CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE STEALTH KIND

"ABDUCTIONS"---INTRUDERS OR VISITORS?

Close Encounters of the Stealth Kind, popularly known as abductions because of their secreative mode, often because they happen outside of a person's alert consciousness with little, if any, hint of their occurance, became a large focus of UFO research through Budd Hopkins upon the publication of his groundbreaking book, "Missing Time" in1981, built upon earlier researchers going back to the Betty and Barney Hill case of Dr. Benjamin Simon in the early 1960's.

Temple University historian David Jacobs, through "Secret Life" in 1992, followed by "The Threat" in 1997, detailed the apparent sequence of what happens during abductions, through a logical based method. Indeed, he speculates that abductions with their hybrid component is the heart of the UFO story, now that we can "see into" the UFOs, and portends possible great danger to humankind.

Writer Whitley Strieber, through his groundbreaking "Communion" in 1987, went deep into his own firsthand experiences which, though set in an abduction-type scenario, raised questions about what he termed "the visitors." And in subsequent books he uncovered a more profound, more complex, more ambigious and more challenging intelligence at work and at play.

Harvard University psychiatry professor Dr. John Mack, through two books, "Abduction" in 1994 and "Passport to the Cosmos" in 1999, came up with similar patterns that other researchers like Hopkins found. But he uncovered tantilizing data that some other unknown and more mysterious core source may be at the heart of the abduction phenomenon, with personal and world transformation an intrinistic component.

SPACE, when founded in 1992 out of the turmoil, tumult and terror of the darkest portions of this extraordinary experience, was originally called the Support Program for Abductees' Contact Encounters. Even then we knew that there was more of a mystery at play behind the human terminology of "abductions," a prime focus of our exploration and research.

Here, on this page, we take a look at the stealth aspect of close encounters, found to be part of a greater picture, as described throughout our site, with implications beyond ufology, but grounded in ufology, thanks to the work of researchers and of encounter explorers themselves.

"ABDUCTIONS": A WINDOW INTO THE MYSTERY

Without the exploration of "abductions" and "night-time visitations," SPACE may never have been formed. Like other Aspects of Close Encounters, our Search Project has examined the outward forms of this stealth phenomenon, and will offer our insights into what this all may suggest and portend, all the while searching for the core source which drives these extraordinary experiences....

As in most support systems, SPACE has examined its share of missing time incidents, glimpses of forms in a room, body marks, odd happenings and movements, and other characteristics of what are called "abductions." People have vented their emotions and shared their thoughts at our gatherings about this, a healthy outlet with its emphasis on our worth as human beings. That has always been one component of our search...And we have learned much through that exchange. There are critical questions about abduction research. While there is evidence in such research that the abductions are at the core of close encounters, there are indicators that the core of experiences may rest someplace else. But, what have we, in SPACE, learned? We will continue to explore the stealth aspect in this section on an on-going basis, so here are some brief observations and insights...not conclusions...open for debate and discussion. Most of these events happen in the middle of the night when sleep is deepest and dreaming activity is at its most intense. Hopkins uncovered the three in the morning pattern to this, although it occurs at all hours, and, of course, in daylight. If the mysterians enter through other levels of consciousnesses, given their suggested wider knowlege of how the universe works, sleep and dream time may be the easy way to make their entrance or intervention, the stealth interface, maybe through their design or convienence or as a natural form of interaction, maybe using some techniques or technology we can only guess at. At times in close encounters with objects, an alteration of consciousness sometimes seems to occur---the Oz Factor---producing a dreamlike sense of reality or participation, as if a dream state is interfacing with physical reality. The night time abduction scenario suggests interaction involving other levels of reality and consciousness to accomplish the mission, engaging the targeted participant in it. The process of forgetting many such encounters may be either by design or, in some ways not yet understood, involve natural transition processes, much as awakening from a dream or sleep state of consciousness. Perhaps, through the study of lucid dreaming, learning to naviagte through stealth encounters by employing lucid techniques, more knowledge and empowerment can be gained. **************************** ****************************

RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL "MOTHERSHIP"

It has been SPACE's experience that an unexpected image, place or event can trigger haunting "recollections" of possibe stealth encounters. There are many examples, and here is one in New York City that we report here.

