Guide Note

Alien abductions are reported kidnappings of humans by extraterrestrial beings. There has been no scientific evidence found of such events, but many claims of alien abductions share significant similarities.¹ For example, abduction claims usually include accounts of medical examinations and procedures performed by aliens aboard a UFO.

Fast Facts

1. Sometimes take place at night, when the abductee is in bed
2. Sometimes result in a period of unexplained "lost time" for abductee
3. Memories of abductions sometimes recovered through regressive hypnosis
4. Abductees may claim foreign objects were implanted in them
5. Some experiences of abduction explained by sleep paralysis²

• 1961: Betty and Barney Hill see a UFO while driving, and suddenly notice that they are further down the road. Regressive hypnosis brings out abduction memories³
• 1967: Patrolman Herbert Schirmer reports UFO sighting and later recalls alien abduction⁴
• 1973: Fifteen different people in Pascagoula, Mississippi, see a UFO, and Calvin Parker and Charles Hickson report abduction⁵
• 1975: Travis Walton sees a UFO and disappears for five days, reappearing with alien abduction memories. Recounted in the book and movie Fire in the Sky⁶
• 1976: Four men canoing in the Allagash Waterway see a UFO and experience "lost time." Dreams and regressive hypnosis uncover abduction memories⁷
• 1985: Well-known writer Whitley Strieber sees alien in bedroom and later recalls abduction, rejecting diagnosis of temporal lobe epilepsy⁸