What Was It? Strange Winged Creature in Arizona

I received the following email from J.B.C. in Mesa, Arizona. They describe an unknown winged creature that was perched at their home. Tell us what you think this cryptid may be:

Hello, Lon and all;

I enjoy reading your blog, though I am not the type who sees a UFO or spiritual entity every time there is a shadow or flash, I am open-minded and respectful of others. I have had my share of strange experiences, and hardships, but now I am a happily "normal" wife and mother just about to turn 30.

The experience I'd like to share with you happened in the summer of 2002. I was 20, still living at home in a rental in east Mesa, Arizona with my 18 year-old brother and my mother. As you may know, Arizona has a typically 6 month long scorching, dry summer climate, and being a transplant from beautiful Northern Cali it was hard for us to adapt.

Anyhow, it was a hot summer night in late May or early June. My brother had just graduated high school and I was working full time during the day. We spent our evening talking and laughing and playing music, it really was a memorably enjoyable night. At about 10:30 I noticed that the front porch light had again burned out, as it had been doing for about 18 months prior to that. In fact, both of the lights over the driveway and 3 lights in our backyard were continually ceasing to function and it seamed I was always buying bulbs and expensive strobe light bulbs. I don't know if this is some how connected to what happened next.

First I must add that our front door was set back into the house with the garage protruding. Our front yard was much deeper than the backyard and was over shadowed by 3 velvet mesquite and a china berry tree, and various species of cholla cacti. So the street light did little to penetrate the den of darkness.

I turned the lamp light to my bedroom which was really an office nook right next to the front door, which had a large latticed picture window with run-of-the-mill blinds. I opened the blinds and the light flooded the wall of the garage. What I saw made my skin crawl. There on the stucco wall was some "thing". It was only about 10 to 12 feet from where I was standing. The only way to describe it was that it looked like a giant headless moth. I called my brother over excitedly. I clearly remember our conversation.

"What do you suppose that is?"

"I have no idea! It must be a bat of some sort."

"But we only have micro bats here in Arizona. And I have always heard that bats hang upside down."

"I guess it could be a giant moth. We do live in the desert."

"I thought moths were attracted to light. The lights are all burnt out again".

We talked for a moment and stood next to the glass panes adjacent the front door, the bedroom light illuminating all the while, and the "thing" did not stir or move. We decided it was about 18 inches to 2 feet long from blunt top to winged bottom. It was very clear yet very dark, almost black, no antennae visible. It hung on the wall like a moth but was about the size of a medium-sized fruit bat, which I believe only exist in Asia? It was about five or six feet off the ground. My mother came and had a look and shuddered and refused to stand near the door. We were both young and curious and my brother said "Let's go have a look at it then." We swung the door and security screen open and he took a step over the door jam. I was suddenly struck with an unreal, unearthly fear and grabbed his shoulder. He looked back at me and later said I had the most wholly terrified look on my face that he had ever seen. I am afraid and tingly even writing this. Without a word he stepped back inside and we locked both doors and closed the blinds and camped out in the living room, only going to sleep after several thoughtful conversations.

The very next morning at sun up I went out to the wall with a tape measure and my brother and mom stood at the door and directed me as to where and how high and how long this thing had been planted. There was no trace of anything, the dust on the stucco looked the same all around, no residue or anything. When they were both satisfied with the positioning I read the tape measure: 28 inches. My mother walked back into the house and has absolutely refused to speak of it since.

My brother and I are both keenly interested in animal/insect/plant life via books, and media, and I have taken an MCC course in Southwest biology, and neither of us have ever seen or heard of anything matching its description. My husband was raised here and said the only thing he could think of that size was an owl, but this was no owl. What was it? Perhaps it is a real animal we could not identify. Has someone had a similar experience or know what it could be? We are not exaggerating people, we are level-headed and analytical. Thank you for your time.

Best wishes,
J.B.C., Mesa, Arizona

NOTE: OK folks...any idea what this was? Possibly a young thunderbird or other cryptid? Described as headless...possibly a juvenile Mothman? Tell me what you think...Lon

The Travis Walton Abduction - Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, Arizona

Summary: In November 1975, a group of six tree-trimmers were driving home from work in a truck in the Sitgreave-Apache National Forest in Arizona, USA. The driver stopped the truck when he noticed that a flying saucer was hovering about fifteen feet above some nearby trees. Travis Walton approached the craft on foot, despite the objections of his workmates. He was then knocked to the ground by a blue and white light. When the men in the truck saw this, they were terrified and sped off down the road leaving him for dead. Once they had calmed down, they returned to that spot and couldn't find any sign of Travis or the flying saucer. Five days later, Travis was returned to earth wondering what had happened to him for the past few days.

