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Alien abduction (also called abduction phenomenon, alien abduction syndrome, or UFO abduction) refers to the phenomenon of people reporting their experience of being
kidnapped Kidnapped may refer to: * subject to the crime of kidnapping Literature * ''Kidnapped'' (novel), an 1886 novel by Robert Louis Stevenson * ''Kidnapped'' (comics), a 2007 graphic novel adaptation of R. L. Stevenson's novel by Alan Grant and Ca ...
by
extraterrestrial beings Extraterrestrial life, colloquially referred to as alien life, is life that may occur outside Earth and which did not originate on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been conclusively detected, although efforts are underway. Such life might ...
and subjected to physical and psychological experimentation. People claiming to have been abducted are usually called "abductees" or "experiencers". Most scientists and mental health professionals explain these experiences by factors such as
suggestibility Suggestibility is the quality of being inclined to accept and act on the suggestions of others. One may fill in gaps in certain memories with false information given by another when recalling a scenario or moment. Suggestibility uses cues to disto ...
(e.g.
false memory syndrome In psychology, false memory syndrome (FMS) is a condition in which a person's identity and relationships are affected by false memories of psychological trauma, recollections that are factually incorrect yet strongly believed. Peter J. Freyd or ...
),
sleep paralysis Sleep paralysis is a state, during waking up or falling asleep, in which one is conscious but is completely paralyzed. During an episode, one may hallucinate (hear, feel, or see things that are not there), which often results in fear. Episodes ...
,
deception Deception or falsehood is an act or statement that misleads, hides the truth, or promotes a belief, concept, or idea that is not true. It is often done for personal gain or advantage. Deception can involve dissimulation, propaganda and sleight o ...
, and
psychopathology Psychopathology is the study of abnormal cognition, behaviour, and experiences which differs according to social norms and rests upon a number of constructs that are deemed to be the social norm at any particular era. Biological psychopatholo ...
.Appelle, 1996 Skeptic
Robert Sheaffer Robert Sheaffer (born 1949) is an American freelance writer and UFO skeptic. He is a paranormal investigator of unidentified flying objects, having researched many sightings and written critiques of the hypothesis that UFOs are alien spacecraft ...
sees similarity between some of the aliens described by abductees and those depicted in
science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar ...
s, in particular '' Invaders From Mars'' (1953). Typical claims involve forced
medical Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...
examinations that emphasize the subject's reproductive systems.Miller, John G. "Medical Procedural Differences: Alien Versus Human." In: Pritchard, Andrea & Pritchard, David E. & Mack, John E. & Kasey, Pam & Yapp, Claudia. ''Alien Discussions: Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference''. Cambridge: North Cambridge Press, 1994. pp. 59–64. Abductees sometimes claim to have been warned against environmental abuses and the dangers of
nuclear weapons A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bomb ...
, or to have engaged in
interspecies breeding In biology, a hybrid is the offspring resulting from combining the qualities of two organisms of different breeds, varieties, species or genera through sexual reproduction. Hybrids are not always intermediates between their parents (such as in ...
. The contents of the abduction narrative often seem to vary with the home culture of the alleged abductee.Sheaffer, Robert. "A Skeptical Perspective on UFO Abductions." In: Pritchard, Andrea & Pritchard, David E. & Mack, John E. & Kasey, Pam & Yapp, Claudia. ''Alien Discussions: Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference''. Cambridge: North Cambridge Press, 1994. pp. 382–88.
Unidentified flying objects An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...
(UFOs), alien abduction, and
mind control Brainwashing (also known as mind control, menticide, coercive persuasion, thought control, thought reform, and forced re-education) is the concept that the human mind can be altered or controlled by certain psychological techniques. Brainwashin ...
plots can also be part of radical political apocalyptic and
millenarian Millenarianism or millenarism (from Latin , "containing a thousand") is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which "all things will be changed". Millenariani ...
narratives. Reports of the abduction phenomenon have been made all around the world, but are most common in
English-speaking countries The following is a list of English-speaking population by country, including information on both native speakers and second-language speakers. List * The European Union is a supranational union composed of 27 member states. The total Engl ...
, especially the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. The first alleged alien abduction claim to be widely publicized was the
Betty and Barney Hill abduction Barney and Betty Hill were an American couple who claimed they were abducted by extraterrestrials in a rural portion of the state of New Hampshire from September 19 to 20, 1961. It was the first widely publicized report of an alien abduction in ...
in 1961. UFO abduction claims have declined since their initial surge in the mid-1970s and alien abduction narratives have found less popularity in
mainstream media In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Chomsky, Noam, ''"What makes mai ...
. Skeptic
Michael Shermer Michael Brant Shermer (born September 8, 1954) is an American science writer, historian of science, executive director of The Skeptics Society, and founding publisher of ''Skeptic'' magazine, a publication focused on investigating pseudoscientific ...
proposed that the ubiquity of
camera phone A camera phone is a mobile phone which is able to capture photographs and often record video using one or more built-in digital cameras. It can also send the resulting image wirelessly and conveniently. The first commercial phone with color cam ...
s increases the burden of evidence for such claims, and may be a cause for their decline.


Overview

Mainstream scientists reject claims that the phenomenon literally occurs as reported. However, there is little doubt that many apparently stable persons who report alien abductions believe their experiences were real.
John E. Mack John Edward Mack (October 4, 1929 â€“ September 27, 2004) was an American psychiatrist, writer, and professor and the head of the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. In 1977, Mack won the Pulitzer Prize for his book ''A Pri ...
, John Wilson, Rima Laibow and David Gotlib assessed that while psychopathology was associated with some cases, most reports were from sane, common people.Appelle, S., et al. Alien abduction experiences. In Cardeña, E., Lynn. S. J., & Krippner, S. (Eds.) (2000). ''Varieties of Anomalous Experience''. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. p. 268. Some abduction reports are quite detailed. An entire
subculture A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, poli ...
has developed around the subject, with
support group In a support group, members provide each other with various types of help, usually nonprofessional and nonmaterial, for a particular shared, usually burdensome, characteristic. Members with the same issues can come together for sharing coping str ...
s and a detailed
mythos Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrati ...
explaining the reasons for abductions: The various aliens ( Greys, Reptilians, " Nordics" and so on) are said to have specific roles, origins, and motivations. Abduction claimants do not always attempt to explain the phenomenon, but some take independent research interest in it themselves and explain the lack of greater awareness of alien abduction as the result of either extraterrestrial or governmental interest in
cover-up A cover-up is an attempt, whether successful or not, to conceal evidence of wrongdoing, error, incompetence, or other embarrassing information. Research has distinguished personal cover-ups (covering up one's own misdeeds) from relational co ...
.


