2,000 Greater & Lesser Mysteries

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========== mail/messages #95, from Clark.Matthews@f816.n107.z1.FIDONET.ORG, 27756 chars, 30 Apr 91 23:07:00 GMT ---------- Received: from k30hslxsys by muse.compulink.co.uk id aa06437; 7 May 91 2:35 GMT Received: from kestrel.ukc.ac.uk by bugs.specialix.co.uk id aa13643; Mon, 6 May 91 18:59:44 BST Received: from mcsun by kestrel.Ukc.AC.UK via EUnet with authorised UUCP id aa04193; 6 May 91 19:03 BST Received: from ns-mx.uiowa.edu by mcsun.EU.net with SMTP; id AA23234 (5.65a/CWI-2.85); Mon, 6 May 91 19:33:19 +0200 Received: from shemtaia.weeg.uiowa.edu by ns-mx.uiowa.edu (5.64.jnf/910327) on Mon, 6 May 91 12:18:53 -0500 id AA07335 with SMTP Received: from ncar.ucar.edu by shemtaia.weeg.uiowa.edu (5.61.jnf/891218) on Mon, 6 May 91 12:18:37 -0500 id AA10304 with SMTP Received: by ncar.ucar.EDU (5.65/ NCAR Central Post Office 04/10/90) id AA28135; Mon, 6 May 91 11:18:31 MDT Received: by scicom.alphacdc.com (smail2.5) id AA28024; 6 May 91 11:07:29 MDT (Mon) To: abdlist@shemtaia.weeg.uiowa.edu Subject: Abduction Digest Message-Id: <9105061107.AA28024@scicom.alphacdc.com> Date: 6 May 91 11:07:29 MDT (Mon) From: Abduction Moderator <abdmod@scicom.alphacdc.com> Apparently-To: tprinn Abduction Digest, Number 12 Monday, May 6th 1991 Today's Topics: Continuum Continues Call for Submissions Abduction Investigation Update Abduction Investigation Update (2) Abduction Investigation Update (3) Lydia addendum ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Clark.Matthews@f816.n107.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Clark Matthews) Subject: Continuum Continues Date: 30 Apr 91 23:07:00 GMT *** P a r a N e t C O N T I N U U M *** Continues ... CONTINUUM is back! ParaNet's newsletter of UFOlogy, online communications, paranormal studies and research is resuming publication. An exciting forum for an array of interests -- and a handy resource for finding: -- Current UFO events and symposia -- Computer bulletin boards -- Study groups -- Contact groups -- Researchers and research organizations -- Writers and more. Complimentary copies of CONTINUUM's premiere issue will be available to ParaNet participants and other interested parties for the price of postage. Thereafter, CONTINUUM will be available by subscription only, mailed First Class within the U.S. Please inquire via NetMail for more information and subscription rates, including overseas rates. Send mail to: * ParaNet Alpha 1-303-431-8797 -- address echomail to Michael Corbin at 9:9/0 (ParaNet) or 1:104/422 (Fido) or mcorbin@scicom.alphacdc.com (Internet) * ParaNet Pi 1-201-451-3063 -- address echomail to Clark Matthews at 9:1012/4 (ParaNet) or 1:107/816 (FidoNet) or f816.n107.z1.fidonet.org!Clark.Matthews (Internet) or P.O. Box 3934, Jersey City, NJ 07303-3934 * James Roger Black on InterNet at shemtaia.weeg.uiowa.edu!jrblack (Internet) -- Clark Matthews - via FidoNet node 1:104/422 UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name INTERNET: Clark.Matthews@f816.n107.z1.FIDONET.ORG -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Clark.Matthews@f816.n107.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Clark Matthews) Subject: Call for Submissions Date: 30 Apr 91 23:12:00 GMT *** P a r a N e t C O N T I N U U M *** C A L L F O R S U B M I S S I O N S CONTINUUM is back! ParaNet's newsletter of UFOlogy, research, online communications, and paranormal studies is resuming publication -- and calling for submissions. We are seeking articles of 500 to 3000 words for the premiere issue, which is scheduled for publication in July 1991. Publication will be quarterly. Payment will be in copies. *** S U B M I S S I O N D E A D L I N E *** May 15, 1991 Send submissions to: Clark Matthews The Wrong Number BBS P.O. Box 3934 Jersey City, NJ 07303-3934 *** E D I T O R I A L S U B M I S S I O N S *** SUBMIT ANYTHING! We don't PROMISE to publish it, but if your topic interests you as a UFO buff, we think it's a safe bet that others in our "circle" will share your interest. Science fiction. Science fact. UFO/paranormal history. Scaly-eyed skepticism. A book review. A television critique. An interview. The results of your last physics experiment. You name it: If it interests you, it will probably interest us and your compeers here. And it's welcome in CONTINUUM. Registered copyrighted material will be protected but we do assume a grant of non-exclusive serial rights from you, the author, upon submission and before delivery of complimentary copies. You must inform us of other, pending rights sales upon submission. Likewise, if you submit work-in-progress, your unpublished copyright will be respected but a grant of non-exclusive serial rights is expected in exchange for editorial and development work and before the delivery of complimentary copies. (Heck, we might even improve it!) *** P L A N N E D T O P I C S *** Planned articles in the coming issue include: * The Fatima Enigma * Online listening post -- best of the ParaNet echoes * The Philadelphia Experiment: Build It in Your Basement?! * ParaNet -- 5 years and counting... * UFO History * UFO current events * Handy UFO