Tuesday, June 07, 2005





In his March 2 essay regarding the Peter Jennings UFO special, historian and abduction researcher David M. Jacobs writes the following:

"Finally, the Peter Jennings production must be seen in light of something else of which I am assuming the producers were unaware. The sighting phenomenon is the abduction phenomenon. UFOs are here to abduct people." (Emphasis mine.)

Could he be right? Certainly, UFO events seem designed to impinge on our collective psyche in some abstruse sense, but I don't agree that UFOs are necessarily "abduction machines." I might venture so far as to propose that the UFO phenomenon's central purpose is psychological conditioning, but the "abduction" experience is more than likely a small facet of an overarching agenda.

Jacobs isn't a stupid man, and he bases his conclusions on many years of active research. Although his interpretation of the alien agenda is decidedly malign (see "The Threat," an ominous treatise that declares nothing less than the impending demise of the human race as we know it), he's not easily lumped with fear-mongers such as David Icke (who preaches that humanoid reptiles have infiltrated the government).

Of course, this doesn't mean he's right. Although he professes to be painfully aware of the pitfalls of hypnosis as an investigative tool, I suspect his unconscious hunches have led him into an intellectual cul-de-sac. His UFO/abduction paradigm, while internally consistent, functions by virtue of excluding much of the absurdity embraced by researchers who tend to doubt the prevailing "nuts and bolts" extraterrestrial hypothesis.

On the off-chance that I might be a abductee -- and thus a vital piece of Jacobs' puzzle -- I decided to take his online questionnaire and share the results (excluding all of my "no" responses for sake of readability).

"Do you have any scars or marks on your body that neither you nor your parents can remember how you received?"

I have a series of shallow furrows near my shoulder. I don't know how they got there or, for that matter, when exactly they got there.

"Have you ever experienced an odd displacement in which you found yourself inexplicably in a location different from where you remember being only seconds before and it was not the common 'road hypnosis' while driving?"

Not that I can remember. (Of course, the fact that I can't remember may point toward an exceptionally well-executed abduction.)

"Have you ever dreamed of being in a hospital?"

Yes.

"Have you ever dreamed about lying on a table?"

Yes.

"Have you had any disturbing or realistic dreams about babies or small children?"

Even better: I've had a couple fairly disturbing dreams about child-like aliens.

"Have you ever dreamed about UFOs?"

Certainly.

"Have you ever woken up paralyzed with a sense of a person, presence, or something else in the room?"

Yes. But it was sleep paralysis.

"Do you have inexplicable fears about certain areas such as stretches of highway, open fields, rooms in a house, and so forth?"

Actually, I experience somewhat unaccountable attractions to certain places of no pronounced personal significance.

10 comments:

W.M. Bear said...

One more question. I'm surprised it's not on Jacob's list. It harks back to Budd Hopkins' now dated but still classic abduction book Missing Time. The "odd displacement" question is, I suppose, a version of this but you wouldn't have to be displaced in space. Do you have any episodes of missing time when awake, where you thought only a few minutes passed when, in reality, it was more like several hours? (Typically, you might have left family or friends to run a short errand and then returned to them asking, where have you been, we've been waiting and waiting and maybe even arguing with them that you WERE only gone a short time.) Also, this may have happened and you may have forgotten the incident.

Mac said...

That might have been one I said "no" to and didn't post. I can't believe he'd leave off the "missing time" question...

W.M. Bear said...

I wonder if, under hypnosis, you might recall some missing time. All the other indicators look pretty positive. Is there a minimum "score" above which it's likely that the respondant is an abductee? Not surprisingly, abductees and contactees seem to be able to speak with a great deal of authority about UFO matters. Look at Whitley Strieber. It's not a bad shtick.

Mac said...

Given sufficient "cues," I could probably recount just about anything under hypnosis -- which is why I tend not to trust it as a tool for exploring the experiences of alleged "abductees."

Ken said...

From what I have read, it is logical to ass-u-me that the UFO/UAP phenomena are, in some few cases at least, valid appearances of ET in some form. After all, it has been stated the AVERAGE galactic civilization would be about one Billion years older than us. From this apparent truism, any number of "realities" can be conjectured. But as to what is real and what is not, well, that's an open question. Should the above be accepted, there is then the possibility that any of the paranoid fantasies MIGHT be true. As to which, I'd suppose that's up to the individual. But no need for us to become neurotic or paranoid over it...yet.

Myself, I have been unwillingly drug into the supposition that ET piloted craft do in fact appear in our skies, as well as some unknown and quite "futuristic" craft of the US Air Force. Most sightings, however, seem to me mistaken. But it's that small fraction that are likely true that disturb me. I've no desire for ET to be running around and scaring folk, endangering air traffic, abducting folk, and rustling cattle. I mean, rustling's a hanging offense!

As for you yourself, Mac, being an abductee, who can say? The furrows in your back may have a perfectly mundane cause, ... or not. I would think the likelihood of your abduction to be very small, however, and suggest you not worry yourself overmuch concerning this. As an obviously very intelligent young man, you must realize that it's simply impossible to know everything, and unless you have more concrete reason to believe yourself an abductee, I suggest you simply don't worry about it.

As for Ickes, ... eeewww, icky! :) He's as nuts or more so than Rense, IMO, though I do visit Rense.com near-daily. After all, even a broken clock is right twice a day. An analog clock.

I suppose I'll have to break down and buy your book soon, and wish you well in your attempt at further publication. And don't trust those book publishing bastards!

Kenneth Johnson
Sand Point Alaska

Mac said...

Hi Kenneth,

Great comments. Just to clear the air -- and this is probably my fault -- I'm not claiming to be an abductee. Who knows? Maybe I am. But since I have absolutely no memory of it I'm content to stick with Occam's Razor and presume I'm not. Some marks on my shoulder aren't enough to convince me of much of anything . . . although doubtless to some they would constitute "proof."

Out of curiosity, I once asked a trusted abduction researcher if he had any records of similar markings in his database, and he didn't. So if they're the product of some kind of medical procedure, it would seem I'm unique.

W.M. Bear said...

Aren't some markings supposed to be triangles of small red dots on the skin from the insertion of (hypodermic?) needles?

Mac said...

Yeah, triangular markings and rashes figure big in some abduction reports. I wonder what the significance is.

W.M. Bear said...

Yeah, triangular markings and rashes figure big in some abduction reports. I wonder what the significance is.

If at least some abductions are "true hallucinations," maybe these marks are the equivalent of "receiving the stigmata" -- the wounds of Christ appearing on the hands and feets of saints.

W.M. Bear said...

I can't believe I wrote "feets"! It's been a long day, but I'll let it stand.