Reflections on the Alien Abduction Phenomenon

The following article was first published in Issue 1 of Katy Elizabeth's new Fortean World magazine. Please support the magazine.

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Recently during the Halloween season, I watched ‘Intruders’ based on the late Budd Hopkins’ book about cases of alleged alien abduction. It is terrifying because it is based on experiences that people really believe happened to them… and I’ve got no reason to disbelieve them… though it raises complex questions about what the word “real” means… can something exist without being physical, and therefore not have to obey the normal laws of physics that govern the physical universe? Is there a non-physical world that has its own separate laws? Are these alien abductions an example of these two linked but separate realities colliding? Is human consciousness a kind of bridge allowing this? These are some of the questions I will be considering as I take a look at some of the films and classic literature in this sub-genre of UFOlogy in this article.

Probably the first Alien Abduction film I ever saw was the 1989 film ‘Communion’ based on the book written by experiencer Whitley Strieber. Watching the film again it is clear to me that the close encounters are not always in the physical world. Instead, they appear to occur in a dreamworld. But these are no ordinary dreams, as these experiences have a real physical impact on the experiencer such as physical injuries. Also, as explained in the film many other witnesses reported having similar experiences, and this was in the 1980s before television series like ‘The X-Files’ cemented the alien abduction phenomenon in popular culture…That said, the phenomenon was not completely unknown in television and film. ‘The UFO Incident’, a 1975 television film based on the bestselling book ‘The Interrupted Journey’ written by John G. Fuller, documented the Betty and Barney Hill alien abduction case, the first widely publicised UFO close encounter of the fourth kind.

Alien abduction author David Jacobs has estimated that perhaps as many as 5% of the American population could be alien abductees. While the large numbers of alleged abductees can be seen as evidence that something real is happening, such large numbers combined with the lack of physical proof (although physical injuries and alleged implants could be considered physical evidence) raises the question: is alien abduction a physical phenomenon involving “nuts-and-bolts metallic spacecraft” piloted by “flesh and blood” alien beings from another planet, or, is something else happening? Although “real” in the sense that the experiences are not delusions or imaginary. Could it be that that alien abductions are a non-physical, paranormal phenomenon?

In other words that a real external intelligence is interacting with human consciousness, but alien abduction experiencers are not physically being taken onboard an alien spacecraft and that alien abductions have more to do with ghosts and demons than extraterrestrials in the sense that they represent a paranormal rather than physical phenomenon.

However, going back to the Hill abduction, there are two points that make me reconsider this conclusion.

The first reason is the dress Betty was wearing on the night of the alleged alien abduction. Betty claimed under hypnosis that a large needle was inserted into her stomach, according to the alien beings this was a pregnancy test. Stains on the dress Betty was wearing in the region where the needle was allegedly inserted is evidence that something physical happened to the Hills.

The second is the famous “Star Map” Betty Hill recalled being shown onboard the UFO, which Betty Hill drew and after years of research was shown to potentially match the positions of real stars, Zeta I and II Reticuli which were unknown to the Hills.

Because of this the writers of the 1979 film Alien decided to set the location of the planet where the crew of the Nostromo encounter the acid for blood Xenomorph for the first time in this start system. Weirdly, the life circle of the fictional alien in the film in some ways echoes the bizarre reproductive experiments reported by alleged alien abductees under hypnosis in the real-world. These experiments often involve the hybridisation of humans with aliens, using human women as incubators before the unborn hybrid is removed and finishes gestating in an artificial womb onboard a UFO. Such bizarre stories are easily the most fringe and controversial aspect in an already fringe enough topic… but the stories are consistent. Assuming these stories reflect something that is a physical reality and are not an attempt to communicate using symbolism via visions and dreams, what do these accounts potentially tell us about the greys and their motives for abducting people?

Could it be that like the fictional alien in the Ridley Scott film, the greys can only reproduce by fusing their own DNA with that of another species and using this other species as a host to gestate their offspring?

