Few cases in UFOlogy hold quite the same resonance as that reported by
Travis Walton who was abducted in November of 1979 by strange beings in
a large craft hanging above the woods. The case was later turned into
several books, documentaries, and even a motion picture called “Fire in
the Sky.” The incident is still scrutinized by many in the UFO
research field and some even suggest it may be one of the most
compelling cases to have ever happened.
The events behind the
case include polygraphs, discoveries, medical examinations, and a whole
host of controversies that seem to corroborate the strange story.
Travis, along with his friends at the logging camp were all subject to
polygraph examinations, and all passed the examinations, though there
was some controversy over one of the polygraph examiners. But the real
meat of the issue is the story Travis told when he came back from his
experience. One famous quote of the incident is by Terry Matheson, who
wrote “Walton’s experience stands out by virtue of its not being
particularly bizarre as far as abduction accounts go.”
The
official story goes that Travis, as he was carpooling with friends home
from his logging job, would see along with his coworkers lights in the
sky in the woods up on the crest of a hill. As the vehicle stopped,
Travis got out and approached the light. He was then enveloped by a
sort of “beam” which froze him, and the truck he was riding in sped
away. There is a gap in Travis’ memory as he fell unconscious, but
when he awoke he found himself lying on a bed with a bright light
shining in his face. He assumed he was just in a hospital, and was in
a great deal of pain, but what he saw next would change his perception
of the universe forever.
Three figures stood nearby wearing
orange jumpsuits. Their heads were similar to those of the “Greys”
commonly reported in alien abduction cases. The figures were shorter
than an average adult human, bald, and had massive eyes. Travis
recounts how the beings had small mouths and noses, but they may have
been just comparably small because of the size of their eyes.
Travis
began to panic, and tried to break a nearby test-tube of some sort in
order to improvise a knife. As he smacked it against a metal shelf, he
found he could not break it. Instead he decided it would have to make
for a clubbing tool and waved it around the room. The creatures left
the room. As he stood panting in the exam room, he then ventured out
into the hallway where eventually made his way to a spherical room with
a chair facing away from him. He approached the chair and lights
turned on, indicating that he should sit in it. To Travis, it looked
almost like a planetarium. As he sat in the chair he noticed the
lights around the room that seemed to be stars would move as he
manipulated a lever. As he left the chair he was led by a human
looking figure wearing a space suit out of the vessel he had been
abducted in and into a massive chamber where he met two other human
looking beings, one male and one female. He was guided to a table
wordlessly, and a mask was placed over his mouth. He believed
genuinely during regressive hypnosis that if he recalled anything
further from his case he would die. What of, no one knows.