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From: [e-mail]
Subject:      RE: Alien Abduction
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date:         Mon, 22 Mar 1993 07:19:32 -0600

>Has anyone seen the new movie out 'Fire in the Sky'? I haven't seen it yet
>but it has been advertised a lot recently. It deals with the alien
>abduction of Travis Williams (name may not be accurate). I believe the
>story allegedly took place back in the 1970's. I remember reading a good
>debunking of the story many years ago but I can't remember the reference.
>Maybe somebody can help me. It may have been a book by Philip Klass. Why
>this story has surfaced again now in the form of a Hollywood movie may be
>an interesting story in itself. Information or ideas anyone?
>In the last week I have noticed one TV talk show dealing with self
>proclaimed victims of alien abduction and one newspaper article stating
>that Pennsylvania State University (central Pa, USA) has a psychological
>support group for abductees.
>Has anyone looked into this subject? I am new to this forum so if this
>subject has already been dealt with, I apologize.
>Thanks for your interest.

I have Philip Klass' book on alien abduction claims, and a
thorough treatment of the Walton case is given there.

This morning the business news (in CNN, I think) reviewed the
economics of several current releases, including "Fire."  It was
stated that the film grossed $4 million for the week, but it's
interesting to note that the commentator called it a story about
a claimed abduction, not a real abduction.  Recall that Paramount
is touting it as "based on the true story."

Also this morning, The Dallas Morning News printed my letter
challenging the "true story" and citing Klass' books as
reference.  Usually when something like "Fire" is in the news
there are a raft of letters, and The News prints them all at
once.  It may be that public reaction to "Fire" is not all that
outraged.  Bad sign of the times.

John Blanton
Secretary, The North Texas Skeptics
[e-mail]

From: [e-mail]
To:   [e-mail], [e-mail]
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 93 09:31:59 PST

TO: Colleagues in Science Education

FROM: Andy Fraknoi

RE: The Film "Fire In the Sky" and UFO Abductions

        This Friday, the film "Fire in the Sky", written by a credulous
UFO buff screenwriter named Tracy Torme (who has made a lot of money
writing completely unskeptical TV shows about UFO's), is going to be
premiering -- accompanied by a slew of media hype.

        The film retells the story of Travis Walton, an Arizona lumber-
jack who was -- he claims -- abducted by a UFO near the appropriately
named Turkey Springs area of a local National Forest Preserve. Long
a favorite of the UFO buffs, the story was investigated and completely
exposed as a hoax by veteran investigator Philip Klass.  See his book
UFO Abductions: A Dangerous Game (1989, Prometheus Press), chapter 3.

        This movie is likely to revive a lot of nonsense in the media
about UFO's and UFO abductions.  Paramount Films is gearing up a lot
of publicity, including national tours by Travis Walton and people
associated with the film.  If you get any media inquiries and don't
feel you want to get involved yourself in the smarmy world of UFO's,
you can feel free to refer media callers to the Committee for the
Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), the
national skeptics group.  Their number in Buffalo, New York, is
716-636-1425.

        The Travis Walton "abduction" story is a clear hoax.  Here
are a few facts:

1. The most famous movie about a UFO abduction (at the time), The UFO
Incident, starrying James Earl Jones, was shown on NBC Oct. 20, 1975.
The Travis Walton "abduction" happened on November 5, 1975 and is
clearly "inspired" by the movie.

2. A woodcutting crew had been working in the forest and five of
the six loggers emerged to say that one of their number, Travis
Walton, had been abducted by a UFO.  The crew's leader, Mike Rogers,
indicated that the five remaining crew members had fled, and by the
time they returned, Walton was gone.

3. Neither Walton's mother, nor his brother -- who had helped raise
him after his mother's two divorces -- were in the least worried when
interviewed by local officials.  They reported that Travis had been
very interested in UFO's (as were the mother and brother) and that
Travis had told them just recently that if he was ever abducted by
a UFO, they shouldn't worry, he would return safely -- showing a
remarkable understanding of the aliens' psychology before he had
ever met them!

4. Later it turned out Walton had a history of hoaxes in the town
and he and his brother had talked about how they might arrange a
UFO abduction.

5. Walton "returned" five days later, in a neighboring town, and
claimed that he had undergone medical examinations by the UFO people
and couldn't remember much else.  He had no injuries or souvenirs
from the UFO to corroborate his story.

6. Whereas investigators were not surprised that Walton and his
family would participate in such a hoax, given their long interest
in UFO's, they were at first puzzled why the rest of the crew, and
especially Rogers, the foreman, went along.  But then all became
clear...Rogers had underbid and was seriously behind schedule on
the logging job they were engaged in.  There was every likelihood he
would be in default of his contract and stood to lose a lot of money.

        His only out in the contract was an "act of God,"  something
so frightening his crew couldn't be blamed for not finishing the job.
It turned out he wrote a letter to the US Forest Service setting up
such a situation THE NIGHT THE NBC UFO ABDUCTION MOVIE AIRED!  It's
now clear Rogers took advantage of Walton's interest in UFO's and
hoaxes to set up an abduction which would allow him to save a very
bad business deal.

7. The movie hype will talk a lot about how Travis Walton passed a
lie detector test about his experience.  The facts are exactly the
opposite. He in fact failed a lie detector test given by an experienced
local expert on Nov. 15, 1975.  He flunked it miserably.  He was later
given another test by a far less experienced polygraph operator which
had been -- it turns out -- administered poorly and whose results were
at best ambiguous.

8. Klass also found out that Travis Walton and Mike Rogers' brother
Charles had been arrested in May 1971 for burglary and forgery.

        The full story is told in Philip Klass' books.  But here is
another indication of Arthur C. Clarke's maxim that UFO's tell us
nothing about intelligence in outer space, but they do confirm how
rare it is down here on Earth.