classifieds * And more... *** M A G A Z I N E H I G H L I G H T S *** * Free classified public notices of: -- UFO events and symposia -- Computer bulletin boards -- Study groups -- Contact groups -- Researchers and research organizations -- Writers and more. Maximum ad length 40 words, including address and zip code. Dues- based membership organizations and sponsors of symposia may advertise, but free classified ads cannot offer anything for sale. Space for free classifieds is limited, and the offer does not apply to display advertising. The management reserves the right not to publish ads. It's definitely "un-commercial", but we're committed to keeping the the "bulletin board" concept alive in the UFOlogical community. So we want CONTINUUM to be a helpful resource for its readers -- just like ParaNet is for its users. What goes around, comes around, in other words. Complimentary copies of CONTINUUM's premiere issue will be available to ParaNet participants and other interested parties for the price of postage. Thereafter, CONTINUUM will be available by subscription only, mailed First Class within the U.S. Please inquire via NetMail for more information and subscription rates, including overseas rates. Best, Clark Matthews Michael Corbin James Roger Black Editorial Director System Administrator Contributing Editor Send netmail to: * ParaNet Alpha 1-303-431-8797 -- address echomail to Michael Corbin at 9:9/0 (ParaNet) or 1:104/422 (Fido) or mcorbin@scicom.alphacdc.com (Internet) * ParaNet Pi 1-201-451-3063 -- address echomail to Clark Matthews at 9:1012/4 (ParaNet) or 1:107/816 (FidoNet) or f816.n107.z1.fidonet.org!Clark.Matthews (Internet) or P.O. Box 3934, Jersey City, NJ 07303-3934 * James Roger Black on InterNet at shemtaia.weeg.uiowa.edu!jrblack (Internet) -- Clark Matthews - via FidoNet node 1:104/422 UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name INTERNET: Clark.Matthews@f816.n107.z1.FIDONET.ORG -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ParaNet.Information.Service@p0.f428.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG (sm) Subject: Abduction Investigation Update Date: 2 May 91 01:07:00 GMT This file was provided by ParaNet(sm) Information Service and its network of international affiliates. You may freely distribute this file as long as this header remains intact. Date Prepared: May 1, 1991 Contributed by: Jim Speiser ============================================================ For further information on ParaNet(sm), contact: Michael Corbin ParaNet Information Service P.O. Box 172 Wheatridge, CO 80034-0172 or FidoNet 1:104/422 Internet mcorbin@scicom.alphacdc.com =========================================================== (C) 1991 ParaNet Information Service. All Rights Reserved Unless Copyrighted by Author. These files may not be excerpted unless prior arrangements are made with ParaNet. ============================================================ FILE UPDATE: 31 March 1991 Subject Name: "Lydia" ____ (nee _____; Sometimes goes by maiden name) Age: 45 Marital Status: Married 8 years. No children. Husband "Lance" is an engineer. Height: Approx. 6' Education: Teaching degrees in English and Geology. Employment: Educator, _______ School District. EXPERIENCE SUMMARY: This subject approached me in November of 1990, while at a State of Arizona MUFON Conference. She informed me that she believed herself to be an abductee, and that she had approached several others in the state about getting some help, notably Hal Starr and Ed Beibel. She claims she did not get much satisfaction from them, and was only looking for someone to listen to her story and figure out what she should do. Later that week, my wife and I met with Lydia at a Village Inn in Mesa, and spoke with her for a period of about 2 hours, during which time she related her various experiences in some detail. She had typed up some info sheets on each of her major experiences, and had done some crude renderings of various entities and situations. At the end of the meeting, I suggested hypnosis and Lydia readily agreed. Lydia's situation includes several consciously recalled incidents, the most recent of which took place in April of 1990. This was the first incident in which she actually recalls seeing entities, and thus it was the one that triggered her desire for help. Other _consciously recalled_ incidents date back to age 12 or 13, with several in her mid- to late-20's. It was apparent to me from our meeting that Lydia's experience also involved a multitude of buried memories, which seemed to be gnawing at her subconscious mind, and so hypnosis was recommended both as a cathartic and as a method of uncovering some elements of possible evidential value. To date Lydia has had four hypnosis sessions with ______________, a therapy practitioner in Mesa, AZ. I have attended three of those sessions. The first session, in December of 1990, concentrated on her April, 1990 experience, of which she consciously remembered only a brief scene on an "examination" table, surrounded by several entities. She stated before hypnosis that the scene was "fuzzy" and "slightly out of focus." The hypnosis session succeeded in dredging up her