A man, who has had probable encounter experiences, goes to a Christmas Show a couple of years ago at the fabled Radio City Music Hall at Rockfeller Center.

Seated high up in the balcony, he gazes into the vast expanse of the great, giant music hall. Suddenly he gets a haunting feeling that overwhelms him, making it hard on him to pay total attention to the wonderful Christmas show.

"Wow,I feel like I am inside a giant mothership," he thinks, triggering some sort of recollection of something he apparently experienced. That triggered feeling haunts him now, nearly two years after the event.

The night after the show at the Music Hall, he had a dream. He was on a blimp. Leaning over the railing was his mother, gazing down on the Hudson River. The realization struck that his mother being on the airship made it "a Mother-Ship," making the connection with his "mothership" impression at Radio City Music Hall.
He grew-up in a small town on the Hudson River, with recall and dreams of unusual experiences at the shoreline.

He has developed a fascination for dirigibles, zepplins and blimps, which resemble motherships, such as described by Betty Luca Andresson in books by UFO researcher Ray Fowler and in photographs, such as those taken in 1946 over Los Angeles by George Adamski, and reported by UFO witnesses over the last 50 years and back in the great "Airship Wave" of 1897-98.

There may even be a subtle synchronicity in connection (through free association here) with his Music Hall experience, in that it took place at Rockefeller Center. It is Laurence Rockefeller who has funded studies of UFOs and distributed a UFO Briefing Report to all members of the U.S. Congress a few years ago. Rockefeller wants to get to the truth about UFOs. So does the man who went to Radio City Music Hall, looking for a defining breakthrough.

But the essential element is the trigger of Radio City Music Hall's gigantic auditorium, which would lead to a study by the man of possile Mothership technology as well as airship technology, now undergoing a new high-tech phase in this new century.

Many people recall, under hypnosis, through dreams or consciously, being in great "auditoriums" seemingly inside "motherships."
********************************************************

THE SEXUAL ASPECT OF STEALTH ENCOUNTERS

NEW INSIGHTS

Budd Hopkins was the first major abduction researcher to uncover a key pattern of stealth encounters, that of apparent nonhuman interest in human sexuality, in terms of reproduction as it seems to relate to the production of hybrids, missing pregnacies and, in his later studies, human inter-sexual relationships, which he termed as manipulated bonding by the aliens.

In mass media coverage of the abduction topic, "I had sex with an alien" or "the aliens study sex" are the topics the media focuses on, without any deeper examination of the sexual element, and thus dismissing the topic unfairly.

A brillant observation was made about the sexual aspect of stealth encounters by author Michael Mannion, a New York City health writer for over 20 years and founder of the Mindshift Institute, who wrote "Project Mindshift: The Re-Education of the American Public Concerning Extraterrestrial Life. 1947-Present." (Evans & Co., NYC, 1998).

He identified the apparent alien interest in human sexual function as playing an even more key role in humankind's troubles, far beyond the seeming ET manipulation of sexual functions for the hyprid production, and the bonding scenarios between abductees, as detailed by Hopkins and Jacobs.

"There is ample evidence to link sexual pathology with a wide range of destructive and self-destructive behavior," Mannion writes. "The ability to work, think clearly, act independently, feel pleasure, and sense a strong connection with Nature are all impaired when sexual function is impaired. "

"In addition, new disciplines such as psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) show the link between sexuality, emotions, health and disease. Perhaps ET interest in human sexualty has more to do with this biological tragedy than we know," he concludes.

A page earlier Mannion observed that a central focus of ETs would be human sexuality, related in terms of "primordial cosmic energy" as expressed and repressed through humans, an energy that the nonhumans may, emphasizing that would "may," experience fully free, countering information gathered by major abduction researchers.

