High Strange - Travis Walton

Episode Date: March 30, 2023

In 1975, a crew of loggers were heading home for the night when they saw a light through the trees. Six other men witnessed Travis Walton's abduction and brought it to the local sheriff. Want more? ...Our High Strange music playlist is now available exclusively on Apple Music. Visit the link in our show notes or go to apple.co/highstrangeplaylist  To access our book list, go to apple.co/highstrangebooks  To find us in Apple Maps, go to apple.co/highstrangeguide For ad-free listening and bonus content, subscribe to Tenderfoot+ now! Members get all episodes ad-free plus bonus content throughout the season. Sign up at apple.co/highstrange. For Spotify, Google, and other Android users, visit tenderfootplus.com. Follow along on social and the web: @highstrange on Instagram @highstrange on TikTok highstrange.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Whether you're doing a dance to your favorite artist in the office parking lot, or being guided into Warrior I in the break room before your shift, whether you're running on your Peloton tread at your mom's house while she watches the baby, or counting your breaths on the subway. Peloton is for all of us, wherever we are whenever we need it, download the free Peloton app today. Peloton app available through free tier, or paid subscription starting at $12.99 per month. High Strange is released weekly. Every Thursday, brought to you absolutely free. But if you want to binge the whole season, it's available right now on Apple Podcasts.
Starting point is 00:00:40 For all 10-or-foot-plus subscribers, you'll also get exclusive bonus episodes throughout the season. For more information, check also get exclusive bonus episodes throughout the season. For more information, check out the show notes. Enjoy the episode. We were headed home. We worked 30 miles from home, so it's a bit of a drive. We loaded up our equipment and the back of the truck there. Everybody's tired, so there was various conversations going on in the truck to here, to there like that. As we were jamsin along this little walking trail, I could see a glow through the trees up ahead. The whole clearing there had this really strange glow to it. Sort of a feel, I don't know, maybe there was some kind of electrical charge in the air, so I'm just had a really weird vibe to it.
Starting point is 00:01:33 It made things you see at work all day look really strange in this strange glow. We got to a point where we were past the thickest part of the growth and we could see the source of this life. Boom, Naramah as it was unmistakable. Welcome to High Strange. I traveled to Snowflake, Arizona to meet with a man named Travis Walton. In 1975, he was working with a logging crew deep in the woods outside of town when they encountered a flying saucer.
Starting point is 00:02:16 There were seven witnesses in the truck who all claimed to have seen the same thing. But the story only really begins there. Because immediately after their alleged UFO sighting, Travis Walden would go missing. For five whole days, all his co-workers were interrogated by police and under suspicion of murder. On the night of November 5th, 1975, as Travis and his crew were driving home, they noticed a bright light in the sky that lit up all the surrounding trees. And as they reached a clearing, the source of this light came into focus. Boom, there it was, it was just unmistakable. It was clearly a metallic disc, nothing between us and Ed.
Starting point is 00:03:04 Some indistinct glow suddenly becomes this craft hovering there. I yelled, Mike, stop the truck. And as soon as he stopped, I threw open the door, thinking this thing would just take off. It's just the real common thing. You get a glimpse of a wolf or a mountain lion or something, and you try to call the attention of the crew. It's gone before they came and turned their head.
Starting point is 00:03:27 I kind of had that feeling about it that it would just be gone before I got close. So I jumped out and started towards it. I just acted on impulse. It definitely alarmed the other guys. They were calling at me to get back in the truck. Most of them on your head. the other guys, they're calling at me to get back in the truck. What was going on in the head? I was just hoping it would take off before I got any closer.
Starting point is 00:03:52 It was a pale golden color, metallic. It's kind of like when you look at a television screen, it's a source of light, but at the same time, the light from the window is reflecting off of the screen. I could see the surrounding trees reflected off the surface. At the same time it was glowing. Guys were yelling at me to get back in the truck and swearing at me. Let's get the hell out of here.
