Encounter Phenomena Defy "Set Pattern." All Data Must Be Considered by Karla Turner, Ph.D. (original) (raw)
Encounter Phenomena Defy "Set Pattern." All Data Must Be Considered
It is a myth that alien abductions of humans follow a set pattern or agenda. Perhaps the best-known proponent of this theory is Budd Hopkins, who in his books made the genetics and other cross-breeding scenario familiar to the public. Yet when you read back through those books, you'll notice that several of the alien encounters seem to have very little apparent connection to an interest in breeding of DNA. And even Hopkins, in the past couple of years, has had to expand his theory to include a definite alien interest in some other things, such as pleasure and pain in humans.
Other well-known UFO researchers also harbor restrictive theories about the abduction phenomenon, Jacques Vallee, David Jacobs, Whitley Strieber, Brad Steiger, John Lear, Raymond Fowler, Jenny Randles, Kevin Randle, John Keel and other writers hold a diversity of intelligent, often ingenious theories, yet each makes the same error. They ignore parts of the abduction evidence - whatever details don't support their ideas.
Inadequate Theories
Yet it must be clear that any present theory which cannot account for all the known evidence is not acceptable. At best, it can be misleading, especially for victims of abductions who turn to these prominent researchers seeking answers. A case in point occurred during a conversation with a prominent researcher in 1989. In his lectures, this researcher always said that he had certain ways of testing the validity of potential new abduction cases, and one of those ways was the presence of particular scars on the victims' bodies. I questioned him about a different kind of scar, one which often appeared on abductees of my own acquaintance, and the researcher denied that such a mark showed up in his cases.
"Are you sure?" I asked incredulously. "This mark is pretty common around here, and I'd think it would show up in other places, too. In fact I know it has."
"No," he insisted, shaking his head, "the only marks I find are like the ones I've already described."
"And this other mark hasn't shown up at all?" I asked.
"No." he repeated.
"Not even once??" I persisted.
"Well," he said reluctantly, lowering his voice, "there have been a couple of instances. That child I talked about tonight, she had two of those marks, and I think there was another case. But they're so rare that I have to ignore them. When you have two hundred cases with Scar A and only two cases with Scar B, you go with the numbers."
And that was the message he delivered, to an audience where anxious abductees were made to wonder if their anomalous marks meant anything after all, or if, as so many of their friends seemed to think, they were delusions of a troubled mind.
No Single Pattern
In truth, however, although there are recurrent events in the abduction phenomenon, there is no single pattern or structure. And until we know what all the events mean, we can't afford to ignore any of them.
What is one to make, for instance, of an ET-human encounter in which two of the four aliens assisted the abductee in preparing a roast for dinner? Granted, other events occurred in this case, but the dinner was indeed cooked, served, and eaten by the abductee's family less than two hours after the ETs departed.
Other details of this encounter included the manipulation of the abductee's neck, "for the purpose of instruction," and a discussion of genetically-stored memories and knowledge that can be tapped open in humans. But there was no medical exam, no cross-breeding activity, and no warnings of coming catastrophe, all of which are events that have been used to construct abduction theories. I know this to be true because it happened to me.
Human Duplicates
Another anomalous event involves the duplication or replacement of the human by an alien counterpart. In one instance, a young man and his fiancee were in their car when a "shimmering force" enveloped him. He passed out, but moments later he began to move, acting and talking entirely differently. His fiancee became terrified when he tried to drag her out into the dark back yard, where he told her, "Something wants to see you there." And only when a friend drove into the yard did the young man return to normal, with no memory of his aberrant behavior during the past ten minutes.
Under hypnotic regression, the fiancee described the young man as being kept in the car while the "other one" took his form and tried to control her. She called the "other one" a "hologram" and consistently referred to it as "it," not "him." In fact, she said she struggled to get away from "it" and back to the car where "the real" young man was still waiting.
Under separate regression, the young man recalled his version of the evening and said that at a certain point he was "turned off" and "unplugged," yet he couldn't say what sort of power was then operating his body.
An even more bizarre event happened to a woman in the Southwest during her encounter. She said she was "removed" from her body and stored in some inexplicable way, still aware, however, and able to communicate with her captors. They told her that another entity was now using her body, that it was going through all her regular activities, and that no one would be able to tell the difference. The day after the abduction when she returned to her job, she found that her body has indeed been at work, even though she herself was somewhere else.
Interdimensional Being
These alien intruders apparently can behave and appear in a variety of ways. In one man's experience, a human-looking woman often appeared, although she claimed she was an interdimensional being whose real appearance was not what the abductee saw. At times, she would be 'completely there,' and very three-dimensional, but at other times only her head would be visible, or her head and hands.
The evidence from several cases also shows that the aliens have an odd interest in our animals, yet this is hardly mentioned in standard abduction research. During a period of intense ET activity in my family's life, our dog was somehow moved one night from a fenced back yard into a locked garage. And the same dog, conversely, woke us up one morning barking in the back yard, when it had been put in a locked garage the night before.
In both cases, these was no sign that either the gate or the garage door had been opened. The old dog was quite blind, at any rate, and would have had trouble getting anywhere, even if both passageways had been clear.
Pet Puzzler
Transporting dogs turned up again in the case of a UFO researcher. Her dog slept outside, yet in the middle of the night she was awakened by his wet tongue on her face. She and the dog were in her bed, but her bedroom door was still locked, as was the outside door, and there were two other doors closed in between them.
Horses also have been moved, leaving their abductee-owners to track them down in corrals far distant from where the animals had been locked away for the night. It's hard to imagine the purpose of such events, yet they are part of the larger phenomenon and must have some relevance.
