Genre: Sci-Fi | Reality | Paranormal

Air Date/Time: Wednesday, October 3 at 10/9c – SPECIAL 90 MINUTE EPISODE

Network: Syfy

Summary:

On Wednesday, October 3 at 10 pm, Syfy presents “The Abduction,” a special 90-minute episode of its bone-chilling series, Paranormal Witness.

Through unparalleled eyewitness accounts and dramatic reenactments, alongside original film and audio recordings, “The Abduction” tells the story of the legendary 1975 alien abduction of Snowflake, Arizona logger Travis Walton, whose five day UFO experience inspired the cult film, Fire in the Sky.

This is the first time that all the key people involved in the most famous alien abduction case in history are revealing what they saw and experienced. Thirty-seven years later, Walton and the six loggers who lived through the terrifying UFO event and ensuing intense police investigation still stand by every word of their story. The local sheriff and the polygraph analyst, as well as the doctor who examined Walton upon his sudden reappearance, also contribute their accounts of what transpired.

Whether or not you are a UFO enthusiast, and whether or not you are a fan of these docudramas, I am strongly recommending you check out this episode of Paranormal Witness. I watched it a day ago and I cannot get it out of my head.

The series has consistently produced the best, most polished yet straightforward presentations of paranormal experiences, in a manner that raises them from sensational overdramatized pulp to National Geographic-level documentaries. But this one episode is amongst the best of the best.

There is a great deal of information available about this particular incident, and it is gathered and included and presented and sometimes dramatized with a skilled and flowing hand here. The actors used in the recreations are for the most part quite strikingly like their real-life, now older, counterparts, and the sets and other dated materials are realistic and understated.

But it’s watching these men talk about their experiences from 37 years ago that is absolutely mesmerizing. I defy you to watch this and believe that they’ve made the whole thing up. They absolutely went through a harrowing experience, and it has affected their lives indelibly. There may be alternate explanations for what happened to them, but these men and their story are real, if only to them.

I don’t want to oversell the episode; it isn’t a spectacular presentation of an amazing UFO event. It is a quietly chilling, harrowing, wrenching account of an event in the lives of these men that is told without embellishment or histrionics, and I found it absolutely compelling.

I keep an open mind about the paranormal, UFOs, and other unexplained instances, but retain a healthy amount of skepticism, keeping an eye out for alternative explanations. I don’t usually find them when I watch this show. This episode will be staying with me for some time. Watch it and see what you think.

I give Paranormal Witness, Season 2 Episode 9 “The Abduction” Five Out of Five Stars.