Page 67 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper March/April 2018 Edition

The Travis Walton Abduction Case 67

The Travis Walton

Abduction Case: Fact,

Fiction Or Psychosis?

You be the Judge & Jury

Continued from Page 66

(In July Travis and the six witnesses
would split a $5,000 award from the National
Enquirer after its Blue Ribbon Panel on
Unidentified Flying Objects judged the case the
most important UFO event of 1975.) He also
learned from McCarthy of Travis’s past drug
use and run in with the law. Klass used these,
along with the claims of Lester Steward -
psychologist and hypnotist whose Ph.D is from
a small private school in Southern California -
to charge that Travis was befuddled with drugs,
possibly from “LSD injected into the spot where
the puncture mark was found.” Readers of
Klass’s paper could only conclude that Travis
was both a substance abuser and a criminal.
Drawing liberally on speculation, the criminal. awarded June 26, 1974 was for the summer of
darkest possible interpretation of every remark It was not true that Travis “dictated” the 1975. Rogers managed to get an 84-day
and action, and regular use of capital letters, polygraph questions to Pfiefer, Lorenzen would extension, and the new deadline was November
bold type, italics, and underlined sentences (and argue. Pfiefer himself would characterize the 10, 1975. But as that date neared, he realized he
sometimes combinations thereof), Klass told a verb as less than accurate; “suggest” would be was still nowhere near completion. The Forest
complex tale of deceit, conspiracy, and closer to the truth. In any event, as Klass Service withheld 10 percent of its payment until
incompetence. He portrayed the Waltons as neglected to mention, the questions Travis the job was finished. As Klass had it, Rogers
UFO buffs who seemed oddly unconcerned by wanted asked were potentially damaging ones if knew that he was risking penalty, which he
Travis’s disappearance. To get around the he was trying to perpetrate a hoax. In suggesting could ill afford, and so he decided to make use
positive polygraph results, Klass argues that them, Travis was trying to address the of the “Act of God” clause in the contract. Thus,
McCarthy’s experience and qualifications were accusations made against him, never imaging the “UFO abduction” came at a convenient time
greater than Gilson’s and Pfeiffer’s; moreover, that his action would be turned into yet another for him. On November 18 1975, he wrote the
Travis had “dictated” the questions Pfiefer had accusation against him. Forest Service to explain that he could not
asked him. No one denied that the Walton’s had complete his contract because of the UFO
The November 10 Gilson’s examination discussed UFOs in the past. In common with a incident “cause me to lose my crew and [made]
of the crew members proved nothing according number of area residents, including Sheriff it difficult to get any of them back on the job
to Klass, except that the loggers had not Gillespie, both Duane and his mother claimed to site.”
murdered Travis. The one UFO-related have seen them (Duane reporting a close This claim, seeming plausible, was
question, Klass wrote, went, “Did you tell the encounter, Kellett distant lights). By Duane’s repeated in subsequent Klass white papers and
truth about actually seeing a UFO last own testimony he and his brother had talked in two books he would write years later. It was
Wednesday when Travis Walton disappeared?” about the prospect of entering a UFO. It is not be accepted as a reasonable explanation even by
Klass noted, “The question did not ask whether unreasonable to incorporate these elements into some UFO proponents. It is, however, believed
they saw Travis being ‘zapped’ by a UFO, or a hypothesis which sees the Waltons therefore as to be certainly false by the majority in the UFO
whether they really believed that Travis had logical suspects in a flying-saucer hoax. To call community.
been abducted by a UFO He then made this them UFO buffs, however, is to overstate the To start with, the seven crew members
rather strange observation: case. They were not consumers of UFO were unlikely conspirators in a scheme to
Celestial bodies are sometimes mistaken literature, and Travis claims that he had never commit what amounted to fraud against the
for UFOs. At the time of the Walton incident, heard of J. Allen Hynek, Northwestern federal government - and yet, Travis Walton had
the planet Jupiter was very bright ion the early University astronomer, former Project Blue already been arrested, charged and convicted of
evening sky and would have been visible at 6:15 Book consultant, and then the world’s most forging signatures on stolen payroll cheques,
P.M. This is not to suggest that Rogers and his famous UFO investigator. Travis claims to have which is fraud, so what would be the difference
crew honestly imagined that Travis had been only learned of him when Hynek proposed a between this criminal act and committing a
“zapped” by Jupiter. But if they were all meeting. Travis refused claiming that he thought crime against the federal government?
partners in a prearranged hoax, all might be able Hynek was someone associated with After all, Mike Rogers was Travis
to answer “yes” to this one UFO-related Spaulding’s group. Walton’s best friend. Rogers men were all
question without displaying overt signs of Duane maintained his claim that his temporary employees, picked up for the specific
telling a significant falsehood. repeated talk of Travis’s return, including his job and paid by the hour. Dwayne Smith barely
Such strained conjecture did little to insistence that his brother was safe with the knew the other crew members; the incident took
advance Klass’s argument. It was, moreover, UFO people, was dome to reassure his mother place on his third day on the job. Later when
unfair to inflate Travis’s youthful troubles into and himself. Here, of course, we have to take his Allen Dalis, by all accounts the least-liked
evidence of a continuing pattern of criminal word for it, and Klass was not the only critic to member of the crew (and thus arguably one of
behavior, including substance abuse. Of this wonder. the most likely to inform on his fellows), fell
charge Lorenzen said, “The arresting officer [in In Klass’s rendering of the incident, the afoul of the law, he confessed to crimes which
the forgery episode] will write Travis a letter of witnesses had a strong financial motive for the authorities had not thought to link him; yet
recommendation and the people that he robbed perpetrating the hoax. Mike Rogers was so far he resolutely insisted that the UFO story was
will do the same.” It is said that area law behind on the timer-trimming operation for true.
enforcement people, even those who sis not which he had contracted with the Forest Service.
especially like him, considered Travis a The completion date of the original contract, (Continued on Page 69)