Travis Walton abduction
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Travis Walton claims to have been abducted by a UFO on November 5, 1975, while working on a logging crew in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in Arizona.
The team, consisting of seven individuals, reported seeing a bright object with the shape of a flattened disk hovering over a slashpile near their truck. According to his co-workers, Walton exited the truck and approached the object, at which time he was struck by a bright beam or flash of light, which threw him some distance away. The workers reportedly fled the area in fear. They later drove back to see what had happened to Walton, but were unable to find him or the UFO.
Crew chief Mike Rogers was the driver of the truck. He allegedly looked back while fleeing, and saw the object lift out of the forest and move away at great speed. Subsequently, Rogers and five of the other men were subjected to a lie detector test, which they passed, except that one crewman's test proved inconclusive - however, this crewman had previously had trouble with the law; further, he never completed the final phase of the lie detector test, which, according to the rules of polygraphy, demands that the test be ruled inconclusive.
Walton himself also reports exiting the truck, approaching the flying object and being struck by light, which caused him pain. The next time he was seen was five days later. Witnesses report that Walton was highly confused and at first did not realise that he had been absent for such a long time. He also allegedly had memories of strange creatures and events. He, too, was given a lie detector test, the results of which are enmired in controversy. He was ruled "deceptive'; however there are many indications of improprieties in the manner in which the test was administered. (Walton has since been tested twice more, passing both times.)
The Travis Walton case gained wide recognition due to the number of witnesses, the novelty of a UFO sighting in conjunction with a claimed alien abduction, and the use of lie detectors. The results and methods used in those lie detector tests have been the subject of intense debate among ufologists and the general public alike.
Skeptics consider this case to be a demonstration of the faultiness of lie detector tests, and generally believe that the case is either entirely the product of the workers' imaginations, or a vastly exaggerated account of seeing some real object. Walton, his relatives and the other witnesses all continue to insist that the case was entirely real. As it is with most UFO cases, no decisive conclusion has been reached. While it is clear that the burden of proof lies with Travis Walton, there is no agreement as to whether he has proven the reality of his claims.
Walton wrote a book Fire in the Sky, detailing his claims. The book was adapted into a film of the same name in 1993. It is important to remember that the events in the film do not accurately reflect Walton's claims as to what happened during the five days he was missing, and the events depicted on board the spacecraft are almost entirely fictionalized by the film's writer, Tracy Torme.
External link
- Walton's Official Site (http://www.travis-walton.com/)de:Travis Walton