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
Category: The Abduction Experience
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