| Author: | John Kuykendall | ISBN: | 1230000157472 |
| Publisher: | John Kuykendall | Publication: | August 3, 2013 |
| Imprint: | Language: | English |
| Author: | John Kuykendall |
| ISBN: | 1230000157472 |
| Publisher: | John Kuykendall |
| Publication: | August 3, 2013 |
| Imprint: | |
| Language: | English |
All around the world, quite independently, thousands of people claim that they have been abducted by aliens. At first sight these claims seem ludicrous, but when one takes a closer look, it soon becomes clear that they are supported by some very convincing evidence. Clearly something strange is going on. But what, exactly?
I spent three years of my life in a job where my duties included investigating UFO sightings for the Ministry of Defence. Between 1991 and 1994 my duties at the Ministry involved me in a search for the truth about one of the most powerful and enduring mysteries of modem times. My first book, Open Skies, Closed Minds, told the story of my three-year voyage of discovery, and detailed some of what television devotees might like to think of as "the real X-Files." I had come into the job as a skeptic, but emerged believing that a small percentage of UFO sightings did involve extraterrestrial craft. My conversion was not a blind leap of faith, but was based upon numerous instances where my rigorous official investigations had failed to uncover any conventional explanation for what was seen. These cases included visual sightings backed up by radar evidence, and UFO reports from civil and military pilots. In 1980 there wasacase where radiation readings ten times normal were recorded on the spot where a metallic craft landed near two military bases (the famous Rendlesham Forest case). In 1990 the Belgian Air Force scrambeld F-16 fighters to try and intercept a UFO that had been picked up on radar by various NATO and Belgian installations, but the UFO easily evaded the jets. In 1993 a craft flew directly over two Royal Air Force bases in England, firing a beam of light at the surrounding countryside. There were plenty of cases where the intruding technology seemed to be considerably more advanced than the defending technology.
Fascinating and disturbing though some of these UFO incidents were, it was always the reports of abductions that gave me the greatest concern. The UFO mystery paled into insignificance when compared to the abduction phe nomenon. Although there will be much talk about extraterrestrials, I should make it clear that this book is not about UFOs. Although, of course, UFOs will be featured, the central issue here is encounters between humans and other, non-human intelligences. Using an analogy to illustrate the point, if the Queen called at your house, you would probably not be that interested in the car in which she arrived. You would want to know why she was visiting you! In the same way, for those like me who believe that some UFOs are extraterrestrial in origin, the UFOs become, simply, a means of transportation. As the respected ufologist Stanton Friedman has said:"Never mind the saucers; what about the occupants?" For me, caryring out my job at the Ministry, the whole issue of alien abductions raised serious defense and national security issues. If the accounts were to be believed, then not only were UFOs penetrating our sophisticated air defense network with impunity, but the occupants of the craft were sometimes carrying out intrusive and frightening procedures on unwilling human subjects. When I first encountered references to alien abductions, I was skeptical. Similarly, when I was actually introduced to people who claimed that they had been abducted, I found myself looking for other, more conventional explanations. Were they simply lying, or were they fantasy prone personalities, who might construct an abduction story for psychological reasons? Might there be mental health explanations, with some sort of psychopathology lying at the root of these people's claims? Could it be that certain stimuli had combined to create mass hysteria on a frightening scale? All these options needed to be explored, and would in themselves have been worthy of serious study. But the most frightening theory of all was that the claims were true, and the events were occurring as described. If they were true-if just one case was true-the implications for the human race would be profound and disturbing.
It is clear that, despite the unwelcome intrusion of
various cranks, most of the so-called abductees who have come forward to talk about their experiences are sincere and well-intentioned. For this reason, although I believe that many such experiences do have conventional explanations, I shall not be inserting the word "alleged" before every mention of an encounter. Whatever the cause, these experiences are real, in the sense that they are perceived as such by the majority of those involved. The key issue, of course, is whether or not any of these encounters take place in the physical universe, as opposed to the psychological one.
All around the world, quite independently, thousands of people claim that they have been abducted by aliens. At first sight these claims seem ludicrous, but when one takes a closer look, it soon becomes clear that they are supported by some very convincing evidence. Clearly something strange is going on. But what, exactly?
I spent three years of my life in a job where my duties included investigating UFO sightings for the Ministry of Defence. Between 1991 and 1994 my duties at the Ministry involved me in a search for the truth about one of the most powerful and enduring mysteries of modem times. My first book, Open Skies, Closed Minds, told the story of my three-year voyage of discovery, and detailed some of what television devotees might like to think of as "the real X-Files." I had come into the job as a skeptic, but emerged believing that a small percentage of UFO sightings did involve extraterrestrial craft. My conversion was not a blind leap of faith, but was based upon numerous instances where my rigorous official investigations had failed to uncover any conventional explanation for what was seen. These cases included visual sightings backed up by radar evidence, and UFO reports from civil and military pilots. In 1980 there wasacase where radiation readings ten times normal were recorded on the spot where a metallic craft landed near two military bases (the famous Rendlesham Forest case). In 1990 the Belgian Air Force scrambeld F-16 fighters to try and intercept a UFO that had been picked up on radar by various NATO and Belgian installations, but the UFO easily evaded the jets. In 1993 a craft flew directly over two Royal Air Force bases in England, firing a beam of light at the surrounding countryside. There were plenty of cases where the intruding technology seemed to be considerably more advanced than the defending technology.
Fascinating and disturbing though some of these UFO incidents were, it was always the reports of abductions that gave me the greatest concern. The UFO mystery paled into insignificance when compared to the abduction phe nomenon. Although there will be much talk about extraterrestrials, I should make it clear that this book is not about UFOs. Although, of course, UFOs will be featured, the central issue here is encounters between humans and other, non-human intelligences. Using an analogy to illustrate the point, if the Queen called at your house, you would probably not be that interested in the car in which she arrived. You would want to know why she was visiting you! In the same way, for those like me who believe that some UFOs are extraterrestrial in origin, the UFOs become, simply, a means of transportation. As the respected ufologist Stanton Friedman has said:"Never mind the saucers; what about the occupants?" For me, caryring out my job at the Ministry, the whole issue of alien abductions raised serious defense and national security issues. If the accounts were to be believed, then not only were UFOs penetrating our sophisticated air defense network with impunity, but the occupants of the craft were sometimes carrying out intrusive and frightening procedures on unwilling human subjects. When I first encountered references to alien abductions, I was skeptical. Similarly, when I was actually introduced to people who claimed that they had been abducted, I found myself looking for other, more conventional explanations. Were they simply lying, or were they fantasy prone personalities, who might construct an abduction story for psychological reasons? Might there be mental health explanations, with some sort of psychopathology lying at the root of these people's claims? Could it be that certain stimuli had combined to create mass hysteria on a frightening scale? All these options needed to be explored, and would in themselves have been worthy of serious study. But the most frightening theory of all was that the claims were true, and the events were occurring as described. If they were true-if just one case was true-the implications for the human race would be profound and disturbing.
It is clear that, despite the unwelcome intrusion of
various cranks, most of the so-called abductees who have come forward to talk about their experiences are sincere and well-intentioned. For this reason, although I believe that many such experiences do have conventional explanations, I shall not be inserting the word "alleged" before every mention of an encounter. Whatever the cause, these experiences are real, in the sense that they are perceived as such by the majority of those involved. The key issue, of course, is whether or not any of these encounters take place in the physical universe, as opposed to the psychological one.