History


Paleo-abductions

While the term "alien abduction" did not achieve widespread attention until the 1960s, modern speculation about some older stories interpreted them as possible cases. UFO researcher
Jerome Clark Jerome Clark (born November 27, 1946)"Jerome Clark". ''Contemporary Authors Online''. June 12, 2002. Retrieved on April 11, 2012. is an American writer, specializing in unidentified flying objects and other paranormal subjects. He has appeared ...
dubbed them "paleo-abductions".* * * In the November 27, 1896, edition of the
Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. Stockton was founded by Carlos Maria Weber in 1849 after he acquir ...
''Daily Mail'', Colonel H. G. Shaw claimed he and a friend were harassed by three tall, slender humanoids whose bodies were covered with a fine, downy hair who tried to kidnap the pair. * In the October 1953 issue of ''Man to Man Magazine'' an article by Leroy Thorpe titled "Are the Flying Saucers Kidnapping Humans?" asks the question "Are an unlucky few of us, and perhaps not so few at that, being captured with the same ease as we would net butterflies, perhaps for zoological specimens, perhaps for vivisection or some other horrible death designed to reveal to our interplanetary invaders what makes us tick?" * Rogerson writes that the 1955 publication of Harold T. Wilkins's ''Flying Saucers Uncensored'' declared that Karl Hunrath and Wilbur Wilkinson, who had claimed they were contacted by aliens, had disappeared under mysterious circumstances; Wilkins reported speculation that the duo were the victims of "alleged abduction by flying saucers".


Two landmark cases

An early alien abduction claim occurred in the mid-1950s with the Brazilian Antônio Villas Boas case, which did not receive much attention until several years later. Widespread publicity was generated by the
Betty and Barney Hill abduction Barney and Betty Hill were an American couple who claimed they were abducted by extraterrestrials in a rural portion of the state of New Hampshire from September 19 to 20, 1961. It was the first widely publicized report of an alien abduction in ...
case of 1961, culminating in a made-for-television film broadcast in 1975 (starring
James Earl Jones James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is an American actor. He has been described as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile" actors for his performances in film, television, and theater, and "one of the greatest actors in America ...
and
Estelle Parsons Estelle Margaret Parsons (born November 20, 1927) is an American actress, singer and stage director. After studying law, Parsons became a singer before deciding to pursue a career in acting. She worked for the television program ''Today'' and ...
) dramatizing the events. The Hill incident was probably the prototypical abduction case and was perhaps the first in which the claimant described beings that later became widely known as the Greys and in which the beings were said to explicitly identify an extraterrestrial origin. Though these two cases are sometimes viewed as the earliest abductions, skeptic Peter Rogerson notes they were only the first abduction cases, establishing a template that later abductees and researchers would refine but rarely deviate from. Additionally, Rogerson notes purported abductions were cited contemporaneously at least as early as 1954, and that "the growth of the abduction stories is a far more tangled affair than the 'entirely unpredisposed' official history would have us believe." (The phrase "entirely predisposed" appeared in folklorist Thomas E. Bullard's study of alien abduction; he argued that alien abductions as reported in the 1970s and 1980s had little precedent in folklore or fiction.)


Later developments

R. Leo Sprinkle, a
University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...
psychologist, became interested in the abduction phenomenon in the 1960s. Sprinkle became convinced of the phenomenon's actuality, and was perhaps the first to suggest a link between abductions and
cattle mutilation Cattle mutilation (also known as bovine excision and unexplained livestock death, or animal mutilation) is the killing and mutilation of cattle under unusual, usually bloodless circumstances. This phenomenon has been observed among wild animals ...
. Eventually, Sprinkle came to believe that he had been abducted by aliens in his youth; he was forced from his job in 1989.
Budd Hopkins Elliot Budd Hopkins (June 15, 1931 â€“ August 21, 2011) was an American artist, author, and ufologist. He was a prominent figure in alien abduction phenomena and related UFO research. Life Elliot Budd Hopkins was born in 1931. He was rai ...
had been interested in UFOs for some years. In the 1970s he became interested in abduction reports and began using
hypnosis Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.In 2015, the American Psychologica ...
to extract more details of dimly remembered events. Hopkins soon became a figurehead of the growing abductee subculture.Schnabel 1994 (missing source) The 1980s brought a major degree of mainstream attention to the subject. Works by Hopkins, novelist
Whitley Strieber Louis Whitley Strieber (; born June 13, 1945) is an American writer best known for his horror novels ''The Wolfen'' and '' The Hunger'' and for '' Communion'', a non-fiction account of his alleged experiences with non-human entities. He has main ...
, historian
David M. Jacobs David Michael Jacobs (born August 10, 1942) is an American historian and retired Associate Professor of History at Temple University specializing in 20th-century American history. Jacobs is a prominent figure in ufology and the study of the alleg ...
and psychiatrist John E. Mack presented alien abduction as a plausible experience. Also of note in the 1980s was the publication of folklorist Thomas E. Bullard's comparative analysis of nearly 300 alleged abductees. With Hopkins, Jacobs and Mack, accounts of alien abduction became a prominent aspect of
ufology Ufology ( ) is the investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by people who believe that they may be of extraordinary origins (most frequently of extraterrestrial alien visitors). While there are instances of government, private, and f ...
. There had been earlier abduction reports (the Hills being the best known), but they were believed to be few and far between and saw rather little attention from ufology (and even less attention from mainstream professionals or academics). Jacobs and Hopkins argued that alien abduction was far more common than earlier suspected; they estimate that tens of thousands (or more) North Americans had been taken by unexplained beings. Furthermore, Jacobs and Hopkins argued that there was an elaborate process underway in which aliens were attempting to create human–alien hybrids, the most advanced stage of which in the "human hybridization program" are known as hubrids, though the motives for this effort were unknown. There had been anecdotal reports of
phantom pregnancy False pregnancy (or pseudocyesis, from the Greek "false" and "pregnancy") is the appearance of clinical or subclinical signs and symptoms associated with pregnancy although the individual is not physically carrying a baby. The mistaken impressi ...
related to UFO encounters at least as early as the 1960s, but Budd Hopkins and especially David M. Jacobs were instrumental in popularizing the idea of widespread, systematic interbreeding efforts on the part of the alien intruders. The descriptions of alien encounters as researched and presented by Hopkins, Jacobs and Mack were similar, with slight differences in each researcher's emphasis; the process of selective citation of abductee interviews that supported these variations was sometimes criticized – though abductees who presented their own accounts directly, such as Whitley Strieber, fared no better. The involvement of Jacobs and Mack marked something of a sea change in the abduction studies. Their efforts were controversial (both men saw some degree of damage to their professional reputations), but to other observers, Jacobs and Mack brought a degree of respectability to the subject. According to
Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...
writer Linda Rodriguez McRobbie, "Abduction and contact stories aren’t quite the fodder for daytime talk show and New York Times bestsellers they were a few decades ago...Today, credulous stories of alien visitation rarely crack the mainstream media, however much they thrive on niche TV channels and Internet forums". Skeptic
Michael Shermer Michael Brant Shermer (born September 8, 1954) is an American science writer, historian of science, executive director of The Skeptics Society, and founding publisher of ''Skeptic'' magazine, a publication focused on investigating pseudoscientific ...
noted that "the camera-phone age is increasing the burden of evidence on experiencers".


