3.8: Have people been abducted by UFOs?
Description
This article is from the Scientific Skepticism FAQ, by Paul Johnson Paul@treetop.demon.co.uk with numerous contributions by others.
3.8: Have people been abducted by UFOs?
While the number of people who believe themselves to have been
abducted by flying saucer aliens must number at least many thousands,
not one of them has produced any physical evidence to establish the
reality of their claim. On the contrary, a number of factors clearly
point to a subjective basis for the "UFO abduction" phenomenon.
Probably the strongest factor is that of the cultural dependence of
such claims. Such claims were virtually unknown until the famous
abduction story of Betty and Barney Hill received widespread publicity
in the late 1960s. Also, the appearance and behavior of supposed UFO
occupants varies greatly with location and year. UFO abduction claims
are made much less frequently outside North America, especially in
non-English-speaking countries, although foreign reports have started
to catch up since the publication of Whitley Strieber's "Communion".
Furthermore, the descriptions of supposed UFO aliens contain clear
cultural dependencies; in North America large-headed grey aliens
predominate, while in Britain abducting aliens are mostly tall, blond,
and Nordic. Aliens that are claimed to steal sperm, eggs, and fetuses,
or make scars or body implants on those supposedly abducted, were
practically unknown before the publication of Budd Hopkins's books.
This particularly alarming type of abduction seems to be quite rare
outside North America.
Clear "borrowings" from popular science fiction stories can be traced
in certain major "UFO abductions." Barney Hill's description of his
supposed abductors' "wraparound eyes" (an extreme rarity in science
fiction films), first described and drawn during a hypnosis session on
Feb. 22, 1964, comes just twelve days after the first broadcast of an
episode of "The Outer Limits" featuring an alien of this quite unique
description. Many other elements of the Hill story can be traced to
the 1953 film "Invaders from Mars," including aliens having "Jimmy
Durante" noses, an alien medical examination, something done to her
eyes to relax her, being probed with a needle, a star map hanging on a
wall, a notebook offered as a remembrance, even the imagery of a
needle in the navel. Other "abductees" borrowed other ideas from
"Invaders From Mars," including brain implants, aliens drilling into a
human skull, and aliens seeking to revitalize a dying world.
Originally, stories of UFO abductions were obtainable solely by
hypnotic regression of the claimant, although in recent years the
subject of "UFO abductions" has become so generally known that some
subjects claim to remember their "abduction" without hypnosis.
Hypnosis is a NOT a reliable method for extracting so- called "hidden
memories", and its use in this manner is likely to lead to fabrication
and error. Moreover, if it is suggested to a hypnotized person that
fictitious events have occurred, the subject himself may come to
believe this (See the article "Hypnosis" in the 1974 "Encyclopaedia
Britannica" by Martin Orne, and section 10.1 on False Memory Syndrome).
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