Reportedly, when Walton began to stand up and was about to return to the truck, he was hit by a blue flash emitted from the saucer 18 to 29 inches wide. Upon contact Travis was lifted into the air, arms and legs outstretched, and shot back stiffly some 10 feet all while caught in the glow of the light. As Walton lay motionless on the ground after the incident, hysteria echoed from the other six individuals as Rogers, driving the truck, fled the scene.

Later, Rogers claimed he was convinced Walton was dead and was afraid the saucer was going to perpetuate the encounter by attacking the truck. After fleeing for a quarter of a mile and skidding off the road, Rogers stopped the truck. After consensus the crew decided to turn back and search for Walton, of which they did for about 30 minutes. To their surprise there was no trace of Travis Walton or the object they had just witnessed.

The Incident, Experience

“Walton’s experience stands out by virtue of its not being particularly bizarre as far as abduction accounts go” – Terry Matheson

The last memory that Travis had during the abduction was being blown back by the beam of light and experiencing a lot of pain. As he came to, still not fully conscious, Walton describes feeling as if he were in a hospital setting starring up at three human like figures blurred in shadow cast from the lights above.



Described as dressed in a brownish-orange clothing with underdeveloped facial features and completely void of hair, Walton struck two of the figures with the back of his arm sending them across the room. In fright, Walton preceded to grab a cylindrical glass tube to defend himself from the alien creatures. To his surprise, the figures fled the room leaving Travis alone for several minutes. In a complete utter shock Walton ran about 30-40 feet down a small corridor into a dimly lit empty room. Looking back from the direction Walton original came from, were clear and visible walls but transparent in the fact that he could see stars though them at the same time.

Amid the completely empty room was a chair with some-sort of controls and buttons located around it. After sitting in the chair and abruptly observing the controls an apparent human entered the room and escorted him across the ship/building. Described by Walton, the figure was, “friendly looking. He gestured and smiled, but there were no words.” The figure resembled the exact appearance of a human with hair and facial features, whom was wearing a clear helmet of some sort.

I heard somebody come in, and I turned around, and it was a man, just like people. I mean he wasn't like the other creatures, or whatever, at all. He looked just like you and I, except he had a helmet on, sort of a clear helmet.

I started babbling questions to him, and I ran over there, and he wouldn't answer me. He just took me by the arm and wanted me to go with him. And I thought maybe he can't hear me through the helmet. – Travis Walton

As described by Walton, he followed the figure across the ship and was lead into a small room with a chair in which he sat down. After taking his seat, three other human like figures entered the room and proceeded to place a mask over his face, similar to an oxygen mask. Shortly thereafter Walton fell into some type of induced sleep and when he came to, the entire ordeal was over… Or so he thought.

So we went out through the door, down to the right, and out to the left. There was a small room there. It had doors on it, and it was kind of like an air lock. It was just a small room with nothing in it, and then there was a door that went outside. And it was a ramp that went down, and it was cool outside. I could feel wind. There was a draft or something. It was a large room, that this thing was sitting on the floor in there, and it was shaped like the drawing that they made, like the thing we saw the first time, only bigger. And there were two other things in there—other UFO….. to look like flying saucers, kind of, except that they were rounded and oval-shaped, and they were really shiny, like chrome. It was a big room, like there was a lot more room in there. And there was a curved ceiling. It curved this way, and it had flat ends to the room. I came out of the door, out of that first ship, facing this way, and there was a doorway across in the far wall. He'd led me across there and through that doorway, down a hallway, to a room, and I'd had a burning in my chest, and it was starting....I felt better....I was trying to get this man to tell me what....you know, I asked him if he was from Earth and just anything I could think of, and he wouldn't answer.

I was led down the hallway. The man sat me in a chair, and in a room with three other people that were like himself. They were dressed in blue. And he went out....there was a door on the other side....he went on through, and I sat in the chair, and I tried to get the people to talk to me that were there, and they didn't have things on their head, and so I thought that maybe they could hear me, but they wouldn't answer either. There were two men and a woman in the room after the first man left. A man and a woman came from around the table, and they each took me by the arm and they led me over to the table, and got me up on the table, and finally I don't know why I should cooperate with them. They put a deal over my face. It was kind of like an oxygen mask thing. It was kind of clear plastic and it had a round, black thing on it about that big, just attached to it. I looked up at the ceiling which was just all solid light. There wasn't any light fixture or anything, but light in the room, just coming from the ceiling, and that was the last I remembered. I went to sleep. Until I woke up. I was lying on the pavement. It was very cold. I woke up very suddenly, and I looked up the roadway. I was lying outside. It was night. And I could see a light on the bottom of a flying saucer that looked just like the rounded ones that were inside there. And it was very shiny, but the only light came out of the bottom, and that went off, and it went straight up, just really fast, just without a sound. – Travis Walton

[edit on 15-1-2010 by xX aFTeRm4Th Xx]

I just wrote a good reply and scored a rare ATS 503 error.

