Musings On Abductions
For a number of reasons, most people studying UFO abductions are deeply disturbed by the parallels between ancient and modern UFO abduction reports. They are so disturbed that they refuse to even see that any relationships exist. I am astonished at how many contemporary investigators — professionals who should know better — simply refuse to see the historical perspective of this phenomenon. It is easy to be smug and say, “This is different, we aren’t superstitious anymore, these are modern times.” But in 500 years a lot of what we deeply believe will be laughed at and ridiculed.
Many, many people want to believe that UFOs are crafts from other worlds carrying advanced extraterrestrial beings.
Many want to believe that sexual abductions represent genetic experimentation and crossbreeding by extraterrestrials. The simple fact is that believing that is far more comforting than accepting the possible reality of what has been described in the prior few pages. Most of us don’t want to really believe that there are actual beings that exist that have been called “demons” or “fairies” or a “devil.” The contemplation of such possibilities is deeply disturbing. It touches the darkest and most remote areas of our psyche. It energizes the most fearsome and powerful psychological processes of our minds.
“Nuts and bolts” ufologists avoid studying or even acknowledging abductions by stating that these aren’t “true” UFO reports. I have heard numerous urologists state over and over, ‘We know these (UFOs) are physical craft, they are spaceships. The psychic and parapsychological stuff doesn’t have anything to do with these crafts. Anything but what I’m studying is ‘new age’ bunk.” It’s as if they stick their noses down and look at the little piece of the gigantic puzzle before them, refusing to open their eyes to the fact that they are ignoring the big picture.
It is important to understand that I am not saying that UFOs are piloted by demons. I am not saying that fairies and demons are rapists, who force themselves on their abducted victims. There is a real problem with terminology here — most of us have a preconceived idea of what a fairy or a demon is, and I really don’t want to conjure up that image.
What I am saying is that there is a process that has been ongoing — probably for all of humanity’s history — that manifests itself through the appearance of archetypal creatures and beings. John Keel was one of the first to recognize this. Others, including Vallee, Clark, and many British ufologists have long pointed out the resemblance between modern UFO reports and ancient traditions. It doesn’t really matter what we call the process underlying UFOs, abductions, and all of the related phenomena, but it is important to see that they all tie together. Even the dreaded and paranoia-producing “government” has long-recognized this connection in their earliest reports (although changes in policy precluded too much future mention of it).
John Keel’s UFOs: Operation Trojan Horse cites the preface from a 1960s publication by the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research called UFOs and Related Subjects: An Annotated Bibliography. In that report it was stated:
A large part of the available UFO literature is closely linked with mysticism and the metaphysical. It deals with subjects like mental telepathy, automatic writing, and invisible entities, as well as phenomena like poltergeist manifestations and possession….Many of the UFO reports now being published in the popular press recount alleged incidents that are strikingly similar to demonic possession and psychic phenomena which has long been known to theologians and parapsychologists.
Abductees and the Paranormal
In July 1990, ufologist Brent Raynes published the results of a statistical survey he conducted on 46 people who reported contact with or sightings of UFOs in the publication UFO Perceptions. A little over a quarter of them were abductees, with the rest having some close contact with UFOs. Raynes’ survey clearly showed that people who have any sort of UFO experiences also have a variety of other “paranormal” experiences. Here are some of the results:
•87% had repeating psychic experiences
•72% had telepathic experiences
•70% had more than one UFO experience
•70% reported some precognitive experiences
•63% reported “out-of-body” experiences
•59% reported experiences with poltergeists
In addition, Raynes conducted a survey of his UFO percipients’ medical and psychological histories. Most of his medical findings were within normal expectations of a sample of adults randomly drawn from the population. However, the psychological findings appear to strongly suggest a Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) cluster of findings. Here are a few findings from Raynes’ extensive statistical list:
• 4% admitted to drug abuse
• 7% had been institutionalized at some point for mental problems
• 9% admitted to alcohol abuse
• 17% had asthma
• 20% admitted to suicidal impulses
• 22% were sleepwalkers
• 26% engaged in compulsive behaviors
• 28% experienced amnesia
• 28% experienced severe depression
• 35% had insomnia
• 37% had anxiety attacks
In recent years, PTSD has become one of the favorite diagnoses of recovery-oriented mental health professionals. When the symptoms are seen, childhood abuse (sexual, physical, and emotional) are often immediately suspected. Many professionals (myself included) view this quick diagnosis tendency as a temporary fad; however, there is no denying the trauma that childhood abuse inflicts upon its many victims.
Over a decade ago, Rick Rotter, a former MUFON Section Director, suggested to me that all UFO abductees are reliving a form of post-traumatic stress syndrome. This is not really a new idea. But what was rather unique about Rick’s idea was that he felt abductees were experiencing the abduction because of long- standing trauma due to childhood sexual abuse. That is, the memory of a UFO abduction (and the sex that occurs during the abduction) represents a reliving of a childhood memory of an adult human who perpetrated sex abuse on the young child. Because the memory of the person perpetrating the abuse (usually the child’s father, mother, grandparents, or other relative) is so traumatic, their memory is twisted and adjusted so that a “monster” or otherworldly creature is believed to have performed the act on them. “Inner Child” theory and other pop psychology beliefs relate to this idea.