I don't think I can write anything profound, or that compares with some of the abduction accounts that I've read about. But this has always bothered my wife and I, so I feel obliged to at least throw it out there.
My wife is too shy or whatever to pursue this, so I will attempt to explain her experience.
Note that I was a former "seething skeptic" on these matters.
I met my wife in 1976, and during a conversation then she related a "UFO story" that had occurred in 1973:
"I was driving home from a boyfriend's house, and was in the Cherry Hill region of Long Beach going toward Carson. I was not comfortable driving in that area since it was relatively unpopulated and poorly lit on the shortcut street I was taking. I saw a very unusually beautiful moon, and thought at first that I'd never seen the moon so pretty, until I also saw the real moon aways to the left. Also, I saw this large, bright object turn in such a way that it looked disc shaped, and then became extremely frightened and drove home in a panic. I got my parents and sisters out to see it, because it was still visible. Everyone was in a turmoil and eventually I called the sheriff to report it. The sheriff seemed very annoyed, as though many people had called about it, and said only 'don't worry about it, it's a reflection or something.' I also took a photograph of it, which turned out to show only a bright orange blob, with no conclusive image."
My comment was "Well, maybe the sheriff was right, or it was a cloud or something. UFOs are usually stuff like that."
This resulted in a very mad girl who called me a "narrow minded asshole" or something to that effect. We never discussed it again. until:
Many years later, in 1993, I happened to read a book at the request of a friend called "Secret Life" by David Jacobs. Almost immediately I was scorning the thing since it related to alien abductions, which I just could not accept. But it was fairly interesting, so I continued to read.
Eventually I became aghast when I read nearly word for word accounts of dreams that my wife had related to me over a 17 year period. She often awoke to tell me about them, and I marvelled at how utterly imaginative she could be. But when I read those same subjects in that book I was in shock. Was there some common brain malfunction that was effecting lots of people?
I told her about the book I was reading and how those stories were too eeriely like her dreams.
After I finished I suggest she read it. She was unable to read more than a chapter or so when she became stricken with anxiety, with difficulty breathing and panic.
Her dreams were:
"In a computer or viewing room, seeing 3D pictures of the past present and future. The future seemed to show nuclear war or some other catastrophy."
"Seeing lots of babies in jars around the wall of some underground or dark, cold place."
"Surrounded by naked people, including herself, who seemed to be acting like zombies, and with machinery or metallic objects around."
"People lined up outside of a cliff in Guam, similarly zombie- like, and they would enter the cliff wall, one by one."
Eventually we were directed to a psychologist who hypnotized her, with myself present to keep her somewhat calm. My heartrate was elevated to a dangerous level as she related this:
"I see the moon, and how pretty it is. I then notice that there are two moons. The other moon is just the plain moon. What is that thing? I've got to get out of here.
There's a stop sign, I better stop. The thing is up there. It's turning sideways. I must be a UFO or something. I've got to go. But the lights are too bright. Somebody must have their brights on. I can't see.
I'm paralyzed. I can't move. I can barely see, the light is too bright. It's sucking me up. I'm being sucked up right through the windshield.
I can see the disc, I'm getting sucked right up into that thing. (She got very disturbed emotionally at this point.) How can this be? What's happening to me?
I'm standing in a bright curved place. There are two things there. They are making me walk down the hall. They're ugly. They're small ugly things. I can't look at them! (She became very disturbed then, and the doctor had to calm her down.)
They're taking me into that room. I'm not going in there! I'm not going, no f___ing way I'm going in there! (At this point she became too disturbed and the doctor took her out of her state.)
After that there was no further involvement with the psychologist, she was quite rigid on that point. Whatever happened to her, real or not, she didn't want to know. She would rather have panic attacks than whatever she felt was "in that room". She has decided the whole thing was a dream, or was caused by knowing about other people's stories.
All I know for sure is that I'm not the "seething skeptical asshole" I used to be. I'm not sure what to think, but I don't make fun of people who claim to have these experiences. I have since become obsessed with trying to find out the truth about UFOs and aliens. It is extremely frustrating, confusing, and seemingly futile.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you for sending us your wife's encounter experience. I'm sure that it will help others better understand that this is real-ly happening to normal people like us.
Most of us simply can not believe the fact that something very strange is happening to us. It's just too unbelievable until it happens to you or someone close to you. Only then do we search for answers to what this phenomona might be, because it terrifies us into doing so.
There is no need for your wife to recall the fear and pain she suffered aboard the craft in order to understand what is going on. If she can live with not knowing, and manage her anxiety-panic attacks, that's probably best. If she does, however, elect to undergo further hypnotic regression, I would suggest the hypnotist "fast-forward" her past the most traumatic part of the 'abduction' scenario, the 'operating room' with the attendant medical procedures being performed. Of course this frightens her. It scares the hell out of all of us!
But once you get past this terrifying memory, a completely different picture of this baffling phenomona emerges. I would recommend reading all the editorials and in-depth feature articles on this page that deal with how to handle the fear of the experience. It is absolutely necessary to get past this fear before you can begin to understand what this is all about. Yes, it is "extremely frustrating, confusing, and seemingly futile'. It is a 'koan', a puzzle that seems to be presented to us in the form of a question, like 'What is the sound of one hand clapping?' or 'Which came first, the chicken or the egg?' We are meant to be baffled! Someone, or something, is forcing us through a learning curve. Frightening us almost to death is not nice, but it seems to get our attention and force us to look deeper into this mystery in our lives. If you look hard enough, and long enough, you will find the answers that will help both you and your wife better understand 'them' and your own sense of self.
Good luck to the two of you, and thanks again for sharing your wife's story. You have contributed another piece of this baffling puzzle. -- Editor