Mike Rogers Has Died

 Mike Rogers, who was the leader of the logging crew that included Travis Walton, died on February 6, 2026. He became something of a controversial character in the tale, often accompanying Walton to various UFO conventions, appeared with him on several documentaries, and was a featured character in the movie about the abduction, Fire in the Sky. He eventually said that no one saw Walton abducted, but seemed to believe that was what happened.

He was a gifted artist and many of the drawings and paintings of the Walton case were the work of Rogers. He was also somewhat hot headed and sometimes saw conspiracy where none existed. When I interviewed him for my X-Zone radio show and podcast, there was a glitch in the taping which he believed was our attempt to sensor some of the things he said. It was just a glitch which arose out of the complications of creating a show with the host in Iowa, the guest in Arizona and the producer in Canada. Sometimes the Internet did not cooperate and sometimes mistakes were made.

Rogers's interpretation of the Walton aliens. Used with
permission of Mike Rogers.

During that interview, Rogers said that the Phoenix Lights were not the important sightings. He, among others in widely spread parts of Arizona and southern Nevada had seen a large, triangular object that traveled across most of Arizona. He provided a detailed description of that UFO, but the lights seen over Phoenix dominated the news media reporting of the events that night.

As we discussed the Walton abduction, I told him I thought it was a little chicken that he and the others left Walton behind. True, they did return, but that was after Walton disappeared. That is, of course, why no one saw Walton abducted, but they did see him hit with that beam of light.

On March 19, 2021, Mike Rogers in a Facebook post wrote, "I, Michael H. Rogers, being of sound and rational mind, do hereby give notice that I am no longer to be considered a witness to Travis C. Walton's supposed abduction of November 5, 1975.”

That set off a firestorm of controversy. After that, Rogers told me that he not only hadn’t seen Walton abducted, but that he had been saying that for years. It was only in 2021, that people noticed. Given that discussion, I wasn’t sure exactly what Rogers was saying but note that it doesn’t bode well for the Walton tale.

To make matters worse, a couple of days later, Rogers told movie producer Ryan Gordon, " We were talking about creating a UFO hoax, okay? I don't know how the UFO got there. But I remember... when I was driving the truck and he jumped out; it was all deliberate. It was all a staged thing, okay? He ran up there and there was something about the UFO not being real, although it looked real.’”

Rogers and Walton later reconciled and Rogers issued a statement retracting his confession but the damage was done. And there was the important point that Rogers said that no one saw the abduction and that, of course, included Rogers.

I am told by others that Rogers liked to carve, built furniture and had a silly side. I had heard that he wasn’t well these last few months, and am surprised that word of his passing is nearly six weeks old. He was 78