Starting point is 00:04:20 I didn't want to act scared. I was trying to act brave, but I was terrified. The sound that was making was a very complex mixture of tones. There was a high pitched frequency, and there was a blow-throbbing sort of a real super bass note. The frequency there was so wide that it was kind of like off the range of human hearing, the really low notes sort of felt in your body. The sound suddenly got louder when it started to move. When I jumped for cover, I just sort of dove down and forward behind the log. But what they did was it brought me that much closer to the craft, and now practically underneath
Starting point is 00:05:12 it. They're screaming at me and swearing at me to get back in the truck, stood up to run back to the truck, and as soon as I did bam something hit me kind of a stunning force electric shock feeling like getting hit by a truck they saw me fly through the air and land like a dead body I was almost immediately unconscious. On November 5, 1975, Travis Walton had an experience that would change the course of his life forever. His six co-workers claimed to have seen Travis struck by a bluish green beam of light and sent him flying 20 feet in the air.
Starting point is 00:06:08 Terrified out of their minds, the men panicked, and sped into town for help. At the time, the six men were convinced that Travis was killed by that strange beam of light, and on their way into town, pulled off the road to gather their thoughts, quickly deciding they needed to go back. But when they got there, Travis was gone. The men drove to the Sheriff's Department to report a missing.
Starting point is 00:06:27 Only to find out, they would instantly become suspects in his disappearance. The encounter took place in the Sittgrieves National Forest in eastern Arizona on the edge of the Magoian Rim. It just knocked him backwards through the air like, like, as if some sort of an explosion had gone off in front of him. It was that dramatic. After seeing Travis truck, the other crew members did not want to investigate anything. They left the area. Mic Rogers and the other five witnesses returned only to find Travis missing.
Starting point is 00:07:02 After they told their astounding story to the police, they came under suspicion of murder. An attend search for Travis Walton proceeded for three days, dogs and helicopters. They were unable to find him or any signs of where he was. Travis was missing for five days as people searched the woods for him. Meanwhile, according to Travis, his nightmare was really just beginning. My next thing I knew I was waking up. What do you see around you and you woke up? It was just a light above me and the ceiling was so close I figured that maybe I was in the hospital.
Starting point is 00:07:51 The light wasn't all that bright but it hurt my eyes to look at it. Everything else was really dark and this light was above me like that. I was in a lot of pain. I felt like something was seriously wrong. I felt mortally wounded. I finally did look around. Everything was blurry. I couldn't focus real good. I could see what I thought were doctors dining over me. By assume they were doctors at first because my vision was blurry. As soon as I could focus, I could see these weren't doctors.
Starting point is 00:08:36 Pretty soon my vision cleared and I could see the faces of these creatures. They were small, perilous, huge eyes. And I think that partially explained the dim light in there, the large eyes. I was terrified. It was restraining the limits of my mind to cope with the situation. That instant jolt of fear made me much more fully awake.
Starting point is 00:09:16 I felt mortally wounded. I felt like I was dying. And I associated this pain with seeing them. I tried to roll away from them and rolled off of the table. They had some kind of a device on my chest that fell off. I backed away, screaming, crying. They weren't close enough to actually hit, but I was making it clear that if they did approach me, that I would fight against them without. I was thinking of fighting my way past them. Because there was a door, an opening.
Starting point is 00:10:07 It looked like escape to me was the only way out. I was going to fight my way past them and try to escape. I immediately figured, I mean, I had that thing that I saw, you know, that all came together real fast. Before I could put that little plan into action, they suddenly stopped turning and went out the door. That was my chance to escape, find a way out. I went in the other direction.
Starting point is 00:10:40 Just a narrow, cramped hallway. I was having trouble breathing. It hurt to breathe. I felt suffocation. I don't know whether that was an injury to my chest or lungs or heart or something, or if there was something not appropriate for humans in the interior of that craft. something not appropriate for humans in the interior of that craft. But I was just desperate to find my way out of it. And an irrational panic sort of way, thinking I could just find a way to open a hatch and drop to the ground, you know. I didn't really have a picture in my mind of the layout of this craft.
