Category: Stuart Appelle

PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORIES It has been suggested (Sagan, 1996; Vallee, 1969) that similar themes appearing in both historical folklore (e.g., encounters with fairies, elves, angels) and contemporary abduction accounts indicate a common origin in the human psyche. (For a discussion of the folkloric dimensions of the abduction experience, see Bullard, 1991.) A number of psychodynamic theories8 have been proposed to explain the manifestation of these processes as the abduction experience. Common to these theories is the notion that abduction experiences are a product of the unconscious mind. The theories differ, however, in regard to their description of these unconscious processes or in regard to the situations deemed responsible for their activation. (a) Screen Memories for Childhood Abuse A correlation between reported abduction experiences and reported […] Read More

(b) Birth Memories Lawson (1984, 1985) argues that the abduction experience is the unconscious’ representation of the birth experience. His theory stems from the psychodynamic speculations of Grof (1976), who noted perinatal imagery in subjects experiencing LSD hallucinations. Lawson sees perinatal imagery in abduction experiencers’ descriptions of aliens (they are fetal in appearance), hallways and columns of light (which are considered symbolic of transport down the birth canal), the shape of the UFO or its rooms (these are womb-like), doors and other openings (cervix-like), and any alien equipment that is elongated, tubular, or flat-ended (which Lawson characterizes as umbilical or placental). Lawson (1985) even suggests that the reported experiences of missing time are memories of the effects of oxytocin, a hormone that initiates contractions […] Read More

(b) Escape-From-Self and Masochistic Fantasies Newman and Baumeister (1994; 1996) hypothesize that the abduction experience is a manifestation of fantasies designed to “escape the self.” They argue that for some people, events that leave the individual feeling “stupid, clumsy, or unlovable,” or just the burdens of having to maintain independence, responsibility, and a positive image, may lead to pressure to avoid meaningful thought. In this regard, they consider masochism6 as one of the most effective ways to escape the self (it contains the features of pain, loss of control, and humiliation, each of which Newman and Baumeister argue are excellent strategies for escaping the self). Newman and Baumeister suggest that the parallels between masochistic fantasy and abduction-experience narratives (especially those aspects of the abduction […] Read More

(1) awakening (or an experience immediately preceding sleep); (2) hearing and/or seeing something [e.g., the Old Hag or some other apparition] come into the room and approach the bed; (3) being pressed on the chest or strangled; (4) inability to move or cry out until either being brought out of the state by someone else or breaking through the feeling of paralysis on one’s own. [Hufford, 1982, pp. 10-11] Hufford questions whether this specificity of content across cultures can be understood simply in terms of sleep physiology. In this context, he cites an observation of Dement (a major figure in sleep research): Our understanding of hallucinations and dreams will be complete only when we can account for specific details, that is, when we know […] Read More

Studies that are used to generalize to the abduction experience should involve source (retrieval) materials that are like the abduction experience in quality. Abduction memories are characterized by dynamic, emotionally charged events that instill trauma, fear, anxiety, confusion, and anger. Moreover, they are characterized by events so unusual as to be outside the range of normal human experience. In contrast, the bulk of laboratory research has used static and neutral source material such as memorized lists of words. Some studies have used more relevant materials for retrievals such as stress-inducing stimuli (DePiano & Salzberg, 1981; Zelig & Beidleman, 1981), or simulations of emotionally charged events like accidents or crimes (Brigham, Maass, Snyder, & Spaulding, 1982; Malpass & Devine, 1980; Sanders & Wamick, 1981). The […] Read More

(c) False-Memory Syndrome The argument that therapy for real or imagined trauma may lead to “recollections” of events that never happened has been termed the “false-memory syndrome” (Goldstein, 1992). Originally, the false-memory syndrome was developed to suggest an iatrogenic origin for accounts of childhood sexual abuse and satanic ritual abuse. However, the false-memory syndrome has also been offered (for a list of representative articles see Gotlib, 1993) as an explanation for abduction experiences. (It is not uncommon for abduction experiencers to see mental health professionals for symptoms associated with a believed or suspected abduction experience.) Although the spontaneous emergence during therapy of a completely unsuspected abduction experience is apparently quite rare (based on the general lack of references to such cases in the clinical […] Read More

