Since the 1960s, hundreds of people have confessed before many an abduction
researcher, very similar complaints of missing time events, often associated
with unidentified bright lights, in which minutes to hours are inexplicable lost
from a person's life. The phenomenon has come to be known among the abduction
researchers as the 'UFO abduction syndrome'. A 1992 Roper survey about "Unusual
Personal Experiences" of people in the United States suggested to some analysts
that perhaps 2% of the population has experienced the UFO abduction syndrome.
'Anomalous trauma victim' is a phrase sometimes used by psychiatrists,
psychologists and other mental health professionals to describe patients who
report experiences with odd lights and missing time. Often people report
disturbing memories of non-human beings that perform physical examinations and
extract human tissue, fluid sperm or ova.

As for any 'similarities' found in abduction 'research', this is primarily a
result of pre-screening of cases and not because there is any scientific
legitimacy to their reports. More to the point, most abduction 'studies' are
little more than a collection of anecdotes, cross-referenced to find
similarities. These similarities are then deemed to be 'proof'. The fact that in
any large random collection of data there will be similarities found if the data
is filtered, but this fact is often ignored by the 'experts'.

As for the 'anomalous trauma victim', that is abduction speak and not science.
In real life it is called grande hysteria (this is discussed further below). If
you don't believe me, then read it for yourself...

   "An educated man, aged 30, exhibited all the symptoms of grande hysteria. He 
   was very suggestible, and from time to time, under the stress of emotional 
   excitement, had attacks of amnesia that lasted from two days to several 
   weeks. While in these states, he wandered about, visited relatives, smashed 
   various things in their houses, contracted debts, and was even arrested and 
   convicted for picking pockets" (Collected Works of Jung, Vol 1, para 18)

The Roper survey, like any other survey, is about collecting opinions and not
scientific evidence, and in 1992 they seemed to prove that point for me.

   >Boy, Sage, do I disagree totally with your statements so far. You are like a
   >salmon, my friend, fighting the current. UFOs are real, they have been seen 
   >since time immemorial, they are in the earliest written records, they've    
   >been photographed, filmed, videotaped, I've seen 'em. All you have going for
   >your extreme viewpoint is that you have not had a detailed sighting as I 
   >have, and there is no physical evidence. If you could, somehow besides 
   >fantasy, see what some (not all) individuals have seen you'd be a convert 
   >within seconds. That's MY opinion.

What does a person's inability to recognize certain objects say about reality or
about themselves? All 'unidentified' means is that the person trying to do the
recognizing doesn't have a clue about what they are looking at and not that the
unidentified object proves the existence of ET or a higher intelligence.

If one or two sightings of supposed ET craft didn't leave any traces of
evidence, that would be reasonable, but when there are hundreds of thousands of
sightings every year and not ONE of them leave any evidence, that is just
downright ridiculous. It is the nature of physically real objects to leave
evidence and it is the nature of hallucinations, delusions, and outright lies to
leave no evidence...draw your own logical conclusions!

   >I have never suffered from any delusions

Then you don't know yourself, for all people live a delusion on a daily basis --
people rarely relate to each other like they really are but they relate to them
as we believe them to be like. Sex symbols and charisma are examples of this
kind of delusion.

   >What I would say is that I can not dismiss out of hand the many reported 
   >sightings I have read about. Particularly the mass sightings of the foo 
   >fighters both in Scandinavia and those seen over Rome in broad day light, 
   >just to mention a few. The seventeen hundred British Army personnel that 
   >sighted the same UFO in Cyprus. Lets not forget the poor airmen that have 
   >lost their lives in the pursuit of UFOs and all the many authenticated radar
   >sightings tracked at tremendous speeds far faster than even today's fastest 
   >aircraft, that had the ability to change direction at such speed and in such
   >a way that we cannot emulate.

Masses of people have died for dumber things than a make believe light in the
sky -- just look at all the masses of people who died for a make believe God! As
for the radar sightings, there are other things that reflect radar other then
solid objects; rain, wind shear, and birds can reflect radar under the right
conditions and colliding wave fronts, since they aren't really a moving object
but a moving reflection, can travel faster than the speed of sound.
 
