Abduction Phenomenon

For other uses of related terms, see Abduction

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The Abduction Phenomenon is an umbrella term used to describe a number of hypotheses, claims or assertions stating that extraterrestrial creatures kidnap individuals—sometimes called "abductees"—usually for medical testing or for sexual reproduction procedures. Many such encounters are described as terrifying or humiliating (but pleasant to some others), and many abductees report that extraterrestrials communicate via telepathy. Such alleged abductions are usually closely connected to UFO reports, and are often supposedly conducted by so-called Greys: Short, gray-skinned humanoids with large, pear-shaped heads and enormous, dark eyes. Reports of the abduction phenomenon have been made from around the world, but have perhaps seen most attention in the United States.

Related Topics:
Hypotheses - Extraterrestrial - Kidnap - Medical - Sexual reproduction - Telepathy - UFO - Greys - United States

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While few mainstream scientists believe the phenomenon literally occurs as reported—some experts contend the field is rife with kooks and pseudoscience—there is little doubt that many apparently sincere persons report alien abductions they believe are utterly genuine. Stigma and self-doubt may be obstacles to more widespread study and/or reporting. Local support groups for people who have experienced the phenomenon are not uncommon.

Related Topics:
Kook - Pseudoscience

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Some abduction reports are quite detailed. An entire subculture has developed around the subject, with support groups and a detailed mythos explaining the reasons for abductions: The various aliens (Greys, Reptilians, "Nordics" and so on) are said to have specific roles, origins, and motivations. Abduction claimants do not always attempt to explain the phenomenon, but some take independent research interest in it themselves, and explain the lack of greater awareness of Alien Abduction as the result of either extraterrestrial or governmental interest in cover-up.

Related Topics:
Subculture - Support group - Mythos - Greys - Reptilians - Nordic - Cover-up

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Others still are intrigued by the entire phenomenon, but hesitate in making any definitive conclusions. Emergency room physician Dr. John G. Miller asks "How can a person have any firmly held belief about this when it's so mysterious? The opinions of the true believers are hard to swallow; and the opinions of the die-hard skeptics are not based on reality either. There is some middle ground ... It's clear that this is some sort of powerful subjective experience. But I do not know what the objective reality is. It's as if the evidence leads us in both directions." (Bryan, 162) Similarly, Harvard psychiatrist John Mack says, "The furthest you can go at this point is to say there's an authentic mystery here. And that is, I think, as far as anyone ought to go." (Bryan, 269)

Related Topics:
Harvard - John Mack

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In his books on the subject, Harvard Medical School professor Dr. John Edward Mack explains that common features of alien abduction experiences include the feeling of paralysis; the perception of having been transported immaterially, frequently through a beam of light; the sense of having been surgically probed or implanted with devices; the freezing or slowing of time; and sexual or reproductive contact or manipulation by the aliens.

Related Topics:
Harvard - John Edward Mack - Transported - Time

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Putting aside the question of whether abduction reports are literally and objectively "real", literature professor Terry Matheson argues that their popularity and their intriguing appeal is easily understood. Tales of abduction "are intrinsically absorbing; it is hard to imagine a more vivid description of human powerlessness." After experiencing the frisson of delightful terror one may feel from reading ghost stories of watching horror movies, Matheson notes that people "can return to the safe world of their homes, secure in the knowledge that the phenomenon in question cannot follow. But as the abduction myth has stated almost from the outset, there is no avoiding alien abductors." (Matheson, 297)

Related Topics:
Ghost stories - Horror movies

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Even hearing a tape recording of (or watching a video recording of) a hypnotic regression session can be a chilling experience, leaving little doubt that the individual is either an accomplished actor, or genuinely believes they are reliving a horrifying experience. Once hypnotized and supposedly recalling an abduction event, some people relate the event calmly, while others may beg pathetically for the event to stop, cry in apparent horror, shout angrily or tremble with fear.

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Matheson writes that when compared to the earlier contactee reports, abduction accounts are distinguished by their "relative sophistication and subtlety, which enabled them to enjoy a immediately a more favourable reception from the public than anything that had been extended towards the contactees. At first glance this might seem strange, since on the face of it the basic events the contactees were describing were just as odd as anything that had previously appeared in the contactee literature." Matheson then argues that the notion of "forcible abduction of reluctant human beings ... was decidedly more unsettling and just as assuredly more involving to the reader" than the benevolent space brothers typically featured in contacee reports. (Matheson, 21)

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"Furthermore," writes Matheson, people reporting alien abduction accounts "seemed to be well-adjusted persons, whose stories, though undeniably bizarre, did not contain easily refutable or otherwise ridiculous statements such as those made previously." (Matheson, 20) Matheson also argues that the authors of abductee accounts "learned a great deal, though not necessarily consciously, from the mistakes made by the contactees", and were thus able to craft far more believable, readable and compelling narratives. (Matheson, 21-22)

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