John E. Mack

Matheson writes that "if Jacobs's credentials were impressive," then those of
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
psychiatrist
John E. Mack John Edward Mack (October 4, 1929 â€“ September 27, 2004) was an American psychiatrist, writer, and professor and the head of the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. In 1977, Mack won the Pulitzer Prize for his book ''A Pri ...
might seem "impeccable" in comparison. Mack was a well known, highly esteemed psychiatrist, author of over 150 scientific articles and winner of the
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
for his biography of
T. E. Lawrence Thomas Edward Lawrence (16 August 1888 â€“ 19 May 1935) was a British archaeologist, army officer, diplomat, and writer who became renowned for his role in the Arab Revolt (1916–1918) and the Sinai and Palestine Campaign (1915–1918 ...
. Mack became interested in the phenomenon in the late 1980s, interviewing over 800 people, and eventually writing two books on the subject. Mack devoted a substantial amount of time to investigating such cases and eventually concluded that the only phenomenon in psychiatry that adequately explained the patients' symptoms in several of the most compelling cases was
posttraumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...
. As he noted at the time, this would imply that the patient genuinely believed that the remembered frightening incident had really occurred – the position Mack came to endorse. In June 1992, Mack and the physicist
David E. Pritchard David Edward Pritchard (born October 15, 1941 in New York City) is physics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Professor Pritchard carried out pioneering experiments on the interaction of atoms with light that led to t ...
organized a five-day conference at
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the mo ...
to discuss and debate the abduction phenomenon. The conference attracted a wide range of professionals, representing a variety of perspectives. Writer
C. D. B. Bryan Courtlandt Dixon Barnes Bryan (April 22, 1936 – December 15, 2009), better known as C. D. B. Bryan, was an American author and journalist. Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2009. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich ...
attended the conference, initially intending to gather information for a short humorous article for
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
. While attending the conference, however, Bryan's view of the subject changed, and he wrote a serious, open-minded book on the phenomenon, additionally interviewing many abductees, skeptics, and proponents. Mack's study of numerous cases led him to the conclusion that while investigators should remain open to the possibility of experiences occurring, stories should not be considered to involve actual physical entities and should be treated like subjective witness reports of personal experience. The purported beings would remain outside of physical reality and reports may be influenced by factors like expectations, memory reliability and interviewer suggestions. He also reports similarities to other experiences like OOBE. According to Lance Rivers, he is convinced in the reality of the phenomenon but attributes it to interaction with a spiritual plane. While Mack acknowledges that this leads to problematic speculation on the nature of the beings and their motivations, he concludes that materialist science is inadequate to enquire in those areas.


Abductees

The precise number of alleged abductees is uncertain. One of the earliest studies of abductions found 1,700 claimants, while contested surveys argued that 5–6 percent of the general population might have been abducted.


Demographics

Although abduction and other UFO-related reports are usually made by adults, sometimes young children report similar experiences.Truncale, Deborah Bruce. "Alien/UFO Experiences of Children." In: Pritchard, Andrea & Pritchard, David E. & Mack, John E. & Kasey, Pam & Yapp, Claudia. ''Alien Discussions: Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference''. Cambridge: North Cambridge Press, 1994. pp. 116–126. These child-reports often feature very specific details in common with reports of abduction made by adults, including the circumstances, narrative, entities and aftermaths of the alleged occurrences. Often, these young abductees have family members who have reported having abduction experiences. Family involvement in the military, or a residence near a military base is also common among child abduction claimants.


Mental health

As a category, some studies show that abductees have psychological characteristics that render their testimony suspect, while others show that "as a group, abduction experients are not different from the general population in term of psychopathology prevalence". Elizabeth Slater conducted a
blind study In a blind or blinded experiment, information which may influence the participants of the experiment is withheld until after the experiment is complete. Good blinding can reduce or eliminate experimental biases that arise from a participants' expec ...
of nine abduction claimants and found them to be prone to "mildly paranoid thinking", nightmares and having a weak sexual identity, while Richard McNally of Harvard Medical School concluded in a similar study of 10 abductees that "none of them was suffering from any sort of psychiatric illness."


Political conspiracy theories

Political scientist
Michael Barkun __NOTOC__ Michael Barkun (born April 8, 1938) is an American academic who serves as Professor Emeritus of political science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, specializing in political and religious ex ...
, without taking a position on if UFOs and aliens are real, highlighted links between radical politics and conspiracy theories involving UFOs, alien visitation, environmental pollution, hidden groups, government and world takeover. He observed the rise of a form of eclectic and apocalyptic millenarism which he termed "improvisional millenarism". UFO and abduction stories can often be part of stigmatized or suppressed knowledge narratives, where alleged orthodoxy is claimed to be maintained in error for nefarious purposes and to keep society in ignorance. UFO and alien-related conspiracy theories emerged in far-right politics from the 1980s onwards. According to Barkun, in popular culture, TV shows like ''
The X-Files ''The X-Files'' is an American science fiction on television, science fiction drama (film and television), drama television series created by Chris Carter (screenwriter), Chris Carter. The series revolves around Federal Bureau of Investigation ...
'' motion picture not only included aliens as part of coverup conspiracies, with militias and
black helicopters The black helicopter is a symbol of an alleged conspiratorial military takeover of the United States in the American militia movement, and has also been associated with UFOs, especially in the UK, men in black, and similar conspiracies. Over ...
but also featured demonization of FEMA, a common target of conspiracy theorists and millenarian scenarios. One conspiracy theory alleges that FEMA plans to incarcerate "patriots" suddenly in concentration camps during a disaster. Political scientist
Jodi Dean Jodi Dean (born April 9, 1962) is an American political theorist and professor in the Political Science department at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in New York state. She held the Donald R. Harter ’39 Professorship of the Humanities and So ...
noted that the stigma of alien abduction stories is seductive to dismiss "consensus reality" in favor of deviant alternative realities. Self-described abduction victims often join self-help communities of victims and may resort to questionable
regression therapy Past life regression is a method that uses hypnosis to recover what practitioners believe are Past life memory, memories of past lives or reincarnation, incarnations. The practice is widely considered discredited and unscientific by medical practit ...
, similarly to other self-reported victims of child sexual abuse or
satanic ritual abuse The Satanic panic is a moral panic consisting of over 12,000 unsubstantiated cases of Satanic ritual abuse (SRA, sometimes known as ritual abuse, ritualistic abuse, organized abuse, or sadistic ritual abuse) starting in the United States in th ...
. Some espouse conspiracy theories of sophisticated technological mind control, including the use of implants, to force them to serve an alleged New World Order, or for the purposes of the
antichrist In Christian eschatology, the Antichrist refers to people prophesied by the Bible to oppose Jesus Christ and substitute themselves in Christ's place before the Second Coming. The term Antichrist (including one plural form) 1 John ; . 2 John . ...
, considering it important to warn the world of such imminent danger.


