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