THE HUMANOID MONSTER DELUSION  

Not a single successful argument has ever been made against the claim that the
UFO/ET fad is just another example of a mass delusion.

   >There is no historical precedent for a worldwide mass hysteria like the 
   >UFO/ET phenomenon has become, so your 'point' is pointless

Bernard Cohen, a professor of the History of Science at Harvard University,
wrote an article in 1992 for Scientific American, based on his long-term studies
of creativity in science. What is remarkable about his study is that it proves
that just because numerous and even highly credible witnesses come forward to
make a claim for a phenomenon, doesn't imply that anything physically real is
occurring, especially when the phenomenon cannot be backed by even so much as
the slightest shred of physically demonstratable evidence...

   "Tales of humanoid monsters were a common component of the travel literature 
   and legends with which Columbus was familiar. They became an important part 
   of Columbus's writings as well. The mythical monsters known to Columbus 
   included giants, one-eyed cyclopes and hairy men and women, as well as more 
   exotic creatures. Amazon fighting women cut off the right breast so they 
   could use bow and arrows more efficiently. Anthopophagi devoured human flesh 
   and drank from human skulls. Blemmyae had heads located in their chests. 
   Panotii were endowed with gigantic ears that they used as blankets or as 
   wings for flying. Cynocephali had human bodies but dogs' heads. Sciopods 
   possessed a single leg and a huge foot; they would stretch on their backs and
   hold the foot above themselves to act as parasols. Information about these 
   beings appeared in many written accounts and literary works. The alleged 
   correspondence of Alexander the Great, for example, and Pliny the Elder's 
   NATURAL HISTORY contain early mention of humanoid monsters. Marco Polo's 
   MILLIONE included descriptions of monstrous races" (WHAT COLUMBUS 'SAW' IN 
   1492, by Bernard Cohen, Sci American, Dec 1992, pg 103).

   "When Columbus reached the New World, he inquired again and again about the 
   presence of humanoid monsters. Perhaps his informants did not understand what
   he was asking, or perhaps they attempted to please him by telling him what he
   seemingly wanted to hear. Columbus recounts in his letter, that he received 
   information about people with tails, people having no hair and women living 
   and fighting on an island devoid of men, for example. The tales to which 
   Columbus paid attention, and the manner in which he interpreted them, 
   undoubtedly reflected both his expectations and his hopes" (Ibid, pg 103-104)

Despite the complete lack of any physically demonstratable evidence whatsoever,
even after Columbus came home empty-handed in regards to humanoid monsters,
fairytales of their existence continued well into the rest of the 15th century,
"References to monsters were very still much in evidence in 15th-century
scholarly books such as d'Ailly's IMAGO MUNDI and the HISTORIA RERUM UBIQUE
GESTARUM of Aeneas Sylvius" (Ibid, pg 103).

The fact is that what is happening today is no different than what happened 500
years ago when Columbus first came to America and expected to see humanoid
monsters -- many people claimed to have seen humanoid monsters, large numbers of
highly respected scholarly works wrote about them, and there was absolutely not
a single shred of demonstratable evidence of their existence. In hindsight we
can see for a fact that they were all simply deluding themselves! This is
exactly the phenomenon we are seeing today -- many people claiming to see flying
saucers peopled by little gray humanoid monsters, large numbers of scholarly
works are written about them, yet there is absolutely not a single shred of
demonstratable evidence of their existence. So the claim that all these
multitudes of people coming forth to say they saw a little gray men wouldn't be
doing it if there weren't some truth behind the phenomenon, is demonstratably
false!

Imagine if PROJECT BLUE BOOK or the CONDON committee had been around in
Columbus' day to investigate the matter of humanoid monster 'sightings'. How
many of those physically and completely undemonstrable sightings of humanoid
monsters would be considered 'unexplained' versus 'inconclusive'? Obviously
sightings given by Columbus would be cast in the 'unexplained' category while
sightings given by John Doe just down the street would be cast in the
'inconclusive' category. Now imagine still yet, just how many modern day pro-UFO
researchers, would still be able to draw ' valid conclusions' anyway, regarding
the existence of humanoid monsters. I don't believe there would have been any
difference because obviously the psychology of humans hasn't changed enough in
the last 500 years to have made any difference.

