“I was lying on the edge of the highway. I can see there was
a light coming from above but before I could shift my gaze, the light went out.
I could see the bottom of this craft and it shot straight up” (Travis).
Travis began to wonder where he was and began running. He
could see the lights of the town in front of him and headed in that direction.
Fueled by freedom, Travis mustered up as much strength as he could to go to the
nearest phone booth and called his brother-in-law. During the phone call though
he collapsed. His brother-in-law and brother Duane came to rescue him. Duane
sat next to Travis in the back of the truck and Travis tried explaining what
happened to him but he broke down. Duane
comforted him and said he didn’t need to talk and that the whole town was
searching for him for days. Travis was bewildered at this. “What do you mean
days?” he exclaimed. Travis then felt
his face and felt a beard grow, which confirmed he had been abducted for 5 days.
“I was in a constant state of terror. The memories of what I went through, I
couldn’t let it go…” Travis recalls. Shaken up by what happened to him
physically and mentally, Travis was seen by a doctor in Phoenix to get him
checked out. “His demeanor was compatible with going through some kind of
traumatic experience,” Dr. Howard Kandell explained when treating Travis. He
took many blood tests on him, including tests for drugs and alcohol. Dr Kandell
detected a sign of injection on his arm.
Meanwhile, Sheriff Gillespie knew he had returned and called
Duane. The sheriff insisted he needed to interview Travis and Gillespie made
the trip to Phoenix himself, determined to get the answers. Travis was sitting
on the couch when he arrived. “He looked like he was very tired, kind of a
nervous tension,” Sheriff Gillespie recalls Gillespie asked him what happened. “I
was in no condition to be interviewed about what had happened to me” Travis
said. The news media caught onto Travis’ return. Duane took phone calls on his
behalf and told the nosey people and reporters harassing them that he was in a
hospital in Tuscon, AZ. Travis remembers fondly how his brother was his biggest
supporter during that dark time in his life. “He was his strongest when I was
at my weakest,” he said of his brother. The
media madness intensified as a reporter for the National Enquirer rang the
doorbell and asked to interview Travis. In exchange for the story, they
arranged a hotel. “I had no concept of the
ramifications of cooperating,” Travis remembers. “I was so traumatized that I
was basically dealing with things inside of myself. I was at the mercy of some
pretty powerful forces that had nothing to do with what I needed.” Reporters
filled the room as Travis began recalling his memories of the abduction (in orange);
“I didn’t remember anything at first. I was just overpowered
by the pain. It was hot and humid. I could tell I was on a surface because of
how close the ceiling and light above me were. I was struggling to breathe. There
was a “curved thing” over my chest; I became aware of the sounds of movement
and people bustling around. I thought I was seeing doctors, someone with a white
surgical mask and cap. I recall getting out of the truck with the crew yelling
at me and I figured I was hurt and the crew took me to the hospital. When my vision
cleared, I flipped out. I struck out with my arm. The thing that was on my
chest fell off. The fear gave me enough strength to be able to stand up. There
was three of them: small, 4 feet or less, not human but intelligent and
unemotional. They were coming around the table towards me. I bumped into the
shelf, grabbed the biggest thing there and lashed out and yelled. The fear was
over the top. The adrenaline was surging. They turned and went away. My
immediate fear was they could come back. I looked to see if they were out
there. They went to the right so I went to the left. As I moved down the
passageway, it was curving so tightly that I couldn’t see behind me. It was a
blind hysteria. I was out of control with fear and I was just thinking I gotta
find a way out.I came to a door and saw a little empty room with a chair. I
thought the creature would be sitting in it.When I got to the sight, I saw no
one in the chair. I felt safe enough to move more into the room. I was thinking
he can open the door and it would lead outside. No doorknob, no button but
there was buttons on the chair. Thinking the buttons opened the door, I moved
into the room and it darkened. I sat in the chair. I pushed the buttons and
nothing happened. There was a lever there too. It made all the stars move
together that I was seeing. I turned and saw a man standing in the doorway. I
thought it was a human being. Air Force or NASA. There was something “odd”
about the eyes. I was asking questions and he didn’t speak. I thought maybe it
was the helmet he was wearing. I took him by the arm and I thought he was there
to save me. I tried to talk to him but I gave up. I took him through some doors
and stepped into a tiny space. A cool air came in this space. He wanted me to
go down a ramp. I looked back and he saw that he was walking out of a craft. My
eyes were adjusting to the brighter light. I didn’t know if it was a larger
part of the craft or an airplane hangar. There were much more crafts in there,
the disc shaped ones. I didn’t know where I was being taken. He took me through
some more doors. These three people were standing there. There was something
about their eyes that just seemed a little different. These were my rescuers, right?
