Alien Abductions: Extraordinary claims, Extraordinary Evidence
Long gone are the days of E.T. and Starman. I must say I miss them…but I don’t miss them that much…the influx of films such as The Fourth Kind, Fire in the Sky and Dark Skies brings about a dread in us that was formally the anxieties of ghosts and demons. Aliens now seem haunting. And they are ready to take us. Experimentation, abortions, sexual violations…the alleged victims of such crimes supposedly committed by our beings from another world have stories with much skepticism tied to them. We are in the brink of a new kind of horror in the world of cinema. The question is the same question posed to us since the heydays of our existence…are we alone?
I enjoyed The Fourth Kind. They actually tried a Blair Witch Project attempt to make us think that this story was based on true events. It was a mix of “authentic” video recordings of events taking place in Nome, Alaska back in 2000. Dr. Abigail Tyler…played by Milla Jovovich, (Resident Evil) is the main character who has been working with cases of supposed alien abductions gets caught up obsessively with each case, especially when one ends quite tragically. She uses hypnotherapy on the victims to get to the bottom of various disappearances which have happened over the last few years in the area. As the movie progresses, you get a sense that something really bad is going to happen. Eventually, there is an abduction of Abigail’s daughter, who she never finds again, and enstranged relationship with her son doesn’t make it any worse, and she gets into legal trouble by the local authorities in suspicion regarding her daughter’s disappearance. In between all this we get horrific glimpses of what happens to some of these people under hypnosis. Something akin to demonic possession happens to them. You hear different languages, Sumerian mostly. You see levitation. Eyes rolling to the back of their heads. You think you’re watching an exorcism movie…but it’s not. And once again these claims are based on facts….supposedly.
Many people think I’m not a skeptic, but I am. In the film you see two Dr. Abigails..the one played by Jovovich and another one who is supposedly the real Dr. Abigail. Turns out she is also an actress…Charlotte Michard. The movie does a very good job in showing raw footage of alleged real events and then the actor’s rendition of the tale. I must say I was impressed by the realism of it. Too bad it wasn’t real footage. There were in fact real disappearances of people in that town in Alaska but there is no evidence of anything relating to Alien Abductions. It could have been filmed anywhere simply because people disappear everyday, everywhere.
When I get my science hat I usually get myself in trouble. People come to me and ask if I believe in life on other planets. I believe that yes there is. Whether there is intelligent life is another question. Whether there is intelligent life more advanced than us is yet another question. Who knows? Maybe we’re the first intelligent species to emerge. Maybe We’ll be the ones in thousands of years time traveling to an emerging civilization somewhere out there in the galaxy where we will be the ones abducting and doing the wee wee haa haa with the unfortunate victims. Wouldn’t that be something.
But sadly there is no evidence. All we truly have are stories. The case of Betty and Barney Hill back in the 1961 is one of the first documented cases of an alien abduction. Nothing was proven from that experience. The book Communion by Whitley Strieber, first published in 1987 was based on an alleged alien abduction by the author yet no evidence was provided. It’s just stories.
The late great Carl Sagan stated that “Extraordinary claims must be backed up by extraordinary evidence” . I believe in this quote when it comes to Aliens from another solar system. Sure you’re going to have your conspiracy theorists showing supposed real photos of an alien corpse on some slab in Area 51. Sure you’re going to view the Pyramids of Egypt or the Mayans as structures of alien origin. I was even told once by someone that people with Downs Syndrome are actually half human offspring of aliens! I laughed my head off…more because the guy was serious about it. I couldn’t believe his gall.
I enjoyed The Fourth Kind. They actually tried a Blair Witch Project attempt to make us think that this story was based on true events. It was a mix of “authentic” video recordings of events taking place in Nome, Alaska back in 2000. Dr. Abigail Tyler…played by Milla Jovovich, (Resident Evil) is the main character who has been working with cases of supposed alien abductions gets caught up obsessively with each case, especially when one ends quite tragically. She uses hypnotherapy on the victims to get to the bottom of various disappearances which have happened over the last few years in the area. As the movie progresses, you get a sense that something really bad is going to happen. Eventually, there is an abduction of Abigail’s daughter, who she never finds again, and enstranged relationship with her son doesn’t make it any worse, and she gets into legal trouble by the local authorities in suspicion regarding her daughter’s disappearance. In between all this we get horrific glimpses of what happens to some of these people under hypnosis. Something akin to demonic possession happens to them. You hear different languages, Sumerian mostly. You see levitation. Eyes rolling to the back of their heads. You think you’re watching an exorcism movie…but it’s not. And once again these claims are based on facts….supposedly.
Many people think I’m not a skeptic, but I am. In the film you see two Dr. Abigails..the one played by Jovovich and another one who is supposedly the real Dr. Abigail. Turns out she is also an actress…Charlotte Michard. The movie does a very good job in showing raw footage of alleged real events and then the actor’s rendition of the tale. I must say I was impressed by the realism of it. Too bad it wasn’t real footage. There were in fact real disappearances of people in that town in Alaska but there is no evidence of anything relating to Alien Abductions. It could have been filmed anywhere simply because people disappear everyday, everywhere.
When I get my science hat I usually get myself in trouble. People come to me and ask if I believe in life on other planets. I believe that yes there is. Whether there is intelligent life is another question. Whether there is intelligent life more advanced than us is yet another question. Who knows? Maybe we’re the first intelligent species to emerge. Maybe We’ll be the ones in thousands of years time traveling to an emerging civilization somewhere out there in the galaxy where we will be the ones abducting and doing the wee wee haa haa with the unfortunate victims. Wouldn’t that be something.
But sadly there is no evidence. All we truly have are stories. The case of Betty and Barney Hill back in the 1961 is one of the first documented cases of an alien abduction. Nothing was proven from that experience. The book Communion by Whitley Strieber, first published in 1987 was based on an alleged alien abduction by the author yet no evidence was provided. It’s just stories.
The late great Carl Sagan stated that “Extraordinary claims must be backed up by extraordinary evidence” . I believe in this quote when it comes to Aliens from another solar system. Sure you’re going to have your conspiracy theorists showing supposed real photos of an alien corpse on some slab in Area 51. Sure you’re going to view the Pyramids of Egypt or the Mayans as structures of alien origin. I was even told once by someone that people with Downs Syndrome are actually half human offspring of aliens! I laughed my head off…more because the guy was serious about it. I couldn’t believe his gall.
It would be great that aliens are real and that they are more advanced than us. The thing that perturbs me is why would they care to abduct us? What’s so special about us? By astronomical standards our species is still very young, gullible and curious. We have a long way to go before we can even journey to the nearest stars. When that time comes we should make the trip worth it don’t you think?
I believe we will be see a lot more of our Alien abduction horror films. They are indeed scary, they hold you to your seat, and some are even disturbing. You know what would be really disturbing and scary? If Alien abductions were real.
Extraordinary claims, Extraordinary evidence.
I believe we will be see a lot more of our Alien abduction horror films. They are indeed scary, they hold you to your seat, and some are even disturbing. You know what would be really disturbing and scary? If Alien abductions were real.
Extraordinary claims, Extraordinary evidence.
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