COSMIC LIFE ENERGY?

In the preceding chapter Mannion, discussing psychologist Wihelm Reich's studies, notes that as the ETs study "human character structure," they would see a biologically rigid, armored human animal turned against itself and its own best interests." That insight is a breakthrough.

SPACE founder Harold Egeln is very familiar with what Mannion discusses, having had those insights through his own research and experiences.

What makes the "extraordinary experiences" truly extraordinary --as close encounters are defined so aptly by Hopkins and Mack--are those remarkable circumstances around them, such as Egeln's own connection with Reich's images prior to the seminal close encounter of the fifth kind in Brewster in August 1988, a whole other story in itself.

Reich was a controversial psychologist who was jailed in the mid-1950's by the US government, which destroyed and burned his research papers. He contended that "orgone energy" prevaded the universe, a cosmic life energy which people surpressed in their character and personaility structure.

He died in prison in early November 1957, just as the old Soviet Union orbited its second Earth satellite, Sputnik II, with a dog, Laika, aboard. That coincided with a major UFO flap n the United States. Reich had also written a book called "The Conquest of Space."

"THE STARCHILD"

In Egeln's own experience, over 20 years ago, he was having a relationship with a woman who later experienced an apparent false or missing pregnancy, with the relationship partly, so it seems, involving the nonhumans.

That included the presence of a ghostly figure of "a 10-year-old boy" one night in a cabin in Landing, New Jersey, followed by the release of "otherwordly images" in a series of vivid, lucid dreams afterwards for Egeln.

The couple were to give birth to a "starchild," as they called it, not thinking of any UFO or outer space connection at all. As in many of these apparent "bondings" the relationship ended abruptly. Hopkins has identified that many abductees have problems in forming and keeping human relationships, partly due to ow self-esteem and sexual problems.

That "starchild"---who was never born (at least not here)---was identified independently through a dream that an abductee had in January 1989, the night before first meeting Egeln---his first referral to an experiencer while working with Dr. Jean Mundy on his own hidden encounters.

The sexual aspect of stealth encounters, as Mannion and Egeln observe them, have a much wider implication than reproduction and the hybrid project---itself an apparent intervention in human affairs, either for the nonhuman's own purposes, as Jacobs concludes, or a necessary and perhaps quantum evolutionary species leap, as others suppose, with the hybrid scenario also symbolic of something deeper than its possible physical reality, as Dr. John Mack muses.

The sexual aspect may more be about how a species (the human) operates and behaves, which may be of prime interest to a species (ETI) which may have integrated consciousness which functions on all levels of awareness.

*********************

"RED ALERT!" STEALTH ENCOUNTER FEAR

Like other encounter researchers discovered and experiencers have described, there is often, but not always, a strong trauma involved in a close encounter, with terror and fright, along with powerful feelings of being violated or abused.

Some feel like helpless tagged animals, being monitored by a higher species whch feels it has the right to do what it wishes.

That Aspect, too, has been reported by explorers in the SPACE Group, with many tears and hugs of comfort and understanding.

Those who experience adversity from terrifying encounters do not want the experience!

Some want to fight their "violators" and "abusers." They feet that stealth contact is a violation of the human will and spirit.

Budd Hopkins, in one of his "Intruders Foundation Bulletin" newsletters, printed an abductees declaration of human rights, characterizing the "abductors" as engaged in "criminal-like behavior."

Hopkins, himself, has often spoken on this experience as "a nightmare," and thinks the perpetrators may be neither bad nor good, but are clinical in their work, maybe unaware or unconcerned about the personal consequences.

Feeling victimized is how some experiencers honestly feel...And that cries out for deeper exploration.

Is their being terrorized a warning of impending danger, as they have so well-stated?

Could it be the After-Shock of contact with something far beyond our understanding?