recall of the events just prior to the "examination," in which she recalled seeing a thin shaft of light, like a focused beam, emanating from an air conditioning vent near the ceiling of her bedroom. During her hypnotic recall of this segment of the experience, Lydia became quite agitated and fearful, strongly giving the impression that she was perceiving these events consciously for the first time. The most interesting feature of this regression was Lydia's recollection of reaching for her glasses on the nightstand next to her bed (she is nearsighted) but being unsuccessful in getting to them before the entities reached her. This is consistent with her blurred visual recall of subsequent events, and is notable in that it was only under hypnosis that she realized she did not have her glasses on. At this point, Lydia recalled "floating" up through the night sky towards an object she described as bell-shaped. She then has a hazy memory of seeing things through a close "mesh", as if a fencing mask had been placed over her face. Then she recalls waking up to find herself on a smooth-surfaced examining table. Though somewhat groggy, she was able to see her bare feet, and the fringe of her nightgown. She also saw an entity closely examining her thoracic area, so closely that his head was a mere inch or two from her chest and inches from her face. Possibly relevant to this occurence is the fact that Lydia reportedly had undergone radiography a month or two prior to this episode, in which it was discovered that she had an unusual "spot" on one of her lungs. She describes it as a honeycomb structure, "like you would see if you took a handful of straws and pressed them against my lung and spit black ink through them." Subsequent X-rays, the most recent being in January of 1991, have shown the spot to be unchanged. Her doctors, she says, are not overly concerned at this point, but they are mystified as to the nature of the spot. Further investigation is planned in this area. Lydia recalls a brief conversation with the entities, who told her they were doing a study on "the effects of freedom." She recalls thinking that this made sense, in light of world events, until they told her that they intended to set a bunch of chickens free in the forest to see how they reacted to their newfound freedom. She says that it took a couple of seconds for her to realize that this made no sense at all ("My grandmother had a farm, I know what the chickens would do, they'd run right back to their cages!") but she attributes the delay to her somewhat groggy state. From the beginning, Lydia realized that the entities were not communicating verbally, but that she was picking up their thoughts. She related this in a rather surprised tone, and did not use the word "telepathy" or anything similar. She said that she believed that she could "hit a mental mute button" and be able to shield them from her thoughts. She thought to herself (supposedly) that she needed to go to the bathroom. The entity's expression immediately changed to one that approximated surprise (in her drawing she depicts it with its mouth rounded in an "O") and in a instant, she was back in her bedroom. <Continued in next message..> -- ParaNet(sm) Information Service - via FidoNet node 1:104/422 UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name INTERNET: ParaNet(sm).Information.Service@p0.f428.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ParaNet.Information.Service@p0.f428.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG (sm) Subject: Abduction Investigation Update (2) Date: 2 May 91 01:08:00 GMT <<Continued from previous message>> Most of the above incident, from waking up on the examining table, was recalled consciously prior to hypnosis, but the session served to clarify the visual images of the entities, and at one point Lydia began crying as she seemed to fully confront their unpleasant and totally alien appearance. Overall, the session was obviously a cathartic experience for Lydia, and she seemed to have had a great weight lifted off her shoulders. She later claimed to have been able to shed a few pounds, her weight problem having been of great concern to her in recent years. The second session, held in December of 1990, succeeded in extracting some images from her experience at age 12, though it still remains largely shrouded in the mists of her subconscious mind. The most significant aspect of this event was Lydia's recollection of being on board a craft and seeing another human female being carried on board, unconscious, by one of the entities. She was unable to see the woman's face, but described her as having medium length, light brown-to-blonde hair. Much of the rest of this session was devoted to what might be a separate episode, time frame uncertain, in which Lydia recalls looking out a curved panel of windows and seeing clouds going by at eye level. In this episode she recalls an entity standing at a counter, writing. After the session she was able to reconstruct three of the unrecognizable symbols she saw on the entity's paper. These exoglyphs have been forwarded to CUFOS, Dave Jacobs, and Budd Hopkins for comparison with other exemplars. A