The bane of any researcher in the field of
Ufology is securing evidence that will be accepted for closer
examination by the critics. This is no more apparent than
when unfortunate close encounter witnesses come forward with
injuries allegedly resulting from meetings with a craft
and/or its occupants. Though I hasten to add, this is not
true in all such reported cases.
Probably the case that received the most
public attention was the Betty Cash incident that took place
on the 29th of December, 1980, at Piney Woods,
east Texas. In company with her son Colby and Vickie Landrum,
they were witnesses to an aerial craft that was stationary in
the night sky. This vehicle was emitting flames from its rear
whilst being accompanied by twenty three helicopters.
Within hours of this incident the three
people became seriously ill with a variety of reactions that
were described as, and thought to be, the result of exposure
to radiation. Lengthy and expensive hospital treatment was
required. A considerable period of time elapsed before some
semblance of recovery was achieved.
Despite a very lengthy investigation into
this case by various people1 and an ensuing court
battle where the injured trio tried to sue the government.
The end result was total denial that this was a government
experimental craft that had gone awry..."not ours"
was the cry.
So was it truly a UFO? Should we just
ignore the "chopper" escort?
Heading north to the 49th
parallel we recall Canada’s equally outstanding case
involving Steven Michalak, who on May 20th, 1967,
had his own distressing meeting with a landed UFO. This took
place near Falcon Lake, eighty miles east of Winnipeg, whilst
he was prospecting for minerals .
Approaching the object and calling out in a
number of the languages he spoke, he was caught off guard
when the vehicle suddenly departed to join a companion
hovering in the sky above. Prior to the craft’s
departure he touched its surface, resulting in his rubber
glove melting. A blast of heat set his shirt on fire.
In the weeks and months to follow he
suffered from weight loss, nausea, diarrhea plus a decrease
in his white blood cell count. Accompanying all this was
swelling in his hands and chest area, plus dizziness. Half a
year later he again complained of reoccurring burning
sensations and red burn marks which formed a pattern on his
chest2
Much closer to home is the lady who twenty
five years ago lived in Port Alice on Vancouver Island. A
late night encounter with two hovering craft resulted in eye
damage. The optometrist asked her if she had been in close
proximity to a welding torch, she replied in the negative.
More to the point, the lady did not reveal what actually had
taken place. She feared disbelief and ridicule.
In March of this year (1997), a lady who
resides in Langley, British Columbia awoke one morning to
discover her eyes were nearly closed shut, her face extremely
puffy, and her upper chest, shoulders and back displayed what
appeared to be a bad case of sunburn. She had no immediate
recall as to how all this occurred .
Suffering acutely from this unpleasant
condition, a friend drove her to the local hospital emergency
room. The questions they asked were "have you been
exposed to microwaves or radiation?" plus, "How did
this happen?". She could truthfully reply "no"
in the first instance and "I don’t know in the
second". What she omitted to tell them was that she has
a lengthy history of UFO experiences, much of it best
described as "dreams".
Another lady, also a resident of Vancouver,
British Columbia, has a history of UFO involvement that
encompasses a good twenty five years. Almost since the very
first event took place she has been plagued with one ailment
after another. At this point she is pretty well on first name
terms with all the major specialists and doctors in the city.
Her medical file must be a foot thick. Some years ago a panel
of six doctors told her that despite all the tests she had
undergone they had no idea what was wrong with her. Quite
often the painful afflictions disappear as rapidly as they
arrive. Even so, numerous operations have taken place.
Quite recently a psychologist said to her,
"never in my life have I ever met a person who has
suffered so much bad luck as you have", .."tell me,
what is your deep dark secret?" She didn’t tell him
and emphatically denied having one! What an opportunity lost
for his educational advancement.
Incidentally, we never cease to be amazed as to the number of
people who recount abduction/intrusion experiences, later
revealing that they suffer from fybromyalgia, also often
referred to as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Does a connection
indeed exist? The very profusion of cases would seem to rule
out coincidence, therefore suggesting such a link.
If we move off this continent and over to
England we find that in 1991 a Mr. Bill Eatock of Wigan
claimed to have had an abduction experience. Consequently his
life has never been the same since and his health has
deteriorated.3.
In 1993, a family of four in West
Yorkshire, England, were enjoying a home barbecue when they
had a close encounter experience. Only fragmentary memories
remain of what took place, but they too have all suffered ill
health since that time4.