Starting point is 00:11:22 I was just blindly looking for openings. There was a room. I approached some instruments, controls of some kind, thinking that they might open the door. Fully with these buttons and levers and things didn't seem to do anything at all. There's panicked and irrational as I was. I still had the idea that what I was doing could make things a lot worse. But there was a change in light from the door hide, come through, and I turned and I saw a man. Then I immediately concluded, was someone there to save me from these monsters. Looked like a human being, but different in unusual ways too.
Starting point is 00:12:20 I ran up to him and started screaming about these creatures. He didn't really react much to what I was saying. I thought maybe he couldn't hear me because he had a helmet on. He took me by the arm to lead me out of there, and how I was only too willing to go. It took me out of the craft. It was a ramp, not stairs, going down. Looked really too steep to be walking on, but it wasn't slippery at all.
Starting point is 00:12:54 It was much brighter outside. It had been comparatively dark in the interior of this craft. The whole ceiling lit up with what looked like sunlight coming through. A lot cooler wasn't as hot. I tried to look around a little bit. There were some other disc-shaped metallic craft of a different configuration, more rounded. But mainly I was very concerned with where I was being
Starting point is 00:13:25 taken. And I had a growing anxiety about not getting any response from this guy. This room that we were in was huge. It was real high ceilings and very airy and empty. But he took me through some doors and down a hallway into another room. And here were some people dressed like him, except without the helmets. So I'm thinking, finally, somebody can tell me what's going on. So I start begging for answers, demanding answers answers was still not getting any response, which really set off the alarm bells. They were trying to get me to lay down on this table there,
Starting point is 00:14:13 and I started to resist. And so I tried to fight them. I was still very weak. I was feeling real shaky and wounded. They didn't have that much trouble getting me down in spite of my adrenaline from a fear just screaming and fighting. They seemed much stronger than me. They overpowered me and put me on that table and One of them put a mask over my face And I tried to Get it off immediately
Starting point is 00:14:52 Before I could I blacked out This story sounds absolutely unbelievable Trust me, I know. But while Travis Walton was missing for five days, the police also found this unbelievable. The six men who witnessed Travis being struck by the beam from the craft were being investigated for murder. Five days feels like a very long time to keep up a hoax when you're starting to face potential murder charges.
Starting point is 00:15:24 Out of the five days Travis was on account of four, he remembers only one hour total and nothing else. This was a very emotional thing for Travis' family and emotional for us. Travis was my best friend and our whole lives have been disrupted by this. We wondered if we would ever same again. Aranchions who were made for Sy Wilson, a highly qualified polygraph examiner, to conduct the polygraphs on the six witnesses to Travis Walton's UFO encounter. The utmost care in administering these lie detector tests was exercised because the men
Starting point is 00:16:01 were under suspicion of murder. Convince the these men had murdered Travis, the sheriff ordered Arizona State Police polygraph examiner, Psy Kielsen, to conduct lie detector tests on the crew members. Once the test got underway, he started changing his mind very quickly after he tested about three of the six. He seemed to be acting differently. By the time he had tested about three of the six, he seemed to be acting differently. By the
Starting point is 00:16:27 time he had tested all of us, he seemed to be a believer. I talked to him after the tests and he indicated to me that apparently he was wrong. Unofficially he said that he believed that we had told the truth because five of us passed the test. He wrote in his report that we had told the truth that apparently there had been a UFO. Five out of the six men passed their polygraphs and the last was found to be inconclusive. While the sheriff's department tried to make sense of their outlandest story and debated pressing charges, all the sudden Travis magically reappeared, around 20 miles away from the original site.
Starting point is 00:17:14 When I woke up, I felt the cold, the hard pain that under me. There was light above. I just looked to see where the light was coming from. Then I could see this shiny surface, this craft, and it went off just as I looked, shot up into the sky. I could see the lights of the town down below, ran down, there was a building with some lights on and pounded on the door, screaming like a maniac.
Starting point is 00:17:53 Nobody came. Nobody came, so I ran farther in the town. I ran down there and found a row of telephone booths made a collect call to my family. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. On November 11th, Travis called his brother-in-law from this phone booth. When did you first learn that you'd been missing at home?
