consultant, he felt the portrayal lacked accu- racy in some areas, specifically the extrater- restrial encounter. “The first time I got a copy of the script, the portion of my experience aboard the craft was not in the script. And when I saw what they’d done with it — it was not repre- sentative of what happened at all.” Faithful to Walton’s experience or not, the film just intensified the public’s interest in the area. According to local business owners, the incident regularly brings UFO-enthusiast tourism from as far away as Europe and Australia. One local spot, Fyre in the Sky Smoke Shop, went all in with the theme. Other places, like the Red Onion restaurant, serves the UFO folks by selling T-shirts referencing aliens. Even the Heber- Overgaard Chamber of Commerce has decided to embrace the local legend by slinging UFO-themed swag such as Travis Walton’s book, DVDs and even an “Alien Rub” cooking spice blend. Some local landmarks are popular photo-taking spots, including the forest itself and the “Travis Walton Rescue Site” next to the Heber Tire Shop. It’s the actual phonebooth Walton called for help from, and when its original home at a gas station was torn down, it was moved to its current spot. The booth stands alongside an abduc- tion-themed mural with bright-green, wood-carved aliens made across the street at Wild Woods LLC. John Velasquez, Wild Woods LLC owner, does a brisk business in alien wood sculptures created by championship carvers. He recalls when a wood-carver proposed making alien sculptures, an idea the previous owner rejected before realizing how much business it could bring in. Now, it’s a staple in the store. “ We’re constantly doing batches,” Velasquez says. “About a month and a half ago, he did a batch of about 12 to 15 aliens. We sold about a third of that before they were even painted.” The distinctive wood-carved aliens were a selling point for resident Kathryn Blowers, who admits that the Walton incident was the main reason she moved to Heber. “We had a few UFO-type encounters living in Phoenix, and we were invested in figuring out why … Arizona in general had so many UFO experiences …we saw the alien wood carvings all over town and knew this place was for us, and it truly is,” she says. Kevin Nettles, a metal fabricator and artist, dedicated the outside of his home to extraterrestrial-inspired artwork to show support. The “Alien House” is located just miles from the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest entrance. “I’d heard the Travis Walton story before, and I saw people selling alien carvings and stuff up here, and I’m like, I’m gonna fit right in. I’m gonna be the alien house. I just made the sign for that and put alien stuff up. I’m showing town spirit.” Outside of local tourism, other visual artists have been intrigued and influenced by Walton’s abduction accounts, making it a recurring artistic theme. Northern Arizona-based tattooer and artist Kat Richards, known as Miss Kitty, began dedicating her life at an early age to paranormal subjects, specifically UFOs. Walton’s story inspires Richards as an artist to this day; her business logo is a flying saucer with a tractor beam. Clients from all over the U.S. commission her for alien- themed tattoo designs. “In my heart, I would love to be a well- respected, highbrow artist who just did really beautiful oil paintings of nudes and still lifes,” she commented on her artistic approach. “But ultimately, if I’m authentic to myself, I just want to create art centered around flying saucers and alien abductions and themes of the paranormal.” Richards created the cover art for this article, and is fascinated with the Walton incident. “ I think it’s one of the most compelling stories of alien abduction, that they all took polygraphs and they all passed, except one who is inconclusive. It lends a lot of credi- bility to the entire incident,” she believes. The legacy And that’s the question to this day, isn’t it? Is Walton’s story true? We asked for more information about the incident in local Facebook groups. The responses showed the strong feelings the event still elicits in Heber and Overgaard residents. One woman wrote, “I think the contro- versy and strong emotions reflect the inci- dent, true or not, (and) create a bit of a rift between townspeople that still lives today.” Even eyewitness Mike Rogers, a self- described rationalist and realist, emphasized the contrast of his own viewpoint to Walton’s. “I believe in UFOs. But the one thing that’s really important here is that nobody, none of us but Travis, saw him being abducted. So I can’t say emphatically that Travis Walton was abducted.” Rogers, however, stands firmly by his accounts of witnessing the craft and a “beam” hitting Walton before the crew fled the scene. Even without seeing Walton taken onto the craft, he did not deny the possibility that it happened. ”The fact is, we did not see him being abducted, but that doesn’t mean that he was not abducted. (It) means that we didn’t see it.” Walton welcomes constructive dialogue from skeptics, though in his view, they always fall short. When asked for a response to the negative comments posted recently online, he adds: “Online remarks are mostly positive from many people who actually know me, while the most negative comments come from people who don’t know me. They don’t have even the vaguest knowledge of any of the basic facts that are indisputable, like what the sheriff’s department did and said. “It’s my duty to be responsible and tell the truth.” A common theory of skeptics is that the incident was a hoax so the crew could get out of the logging contract they had fallen behind on. Walton says that that extensions are typically granted because of things like weather conditions, and that the job was nearly complete at the time. And speaking of trees, Rogers points to physical changes in the trees that remain among the strongest pieces of evidence that the incident really happened as the crew described. “ I knew the trees well enough to know how fast they grow, and these trees were much larger than they should be in the amount of time that had transpired,” he says. He alleges that the trees closest to where they witnessed the UFO grew significantly faster than their typical rate. Researchers have noted a similar growth pattern in pine trees exposed to radiation near Chernobyl in Ukraine. “I don’t know whether that’s a scar tissue-type response or stimulates it in some other way. I don’t know,” Walton speculates. “But it’s interesting that you can compare another known case where pine trees were exposed to radiation and had a similar growth-stimulating effect.” Other items that add weight to claims that the abduction was a hoax: A made-for- TV movie about an abduction, “The UFO Incident,” aired two weeks before Walton’s disappearance. However, Walton says he didn’t seek out anything about UFOs during that time in his life. The “Alien House” is owned by Kevin Nettles. (Angela RoseRed) Fyre in the Sky Smoke Shop is named for the incident. (Angela RoseRed) Wild Woods LLC sells alien-shaped wood carvings. (Angela RoseRed) >> p 14
