

"If they were acting, they were awfully good at it."



These polygraph examinations prove that these five men did see some object they believed to be a UFO, and that Travis Walton was not injured or murdered by any of these men on that Wednesday".

edit on 12-1-2019 by ConfusedBrit because: (no reason given)



[PART ONE]NO, don't leave the thread yet!Yes, it's an unfortunate picture (as well as unfortunate head hair) and, in terms of flak avoidance, an equally unfortunate choice to accept the Enquirer's reward, but why on earth would seven six young men refuse to stare a gift horse in the mouth? (Tellingly, Steve Pierce is missing from the pic, but we'll come to that later.) In any case, the pic has nothing to do with the UFO's veracity. In fact, all we tend to hear about the 1975 Travis Walton case is... Travis Walton's abduction. But one could argue that he is only a small part of the story, or literally a seventh of it, considering the six crew members who accompanied him are usually cast to the sidelines, especially if someone is determined to ferociously debunk the experience. Or rather Travis's experience. What if the abduction angle was a useful fabrication while the UFO sighting itself was a genuinely anomalous event that was understandably overshadowed?By focusing on Walton, are debunkers recklessly cutting off their noses to spite their faces in the face of a potentially remarkable close-up UFO sighting by six other witnesses on November 5th 1975, all from Snowflake, Arizona? They deserve a hearing, especially when sources such as Wikipedia nonchalantly fail to even name or indulge Walton's crew members at all. Here's a very quick recap of the basics:At 6pm, their employer Mike Rogers began driving the crew back to Snowflake when they all saw a bright light behind a hill; upon closer inspection it was a bright, shiny, silvery disc above a clearing, measuring only 8 feet high by 20 feet in diameter. Against advice, Walton ran towards it, causing the object to “wobble” and emit loud turbine-like sounds. As Walton edged back, the crew saw a beam of blue-green light “strike” him, lift him a foot into the air with limbs outstretched, before shooting him back 10 feet to land on his right shoulder, leaving him limp. Believing him dead, the terrified Rogers and Co frantically drove away before returning a while later to find Travis missing. Five days later, Walton re-materialised, and the attendant abduction story began in earnest, but let's bypass that aspect to concentrate on the other six loggers.Ken Peterson rang Deputy Sheriff Chuck Ellison to report Travis was missing, avoiding UFO details until the six (all distressed, two in tears) met an initially sceptical Ellison in Heber who soon opined:Sheriff Marlin Gillespie and Officer Ken Coplan interviewed them, Rogers insisting they go to the scene immediately, Peterson and Allen Dalis tagging along whilst the other three were too upset to join them. No physical evidence was found, and when Walton's mother was notified, her calm reaction raised suspicions although she did react very emotionally a short time later (delayed shock?). Three days later, Rogers was furious that police gave up searching the area, prompting a full-scale air and land search.Walton's brother Duane told UFO researcher Fred Sylvanus he'd seen a similar UFO in 1963 and that both brothers had vowed to get close to one in future, despite Travis later claiming to have no “keen” interest in UFOs. Rogers also told Sylvanus he hoped the disappearance would excuse breaching the logging contract – all of which prompted marshal Sanford Flake to declare the case was faked by the Walton brothers using a “lit balloon”.On 10th November at the Arizona Department of Public Safety, all of the crew except Dalis (who did not complete it) passed a polygraph test run by Cy Gilson, insisting they did not know Walton's whereabouts, and adamant they saw the UFO. Gilson concluded:Sheriff Gillespie then stated he had no doubt they were telling the truth – a vital point irrespective of the later controversy surrounding Travis's own abduction details and debunker Philip J. Klass screaming that Rogers would use an Act Of God clause to cover the contract breach – which Rogers never did. Following the attention aroused by the movie 'Fire In The Sky' (1993), Rogers and Dalis (plus Travis) repeated a polygraph test, again conducted by Cy Gilson, the results being exactly the same as before. So, as it stands, it seems difficult to refute that Walton's six colleagues witnessed a UFO, but how has the passage of time treated some of them since?Debunker supremo Philip Klass was alleged to have historically offered Steve Pierce (above) $10,000 to declare the case a hoax. In July 2012, researcher Kevin Randle interviewed Pierce, who said the seven crew members initially suspected the very bright, “solid” white light seen in 1975 was set up by local hunters. Dalis was the first to declare it a spaceship, and after Walton was 'struck', Dwayne Smith believed he'd been incinerated. After reporting the incident, Pierce went home, too traumatised (as were John Goulette and Smith) to return to the UFO site with police.Pierce recalled the police speaking with his mother the next morning, and sneaked away to his girlfriend's after hearing the six loggers were potential suspects in a crime. Eventually he was the first of the six to take the polygraph test, which focused primarily on whether a crime had occurred. After Walton returned, Pierce kept away from the media circus and Enquirer photographers. It was then that deputy Jim Click allegedly visited him to pass on the offer from Klass: ten big ones to call it a hoax, later followed by multiple monthly phone calls from Klass despite Pierce moving to Texas and using first name “Jeffrey” (Klass noted the alternative name in his polygraph papers).Pierce was tempted, but his wife objected after asking him directly if the case was a hoax - he'd said “No”. Eventually, after the constant calls, and in financial woe, he finally told Klass, “Yes, it's a hoax”, and asked for the money. They arranged a friendly meeting in Texas where Klass said he needed evidence (“stuff”) to prove a hoax (eg, a generator that created the bright light - which hints that at least Klass believed the men saw an object). However, Pierce was lying through his teeth and desperate for the money (and had endured an unrelated falling out with Walton and Rogers). Not being able to provide the evidence, the offer fell through.But what was Klass's side of the story...?[CONTINUED IN PART 2]