password-protected graphic computer file containing these symbols also exists in the possession of the director of ParaNet, who has agreed not to release it until further consultation with other experts. The third and fourth sessions brought out an even earlier episode, which Lydia claims had to have occurred around July of 1954, at age 7. None of this episode was recalled consciously prior to hypnosis. The subject recounted standing across the street from her own house near Valdosta, GA, looking up into the daytime sky, and feeling a painful pressure in the area of her cheekbones, as if someone were "pulling up" on her face. She seemed to re-experience this pain during both hypnotic sessions, and at times had to be relieved of it through strong suggestion by _______. At this point she recalls being "lifted up" into the sky, towards a hovering disk-shaped craft. She described the sensation of thrusting through the floor of the craft, where she says she felt like a small "blob" on the floor, like a jellyfish. She felt she was not in a physical body, and could not feel her arms, legs, face, etc. Two entities were standing over her. One said, "This is ___-__", exaggerating the syllables. She then felt her arms and legs "pop out", as if from a central corpus. One of the entities placed a plain white vestment, like a dress, over her head. She was escorted through the "craft," which she described as having curved walls with translucent white panels, not unlike the devices doctors use to place x-rays on for viewing. Lydia was led through several rooms, the first of which featured a large pool containing a highly agitated clear liquid. She said it looked like water, but she wasn't sure. During the fourth session, she recalled a feeling of cold in her fingers while in this area. The entity led her through the room rather quickly, and as they were leaving, Lydia claims to have gotten the impression of the word, "propulsion" from the entity. She remembers wondering (at age 7) what the word meant. In the next room Lydia was asked if she could write her name ("of COURSE I can write my name!" she responded, in precocious fashion), and proceeded to oblige. Details of this particular segment have yet to be explored more fully. There were several more rooms on the tour, including one that contained several shelves of what appeared to be children's toys. On one shelf were some small dolls with different types of clothing. Below that were some toys of a more boyish nature, like toy trucks or motorcycles. Lydia recalls that the entity seemed to expect her to be excited about the dolls, when in fact she was never one for playing with dolls as a child. He seemed to register disappointment when she said something like, "Yes - those are dolls", in an offhand manner. After a few more rooms, Lydia's next recollection was of being placed in a small, dark "closet", and having the distinct feeling of her form changing to a "cube"-like structure. In the next instant, she was back across the street from her house. There are various other elements to Lydia's experiences, including possible screen memories (she has been spooked at the appearance of a praying mantis at least twice), psi episodes, and a UFO sighting in March of 1988 while with her husband. These need to be explored in more depth, both hypnotically and consciously. WITNESS BACKGROUND: The most significant factor in Lydia's background is the fact that she has had some exposure to the abduction phenomenon prior to her April experience, through the reading of "Communion" and "Intruders". However, I would judge this exposure to be at best peripheral and do not feel the UFO subject was a major interest of hers at any time prior to last year. Certainly by itself it is no cause for summary dismissal of the case, as it will naturally become more and more difficult in this day and age to find "virgin" abduction percipients. <Continued in next message..>> -- ParaNet(sm) Information Service - via FidoNet node 1:104/422 UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name INTERNET: ParaNet(sm).Information.Service@p0.f428.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ParaNet.Information.Service@p0.f428.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG (sm) Subject: Abduction Investigation Update (3) Date: 2 May 91 01:09:00 GMT <<<Continued from previous message>>> One of the first questions I asked Lydia regarded her childhood and the possibility of any abuse, neglect, or sexual trauma. She replied in the negative, claiming she had had a more or less normal childhood, and came from a loving family. Lydia is well-educated and widely read, with a strong interest in ancient Greco-Roman culture, architecture and mythology. She and her husband maintain an extensive library that takes up an entire wall of their garage. Titles included works by Nietzche and Michener, several science fiction anthologies, spy novels, and science texts on ballistic physics, chemistry, astronomy, and geology. She has several ancient Greek artifacts in her den, which she shows off proudly and with not a small sense of wonder at the accomplishments of the ancients. She has travelled to Greece, and