Zeta II Reticuli system is estimated to be twice as old as our own sun. Any potential life originating from there then, could potentially be twice as old as life on Earth, which could include intelligent life. Any intelligent life that left their home planet millions of years ago could possibly evolve to make hybridisation with other species possible. It would be the fastest way to adapt to the environment of a new planet and avoid the fate of the Martians in HG well’s novel ‘The War of the Worlds’, where the Martians all died from exposure to Earth’s microbes that they had no immunity to.

One last note about the Hill abduction. Even if you are sceptical about alien abductions, ‘The UFO Incident’ is an excellent film, telling a very real love story. It would just as easily be a good choice for a Valentine’s film as a Halloween film and stars James Earl Jones (Voice of Darth Vader) who just recently passed away.

Probably the scariest of the alien abduction films, ‘Fire In the Sky’, is based on the alleged experiences of Travis Walton as described in his book ‘The Walton Experience’. If not for this case I would probably separate cases of alleged alien abductions into two distinct and separate types of phenomena, one involving “nuts and bolts” physically real but unknown craft. And the other more paranormal kind that involves something (possibly intelligent) external affecting (possibly communicating) with the human mind. In the latter case, whatever it is using popular culture, folklore and religious beliefs to construct a lucid dream so real that it can cause physical injury to the experiencer.

…However, unfortunately it isn’t that easy to separate alien abductions into different types like apples and oranges, and Travis Walton’s experience perhaps best documents why this is. Walton was seen being struck by an energy beam from a UFO by multiple witnesses before being taken onboard the craft where he woke up being examined by classic grey alien beings. It was clearly a physical experience, not a dream or hallucination.

Perhaps then the UFO occupants can choose between many different communication channels to make contact with humans, much in the same way we decide between having a face-to-face meeting or making a phone call or arranging a Microsoft Teams or Skype meeting. The only difference being that the UFO occupants can use consciousness itself as a communication channel when face to face encounters are not necessary or possible.

The Fourth Kind is another disturbing film to watch. I need to take a slight detour here into theoretical physics, but we will return back to the film soon.

If aliens are travelling from other solar systems to Earth, it is impossible for them to be coming in nuts-and-bolts spacecraft travelling slower than the speed of light. UFOs are seen too often and seem to be reacting to current events on Earth too quickly. For example, the first atomic bomb was detonated in 1945 and within two years in the same region flying saucers turn up, seemingly investigating our nuclear weapon tests. If these objects came from another solar system, they would need to be at least approx. 4 light years away. Meaning it would take a radio signal at least that time to reach our nearest neighbouring solar system. Then travelling at light speed take another four years to get to Earth. That’s eight years total. As UFOs were being seen in 1947 (and earlier) in the American Southwest and were seemingly interested in nuclear weapons, it would seem to indicate they could send signals and travel faster than light to get here two years after the first atomic bomb test.

While travelling faster than light is impossible in our physical universe, other universes could potentially have different laws of physics that allow objects to travel faster than light.

So, if such a parallel universe existed it could be used as a kind of cosmic motorway. The only problem is how could an object travel between parallel universes?

Arthur C. Clarke famously said: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

Could aliens be using what we would call magick (yes with a “k” to differentiate real magick from fake magic conjuring tricks) to open portals into other dimensions? This might sound absurd, but a lightbulb would appear to be magical to someone who had no knowledge of electricity. I’m only suggesting that there might be something to magick which could potentially be developed into another science one day. Perhaps a science of the Mind or Consciousness.

It is interesting that one of the aspects of real-world alien abduction mythology which is highlighted in ‘The Fourth Kind’ is the phenomenon of alleged screen memories. These are distorted memories of real events subtly altered either by the sub consciousness mind to make the memories accessible without driving someone insane, or, perhaps artificially altered by the aliens encountered during abductions to hide their activities. Put simply instead of remembering an alien, abductees remember other mundane things instead in their place. In the film the aliens are replaced in the memories of the protagonist by an owl, something which is widespread in real abduction accounts. Which is interesting because the owl has long been an important symbol in ancient religions. The owl was associated with the Ancient Greek goddess of wisdom Athena. And even today owls are still allegedly ‘worshiped’ in outlandish rituals by the quasi-secret group the Bohemian Club.