Abduction narrative

Various researchers have noted common points in report narratives. According to
CUFOS The Center for UFO Studies (CUFOS) is a privately funded UFO research group. The group was founded in 1973 by J. Allen Hynek, who at the time was chair of the Department of Astronomy at Northwestern University in Illinois.Franch John, ''The Secret ...
's definition of ''abductee'', the person must have been taken against their will by apparent non-human beings, taken to a special place perceived as extraterrestrial or to be a spaceship. They then must experience being subjected to an examination or to engage in some form of communication with the beings (or both). Communication may be perceived as telepathic rather than verbal. The memory of the experience may be conscious or "recovered" through means like hypnosis.Rodeghier, Mark. "Who is an Abductee? A Set of Selection Criteria for Abductees." In: Pritchard, Andrea & Pritchard, David E. & Mack, John E. & Kasey, Pam & Yapp, Claudia. ''Alien Discussions: Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference''. Cambridge: North Cambridge Press, 1994. p. 22. Although different cases vary in detail (sometimes significantly), some UFO researchers, such as folklorist Thomas E. Bullard argue that there is a broad, fairly consistent sequence and description of events that make up the typical "
close encounter In ufology, a close encounter is an event in which a person witnesses an unidentified flying object. This terminology and the system of classification behind it were first suggested in astronomer and UFO researcher J. Allen Hynek's 1972 book ''T ...
of the fourth kind" (a popular but unofficial designation building on
J. Allen Hynek Josef Allen Hynek (May 1, 1910 – April 27, 1986) was an American astronomer, professor, and ufologist. He is perhaps best remembered for his UFO research. Hynek acted as scientific advisor to UFO studies undertaken by the U.S. Air Force under ...
's classifications). Though the features outlined below are often reported, there is some disagreement as to exactly how often they actually occur. Bullard argues most abduction accounts feature the following events. They generally follow the sequence noted below, though not all abductions feature all the events: # Capture. The abductee is somehow rendered incapable of resisting, and taken from terrestrial surroundings to an apparent alien spacecraft. # Examination and Procedures. Invasive physiological and psychological procedures, and on occasion simulated behavioral situations, training & testing, or sexual liaisons. # Conference. The abductors communicate with the abductee or direct them to interact with specific individuals for some purpose, typically telepathically but sometimes using the abductee's native language. # Tour. The abductees are given a tour of their captors' vessel, though this is disputed by some researchers who consider this definition a confabulation of intent when just apparently being taken around to multiple places inside the ship. # Loss of Time. Abductees often rapidly forget the majority of their experience, either as a result of fear, medical intervention, or both. # Return. The abductees are returned to earth, occasionally in a different location from where they were allegedly taken or with new injuries or disheveled clothing. #
Theophany Theophany (from Ancient Greek , meaning "appearance of a deity") is a personal encounter with a deity, that is an event where the manifestation of a deity occurs in an observable way. Specifically, it "refers to the temporal and spatial manifest ...
. Coinciding with their immediate return, abductees may have a profound sense of love, a "high" similar to those induced by certain drugs, or a "mystical experience", accompanied by a feeling of oneness with God, the universe, or their abductors. Whether this is the result of a metaphysical change,
Stockholm syndrome Stockholm syndrome is a condition in which hostages develop a psychological bond with their captors. It is supposed to result from a rather specific set of circumstances, namely the power imbalances contained in hostage-taking, kidnapping, an ...
, or prior medical tampering is often not scrutinized by the abductees at the time. # Aftermath. The abductee must cope with the psychological, physical, and social effects of the experience. When describing the "abduction scenario", David M. Jacobs says:
The entire abduction event is precisely orchestrated. All the procedures are predetermined. There is no standing around and deciding what to do next. The beings are task-oriented and there is no indication whatsoever that we have been able to find of any aspect of their lives outside of performing the abduction procedures.


Capture

Abduction claimants report unusual feelings preceding the onset of an abduction experience.Nyman, Joe. "A Composite Encounter Model." In: Pritchard, Andrea & Pritchard, David E. & Mack, John E. & Kasey, Pam & Yapp, Claudia. ''Alien Discussions: Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference''. Cambridge: North Cambridge Press, 1994. pp. 83–85. These feelings manifest as a
compulsive Compulsive behavior is defined as performing an action persistently and repetitively. Compulsive behaviors could be an attempt to make obsessions go away. The act is usually a small, restricted and repetitive behavior, yet not disturbing in a pa ...
desire to be at a certain place at a certain time or as expectations that something "familiar yet unknown" will soon occur. Abductees also report feeling severe, undirected
anxiety Anxiety is an emotion which is characterized by an unpleasant state of inner turmoil and includes feelings of dread over anticipated events. Anxiety is different than fear in that the former is defined as the anticipation of a future threat wh ...
at this point even though nothing unusual has actually occurred yet. This period of foreboding can last for up to several days before the abduction actually takes place or be completely absent. Eventually, the experiencer will undergo an apparent "shift" into an altered state of consciousness. British abduction researchers have called this change in consciousness "the Oz Factor". External sounds cease to have any significance to the experiencer and fall out of perception. They report feeling introspective and unusually calm. This stage marks a transition from normal activity to a state of " limited self-willed mobility". As consciousness shifts one or more lights are alleged to appear, occasionally accompanied by a strange mist. The source and nature of the lights differ by report; sometimes the light emanates from a source outside the house (presumably the abductors' UFO), sometimes the lights are in the bedroom with the experiencer and transform into alien figures. As the alleged abduction proceeds, claimants say they will walk or be levitated into an alien craft, in the latter case often through solid objects such as walls, ceilings or a closed window. Alternatively, they may experience rising through a tunnel or along a beam of light, with or without the abductors accompanying them, into the awaiting craft.