recalls that one of her most deeply spiritual and introspective moments was sitting among the ruins of the Parthenon, contemplating the wonders of the past. Her relationship with her husband Lance is quite interesting. Lance is a ballistics engineer at McDonnell-Douglas in Mesa, and an avid amateur astronomer. They have been married 8 years, and he is several years her senior. He has, from the beginning, indicated his skepticism on the subject and is fairly reticent to even discuss the matter. However, this does not seem to have affected their relationship in the slightest. They seem close and loving, yet mutually independent. Both possess a good sense of humor. And both are a bundle of ironies. Ever the hard-nosed, skeptical engineer, Lance is yet a devout Lutheran. And Lydia, with her strange tale of small grey kidnappers, is an avowed secular humanist. Yet theirs is a relaxed and affable relationship in which they seem to have long ago come to terms with their differences and even to have shrugged them off. Lydia occasionally tries to nudge Lance into looking at her drawings and discussing the matter openly, but is not overly put off by his hesitancy. "He'll come around some day," she says. Lydia and Lance do share an interest in recreational flying, and both have pilots licenses. It was this mutual interest, in fact, that brought them together, according to Lydia. Recently, Lance purchased a subscription to The Skeptical Inquirer, the quarterly publication of CSICOP. It is not clear whether he was prompted to do so by a deep-seated discomfort with his wife's claimed experience. Lydia read the first issue and called it well-written and authoritative. She has often expressed her distaste for the "woo-woos," the New Age and spiritual side of the UFO phenomenon. She in fact rejected my first choice for hypnosis therapist on the basis of his brochure, which actually advertised for abduction percipients and contained a drawing of a greylien. She thought he would be "too flaky." The couple's relationship is interesting to me for another reason. I had heard that female abductees, especially, tend to be "clingy", and seemingly in search of ever greater attention to their plight. They seem to attach themselves to their abduction researcher, hoping for some kind of final resolution to their trauma. I have often wondered if this longing for attention is not a personality characteristic that might serve as a causal basis for the experience itself. Meeting Lydia and Lance has dissuaded me from this, at least for the moment. While Lydia was at first "desperate" in her search for someone who would listen, and very plaintive in her request that I at least give her case a hearing, she does not seem overly "clingy", either with me OR with her husband. True, she does maintain a strong interest in her case and in the possibility that she may be helping to advance research in this area by cooperating fully with my investigation as well as with that of CUFOS. But she has not been a 3AM caller, to my great relief. And her patience with her husband is also indicative of an inner confidence and a sense of independence, perhaps even a pioneering, "I'll-go-it-alone-if-I-have-to" spirit. EVALUATION: My overall impression of her psyche is that she is basically stable, very personable, with no sign of neurosis. She does have a tendency to speak in a nervous, staccato, rambling manner, but patience is always rewarded with a cohesive final story. These impressions are for the most part confirmed by the results of her MMPI scores, which show her to be well within normal range on all scales. FUTURE RESEARCH: Further hypnotic sessions are planned, in which we hope to extract the details of the "gaps" in her abduction memories. Research will also be done on the markings on her lung. Furthermore, a meeting with the head of the local skeptics organization is planned. This is in keeping with my belief that reasonable, responsible skeptics should be brought into the loop, in order to afford them the opportunity to get their hands dirty on the nitty-gritty of the subject, something that is surprisingly lacking among skeptics. It is also hoped that the feedback will provide a much-needed "reality check", and perhaps open up potential new areas of reseach that may be obscured by a deep-seated "will-to-believe" on the part of this researcher. Further updates to this file will be made at least quarterly. Jim Speiser 31 March 1991 END PARANET FILE NAME: LYDIA331.TXT -- ParaNet(sm) Information Service - via FidoNet node 1:104/422 UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name INTERNET: ParaNet(sm).Information.Service@p0.f428.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jim.Speiser@f37.n114.