Why People Imagine
That They’ve Been Kidnapped by Aliens

Posted on February 2, 2006 in Reading

Important point to remember while reading this: False memory syndrome exists, but most allegations of abuse are not the product of false memory. Susan Clancy investigated the question of why people would invent alien abductions. Instead of finding people afflicted with mental illness, she found — for the most part, ordinary people. The one thing they shared in common was a visit to a hypnotherapist who convinced them that episodes of sleep paralysis — traumatic in themselves — were actually abductions by space creatures. As she got to know them more, Clancy — while not convinced of their claims — was moved by their deep belief. In the conclusion of her book Abducted : How People Come to Believe They Were Kidnapped by Aliens, she states:

It is clear that people get from their abduction beliefs the same things millions of people the world over derive from their religions: meaning, mystical revelation, spirituality, transformation. Frankly, I wish I had some. Alien-abduction beliefs can be considered a type of religious creed, based on faith, not facts. Indeed a vast body of scientific data indicates that the believers are psychologically benefiting: they’re happier, healthier, and more optimistic about their lives than people who lack such beliefs. We live in an age when science and technology prevail and traditional religions are under fire. Doesn’t it make sense to wrap up our angels and gods in space suits and repackage them as aliens?

We yearn for spiritualism and comfort, magic and meaning. As Bertolt Brecht said in his play Galileo, we need something “to reassure us that the pageant of the world has been written around us,….that a part for us has been created beyond this wretched one on a useless star.” Being abducted by aliens may be a baptism into the new religion of our technological age.