When Ball Lightning Strikes: New Perspectives on the Abduction of Travis Walton
Perhaps most famous among all the great UFO abduction reports is that of Travis Walton, who claimed to have been spirited away into the starry Arizona skies by an alien spacecraft one evening in November of 1975. The investigation that followed Walton’s five day disappearance (encompassing the time he was alleged to have been kept aboard the spacecraft) would lead to a series of lie detector tests, and even an examination of the payphone Walton claimed to have called for help from upon his return which, interestingly, bore none of Walton’s fingerprints. The convolution surrounding Walton’s odd disappearance has for decades stirred speculation over what may actually have happened during the time he was missing. Is there any possibility that Walton indeed had a close encounter, but instead of with an alien technology, perhaps some kind of naturally occurring earthbound phenomena?
I have always felt that if indeed extraterrestrial contact is plausible, Walton's case may be one of the most likely instances of such. But could there have been contributing strange phenomena that occurred the night of his disappearance in 1975 involving something other than UFOs and aliens? I began to wonder about this, not in an effort to debunk any of Walton's claims, but merely to try and draw parallels between two quite different kinds of phenomena and see what common ground may remain present. To begin with, let's take a brief look at the initial story for the sake of review:
The night of his disappearance, Walton and his coworkers had been clearing trees in a forested area of Arizona late in the day, and upon leaving the site in a pickup truck, they encountered what they described as a 20ft wide and 8ft high glowing disk hovering over a clearing. The excited Walton leaped from the vehicle and ran directly under the craft, which he later described as having made “strange rumbling sounds.” From this vantage, a bright light was cast from the object onto the ground below, encompassing Walton. Suddenly, after the craft appeared to “wobble in midair”, Walton described hearing a “crackling or popping sound,” followed immediately by a “numbing shock… like a high voltage electrocution.” Walton’s friends, who remained behind in the truck, described seeing a bluish green “bolt” of light lift him into the air, knocking him several feet backwards. Assuming Walton had been killed, the terrified crew left the site with haste, placing a fair distance between themselves and the site of the encounter before crashing their pickup truck into a mound of dirt. Upon gathering themselves, they had the presence of mind to go back and search for their fallen comrade, but found the clearing empty with sign of neither Walton nor the craft they had witnessed.
After five days, Walton reappeared amidst great confusion, and his account of awaking in a room of “fetus-like aliens” aboard an advanced spacecraft only added to the speculation as to what had actually happened. Several years after the fact, Walton maintains that what happened is true and accurate, in spite of the mixed results of two separate polygraph tests he agreed to take, as well as other speculation surrounding the investigation. At the heart of the matter, we’re left with Walton’s astounding testimony of contact with beings from someplace far away, but could there be other explanations for what occurred?
What seems especially interesting to me about Walton’s own account was the crackling and popping he heard just before being struck by the “numbing shock” which incapacitated him. Whatever the circumstances may have been, this does sound reminiscent of electrical activity similar to a massive static discharge. It also brings to mind an interesting encounter I came across which was reported on the opposite side of the United States in the Lineville Gorge of Western North Carolina, home of an elusive phenomenon called the Brown Mountain Lights. These strange illuminations have long been referred to categorically as “ghost lights”, as they often appear as strange glowing orbs of light appearing to hover above the flat ridge of Brown Mountain, making the adjacent 181 overlook a popular vantage point for those hoping to catch a glimpse of the eerie phenomenon.
There are a handful of people who, over the years, have claimed to get an even closer look at the lights, and at least one man claims to have touched one, as described in a report received by author and researcher Joshua P. Warren. Joshua is president of the L. E. M. U. R. research team (of which I am an investigator), and is a Western North Carolina native who has studied the lights with great interest for over a decade. He believes the lights are most likely plasmas similar to ball lightning; evidence of which is indicated in many ways in the story he shared with me from his notes taken during the conversation he had with his contact, who claimed to have come into close proximity with one of the lights.
