflake, my truck broke down, I left my pick up at my grandpa's house so we took the station wagon and went to Utah. While we were in Utah, a man had called me and wanted to talk to me about something that happened in Arizona. I'm not sure if it was Philip Klass but I suspected that it was.
***
The wife I was married to at the time asked me if I believed what really happened. I said yes, and she said not to sell myself out just for money like Travis and Mike have. This man knows exactly where I worked, where I lived, and said there is a Denny's down the road from there, let's meet.
Before you can be married in Catholic Church you have to be counseled by the priest. He wanted to talk to me and so I met with him. I'm not sure what it was that I actually said (and really there is no telling) but he told me I didn't have to come back and that he would marry us anyway. He crossed me and I left. We got married in the Catholic Church and it was packed. Everyone was there, but 6 people who were not invited. The tux that I was wearing made me look like Eric from the 70s show. Lol
I got married and we moved to Taylor. The road we lived on had visibility as to who was coming and going up and down the road. My wife at the time saw Officer Jim Click coming down the road towards the house. She asks me what I had done this time. To my knowledge nothing, but then again I'm someone could think up something.
He came up to the door and told me that Philip Klass had gotten ahold of him, and said that he would give me 10,000 dollars if I admitted that Travis's disappearance was all a hoax. At the time I had no idea who Philip Klass was. [This "bribe" was a misunderstanding, as Klass made no such offer - see Robert Sheaffer's article.]
On July 6 1976, I was in the hospital with my wife in Snowflake. She was having a baby. The National Star magazine was hunting me down. They showed up at the hospital and had surrounded me on both sides, so I couldn't get away from either side. They were asking me questions about the disappearance and about Travis. I told them that Travis was the kind of person that when he showed up at a party, everyone else left.
When the magazine came out, there were 2 pictures that were featured, one of Mike and one of me alone. Thirty five years later, on 11/11/11, I haven't seen Travis in 35 yrs. Travis and I did a conference together and this was the first time he had seen the results of the polygraph test. I had also taken the magazine along as well. In the magazine itself, when you opened it up it became one huge page.
Travis and I were staying at a friend of David's. Someone at the house had taken the magazine from me and fixed the back of it to become a poster. I put it in my room when it was finished, and when it was time to leave, it was missing. I confronted Travis about it and he admitted taking it. He said he would trade me a book for the poster. I was thinking that the book was a lie so why would I want it? He never did give me the poster back.
Aug 17, 1977. A day I remember very well. I move back to Texas where I was born in Fort Worth. I had a good job. Things were looking good for now. I was at the swimming pool where I lived. My wife hollered out the door, "Telephone!" So I started walking back to my apartment. As I was walking back, somebody at the pool had the stereo on. The news came on and said that Elvis Presley had passed away.
I'm back in [Fort Worth] Texas working at a place called Texas Steel. My uncle had gotten me the job there I worked in the furnace as a ladle fixer. It was hot work, but the hotter it was the more money you made. By this time I pretty much just quit talking about what happened. People just looked at me weird or just didn't speak to me at all. Most of my family thought I was a plain-out liar. To this day some still believe I am lying, or being tricked into believing something that really wasn't there. My uncle was the only one that believed in me and we weren't even blood-related.
I was making really good money and got me a 48 Ford pickup truck. It didn't have a motor in it. I got me a Chevy motor, a 327. I changed the motor mounts in the pickup and slid it in.
Well, Philip Klass called me one day. It took me years to figure out how he found me, but he offered me 10,000 dollars to say it was a hoax. He wants me to confess that it never happened. My exact words to him were: "If I say this was a hoax, how do we prove it?" He told me I needed to go back to Arizona. I asked him what I would be looking for. He said some kind of generator. I told him that it would have to be a big-ass generator. I told him I would think about it.
A few years have passed and he is still contacting me at least once a month. He was a really nice guy till he mentioned Travis. You have to remember this is the 70s and there wasn't any internet. I always thought he was a newspaper reporter. I didn't know who he was till 2011 when I became involved with Fire in the Sky.
I was really thinking about taking the money. I guess I really wanted to piss in Mike and Travis's Wheaties after what Mike had done to me.
My wife at the time took the car and the kids and went back to Snowflake. While she was gone, Philip Klass called me again, and by this time I was already feeling pretty low. So I got my old Ford took off to Snowflake. I had a friend that lived in Utah that wanted me to come up there and work. So when I got to Snowflake, my truck broke down, I left my pick up at my grandpa's house so we took the station wagon and went to Utah. While we were in Utah, a man had called me and wanted to talk to me about something that happened in Arizona. I'm not sure if it was Philip Klass but I suspected that it was.
***
The wife I was married to at the time asked me if I believed what really happened. I said yes, and she said not to sell myself out just for money like Travis and Mike have. This man knows exactly where I worked, where I lived, and said there is a Denny's down the road from there, let's meet.
Today
In the past few months since the tower has come into play, I have done a lot of investigating, and have listened to a lot of interviews, especially Mike Rogers. A lot of things he said didn't make much sense till now. I know exactly what happened that night, and I know where Travis was the 5 days he was gone.
As far as Charlie goes and the tower, the forest department would have to be involved in her theory. I don't even like Travis. Do you think I would stick up for him if this really didn't happen. I proved his book wrong. This is a new Facebook. If you will scroll down and read the story you will know what I am talking about. The second day Travis was gone, I was at that tower and no one was there. I believe this was all mind controlled and Travis was brainwashed into believing what happened. Look at Mike now. It was all mind controlled look at the way he has been acting. I have always believed Travis was the weakest link. He was the only one they could get out of the truck. [Dec 10, 2021]
As far as Charlie goes and the tower, the forest department would have to be involved in her theory. I don't even like Travis. Do you think I would stick up for him if this really didn't happen. I proved his book wrong. This is a new Facebook. If you will scroll down and read the story you will know what I am talking about. The second day Travis was gone, I was at that tower and no one was there. I believe this was all mind controlled and Travis was brainwashed into believing what happened. Look at Mike now. It was all mind controlled look at the way he has been acting. I have always believed Travis was the weakest link. He was the only one they could get out of the truck. [Dec 10, 2021]
- Steve Pierce, 2022
In September 2022, Steve told me (Charlie Wiser) the incident was a hoax, that Mike disappeared that day to check the fire tower watcher had gone home as expected at 5PM, that the real reason his uncles quit Mike's crew was that they didn't want to participate, and that aliens and UFOs were "all Travis ever talked about".
I wrote separately about what he told me in this blog post.
I wrote separately about what he told me in this blog post.