On the other hand, Randles (1994a) noted a number of inconsistencies between the prototypical abduction experience and the stories of twenty British subjects asked to imagine a close encounter. These inconsistencies included more humanlike entities, almost no reports of “doorway amnesia” (failure to recall events associated with entry into the abductors’ craft), not a single medical examination, and little resemblance of apparent alien motives to those indicated in the reports by actual abduction experiencers. Although these results seem contradictory to those of Lawson and Lynn and Pezzo, it is interesting to note that compared to the stereotypical American abduction scenario, British abduction experiencers report humanlike entities about four times more often, and medical examinations about 1/3 as often (Randles, 1994b). Therefore, the results with […] Read More

The Rule of Parsimony and Theories of the Abduction Experience The issue of evidence is particularly important in regard to the rule of parsimony (often referred to as Occam’s razor). This maxim states that when interpreting a phenomenon, unnecessary assumptions should not be introduced. It is important to emphasize that parsimony is defined in terms of unnecessary assumptions, not in terms of unpopular assumptions, disturbing assumptions, or unconventional assumptions. As such, it can be assessed only in regard to empirical evidence, as the empirical evidence defines which assumptions are or are not necessary. A theory cannot continue to be defended on the grounds of parsimony if it has been disconfirmed through experiment, and in the absence of proper testing, parsimony by itself is of […] Read More

1. A relationship between sleep anomalies and the abduction experience seems to make sense on theoretical grounds (and in terms of the extent of sleep anomalies in the general population) but is yet to be directly evaluated. 2. The consistency across abduction narratives is obvious, but its statistical deviation from chance (as determined by narrative production for the general population) has not been assessed. In fact, despite the existence of some frequency distribution tables for abduction experience characteristics and content (e.g., Bullard, 1994), statistical analyses of these data have not been done. Also, a much closer examination of cultural variations in the abduction experience needs to be done. 3. The occurrence of certain stigmata (e.g., scoop marks) have been described as suspicious, but no […] Read More

DISCUSSION Facts acquire significance only when related to theory, and theory remains empty in the absence of supporting fact. For fact and theory to be of any relevance, a relationship between them must be established. This is especially important, and especially difficult, when dealing with a phenomenon such as the abduction experience. As Morrison (1972) has stated: If we are to believe any hypothesis, however plausible or implausible, concerning new events — particularly those that do not satisfy the easy quality of being reproducible at will by those who undertake to set up a laboratory for the purpose — then we must find … multiple, independent chains of evidence satisfying a link-by-link test. [p. 280] Mindful of this, what can be said of the […] Read More

Clearly then, a researcher’s or clinician’s intuitive sense about a child’s testimony (let alone the intuitive sense of the child’s parents) says nothing about the validity of that testimony. And the testimony’s detail, coherence, or consistency with adult testimony, is of significance only in regard to the child’s opportunity for misattribution. As difficult as it may be to document such influence, a child’s exposure to books, movies, television, the media, and the casual conversations of parents, peers, teachers, and the occasional stranger, provide more than ample opportunity for misattribution to occur. Parental assurance that their child had no opportunity for exposure to such influences is naive, or at best unfalsifiable. In addition, a perhaps counterintuitive finding from recent research (Brainerd, Reyna, & Brandse, 1995) […] Read More

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 […] Read More

THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL (ET) HYPOTHESIS Perhaps the most provocative explanation for abduction experiences is that they are essentially veridical reports of actual abductions by apparently extraterrestrial (ET) entities.9 Because more attention has been directed toward this hypothesis than any other, the perspectives of both advocates and detractors will be examined-tined in detail. (a) Arguments Against the ET Hypothesis Many critics of the ET hypothesis argue that in the absence of tangible proof, parsimony requires that the ET hypothesis be dismissed. The relationship between parsimony and evidence has been discussed already and will not be reiterated here. Other a priori arguments for dismissal are discussed below. UFO sightings are not caused by spacecraft, so abduction experiences are not caused by aliens. It would be difficult to […] Read More