Alien abduction

For other uses, see Alien abduction (disambiguation).
"UFO abduction" redirects here. For the 1989 American film, see UFO Abduction (film).

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Alien abduction (also called abduction phenomenon, alien abduction syndrome, or UFO abduction) refers to the phenomenon of people reporting what they believe to be the real experience of being kidnapped by extraterrestrial beings and subjected to physical and psychological experimentation.[1] People claiming to have been abducted are usually called "abductees"[2] or "experiencers". Most scientists and mental health professionals explain these experiences by factors such as suggestibility (e.g. false memory syndrome), sleep paralysis, deception, and psychopathology.[3] Skeptic Robert Sheaffer sees similarity between some of the aliens described by abductees and those depicted in science fiction films, in particular Invaders From Mars (1953).[4]

Typical claims involve forced medical examinations that emphasize the subject's reproductive systems.[5] Abductees sometimes claim to have been warned against environmental abuses and the dangers of nuclear weapons,[6] or to have engaged in interspecies breeding.[7] The contents of the abduction narrative often seem to vary with the home culture of the alleged abductee.[4] Unidentified flying objects (UFOs), alien abduction, and mind control plots can also be part of radical political apocalyptic and millenarian narratives.[8]

Reports of the abduction phenomenon have been made all around the world, but are most common in English-speaking countries, especially the United States.[4] The first alleged alien abduction claim to be widely publicized was the Betty and Barney Hill abduction in 1961.[9] UFO abduction claims have declined since their initial surge in the mid-1970s, and alien abduction narratives have found less popularity in mainstream media. Skeptic Michael Shermer proposed that the ubiquity of camera phones increases the burden of evidence for such claims and may be a cause for their decline.[10]

  1. ^ Appelle, Stuart. "The Abduction Experience: A Critical Evaluation of Theory and Evidence". Journal of UFO Studies, n.s. 6, 1995/96, pp. 29–78
  2. ^ "Alien abduction – Define Alien abduction at Dictionary.com". Dictionary.com.
  3. ^ Appelle, 1996
  4. ^ a b c Sheaffer, Robert. "A Skeptical Perspective on UFO Abductions." In: Pritchard, Andrea & Pritchard, David E. & Mack, John E. & Kasey, Pam & Yapp, Claudia. Alien Discussions: Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference. Cambridge: North Cambridge Press, 1994. pp. 382–88.
  5. ^ Miller, John G. "Medical Procedural Differences: Alien Versus Human." In: Pritchard, Andrea & Pritchard, David E. & Mack, John E. & Kasey, Pam & Yapp, Claudia. Alien Discussions: Proceedings of the Abduction Study Conference. Cambridge: North Cambridge Press, 1994. pp. 59–64.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference rarerepisodes was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Östling, Erik A. W. (2021). "'I Figured That in My Dreams, I Remembered What Actually Happened': On Abduction Narratives as Emergent Folklore". In Zeller, Ben (ed.). Handbook of UFO Religions. Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion. Vol. 20. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. pp. 197–232. doi:10.1163/9789004435537_010. ISBN 978-90-04-43437-0. ISSN 1874-6691. S2CID 236709574.
  8. ^ Barkun 2003, pp. ix–xi.
  9. ^ "Testament for Believers". Archived from the original on November 21, 2007.
  10. ^ McRobbieJune 12, Linda Rodriguez. "Why alien abductions are down dramatically - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)