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What MUFON refers to as "UFO abduction" is for many people a disturbingly uncomfortable subject, and researchers and authors who specialize in this phenomenon are frequently met with great skepticism and derision even by UFO researchers. Nevertheless, MUFON briefly yielded its symposium podium to two individuals who for decades have been studying "the most controversial aspect of the UFO phenomenon."
First up was Deborah Lindemann, a Colorado-based clinical hypnotherapist whose focus is not research but "the well-being of my clients." Her work has ranged beyond abduction and extraterrestrial contact into territory routinely viewed as "new age" -- unusual and mystical experiences including out-of-body and near-death experiences, reincarnation/past-life, life after death, contact with "the other side," and angel encounters. These are clearly not the province of MUFON research. Nevertheless, she clearly has access to important data of great interest to UFO researchers.
Accordingly, Lindemann conservatively limited her presentation to the telltale signatures of extraordinary technology present in her abduction cases. She said she has found a consistent "forensic blueprint" in these cases which points to "unworldly implications" (suggesting that the perpetrators of these events are extraterrestrial, or at least non-human).
Sensing a shift in recent abduction patterns, she noted "more of a boldness in the way they're showing up." This is in apparent contrast to the extraordinary level of "camouflage" that has apparently shrouded so many abduction cases.
Lindemann presented "the tapestry of the alien signature" in a rapid review of numerous individual cases, including the bizarre story of Stan Romanek, a Lakewood, Colorado resident who has experienced at least four abductions over the last three years and continues to be harassed by otherworldly intruders. Lindemann's presentation included a series of dramatic video clips of some of Romanek's encounters (see rense.com for more information about this case).
Abduction cases, she says, are often characterized by physical trace evidence, including wounds and scars, fluorescence of skin that has been in direct contact with abductors, and implants that can be observed radiologically and sometimes even surgically removed. She also cites the frequent use of unexplained technology, such as mysterious (and often-photographed) orbs of light which by some accounts occasionally "morph into little grays."
Another form of technology characterizing many these cases, Lindemann says, is the apparent ability to move abductees through solid walls or transport them to hovering craft via a coherent light beam.
Of particular interest to Lindemann is the phenomenon of "out-of-place knowledge," where unusual information will suddenly and inexplicably "pour out" of an abductee. Here, ordinary citizens may spontaneously draw complex mathematical equations and symbols, or describe detailed schematics for propulsion systems or other seemingly technologically advanced devices. Lindemann calls this phenomenon "hypercommunication," meaning that the information is simply "downloaded" to abductees. "They don't know what to do with it," she says.
Curiously, as Lindemann notes, when these impressive sketches are examined by scientists, they rarely reveal anything new, useful, or verifiable. They do, however, provide grist for endless speculation and fascination, raising the possibility that they may be intended as a form of distraction (if so, the strategy is quite successful!).
Another crucial marker of abduction cases, she says, is "the profound emotional impact these encounters have upon individuals." While this is the primary focus of Lindemann's therapeutic work with abductees, she carefully refrained from detailing this aspect of abduction for her MUFON audience, preferring instead to simply conclude that "the evidence for alien contact is robust and undeniable."
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In the field of UFO research, Budd Hopkins is a legendary figure, perhaps having brought more public exposure to the issue of abduction than anyone else. Over the last three decades, his pioneering efforts to understand "the systematic abduction of human beings by UFO occupants" have spurred such credentialed academics as John Mack and David Jacobs to specialize in this unique field of research.
Though an artist by training and profession, Hopkins' careful investigations and well-documented discoveries -- derived from working directly with more than a thousand abductees, often using hypnosis -- have formed the basis of much of what we now know about such encounters. In 1989, he founded the Intruders Foundation, which focuses on research and public education regarding the abduction enigma.
When Budd Hopkins speaks, the UFO/ET research community listens. And at the MUFON symposium in Denver, he did not disappoint. Tasked with presenting the medical evidence for abduction, Hopkins reviewed a veritable avalanche of cases to graphically illustrate the mysterious visible signs that appear on the bodies of victims.