Starting point is 00:18:36 When my brother picked me up and put me in the truck and he literally picked me up. He was talking about how traumatic it was for my mother, and he could tell that I thought this was the same night. This conscious interval in there was not that long. It certainly wasn't five days. I didn't know that five days had gone by. And he said, Travis, fill your face. And I had a five day growth of beard. That was the stunner.
Starting point is 00:19:14 I was just so completely in a state of terror that I couldn't even speak. I was just too messed up. When he was embracing me, he had gone to me and took care of me. I was in terrible shape. In the five days he was missing, Travis remembers only two hours and those, he says says were aboard the spacecraft.
Starting point is 00:19:46 Where was he the rest of the time? When was it that you were maybe first reported missing? Immediately. They went straight to the sheriff. And told him what? Well, they said whatever crew is missing, he might be dead. And the sheriff's ears broke up. Oh yeah? The night that they reported it, they did go back to the site. All three of the lawmen went out there with the crew.
Starting point is 00:20:21 The next day, this massive man hunt. An intense search for Travis Walton proceeded for three days, dogs and helicopters. They were unable to find him or any signs of where he was. The crew had been through five days of attacks of being accused of murdering me. They figured this was just a cover- up for a murder, including my brother. He definitely thought that they'd killed me and got very aggressive with them trying to get them to fess up. They figured this was just to cover up. They were going to find the body and these guys were going to hang for it. Each crewman was interviewed by a different law enforcement officer, and they wrote in
Starting point is 00:21:07 their report the descriptions. How do seven people have the same hallucination? The six witnesses to Travis Walton's UFO encounter have made several statements in the years following, all collectively maintaining their stories. I found some quotes from each of them. Alan Dallas said, we couldn't believe what was happening. The horror was unreal.
Starting point is 00:21:32 Kenneth Peterson, I saw a bluish light come from the machine and Travis went flying, like he'd been touched by a live wire. Steve Pierce, that ray was the brightest thing I've ever seen in my whole life. Dwayne Smith, the UFO was smooth and giving off a yellowish orange light. Mike Rogers in 1975 said,
Starting point is 00:21:54 �I've been working these woods for over 10 years and this is the damnedest thing that's ever happened to me. Then again in 1995, I've been working these woods for over 30 years and this is still the damnedest thing that's ever happened to me. And John Goulet, I know what I saw, and it wasn't anything from this earth. Let's take a step back here and just look at what we know. Travis has not changed his story in nearly 50 years. Which if he were lying, is at least pretty impressive.
Starting point is 00:22:23 I feel like if I was part of some elaborate abduction hoax, the second the police started framing me for murder, I'd probably hang it up. Sorry, we're just kidding, he's right here. I definitely wouldn't demand for truth, serum, or a polygraph test. Travis also lost over 10 pounds during the five days he was missing. Objectively, I feel like there's probably three potential explanations for all this. A. Travis and the six other men are lying, and they've kept this gag going now for nearly half a century. But for the story to be entirely made up, Travis had to have been hiding for five days
Starting point is 00:22:57 somewhere, intentionally starving himself and not shaving. In this scenario, it seems likely that someone else had to be involved to pull it off. Everyone in town was searching for Travis, even his own brother. B. They experienced something else out there. Something just is unexplainable, but they were all convinced there was a spacecraft when it actually wasn't. Maybe it was some sort of natural phenomenon, and it created this bizarre sensory illusion. But whatever it was, it's still clearly injured Travis. And maybe from there he was in some sort of coma state for
Starting point is 00:23:29 five days just wandering the woods, somehow not killing himself. Or see, it really happened. He spent five days on the UFO fall intent and purposes. He spent five days on there. He did come in contact with some beings or human life, but they weren't human. Obviously doing you know your own brother, probably better than anybody else. Do you believe a story? I've never seen him play a practical joke in his adult life. What do you say to those who just say, oh you're from shit? Well, you know, do each his own. People have all kinds of theories and beliefs. Anything in today's world, all kinds of contending points of view and theories and stuff, everything that all comes down to facts and reasoning.
Starting point is 00:24:20 Are your facts true and complete and is your reasoning valid? Failure to prove is not disproof. I've gotten very abstract in how people should evaluate claims. You see it back and forth with these political debates. If you have something lay it out there. Invite examination. It makes complete sense to me how any rational person would hesitate to believe Travis Walton's story.