It could simply be that the large black eyes of owls lend the creatures to being good standings for the black-eyed grey aliens mostly associated with abductions. But an alternative explanation could be that owl and other esoteric symbolism is somehow being used to generate some kind of energy or power (for lack of a better similarly as this psychic power may not be energy in the scientific sense of the word that can be measured) which is used to phase in and out of our physical universe in ways we don’t yet understand.

Eyewitness accounts of odd symbols resembling Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on wreckage/debris from alleged UFO crashes like the one at Roswell in 1947 are well known inside the UFO field. What if instead of writing these were occult symbols? What if instead of using physics to travel through space the aliens have developed an alternative science based originally on what we would call magick?

Chemistry is an example of a science that began as a pseudo-science. The treating of illnesses with magical potions. This was the beginning of treating illnesses with specific drugs to remedy a particular disease or other health problem.

There is a certain amount of theatrics involved with cases of alien abductions. Why would the aliens want to scare the people they are abducting? The aliens should be capable of tranquillising the subjects of their experiments, so that they would have no distress or memory at all of anything happening. The way we do with animals, for instance, if a large and dangerous zoo animal needed to be seen by a vet.

It is widely believed in paranormal research circles that poltergeists feed off human fear and anger, and that the best thing to do if you are experiencing such a haunting is to simply ignore it until the poltergeist runs out of energy effectively. Could the aliens seen in abductions be using similar paranormal energies generated by negative human emotion to travel between different dimensions? Perhaps a non-physical realm where the laws of physics do not apply, making interstellar travel possible?

One last thought … it is suggestive that the alleged covert group set up by the US Government to study the alleged UFO wreckage found at Roswell in 1947 was called Majestic 12 … as in Magic or Magick 12.

Paranormal Dichotomy - Richard's Room 101

The sheer mountain of eyewitness testimony, photographs, and audio recordings, not to mention film and video evidence should be ample enough to show that the pantheon of phenomena popularly described as "ghosts" or "apparitions" exist. That's NOT to say any of this accumulating evidence approaches anything near scientific proof or verification of the paranormal. The fact that, by definition, paranormal activity falls outside the normal realm of scientific understanding and can't be repeated within a laboratory setting has left many researchers believing we'll probably never have irrefutable proof.

However, few investigators would argue that the phenomena continues, nonetheless, and is all too real for a wide spectrum of witnesses that come from all walks of life. Which raises two important questions: if paranormal activity really does exist, what does it represent and how might the answer, or answers, affect our collective understanding of the universe and ourselves?

Other than hallucinations caused by ultrasound, sleep paralysis and similarly mundane explanations, parapsychologists and other paranormal investigators basically subscribe to three main schools of thought on the matter. The first, and most obvious, of course, being that "ghosts" are exactly what psychic mediums and other sensitives have always claimed they are: the spirits of the deceased or whatever it is that survives of the human consciousness after bodily death.

It is the second and third alternatives that seem to be the preferences of most contemporary parapsychologists. That is that paranormal phenomena such as "ghosts" are either some kind of 3D psychic recording / temporal replay or alternatively, the manifestation of the latent telekinetic powers of the human mind. When I interviewed Richard Holland editor of Paranormal Magazine the author/investigator, himself a witness to poltergeist activity, he speculated about a possible fourth alternative.

"When I was at university I read about bacteriophages, viruses so primitive that they can barely be called life at all. They attach themselves to bacteria and pump in their RNA. The rest of it, a protein shell, drifts away. The RNA recodes the bacterial DNA and – lo! – two viruses where once there was one bacterium. It made me wonder about a primitive consciousness, scarcely a mind at all, just a mass of electrical discharges that floats about and like the phage can only exist in any real form by latching onto a human mind … Perhaps similar twilight entities answer our subconscious needs according to our current superstitious beliefs – become fairies when we believe in fairies, then aliens when we believe in aliens. Perhaps they created some crop circles, too. More recently, I've been getting interested in the Islamic concept of the Jinn, incorporeal spirits created out of 'smokeless fire' at the same time as Man, and living alongside us. That comes quite close to what I've been groping at."