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Jim Speiser) Subject: Lydia addendum Date: 2 May 91 16:27:00 GMT A couple of clarifications on that file are in order. First, by "crude renderings", I mean not terribly detailed - Lydia is a pretty good sketch artist, I just couldn't think of a synonym for "lacking in finer details." Second, the manner of her speech I would describe as "animated, sometimes rapid-fire." This is especially noticeable when she is attempting to describe images from her experience. One gets the impression she is bending over backwards to try to describe the indescribable, using words that don't exist, and this sometimes causes her to get flustered. Jim -- Jim Speiser - via FidoNet node 1:104/422 UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name INTERNET: Jim.Speiser@f37.n114.z1.FIDONET.ORG ****************A**B**D**U**C**T**I**O**N****D**I**G**E**S**T******************* Submissions UUCP {ncar,isis,boulder}!scicom!abduct Submissions DOMAIN abduct@scicom.alphacdc.com Admin Address abduct-request@shemtaia.weeg.uiowa.edu ****************A**B**D**U**C**T**I**O**N****D**I**G**E**S**T******************* ========== mail/messages #96, from ParaNet.Information.Service@p0.f428.n10, 15166 chars, 20 Apr 91 07:44:00 GMT ---------- Received: from k30hslxsys by muse.compulink.co.uk id aa06524; 7 May 91 2:35 GMT Received: from kestrel.ukc.ac.uk by bugs.specialix.co.uk id aa19661; Mon, 6 May 91 23:40:56 BST Received: from mcsun by kestrel.Ukc.AC.UK via EUnet with authorised UUCP id aa21183; 6 May 91 23:44 BST Received: from ns-mx.uiowa.edu by mcsun.EU.net with SMTP; id AA12362 (5.65a/CWI-2.85); Tue, 7 May 91 00:39:26 +0200 Received: from shemtaia.weeg.uiowa.edu by ns-mx.uiowa.edu (5.64.jnf/910327) on Mon, 6 May 91 17:33:15 -0500 id AA04206 with SMTP Received: from ncar.ucar.edu by shemtaia.weeg.uiowa.edu (5.61.jnf/891218) on Mon, 6 May 91 17:33:03 -0500 id AA10523 with SMTP Received: by ncar.ucar.EDU (5.65/ NCAR Central Post Office 04/10/90) id AA14638; Mon, 6 May 91 16:32:55 MDT Received: by scicom.alphacdc.com (smail2.5) id AA29745; 6 May 91 16:11:01 MDT (Mon) To: abdlist@scicom.uucp Subject: Abduction Digest 11 Message-Id: <9105061611.AA29745@scicom.alphacdc.com> Date: 6 May 91 16:11:01 MDT (Mon) From: Abduction Moderator <abdmod@scicom.alphacdc.com> Apparently-To: tprinn Abduction Digest, Number 11 Thursday, April 25th 1991 Today's Topics: Rima Laibow (4) Rima Laibow (Conclusion) Lebow.txt ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ParaNet.Information.Service@p0.f428.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG (sm) Subject: Rima Laibow (4) Date: 20 Apr 91 07:44:00 GMT <<<<Continued from previous message>>>> If the abduction material is indeed archetypal or fantasy generated in nature, this is a new class of archetypes. These archetypes demand rather exact representation and mythic presentation since the activities and behavior of the aliens is rather invariant within a narrow latitude regardless of the other dream and fantasy themes of the patient. 3. ABDUCTION SCENARIOS AND HYPNOSIS. Members of both the lay and professional communities frequently assume that material referring to UFO abduction scenarios is retrieved under hypnosis. Since it is generally believed that people under hypnosis are open to the implantation of suggestions through the overt or covert influence of the hypnotist it is concluded that this material reproduces the hypnotists' expectations or interests. It is further concluded that since the hypnotist "put it there" the abduction could not be accounted for as material which emerges solely from the patient's end of dyad. Thus, the abduction scenarios are commonly dismissed as merely representing the production of desired material by compliant subjects. The abductees strong sense of personal conviction that this really happened to him during the session itself and upon recall of the session is similarly dismissed as an artifact of the process by which the fantasies were generated. Several compelling factors mitigate against the facile dismissal of data in this way. Firstly, about 20% of these highly concordant abduction scenarios are available spontaneously at the level of conscious awareness prior to hypnosis. (13,14) These accounts may be enhanced or subjected to further elaboration through the use of hypnosis or other recall enhancement techniques, but in a significant number of people producing abduction scenarios the recall is initially produced without recourse to such techniques. If their stories were substantially different from the concordant abduction scenarios produced under regressive hypnosis, a different phenomenon would be taking place. However, given the perplexing clinical presentation of similar stories from dissimilar people who are uninformed about one another's experience, this presents another highly interesting area of discrepancy. Hopkins has classified patterns of abduction recall into five categories: Type 1. patients consciously recall parts of the full abduction scenario without hypnotic or other techniques designed to aid recall. The emergence of this material may be delayed. Type 2. patients recall the UFO sighting, surrounding circumstances and/or aliens, but do not recall the abduction itself. Only a perceived gap in time indicates any anomalous occurrence. Type 3. patients recall a UFO and/or hominids but nothing else. There is no sense of time lapse or dislocation. Type 4. patients recall only a time lapse or dislocation. No UFO abduction scenario is recalled without the use of specific retrieval techniques. Type 5. patients recall noting relating to UFO