Starting point is 00:24:55 And personally, I'll tell you, I myself was very skeptical throughout the whole process. Up until he finally sat down to tell me his story. I don't consider myself an expert in human deception by any means, but I have dealt with a lot of liars in my time as a podcaster. Murder suspects, drug dealers, actual murderers, you name it. And there was something sincere about Travis. I'm convinced that even if this didn't actually happen, at this point, Travis Walton himself still believes
Starting point is 00:25:25 it. I don't know, but Travis Walton's telling the truth or not, as I stand here, I am totally open-minded. The Travis Walton case, as I understand it, had a fair amount of polygraph involvement before I was asked to become involved. This is Cleve Baxter, an interrogation expert for the CIA. Before Travis Walton reappeared after the alleged abduction, the Arizona Department of Public Safety got quite concerned that there may have been foul pliery, and that these six individuals on that tree-cutting team may have committed a crime,
Starting point is 00:25:58 and were trying to hide the crime, perhaps by reporting the UFO abduction. The six were tested by Sy Gilson of the Arizona Department of Public Safety. Five of them passed. One of them is inconclusive merely because of the person's general nervous tension, not because of his any failure. In other words, we have three determinations in polydress testing. In our opinion, they're being truthful and our opinion, they're being deceptive on it. We don't know. There was certain forensic that went on at the site. There was a man there with a Geiger counter.
Starting point is 00:26:33 They found evidence of elevated radiation. Seven witnesses, all passing police light detector tests. And every theory to try to explain it away has failed. Do you want people to believe you? I think it's important for people to understand that this is real. You don't want to believe it, fine. Have it your way. Do you realize how unbelievable it can sound to somebody?
Starting point is 00:27:02 Oh, yeah, I understand, you know, from the outside. It's just really somebody who doesn't know about the physical evidence. I understand how it can sound to people who don't want to believe it. Then I have to look very far to find a reason not to. You ever had a political argument in the recent years that you can see how people can be impervious to facts. How do you know what's true? How do you evaluate claims?
Starting point is 00:27:34 What's a fair examination of the evidence? I really think the entire society would benefit from understanding what true critical thinking is. How do you know what's true? How do you evaluate claims in a fair and unbiased way? You don't begin with a conclusion. You gather the evidence first. I think we have enough astronomy, knowledge of the universe around us to know that it would be the most stupendously unlikely thing for this to be the only life in all of this vast expanse.
Starting point is 00:28:15 Virtually every star has about a dozen planets going around it. Not only are all these trillions of stars that we can see from here, having planets going around them, some of them are vastly older. It's the height of arrogance to presume that we're the only living thing that could possibly have come into being. If the tiniest fraction, a tenth of one percent of these stars have a planet that could possibly be life supporting, the arrogance to assume that they couldn't possibly come here, just because we don't know how to go there,
Starting point is 00:28:58 is ridiculous. Two hundred years ago, the most technological thing we had was fire. We could break rocks into sharp things and we had fire. That was the extent of our technology. The incredible technological development of just the last 10 or 20 years. Project that forward. Imagine a species of similar potential having a thousand years to go at.
Starting point is 00:29:27 Five times the time we've had. A hundred years ago, you couldn't have described what is common place today. Based on what we know about the age of these star systems, some of them are vastly older than us, logically speaking, would therefore be more advanced than we are vastly older than us, logically speaking, would therefore be more advanced than we are in terms of science, physics, and the power to travel such great distances. It's kooky to think that, yeah, we know there's trillions of planets, but only one has life and it's right here, all the rest of it. That's the kooky thing.
Starting point is 00:30:05 life and it's right here, all the rest of it, that's the kooky thing. Once we look around and understand the true enormity of the universe, it's not kooky to think that there's other life in the universe, it's kooky to think there isn't. What are the odds that this would be so completely unique. There's literally trillions of opportunities for the situation to have come about. I learned a lot about how to deal with people's reluctance to believe this. I also evolved in my own perception of it. The fascination sometimes hinges on the fact that people think of this as some nightmare, except the reality of the phenomenon. But let's set aside the idea that it's something to be afraid of. … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … Here's Leslie Kane again.
