Cattle Mutilators

[Loredoctor]

Well, my stance is that if it comes from hypnosis the story is as good as trash. If there's some evidence - like the Linda Napolinato [sic] story - then I'll sit up and take notice. Don't get me wrong - I so desperately want for aliens to be visiting us (UFO fanatic during child and teenage years), just that I am wary.

[Avatar]

Yeah, I don't place the highest credibility on "retrieved memory" myself.

--A

[Loredoctor]

Yeah, I don't place the highest credibility on "retrieved memory" myself.

--A

During my psychology studies it became apparent that hypnosis doesn't do what the abduction experts claim it does. But it's because of a vocal minority - Whitley Strieber (horror author who was smoking heaps of pot during the time - say no more), Prof John E. Mack (now deceased), and Budd Hopkins (artist) - it's seen as being legit. But the largest case for the whole thing being nonsense is that it's cultural: before Strieber came along, abductions in the Uk were by tall, blonde individuals, Sth America abductions typified by short hairy creatures, in Russia - by giants. But because of Strieber, everyone now reports the Greys. Surely, if the aliens were visiting Earth e Nordic, hairy and giant ones didn't decide to stop? More likely, cultural factors - mass media, etc - made Greys more mainstream. Thus, people read about them and then during hypnosis recalled greys.

In a long article, Dr. Michael Persinger argues that most of the features of the abduction phenomenon can be explained as the manifestation of measurable functions of the human brain. Persinger writes that the "main theme" of his article "is to explore visitation experiences, now attributed by many people to UFO and implicitly "extraterrestrial' phenomena, from the perspective of modern neuroscience... From an operational perspective, the average visitation experience attributed to an alien entity is indiscriminable from average mystical or religious experience attributed to gods and to spirits. Instead we have been trying to isolate those areas of the brain and those electromagnetic patterns within the brain that are involved with the general visitation experience." (Persinger, 263)

He goes on to argue that "Nearly every basic element of mystical, religious, and visitor experience has been evoked with electrical stimulation" of test subjects' brains. (Persinger, 270). Individuals with some forms of epilepsy often experience vivid hallucination, and Persinger suggests that the same areas of the brain are activated in these individuals as in those who experience extraordinary visitations.

"Most people who report these experiences (alien abduction) display average to above average intelligence, are not 'crazy' and are very aware of the social and personal consequences of their experiences upon their families, friends and vocational opportunities." (Persinger, 278)

Persinger relates a specific case of a "thirty-five year old woman" who "reported ... the presence of multiple, elongated humanoids, in shimmering gray-silver clothes, that would surround her bed for a few nights every month." The woman hesitated to tell her regular physician of the encounters, for fear that she'd be seen as "crazy". (Persinger, 278) The woman was prescribed a low dose of "the antiepileptic compound carbamazepine" and after regular use of the medication, the visitations "disappeared". Persinger is quick to note that "This does not indicate that all people who report visitor experiences associated with UFOs are undiagnosed epileptics or that the phenomena will cease when with this particular medication. Instead, it indicated that well-formed and meaningful experiences, attributed to alien sources and sufficient in magnitude to disrupt the person's sense of self and adaptability, can be associated with periods of electrical activity that can be affected by treatments not typically associated with these types of experiences." (Persinger, 278)

He also cites polls indicating that up to one third of people have had some sort of similar experience: 39% of more than 1700 people polled over 20 years have answered "yes" to the question "At least once in my life very late at night, I have felt the presence of another Being." (Persinger, 280). Given that visitor experiences are somewhat common, and that worldwide, they tend to follow the same patterns, Persinger suggests that while underlying neurological factors give the experience its basic form, how such events are interpreted is shaped by cultural factors: "Because human brains are more similar than they are different, the themes of these experiences have been and remain remarkably similar across space and time. The details are simply punctuation from the person's culture." (Persinger, 296)

Persinger's hypothesis ties into another observation that alien abduction is in many regards similar to shamanic initiations.

Perhaps, the process is given structure or symbolism through cultural factors.

Interesting story: With the Betty and Barney Hill case, it was discovered that the couple were reading heaps of sci-fi before they reported the story.

[The Laughing Man]

If you haven't read Whitley Strieber, you must....

[Loredoctor]

If you haven't read Whitley Strieber, you must....

I read communion and the sequel - interesting reads, I might add.

Welcome back, The Esmer!

[The Laughing Man]

thanx, LM.....did you see Fire In The Sky? With D.B. Sweeney, James Garner? it's definitely a lower budget film, but they did a hell of a job, and the soundtrack/audio is incredible! true Dolby delight, one of my alltime fav movies...

[Loredoctor]

I love Fire in the Sky. The whole experiment sequence terrifies me to this day. I also like how it adds to the lore that greys have large eyes because they are wearing masks. Shame, though, the author wrote for Star Trek TNG and admitted she embellished alot. But it is a great, possibly the best, abduction movie.