There is a whole 'New World' waiting out there in space for us to explore and we
have read all the books about them and therefore many of us have blindly chosen
to believe it to be populated with numerous humanoid monsters not too unsimiliar
to the old type of monsters of Columbus' day. You can't see them, there is no
direct physical evidence whatsoever that they are there, but the tales to which
you pay attention to, "and the manner in which you interpret them, undoubtedly
reflect both your expectations and your hopes"
 
MASS HYSTERIAS  

Now let's take a look at a synopsis of some other typical hysterias and how they
compare with the UFO sighting/abduction syndrome: 

1 Grande hysteria : 
  a. Very suggestible, 
  b. From time to time, under the stress of emotional excitement, have attacks 
     of amnesia that last from two days to several weeks 
  c. While in this state, they will wander about, visit relatives, contract 
     debts, and so on, all with missing time.
2 Negative hallucinations : 
  a. Suddenly oblivious to certain things around them.
3 Pseudologia phantastica : 
  a. The development of fantasies during the attack, such as visions of star 
     dwellers. 
  b. Many cases are known in the literature of fits of pathological lying,    
     accompanied by various hysteriform complaints
4 Hysterical lethargy : 
  a. Superficial respiration 
  b. Lowering of the pulse 
  c. Corpse-like pallor of the face 
  d. Peculiar feelings of dying and thoughts of death
5 Psychogenesis : 
  a. Outbreaks of wild emotionalism 
  b. Psychotic delusions 
  c. Often, but not always accompanied by vasomotor derangements.

That sounds exactly like every UFO abduction I've ever read... 

6 UFO phenomenon : 
  a. A massively popular delusion that ETs are visiting or abducting humans, 
     characterized by psychotic and various nervous symptoms such as 'missing 
     time', star-dwellers paralyzing the subject, self-inflicted injuries, 
     sudden changes in behavior, etc, etc.

   >Bologna! That doesn't sound anywhere near the same as the UFO/abduction 
   >phenomenon to me.

Carl Jung gives an accounting of a patient of his with pseudologia phantastica,
that had came to his office in a distressed condition. Jung goes on in his
research paper, to share what happened to his patient that 'fateful day'...

   "We thought at first that something unpleasant must have happened to her; but
   finally she pulled herself together and explained that 'a star-dweller had 
   sat opposite her in the train.' From the description she gave of this being I
   recognized an elderly merchant I happened to know, who had a rather 
   unsympathetic face. Apropos of this event, she told us all the peculiarities 
   of the star-dwellers: they have no godlike souls, as men have, they pursue no
   science, no philosophy, but in the technical arts they are far more advanced 
   than we are. Thus flying machines have long been in existence on Mars' the 
   whole of Mars is covered with canals, the canals are artificial lakes and are
   used for irrigation. The canals are all flat ditches, the water in them is 
   very shallow. The excavating of the canals caused the Martians no particular 
   trouble, as the soil there is lighter than on earth. There are no bridges 
   over the canals, but that does not prevent communication because everybody 
   travels by flying machine. There are no wars on the stars, because no 
   differences of opinion exist..." (Collected Works of Jung, Vol 1, para 59)

They sound exactly alike! Obviously, the only kind of people who take ETs
seriously are the mass hysterical kind.

   >You cite mass hysteria as an explanation for abduction experiences, but I'd 
   >like to know how that applies to a solitary experience? Most ufo sightings 
   >are singular events seen by one person and many sightings are viewed by 
   >people who don't know one another. I will grant him that Mass hysteria plays
   >a part in cases where there are alot of sightings in one area and alot of 
   >news coverage.

Mass hysteria is any hysteria triggered by mob mentality or mass media. A
delayed reaction to a mass media event still means it is a mass hysteria, even
if the person is alone at the time of the experience. How's that you say? For
example, before you were ever abducted you were exposed to a vast number of
stories about abductions by the mass media. The UFO sighting/abduction frenzy of
1947 occurred long before your abduction, so you can't claim you never had the
chance to be influenced by the mass media in this regards.