There also seems to be a connection between abductions and the disappearance and appearance of possessions and other objects. One of the more humorous episodes occurred when a researcher was visiting another city and staying as a guest in our home. The day had been spent in work with other abductees, and that evening the group ordered Chinese food.
Preferred Utensils Appear
As we sat eating the food, the researcher remarked that she preferred eating Chinese food with chopsticks, but we didn't have any. After the meal, the researcher went to her room then returned moments later with a very puzzled expression, "I thought you didn't have any chopsticks," she told my husband. "And I certainly didn't mean for you to go out and buy them! But thank you anyway for being so thoughtful." She held out a pair of chopsticks wrapped in paper and smiled.
"Where did you get those?" he asked in amazement.
"They were on my bed," she replied. "Didn't you put them there?"
"Of course, not! There aren't-weren't-any chopsticks in the house, I promise you. And I haven't gone anywhere!"
Other objects have appeared out of nowhere, such as metal balls falling from abductees' bodies when they rose from their beds the morning after an encounter. In another instance, a mother saw what looked like a white book floating horizontally in her son's bedroom, but when she went in, there was no book to be seen. In one abductee's home, a fish disappeared from their aquarium, and then it reappeared ten days later, twice as large as it had been. Within 24-hours, it died, as did all the other fish in the tank.
Women in distress
Perhaps the most remarkable and disturbing set of cases concerning two women I know but who are unacquainted with each other. The first woman awoke one morning to find her bed soaked with blood. It was during her menstrual cycle, yet she was surprised to have bled so profusely as to soak through the tampon she had inserted before going to bed. When she went to the bathroom to clean up, she could find no tampon to remove. Frantically she searched her bed, the bedroom, and finally her entire apartment, but the tampon had disappeared. A few days later, she related the incident to me, but neither of us knew what to make of it.
A month passed, and I received a call from the second woman, who lived far away from me. She was perplexed by an event of the previous night and wanted to tell someone about it. This woman was having her menstrual cycle also, and the night before had put on a sanitary pad before going to bed. Several hours later, she woke up and decided to change the pad, as she was an unusually heavy bleeder. In surprise, however, she found the pad was spotless, and then she felt something inside her. She told me that she removed the tampon, but couldn't understand how it had gotten there. "I haven't used tampons in ten years," she said, "so this doesn't make any sense."
Anomalies in 'Typical' Reports
Anomalies have turned up in some cases that might otherwise seem to follow the "typical" abduction sequence of going in the ship, undergoing an examination and being returned with little or no memory. Sometimes, for instance, the surroundings in the ship are described as messy or dirty, with foul odors and signs of sloppy housekeeping. Sometimes the interior is said to be crowded, buzzing with numerous entities engaged in rapid, inexplicable movements from place to place.
Even more unusual are those accounts of abduction to inner space rather than outer space. In these cases, abductees tell of being taken into large underground complexes, and their descriptions very often include earthly - perhaps military - apparatus as well as the presence of both humans and aliens working together. These underground areas are reached through long vertical or corkscrewing tunnels, the abductees say, and in one case the place looked like a movie set of an old Western town.
Bathroom Settings
A third anomalous episode, which may have taken place aboard a craft or in an underground setting, involves abductees taken into "bathroom" settings. There they are made to get into stalls with or without toilets, and in most cases the abductees are thoroughly frightened by the events that occur in these surroundings, often having to do with examination of their sexual organs.
Most of these anomalous details have come from a relatively small group of abductees, yet similar cases are known elsewhere. In the instances of the odd scar, which began this discussion, there are cases of the triangular pattern turning up all over the world, yet no prominent researcher has acknowledged this. The scoop marks and straight-line cuts are well known, but just as frequent are less permanent scars and marks. Single, double and multiple puncture marks appear on abductees' bodies, as do wide paths of subcutaneous purplish smears, triangles and other shapes made by skin discoloration rather than punctures, and long claw-mark, scratches, usually numerous, accompanied by even longer welts of unbroken skin.
Challenge To Positive Theories
As to researchers who claim that the ETs are here to help us evolve some higher consciousness or that they are here for some other positive purpose-saving our planet, promoting world peace, etc.-I challenge those researches to incorporate anomalous data in this view.
What about those people who suffer total breakdowns after their experiences? What about those who undergo wild personality changes, who find themselves obsessed with deviant sexual behavior they never had before, often leading to the breakup of marriages and friendships? These things have happened numerous times, but no researcher has yet explained the higher purpose behind such results.
Particularly disturbing are those cases where previously healthy individuals have an ET encounter and then develop debilitating or terminal illnesses. It is well known that many women suffer gynecological problems after their experiences, often leading to hysterectomies. But other instances have shown the development of severe fatigue, horrible swelling and itching, and even cancer. Where are the positive effects in these cases?
Theories are starting places for research, not proven conclusions, and UFO researchers must be willing to expand and alter their pet theories according to the data they uncover. It would be wonderful if we could shape ET experiences into something positive, but until the details of abduction encounters - all the details - are given serious consideration, I think it's dangerous to cling to theories that ignore data that will not fit. We owe it to ourselves to seek the whole truth.
Reprinted By Permission by Elton Turner and Kelt Works, Inc. This article was originally published in UFO magazine, Vol. 8 No. 1 January/February 1993.
Karla Kandace Turner, Ph.D. was a highly respected abduction researcher, author, lecturer, and teacher. She received her Bachelor's degree from the University of California in Sacramento, a Master's degree from the University of Nottingham, Nottingham England, and her Ph.D. from the University of North Texas in Denton. She authored three books about the abduction phenomenon: Into The Fringe,Taken, and Masquerade of Angels.