Page 60 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper March/April 2018 Edition

60 The Travis Walton Abduction Case

The Travis Walton

Abduction Case: Fact,

Fiction Or Psychosis?

You be the Judge & Jury

Continued from Page 59

On the way to Snowflake, Travis spoke vaguely
of encountering creatures with eyes that terrified
him. He was still frightened. He was startled to
hear that five days had passed; he thought it had
been only a couple of hours. When he heard that,
he shook his head and ceased speaking
altogether.
At his mother’s house he took a bath and
drank quantities of water. When he tried to eat
cottage cheese and pecan cookies, he threw up. developed a computer-enhancement technique conversation - did not appear to know who he
Duane decided that someone in his by which he could distinguish phony and was.
brother’s fragile condition needed to be authentic UFO photographs with something The Walton's walked out soon
shielded, at least for now, from harassment by approaching certainty. In speeches and articles afterwards. The amount of time they spent in
police officers, journalists, and busy-bodies. in popular UFO magazines, he spoke and wrote Steward’s office itself became part of the
Travis himself was saying over and over again, in a sort of pseudotechnical jargon which controversy. Steward and Spaulding would
almost as if reciting something from memory, puzzled (and therefore usually impressed) the assert that the brothers had been there for two
“Don’t let the police know I’m here...I’ve got to technically untrained even as it entertained the hours, during which Steward questioned them
have a doctor...Don’t let the police know...Get technically sophisticated, who found idle thoroughly. This is certainly false. The Walton's
me some medical help.” amusement in the enumeration of the showed up half an hour late for their
But the police already knew, or at least malapropisms that habitually permeated appointment; afterwards they went out to eat in
suspected, that something was up. At 2:30 A.M. Spaulding’s discourse. a nearby restaurant before driving to Glendale.
Gillespie got a tip from a phone company During Travis’s absence Spaulding had At 10:45 Duane took a call from another
informant that someone had called the Neffs introduced himself to Duane, and the two had ufologist, Coral Lorenzen of the Tucson-based
from the Heber gas-station booth. Gillespie spoken at length. Spaulding boasted that as a Aerial Phenomena Research Organization
alerted Deputy Ellison and Lt. E. M. Romo, who scientific organization GSW had access to all (APRO). Thus the time with Steward probably
went to the station and began to dust for prints. kinds of professionals, including physicians. did not exceed 45 minutes.
There were no prints at all on the phone in the The Walton’s, who had the good fortune of (Spaulding also would come under fire
third booth, perhaps because no one had used it being healthy and the bad luck of being poor, for resume inflation. His claims to being an
since the serviceman had emptied the till and had no family doctor. But Duane knew that engineer and a college graduate proved
wiped the instrument clean. The other two had Travis would require medical attention on his unfounded, and he was never able to prove that
prints, but so far as Ellison and Romo could return (assuming he did return). Spaulding GSW had 500 professional people associated
determine in the cold and dark, none was assured him that GSW had a local physician with it.)
Walton’s. who could take care of Travis and perform “all By the time they got back to Duane’s, the
Meanwhile, officers on duty in the early- scientific testing he’ll need.” two learned that the world now knew about
morning hours were looking for cars owned by On his arrival in Phoenix, Duane called Travis’s return - till then a secret only to the
the Walton family members. Deputy Glen Flake Spaulding, who directed him to GSW’s medical family, Spaulding, and Steward. In their absence
(Sanford Flake’s brother) who had been consultant, Dr. Lester Steward. He and Duane Duane’s girlfriend Carol had been fielding
positioned in Snowflake at the junction of would meet him at his office at 9 A.M.Duane phone calls from reporters. On their return both
Highways 77 and 277 so that he could see and Travis then went to sleep at the formers Spaulding and Steward called, but Duane
Walton vehicles heading to or from Taylor(on Glendale residence, awakening just after 9. They bluntly informed them that they should bother
77) or Heber (on 277), saw nothing. In due hurried to Steward’s office, which they were them no more. This action, as the Waltons would
course the sheriff told him to drive over to Mary disconcerted to learn was located in a rundown soon find out, made Spaulding - who till now
Kellett’s house. hotel not far from the airport. Nothing about the had been telling the press of his confidence in
Travis was there, but Deputy Flake office inspired confidence either. It looked as the case - a sworn enemy and the source of a
would not know that till later. When he pulled seedy as its surroundings. great deal of future trouble. Other inquirers were
up, he observed lights on inside the house. The curtains were yellowed; there was no air- told that Travis had gone to a private hospital in
Duane was in the front yard siphoning gas from conditioning, and the deafening roar of landing Tucson and could not be reached.
a friend’s truck. He explained that he had driven and departing jets blew through the open Nonetheless, Mrs. Lorenzen managed to
from Holbrook too late to refill his tank for the windows. Worse, the room was devoid of get through when she called. She spoke with
trip back to Glendale. He did not add that Travis medical equipment and textbooks. Even more Duane and managed to persuade him that she
would be accompanying him there, and Flake ominously, the sign on the door identified could arrange for an examination by local
asked him no further questions. Not long after Steward simply as “Hypnotherapist.” physicians - real ones. So at 3:30 that afternoon
he left, Duane left with Travis. By the time they Duane immediately wanted to know if Duane and Travis met two phoenix APRO
got to Phoenix, the Walton abduction case would Steward was a medical doctor. At first he members, Drs. Joseph Saults (a general
be in danger of collapsing into farce. insisted he was, and then eventually admitted practitioner) and Howard Kandell (a
that he was not licensed to practice in Arizona. pediatrician) at Duane’s home.
TRAVAILS AND TESTS (A subsequent inquiry determined that This was well and good - the first step
Among the ufologists whom Duane Steward’s degree was from a California-based toward a real investigation - but between
Walton met prior to his brother’s return was a correspondence school without academic Lorenzen’s call and the physicians’ examination
Phoenix man named William H. Spaulding, head accreditation.) He said he would call a doctor another party would enter, and hugely
of Ground Saucer Watch (GSW). A frequent friend and arrange for a full physical complicate, the story.
lecturer at UFO conventions, Spaulding examination, but his “friend” - so Duane and
specialized in photo analysis; he claimed to have Travis judged from hearing Steward’s side of the (Continued on Page 61)