Shraman Mitra
Fantasizing about myths and sci-fi is pretty common and can often be an effective escape from reality. Besides, there have been numerous people who claim to have witnessed UFOs or extraterrestrial creatures on Earth. However, Travis Walton’s claim of getting kidnapped by aliens in November 1975 puzzled everyone, including ordinary people, conspiracy theorists, and researchers. The 2015 documentary ‘Travis – The True Story Of Travis Walton’ chronicles the strange incident and tries to investigate the truth behind it.
Who is Travis Walton?
A native of Arizona, Travis Walton was living in the town of Snowflake at the time of the incident. Although the locals mentioned he was a generous and kindhearted person who never hesitated to help others, he mainly kept to himself and was a bit of a loner. Interestingly, Travis was interested in aliens, extraterrestrial life, and UFO sightings from a young age and even read and researched extensively on the subject. Unlike most, he did not consider himself a skeptic but was open to the idea of witnessing aliens one day. Nonetheless, most of his neighbors found nothing unusual in his behavior in the months leading up to the alleged abduction.
At the time of the incident, Travis was part of a timber stand improvement crew in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. Since the location was quite remote, he would travel to and from the site along with several of his co-workers. Similarly, the men were traveling back in a truck after a hard day’s work on November 5, 1975, when they noticed a saucer-like aircraft floating a little more than a hundred yards away from the road. The object emitted a buzzing noise, and Travis immediately wanted to investigate it from up close.
However, the men claimed that as soon as Travis approached the strange object, it shone a bright light on him, making him fall unconscious to the ground. Interestingly, some reports even mention a bright blue light that knocked the Arizona native a few feet backward. Still, all sources confirm that the co-workers left the place in a hurry, leaving their colleague on the ground. Yet, once the men returned to check on Travis, they could not find him anywhere, and he remained missing for five days and six hours until authorities located him stumbling out of the woods in Heber, Arizona.
When questioned, Travis mentioned that after being knocked out, he remembered waking up in a room that looked like a hospital. Reportedly, he was lying on a bed while three short and bald humanoid creatures were examining him. The Arizona native claimed he even fought the creatures, whom he referred to as aliens, until another human arrived to take him to another room. Three other humans awaited Travis in this new room, and they soon restrained him before putting a mask on his face, which made him fall unconscious. The next thing he remembers is waking up in the woods and going out onto the road in Heber.
Travis Walton Maintains a Low-Profile Today
Naturally, Travis’ account seemed quite improbable, and numerous researchers, scholars, and scientists still insist that he was lying. Regardless, he and his six co-workers soon passed some polygraph tests organized by the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization and The Inquirer, following which they were awarded a prize of $5,000 for “best UFO case of the year.” Anyhow, skeptics even disapproved of these tests and claimed to have evidence indicating how Travis was using countermeasures to falsify test results.
Eventually, Travis decided to document his experience in the book ‘The Walton Experience,’ published in 1978. Although the book was turned into the movie ‘Fire in the Sky,’ in 1993, a 1998 report mentioned that he had gotten tired of facing skepticism and was quite wary about giving interviews to news reporters. Nevertheless, Travis did go on to appear in several other TV shows and documentaries once his story started gaining publicity. Interestingly, he appeared on an episode of ‘The Moment of Truth’ in 2008, in which the show determined that he was lying about the alleged alien abduction.
Besides, Travis shared his experience and views on an episode of the popular podcast ‘The Joe Rogan Experience.’ Yet, he now prefers to keep his personal life under wraps and maintains a limited presence on social media. But from the looks of it, Travis Walton still resides in Snowflake, Arizona, and we wish him the best for the years ahead.
Read More: Best Alien Movies