Is it like a person blind since birth suddenly gaining sight, and being terrified of what he actually sees for the first time?

Are experiencers being exposed to realities beyond our every-day comprehension, activating our own used Hidden Senses, that result in a Mind and Body Terror that sets off shockwaves in us?

********************************************************

"MAGIC LANTERN!" ENCHANTED ENCOUNTERS

When it comes to stealth encounters, it can be truly said that Trauma and Terror sit on the same bench with Transformation and Enchantment, each equal, none above or below the other. We in SPACE provide that very long bench.

Over the years some experiencers in SPACE have felt that their stealth encounters have changed them for the better, as humans or as gaining spiritual insights or growth, transforming their view of themselves and the world.

They may become active peacemakers or environmentalists, taking care of others and the planet. They may want to help children, seeking out or attracting children with a new vision of humanity, "through the eyes of a child," as the Moody Blues sing.

They may have acquired new abilities, regarding them as gifts, creating a greater awareness or deeper consciousness, calling it paranormal or supra-normal, activating deeper inner senses, enabling them to heal and teach, or to see themselves an active participant in a much larger and richer Cosmic Ecology.

They may regard the Close Encounter Experience as a Quantum Leap in human consciousness and evolution, with many variations on that theme.

The enchanting transformative aspects of close encounters may fill some with awe, wonder and even, niravana-like ecstasy. "Have JOY" the visitors told Whitley Stieber once.

And a few, on the extreme end of the process of transformation, may embark on risky missions to convince others that they have found "the answer" to the Encounter Enigma, building a following of believers. They may very well or may not have "the answer."

Called "the spiritual side of encounters," it appears to be driven more by a Re-Enchantment of Life and the World, as activated by the stealth encounter experience.

Is that a direct result of the experience, as Dr. John Mack and others in and out of SPACE think?

Or is it a very human response from within our very own creative and remarkable resourceful humanity in coping with disturbing itervention in our lives?

Or is it the result of deception, by design and stealth, or even, some say, brainwashing (loving our tormenters-- "the Stockhom Syndrome") by those who we interface with?

"I have had people oustide of SPACE tell me that we are too spiritual as a group, and that is not good since we are not helping victims of an alien invader," said Harold Egeln. "Also, I have had people outside of SPACE lecture me that we lack spirituality, that we are stuck in the mud of terror and that it should be our mission to teach and tell people what they can do."

SPACE offers a Very Large and Bench, like legendary King Arthur and the fabled Knights of The Round Table.

Ultimately, whatever the Non-human Intelligences have in mind, it is UP TO US to define our role in this great drama, being ignored by most of the official world and destined to have profound consequences at some point in humanity's development, sooner than later.

*********************************************************

***

SCREEN ANIMAL IMAGES AND MEMORIES

Animals beckoning are a characteristic of Stealth Encounters. On an uneasy night a large staring owl may attract attention, mainly through its large, probing eyes, leading the way into an episode of missing time or stealth encounter.

Wolves, dogs, cats, deer, raccoons and rabbits are among animals reported at the onset of a stealth encounter. These are called "screen memories" or "screen images" through which, some think, enigmatic entities bring human subjects into their realm.

Why these animal images? Is it also a way of communicating a nonhuman encounter, for animals are of a nonhuman nature? Is there anything to "power animals" as in ancient cultures in which rituals and beliefs revolve around animals with extraordinary powers.

Apart from animals, circus clowns, firefighters and utitilty men have been reported as "screen images and memories."

Reports of police and military in accounts also emerge, as if some authority from within the person or outside the person is acting as a psychological check or control on the experiencer. Some may intrepret the presence of "military personnel" as indicating an actual military aspect or intervention or deliberate involvement and collaboration in the stealth encounter.

Firefighters indicate a possible emergency response to douse the psychological shock of a stealth encounter on the mind and/or body of an experiencer.

There are reports of scuba divers, people in ski suits, motorcyclists wearing large dark goggles (as in the Barney & Betty Hill's account) and people in tight wet-suits.

