I felt the need to write this article because I have noticed an increase of articles and materials aimed at ridiculing and dismissing abductees and their claims. Many of these articles are by “psychology professionals” who pigeonhole all claims of abduction or contact into the same category. They also seem to discount or ignore any data that does not support their findings. Many of these people even go so far as to make totally outrageous and inaccurate claims placing all abductees and contactees into the same category. They also say all contact and abduction experiences follow a certain pattern and a certain scenario. Nothing could be farther from the truth!
I conferred with several long time abduction researchers and came up with a list of ten known abductees and contactees that I am aquainted with. I then made a list of ten questions and asked each of these people to give me a YES or NO answer on each question. These questions were in reference to some of the accusations made by the so called professionals.
There are two articles in particular that I based these questions on as a response to many of the claims made in those articles. In these articles it was inferred that all abductions follow the same set of circumstances.
• It was claimed that all abductions occur at night and while a person is sleeping.
• It was claimed that all abductees experience paralysis during an abduction encounter so, it was assumed by the researchers that sleep paralysis was the explanation.
• It was claimed that there is no outward evidence of abductions ever taking place and, the abductees may be prone to fantasizing such stories.
• It was claimed that all abductees see the short gray ET’s.
• It was claimed that peoples descriptions of the short gray ET’s head is nothing more than a genetic memory of an image of a "prototypical female face" that's hard-wired into a baby's brain and helps newborns instantly respond to their mothers.
• It was claimed that many abduction memories are actually the minds way of covering over or, repressing memories of sexual abuse.
These are just a few of the generalizations made by these researchers into the abduction phenomenon. As you will see the data I gathered from 10 known abductees is VERY different from what these “professionals” found.
Here are the 10 questions I asked of the 10 abductees and, the totals of the responses I received:
1) Have you ever had a daytime encounter?
YES_8_ NO_2_
2) Have you ever had an encounter while you were wide awake?
YES_10_ NO_0_
3) Have you ever had an encounter where you did NOT experience paralysis?
YES_9_ NO_1_
4) Have you ever had an encounter that was witnessed by someone else?
YES_5_ NO_5_
5) Have you ever had an encounter and then discovered later that there were reports of a UFO
sighted in the area at about the same time your encounter took place?
YES_8_ NO_2_
6) Have you ever had an encounter where you saw another person that you have never met
before and then later, seen or met them in public?
YES_6_ NO_4_
7) Have you ever had strange marks, scratches, or bruises show up on your body that you did
not have before and could not explain where they came from?
YES_10_ NO_0_
8) Have you ever seen the short gray ET’s that many people describe?
YES_8_ NO_2_
9) Have you ever seen any types or species of ET’s that were NOT the short gray ET’s?
YES_10_ NO_0_
10) To the best of your knowledge have you ever been molested or sexually abused?
YES_2_ NO_8_
Let’s start with the claims that all abductions occur at night while a person is asleep and, the claims that all abductees experience sleep paralysis. The majority of the abductees answering questions 1-3 indicated that they have had an abduction encounter in the daytime. The majority of the abductees indicated that they have had an encounter while they were wide awake and, that they have had an encounter where they did NOT experience paralysis.
In response to the claims that there is no outward evidence of abductions taking place and the conclusion that abductees are actually fantasizing abduction encounters. Some of the abductees indicated that they have had an encounter that was witnessed by someone else. The majority of the abductees said they have had an encounter and then discovered later that there were reports of a UFO sighted in the area at about the same time their encounter took place. Some said they had seen another person during an abduction that they had never met before and then later met or saw that person in public. All of the people answering the questions said they had discovered strange scratches, bruises, or other marks on their bodies that they didn’t have previously and, they could give no explanation as to where these marks came from.
These responses are not a hands down explanation for peoples abduction stories but, I think the responses on questions 4-7 clearly indicate that “fantasizing” abduction stories is not the explanation for such accounts by these people.
With regards to the claims that all abductees encounter the short gray ET’s or, that their description of gray ET’s is some sort of genetic memory for identifying “mother” when they are infants. I think the media has been the worst culprit in making people believe that all abductees encounter the short gray ET’s. So, what did the data collected show here? Yes, the majority of the people said that they had encountered the short grays but, not everyone answered yes to that question (question #8). Interestingly enough, ALL ten people answering these questions indicated that they had encountered other species or types of ET’s that were NOT the short grays (question #9).
Finally I want to address the claims that many abduction memories are nothing more than a persons mind repressing or covering over memories of childhood molestation or sexual abuse. This is a sensitive subject and I first want to thank all those who responded to these questions for answering question # 10. A few people did answer yes to that question but the majority answered no.
You may ask “how does anyone know that the people who answered no to question #10 are not repressing that type of memory?” I would like to paraphrase from an article published by a prominent Psychological Association regarding repressed memories of childhood abuse and recovering such memories:
“It is important to state that there is a consensus among memory researchers and clinical psychologists that most people who were sexually abused as children remember all or part of what happened to them although, they may not fully understand or disclose it.”
As you can see the general consensus among clinical professionals is that most people who have experienced childhood molestation or sexual abuse do NOT repress such memories.
The focus of this article and the survey conducted was to try to shed some light on the abduction phenomenon and uncover some truth about the subject. The abduction phenomenon is supported by a strong body of evidence, not to mention testimonies from the overwhelming numbers of people who have come forward to share their experiences.
With the excellent and groundbreaking work into the abduction phenomenon by such noted professionals as the late Dr. John E. Mack, I can’t lump all psychologists into the same category. But, sometimes it seems that a few mental health professionals feel the need to explain away stories of encounters with ET’s using whatever “psycho-babble” terminology it takes for them to feel at ease with this subject.
So far in this article I have tried not to be too harsh with regards to some of these so called professionals but, in closing just let me say, “Personally I feel that in some cases having PhD In front of your name only means you have more letters in your name.”
copyright ©2007-2011 David W. Andrew