Moving again overseas to South Africa, this
time July 31st 1975, at a place called Loxton, a
gentleman called Danie Van Graan saw a "trailer" in
his sheep enclosure. Thinking he could share a beverage with
the four small occupants (thirty nine inches tall), he
advanced on the strange vehicle. When only ten feet away he
was hit by a light beam. Immobilized, he saw the craft
depart. A short time later he died, riddled with cancer. When
investigator Cynthia Hind spoke to the doctor and suggested
the UFO’s beam was the cause of his death, he replied
that unless she could produce a document that stated he was
free of cancer prior to this event , then he (the doctor) was
not prepared to believe that was the cause.5
Fair enough.
In 1987, a mother of two sons 10 and 11,
living in the Johannesberg area, began to experience a series
of unwelcome and unpleasant bedroom intrusions. She claimed
to have been frequently raped, although unable to see her
assailant. Also, a state of paralysis existed during these
assaults. Later on, after a clicking sound, there was a
monk-like figure beside her bed. He blew into her ear and her
whole body trembled inside. "On one occasion they
examined my face. They opened my jaw so wide it affected my
jaw bone near to my ear. I now have a click in my jaw and
have had medical attention for this, although I did not tell
the doctor how it occurred. One morning, as I came out of the
shower, I stood naked in front of the mirror and felt
something like a bird fluttering in my breast. I could
visibly see the fluttering in the mirror. Shortly after that,
I had a lumpectomy. After the operation I was told it was
neither benign nor malignant, and it puzzled my surgeon as he
had never seen anything like that before."6
Half the world away in Australia a lady
called Kelly Cahill, from Gippsland, Victoria had an equally
traumatic experience one night in 1993. This close encounter
involved her husband and an unrelated couple. Afterwards she
bled for three and a half weeks and was diagnosed as having
an infected womb. Ms Cahill apparently offered no
explanations to the hospital authorities.7
More’s the pity.
Turning to Brazil. In 1946, Joao Prestes
Hilho and his friend Salvador dos Santos were coming home
from a fishing trip near the village of Aracriguama. As he
reached his door a beam of light hit him, he fell but
succeeded in reaching his sister’s home. Later that
evening, after relating his story, Prestes’s health took
a rapid turn for the worst. His flesh began to fall away from
his bones as if boiled for a long time in hot water.
Although, surprisingly not in any pain, he was terror
stricken. Six hours later en route to the hospital, he died,
remaining conscious to the very end.8
Although the preceding list of injures, due
possibly to a close encounters, is not proof of an
aggressive act, it does push the limits of coincidence. Even
so, this represents only a small fraction of such cases.
An echo of concern can be found in Karla
Turner’s statement to the effect that,... "a
surprising number of abductees suffer from serious illnesses
they didn’t have before their encounters. These have led
to surgery, debilitation, and even death from causes the
doctors can’t identify.9
In some of these cases the hospital
authorities were aware of the circumstances. To what degree
they believed the account is another matter.
What is far more important, is recognition
and acceptance amongst the medical profession as a whole,
that such cases can be found occurring on a continuing basis.
Unfortunately this does not seem to be open to general
discussion. Not being a member of the medical
"club", I don’t enjoy the privilege of
"inside track" feedback on this topic. Assuming of
course that hospitals and support staff are yet aware such
"visitor" interaction is taking place.
I’m happy to say small signs exist
that clearly show not everyone has their head buried in the
proverbial sand. With people like Dr. Leo Sprinkle, Dr.
Richard Boylan, Dr. David M. Jacobs, Dr. Roger K. Leir, Edith
Fiore, John Carpenter, James A. Harder, F. Haines, Rima E.
LaiBow and Dr. John Miller. Also physicists Stanton Friedman
and David E. Pritchard, spearheading investigations into this
maturing enigma, it is inevitable that they will eventually
catch the public’s attention with their scientific
approach. After all, the late Dr. J. Allen Hynek is
remembered for using that very same technique.
In 1976, Jacques Vallee published a book
entitled, "The Invisible College". In it he
proposed that members of the scientific community were
aware of, and taking note, that strange and very unusual
events were being reported by credible witnesses.
On a less positive note is the regrettable
license suspension of Dr. Scott Corder from Ottawa, Kansas.