Incident: On November 5, 1975, six young woodcutters, along with their employer, were working in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, engaged in a tree-thinning contract for the U. S. Forest Service. The forest is located in east central Arizona, and the work area is fifteen miles from Heber.

The story begins at approximately 6:10 P.M., when the men were heading home in a seven-man crew-cab truck. Traveling along a bull-dozed trail, one of the men sighted a gold-colored glow through the thickets. As they rounded a right-hand turn, they saw the source of the glow - a structural object hovering approximately fifteen feet above a clearing and a scant ninety feet or so from the viewers.

Travis Walton, twenty-two, was sitting on the right- hand passenger side of the front seat. When he saw the object, he called to Mike Rogers, the driver and boss of the crew, to stop. Hardly waiting for the truck to come to a complete halt, Walton jumped out and, at a fast walk, approached a woodpile (stacked by the thinners) to get a closer look. As his fellow employees called for him to be careful and come back, he stood and looked at the object, which was at a 60-degree elevation from his position. It had the shape of two "pie pans" or shallow bowls placed rim to rim. A "beeping" sound was heard by all.

Walton stepped back a couple of paces, intending to vacate the vicinity of the craft when his friends were startled to see a blue-green beam shoot out from the bottom of the craft, striking Walton in the upper area of his body, lifting him from the ground with his arms out stretched, and flinging him back to the ground.

Thinking he and the others were in danger, Rogers restarted the truck and left the area. A quarter of a mile away, he stopped and the six men looked back. They saw a light rise from the ground and streak into the north east, originating in the area where they had left Travis. Thinking it was the object, Rogers turned the truck around and drove back to the clearing.

For fifteen minutes the men searched for Walton, covering the near area and calling, but to no avail. Rogers then decided to drive to Heber, the nearest town, and report Walton's disappearance to the sheriff. On the way, they debated what they should tell, doubting that the truth would be believed, but, unable to come up with an acceptable explanation, they told what they had experienced.

On November 10, the six men were given polygraph tests which established that they had not harmed Walton (it had been implied that they had done away with Travis and hidden his remains, despite the fact that Rogers was his best friend of many years standing) and that they had, actually, seen a UFO.

On the night of November 10, at approximately midnight, a call came in to the Grant Neff residence (Mrs. Neff was Travis' sister and at the time the only Walton in Snowflake, Arizona, with a telephone). It was Travis, sounding confused and disoriented, saying he was at a phone booth in Heber and in terrible pain. Neff went to Mrs. Kellett's (Travis' mother) home, picked up Travis' brother Duane, who had come up from Phoenix when notified of his brother's disappearance, and drove at breakneck speed to Heber, where they found Travis slumped in a phone booth. He had a five-day growth of beard and appeared thin but was otherwise apparently all right.

Within hours, Duane drove Travis to his home in Phoenix, intent on keeping him away from the horde of reporters, which had plagued the Walton family during Travis' disappearance, and to obtain medical treatment.

For a short time, Duane Walton was frustrated by the representative of a local UFO group, who sent him to a pseudomedical hypnotist, but he was eventually contacted by the AERIAL PHENOMENA RESEARCH ORGANIZATION (APRO), which called in a team of medical experts.

Ultimately, Walton was given the Minnesota Multi Phase Personality Inventory (MMPI), Rorschach (commonly called Inkblot) Polygraph and Psychological Stress Evaluator tests, all of which established that he had told the truth as he knew it. All of these tests were conducted and interpreted by experts.

Unfortunately, Walton only recalls an hour or two of his five-day absence. He claims to have awoke on a table in a room which he first assumed was a hospital. The ceiling seemed low, there was an oval-shaped metallic-colored apparatus on his chest (his denim jacket and shirt were pulled up), and he was in considerable pain. The "air" in the room seemed oppressive, i.e., warm and damp. It took a few minutes to get his wits about him, and when he became fully aware of his surroundings, he realized he was in no ordinary hospital. Around the "table" on which he reclined were three strange creatures-strange, because they were less than five feet tall, very pale, with large, domed heads, large eyes, small nose, mouth, and ears, and their bodies, encased in tannish orange, seamless jumpsuits, and were very thin.