They were getting me to lie down on the table. I started to struggle. All three
of them wrestled me down. I felt like I was fighting for my life. One of “them”
had a plastic mask to put over my face. That was the last thing I remembered……
It was some time before he saw any of the crew members. They
met up at Mike’s house.
“He was different…He didn’t act like Travis” – Steve
“He looked shook up.” – Ken
“He had a good amount of fear in his eyes…” –John
“I believed it because I saw the first part” – Steve
Once Travis told him of what happened, the crew believed he
was sincere.
The witnesses |
“They were dealing with the same things I was…ridicule,
suspicion. People were desperate to explain this away any way they could,”
Travis recalled. His test results turned out to be normal and no signs of drugs
or alcohol were traced in his body. The Sheriff thought the crew hit him on the
head and Travis suffered possible hallucinations from the blow. As far as the
Sheriff goes, he truly felt the department was a victim of fraud and the crew
made up a whole story to fool him to cover up a crime. But what about the crew and
the future? “We basically went our separate ways,” Travis said. “I took off and
went off for awhile. I left the area and for years, I never talked about it.”
John remembers the incident as “he most horrifying experience of my life.” Steve’s
mother and brothers didn’t believe him do he left Arizona and didn’t come back.
Ken showed symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and had trouble sleeping
at night and looking out the window. Meanwhile,
Mike, who drove the truck, suffered years of extreme guilt for driving away
from the scene the night it happened.
In 1993, Cy asked Travis for another test. Travis was telling
the truth and passed the test.
That same year, Cy retested Allen, whose the only one whose results
were inconclusive. He passed the test.
Sheriff Gillespie to this day swears it’s all a hoax and he
awaits the day he waits for the real story.
““I wish I had never gotten out of that truck. People don’t
want to believe it, that’s their problem so I’m left at that,” Travis
concludes.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Jane’s Notes: Dang, I have to say, I was pretty impressed by
this episode! I was dreading watching it but it was really good in my opinion,
and this is from someone whose VERY uncomfortable with the idea of UFO’s and
aliens. I think it’s because I watched too many hyped-up Hollywood alien movies
that over-exaggerate things. I do personally believe there are other
intelligent life forms out there in the universe. I just don’t think it’s the
big, bad ugly little green guys that Hollywood portrays. I’d like to think that
aliens don’t necessarily want to harm us but rather, learn more about us…just
as there are people that are studying about them. I also pictured aliens to
look semi-human like us.
I admit, my first reaction when I heard about Travis and his
injection was heroin. But then I thought since heroin is a “downer” drug, another
suggestion in my brain was meth, since it’s a drug that’s also injected. Since
Travis worked strenuous, long hours, it would seem ideal for an individual to
take meth to stay alert and awake. But the more Travis told his story, the more
sincere I felt he was and some of the times, he had a look in his eyes that
would send me chills. I think the reason I feel they are sincere is 1. Cy, who
was very skeptical of the test even admitted that the men were telling the
truth. And 2. I am all too familiar with the doubts people throw at you when
you explain to them the supernatural; in my case though, it was encounters from
ghosts/entities that I experienced. My experiences weigh on my mind and changed
the way I feel about certain things and aspects of life. I have been ridiculed
many, many times and laughed at and it does hurt a little. But I know what I
experienced and like Travis said, if people don’t want to believe, that’s their
issue.
I spent some time researching online and came across some
pretty neat sites about this topic. There is Travis Walton’s official site, which is pretty basic and to the point and can be found here. They also include a page dedicated to
the rest of the crew. Travis himself (just from what I can judge by the way he
speaks and writes) seems to be a pretty straight-forward man. There’s also a
site I looked up called UFO Evidence which provides “scientific study of the
UFO phenomenon and the search for Extraterrestrial Life” (taken from the site which can be found here).
It is a thorough, very detailed site that’s perfect for someone like me who
doesn’t have a whole lot of knowledge on this subject. The writers have also
published various documents on the Travis Walton case. Click the following links to read the following;
- The Travis Walton Abduction Case
- The Travis Walton Abduction Case II
- Cy Gilson Polygraph Test of Travis Walton
- UFO Casebook: Travis Walton Abduction
Of course, Hollywood had to grab a bite of the action
and make a movie out of it, which is called “Fire From The Sky” and was
released in 1993.
While I still will hide under a table with the dog if I ever see a UFO, I can respect those that are legitimately sincere in their interest, study and research about it. What do you guys think of all this? I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Picture Credit: Syfy, Zap2It, Travis Walton Site
Follow me on Twitter @janedoeghost
My personal site: Ghost In A Machine
1 comment:
Great job of the recap and the additional information Jane. I am also interested in UFOs. It's impossible to know for sure, but there have been so many sightings reported, there is room to question their existence. I imagine aliens more like they were depicted on the Twilight Zone, looking down at us and playing mind games on us to see how we react...as though we are their entertainment. A world wide reality show LOL
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