Examination

The examination phase of the so-called "abduction narrative" is characterized by the performance of medical procedures and examinations by apparently alien beings against or irrespective of the will of the experiencer. Such procedures often focus on
sex Sex is the trait that determines whether a sexually reproducing animal or plant produces male or female gametes. Male plants and animals produce smaller mobile gametes (spermatozoa, sperm, pollen), while females produce larger ones (ova, oft ...
and
reproductive biology Reproductive biology includes both sexual and asexual reproduction. Reproductive biology includes a wide number of fields: * Reproductive systems * Endocrinology * Sexual development (Puberty) * Sexual maturity * Reproduction * Fertility Human ...
. However, the literature holds reports of a wide variety of procedures allegedly performed by the beings. The entity that appears to be in charge of the operation is often taller than the others involved and is sometimes described as appearing to be of a different species.Bullard, Thomas E. "The Variety of Abduction Beings." In: Pritchard, Andrea & Pritchard, David E. & Mack, John E. & Kasey, Pam & Yapp, Claudia. ''Alien Discussions: Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference''. Cambridge: North Cambridge Press, 1994. pp. 90–91. Miller notes different areas of emphasis between human medicine and what is reported as being practiced by the abductors. This could result from a difference in the purpose of the examination – routine diagnosis or treatment or both versus scientific examination of an unfamiliar species –, or it could be due to a different level of technology that renders certain kinds of manual procedures unnecessary. The abductors' areas of interest appear to be the
cranium The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...
,
nervous system In biology, the nervous system is the highly complex part of an animal that coordinates its actions and sensory information by transmitting signals to and from different parts of its body. The nervous system detects environmental changes th ...
,
skin Skin is the layer of usually soft, flexible outer tissue covering the body of a vertebrate animal, with three main functions: protection, regulation, and sensation. Other cuticle, animal coverings, such as the arthropod exoskeleton, have diffe ...
,
reproductive system The reproductive system of an organism, also known as the genital system, is the biological system made up of all the anatomical organs involved in sexual reproduction. Many non-living substances such as fluids, hormones, and pheromones are als ...
, and to a lesser degree, the
joint A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw ...
s. Systems given less attention than a human doctor would – or omitted entirely – include the
cardiovascular system The blood circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the entire body of a human or other vertebrate. It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, tha ...
, the
respiratory system The respiratory system (also respiratory apparatus, ventilatory system) is a biological system consisting of specific organs and structures used for gas exchange in animals and plants. The anatomy and physiology that make this happen varies grea ...
below the
pharynx The pharynx (plural: pharynges) is the part of the throat behind the mouth and nasal cavity, and above the oesophagus and trachea (the tubes going down to the stomach and the lungs). It is found in vertebrates and invertebrates, though its struc ...
and the
lymphatic system The lymphatic system, or lymphoid system, is an organ system in vertebrates that is part of the immune system, and complementary to the circulatory system. It consists of a large network of lymphatic vessels, lymph nodes, lymphatic or lymphoid o ...
. The abductors also appear to ignore the upper region of the
abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso. ...
in favor of the lower one. The abductors do not appear to wear gloves during the "examination". Other constants of terrestrial medicine like pills and tablets are missing from abduction narratives, although sometimes abductees are asked to drink liquids. Injections also seem to be rare and
IVs Intravenous therapy (abbreviated as IV therapy) is a medical technique that administers fluids, medications and nutrients directly into a person's vein. The intravenous route of administration is commonly used for rehydration or to provide nutrie ...
are almost completely absent. Miller says he has never heard an abductee claim to have a
tongue depressor A tongue depressor (sometimes called spatula) is a tool used in medical practice to depress the tongue to allow for examination of the mouth and throat. The most common modern tongue depressors are flat, thin, wooden blades, smoothed and rounded ...
used on them.


Subsequent procedures

After the so-called medical exam, the alleged abductees often report other procedures being performed with the entities.Jacobs, David M. "Subsequent Procedures." In: Pritchard, Andrea & Pritchard, David E. & Mack, John E. & Kasey, Pam & Yapp, Claudia. ''Alien Discussions: Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference''. Cambridge: North Cambridge Press, 1994. pp. 64–68. Common among these post-examination procedures are what abduction researchers refer to as imaging, envisioning, staging, and testing. "Imaging" procedures consist of an abductee being made to view screens displaying images and scenes that appear to be specially chosen with the intent to provoke certain emotional responses in the abductee. "Envisioning" is a similar procedure, with the primary difference being that the images being viewed, rather than being on a screen, actually seem to be projected into the experiencer's mind. "Staging" procedures have the abductee playing a more active role, according to reports containing this element. It shares vivid hallucination-like mental visualization with the envisioning procedures, but during staging the abductee interacts with the illusionary scenario like a role player or an actor. "Testing" marks something of a departure from the above procedures in that it lacks the emotional analysis feature. During testing the experiencer is placed in front of a complicated electronic device and is instructed to operate it. The experiencer is often confused, saying that they do not know how to operate it. However, when they actually set about performing the task, the abductee will find that they do, in fact, know how to operate the machine.


Child presentation

Abductees of all ages and genders sometimes report being subjected to a "child presentation". As its name implies, the child presentation involves the abduction claimant being shown a "child". Often the children appear to be neither human, nor the same
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
as the abductors. Instead, the child will almost always share characteristics of ''both''
species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
. These children are labeled by experiencers as hybrids between humans and their abductors, usually Greys. Unlike Budd Hopkins and David Jacobs, folklorist Thomas E. Bullard could not identify a child presentation phase in the abduction narrative, even after undertaking a study of 300 abduction reports.Bullard, Thomas E. "The Well-Ordered Abduction: Pattern or Mirage?" In: Pritchard, Andrea & Pritchard, David E. & Mack, John E. & Kasey, Pam & Yapp, Claudia. ''Alien Discussions: Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference''. Cambridge: North Cambridge Press, 1994. pp. 81–82. Bullard says that the child presentation "seems to be an innovation in the story" and that "no clear antecedents" to descriptions of the child presentation phase exist before its popularization by Hopkins and Jacobs.


Less common elements

Bullard also studied the 300 reports of alien abduction in an attempt to observe the less prominent aspects of the claims.Bullard, Thomas E. "The Rarer Abduction Episodes." In: Pritchard, Andrea & Pritchard, David E. & Mack, John E. & Kasey, Pam & Yapp, Claudia. ''Alien Discussions: Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference''. Cambridge: North Cambridge Press, 1994. pp. 72–74. He notes the emergence of four general categories of events that recur regularly, although not as frequently as stereotypical happenings like the medical examination. These four types of events are: # The conference # The tour # The journey # Theophany Chronologically within abduction reports, these rarer episodes tend to happen in the order listed, between the medical examination and the return. After allegedly displaying cold callous disregard towards the abduction experiencers, sometimes the entities will change drastically in behavior once the initial medical exam is completed. They become more relaxed and hospitable towards their captive and lead him or her away from the site of the examination. The entities then hold a conference with the experiencer, wherein they discuss things relevant to the abduction phenomenon. Bullard notes five general categories of discussion that occur during the conference "phase" of reported abduction narratives: An interrogation session, explanatory segment, task assignment, warnings, and prophecies. Tours of the abductors' craft are a rare but recurring feature of the abduction narrative. The tour seems to be given by the alleged abductors as a courtesy in response to the harshness and physical rigors of the forced medical examination. Sometimes the abductees report traveling on a "journey" to orbit around Earth or to what appear to be other planets. Some abductees find that the experience is terrifying, particularly if the aliens are of a more fearsome species, or if the abductee was subjected to extensive probing and medical testing.