The danger, of course, when discussing "ghosts," just as with UFOs and pretty much any Fortean-type mystery, is that people want a single definitive answer. The classic example being that UFOs are either "nuts and bolts" spacecraft from Zeta Reticuli or they're extra-dimensional vehicles. And, as alluded to, a similar dichotomy seems to be entrenched in the paranormal field. It might be a bit of an overgeneralization, but generally speaking "ghosts" are either seen as evidence of survival after death or else, they're interpreted as being some form of alternative psychic phenomena we currently don't understand as the parapsychologists would suggest. The problem being, why does it have to be one or the other: why can't it be both or as conspiracy author Jim Marrs likes to say: "all of the above" or even something else entirely?

Traditional style hauntings, poltergeist activity, stories of possession and timeslips: there is certainly no shortage of paranormal phenomena to choose from, however, perhaps none defy this paranormal dichotomy better than the "crisis ghost phenomenon."

Crisis ghosts are different from other apparitions in that they appear to be person rather than location-based. They typically involve close friends or family members of witnesses appearing at a time of crisis, usually just before or after the person appearing dies. So common is the phenomenon that there is actually a case within my own family we can discuss.

I won't bore readers with all of the details but basically, years ago, while on holiday in Tenerife, my father had a strange dream involving several deceased relatives "all dressed in white" and a close childhood friend he hadn't seen in about "two and a half years." According to my father, the white figures in the dream told him that "they were all alright and not to worry." After waking up, my dad assumed it was just a strange dream and got on with enjoying his holiday. On returning to the UK, though, he discovered, to his shock, that the friend in the dream had, unbeknownst to him, been ill for some time and had died while he was away.

Had the spirits of the departed somehow invaded my father's subconscious that night in Tenerife, or alternately, had my father somehow psychically picked up on his friend's passing or imminent passing and this is how his subconscious mind dealt with it? Either explanation can be made to fit.

Stranger still, though, are the crisis ghost cases that take place while the witness (or witnesses) are wide and awake. For instance, there are many cases from the two world wars of soldiers returning home only to suddenly vanish or walk through a wall. News of their death arriving not long afterwards.

A classic example of this was featured in a memorable episode of Ghosthunters (the UK 1990s documentary series) focusing on the alleged ghostly happenings at Ireland's Castle Leslie. In the documentary, we're told that "Uncle Norman" Leslie was seen by the old gamekeeper and others "walking the gardens" when last they heard he was in France fighting in the 1914 war. Thinking the army captain must have gotten unexpected leave, the servants rushed to get a meal prepared for the returning war hero. Strangely, though, he never turned up. Not long later, however, (within a week) the family learned the truth. "Uncle Norman" had died attacking a German machine gun post.

When you consider the wide spectrum of crisis experiences (some awake, some asleep, some alone, some with others etc) is it really likely that every case has the same explanation, or, is it more reasonable to think that some might be traditional "spirits" and some might be evidence for something else? Ultimately, though, as is the case with all Fortean or esoteric-type topics, it comes down to a matter of personal belief.

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The Stone Tape Theory - Richard's Room 101

This fortnight we're concluding our loose "pure paranormal" trilogy. In parts one and two we took a look at the time-slip experience and poltergeist phenomena, respectively. So, this time around, we're finally wrapping things up here with a short piece on what many people in paranormal circles often refer to as the "Stone Tape" theory.

   

For people who didn't read my Nigel Kneale piece just short of a year ago, the "Stone Tape" theory originates from a 1972 television play of the same name by the iconic sci-fi writer. Combining science fiction with the ghost story genre, in the BBC Christmas special a group of scientists investigate a supposed haunting in the hope of discovering a brand new recording medium. Their theory is that somehow limestone (and perhaps other materials) can retain moments of the past. That perhaps human memories or experiences (particularly ones involving intense emotions like the last moments before death) can be someway psychically recorded in the stonework of buildings.

  

The idea, of course, is that later someone psychic or sensitive enough could act as a kind of psychic video player. Hence the title of Kneale's original play "The Stone Tape."