Upon seeing them, Walton struggled to his feet, and when they approached him with their fingernail-less hands outstretched, he grabbed a rodlike object from an adjacent table and prepared to defend himself. After flailing about with the instrument for a moment or two, Walton was surprised to see the trio file out of the door and turn to the right.

After the creatures left, Walton also exited the room, turning left. Following a curved corridor, looking for a way out, he found a circular room with a chair (which was too small for him but nevertheless he sat in it) with a "screen" on each arm. He touched a lever and the "stars" on the "ceiling" above seemed to move, so he moved the lever back to its original position and decided against further experimentation.

Shortly, a "man," approximately six feet tall, with brown hair and strange golden-brown eyes, appeared at the door which Travis had entered. He beckoned to Travis, and Travis went to him, babbling question after question, none of which were answered. The "man" said nothing, took Travis by the arm, led him out into the corridor or hall, to the right, then stopped, whereupon a section of the wall opened. He had not touched anything. They walked into a small room, the door behind them closed, and seconds later a door opened in front of them. They then went down an incline (apparently out of the enclosure Walton had been in) where Walton found him self in a large enclosure resembling a quarter of a cylinder. There were three or four oval-shaped metallic objects parked there (the same apparent metallic substance as everything else he had seen). He was led by the "man" (who was clad in a blue "jumpsuit" with a clear "helmet") through the enclosure, to another door into a room where there were three other human-appearing individuals-two men and a woman. They resembled the first, except that, although they wore the same clothing, they were without helmets.

They gestured to him to get upon a table. He resisted, but they eventually succeeded in their efforts and Travis reclined; an apparatus resembling an oxygen mask with a black ball attached was placed over his face and he lost consciousness.

Travis awoke about midnight about a quarter mile west of Heber, Arizona. He was lying on his stomach and raised up to watch the curved, metallic hull of an aircraft taking off straight up, reflecting the yellow stripe of the dividing line of the highway below.

What did Travis Walton see? What did he experience? Tests indicate that he has related his experience truthfully. His book The Walton Experience (1978) will tend to illuminate the reader and enable him to make his own judgment. - Coral Lorenzen - APRO

*****

The following report on the final polygraph examination of Travis Walton was actually sponsored by a skeptic, Jerry Black. The test was performed with the latest state of the art equipment, by Cy Gilson, the most highly respected polygraph expert:

4 February 1993

Mr. Jerry Black
(Address)
Blanchester, Ohio

Dear Mr. Black,

On February 4, 1993, a polygraph examination was administered to Mr. Travis Walton. The purpose of this examination was to determine whether or not Mr. Walton was being truthful in his statement about seeing a UFO and being abducted by the UFO plus other facts surrounding the abduction.

During the pretest interview, Mr. Walton said he had worked for Mike Rogers intermittently for about six years on a seasonal basis. He never socialized with any of the crew.

On November 5, 1975, they had worked a little later than usual trying to meet the contract commitment. By the time they were driving back to town, the sun had gone down but there was some light, like twilight.

As they were driving, he could see a glimmer of light in the trees ahead. At first he thought it may be a downed airplane. The light was unusual. As they neared a clearing he saw the object he called a UFO. This object will be referred to as a UFO throughout this report.

As the truck came to a stop, Mr. Walton got out. Believing it may take off, he walked briskly towards the UFO but slowed his pace before reaching it. He described it as being round and hovering about 20 feet above the ground. He did not go underneath it but stood there looking up at it. He said the UFO started to wobble slightly and make a noise. Mr. Walton said the noise was like a low rumble that developed into a higher pitch that seemed to increase in frequency. At this point he became afraid and decided to go back to the truck. He recalls being hit with an electrifying type of shock that stunned him, leaving him unconscious.

He recalls he slowly regained consciousness. He found himself in a small room that was damp or humid. He had pain throughout his body but mostly in his chest and head. He then saw three creatures he described as being about four feet tall with large, dark eyes. He was lying on some type of table. As these creatures approached him he got off the table. There was some type of shelf near the wal1 where he found a straight pipe­like object lying on it. He describes it as being round like a piece of pipe but lightweight. He cannot recall if it was solid or hollow. He picked it up and started to lash out at the creatures to keep them at bay. The creatures left the room by an open doorway, turning right.