Return

Eventually, the abductors will return the abductees, usually to exactly the same location and circumstances they were in before being taken.Hopkins, Budd. "The Abduction Experience: Return." In: Pritchard, Andrea & Pritchard, David E. & Mack, John E. & Kasey, Pam & Yapp, Claudia. ''Alien Discussions: Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference''. Cambridge: North Cambridge Press, 1994. pp. 77–80. Usually, explicit memories of the abduction experience will not be present, and the abductee will only realize they have experienced "missing time" upon checking a timepiece. Sometimes the alleged abductors appear to make mistakes when returning their captives. UFO researcher Budd Hopkins has joked about "the cosmic application of Murphy's Law" in response to this observation. Hopkins has estimated that these "errors" accompany 4–5 percent of abduction reports. One type of common apparent mistake made by the abductors is failing to return the experiencer to the same spot that they were taken from initially. This can be as simple as a different room in the same house, or abductees can even find themselves outside and all the doors of the house locked from the inside. Another common (and amusing) error is putting the abductee's clothes (e.g. pajamas) on backwards.


Realization event

Physician and abduction researcher John G. Miller sees significance in the reason a person would come to see themselves as being a victim of the abduction phenomenon.Miller, John G. "The Realization Event -An Important Historical Feature." In: Pritchard, Andrea & Pritchard, David E. & Mack, John E. & Kasey, Pam & Yapp, Claudia. ''Alien Discussions: Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference''. Cambridge: North Cambridge Press, 1994. pp. 42–45. He terms the insight or development leading to this shift in identity from non-abductee to abductee the "realization event". The realization event is often a single, memorable experience, but Miller reports that not all abductees experience it as a distinct episode. Either way, the realization event can be thought of as the " clinical horizon" of the abduction experience.


Trauma and recovery

Most people alleging alien abductions report invasive examinations of their bodies and some ascribe
psychological trauma Psychological trauma, mental trauma or psychotrauma is an emotional response to a distressing event or series of events, such as accidents, rape, or natural disasters. Reactions such as psychological shock and psychological denial are typical. ...
to their experiences. "Post-abduction syndrome" is a term used by abductees to describe the effects of abduction, though it is not recognized by any professional treatment organizations. People who have a
false memory In psychology, a false memory is a phenomenon where someone recalls something that did not happen or recalls it differently from the way it actually happened. Suggestibility, activation of associated information, the incorporation of misinformat ...
which makes them believe that they have been abducted by aliens develop symptoms similar to
post-traumatic stress disorder Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...
. People who believe they have been abducted by aliens usually have previous
New Age New Age is a range of spiritual or religious practices and beliefs which rapidly grew in Western society during the early 1970s. Its highly eclectic and unsystematic structure makes a precise definition difficult. Although many scholars conside ...
beliefs, a vivid fantasy life, and suffer from sleep paralysis, according to a 2003 study by
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
.


Support groups

Support groups for people who believed they were abducted began appearing in the mid-1980s. These groups appear throughout the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
,
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
.


Hypnosis

Many alien abductees recall much of their alleged abduction(s) through
hypnosis Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.In 2015, the American Psychologica ...
. Due to the extensive use of hypnosis, and other methods which they view as being manipulative, skeptics explain the abduction narratives as
false memories In psychology, a false memory is a phenomenon where someone recalls something that did not happen or recalls it differently from the way it actually happened. Suggestibility, activation of associated information, the incorporation of misinformat ...
and suggestions.


Criticism

Alleged abductees seek out hypnotherapists to try to resolve issues such as
missing time Blackout(s), black out, or The Blackout may refer to: Loss of lighting or communication * Power outage, a loss of electric power * Blackout (broadcasting), a regulatory or contractual ban on the broadcasting of an event * Blackout (fabric), a t ...
or unexplained physical symptoms such as
muscle pain Myalgia (also called muscle pain and muscle ache in layman's terms) is the medical term for muscle pain. Myalgia is a symptom of many diseases. The most common cause of acute myalgia is the overuse of a muscle or group of muscles; another likel ...
or headaches. This usually involves two phases, an information gathering stage, in which the hypnotherapist asks about unexplained illnesses or unusual phenomena during the patients' lives (caused by or distortions of the alleged abduction), followed by hypnosis and guided imagery to facilitate recall. The information-gathering enhances the likelihood that the events discussed will be incorporated into later abduction "memories". Seven steps are hypothesized to lead to the development of false memories: # A person is predisposed to accept the idea that certain puzzling or inexplicable experiences might be telltale signs of UFO abduction. # The person seeks out a therapist, whom he or she views as an authority and who is, at the very least, receptive to this explanation and has some prior familiarity with UFO abduction reports. # Alternatively, the therapist frames the puzzling experiences in terms of an abduction narrative. # Alternative explanations of the experiences are not explored. # There is increasing commitment to the abduction explanation and increasing anxiety reduction associated with ambiguity reduction. # The therapist legitimates or ratifies the abductee's experience, which constitutes additional positive reinforcement. # The client adopts the role of the "victim" or abductee, which becomes integrated into the psychotherapy and the client's view of self.


Supportive arguments

Harvard psychiatrist
John E. Mack John Edward Mack (October 4, 1929 â€“ September 27, 2004) was an American psychiatrist, writer, and professor and the head of the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. In 1977, Mack won the Pulitzer Prize for his book ''A Pri ...
counters this argument, noting "It might be useful to restate that a large proportion of the material relating to abductions is recalled without the use of an altered state of consciousness, and that many abduction reporters appear to relive powerful experiences after only the most minimal relaxation exercise, hardly justifying the word ''hypnosis'' at all. The relaxation exercise is useful to relieve the experiencer's need to attend to the social demands and other stimuli of face-to-face conversation, and to relieve the energies involved in repressing memories and emotion."


