Secret life: firsthand accounts of UFO abductions (42 page)

Chapter 2: Sightings and Abductions

1
Cf. Armando Simon, “The Zeitgeist of the UFO Phenomenon,” in Richard Haines, ed.,
UFO Phenomena and the Behavioral Scientist
(Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press, 1979), pp. 43-59.

2
For a more complete analysis, see David M. Jacobs,
The UFO Controversy in America
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975); Edward Ruppelt,
The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects
(Garden City: Doubleday, 1956); Paris Flammonde,
UFO Exist!
(New York: Putnam, 1976). For current government activity see also Lawrence Fawcett and Barry Greenwood,
Clear Intent
(Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1984). See also Timothy Good,
Above Top Secret
(London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1987).

3
Edward U. Condon, in Daniel S. Gillmor, ed.,
Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects
(New York: Bantam, 1969), pp. 1, 5.

4
William Hartmann, in Daniel S. Gillmor, ed.,
Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects
(New York: Bantam Books, 1969), p. 407.

5
Coral and Jim Lorenzen,
Flying Saucer Occupants
(New York: Signet, 1967), p. 54.

6
John Fuller,
The Interrupted Journey
(New York: Dial Press, 1966).

7
Travis Walton,
The Walton experience
(New York: Berkeley Books, 1978).

8
Leonard Stringfield, “The Stanford, Kentucky Abduction,”
The MUFON UFO Journal
, January 1976, pp. 5-15.

9
Ray Fowler,
The Andreasson Affair
(Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1979);
The Andreasson Affair, Phase Two
(Englewood Clifis: Prentice-Hall, 1982);
The Watchers
(New York: Bantam, 1990).

10
Berthold E. Schwarz, “Talks with Betty Hill: I—Aftermath of Encounter,”
Flying Saucer Review
, vol. 23, no. 2, 1977, p. 19n; Ann Druffel,
The Tujunga Canyon Contacts
(Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1980).

11
Budd Hopkins,
Missing Time
( New York: Marek, 1981).

12
Thomas E. Bullard,
UFO Abductions: The Measure of a Mystery
(Mount Ranier, MD: Fund for UFO Research, 1987).

13
Budd Hopkins,
Intruders: The Incredible Visitations at Copley Woods
(New York: Random House, 1987).

Chapter 8: The Abductors

1
Richard Hall, Ted Bloecher, and Isabel Davis,
UFOs: A New Look
(Washington, DC: National Investigations on Aerial Phenomena, 1969), p. 5.

2
Once in a while an abductee will report that the aliens appear to be much clumsier than others report. They claim that the aliens have trouble unbuttoning and removing their clothes.

Chapter 9: Exploring the Evidence

1
Ron Westrum, “Post Abduction Syndrome,”
MUFON UFO Journal
, December 1986, pp. 5-6.

Chapter 11: Answers

1
See David M. Jacobs,
The UFO Controversy in America
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975),
chapter 5
, for a discussion of the contactees and their effect on UFO research. Several of the contactees either confessed that their stories were untrue or were exposed by investigators.

2
For a discussion of hysterical contagion, see Neil J. Smelser,
Theory of Collective Behavior
(New York: The Free Press, 1962); Ralph L. Rosnow and Gary Alan Fine,
Rumor and Gossip: The Social Psychology of Hearsay
(New York. Elsevier, 1976).

3
Nahum Z. Medalia and Otto N. Larsen, “Diffusion and Belief in a Collective Delusion: The Seattle Windshield Pitting Epidemic,”
American Sociological Review
, vol. 23, 1958, pp. 180-186.

4
Alan C. Kerckhoff and Kurt W. Back,
The June Bug: A Study in Hysterical Contagion
(New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1968); Alan C. Kerckhoff and Kurt W. Back, “Sociometric Patterns in Hysteric Contagion,”
Sodometry
, March 1965, pp. 2-15.

5
Ronald Seigel, “Long Day’s Journey into Night,”
Omni
, December 1988, p. 88.

6
Philip J. Klass,
UFO Abductions: A Dangerous Game
(Buffalo: Prometheus Press, 1989).

7
Thomas E. Bullard, “Hypnosis and UFO Abductions: A Troubled Relationship,”
Journal of UFO Studies
, n.s. 1, 1989, pp. 3-40.

8
Alvin H. Lawson, “Hypnosis of Imaginary Abductees,” in Curtis Fuller, ed., Proceedings of the First
International UFO Congress
(New York: War
ner Books, 1980), pp. 195-238. One woman related some details about the examination and the aliens that were closer to abduction accounts. It is possible that she was an abductee and that neither she nor Lawson realized it.

9
Michael Capuzzo, “Exploring the Claims of UFO Abductions,”
Philadelphia Inquirer
, March 8, 1987, p. 8-L.

10
One must be clear, however, that mentally disturbed people can also have abduction experiences. The ability of these people to describe and analyze what has happened to them is limited. Competent investigators usually refuse to work with them and refer such people to mental health professionals. One young woman with whom I worked in the course of writing this study fell prey to mental illness and was hospitalized. The factors leading to the breakdown were not related to the abduction phenomenon, and at no time did the abductions become involved with her thought disturbances.

