Page 69 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper March/April 2018 Edition

The Travis Walton Abduction Case 69

The Travis Walton

Abduction Case: Fact,

Fiction Or Psychosis?

You be the Judge & Jury

Continued from Page 67

One individual, never publicly
identified, offered money - $10,000, according
to one account - to crew member Steve Pierce if
he would admit that this incident was a hoax. He
refused. In the early 1990s the Walton story was
back in the news because a feature film had been
made about it; If any of the presumed
conspirators had wanted to sell an expose to a
tabloid newspaper, he certainly would have done
so - and no doubt laid claim to a sizable cheque.
No one did.
Moreover, as the A.P.R.O. Bulletin
examining the contract documents, he then obscure or unknown altogether.
observed:
discovered that Rogers had not drawn on the As the story he would relate consistently
The facts are that Rogers was behind on
“Act of God” clause to get out of the contract. over the years went, he returned to
the contract in question since had been working
“The words ‘Act of God’ were never mentioned consciousness in a hospital-like room. His
on three other contracts simultaneously. He had
by him, by Marchbanks, or anyone in whole body ached, his vision blurred, and he felt
collected on the other contracts, and therefore
connection with the default of his contract,” weak and thirsty. A metallic taste filled his
not in financial trouble.
Speiser wrote. He observed: mouth. Above him a luminous rectangle, three
Also, it was to his advantage and to the
Throughout my conversations with feet by one and a half feet and composed of
advantage of the crew to work as long as
Rogers it became clear that an in-depth seamless metal, have off a soft white glow. A
possible on the contract. Rogers knew from
knowledge of Forest Service contracting plastic device extended from his armpits to his
experience that a small time overrun would be
practices would be necessary for anyone to rib cage and curved around his chest. The air
tolerated providing they were making good
evaluate Klass’ argumentation, and it would be a was wet, heavy, and he had some difficulty
progress. In addition, a contract could be
simple matter for Klass to exploit this breathing in it. Still, his first impression was that
defaulted without serious penalty or prejudice
complexity, knowing full well that the casual he was in a conventional earthly hospital, even if
without going to all the trouble of creating an
reader would be hard put to distinguish what he could not understand why the nurses had not
excuse. Rogers knew this because he had
passes for in-depth research from what is really removed his clothing.
defaulted a contract a few years earlier.
half-knowledgeable sophistry. Indeed, Klass’s Travis saw three figures dressed in
Rogers had requested an inspection from
behavior is not unlike [that of] a shrewd loose-fitting orange one piece suits standing
the Forest Service to take place on November 7,
prosecutor, familiar with all aspects of the case, near him, one to his right, and two others to his
1975, which would enable him to collect for the
but sifting through the clues for the elements left. As his vision cleared, he recoiled in shock
past three week’s work. The UFO incident
that would present the defendant - Rogers - in and horror as he realized these were not human
prevented the inspection and held up monies
the worst light. beings. He would describe them this way:
already earned.
They were short, shorter than five feet,
Rogers’s failure to finish the job in the and they had very large, bald heads, no hair.
requested period caused no serious difficulty ABOARD
Nearly lost in the complicated human Their heads were domed, very large. They
with the Forest Service. Not long afterwards
saga that the Walton’s episode quickly became looked like fetuses. They had no eyebrows, no
Rogers was awarded another contract with it.
was Travis’s account of what he claimed eyelashes. They had very large eyes, - enormous
This time, however, he used a two-man machine
happened to him during his disappearance. Real eyes - almost all brown, without much white in
and no longer needed a six man crew. After a
or imagined, the story is relatively sedate and them. The creepiest thing about them were their
while, Rogers rehired Travis Walton. The other
simply compared to some other abduction eyes. Oh man, those eyes, they just stared
five men who had compromised the original
claims of the period. If not for the circumstances through me. Their mouths and ears and noses
crew were left out in the proverbial cold. “Are
that initiated the episode, if not for the seemed real small, maybe just because their eyes
we to believe,” APRO Asked, “that [the] men
undeniable fact of Travis’s mysterious absence were so huge.
who perpetrated a hoax for Roger’s benefit are
for five days - if, in other words, like most of Their hands had five fingers. The beings
now going to remain silent while Rogers collects
other abduction reports it was simply an looked frail, with soft marshmallow skin.
the best acreage rate he had ever received
anecdote told by one person and unrelated to Travis staggered to his feet and shouted
without them?”
anything verifiable - it would not be nearly so at the beings. He struck out and pushed one of
No one connected with the contract took
well-known as it is. As folklorist Thomas E. them into another. From the ease with which he
Klass’s theory seriously. Maurice Marchbanks
Bullard, a scholar of the abduction phenomenon, was able to knock them back, he deduced that
and Junior Williams, the forest service officers
puts it, “As abduction stories go, the Walton case they weighed relatively little. Then he grabbed a
who contracted with Rogers, rejected the idea as
was neither lengthy nor complex, but the cylindrical tube off a shelf which jutted out from
absurd. So did Sheriff Gillespie. And so did
literature of charges, countercharge’s and the wall. Assuming from its appearance that the
journalist Bill Barry, who extensively
explanations arising out of the investigation has tube was made of glass, he tried to break the top
investigated all aspects of the Walton story and
outgrown the literature describing the incident off so that he could threaten the beings with its
gathered material for a popular magazine article
itself.” jagged edges.
and then a book. Yet Klass persisted, and the
Yet Travis’s story is interesting in its own But the object proved unbreakable. None
notion that the Walton case was a hoax cooked
right. Part of that interest lies, for all its the less, Travis waved it threatening in their
up to excuse an overdue contract entered the
simplicity, in its eerie and otherworldly quality. direction. Keeping their distance, they “just
folklore of ufology.
More important, it anticipates aspects of the stopped and kind of thrust their hands out, like
In 1993, Arizona ufologist Jim Speiser,
abduction phenomenon, just beginning to come they meant no, or stop, or I don’t know what.”
at that point no partisan of wither side of the
into prominence in the mid-1970s, which were
debate, conducted his own inquiries. After
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