Date:   Mon Mar 29 1993  00:13:00
From:   Don Allen
Subj:   Klass' "Fact Sheet" on Travis Walton

 * Originally by John Powell
 * Originally dated 21 Mar 1993, 12:58

Travis Walton Speaks With a "Forked Tongue":
--------------------------------------------

        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 to 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
object.  And he's received the benefits for it..._I don't feel any fear
for his life...I don't think he's in any danger at all. He'll turn up.
All I can say is that I wish I was with him..._" (Emphasis added.)

        "The NBC television special 'The UFO Incident,' about the
abduction of a 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 next 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 polygraph 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 high 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