On Friday July 13th, 2001, Josh spoke with Tommie Hunter, a Western North Carolina resident who two decades earlier on an August or early September evening had visited the 181 overlook. It was particularly misty, and a light drizzling rain fell. Hunter described how at one point two bright, luminescent objects, each about three times the size of a basket ball, emerged from the valley between the overlook and the adjacent Brown Mountain Ridge, bobbing along slowly "about the speed of a lightning bug." The lights would seem to follow him if he moved away from them, but also move away from him when pursued, so once Hunter allowed one of the orbs to drift close enough to him, he touched it, which caused a painful shock.
Josh also spoke to Tommie's sister Roberta, who along with several other family members had joined Tommie and his wife Catherine the same evening at the 181 overlook. She agreed that Tommy had indeed touched one of the orbs, which she described as having shone "as bright as the moon". Prior to the moment of contact, several of the children who were present there with the family had wanted badly to touch one of the lights, but were not allowed. It was after this had been discussed among the relatives that Hunter approached the nearest light himself and touched it, which caused an instantaneous shock upon contact. Roberta mentioned that the orb dimmed slightly when in contact with Hunter, which according to Warren must have "created a different ground for the energy, changing the brightness of the light." Once Hunter retracted his hand from the object, it illuminated again.
Warren noted many interesting aspects about this encounter in L. E. M. U. R.’s Report on the Cause of the Mysterious Brown Mountain Lights (which can be read in its entirety here). “At such a close range, eyewitnesses say the lights move away from them when approached, but often follow them when the viewer moves away, displaying a clear interaction between the viewer and the sphere.” Referencing the work of Dr. David Hackett of the Oakridge National Observatory in Tennessee, Warren also said that “plasmas would indeed interact with nearby observers since the plasma field would be influenced by the field of a human body.”
Of the electrical shock Hunter claimed to receive, Warren noted that “the light did not dissipate, but simply moved away” according to the witness, where in traditional electric theory a discharge should have taken place, diminishing the electric potential of the “source” (which, in this case, was the free-floating light he touched). If indeed the lights are plasmas, Warren suggests that such lights are not truly self contained, but are simply the only visible portion of “large columns of intersecting electrical discharges following pathways partially determined by electromagnetic nodes” stemming from beneath the ground. Could this explain how the ghostly light might have remained instead of dissipating after shocking this poor fella, suggesting that his “close encounter” was with nothing more than a very elusive (and naturally occurring) phenomenon known as ball lightning?
To even further complicate the matter, I am suddenly reminded of one of the unique physical 
properties regarding a laboratory experiment L. E. M. U. R. conducted with NASA scientist and inventor Charles Yost several years ago. In an attempt to recreate the conditions that cause the illuminations on Brown Mountain, we were able to produce a single, hovering blob of purple plasma within a vacuum chamber. To our surprise, the plasma we produced (see photo to the right, courtesy of Joshua P. Warren) eerily resembled a wavering, saucer-like object! So if, when conditions are right, globes of light or even “plasma saucers” like we produced in the lab might somehow manifest in nature; and if indeed these plasmas (being electrical in nature) could easily emit a numbing spark, then how likely is it that Travis Walton may actually have been “attacked” by a naturally occurring electrical phenomenon himself?
Altogether, we’re still left with Walton’s testimony regarding the actual alien contact while he was presumed a missing person for the five days after his encounter. However, this too might be consistent with the effect an electrical shock might have had on Walton. In their book UFOs and Ufology: The First 50 Years, authors Paul Devereux and Peter Brookesmith said of Walton’s encounter that “What is described about the encounter itself is consistent with electric shock caused by close proximity to a glowing plasma, causing an initial brief mental blackout and seizures within Walton’s temporal cortex with concomitant hallucinations, partial amnesia, mental confusion and further blackout periods… Could Travis Walton have wandered about disoriented for five days in the woods, alternately hallucinating and lapsing into unconsciousness, oblivious to night-time cold and hunger?” They go on to mention that “it is known that people can perform quite complex tasks such as driving a vehicle for quite long periods while in an unconscious, entranced state. But what exactly happened in Travis Walton’s case must remain an open question.”
