Alien Abductions

The Claims

The term alien abduction refers to subjective memories of individuals who were taken against their will by alien entities and subjected to a variety of medical and psychological procedures. Common to all these abduction stories is the fact that the individual was captured and taken from their terrestrial surroundings into an alien spaceship. The abductees are often subjected to various medical procedures and occasionally have sexual experiences with aliens or humanoid appearing aliens. The aliens may attempt to communicate with the abductees for a variety of reasons. Abductees are then returned to earth, occasionally in a different location from where they were supposed to have been taken. After these events abductees may report a loss of time. In the Travis Walton case, Walton claimed he only thought he was away for a few hours, but in actuality he was missing for five days.

The Evidence

The Travis Walton Case

Travis Walton claimed to have been abducted by aliens November 5, 1975 while he was working with a logging crew in Arizona. Walton was missing for five days and was later found in a telephone booth. On the evening of November 5th Walton and the other members of the crew were driving back from the logging site and testified that they saw a bright light, and on driving closer saw a large silver coloured disc approximately 8 feet high and twenty feet long that was hovering in a clearing. Walton left the vehicle to investigate the object, but his co-workers fled in fear, only to return later to find that Walton was missing. Over the next five days searches for Walton by the authorities failed to locate Walton and there were questions raised as to the veracity of the men who saw the phenomenon. This led to polygraph examinations of the men, which they passed.

After an agitated Walton returned he gave his account of the experiences he underwent while being abducted, which included interacting with aliens. Walton’s account of his abduction has led to the publication of a book – “The Walton Experience” and a Hollywood movie entitled “Fire in the Sky”.

When the police searched the clearing where Walton said he was abducted, they found no physical evidence that anything had actually landed in the area. It is also unlikely that aliens would leave him alone in their ship, allow him to roam about the ship on his own, enter what seems to be a control room, sit and operate a joystick that revealed changing star patterns. In all there is no physical evidence that Travis Walton was ever abducted.

The Betty and Barny Hill Case

There are other cases, such as the alleged abduction of Betty and Barney Hill that has also been popularized. In this case it was found that Barney’s abduction experience recalled under hypnosis was influenced by science fiction television shows at the time, and that his recollections were simply fantasies which were influenced by his wife’s recurrent dreams about abduction. It has also been pointed out that the Hill’s experience was due to misidentification of and aircraft warning beacon coupled with the effects of stress, lack of sleep, and false memories recovered when hypnotized. The Hills have not taken lie detector tests.

Conclusion

It is likely that the Walton case was a hoax concocted by the men to extend their contract for the US Forest Service, which then led to financial gains in the publication of a book and movie. In the Hill case they actually seemed to believe they were abducted but this experience was likely due to recovery of false memories under hypnosis.

Links
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_Walton
http://www.debunker.com/texts/walton.html
http://www.ufocasebook.com/Hill.html