  

As a credit to Nigel Kneale's genius as a writer, despite making its début in a fictional setting, his idea proved very popular with many of the more scientifically inclined paranormal researchers. Finally offering them a real, and perhaps almost equally engaging, alternative to the standard "life after death" explanation of the traditionalists. What's more, if true, the "Stone Tape" theory might also go some way to explaining some of the problems and inconsistencies often associated with paranormal encounters. 

  

For instance, why do people always seem to report "ghosts" from only a few centuries ago? Why never from pre-history?

  

Perhaps the answer to this peculiarity might be that, much like domestic VHS videotape, "Stone Tape" recordings have a limited lifespan too. Steadily degenerating over the ages until they are completely erased and forgotten forever.

  

This explanation might also provide the answer to another popular problem in the paranormal. Why is it that some people see full-blown solid apparitions whereas others only see transparent figures, shadows or, worse, nothing at all? Again like a conventional video tape perhaps the older a "Stone Tape" recording gets the more the sound and picture quality suffers.

  

Alternatively, of course, perhaps a better explanation opened up by the theory might be that some people may simply make better psychic video players than others. Maybe an important point to make here is that according to the theory, the "ghost" or recording is seen (perhaps "played" might be a better term) inside the mind rather than in the outside physical universe. Therefore, depending on the sensitivity of the witnesses, it's quite possible that several people might experience the same encounter very differently.

  

The idea that "ghosts" might really be some kind of psychic tape recording rather than the spirits of the dead might not be desirable to some die-hard researchers who believe "ghosts" offer us proof of life after death. (Though the two ideas are not mutually exclusive, it's possible that there could be more than one type of "ghost" each representing something very different.) However, if ever proven the theory would raise perhaps almost equally important questions about the true nature of consciousness and the human mind.

  

Think about it. The only way such a recording could be made and replayed would be if there was some kind of direct connection between the human mind and stone. It would have to be some form of telepathy between two "minds" (for lack of a better word) suggesting that inanimate matter might have some form of highly primitive consciousness or awareness. It is an exciting idea, be it somewhat crazy. However, as Richard Holland (editor of Paranormal magazine) noted in our interview last month the "Stone Tape" theory is still a very long way from being proven.

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Timeslip: Is Time Travel Possible? - Richard's Room 101

Recently, my old interest in 'ghosts' and what might best be described as the "pure paranormal" has been somewhat reawakened by watching the complete series of Ghost Hunters on DVD. I'm referring to the excellent British scientific documentary series from the mid-1990s, of course. Not the terrible (but undoubtedly far more successful) American reality TV show of the same name.

In hindsight, it was probably over-the-top melodramas like the American Ghost Hunters and its many British counterparts (full of people just screaming in the dark) that put my hitherto strong interest in the grip of a sleeper hold in the first place. Anyway, while my rekindled interest in 'ghosts' and the like lasts, I thought it might be a good idea to write up some paranormal-type pieces for Room 101. So, this fortnight (in what might become the first in a paranormal trilogy of articles) we're going to examine probably the strangest, but no doubt also most absorbing of paranormal happenings ... the "timeslip" or time travel experience.

  

Put simply a "timeslip" is an alleged paranormal phenomenon in which a person, or even group of people, seem to somehow travel through time via apparently supernatural (as opposed to technological) means. Now, admittedly, the whole notion sounds like it was ripped straight from the pages of a Doctor Who script. Time travel, naturally, has been a staple of science fiction and fantasy ever since H G Wells wrote the Time Machine. 

  

Before we dismiss the possibility out of hand, though, perhaps it's worth remembering that a wide range of highly prestigious theoretical physicists and other scientists (both past and present) have gone on record with some very strange ideas about the true nature and behaviour of the fourth dimension. 

  

It was no less than Albert Einstein, remember, who first laid down the foundation for the theoretical possibility of time travel with his famous "special theory of relativity." One of the very strange (but now proven) consequences of special relativity is that time slows down as you approach the speed of light, stopping completely for anything able to travel at light speed. Which, of course, logically implies that time might conceivably run backwards if you were somehow able to travel faster than light. 