Starting point is 00:31:35 What makes a case credible is when there's a lot of data. Definitely multiple witnesses is a basic criteria. I think the abduction cases are less credible because there just isn't enough evidence to prove those stories. I mean, they obviously meet a lot to the people, but let's just put those aside because I don't work on those cases anyway. If the fact is that we're not alone, if it's a scientific fact, like knowing that the Earth revolves around the sun, right, or knowing that the Earth isn't flat, everyone has a right to know. Other people make arguments that if it's going to be really harmful, maybe it's better
Starting point is 00:32:14 not to know. We think of ourselves as being the top of the food chain, right? We're it. To imagine that that's actually not the case, we don't know the psychological effect that's going to have. We don't know what effect we'll have on religion, on economic institutions. We don't know how that will affect our interaction with other countries who are also working on this. Maybe it'll be a good thing because we'll unify. It was one planetary civilization who has to face this external
Starting point is 00:32:43 reality. A lot of others believe there'll just be a lot of disturbances in our social fabric. I agree with Leslie here. If the government or any entity for that matter knows something profound like the existence of extraterrestrial beings, everyone should have the right to know. But society has had a long track record of struggling to accept new information. Many great minds throughout history have been labeled a heretic for their own profound discoveries. Example, Jordano Bruno, an Italian philosopher from
Starting point is 00:33:18 the 1500s, believed that the universe was infinite in size, and that the earth is not the center of it. believed that the universe was infinite in size and that the earth is not the center of it. People didn't like that very much. He was sentenced to seven years in prison and eventually ordered to be burned at the stake by the Pope. Everything he said was true. This is the ultimate human story, isn't it? Are we alone? Here's Brian Bender again. A mystery that has been dogging us basically since the beginning of recorded human history.
Starting point is 00:33:53 John Winthrop, who was governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony in the 1600s. There's several entries in his diary of this mass hysteria off Boston when these fishermen came back. If you read it, today sounds a whole lot like the pigpacks! On March 1st, 1639, John Wenthorp wrote in his diary about a very unusual event. What he described as a, quote, sober and discreet man, witness strange glowing objects in the sky,
Starting point is 00:34:20 darting back and forth over the village of Charlestown. He describes them as swift as an arrow, in that many other credible people saw the same lights at the same place. Among other notable accounts of UFOs in American history, our own US presidents have made numerous comments over the years, including Jimmy Carter. We saw a bright light appear in the distant western skies, and it got closer and closer, and when it was just above the treetops, it changed color, and then it stayed there for a while, and then it disappeared into the distance.
Starting point is 00:34:55 And I still don't know what it was. Here's Barack Obama. There's footage and records of objects in the skies that we don't know exactly what they are. We can't explain how they moved their trajectory. In Ronald Reagan. We often forget how much unites all the members of humanity. Perhaps we need some outside universal threat to make us recognize this common bound. I occasionally think how quickly
Starting point is 00:35:26 our differences worldwide would vanish if we were facing an alien threat from outside this world. Just like the Roswell incident in 1947, UFOs and aliens are also famously synonymous with the top secret military base in the desert of Nevada, best known as Area 51. For decades, there have been countless rumors of alien bodies and spacecraft being hidden and tested there, stuff that was stretched to limits of pretty much anyone's imagination. And regardless of all the conspiracy chatter, what remains true is its existence. Area 51 is like part of this mythology. It's just become the sort of mecca for people.
Starting point is 00:36:09 For while they wouldn't even acknowledge there was such a place. We know it exists, but it's extremely secretive. The highly classified US Air Force facility was created in 1955. And it wasn't until 2013 2013 the CIA acknowledged it was actually there. Located deep in the desert of Nevada, surrounded by mountains, with signs all around the base warning that deadly force will be used on trespassers. It's clear that whatever they do in there, they don't want us knowing about it.