I don't have time now. Work. Just to say that the OP is great and we can do with more and more of them in this section. Info, data and illustrations make an attractive and clear read.

The Travis case is one of interest and as messy as the best UFO accounts always are. Motivations remained unclear in all parties and it's difficult to really get into the bare facts.

This thread should get some good posts. Some of the experts and long-time UFO buffs always have an opinion on this incident. I'll look forward to reading it fully after work.

S&F

I personally don't think Walton staged the event for money. I think too many people would have to be in on it, at least the six other witnesses.The more people involved would mean less of a cut for each person and more chance of inconsistencies in their stories. Then they would all have to learn to pass the lie detector tests, or against all laws of probability pass.

If I remember correctly police officers (i think with dogs?) could find absolutely no trace of Walton in the forest. They suspected that he could be hiding out somewhere but there was just no evidence of him walking anywhere from the abduction site and no where he could have hidden for 5 days.

I remember seeing the film when I was younger and crapping my pants but it turns out the scary scene with the needle in the eye and the 'alien goo' was not in Travis's original account. A bit unecessary in my opinion and only serves to reinforces the 'evil' alien stereotype we see so often in Hollywood....but maybe that was the idea?

I also thought the movie was a bit dramatized. But this case has always been my favorite when it comes to plausibility.

Travis seemed to be of moderate to high intelligence. Coupled with very little to gain, I tend to believe something happened closer to what he and the group said happened rather than some kind of scam. Just too many details to keep straight, and for what? Reputations of being "those weird alien-story guys"?

We will never really know, but their story has the ring of truth.

Great post. You've a lot of detail, that's not generally covered in the many retelling of this event. Travis was a curiosity; they weren't harmful - until Travis became violent leading to his eventual release.

Travis has much more to tell. He wasn't examined in a cursory manner on the ship and released - he was taken to a jointly managed base. Further hypnosis is required to enter the layers that were created to shield his mind from what happened. In the days that he was taken, he was clearly fed etc. He'd have observed clothing, insignias, leadership structure, as well as environmental facets. He didn't reference the women as being attractive, or mechanical in their dealings with him, or working with the partners.

There's not too much more to this event; what remains is worth digging, only if Travis is willing. That's the question - I don't think he want's to enter a deeper level to discover.

Many years ago, long before the movie about Walton, Fire in the Sky, but after the 1978 book The Walton Experience, I reviewed the info on the case and wrote an article. My thesis was that Walton had ignoramusly put himself in harms way by moving under the low hovering UFO and the ray blast was done literally to save his life. But he was severely damaged nonetheless and he was taken to repair the damage--if not to revive--him and later returned as are typical abductees. In a word, his initial experience had none of the characteristics of a typical abduction case.

The article was never published, but I did send him a copy. I never received a reply acknowledging or denying my contention. Several years later I heard Walton speak of his encounter at Dr. Leo Sprinkle's Rocky Mountain UFO Conference in 1998. I noted that he had accepted into his account my explanation for his being taken up. It made sense to him too.

This interpretation of the event tells us two things. First, that the ETs are not without the ability of taking responsibility for some of their (and our) actions. Note, "responsibility" does not necessarily imply compassion or other emotional human mind sets. Second, Walton was worth saving and not a mere casuality of collateral damage. (Or was it that there were witnesses?) Third, it gives a validity to the entire case as a reason for his being taken which was not mentioned let alone elaborated upon in his book.

Anyone wanting to comment on the case should read the book. While I assume that it was probably ghost written, it contains a lot of detail not found in any account written by others. Words of caution: in no way should the movie be taken as a definite presentation of his eperience.

[edit on 15-1-2010 by Aliensun]

A lot has came out about Travis Walton and how he hide out at a friends house during the days he was missing. One of the guys later admitted that they all had tacks in their shoes that they would press down on when asked a question during the lie detector test. Travis was not abducted, it was all done to make money so he could get his logging buisness going.

Its a shame that Mr Walton never went ahead and had full hypnotic therapy to complete the picutre. If we could only identify the location he was taken to, we might be able to connect that incident with something a little concrete... Maybe

Originally posted by Mr_skepticc
A lot has came out about Travis Walton and how he hide out at a friends house during the days he was missing. One of the guys later admitted that they all had tacks in their shoes that they would press down on when asked a question during the lie detector test. Travis was not abducted, it was all done to make money so he could get his logging buisness going.

I've never heard this story - I'd like some back up for this (like his buddies admission you speak of). Claiming to have been abducted by aliens is hardly a business booster! These guys lost their contract after this, didn't gain business.

I met him and his brother years back just after their book came out - I have no reason to doubt one iota of their story - and would hope anyone trying to discredit it comes up with more than hearsay...