Travis Walton Speaks With a "Forked Tongue":
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Following are some of the claims made by Travis Walton in reference to his alleged UFO-abduction in 1975 in his book "The Walton Experience," published in 1978 by Berkley Publishing Co.:

"I was arrested for my involvement with others in _writing bad checks_. I paid for that one stupid mistake in jail...Charges were dropped and I was never actually convicted." (p. 146) (Emphasis added.)

The Truth: On May 5, 1971, Travis Walton and Charles Rogers pleaded guilty in the Navajo County Superior Court to the following charge: "On or about the night of February 18, 1971, they broke into the office of the Western Molding Co. with intent to steal and did steal therefrom a quantity of Western Molding checks and on the 19th day of February filled out said checks payable to a fictitious person and signed the name of Robert W. Gonsalves, thereby to cheat and defraud." After the defendants agreed to make restitution of the funds, they were placed on a two-year probation, i.e. they were _not_ jailed.

"There were several exaggerated reports to the effect that my mother, my brother and I were freaks on the subject of Unidentified Flying Objects...Our family did _not_ have any obsessive interest in the subject of UFOs, nor are we UFO 'buffs.'...My brother Duane saw something he believed to be one about 12 years ago, but no one else in the family has seen one. I have talked with him on a couple of occasions about the subject since then, but we never had an overt interest in the topic." (pp. 144-45)

The Truth: In a tape recorded interview with UFOlogist Fred Sylvanus on Nov. 8, 1975, Travis's older brother Duane said: "We've paid a lot of attention to it [UFOs]. We've lived with it for ten years..._we see them quite regularly_." During the same interview Duane added: "Travis and I discussed this _many, many times at great length_ and we both said that [if either ever saw a UFO up close] we would immediately get as directly underneath the object as physically possible. _We discussed this time and time again_!...and whoever happened to be left on the ground--if one of us didn't make the grade--to try t convince whoever was in the craft to come back and get the other one. But he [Travis] performed just as we said we would, and he got directly under the obje And he's received the benefits for it..._I don't feel any fear for his life...I think he's in any danger at all. He'll turn up. All I can say is that I wish I with him..._" (Emphasis added.)

"The NBC television special 'The UFO Incident,' about the abduction of New Hampshire couple [Betty/Barney Hill], was aired several weeks before our November encounter. So, of course, a rumor was started that we seven [crew members] had all seen the show and been inspired to fabricate a story like it..._not one of us had seen that show_." (p. 143) (Emphasis added.)

The Truth: In the book "Ultimate Encounter," dealing with the Walton incident, author Bill Barry quotes crew chief Mike Rogers as admitting that he "did watch the first part of it."

Travis claims that his mother "was terribly upset by my disappearance and had to be sedated." (p. 145)

The Truth: According to Deputy Sheriff Ken Coplan, who was present when Travis' mother first learned that Travis allegedly had been zapped and abducted by a UFO, "_she did not act very surprised_." According to Coplan, Travis' mother calmly replied: "_Well, that's the way these things happen._" Then she proceeded to tell about her own and son Duane's UFO sightings.

"Why didn't I accept the money offered by the [National] Enquirer for my exclusive story? I turned down many offers from writers and movie producers...All I wanted then was to be left alone to think things over and adjust." (p. 143)

The Truth: According to Jeff Wells, one of the National Enquirer reporters who was sent to Arizona to meet with Travis and investigate the case: "If we liked the story, and it could be properly documented, and the kid [Travis] could pass our lie detector tests, we would open our check books all the way and start talking in five figures...The test lasted an hour and I was in the ne room fending off the [CBS] TV crew when I heard [Duane Walton] scream: 'I'll kill the sonofabitch.' The kid had failed the test miserably. The polyg man [McCarthy] said it was the plainest case of lying he had seen in 20 years.. I sat down to detail everything that had happened in a 16-page memorandum designed to kill the story. It was all over."

Travis' story of being zapped by UFO beam on the evening of Nov. 5, 1975: "...when a tremendously bright blue-green ray shot out of the bottom of the craft...All I felt was the numbing force of a _blow that felt like a hig voltage electrocution_...The stunning concussion of the foot-wide beam _struck me full in the head and the chest_...My body arched backward, arms and legs outstretched, _as I was lifted off the ground. I was hurled backward through the air for 10 feet. My right shoulder collided with the hard rocky earth..._" (p. 28) (Emphasis added.)

The Facts: On Nov. 11, shortly after Travis reappeared, he was given a physical examination in Phoenix by Dr. Howard Kandell and Dr. Joseph Saults. They found no evidence of physical injury, such as burns or black- and-blue marks anywhere on Travis' body. Dr. Kandall did note a small mark in Travis' right elbow "which was compatible with a puncture wound such as when somebody takes blood from you."

The morning after the incident, law enforcement officers examined the dead brush pile near where Travis had been standing when he (allegedly) was zapped by the UFO beam. There was a thick carpet of dry pine needles. _None of the pine needles showed any evidence of burning or blast effect dispersal, according to Deputy Sheriff Chuck Ellison_.

If The Story Told By Travis And His Six Associates Were True, There Should Have Been Physical Evidence Both At The Site And On Travis' Body.
Yet There Was None_.

                                             Philip J. Klass
                                             Washington, D.C.
                                             March 10, 1993