Starting point is 00:36:41 If you're building a secret airplane, an area 51 51 and you don't want the Russians to know or the Chinese or anybody else, you're potentially benefiting from the sort of craze of UFO sightings all over the place. And maybe it's even in your interest to kind of spread that a little more, then people start looking over there and they don't look over here where you don't want them to look Maybe one of those UFO sightings was actually a test flight of a secret airplane they're building If I'm going to continue down this UFO rabbit hole Which I've clearly committed to doing at this point
Starting point is 00:37:23 Then I want to get as close as possible to area 51 and see for myself what all the fuss is about. Located in the middle of nowhere, Area 51 has been at the center of some of this country's most closely guarded secrets, but only now has the government officially acknowledged the existence of Area 51 in Nevada. The 2.9 million acre live fire training range, the largest in the United States, located at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. Legions of UFO enthusiasts have long suspected Area 51 is where the US hides captured aliens.
Starting point is 00:37:54 Any attempt to illegally access military installations or military training areas is dangerous. My crew and I flew into Las Vegas and drove over 100 miles to the desert town of Rachel Nevada, population 48. Snooping around a top secret military base is not usually advisable, so before we left, I arranged to meet a local guide to help navigate the area. We met at a UFO-themed motel in town called Little Alien, and we all piled into his
Starting point is 00:38:26 four-wheel drive truck. The first gate we're going here, this one is the main gate, where we're going is an entrance, but it's about 40 minutes from the base. This is an active base, 100%. People think it isn't, it is. The gates to the base are dozens of miles outside town, down bumpy dirt roads with no signage or landmarks whatsoever You definitely don't want to get stuck out here. There's no cell service for miles Look at me cameras that one rotates and watches us
Starting point is 00:38:55 That one sometimes will follow you and then you have three cameras on that pole back there You have a camera to the right. I don't know of any government installation of any kind in the country that goes to the level of secrecy this one does. A white truck with heavily tinted windows was parked up on the hill. Cameras and listening devices visible in seemingly all directions.
Starting point is 00:39:19 I started to feel an overwhelming rush of excitement. The kind you get as a kid on Christmas morning. And then the rational part of my brain kicked in. Asking, should we be doing this? I mean, I'd love to see semelians. But seriously, I don't want to get shot. This is it right here. My curiosity was peaked. That feeling of playing with fire. What would happen if I hopped that gate? Just how exactly would it all play out? If you cross, they will detain you. Oh, Jim and federal prison six months to a year.
Starting point is 00:40:01 So you say, I probably shouldn't cross that stop sign. Do not go through that gate. I'm not going with you if you do. High Strange is an eight-part series released weekly for free every Thursday. But if you'd like to binge the whole series right now, you can. Subscribe to Tinder Foot Plus on Apple Podcasts to get all the episodes right now. Follow the show on TikTok and Instagram at High Strange. And you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at painlensy. If you have your own UFO story, email us at tips at highstrange.com.
Starting point is 00:41:12 Highstrange is a production by TinderfootTV in association with Cadence 13, created hosted and edited by myself, painlensy, executive producers or myself, and Donald Albright, editing by Mike Rooney, Cooper Skinner, and myself. Original score by Makeup and Vanity Set. Sound design, mixing, and mastering by Cooper Skinner. Additional production by Mike Rooney, Dylan Harrington, Eric Quintana, Sean Nernie, Meredith Steadman, and Sydney Evans.
Starting point is 00:41:42 Our cover art is by Polygon. This episode features a song Spacetet by Metro Boomin featuring Gunna, written by Wesley Tire Glass, Sergio Kitchens, Ville and Tyler Wayne, Alan Ritter, and Jacques Weiss Webster, performed by Metro Boomin featuring Gunna, courtesy of Republic Records, under license from Universal Music Enterprises for Metro Boomin and 300 Entertainment for Gunna. Special thanks to Orin Rosenbaum and the whole team at UTA. The Nord Group, Station 16, Beck Media and Marketing, as well as Chris Corcoran in the team at Cadence 13.
Starting point is 00:42:16 Check out the show's website at highstrange.com. And if you're enjoying the show, please help us out by rating and reviewing the podcast and share it with your friends. Thanks for listening.

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.