November 5 will mark the 50th anniversary of the 1975 "Travis Walton Incident." It is one of the best and most controversial abduction cases on the books. It is a case that seems to polarize people into strict "It is real" or "It is a hoax" camps. In my research into UFO cases, I have found that the context is key. Sightings of import are seldom seen in isolation - but they can be reported that way. It is important to dig wider and search for what was being seen, reported, and experienced in those same time periods.
In those first 5 days of November 1975 there was a global experience going on. NICAP's Chronology of UFO Cases gives insight:
- Nov. 1, 1975; Monarch, MT / Time not given. UFO hovered 75' away, one foot off ground. (NIDS UFO 92). November 3, 1975, Received call from AAC/IN (Alaskan Air Command/Intelligence). They had sent message 012224, Subject: Unidentified Foreign Object to INYSA and wanted to know if INYSA had received it. They wanted guidance from INYSA.
- Nov. 4, 1975; Ross, OH/ Cylinder hovering at treetop level, windows, body lights visible. Skylook, MUFON, January 1976, p. 6 (E,L) car
- Nov. 4, 1975; near Lussault-sur-Loire, France / At 6:50 p.m. a red disc-shaped object flanked by two nocturnal lights stopped in place, then descended slowly into some woods near Lussault-sur-Loire, France. (Source: Lumieres dans la Nuit, February 1977).
- Nov. 5, 1975; N. of Redwater, Alta, Canada / At 12:30 a.m. MST, Mr. Jim Divall while driving his vehicle 11 miles north of the town of Redwater saw a large black round rotating object and he had to drive into the ditch to avoid hitting the object. The object was approximately 40 feet long and in the shape of a circle. When Divall got out of his vehicle he heard a rushing sound and saw the object disappear. Duration of the sighting was approximately 3 minutes. RCMP REPORT (National Research Council of Canada Record Group 77, Vol. 308, reel number 1742 N75/150)
- Nov. 5, 1975; Nr. Raynesford, MT / 4:10 a.m. At least six UFOs near ground. (NIDS UFO 14)
- Nov. 5, 1975; 10 miles south of Bowden, Alberta, Canada / 9:50 p.m. (Approximate) Mr. Wayne Morrow, observed an unidentified object flying 10 miles south of Bowden, Alberta. Mr. Morrow was proceeding northbound on NBR 2 Highway at the time of the sighting. The object was described as bullet shaped with a constant amount of orange colored flame at the rear of the object. The object was approximately 50 feet above the ground traveling in a southerly direction at 100 mph. The object was sighted for approximately 5 to 10 seconds. (National Research Council of Canada Record Group 77, Vol. 308, reel number 1742 N75/149) An interesting aspect to the famous over flights and NORAD incidents is the close proximity, both in time and location, of two famous abduction cases: Travis Walton & David Stephens. See next case entry.
- Nov. 5, 1975; Snowflake (Heber), AZ / Travis Walton abduction case. One of the more persistently controversial UFO events in history took place in northeastern Arizona. A work team consisting of seven individuals reported encountering a reflective, luminous object the shape of a flattened disc hovering close to their truck on a remote dirt road in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest. According to the crew, one of their members, Travis Walton, exited the truck and approached the object on foot, at which time he was allegedly struck by a brilliant bluish light or flash and hurled to the ground some distance away. In fear, the other crew members fled the scene, returning after a short period of time to find no trace of the UFO, or of Walton. The driver of the truck was Mike Rogers, the crew foreman and a personal friend of Walton's. While fleeing the scene, Rogers reported looking back and seeing a luminous object lift out of the forest and speed rapidly toward the horizon. He, along with the other five witnesses, would eventually be subjected to polygraph (lie detection) examinations regarding the event, the successful outcomes of which catapulted the case into the national spotlight. Walton turned up five days later, confused and distraught but with fleeting memories of alien and exotic human entities. He was also subsequently subjected to a number of controversial polygraph examinations (Image caption: Travis Walton). (NICAP UFO Evidence II, Section XIII).
- Nov. 6, 1975; Merxheim, France / 10:00 p.m. (Note this would be about 1 am in Arizona) A domed disc landed on three legs. The dome on the craft opened, and the head and shoulders of an occupant was seen partially emerging from it. The dome closed and the UFO rose up into the air, then took off toward the east-southeast (Source: Larry Hatch, U computer database, case #11518).