Perspectives

There have been a variety of explanations offered for abduction phenomena, ranging from sharply skeptical appraisals, to uncritical acceptance of all abductee claims, to the demonological, to everything in between. Some have elected not to attempt explanations, noting instead similarities to other phenomena, or simply documenting the development of the alien abduction phenomenon. Others are intrigued by the entire phenomenon but hesitate in making any definitive conclusions. Psychiatrist
John E. Mack John Edward Mack (October 4, 1929 â€“ September 27, 2004) was an American psychiatrist, writer, and professor and the head of the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. In 1977, Mack won the Pulitzer Prize for his book ''A Pri ...
concluded: "The furthest you can go at this point is to say ''there's an authentic mystery here.'' And that is, I think, as far as anyone ''ought'' to go" (emphasis as in original). Mack was unconvinced by piecemeal counterclaims, however, and countered that skeptical explanations naturally need to "take into account the entire range of phenomena associated with abduction experiences", up to and including "missing time", directly contemporaneous UFO sightings, and the occurrence in small children. Putting aside the question of whether abduction reports are literally and objectively "real", literature professor Terry Matheson argues that their popularity and their intriguing appeal are easily understood. Tales of abduction "are intrinsically absorbing; it is hard to imagine a more vivid description of human powerlessness". After experiencing the frisson of delightful terror one may feel from reading
ghost stories A ghost story is any piece of fiction, or drama, that includes a ghost, or simply takes as a premise the possibility of ghosts or characters' belief in them."Ghost Stories" in Margaret Drabble (ed.), ''Oxford Companion to English Literature''. ...
or watching
horror movies Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoc ...
, Matheson notes that people "can return to the safe world of their homes, secure in the knowledge that the phenomenon in question cannot follow. But as the abduction myth has stated almost from the outset, there is no avoiding alien abductors". Matheson writes that when compared to the earlier
contactee Contactees are persons who claim to have experienced contact with extraterrestrials. Some claimed ongoing encounters, while others claimed to have had as few as a single encounter. Evidence is anecdotal in all cases. As a cultural phenomenon, c ...
reports, abduction accounts are distinguished by their "relative sophistication and subtlety, which enabled them to enjoy an immediately more favorable reception from the public". Some writers have said abduction experiences bear similarities to pre-20th century accounts of demonic manifestations, noting as many as a dozen similarities. One notable example is the
Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...
monk A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
Fr. Seraphim Rose, who devotes a whole chapter in his book ''Orthodoxy and the Religion of the Future'' to the phenomena of UFOs and abductions, which, he concludes, are manifestations of the demonic. As some studies suggest that in some UFO/alien encounters, these phenomena could be related to dissociative REM sleep states, like lucid dreams, sleep paralysis, and out-of-body experiences. In a 2021 study, published in ''International Journal of Dream Research'', researchers focused on the hypothesis that if some of alien abduction stories are the products of REM sleep, then they could be deliberately emulated by lucid dreaming practitioners. To check the hypothesis, they instructed a group of volunteers to try to emulate alien encounters via lucid dreams. Of the volunteers, 114 (75%) were able to experience alien encounters. Regarding the successful cases, 20% were close to reality in terms of the absence of paradoxical dreamlike events. And only among this 20% sleep paralysis and fear were observed, which are common in 'real' stories. In theory, random people might spontaneously encounter the same situation during REM sleep and confuse the events with reality.


Testimonials

Abduction researcher Brian Thompson claims that a nurse reported to him 1957 in Cincinnati she encountered a praying mantis-like entity two days after a V-shaped UFO sighting. This mantis-like creature is reminiscent of the
insectoid An insectoid is an insect-like creature. Insectoid may refer to: * Insectoid robot * Insectoids in science fiction {{dab ...
-type entity reported in some abduction accounts. He related this report to fellow researcher
Leonard Stringfield Leonard Stringfield (1920–1994) was an American ufologist who took particular interest in crashed flying saucer stories. He died in 1994. Stringfield was director of Civilian Research, Interplanetary Flying Objects (CRIFO), and published a mo ...
. Stringfield told him of two cases he had in his files where separate witnesses reported identical circumstances in the same place and year. While some corroborated accounts seem to support the literal reality of the abduction experience, others seem to support a psychological explanation for the phenomenon's origins. Jenny Randles and Keith Basterfield both noted at the 1992 MIT alien abduction conference that of the five cases they knew of where an abduction researcher was present at the onset of an abduction experience, the experiencer "didn't physically go anywhere".Hall, Dick & Randles, Jenny & Basterfield, Keith & Moura, Gilda. "Panel on Cross Cultural Patterns in Abductions." In: Pritchard, Andrea & Pritchard, David E. & Mack, John E. & Kasey, Pam & Yapp, Claudia. ''Alien Discussions: Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference''. Cambridge: North Cambridge Press, 1994. pp. 193–95. Brazilian researcher Gilda Moura reported on a similar case, the Sueli case, from her home country. When psychologist and UFO researcher Don Donderi said that these cases were "evidence of psychological processes" that did not "have anything to do with a physical alien abduction", Moura replied: "If the Sueli case is not an abduction, I don't know what is an abduction any more". Gilda Moura noted that in the Brazilian Sueli case during the abduction UFOs were observed. Later, she claims the experiencer had eye burns, saw lights and there seemed to be residual poltergeist activity.


Attempts at confirmation

It has been argued that if actual "flesh and blood" aliens are abducting humans, there should be some hard evidence that this is occurring. Proponents of the physical reality of the abduction experience have suggested ways that could conceivably confirm abduction reports. One procedure reported occurring during the alleged examination phase of the experience is the insertion of a long needle-like contraption into a woman's navel. Some have speculated that this could be a form of
laparoscopy Laparoscopy () is an operation performed in the abdomen or pelvis using small incisions (usually 0.5–1.5 cm) with the aid of a camera. The laparoscope aids diagnosis or therapeutic interventions with a few small cuts in the abdomen.Medli ...
. If this is true, after the abduction there should be free
gas Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...
in the female's abdomen, which could be seen on an X-ray image. The presence of free gas would be extremely abnormal and would help substantiate the claim of some sort of procedure being done to her.


Notable abduction claims

* 1956: Elizabeth Klarer (South Africa) * 1957:
Antônio Vilas Boas Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular mal ...
(Brazil) * 1961:
Betty and Barney Hill Barney and Betty Hill were an American couple who claimed they were abducted by extraterrestrials in a rural portion of the state of New Hampshire from September 19 to 20, 1961. The incident came to be called the "Hill Abduction" and the "Zeta R ...
(US) * 1973:
Pascagoula Abduction The Pascagoula Abduction was an alleged UFO sighting and alien abduction in 1973, in which Charles Hickson and Calvin Parker claimed they were abducted by aliens while fishing near Pascagoula, Mississippi. Alleged abduction On the evening of ...
(US) * 1975: Travis Walton (US) * 1978: Valentich disappearance (Australia) * 1979:
Robert Taylor incident In ufology, the Taylor Incident, a.k.a. Livingston Incident or Dechmont Woods Encounter is the name given to claims of sighting an extraterrestrial spacecraft on Dechmont Law in Livingston, West Lothian, Scotland in 1979 by forester Robert "Bob" T ...
(Scotland) * 1970s–1980s:
Whitley Strieber Louis Whitley Strieber (; born June 13, 1945) is an American writer best known for his horror novels ''The Wolfen'' and '' The Hunger'' and for '' Communion'', a non-fiction account of his alleged experiences with non-human entities. He has main ...
(US) * 1994: Meng Zhaoguo incident (China)