or abduction scenarios. Instead they experience discrepant emotions ranging from uneasy suspicions that "something happened to me" to intense, ego-dystonic fears of specific locations, conditions or actions. They may also exhibit unexplained physical wounds and/or recurring dreams of abduction scenario content which are not fixed in their experience as to place and time. (15) Examination of the transcripts of hypnotic sessions which yield abduction material reveals that although subjects are sufficiently suggestible to enter the trance state as directed by the therapist, they resist having material "injected" into their account. They customarily refuse to be "lead" or distracted by the therapist's attempts to change either the focus or content of their report. The subject characteristically insists upon correcting errors or distortions suggested or implied by the hypnotist during the session. Hence it is difficult to account for the similarities and concordances of these scenarios through the mechanism of suggestibility when these subjects so steadfastly refuse to be lead by hypnotists. In fact, it is even more striking that while these patients feel the material which they are producing both in and out of hypnosis as experientially "real", nonetheless they frequently seek to discount or explain away this bizarre and frightening material. This remains true even though sharing it regularly results in a significant remission of anxiety- related symptoms and discomfort. These abduction scenarios are so ego-alien that they have frequently not shared the material with anyone at all or with only a highly select group of trusted intimates. In the vast preponderance of cases patients are reluctant to allow themselves to be publicly identified as having had these experiences since the perceive that the abduction scenario is so highly anomalous that they expect to experience ridicule and repudiation if they become associated with it publicly. It therefore functions like a guilty secret in the way that rape has (and, unfortunately still does in some cases). <Concluded in next message..> -- ParaNet(sm) Information Service - via FidoNet node 1:104/422 UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name INTERNET: ParaNet(sm).Information.Service@p0.f428.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: ParaNet.Information.Service@p0.f428.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG (sm) Subject: Rima Laibow (Conclusion) Date: 20 Apr 91 07:45:00 GMT <<<<<Continued from previous message>>>>> After the material is produced and explored, these subjects often experience a marked degree of relief. This is true with reference both to previously identified symptomatic behaviors and other anxiety manifestations not noted on initial assessment. These other symptoms may remit after enhanced recall of the scenario and its details takes place. It is interesting to note that while the scenarios may contain a good deal of highly traumatic material specifically related to reproductive functioning, these episodes are nearly uniformly free of subjective erotic charge when either the manifest or latent contents are examined. 4. POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER (PTSD) IN THE ABSENCE OF EXTERNAL TRAUMA: PTSD was first described in the content of battle fatigue (16). Although it may present in a wide variety of clinical guises (17) PTSD is currently understood as a disorder which occurs in the context of intolerable externally induced trauma which floods the victim with anxiety and/or depression when his overwhelmed and paralyzed ego defenses prove inadequate to the task of organizing unbearably stressful events. In the service of the patient's urgent attempt to still the tides of disorganizing anxiety, fear or guilt<18> which accompany the emergence of cognitive, sensory or emotional recall of these traumatic events, the trauma itself may be either partly or completely unavailable to conscious recall. <19>...Both physical and psychological responses to the trauma are profound and pervasive. PTSD follows overwhelming real-life trauma and is not known to present as a sequel to internally generated fantasy states.<20> This fourth area of discrepancy between predicted and observed data is perhaps the most striking and challenging. Patients who produce alien abduction material in the absence of psycopathology severe enough to account for it often show the clinical picture of PTSD. This is remarkable when one considers that it is possible that no traumatic event occured except that rooted only in fantasy. These trauma are, in large measure, split off, denied and repressed as they are in other occurrences of PTSD. As discussed above, these scenarios frequently appear in individuals who are otherwise free of any indication of significant emotional and psychological instability or pre-existing severe psycopathology. On careful clinical assessment, these memories do not appear to fill the intrapsychic niches usually occupied by psychotic or psycho-neurotic formulations. The abduction scenarios do not encapsulate or ward off unacceptable impulses, they do not define <or defend against> split off affects, they