  

Further, the theory that time could run in reverse might sound ridiculous but that's exactly what Steven Hawking suggests might be the fate of us all in his excellent book A Brief History of Time. In the bestseller, the "smartest man alive" not only speculates that our expanding Universe might eventually begin contracting but, further, that if this "Big Crunch" ever really does take place it's perfectly possible that time might start reversing too. Strange as it sounds, we might all one day be forced to live our lives again. Only this time backwards! 

  

Back to the timeslip phenomenon. There is no question that some of mankind's greatest intellects have taken the theoretical possibility of time travel very seriously. However, as discussed, only in the most extreme circumstances imaginable. Such as travelling at superluminal velocities or the Universe imploding. But what about in our daily lives? Is it possible to go around a strange corner and walk into another time and place? 

  

Amazingly, there are many accounts of sane and credible people who believe this is precisely what has happened to them. One of the most well-publicised cases, in Britain at least, is that of the Simpsons and the Gisbys. 

  

The 1979 incident featured prominently in a memorable episode of the ITV television series Strange But True? In the programme (now being regularly shown in the UK on the Paranormal Channel) the two English couples described how while travelling through France en route to a holiday in Spain they stayed the night at a strangely antiquated hotel. Bedding in somewhat basic rooms they were a little unnerved to discover no glass in any of the building's windows, only wooden shutters that closed from the outside. 

  

It wasn't just the building though, all the people they met (everyone from police officers to locals) seemed strangely old fashioned too. Dressing almost as if they had just stepped out of the 19th century. In fact, everything even the knives and forks everybody ate with seemed outdated. Not being able to speak much French, the English couples couldn't ask about it.

  

Putting all the strange anachronisms down to simply being in rural France and impressed by the mere 18 francs their stay had cost them, the four decided to look for the same hotel again on their return journey. However, this time, despite searching for several hours, they were unable to find it again. What's more, when they returned home they were puzzled when all the photos they had taken there turned out blank. As if the hotel and its inhabitants had somehow simply vanished, disappearing even from their film negatives. 

  

If Simpsons and the Gisbys really did, as it seems, travel back in time about a hundred years or so though: why did their hosts accept 1970s-style currency? Assuming the foursome didn't just invent their story (though why would they?) it would seem to suggest there could be a lot more to this type of experience than one might first imagine. 

  

Any serious student of the paranormal, of course, could come up with a whole range of incredible suggestions. Perhaps we're dealing with god-like Tricksters playing games with mortal men for their own childish amusement? However, before we begin to speculate perhaps it would be wise to briefly consider another well-known case first. There are plenty to choose from but easily the most credible involved no less than the great philosopher and psychiatrist Carl Jung. According to the famous thinker, while travelling through Italy in the 1930s he visited the tomb of a Roman Empress in Ravenna. Impressed with the remarkable beauty of the mosaics depicting maritime scenes in an eerily pale blue light, he discussed them with his companion for about half an hour and, on leaving the mausoleum, even tried to purchase postcards of them. Surprisingly though there weren't any.

  

Sometime later, Jung asked a friend visiting Ravenna if he could obtain pictures for him. It was only after seeing them that he finally learned the truth. The mosaics he had seen and discussed in great detail were totally different to the mosaics now decorating the mausoleum. However, they did exist once but had been destroyed in a fire some 700 years previously. 

  

So what is going on? Jung was personally convinced that his consciousness had somehow travelled back in time to when the mausoleum had been first constructed, 1400 years prior to his visit to Ravenna. As discussed earlier, time travel is thought by scientists to only be possible in the most extreme of circumstances. However, what if the laws that govern nature are different to the laws that govern the mind? If so, then maybe it would be possible for consciousness (free of the limitations of the laws of physics) to travel through time much more easily. 

  

Further, many timeslip witnesses report strange bouts of depression or unease just prior to or at the start of their experience. Perhaps this indicates that the mind is indeed involved in some key way. The theory would definitely explain why the Simpsons and the Gisbys weren't able to get any photographs. Which brings us back to the question of why their French hosts didn't make a fuss about their modern money? Maybe they simply saw money from their own era. Unless scientists someday break the light barrier or maybe even develop a "science of the mind" though, it's impossible to ever know.

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