Heber

On November 5th, 1975 seven loggers were returning from a day of tree-thinning for the National Forest Service when they drove by a bright light in the woods. They then spotted a classic flying saucer shaped object hovering about fifteen feet off the ground. One of the loggers, Travis Walton got out of the truck and walked toward the UFO. He was shortly blasted by a beam of light and thrown about ten feet. In fear, the remaining loggers sped away only to gather their senses a short time later and return to the site to find Travis and the UFO both gone.

The authorities became suspicious of the six loggers who all claimed they saw a saucer shaped UFO and that it hit Travis with a beam of light. The consensus around the towns of Snowflake & Heber and among the authorities was that a more terrestrial explanation was likely. One involving foul play of some kind.

Five days after the incident Travis Walton returned. He was released by the side of the road just outside the town of Heber. He watched as a disc shaped object with a reflective metal surface hovered silently just over himself and the road before it shot off vertically out of sight. He ran about a mile to a row of three telephone booths at an Exxon station (now the Heber Tire Shop), where he called his family. The story has become legendary both in and outside the UFO community.

In 1993 Paramount Pictures released a dramatization of the event in a film titled Fire In The Sky. Quite a bit of license was taken with the script, especially with what actually happens aboard the craft - the film depicts the experience like something out of a horror movie, when in reality the beings he witnessed (both Greys & Nordics) exhibited no hostility and the only distress was a result of Travis' panicked state.

The actual abduction site, about fifteen miles from the release site in Heber is deep in the Sitgreaves National Forest, with unmarked dirt roads to the location. I spoke to someone at the local Chamber of Commerce who actually went to the site a year before and mentioned that without a guide it would be impossible to find. It's not marked in any way.

I decided I didn't want to put Stella through an afternoon of getting lost in the wilderness so I opted for visiting the secondary release site in Heber. I had heard that Travis Walton has been rather vague in the past with respect to the exact location details of both sites. Reason being that the preference is to keep the sites uncontaminated. Sure enough, when I contacted Travis he was a bit vague on the release site coordinates but close enough that I was able to consult an old on-site interview he did that showed the surroundings of the release site.

The pictures below show the location where the UFO dropped Travis Walton by the side of the road (Highway 260), and the same telephone booths he walked to that still stand today 40 years later. While at the release site I noticed a large, faded, white letter "T" painted on the pavement behind the guard rail (partially obscured by some brush on the right side). After photographing the area I traced the steps Travis walked from there to the telephone booths, which took about twenty minutes.

It should be noted that in addition to physical trace evidence in the form of accelerated tree growth at the abduction site, over the course of the past 40 years neither Travis or any of the six other loggers has recanted or changed their story in any way.

Click here for an excerpt from Travis Walton's book detailing his return in Heber:

The Walton Experience - Return

Travis: The True Story of Travis Walton (3:25 Minute Trailer)

				Heber, Arizona
		On November 5th, 1975 seven loggers were returning from a day of tree-thinning for the National Forest Service when they drove by a bright light in the woods. They then spotted a classic flying saucer shaped object hovering about fifteen feet off the ground. One of the loggers, Travis Walton got out of the truck and walked toward the UFO. He was shortly blasted by a beam of light and thrown about ten feet. In fear, the remaining loggers sped away only to gather their senses a short time later and return to the site to find Travis and the UFO both gone. The authorities became suspicious of the six loggers who all claimed they saw a saucer shaped UFO and that it hit Travis with a beam of light. The consensus around the towns of Snowflake & Heber and among the authorities was that a more terrestrial explanation was likely. One involving foul play of some kind. Five days after the incident Travis Walton returned. He was released by the side of the road just outside the town of Heber. He watched as a disc shaped object with a reflective metal surface hovered silently just over himself and the road before it shot off vertically out of sight. He ran about a mile to a row of three telephone booths at an Exxon station (now the Heber Tire Shop), where he called his family. The story has become legendary both in and outside the UFO community. In 1993 Paramount Pictures released a dramatization of the event in a film titled Fire In The Sky. Quite a bit of license was taken with the script, especially with what actually happens aboard the craft - the film depicts the experience like something out of a horror movie, when in reality the beings he witnessed (both Greys & Nordics) exhibited no hostility and the only distress was a result of Travis' panicked state. The actual abduction site, about fifteen miles from the release site in Heber is deep in the Sitgreaves National Forest, with unmarked dirt roads to the location. I spoke to someone at the local Chamber of Commerce who actually went to the site a year before and mentioned that without a guide it would be impossible to find. It's not marked in any way. I decided I didn't want to put Stella through an afternoon of getting lost in the wilderness so I opted for visiting the secondary release site in Heber. I had heard that Travis Walton has been rather vague in the past with respect to the exact location details of both sites. Reason being that the preference is to keep the sites uncontaminated. Sure enough, when I contacted Travis he was a bit vague on the release site coordinates but close enough that I was able to consult an old on-site interview he did that showed the surroundings of the release site. The pictures below show the location where the UFO dropped Travis Walton by the side of the road (Highway 260), and the same telephone booths he walked to that still stand today 40 years later. While at the release site I noticed a large, faded, white letter "T" painted on the pavement behind the guard rail (partially obscured by some brush on the right side). After photographing the area I traced the steps Travis walked from there to the telephone booths, which took about twenty minutes. It should be noted that in addition to physical trace evidence in the form of accelerated tree growth at the abduction site, over the course of the past 40 years neither Travis or any of the six other loggers has recanted or changed their story in any way. Click here for an excerpt from Travis Walton's book detailing his return in Heber: The Walton Experience - Return Travis: The True Story of Travis Walton (3:25 Minute Trailer)