are not used either to stabilize or to divert current or archaic patterns of behavior nor do they provide secondary gain or manipulative control for the individual. Instead, this material, experienced by the patient as unwelcome and totally ego-dystonic, seems quite consistently to be woven into the fabric of the patient's internal life only in terms of his reactive response to the stress inherent in these experiences and the contents of the repressed material related to the stressful memories. But the extent of this secondary response can be extensive. It should be noted that PTSD has not previously been thought to occur following trauma which has been generated solely by internally states. If abduction scenarios are in fact fantasies, then our understanding of PTSD need to be suitably broadened to account for this heretofore unexpected correlation. In addition, there are significant clinical implications to the finding of abduction scenario material in a patient who shows PTSD but is otherwise free of significant psychopathology. Since abduction scenario material presents several crucial areas of anomaly and discrepancy between what is known and that which is observed. It is very important for the therapist to refrain from the comfortable (for the therapist, at least) description of psychotic functioning to the patient who produces this material until such disturbance is, in fact, demonstrated and corroborated by the presence of other signs beside the UFO-related material. It is imperative for the therapist to adopt a non-judgemental stance. He can attend to the distress of the patient without attempting to confirm or deny possibilities which are outside the specific area of his expertise. The clinician should adopt as his therapeutic priority the alleviation of the PTSD symptomology through the use of appropriate and acceptable methods specific to the treatment of PTSD. In addition, the therapist must remember that while he may have strong convictions pro or con the abduction actually having occurred, it is not within either his capability or expertise to make such a judgement with total certainty. Furthermore, as the clinical psychologist who evaluated the nine abductees pointed out in her addendum, the sophistication of the psychotherapies has not advanced to the point at which this determination can be made on the basis of currently available information (21), although the treatment of post traumatic symptomology is currently understood. Hence, it is important for the therapist to retain the same non-judgemental and helpful stance necessary to the successful treatment of any other traumatic insult. When a therapist labels material as either unacceptable or insane, the burden of the patient is increased. If the therapist is reacting out of prejudices which reflect his own closely-held beliefs rather than his complete certainty, he unfairly increases the distress of the patient. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS: Although it has long been the "common wisdom" of both the professional and lay communities that anyone claiming to be the victim of abduction by UFO occupants must be seriously disturbed, thoroughly deluded or a liar, careful examination of both the reports and their reports calls this assumption into question. Clinical and psychometric investigation of abductees reveals four areas of discrepancy between the expected data and the observable phenomena and suggests further investigation. These discrepant areas are: 1. ABSENCE OF PSYCHOPATHOLOGY An unexpected absence of severe psychopathology coupled with the high level of functioning found in many abductees is a perplexing and surprising finding. Psychometric evaluation of nine abductees revealed a notable heterogeneity of psychological and psychometric characteristics. The major area of homogeneity was in the absence of significant psychopathology. Rather than consulting a subset of the severely disturbed and psychotic population, there is clinical evidence that at least some abductees are high functioning, healthy END PARANET FILE NAME: LAIBOW.TXT -- ParaNet(sm) Information Service - via FidoNet node 1:104/422 UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name INTERNET: ParaNet(sm).Information.Service@p0.f428.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Clark.Matthews@f816.n107.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Clark Matthews) Subject: Lebow.txt Date: 21 Apr 91 08:57:00 GMT Mike, at first reading, Lebow.txt seems indicate an approach to studying abductees that is far from "amateurish". It *may* just be putting some respectable psychiatric gloss on a less-than-systematic approach to the problem, but it does seem pretty thorough. I'll study it more. Best, Clark -- Clark Matthews - via FidoNet node 1:104/422 UUCP: !scicom!paranet!User_Name INTERNET: Clark.Matthews@f816.n107.z1.FIDONET.ORG ****************A**B**D**U**C**T**I**O**N****D**I**G**E**S**T******************* Submissions UUCP {ncar,isis,boulder}!scicom!abduct Submissions DOMAIN abduct@scicom.alphacdc.com Admin Address abduct-request@shemtaia.weeg.uiowa.edu ****************A**B**D**U**C**T**I**O**N****D**I**G**E**S**T*******************