To begin, he showed numerous photographs of now-familiar "scoop marks," odd oval-shaped or round surface depressions-sometimes quite deep-where flesh has apparently been scooped out from under the skin. As he demonstrated in slide after slide, these bizarre marks often appear on people's legs-usually along their shins, on their thighs, and near the knees-immediately after an abduction experience.
A scoop mark apparently resembles a "punch biopsy," Hopkins says, a commonly-performed medical procedure (performed under anesthetic) used to diagnose abnormal skin growths or tumors, where a thin cylinder of tissue is removed for analysis.
Other marks that Hopkins routinely sees are inexplicable bruises and elaborate patterns that appear burned into the skin.
Perhaps less well known are dramatic straight-line incisions, sometimes several inches long. As Hopkins' photographs dramatically demonstrated, there is little room for doubt that a significant surgical operation has been performed in such cases. Like scoop marks, these precise cuts leave lasting and sometimes significantly disfiguring scars.
Characteristically, says Hopkins, such cuts and scoop marks not only appear overnight but usually are already completely healed-with no blood, no pain, no swelling of tissues, and no signs of sutures. "These are permanent marks that baffle the doctors," he says.
Hopkins suggests that while such external marks are prominent, the beings responsible for abductions seem to be primarily interested in human reproductive organs and the central nervous system. For instance, he has studied several abductees with "implants," small metallic objects embedded deep within their skulls, revealed by x-rays and other radiological reports. These are apparently injected directly into the interior of the brain-sometimes through the eye sockets, according to Hopkins. Since such implants can only be detected radiologically, they are rarely reported and even more rarely seen by researchers.
Although Hopkins would not speculate as to why strange implants are being forced into people's skulls, the clear implication is that large numbers of abductees unknowingly carry such implants in their bodies.
"I wish we had more precise evidence to back these things up," he said, apologizing for his apparent lack of rigor in documenting such anomalies.
However, he made it clear that his research indicates that UFO abductees are often the victims of even more radical and invasive procedures. He recounted several cases where routine medical examination or surgery revealed suddenly missing fallopian tubes or ovaries in women. Similar procedures happen to men as well, he says, as testicles are sometimes removed or "shrunk to the size of a pea."
Hopkins also reported a new development in recent abductions, "severe and sudden bleeding from the bladder" in men, a particularly extreme and dangerous symptom that requires immediate medical attention. In addition, he described cases of extreme mutilation of genitalia in both women and men.
All of these cases represent true "medical mysteries," he says. In other words, there is no way of explaining in medical terms what has happened to these abductees.
While Hopkins has written and spoken elsewhere about the increasing number of reports of "disappearing pregnancies," or the painful emotional trauma that frequently haunts abductees, he chose not to discuss these at the MUFON symposium. Surely these are an important part of "the medical evidence," but apparently not deemed appropriate for this audience.
Why do abductees so often display one or more of the kinds of medical evidence Hopkins reports? "I am the first to say I don't know," he says. "We need to look into these cases very seriously, and we need medical help."
While Hopkins has pioneered the identification of persistent patterns in abduction scenarios, an occasional case goes far beyond these patterns. In October last year, researchers Rob and Sue Switek consulted with Hopkins on a highly unusual case in which a man suffered severe burning of his lungs during an abduction encounter. His captors reportedly said they were "sorry we hurt you," and promised not to leave him unattended. Hopkins reports that medical examinations have revealed a burn pattern in the man's lungs "so symmetrical that it must be mechanical." The victim, now 33, needs a double lung transplant in order to survive.
To Hopkins, UFO abduction occurs far more frequently than most of us would like to believe. A Roper Poll he helped design suggests that up to 2.9 million Americans may be abductees. Meanwhile, the phenomenon continues unabated. "Probably right now in Denver somebody is going up the chute," Hopkins said.
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