Similarly, the 1988 British case dubbed “The Quantock Horror” involved a man named Tony Burfield who, while taking photographs on the Quantock hills in Somerset, England, claimed to have been approached by a huge flying craft with “bat-like wings”, which he photographed. Investigators described the object in the photos as resembling a hang-glider, but this wouldn’t prevent later “attacks” by little men who would appear in Burfield’s home, shooting at him with “painful rays”. In reality, Burfield, who lived close to a row of high tension electricity pylons, suffered from an extreme allergic sensitivity to various aspects of his environment, especially those involving electrical equipment. According to British researcher Albert Budden, this likely stemmed from a devastating electrical accident which Burfield later revealed had occurred in his past, also noting that electrical accidents are often common among those reporting abductions and similar phenomena occurring in their lives. Again with Burfield, we’ve seen a glimpse as to what effects large amounts of electricity can have on the brain.
Whatever the circumstances, I’ve always personally been fascinated with the case of Travis Walton; I still consider it the likeliest to be true of all the best known abduction reports. However, from time to time it’s healthy to also consider the alternatives, for if they bring any weight to the opposing argument, we may need to re-think the very nature of the alien abduction phenomena as a whole; especially until we’ve further explored the extent to which our environment can affect the human mind and body.
One final technical note: I'd like to give a very special thanks to Lesley, the blog-master of this fine new endeavor by UFO Magazine, for inviting me to add my two cents on this blog from time to time. That being said, cheers!
-Micah A. Hanks
Micah
11 Comments
1 Reference
References (1)
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Response: Plasma in the Sky?The UFO Mag Blog has an interesting analysis of the Travis Walton abduction case, which inspired Fire in the Sky, looking at the parallels between this and an account from someone who touched a "ghost light".On Travis Walton:The night of his dis
Reader Comments (11)
Micah,
Here is perhaps another piece of the puzzle. Building on your premise, I would like to mention a Hopi god that supposedly still visits the Mesas in Arizona, not far from where Walton had his experience. The god's name is Masau'u, deity of fire, the underworld (which paradoxically includes the stars), this earth plane, and death. He is associated with the ball lightning, plasma discharge, or whatever you want to call it. These blazing orbs frequently dance across the mesas, which means that Masau'u is near.
To see a rather disturbing artistic rendition of Masau'u, go to my website: http://www.theorionzone.com/outline.htm
As you can see, this creature looks very much like a Grey alien. In fact, Hopi the root-word mas (first syllable of the god's name) literally means "gray."
I've heard Walton on the radio, and he seems credible, articulate, and level-headed. I don't believe he had just imagined the whole experience. But these electrically charged lights appear with just the sort of creature that Walton apparently saw. Did the fiery orbs that accompany Masau'u literally shock him to the point that he concocted the rather elaborate scenario of his abduction? Is there a connection?
I have a different perspective related to this encounter.
What if...
M. Travis, without use any judgment, ran toward the ETV, and got electrocuted by the large energy differential between ground and Craft. We are talking here of millions of volts.
What if...
seeing this, our space brothers picked him up, conducted CPR on him, etc... and took the rest of the 5 days to filter his blood of the burned cells so he could get back on feet and back to normal life?
This is more likely what happened, not the hollywood version you are depicting in this article.
Have you considered that this is what really happened?
Gary and Richard,
These are both VERY unique perspectives! The "Masau'a" character Gary mentions is very interesting, especially as it appears to hint at a Native American tradition which might be linked to the "gray" aliens. Very neat stuff!
I also agree that what Richard proposes could be a likely possibility, especially if what Travis Walton's brother Duane supposed at the time of his brother's dissapearance is correct. As stated in an interview with Phoenix UFO investigator Fred Sylvanus, Duane believed that the ETs wouldn't harm Travis because "they don't harm people." This is interesting because the statement, along with other testimony from the two brothers, confirms that they had been interested in UFOs prior to Walton's abduction. Either way, what you gentlemen propose are likely alternatives which not only incorporate the natural electrical phenomenon to the story, but also seem far more plausible than the hollywood approach.
On that note, in a specific reference to the film Fire in the Sky, keep in mind that what ocurred on board the spacecraft in the movie had little, if anything, to do with what Walton would actually describe about his encounter.
-Micah A. Hanks
Micah,
I am very interested to hear about your research into plasma and its relationship to the UFO phenomenon. I think this is a very fruitful line of exploration and believe that our knowledge of electro-magnetism and its effects are very limited and not well understood. Kudos to you there.
