Am I really here?

Just been re-reading a book by English researcher Jenny Randles, after digesting more of the posts on out-of-body experiences:
http://anomalies-australiancomments.blogspot.com

The book is "The complete book of aliens and abductions." Piatkus. London. 2000.

On page 40 Jenny writes about the October 1974 Aveley, Essex, England case. "The witnesses told under hypnosis of how the car was stopped in the mist and they were then 'beamed' into a UFO. They could see their own physical bodies back in the car, as their 'other selves' wandered about the UFO."

Later, (page 41) Jenny commented "The second phase of this abduction memory is far more like an out-of-body experience than a ride in a spacecraft."

Here, we have an episode where the individuals involved described viewing from a location that was not coincident with their physical bodies, and of seeing their own physical bodies. A classic OBE perspective. Given the latest scientific research on OBEs and its apparent brain generated origin, what then does this say of this abduction?

I read further into Jenny's book looking for other examples. On page 49 there is a description of events at Lindholman, Sweden from 24 March 1974. A voice in a man's mind told him to walk across a road, when there was a blinding flash of light and the man fell to the ground. Later, when regressed "...as the light beam struck, he had begun to float upwards as if in an out-of-body state..." Then followed shades of Albert Budden's work (see previous posts), the witness "...seemed hypercharged with electricity for days after the encounter...When he went near electrical equipment it stopped working properly." Interestingly, a witness was found to some of the event. This person related seeing "...a light beam fall to the ground..." but did not see the witness abducted by a UFO.

On page 82. In 1963 Olaf Neilsen was walking in woods "...when he was struck by a swirling sensation that made him dizzy. He floated upwards and could see a hovering object. His next memory is of being inside a room on a couchlike bed with an entity of human size and appearance nearby."

Did anyone conduct a medical examination of Olaf? Was there some sort of medical seizure which precipitated the floating sensation?

Interesting that the shift from normal perception to OBE perception almost always happens in an instant with the OBE percipient unaware of how the change happened. Recall, that in alien abductions the transition from bed to strange room or car to strange room seems to happen in an instant. Could this simply be the transition from external to internal brain mode?

Reading on, to page 143 where Jenny reminds of of her "Oz factor." "In case after case we hear witnesses describe the 'Oz factor.' They tell of all environmental sounds fading, time stretching out and a sort of inward tuning of consciousness where the external world temporarily disappears."

This switch from being aware of external factors to focussing inwardly, is an important clue. Does it indicate the event was internally brain generated?

Finally, on page 144, talking of consciousness researcher Lilly. "By 1964, Lilly was regularly able to slip into the "Oz factor." This was marked by the sensation of floating out of his body. Many abduction stories start with this claim by the witness."

Well now. Isn't this telling? Start with the latest scientific OBE research, and go back through some of the UFO abduction literature and I start seeing it all from a new perspective - that of a brain generated event. Happy reading!

Alien hand syndrome

An individual who has the medical condition termed "alien hand syndrome" believes that their physically real and existing hand, does not belong to them. Their hand can apparently perform all on its own volition.

Contrast this with an individual who suffers from phantom limb pain of the hand. An amputee with a missing hand feels sensations from a missing limb, as if the limb were still physically present.

With the recent findings of neuroscience, relating to out-of-body experiences and the sense of self (see Keith Basterfield's excellent blog at:http://anomalies-australiancomments.blogspot.com )
both 'alien hand syndrome' and 'phantom limb pain' can be seen as bodily-self image issues. With 'alien hand syndrome' your brain is telling one hand of yours that it does not belong to you, i.e. does not form part of your body self image; with phantom limb pain of a hand, your brain continues to tell you your hand is still there - still part of your body self image.

An extension of this concept occurred to me while I was reading the latest OBE scientific literature. It may explain why some UFO abductees and contactees speak of their belief that they are not human. They talk of the sense that they do not belong, and in fact must therefore be of extraterrestrial origin.

Could this feeling of being 'alien' indicate that the bodily self image within the brains of these individuals has been totally distorted? They would then not feel the sense of 'self' which other people do?

It would certainly be a much more mundane explanation than that they are really from out there.

OBEs and abductions

Just been looking at the current work of Keith Basterfield. He has a blog reporting on the topic of out-of-body experiences. Over the last few years there has been some significant scientific work on OBEs, which bears relevance to the topic of our interests. Go to:http://anomalies-australiancomments.blogspot.com

A sense of presence!

