Sight Unseen Science, Ufo Invisibility, and Transgenic Beings

Chapter 1: The Alien Abductors: Hiding -- And Sometimes Showing Off When details of the first thoroughly investigated UFO abduction report -- the now famous Betty and Barney Hill case -- came to wide public attention in 1966, researchers made several deductions about the aliens' modus operandi. Since the incident occurred at night in a sparsely populated area of New Hampshire's White Mountains, it was assumed that the aliens had selected the time and location in order to reduce the chance of accidental witnesses. The full story of the Hills' abduction story has been told elsewhere and need not be repeated here, but for our purposes it is important to point out that in 1961, the year the incident actually occurred, investigators thought of it as a kind of cosmic commando raid in which speed and maximum concealment were central concerns. And when I later read about it in John Fuller's classic account and eventually accepted its validity, I agreed with this simple, military-type analysis.Similar UFO abductions, if they happened at all, were most likely to be extremely rare, investigators later hypothesized, almost always taking place at night, in rural settings, so that they could be carried out unobserved. And among those who took the case seriously, most assumed that the Hills' abduction might well be the only such incident that had ever occurred. Apart from this unlucky couple who were in the wrong place at the wrong time, human beings were probably safe from such experiences.As it turned out, all of these assumptions were wrong.By the 1970's, as a few more abduction cases were reported and investigated, another pattern emerged that radically changed our thinking. In these accounts, several abductees reported that when the UFO occupants first approached them, people in their immediate vicinity suddenly appeared to have been "switched off" and put into a comalike state. These switched-off individuals were often described as sitting or standing rigidly in the postures they had been in when the aliens arrived on the scene. Their eyes were open, but they were obviously not registering what was taking place. Later, when the abduction ended, these potential witnesses began to move normally, recalling nothing of the incident but often aware that, mysteriously, several hours -- of which they had no memory -- had elapsed.Thus we had a major new factor to consider in the aliens' ability to maintain the covert nature of their operations. They apparently possessed a technology by which potential witnesses could be prevented from seeing UFO occupants and observing the abduction of someone in their immediate vicinity -- even someone traveling in the same automobile. As an example of this newly discovered factor, one highly credible woman I once worked with, a mother of two and by profession an obstetrical nurse, described an experience she had had as a young student. In 1973, "Karen" was at a small party with about ten other young people, some of whom were also student nurses. Karen recalls that she was seated cross-legged on the couch, talking with her friends, relaxing, and listening to music. Though the young people were drinking beer, none of the student nurses were intoxicated.In Karen's very next conscious memory she was in her car, driving along a local road just after sunrise, completely confused and disoriented. She stopped at a coffee shop and went in to try to calm herself, but the more she pondered the mystery of the nearly five missing hours, the more upset she became.Later, when she was in her apartment and feeling less frightened, she called a friend who had been present at the party. He asked where she had gone. "I looked around and you weren't there. Nobody remembers seeing you leave. We figured you had just slipped out and gone home."Some ten years later, Karen readMissing Time-- an apt title for her disturbing experience -- and wrote to me. We met in my studio onHopkins, Budd is the author of 'Sight Unseen Science, Ufo Invisibility, and Transgenic Beings', published 2004 under ISBN 9780743412193 and ISBN 0743412192.