However, I do not find this a compelling explanation for the Travis Walton case. It seems like a situation of manipulating the case to fit your proposed evidence rather than a cogent explanation. It fails to account for the missing time or the missing corpus delicti: Walton himself.
Asking: "Could Travis Walton have wandered about disoriented for five days in the woods, alternately hallucinating and lapsing into unconsciousness, oblivious to night-time cold and hunger?” at least for me, stretches credulity to the breaking point. Honestly, it does not make sense.
I would like to reiterate that I think plasma is a good explanation for many UFO sightings. In fact, it might fit my own single sighting back in the '70s. I saw a luminous object in the late evening sky. To my eye it did have a feeling of solidity which does not always seem to be the case with plasma. From your photo it appears to be more translucent in appearance.
However, in evaluating cases it is always a good idea to remember Occam's Razor: "Given two explanations of equal merit, priority must always be given to the simplest explanation as it has fewer hurdles to overcome." Plasma does not account for Walton's disappearance and his testimony about what happened to him during that time, as limited as it is, with your theory can only be attributed to "hallucination". What did happen to Walton is indeed a mystery and I still feel it is one of the most compelling cases out there.
Having talked to Walton myself many years ago, he struck me as a well grounded, rational guy. But I don't feel that plasma fits his story very well. To quote Johnny Cochran, "If it doesn't fit, you must acquit."
Mike Good
Dear Mike,
Again we have a UFO researchers dismissing the witnesses testimony to put forth not only a theory but a very old and debunked theory first introduced by, no class, Phil class. The theory was dismissed at the time and is no more valid today. Now I don't know what you think about giving a polygraph test to someone who recently abducted without and counseling for trauma is absurd. He was feed a bottle of by two counselors the authorities shipped him to see if they were nuts. These train professionals fed them alcohol to loosen his tongue and then called a liar because Travis said his family had witnesses more flying saucers.
The last and most successful lie detector test was done by a skeptic and Travis and two friends who were scored in the 90 percentile range some of the highest scores you could get.
By the way a massive search was done for Watson implying dogs no trace was found till he showed up.
Joseph Capp
UFO Media Matters
Non-Commercial Blog
Hi Mike!
Excellent Johnny Cochran quote! Indeed, I am obviously intrigued by the way plasmas may interconnect with the UFO type activity, and personally, I also believe that Walton's testimony (though I've never met him myself) is hard to discount given the various circumstances of his disapearance.
The portion of the article that mentions "Could Travis Walton have wandered about disoriented for five days in the woods, alternately hallucinating and lapsing into unconsciousness, oblivious to night-time cold and hunger?” was actually a suggestion presented by Paul Devereux and Peter Brooksmith in their book UFOs and Ufology: The First 50 Years back in 1997, but since it and the portion of the excerpt preceding it had to do with plasmas, I included them in this article. I personally find it hard to believe that Walton could have wandered for five days in the November cold if he had been that badly disoriented, without being found by search teams with trained dogs known to have been in the area. Though no bruising was found on Walton's back and right shoulder (the point of impact according to his brother and the friends present with him), in spite of the distance Walton said he had been thrown after being struck by the object, at very least some minor injury and disorientation still would be expected; probably enough to keep him grounded long enough for his friends to find him upon their return! Since this wasn't the case, it seems more likely (to me) that something indeed removed him from the scene...
Another interesting point was the fact that the Walton brothers described "geometric shapes and patterns" along the outer edges of the craft. This doesn't sound consistent with the object that struck Travis being an actual plasma itself, either. Still, I think it's interesting to note the saucer-like shape of the plasma produced in our experiments, as well as many of the luminescent properties deascribed in UFO reports which might correlate various aspects of the encounters with plasma phenomenon. As stated early in my article, my interest is "not in an effort to debunk any of Walton's claims, but merely to try and draw parallels between two quite different kinds of phenomena and see what common ground may remain present."
Great comments gentlemen!
-Micah
Great article, Micah. The Travis Walton case has always intrigued me, but I've never been able to reach any kind of firm opinion about it. I find the plasma theory interesting - I once encountered a small, bluish, fuzzy disc-shaped object, that flew right past my head, as I walked along outdoors. It crackled as it did so, giving me a jolt like static electricity, only much stronger. A man walking ahead of me also got jolted by it. When I say small - we're talking no bigger than a frisby. I'm certain it was some kind of electrical phenomenon, and if such a small object could cause a nasty jolt - what could a large one do? Intriguing stuff.