The internet is one popular way to promote mass hysteria, and newsgroups are one
way of doing it. Merely having those newsgroups on the internet is enough to
make some people read it and go out and suddenly have an 'experience' because
they believe they should be having one.

In order for people to believe ETs are visiting us they first have to pretend
that ET is visiting us, but in order to believe there are no visiting ETs
requires simple, objective observation of reality as it actually is instead of
what you wish it were. Just look around for yourself -- there are absolutely no
ETs anywhere around to be heard, seen, smelled, tasted, or felt. Now compare the
characteristics of things which don't exist to that of UFOs or ETs:

You cannot hear things that don't exist, 
You cannot see things that don't exist, 
You cannot smell things that don't exist, 
You cannot taste things that don't exist, and 
You cannot feel things that don't exist.

Now here are the characteristics of UFOs and ETs:

You cannot demonstrate what UFOs or ETs sound like, 
You cannot demonstrate what UFOs or ETs look like, 
You cannot demonstrate what UFOs or ETs smell like, 
You cannot demonstrate what UFOs or ETs taste like, and 
You cannot demonstrate what UFOs or ETs feel like.

Notice any difference? Neither do I. The assertion of the existence of UFOs and
ETs has all the characteristics of things that don't exist and not of things
that do exist. Believers seem to ignore the obvious blatant fact that there is
absolutely no legitimate physical evidence presently in existence, that
scientifically or rationally verifies the existence of an ET presence, therefore
all claims of the 'existence' of an ET presence can only have been built upon
blindly taking people at their word, instead of taking the more proper and valid
route of actually studying an actual physical object -- or at least try and
confirm that an actual physical object ever existed.

   >How can you put us and this stuff down? Wouldn't you love to encounter    
   >something out-of-this-world too?

I'm not putting anything down, I'm being honest. And like yourself, I too would
love to encounter something out-of-this-world, but the danger in that is that if
you aren't careful, your wish will come true, not because you will likely
encounter something out-of-this-world, but because you will in your enthusiasm
in seeking an encounter, misinterpret the slightest unfamiliar experience into
an alien delusion. That's human nature but at least 90% of the solution is to
admit you have a problem. If you think I'm kidding, then take a look in Brazil
where lenticular clouds are often phoned into the police as 'UFOs'...hell! They
aren't even moving! Or you can even take a look here in my home town of Phoenix
Arizona where people phone in New Mexico missle tests or military flares as
'UFOs'.

   >Many abductees report under hypnosis that they are extremely traumatized by 
   >their experiences so I find it very difficult to believe that abductees are 
   >resorting to, as you put it, 'wishful thinking'.

But do these same people also find it difficult to believe that people can have
suicidal tendencies? Yet these exist. What about women in abusive relationships
or people with guilty consciences? Or what about stigmatism? Alien abductions
are just one more novel way to abuse oneself instead of entering another typical
abusive relationship or to punish oneself for ones imagined past sins.

As for hypnotism, all that a hypnotically induced confession proves is that the
person under hypnosis BELIEVES they were abducted and not that they were
ACTUALLY abducted, and that is why any references to people under hypnosis
giving accounts of being abducted by aliens is considered unreliable and not
acceptable as evidence.

And what makes anyone think that medical professionals, such as hypnotists and
psychologists, would know the difference between reality and hallucination
anymore than anyone else? Haven't they ever wondered why insurance companies
suggest that patients always get a second or maybe even a third opinion on
important health matters? Haven't they ever heard of medical fraud? And what
about medical professionals like acupuncturists, or faith healers, or psychic
healers, or chiropractors, or Christian Scientists? Obviously it would be very
wise to be a well informed person before going in to see a medical professional
to avoid getting professionally robbed. You see, medical professionals are
people too, and just like people, they too want a piece of the pie and to hop on
the alien bandwagon of money making opportunities that can be had by sponsoring
people's fantasies.

The Sage

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My Home Page      :           http://members.cox.net/the.sage

"The men that American people admire most extravagantly are
most daring liars; the men they detest the most violently are
those who try to tell them the truth" -- H. L. Mencken
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