Preface to Close Encounters and Alien Abduction Cases

This is the most controversial, emotional, and problematical area of modern UFO research. First, why have the vast majority of these cases occurred in the United States?

Yes, there are a few that have taken place in other countries (several are presented herein), but they are the exceptions. Additionally, why was there such a huge wave of reports in the 1980s and fewer and fewer in the decades that followed?

Most researchers currently agree that the abduction phenomenon is largely a thing of the past. As to why it was mostly an American phenomenon, the answer probably has cultural roots. Several huge movies, such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind and ET, preceded the 1980s wave of abduction cases. The history of UFOs suggests that close encounters of the third kind are rare and abductions extremely rare.

Moreover, abductions and all the detailed information that abductees are given about the alien culture and home planet do not add up. Why would the UFO occupants, so intent on remaining elusive in 99.99 percent of the cases, suddenly want to tell all?

In the vast majority of cases, the occupants of UFOs make every effort to remain unidentified. In addition, they seem to want to observe rather than interfere or make full contact.

Last, in the Travis Walton case, the most heavily documented and verified, I am convinced that the events—as described by the seven loggers, including Walton—leading up to his being zapped by a beam of energy, are true.

However, I am also equally convinced that Walton’s accounts once inside the UFO are not true or rather not an accurate portrayal of what occurred. I am not saying that I think Walton has intentionally lied about them.

It appears that he was so critically injured that his mind came up with the bizarre account while he was in a comalike state. Furthermore, it seems clear that the UFO occupants did not really want to make physical contact with anyone.

However, when Walton triggered a security device, probably automatic, he either died or was critically injured. That necessitated the aliens rescuing and medically treating him. I will give my reasoned assessment of the abduction portion of Fire in the Sky, the book Walton wrote about his experience, in the next chapter. Walton has recently stated that he now believes that he was not abducted but actually rescued.