Physical symptoms are indicative of actual abductions. Abduction experiencers often report marks on the body, or other physical symptoms they suspect may be associated with an actual abduction event. Not uncommonly, these are (at least apparently) mundane conditions such as blemishes, bruises, nosebleeds, and familiar discomforts. In other cases, more serious or unusual skin rashes or other markings are reported. And in still other cases, serious scars of unknown (unremembered) origin are present.
These conditions have been considered by some as evidence of alien abduction procedures. Mack (1994) regards “the physical changes and lesions affecting the bodies of experiencers” as a critical factor in understanding the abduction experience. Hopkins et al. (1992) regard the existence of “puzzling scars on [the] body without remembering how or where they were acquired” as a “key indicator” of the “event-level reality of UFO abductions Jacobs (1992) criticizes alternative explanations of the abduction experience as failing to “explain the unusual physical effects apparently derived from the abduction event” (p. 302).
Rightly or wrongly, most of these “symptoms” can be easily dismissed as having a mundane origin. It is more difficult to dismiss serious scars in this way. Given the sometimes inaccessible locations for these scars, their stereotypical appearance as “scoop-marks,” and their initial discovery early in childhood, such mundane explanations may not suffice. One critical issue is the extent to which serious scars may exist without recollection of their origin. According to a Roper survey (Hopkins et al., 1992), 8% of the general population report such scars. According to Bullard’s investigator survey (1994), at least 25% of the experiencer population report such a condition. It is not clear how accurate Bullard’s investigators’ estimates may be (or even if the investigators independently verified their experiencers’ claims). But if the estimates are correct, this does indeed represent a much greater prevalence of forgotten scars in the experiencer population than in the general population.
Abduction experiencers show signs of PTSD. Although PTSD is understood as a response to stressful life experiences, it may be impossible to determine whether such experiences are objectively real or imaginary (Laibow and Lane, 1993; Wilson, 1990), or whether the precipitating stressor is itself veridically recalled. Accordingly, the presence of PTSD symptomatology is not evidence that abduction experiences are veridical.
The abduction experience explains the covert nature of UFO activity. As mentioned before, it is hard to imagine acceptance of abduction reports as veridical without concomitant acceptance of UFOs as spacecraft. And certainly, a secret alien agenda provides a rationale for ET visitation without overt contact. Essentially, the reasoning here is that abduction experiences must be real because UFOs are real, and UFOs must be real because abductions are. However, this argument uses each proposition as both premise and conclusion. As such it must be rejected on logical grounds.
Abduction experiences are subjectively valid and emotionally compelling. As emotionally compelling as an abduction experience may be (to both the experiencer and the investigator or therapist listening to the experiencer’s account) it has been well documented that emotional validity is not an accurate criterion of objective validity (see earlier discussion).
Abduction experiences are shared within families and across generations. Although experiencers often report that family members have had abduction or UFO-related experiences, there are two reasons why this fact cannot be regarded as evidence of the veridicality of such experiences. First, the reliability of such correlations have been difficult to establish (Haines, 1994b). Second, although a familial linkage could be consistent with real abductions, familial linkage exists for personality, psychopathology, sleep disorders, and environments. Each of these has also been suggested as a cause of the abduction experience. Therefore, even when properly documented, such relationships cannot distinguish among these alternatives.
Abduction experiences are not random. They occur to the same individuals repeatedly. The nonrandom nature of the phenomenon must certainly be a clue to the cause of the abduction experience. However, personality, psychopathology, sleep disorders, environments, and other suggested causes of the abduction experience could also lead to multiple experiences for the same individual. The nonrandom nature of the experience is no more consistent with the veridicality of the reports than with these alternative explanations.
Children’s abduction experiences suggest veridicality. Abduction experiences have been reported by very young children. Kerth and Haines (I 992) have shown that the content of these reports differs from the imaginative productions solicited from nonexperiencer children. It has been argued that this is particularly difficult to explain in prosaic terms.
For example, Mack (1994) cites “the reports of abductions by children as young as two or three years of age” (p. 43) as one of the five critical aspects of the abduction experience in need of explanation. Hopkins (1994) has devised a picture-recognition test (comprised of a stereotypical alien face and character depictions from popular popular culture) to “serve as an aid in confirming or disconfirming” (p. 131) abduction experiences.
However, children’s reports may not be the challenge to conventional theory that some believe. Ceci and colleagues have carried out a program of research which “suggests that source misattribution could be a mechanism underlying children’s false beliefs about having experienced fictitious events” (Ceci, Loftus, Leichtman, & Bruck, 1994, p. 304). Source misattribution refers to the conviction or claim of remembering something which in reality was only thought about, or suggested by others. Ceci et al. cite a body of evidence which shows that “all children are susceptible to making source misattributions, [but] very young children may be disproportionately vulnerable” (p. 304). This susceptibility exists “even when the topic involves reporting specific and personal things … such as alleged genital touching” (p. 305).
Moreover, in studies using videotapes of both real and fictitious (misattributed) accounts, professional researchers and clinicians performed no better than chance at distinguishing among the children’s narratives. Indeed, these professionals “found it difficult to imagine such plausible, internally coherent narratives being fabricated” (p. 316). Ceci et al. conclude:
These findings suggest that it is possible to mislead preschoolers into believing that they experienced fictional events, and to do so with increasing conviction and vividness over time. An examination of the children’s videotaped statements reveals internally coherent, detailed, yet false, narratives. Adults who were naive to the validity of the children’s claims about fictional events often professed confidence in their accuracy. Thus it is not only possible to mislead children, but also to fool adults who are unaware of their experimental history. [Ceci et al., 1994, p. 315]