11
Ted Bloecher, Aphrodite Clamar, and Budd Hopkins, “Summary Report on the Psychological Testing of Nine Individuals Reporting UFO Abduction Experiences” (Washington, DC: The Fund for UFO Research, 1984).

12
Michael Persinger, “Contribution of Temporal Lobe Factors to Visitor and Paranormal Experiences,” paper, Society for Scientific Exploration, Cornell University, June 1988. Persinger has also suggested that geophysical events can precipitate temporal lobe instability.

I have worked with an abductee who had temporal lobe epilepsy. She took medication to stop her seizures. Once she was given medication that had been recalled by the manufacturer; instead of preventing seizures, it caused them. Within five days, she had 125 seizures before her epilepsy was brought under control. During that time, she did not have an abduction, imagine abductions, or think about abductions. Three months later, she forgot to take her medication and had a seizure while recounting an abduction event to me under hypnosis. She felt the onset of the seizure, asked to be brought out of the trance, and then had the seizure. At that time she did not confabulate, imagine other abduction events, or have vivid memories of the abduction event she had been describing. She experienced no sensory stimulation of any sort, nor did she think about the abduction event. In fact, the seizure prevented her from recalling the event and it added nothing whatsoever to her account. None of the other abductces with whom I have worked have had any type of epilepsy.

13
Jacques Vallee,
Passport to Magonia
(Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1969); Jacques Vallee,
Dimensions
(Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1988); Robert Bartholomew,
UFOlore
(Stone Mountain, GA: Arcturus Book Service, 1989); Thomas E. Bullard, “Why Abduction Reports Are Not Urban Legends,”
International UFO Reporter
, July/August 1991, pp. 15-20, 24. See also Edoardo Russo and Paolo Grassino, “Ufology in Europe; or, What Is America Coming To?”
International UFO Reporter
, March/April 1989, pp.
4-7; Jerome Clark, “Two Cheers for American Ufology,”
International UFO Reporter
, March/April 1989, pp. 8-12; Jerome Clark, “The Fall and Rise of the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis,”
MUFON 1988 International UFO Symposium Proceedings
(Seguin, Texas: MUFON, 1988), pp. 58-71; Thomas E. Bullard, “The American Way; Truth, Justice, and Abduction,”
Magonia
, October 1989, pp. 3-7.

14
Carl G. Jung,
Flying Saucers: A Modern Myth of Things Seen in the Sky
(New York: New American Library, 1959).

15
Ibid., p. 17.

16
Alvin H. Lawson, “A Touchstone for Fallacious Abductions: Birth Trauma Imagery in CE III Narratives,” in Mimi Hynek, ed.,
The Spectrum of UFO Research
(Chicago: The J. Allen Hynek Center for UFO Studies, 1988), pp. 71-98.

17
Ann Druffel and D. Scott Rogo,
The Tujunga Canyon Contacts
(New York: New American Library, 1988) (updated version). Rogo later felt that the mass of abduction evidence had weakened this theory.

Chapter 12: Questions

1
Jenny Randles,
Abduction: Over 200 Documented UFO Kidnappings
(London: Robert Hale, 1988).

2
Michael Swords, “Extraterrestrial Hybridization Unlikely,” MUFON UFO
Journal
, November 1988, pp. 6-10; David M.Jacobs, “Hybrid Thoughts,” MUFON UFO
Journal
, February 1989, pp. 10-11.

This book could not have been written without the help and encouragement of those who have been subjected to abductions. They were supportive and gave freely of their time and energy. Not only did I learn about the abduction phenomenon from them, but I also learned lessons about the human spirit in the face of adversity that have made me proud to have had our lives intertwine.

No study of this nature can be done in a vacuum. Dr. Thomas E. Bullard, folklorist and abduction researcher; Jerome Clark of the Center for UFO Studies; writer Michael Fare; Dr. Stephen Greenstein, psychologist; Dr. Charles W. Hieatt, Anglia College, Cambridge; Dr. Roger Keeran, Empire State College; art historian April Kingsley; Dr. Michael Swords, Western Michigan University; and Dr. Ronald Westrum, Eastern Michigan University, gave much of their time and offered invaluable comments on the manuscript.

Fred Hills and Daphne Bien of Simon & Schuster were extraordinarily helpful in shaping the final outcome of this book. They expended much time and energy editing the manuscript, and their work has enhanced the quality of this book immeasurably. I am in their debt.

Without Budd Hopkins this project would never have begun. His encouragement, advice, and critique of my work has helped me to clarify my thoughts and to work steadily toward my goal. Our countless hours of discussion provided me with an outlet for my thoughts,
and he patiently suffered through the earliest days of this study when my ideas were just beginning to take shape.

My wife, Irene, has put up with the enormous disruption and turmoil that the research for and writing of this study have caused in our lives and the lives of our children. In spite of this, her sage comments, her clarity of vision, and her steadiness have kept me on the intellectual straight and narrow in the face of tremendous obstacles. Her thoughtful editing of the initial drafts of the manuscript strengthened it tremendously.

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