Notable figures

* Danielle Egnew *
Raymond E. Fowler Raymond Eveleth Fowler (born November 11, 1933, in Salem, Massachusetts) is an American author and UFO researcher. UFO research Fowler is best known for his UFO (Unidentified Flying Object) investigations and books focusing primarily on UFO si ...
* Steven M. Greer *
Budd Hopkins Elliot Budd Hopkins (June 15, 1931 â€“ August 21, 2011) was an American artist, author, and ufologist. He was a prominent figure in alien abduction phenomena and related UFO research. Life Elliot Budd Hopkins was born in 1931. He was rai ...
*
Linda Moulton Howe Linda Moulton Howe (born January 20, 1942) is an American investigative journalist and Regional Emmy award-winning documentary film maker best known for her work as a ufologist and advocate of a variety of conspiracy theories, including her in ...
*
David Icke David Vaughan Icke (; born 29 April 1952) is an English conspiracy theorist and a former footballer and sports broadcaster. He has written over 20 books, self-published since the mid-1990s, and spoken in more than 25 countries. In 1990, Icke ...
*
David M. Jacobs David Michael Jacobs (born August 10, 1942) is an American historian and retired Associate Professor of History at Temple University specializing in 20th-century American history. Jacobs is a prominent figure in ufology and the study of the alleg ...
*
John E. Mack John Edward Mack (October 4, 1929 â€“ September 27, 2004) was an American psychiatrist, writer, and professor and the head of the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. In 1977, Mack won the Pulitzer Prize for his book ''A Pri ...
*
Riley Martin Riley Lee Martin (May 9, 1946 – December 22, 2015) was an American self-described alien contactee, author, and radio host. Martin was the author of the book ''The Coming of Tan'', which describes his life and his alleged alien visitation. He ...
*
Whitley Strieber Louis Whitley Strieber (; born June 13, 1945) is an American writer best known for his horror novels ''The Wolfen'' and '' The Hunger'' and for '' Communion'', a non-fiction account of his alleged experiences with non-human entities. He has main ...


See also

* Alien abduction claimants *
Alien abduction entities Alien abduction entities are the beings alleged to secretly abduct and subject experiencers to a forced medical examination which often emphasizes their reproductive system.Miller, John G. "Medical Procedural Differences: Alien Versus Human." In: P ...
* Alien abduction insurance *
Alien language Alien languages, i.e. languages of extraterrestrial beings, are a hypothetical subject since none have been encountered so far. The research in these hypothetical languages is variously called exolinguistics, xenolinguistics or astrolinguistics. ...
*
Anal probing Digital rectal examination (DRE; la, palpatio per anum, PPA) is an internal examination of the rectum, performed by a healthcare provider. Prior to a 2018 report from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, the DRE was a common and "dreaded" co ...
*
Anterograde amnesia In neurology, anterograde amnesia is the inability to create new memories after the event that caused amnesia, leading to a partial or complete inability to recall the recent past, while long-term memories from before the event remain intact. T ...
*
Astral projection Astral projection (also known as astral travel) is a term used in esotericism to describe an intentional out-of-body experience (OBE) that assumes the existence of a subtle body called an " astral body" through which consciousness can functio ...
*
Confabulation In psychology, confabulation is a memory error defined as the production of fabricated, distorted, or misinterpreted memories about oneself or the world. It is generally associated with certain types of brain damage (especially aneurysm in the a ...
*
Delirium Delirium (also known as acute confusional state) is an organically caused decline from a previous baseline of mental function that develops over a short period of time, typically hours to days. Delirium is a syndrome encompassing disturbances in ...
* *
Grey alien Grey aliens, also referred to as Zeta Reticulans, Roswell Greys, or Grays, are purported extraterrestrial beings. They are frequent subjects of close encounters and alien abduction claims. The details of such claims vary widely, but typically ...
*
Hallucination A hallucination is a perception in the absence of an external stimulus that has the qualities of a real perception. Hallucinations are vivid, substantial, and are perceived to be located in external objective space. Hallucination is a combinatio ...
*
Hypnotherapy Hypnotherapy is a type of mind–body intervention in which hypnosis is used to create a state of focused attention and increased suggestibility in the treatment of a medical or psychological disorder or concern. Popularized by 17th and 18th cen ...
*
Incubus An incubus is a demon in male form in folklore that seeks to have sexual intercourse with sleeping women; the corresponding spirit in female form is called a succubus. In medieval Europe, union with an incubus was supposed by some to result in t ...
*
Inferno (Dante) ''Inferno'' (; Italian language, Italian for "Hell") is the first part of Italian writer Dante Alighieri's 14th-century Epic poetry, epic poem ''Divine Comedy''. It is followed by ''Purgatorio'' and ''Paradiso (Dante), Paradiso''. The ''Infern ...
*
List of reported UFO sightings This is a partial list by date of sightings of alleged unidentified flying objects (UFOs), including reports of close encounters and alien abductions. Second millennium BCE Classical antiquity 8th century 16th–17th centuries 19th ce ...
*
Mare (folklore) A mare ( ang, mære, odt, mare, ; in Old High German, Old Norse, and Swedish) is a malicious entity in Germanic and Slavic folklore that rides on people's chests while they sleep, bringing on nightmares.Bjorvand and Lindeman (2007), pp. 719†...
*
Recovered-memory therapy Recovered-memory therapy (RMT) is a catch-all term for a controversial and scientifically discredited form of psychotherapy that critics say utilizes one or more unproven therapeutic techniques (such as psychoanalysis, hypnosis, journaling, past ...
*
Sexuality in Christian demonology To Sumerians, Babylonians, Assyrians, and Jews there were male and female demons (Jewish demons were mostly male, although female examples such as Lilith exist). In Christian demonology and theology there is debate over the gender and sexual procl ...
*
Sleep paralysis Sleep paralysis is a state, during waking up or falling asleep, in which one is conscious but is completely paralyzed. During an episode, one may hallucinate (hear, feel, or see things that are not there), which often results in fear. Episodes ...
*
Temporal lobe epilepsy Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is a chronic disorder of the nervous system which is characterized by recurrent, unprovoked focal seizures that originate in the temporal lobe of the brain and last about one or two minutes. TLE is the most common f ...
*
The Myth of Repressed Memory ''The Myth of Repressed Memory: False Memories and Allegations of Sexual Abuse'' is a 1994 book by Elizabeth Loftus and Katherine Ketcham, published by St. Martin's Press. They argued that the recovered memories movement, in which people stated ...
*
Witchcraft Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...
– similarities include the involvement of sexual contact with non-human creatures in historical accusations of witchcraft.


Footnotes


Bibliography

* * * Jacobs, David M. (Ph.D.) (2015), ''Walking Among Us: The Alien Plan to Control Humanity'', Disinformation Books, an imprint of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC; The Disinformation Company Ltd., . * *
C. J. Stevens Clysle Julius (C.J.) Stevens (8 December 1927 - 9 December 2021) was a writer. He published over 30 books (including poetry, short stories, non-fiction, and biography), and was published in hundreds of magazines. The United States Library of Co ...
, ''The Supernatural Side of Maine'', 2002, about alien abductions and people from Maine who faced the supernatural. * * *


External links


R. Leo Sprinkle papers
at the
University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...
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American Heritage Center The American Heritage Center is the University of Wyoming's repository of manuscripts, rare books, and the university archives. Its collections focus on Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain West (including politics, settlement, and western trails) and ...
* {{Authority control Extraterrestrial life UFO-related phenomena