Mr. Walton walked to that doorway, looked down a hall and he went left. He walked into another room, trying to find an exit from this enclosure. He did not know if he was in a spaceship or a building. A human­like creature came into the room, took him by the arm, leading him to another very large room where several more human­like creatures were. By this time most of the pain was gone. He was forced down on a table and had a mask, similar to an oxygen mask, put on his face. He does not remember anything else until he awoke next to the road, just outside Heber. As he regained consciousness, he looked up, seeing the UFO or one similar to the original one, hovering overhead. As he looked up at it, the UFO sped off into the sky.

Mr. Walton said his story is true. He said accusations made about him are lies. He had not been on any drugs of any kind. He was not hiding out somewhere on the Gibson ranch. He urinated in a jar and this sample was given to Dr. Kandell later that same day. Mr. Walton denies he conspired with Mr. Rogers to perpetrate a hoax to help him get out of the Turkey Springs contract with the Forestry Service.

Two series of questions were asked to cover all the areas we believe were important.

The relevant questions asked and the answers given are as follows:


Series #1:

Question #R1:

On November 5, 1975, in the forest area called Turkey Springs, did you see a large glowing object hovering in the air?

Answer: YES

Question #R2:

While you were standing near that UFO­like object, did you believe you were struck by an energy source emitted from that large object?

Answer: YES

Question #R3:

After regaining consciousness in a small, humid room, did you see nonhuman creatures with large dark eyes?

Answer: YES

Question #R4:

Did you conspire with your brother Duane or anyone else or act alone to stage a hoax about your UFO abduction?

Answer: NO


Series #2:

Question #R1:

Between November 1 and 11, 1975, did you use any drugs, either legal or illegal?

Answer: NO

Question #R2:

Between November 5 and 10, 1975, were you hiding anywhere on the Gibson ranch?

Answer: NO

Question #R3:

Was the urine sample given to Dr. Kandell on November 11, 1975, your first voided specimen following your UFO experience?

Answer: YES

Question #R4:

Was this UFO incident a conspiracy to help Mike Rogers get out of his Turkey Springs contract?

Answer: NO

-----

Mr. Walton's physiological responses were monitored during the presentation of these questions by means of a Scientific Assessment Technology's Computer, Model CAPS 700. The following responses were recorded on this instrument's strip chart: relative blood pressure; skin conductance; thoracic and abdominal respiration. Data from three presentations of these questions were respiration. Data obtained for each series, and were subject to numerical scoring and computer­based analysis.

The numerical score of Series #1 was +34. The numerical score of Series #2 was +26. In the system of numerical scoring developed and validated at the University of Utah, total numerical scoring of +6 or more is considered indications of truthfulness.

The computer­based analysis returned a posterior probability of truthfulness of .964 in the first series, and a .961 in the second series. These indicating that charts like these produced in each series, by Mr. Walton, are produced by truthful examinees 96% of the time.

Based on the numerical score of the polygraph charts and the computer based analysis, it is the opinion of this examiner that Mr. Walton was being truthful when he answered these relevant questions.

Sincerely,
Cy Gilson

-----

Thank you, Jerry Black! These examinations clear the air with a thoroughness, an utter finality, which can't be refuted. Cy Gilson used a widely practiced, extremely accurate, state­of­the­art method developed and perfected at the University of Utah. This involves a computerized monitoring and analysis of the tracings along with a point­scoring system of the charts applied by the examiner.

In summary: The computer put all three of us near the top of the range designated as conclusively truthful (almost no one ever achieves the theoretical maximum of 1.00), with me at .964 and .961, Mike at .990, and Allen at .993. On the numerical score I was first with +34 and +26 points, Mike had +31 points and Allen had +22 points. - Travis Walton

NOTE: here are a few links of interest: Fire In The Sky - Condensed Version and Sheriff’s Nephew Claims Travis Walton Hoax Well Known?

Sources:
www.ufoevidence.org
APRO
www.ufocasebook.com
www.altereddimensions.net
www.ufosonearth.com
www.educatinghumanity.com
www.travis-walton.com
www.archive.org
content.usatoday.com
alienabductionsexposed.com
BUFO