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The Travis Walton incident was an alleged alien abduction of American forestry worker Travis Walton on November 5, 1975, while he was part of a logging crew in the Apache–Sitgreaves National Forests near Heber, Arizona. Police organized multiple search parties to look for the missing man. After five days and six hours, shortly after midnight on November 12, Walton called his sister from a payphone in Heber where he claimed to have re-appeared after the abduction. Within days, Walton sold his story to tabloid The National Enquirer, which published the account nationwide and awarded the crew a $5,000 prize. In 1978, Walton wrote a book about his purported abduction titled The Walton Experience, which was adapted into the 1993 film Fire in the Sky. Walton's case received mainstream publicity and Walton remains a regular guest on TV shows and podcasts. The Walton incident is widely regarded as a hoax, even by believers of UFOs and alien abductions. They note that the Waltons were longtime UFO buffs and pranksters who had recently watched a TV movie about a supposed alien abduction. On October 20th, 1975, only a few weeks prior to the alleged abduction, NBC Network had aired The UFO Incident for the first time as a prime-time special. This made-for-TV film is a biographical account of the 1961 alien abduction of Barney and Betty Hill. It is argued by some that the motive for the hoax was to provide an "Act of God" that would allow the logging crew to avoid a steep financial penalty from the Forestry Service for failing to complete their contract by the deadline. Background In the Spring of 1972, the National Enquirer tabloid began advertising a $50,000 prize for proof of extraterrestrial visitors. By 1975, the prize had been raised to $100,000. Travis Walton and the Turkey Springs forestry job Travis Walton was born around 1953 to Mary Walton (later Mary Walton Kellott). On May 5, 1971, Travis Walton and associate Carl Rogers pleaded guilty to breaking into the offices of the Western Molding Company, stealing company checks, forging and then cashing them. The pair were placed on probation for two years, after which they were allowed to plead not guilty and "cleanse their records". In 1975, Travis, age 22, was a member of a seven-person logging crew led by Carl's older brother Michael H. Rogers, age 28. The year prior, Rogers won a bid for a federal contract to thin out small trees from an area known as Turkey Springs in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest when he underbid two other contractors. The Turkey Springs job called for the thinning of 1,277 acres by August 1975. Rogers requested, and was granted, an extension until November 10. On October 16, a Forestry Service inspector visited the site and concluded the job could not possibly be completed by the deadline. Failure to complete the job could lead to a $2,500 penalty and a disqualification from bidding on future Forestry Service contracts. On October 20, Rogers wrote to his Forestry Service contracting officer: "I cannot honestly say whether or not we will finish on time. However, we are working every day with as much manpower as I can hire. I will not stop work until the job is finished or until I am asked to stop. I have had considerable trouble keeping a full crew on the job. The area is very thick and the guys have poor morale because of this.... We will keep working and trying hard." Barney Hill and NBC's The UFO Incident On October 20, 1975, the same night that Rogers wrote to the Forestry Service, the NBC network aired a prime-time special: The UFO Incident, a made-for-TV movie about an alleged alien abduction. The film starred James Earl Jones as Barney Hill, who had undergone a hypnosis session with a psychiatrist in 1964, after which he reported recollections of an alien abduction. Recovered-memory therapy is not based on scientific evidence, and recovered memories are indistinguishable from false memories. The film aired two weeks before the Travis Walton UFO incident, prompting suggestions that the film inspired Rogers and Walton to concoct their own alleged abduction story. Psychologists and skeptics argued that "after viewing this movie, any person with a little imagination could now become an instant celebrity" by claiming an abduction, concluding that "one of those instant celebrities was Travis Walton." According to researcher Philip J. Klass, shortly before his disappearance, Travis told his mother not to worry if he were ever abducted by aliens because he would return safe and sound. Incident On November 5, 1975, logging crew chief Michael H. Rogers reported Travis Walton missing to the Navajo County Sheriff. Six members of the logging crew claimed they were driving down a forest road when they saw a lit object above the ground near the roadway. They reported that Walton got out of the truck and ran towards the object, which shone a light on him. They said they drove away in fear, only to return 15 minutes later to find both Walton and the light missing. At 7:45 PM, a member of the logging crew called officer L.C. Ellison. Ellison, Sheriff Marlin Gillespie, and Deputy Kenneth Coplan drove to Heber to meet with the loggers. Rogers and two crew members agreed to return to Turkey Springs with the three officers, while the three other crew members refused to return and instead drove home in Rogers's vehicle. The five men searched Turkey Springs until shortly after midnight, when Sheriff Gillespie paused the search until the morning. Around 1:30 AM, Navajo County Deputy Sheriff Kenneth Coplan and Rogers visited Walton's mother. According to Coplan, when he informed her of the disappearance, she said, "Well, that's the way these things happen." Coplan said he was shocked by how calmly she took the news and her general lack of surprise. Walton, his older brother Duane, and his mother were described by the sheriff as "longtime students of UFOs". Because Travis Walton's mother lived in a ranch house without telephone service, Rogers drove her into town so she could call Travis's brother Duane and their sister while Coplan followed. Around 3:00 AM, Walton's mother called her daughter, waking her; Deputy Coplan was again shocked at how well Travis's family took the news. Missing person investigation The following day, November 7, a search party of nearly 50 people scoured the Turkey Springs area, but failed to find Travis or any signs of an altercation. Law enforcement were surprised when, after a few hours, Travis's mother told them "I don't think there is any use of looking any further. He's not around here. I don't think he's on this earth." Sheriff Gillespie then dismissed the volunteers. However the following morning, November 8, Rogers and Duane Walton complained in person about the discontinued search. As a result, Sheriff Gillespie assembled another search party which included a helicopter. Regional papers covered the story on November 8, and that day, a member of a Phoeni.... Discover the Anne Skomorowsky popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Anne Skomorowsky books.