On November 5, 1975, six members of a logging crew in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests near Snowflake, Arizona, reported watching Travis Walton approach a hovering object and be knocked down by a beam of light; five of the six crew members passed law-enforcement polygraph examinations about what they witnessed, and Walton reappeared five days later.

Arizona Department of Public Safety examiner C. Gilson examined five crew members on November 11 and found their accounts consistent and apparently truthful (one result was deemed inconclusive). The case stands out within abduction reports for the multiplicity of independent witnesses to the initial encounter who had no personal stake in Walton's specific claims.