The state authorities took this step in March, 1989, after
publication of the forty one year old doctor’s religious
beliefs, that also encompassed the topic of UFOs and
extraterrestrials. Two years later he still had not been
reinstated and was suffering economic hardship as a
consequence.
More recently, accompanied by wider
publicity was the private and public hounding of Dr. John
Mack, 1977 Pulitzer Prize Winner and tenured staff member of
the Harvard Medical School. His departmental colleagues
really gave him an academic bashing, until a prominent figure
moved in with political muscle and money to offer support.
Apologies all round, case closed! Dr. Mack’s
"crime" it would seem, was to scientifically
investigate by hypnotic regression, cases of victims who
claimed to have been possibly abducted by those ever elusive
aliens. The trauma they suffered as an after effect was all
too real. Researching, documenting and publishing his
findings, according to the prescribed scientific
methodologies, was clearly an irritant to many fellow members
of academia.
Dr. Steven Greer, a Missouri, trauma
physician, has founded a cutting edge organization called
C.S.E.T.I. with the publicly announced intention of making
contact with these visitors from who knows where. This brave
man has put his name and career on the line in the pursuit of
what he and others discern as very real happenings.
Back here in the Canadian northlands we
seem to have too few representatives of the medical
profession prepared to stand and be counted. At least when it
comes to "visitor" interaction and the consequences
thereof.
Dr. David Gotlib from Toronto and a
physician from Saskatoon that I know attended a "closed
door" Abduction Study Conference at M.I.T. in 1992. My
friend told me he had, like everyone else, to sign a non
disclosure document. Consequently I had to read about it all
much later on.10 The important thing here of
course is the acceptance and recognition within the medical
community that SOMETHING is taking place on a grand scale.
Exchange of anecdotal data and what to do seems to have been
the principal order of the day.
I would like to think (and hope) that
Canada’s representation extended beyond the two doctors
mentioned above. Locally I know of a doctor who taught at a
Vancouver city university, plus a number of clinical
hypnotherapists who are ready to assist when called upon.
Hardly an impressive showing at a national level, but 10% of
something is better than 50% of nothing.
My own doctor, of Chinese origin, is aware
of my interest in the field of Ufology and when time permits
asks questions related to the phenomena. He has also perused
publications that I have provided, published by our
organization, describing current events.
Another doctor I am told of, also a
Vancouver resident, is sympathetic to and believing of his
female patient. This lady, a minister within her church, has
a detailed history of "visitor" involvement. Her
story which she courageously told on TV resulted in her
losing her job with a major national banking firm.
Paradoxically, this same lady went to see a
psychologist on referral, which ultimately ended in a
shouting match and a file footnoted, "DELUSIONAL"
Clearly we still have a long way to go.
On a more optimistic note I see that MUFON11
lists their Advisory Board of Consultants, 39 in the field of
Medicine, 23 in Psychology, 1 in Psychotherapy, and 6 in
Psychiatry. Granted a very small beginning, few in number,
but of those listed in this account, I salute them, they
deserve it, they’ve earned it and more power to them.
Surely after half a century of confusion,
terror, and trying to sort out this mess, isn’t it about
time that we rallied around all these victims? Isn’t it
about time the "helping" professions stopped
pretending all these events are a figment of patient
imagination and instead reached out and really helped?
Isn’t it about time we just closed the
gap? How about it EVERYONE?
REFERENCES:
- "UFO Related Human Psychological
Effects" John Scheussler
- "The Encyclopedia of
UFO’s" Ronald D. Story 1980 Doubleday
Dolphin.
- Evening Post, Wigan England 10th
January 1997
- Mail, Hartlepool England 19th
February 1997
- Mufon Proceedings July 1997
- "UFOs Over Africa" Cynthia
Hind 1996 Horus House Press
- "Encounters in Australia"
Dr. John Carpenter, Video, 1997
- "Confrontations" Jacques
Vallee 1990 Ballantine Books
- "Alien Abductions in the
Gingerbread House" Dr. Karla Turner, UFO
Sightings fall 1997.
- "Close Encounters of the Fourth
Kind" C.D.B. Bryan 1995, Alfred A. Knopf.
- Mufon Proceedings July 1997.
TO
EXPERIENCERS INDEX PAGE