| Bob's interview cont'd..... Mason: Do UFOs kidnap people? Bob: In the early 1980s, an increasing number of persons began to claim that they had been forcibly removed from their normal, everyday environment by apparent nonhuman beings, subjected to bizarre and often painful physical exams and medical procedures in a sparsely furnished and equipped room, and later released. Virtually all of these so-called �abductees� suffer physical and/or emotional aftereffects as a result of their experiences, which most -- but not all -- cannot consciously recall (researchers generally rely on hypnotic regression to retrieve such accounts). Some reported abductions could, of course, be hoaxed. Others could be internally generated -- that is, psychological in nature (e.g., fantasies). But multiple abductions in which more than one person at a time is abducted, and the apparent physicality of the experience -- e.g., abductees were actually missing from where they were just before the alleged abduction; scars or marks found afterward on their bodies; strange �implants� detected in their bodies -- appear to rule out the latter explanation in some cases. Paradoxically, many abductees report that the implements used by the aliens to conduct the aforementioned exams and procedures appeared to be primitive (especially the device used for the rectal exam!). It is interesting to note that most abductees don�t remember seeing the exterior of the �craft� which presumably housed the room where they were taken. And in some accounts, no UFO is seen at all. Strictly speaking then, we can�t be sure if alien abductions are a subset of the original UFO phenomenon or a distinct phenomenon itself. Further clouding the issue are apparent parallels between some of the events alleged to take place in a typical abduction scenario and those documented in centuries-old fairy lore. I�m not sure what to make of these type reports. Assuming -- as is the case with UFO reports per se -- that only a very small fraction of abductions are ever formally reported, there are just too many abductions, happening much too frequently, for these incidents to represent the actions of alien visitors to our planet. Surely an advanced civilization would be able to accomplish its agenda in a more efficient manner instead of kidnapping people while they drive on lonely roads or sleep in their own bedrooms. Mason: Are we being visited by more than one ET civilization? Bob: The dominant villains in abduction claims are the standard-issue aliens that became an icon of the 90s -- mostly short, slender, gray or tan humanoids -- that is, beings with a tubular body form, two arms and two legs -- with disproportionately large heads, very large, slanted, widely spaced eyes, slender limbs, and vestigial nose, ears, and mouth (toothless, by all accounts). But reptilian, insect-like, very human-like in appearance and behavior (so-called Nordics), and other assorted weird types of entities have also been reported. Judging by what abduction victims recall afterward, all entity types carry out essentially the same procedures and appear to be working toward the same goal, regardless of their outward appearance. Assuming that ETs are really behind the abduction phenomenon, the reported differences could mean that the Earth is being visited by at least several off-planet civilizations, perhaps as members of an alien-human hybridization or some other presumably sinister program. However, it�s also possible that cultural or other individual differences between people influence how they describe their alien abductors. Or maybe the aliens don�t look anything like what�s being reported. They may be disguising themselves or somehow altering our perception of them so that they appear in a form -- as humanoids -- that we find at least marginally acceptable, presumably so they don�t scare us to death. But your question figuratively puts the cart before the horse since we haven�t yet established that the Earth is indeed being visited by even one ET civilization. |
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| Our thanks to Bob Galganski and Mason Windfield for permission to reprint the excerpt from their discussion. |
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