I have seen 'ball' lightning. It was many years ago over an area known as Brierley Hill. The entire area has always had curious UFO sightings. The geographical fault theory producing plasma effects has been discussed for years. I don't understand the physics but I wouldn't rule out the concept.It does not invalidate the idea that close encounters are not contact with other forms of life either. Although I am fairly convinced that most 3rd or 4th kind of encounters (that seem genuine) are some form of Psi event, if not 'extraterrestrial' then 'ultraterrestrial' or as J.B.S Haldane said (I paraphrase badly) "Queerer than we CAN imagine".However, it is a strong possibility that a lot of UFO's are some form of natural geological plasma event.
In the 1980's, we lived in Ohio ,in the country,with about 6 other houses nearby.During and after thunder storms,we experienced odd happenings. We would hear the whistling sounds,as you would hear on cartoons,like bombs falling, Looking outside,we'd see balls of fire running along the telephone and electrical wires. The VCR would turn on,run through all the options on the display screen,and turn back off. The " touch on "lamps,on my end tables turned on,the 3-way bulbs giving varying levels of light. My then 11 year old daughter came screaming out of her room one evening,saying the horizontal antenna on her boom box radio raised slowly straight up,then fell down,as if released. This was some hours before an expected storm.We called the electric company,who came down and connected some recording instruments to our house wiring. A week later,they said all was normal. I asked what it was all about, they laughed and said "Call Ghostbusters!"
At 11 am one ,sunny Sunday morning,after a particularly bad thunderstorm the night before,my daughter,neighbor,and husband were sitting at the kitchen table,having coffee. I got up,and walked toward the refridgerator,to get some more milk for the coffee.As I reached out for the door handle ,a basketball sized orange-reddish ball of fire suddenly appeared right in front of my face.I froze,with it inches from my face. I could see the colors swirling aroung the ball,as if it were on fire. Seconds later,it exploded,leaving my ears ringing,and the smell reminisent of the little red paper "caps",we put in our play guns,as children.As you can imagine,my neighbor Dave thought it was something out of the Twilight Zone.
We had another incident,on a Sunday afternoon,in our livingroom. We had been outside,for a cookout,with all the in-laws,and other relatives. A storm rolled in,we all went inside. The touch lamps started going through their light show,as usual. A bluish swirling ball,similiar to the orange one,appeared in the living room It remained suspended and stationary, for about 20-30 seconds,completely horrifying everyone.My mother in law started praying. It exploded with such a noise,our ears were ringing. We had spots in front of our eyes,like the old style flash bulbs would cause.It also left the gunpowder-like smell. The oddest thing was this. My husband was in the bathroom,with the door open,washing his hands.It was a ranch house,with the traffic pattern making a circle,through the livimg room,dining room,kitchen,and past the bedrooms and bathroom.The bathroom was at the opposite end of the living room. When it exploded,my husband saw the flash. I thought light didn't bend around corners....can't understand that.
One other observation. When my daughter was 5,my parents took her to Disney World. She was sitting at a small table in the hotel room,coloring. A large round globe light hung on a chain,above the table.My father said the light rose up to the ceiling ,then dropped,exploding the light bulb inside.
My daughter now lives in a house haunted by a high school boy,who died while living there ,of leukemia. Both her and her 8 year old son have seen him,and they experience many electrical disturbances,especially with the TVs.I witnessed this a few months ago. When my daughter young,she had small seizures,and was given phenobarbital for many years. The doctors at Rainbow Baby and Childrens Hospital,in Cleveland,said her EEG read out were very abnormal,and said she should be having severe grand mal seizures often,which she didn't. So what's this all about?
My grandfather once saw ball lightning in the woods of Vermont.It was scary. But he knew it was ball lightning. Had he touched it he would have died. Why? BECAUSE IT'S BALL LIGHTING FOR THE LOVE OF--!!!
If one takes the Walton case as genuine and accepts the testimony of the alleged witnesses, including their agreement as to the location of the encounter with a domed discoid object,the natural-plasma hypothesis as an explanation of that object, per se, seems all too strained.
