[4] That night, Walton and Rogers watched The UFO Incident, a movie about the alleged abduction of Barney and Betty Hill.

They recalled driving back after sunset when Rogers stopped the truck and Walton walked into the forest towards an overhead light.

[9] Science writers Philip J. Klass and Michael Shermer highlight a potential motive for the hoax was to provide an "Act of God" that would allow the crew to avoid a steep financial penalty from the Forestry Service for failing to complete their contract by the deadline.

[10][1] In 2021, Mike Rogers made a social media post renouncing his status as a witness to Walton's "supposed abduction".

[11] After 2021 interviews with Rogers, researchers proposed that a nearby fire lookout tower and its spotlight were used to create the illusion of a flying saucer shining a beam of light on Walton.

[15] 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.

"[4] 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.

"[2] 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.

[4] On November 5, 1975, crew chief Michael H. Rogers reported Travis Walton missing to the Navajo County Sheriff.

[1] 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.

Regional papers covered the story on November 8, and that day, a member of a Phoenix-based UFO interest group[18] recorded a 65-minute interview with crew chief Mike Rogers and Travis's older brother Duane Walton.

"[4] Forestry contracts included an Act of God clause that excused contractors who were delinquent due to unforeseeable circumstances.

[1] As part of the collect call procedure, Travis told the operator his name; She recognized his name as that of the missing man and alerted Sheriff Gillespie, who dispatched a Deputy to the family ranch house.

[1] Deputy Glen Flake arrived at 2:00 AM, where he witnessed Duane Walton transferring fuel from one car to another after having forgotten to purchase gas before local stations closed.

When they arrived at 3:00 PM, Duane forbade them to use their camera or tape recorder, nor would he allow them to ask Travis questions about his experience.

[1] After a local UFO group facilitated the connection, Duane and Travis moved into a suite at the Sheraton Inn in Scottsdale; Costs were covered by The National Enquirer in exchange for exclusive access to Walton and his story.

The following day, November 15, Travis was interviewed by Jack McCarthy a free-lance polygraph examiner arranged by a UFO group and the Enquirer.

McCarthy concluded that Travis was engaged in a "gross eception" and had even been intentionally holding his breath in an attempt to "beat the machine".

Travis claimed that he lost consciousness when struck by a beam of light, and that he awoke in a hospital-like room, being observed by three short, bald creatures.

"[25] Skeptics include the story as an example of a UFO hoax promoted by a credulous media circus with the resulting publicity exploited by Walton to make money.

Sweeney as Travis Walton, Craig Sheffer as Allan Dallis, Peter Berg as David Whitlock, and Georgia Emelin as Dana Rogers.

Paramount Pictures decided that Walton's account was "too fuzzy and too similar to other televised close encounters", so they ordered screenwriter Tracy Tormé to write a "flashier, more provocative" abduction story.

[30] On the opening day of Fire in the Sky – March 12, 1993 – Walton and Mike Rogers appeared on the CNN program Larry King Live, which also featured Philip J.

[1] Pierce noted that on the day of the incident, Rogers made the crew stay past dark whereas they usually ended work at 4:00 PM.

[1] Authors including Michael Shermer and Philip Klass note that while the National Enquirer tabloid publicized the opinion of a private polygraph examiner who reported the witnesses as being truthful, it omitted all mention of Walton's prior polygraph examiner who concluded Walton was being "grossly deceptive".

"[10] In the 1980s, reports of alien abductions became more widespread, promoted by authors Budd Hopkins, John E. Mack, and Whitley Strieber.

Folklorist Thomas E. Bullard notes that stories of alien abductions exhibit a fairly consistent sequence and description of events.

[45][46][47] Starting in 2021, Sheaffer promoted the hypothesis that Rogers and the Waltons made use of a nearby fire lookout tower to achieve their hoax.

[12] While the crew typically traveled back to Heber via Black Canyon Road, Sheaffer suggests they returned that night via Rim Road, which passes by Gentry Tower: a 70-foot-tall Forest Service fire lookout tower equipped with a generator, a 200 square-foot living space for the lookout, an outer metal catwalk, and a spotlight.