Page 18 - 200205 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - May 2002

The Travis Walton Abduction Case 18 The Travis Walton Abduction Case 18 consumers of UFO literature, and money - $10,000, according to one "Are we to believe," APRO asked, Travis had never heard of J. Allen account - to crew member Steve Pierce "that [the] men who perpetrated a hoax Hynek, Northwestern University if he would admit that the incident was for Roger's benefit are now going to astronomer, former Project Blue Book a hoax. He refused. In the early 1990s remain silent while Rogers collects the consultant, and then the world's most the Walton story was back in the news best acreage rate he has ever received famous UFO investigator. Travis because a feature film had been made without them?" learned of him only when Hynek about it; if any of the presumed No one connected with the proposed a meeting. Travis refused, conspirators had wanted to sell an contract took Klass's theory seriously. thinking that Hynek was someone expose to a tabloid newspaper, he Maurice Marchbanks and Junior associated with Spaulding's group. certainly would have done so- and no Williams, the Forest Service officers Duane maintained that his doubt laid claim to a sizeable check. who contracted with Rogers, rejected repeated talk of Travis's return, No one did so. the idea as absurd. So did Sheriff including his insistence that his brother Moreover, as the A.P.R.O. Gillespie. And so dod journalist Bill was safe with the UFO people, was Bulletin observed: Barry, who extensively investigated all done to reassure his mother and The facts are that Rogers was aspects of the Travis Walton story as himself. Here, of course, we have to behind on the contract in question he gathered material for a popular take his word for it, and Klass was not since he had been working on three magazine article and then a book the only critic to wonder. other contracts simultaneously. He had [Barry, 1977, 1978]. Yet Klass In Klass's rendering of the collected on the other contracts and persisted, and the notion that the incident, the witnesses had a strong therefore was not on financial trouble. Walton case was a hoax cooked up to The Travis Walton Abduction Case financial motive for perpetrating a Also, it was to his advantage excuse an overdue contract entered the Continues from Page 17 hoax. Mike Rogers was far behind on and to the advantage of the crew to folklore of ufology. the timber-trimming operation for work as long as possible on the In 1993 Arizona ufologist Jim which he had been contracted with the contract. Rogers knew from experience Speiser, at that point no partisan of The November 10 Gilson examination of the crew members Forest Service. The completion date that a small time over-run would be wither side in the debate, conducted proved nothing, according to Klass, on the original contract, awarded June tolerated provided they were making his own inquiries. After examining except that the loggers had not 26, 1974, was for the good progress. In contact documents, he discovered that murdered Travis. The one UFO-related summer of 1975. addition, a contract Rogers had not drawn on the "Act of question, Klass wrote, went, "Did you Rogers managed to get could be defaulted God" clause to get out of the contract. tell the truth about actually seeing a an 84-day extension, without serious "The words 'Act of God' were never UFO last Wednesday when Travis and the new deadline penalty or prejudice mentioned by him, by Marchbanks, or Walton disappeared?" Klass noted, was November 10, without going to tall anyone in connection with the default "The question did not ask whether they 1975. But as that date the trouble of creating of his contract," Speiser wrote. He really believed that Travis had been neared, he realized an excuse. Rogers observed: abducted by a UFO." He then made that he was still knew this because he Throughout my conversations this rather strange observation: nowhere near had defaulted a with Rogers it became clear that an in- Celetial bodies are sometimes completion. The contract a few years depth knowledge of Forest Service mistaken for UFOs. At the time of the Forest Service earlier. contracting practices would be Walton incident, the planet Jupiter was withheld 10 percent of Rogers had necessary for anyone to evaluate Klass' very bright in the early evening sky its payment on the requested an argumentation[,] and that it would be a and would have been visible at 6:15 contract until the job inspection from the simple matter for Klass to exploit this PM. This is not to suggest that Rogers was finished. As Klass Forest Service to take complexity, knowing full well that the and his crew honestly imagined that had it, Rogers knew place on November 7, casual reader would be hard put to Travis had been "zapped" by Jupiter. that he was risking that penalty, which which would enable him to collect for distinguish what passes for in-depth But if they were all partners in a he could ill afford, and so, he decided the past three weeks' work. The UFO research from what is really half- prearranged hoax, all might be able to to make use of the "Act of God" incident prevented the inspection and knowledgeable sophistry. Indeed, answer "yes" to this one UFO-related clause in the contract. Thus, the "UFO held up monies already earned ["The Klass' behavior is not unlike [that of] a question without displaying overt abduction" came at a convenient time Walton-Klass Affair," 1976]. shrewd prosecutor, familiar with all signs of telling a significant falsehood. for him. On November 18 he wrote the Rogers's failure to finish the aspects of the case, but sifting through Such strained conjecture did Forest Service to explain that he could job in the required period caused no the clues for the elements that would little to advance Klass's argument. It not complete his contract because the serious difficulty with the Forest present the defendant - Rogers - in the was, moreover, unfair to inflate UFO incident "caused me to lose my Service. Not long afterwards Rogers worst light [Speiser, 1993]. Travis's youthful troubles into crew and [made] it difficult to get any was awarded another contract with it. The conclusion to THE evidence of a continuing pattern of of them back on the job site." This time, however, he used a two-man WALTON ABDUCTION CASE in the criminal behavior, including substance This claim, seemingly machine and no longer needed a six- June edition of THE 'X' abuse. Of this charge Lorenzen said, plausible, was repeated in subsequent man crew. After a while, Rogers CHRONCILES NEWSPAPER. "The arresting officer [in the forgery Klass white papers and in two books rehired Travis Walton. The five others episode] will write Travis a letter of he would write years later. It would be who had comprised the original crew Dare to believe... Dare to be heard recommendation and the people that accepted as a reasonable explanation were left out in the proverbial "cold". www.xzone-radio.com he robbed will do the same." (Clark, even by some UFO proponents. It is , 1977a). No area law-enforcement however, almost certainly false. people, even those who did not To start with, the seven crew especially like him, considered Travis members were unlikely conspirators in a criminal (Barry, 1978). a scheme to commit what amounted to No one denied that the fraud against the federal government. Waltons had discussed UFOs in the Roger's men were all temporary past. In common with a number of area employees, picked up for the specific residents, including Sheriff Gillespie, job and paid by the hour. Only Travis both Duane and his mother claimed to and Mike Rogers could be called close have seen them (Duane reporting a friends. Dwayne Smith barely knew close encounter, Kellett distant lights). the other crew members; the incident By Duane's own testimony he and his took place on his third day of the job. brother had talked about the prospect Later, Allen Dalis, by all accounts the of entering a UFO. It is not least-liked member of the crew (and unreasonable to incorporate these thus arguably the one most likely to elements into a hypothesis which sees inform on his fellows), fell afoul of the the Waltons therefore as logical law, he confessed to crimes with which suspects in a flying saucer hoax. To the authorities had not though to link call them UFO buffs, however, is to him; yet he resolutely insisted that the overstate the case. They were not UFO story was true. One individual, never publicly identified, offered