Fire In the Sky was based on the 1978 book The Walton Experience from real-life logger Travis Walton. In it, Walton details his own alleged experience with an alien abduction on November 5, 1975, a tale which he first sold to The National Enquirer.

The trip had all the makings of a boring car ride—until the couple saw mysterious lights approaching from the sky.

Before Hollywood made the gray alien famous, one alleged encounter helped define what people thought aliens looked like. Betty and Barney Hill claimed they were stopped on a rural New Hampshire road,