Calgary Skeptic’s Society Blog

This is a follow-up post to my article on UFOs from last week.

It’s probable that somewhere in the universe, among the millions of millions of stars and millions of billions of planets, there is life. However, it is irrational to believe this species is visiting us. I personally believe that it’s not necessarily likely that any other species would have evolved to possess the same ability for reason, the same intelligence levels of humans. So why do people believe the aliens are coming?

Pop culture has a lot to do with it – we tend to find that peoples’ descriptions of aliens “evolve” as the trends change. Even the descriptions of the UFO changes – the term “flying saucer” was first used in describing the movement of a UFO, not the shape or appearance. However, this was taken out of context and now most common images of alien spacecraft are disc-shaped.

Let’s move on, though, to alien abductions. Here are the most common explanations for tales of alien abduction…

Sleep Paralysis

“Sleep paralysis is a condition in which someone, most often lying in a supine position, about to drop off to sleep, or just upon waking from sleep realizes that s/he is unable to move, or speak, or cry out. This may last a few seconds or several moments, occasionally longer.” Sleep paralysis is often accompanied by a sense of dread, vivid dreams, or the feeling of a presence in the room – all ingredients for a good abduction story. I don’t mean to imply that all victims of sleep paralysis are simply making up their abduction stories; rather, they assume their dreams are real events, due to the vivid nature and real feelings of terror associated with them. They share these dreams as though they are actual experiences, when in fact they are simply one stop short of hallucinations.

Dreams

The reasoning behind this one is similar to that of sleep paralysis – people confuse dreams with reality. Often they don’t realize they’ve fallen asleep, and when they awaken they realize 2 hours have passed, and the only memory they have is that of their dreams. They begin to believe that their dream was real.

The most famous example of this is the Betty and Barney Hill case. The Hills were driving down the highway in 1961 when they stopped to observe strange lights. 2 weeks later, Betty began having nightmares, very vivid ones, in which she was taken from her bed onto an alien ship, and had medical procedures performed on her. As a result of this, both Betty and her husband Barney underwent hypnosis – both gave nearly identical accounts of abduction.

However, the Hills didn’t undergo hypnosis until 1963 – 2 years after their original experience. In that time, Betty talked about nothing else other than her abduction, telling Barney over and over what had happened to her. Studies of memory show that people begin to form memories of things that didn’t actually happen to them, based on repetitive accounts of it – therefore, we can conclude that Betty basically brainwashed her husband into believing her account. While I don’t believe this was done maliciously and on purpose by Betty, it does explain how the two of them could give the same account of an event that didn’t happen. By examining all the facts in this story, it becomes clear that the “incident” was merely the result of an active imagination. (See the Skeptoid article for more information on the Hills).

Making it all up

There are, of course, some cases where people simply tell stories. They make up an account of alien abduction (often based on other stories they hear) for a variety of reasons. Most often, they’re seeking attention.

Hoaxes

Again, as with UFO sightings, hoaxes don’t prove anything for either side – all it proves is that it’s possible to modify a photo or throw an oddly-shaped object in the air and snap a picture of it. For that reason, I won’t go into hoaxes of alien abductions….

The Bottom Line

Of course, it’s impossible to prove a negative – we can’t prove that aliens haven’t been visiting Earth and whisking people from the safety of their homes to insert probes and perform medical procedures. All we can do is examine the evidence of claims, and in the case of UFOs and alien abductions, no solid proof exists to prove this phenomenon. Until that day comes, alien visitation is an urban myth.

The exercise of critical thought is not a tyrant commanding from on high,‘Thou shalt not believe!’ and robbing life of all joy and beauty. Rather, it is the steersman of the Ship of Mind, guiding the vessel through the treacherous waters of the Sea of Ideas, so that it does not sink, or run aground. — Author Unknown