In a previous post on 'infrasound' there was a mention of a "sense of presence" of "being watched." This sense of 'someone' or 'something' observing you is a well known aspect of the paranormal in general, and alien abductions in particular.

The other day, while trawling the web, I came across an article from the online COSMOS magazine dated 25 September 2006 titled "Scientists discover 'shadow person.'

The story reported on a 22 year old female, under evaluation for epilepsy. When her left temoroparietal junction of her brain was electrically stimulated she told of seeing a 'shadow person' which mimicked her own bodily movements.

She had a sense that there was another person present, which she described as young, of indeterminate gender, who did not speak or move.

The researchers involved, including one Olaf Blanke from University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland, believed that the woman was experiencing a perception of her own body.

"The temporoparietal junction is known to be involved in creating the concept of 'self' and the distinction between 'self' and 'other.'

I recall reading of similar observations from abductees, where they would report feeling an invisible 'sense of the presence of someone or something else' watching them.

The research reported in the COSMOS article may be the start of an understanding that there may not be a 'real' alien presence there. It might well be the creation of a "Shadow person' within the mind of the abductee.

Have any readers come across similar research material?

What to make of Budden's hypothesis?

It is still Sunday, so I have had plenty of time today to think just what to make of Budden's ideas.

1. There certainly needs to be more research conducted on this topic.

2. Science as whole, has not yet given sufficient resources to looking at the potential explanations for abduction experiences, although some promising work has occurred in the area of the relevance of sleep paralysis to these experiences.

3. Budden's focus on why certain individuals report these experiences and not others is important. Budden has documented a raft of things which these individuals have happen in their lives, including apparent exposure to electromagnetic hot spots. I think this question of why some and not others is the key issue to pursue. We need to more closely analyse what can be found out about these individuals. A previous post spoke of the 2008 journal article looking at 19 UK abductees, and what made them different.

4. I don't think Budden has sufficient evidence to support his claim that the unconscious is able to "...provide the effects of an advanced,magical technology." However, we do know that " sense of presence" which features in so many abduction accounts can be felt by some people under certain circumstances, and some scientific research suggest that this sense is of mental origin and not physical origin, eg. see my previous post about infrasound.

PS Take a look at:http://www.p-e-g.co.uk/Web/Articles/ARTICLESArticle12.htm

Psychic close encounters - 4

Budden continued...

"...the central principles of the ESH, namely that the human unconscious, in response to specific field exposure that produces altered states of consciousness, can present dramatically 'staged' perceptions of interactions with 'aliens' and their spacecraft..." p217.

His hypothesis as set out in this book is tested against a range of both personally investigated cases, or detailed case studies from other investigators.

So, let me see if I have the hypothesis:
(1) People saturated with electromagnetic fields
(2) Living in electromagnetic hot spots
(3) Generate alien abduction and contact experiences
(4) As a result of interaction between the physiology of the ES individuals and EM fields
(5) by means of altered states of consciousness
)6) whereby the unconscious mind presents the person with a 'staged' perception
(7) The material for this staged perception is "The 'spacecraft' images that the 'picture library' contains are derived partly from the mass media..."p35.

As with the second book I reviewed previously I like the fact that Budden uses first hand investigations to test his hypothesis.

Finally, now that I have read both of Budden's books I can think about what he wrote and quietly digest the material.

Psychic close encounters - 3

More on Budden...

"Individuals who have been subjected to prolonged exposure to electromagnetic or electrical fields eventually become 'overloaded' and actually emit fields of some coherent intensity themselves." p80.

"More importantly, however, these electrically sensitive (ES) people are chemically allergic to these emissions once the condition has been induced." p80.

"We can see from the list of symptoms caused by ES that subjects can become zombie-like and slip into a blank, day-dream-like state." p 103. Missing time or abductee.

"Another overlapping aspect between poltergeist phenomena and UFO/alien-theme encounters is that of pre-event sensation." p118. "These symptoms are a response to field exposure..."p119.

"It is clear from the author's own investigations that alien abduction and contact experiences take place in such electromagnetic hot spots and they are the product of the interaction of the physiological system of ES individuals with such prolonged irradiation." p135.

"It would appear that CE witnesses become disassociated during a 'time-lapse."p166.
They could still function, e.g. drive, but at some time experience "...an internal drama involving aliens and a medical examination." p166.