How so? Photos of the alleged encounter site and illustrations by one of the witnesses, inform us that there were tall pine trees all around, and quite near to where the object was allegedly located. Such trees make ideal grounding devices for plasma in the air. In that environment, it seems highly unlikely that a natural plasma (regardless of its internal dynamics) the size of the reported object could exist long enough for the witnesses to see it, talk about it,and then for Travis to exit the truck and walk nearly underneath it.
Furthermore, if the thing were a natural plasma, the bright phenomenon that seemingly came from it and which allegedly knocked Travis off his feet, being a plasma, would more readily have discharged through the air to nearby pine trees and limbs extending into the area (based on site photo). Those trees are far-better grounded (roots in the ground) than would Travis have been, with his thick-soled footwear.
The late atmospheric physicist, James E. McDonald, so conclusively showed that a plasma blob could not account for the ~ 19 foot-long object that landed (with occupants) at Socorro, N.M.on April 24, 1964, that Phil Klass, proponent of that failed hypothesis, 'tucked tail' and retreated to an equally implausible hypothesis. [For a thoroughly detailed account of the Socorro case, see my 211-page book entitled Socorro Saucer in a Pentagon Pantry, Blueapple Books, 1976, ISBN: 0-917092-00-7, Library of Congress card # 76-13768.]
In July, 1978, my project's mobile UFO tracking lab crew and I took time off from a very successful field operation in west Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, to interview Travis Walton in Arizona. Travis is clearly a very intelligent individual, and I am confident that he and the crew with him on November 5, 1975, would ever have misinterpreted a plasma blob for the highly structured object reported.
Coincidentally, on Thursday November 16, 1989, at 17:00 to 17:01 hours (That time is not a guess, and is very accurate.), while standing right in front of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's administration building (Building 8) I saw and got five daylight 20-X (using a 1,000 mm lens on a 35 mm film camera) slide photos of a discoid object that had a rather remarkable resemblance to the object described by Travis Walton and crew. However, the object I saw and photographed had a 'thickness' (as measured directly through the axis of radial symmetry) which was somewhat greater, when measured against the object diameter, than that illustrated in accounts of the Walton case.
During my photo # 1, the object was approaching Goddard Space Flight Center on an instrument-measured magnetic azimuth of 255.5 degrees (245.5 true azimuth), at about a 7 degree elevation. It gained angular elevation during the approach. Those data are based on measurements taken next day, Friday, November 17, using a Suunto [The double "u" is NOT a typo.] Azimuth-Finding Compass and an angular-elevation measuring instrument.
When first seen and photographed, the object's surface shone brightly, as though covered by a laminar plasma.
However, right after photo #3, the glowing material appeared to begin leaving the object's surface and contouring what looked as though it might have been a magnetic torus (a donut-shaped area), with (as measured from photo # 5) an angular diameter of ~ 10 times that of the disc, itself!
In that photo, with seeming laminar plasma removed from its surface and visibly contouring the surrounding torus (of whatever nature), one can see that the disc's upper and lower flanges are made up of adjacent panels that remind me very much of illustrations of the object reported in Walton case. Were the seeming flange panels I photographed only plasma somehow looking like adjacent panels? In my opinion, no way! Neither were my eyes nor the film hallucinating due to an alleged strong magnetic field of a plasma blob. :-)
I certainly do NOT allege that the five daylight photos (taken within the Washington, D.C. Beltway) confirm the Walton case, but just feel that the similarity between what was recorded in my November 16, 1998 photos and what was described in the Walton case are worth noting. Personally, I'm not 100% sold on the Walton case, even though I found the 1978 interview with him highly persuasive, and it seems to me that study of possible correlations (if they are not just 'copy-cat cases) could prove meaningful.
Ray Stanford,
Author of the 1976 book on the 1964 Socorro CE III case, and still recording UFOs and their physical effects with instruments (cameras, magnetometer, and gravimeter), at age 70, as of June 2008. For the last two decades I have deliberately sequestered myself away, for study of the propulsion-diagnostic UFO films and electronic recordings my project and I have obtained. Results are to be published as soon as the best publication method is ascertained. As a result, I'm presently best-known for my research on the Early Cretaceous dinosaur (and other vertebrate) tracks and trackways of Maryland.