In the 1996 movie "Contact" starring Jodie Foster and the 1985 book "Contact" by astronomer Carl Sagan the Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence comes in the image of the dead father of astronomer Dr. Ellie Arroway's (Jodie Foster).

Sagan, himself, uses a screen image taken from a memory retrieved from Arroway's sleeping mind before the Contact. (For those who say Sagan was a real encounter skeptic, long at what he presented in his own way.) Thus, an esteemed and respected scientist-- Sagan --used a screen image to present the "ET" during the Contact Encounter!

During a 1972 incident that helped lead Harold Egeln into exploring his experiences 15 years later, an element of that incident was him hearing a dog or a wolf howling and scratchng at the front door downstairs.

Someone in SPACE once told of a giant, human-sized cat at the back door of his house, which promptly hopped away in the manner of a kangaroo.

At least two people within SPACE have related their childhood encounters with unusual rabbits and the shadows of rabbits in their rooms.

It was, afterall, a large White Rabbit which led Alice into her Adventures in Wonderland and the Chesire Cat who presented her with puzzles.

*********************************************************

MISCHIEVOUS BEINGS IN STEALTH-LAND

Stealth close encounters, conscious and retrieved by other means, include accounts of mischievous elves, faeries, gnomes, dwarves, sprites, leprechauns and the Al-Jinn.

Some researhers and experiencers call these screen images and memories. Others feel that they are a stealth aspect of Non-Human Intelligences. And yet others think that such denizens are the ETI themselves, or an aspect of the ETI, or a mediator between the ETI and human experiencers.

During SPACE gatherings, accounts of sightings of such inhabitants of Faeryland have been made.

A man reported that in childhood one of his younger brothers saw "a parade of leprechauns marching" into his room and dance around his bed.

A woman, on a visit to Ireland, sights a childlike being playing a pipe on a small island in the middle of a lake. Another reports dwarves near a lake during her chldhood, only to find that the lake is not there upon returning to the location.

Harold Egeln reports a incident in the 1970's while camping at midnight with friends near the ledge of a waterfall in New Jersey. Hearing a commotion below, they hastily leave, fearing troublemakers or cops about to ruin their evening in the woods.

They flee down the path to a parking lot while Egeln lingers, looking down to the bottom of the waterfall. There he spots what appear to be gnome or elfin-like beings parading in file under the small footbridge, walking through the stream that runs from the waterfall, each carrying what appears to a lit lantern. Fascinating, if not downright spooky and totally impossible, he thinks.

Glancing to his right he sees a dark horse with a dark rider atop it. The eyes of the Dark Horse burn with a bright glow, looking directly and sternly into his eyes. He flees in fright, arriving at the parked car before his friends, even though they took the same straight path to the parking lot.

As a rider travels in a city bus, she notices a "gnome" emerge from a city park, every bit like a denizen of Faeryland, and look at her.

A camper at night hears movement outside his tent. Opening the entrance he is startled to see elfin-like beings dancing in a circle. Frightened, having heard of such things but never, until now, seen that, he moves his tent.

In Islamic theology, an order of stealth beings operating with great secrecy, the Al-Jinn, is well known, existing in a hidden realm or mirror universe. Their behavior is much like the denizens of Faeryland and even more like the behavior of the "intruders" or vistors."

People who come in contact with Faeryland experience one or several aspects: abduction, altered and missing time, stolen babies, hybrid-like changelings, experience enchantment and engage in sexual acts. A book, "The Daemonic Reality," documents such aspects, as do books by William Butler Yeats and others.

UFO researcher Jacques Vallee documented in detail the similarities between close encounters and centuries of accounts of elves, sprites, slyphs, gnomes, fairies, leprechauns, changlings and Faeryland in his classic 1970 book, "Passport To Magonia."

SPACE Encounter Explorers have found links like he did through relating our own stealth close encounters.

*********************************************************

MUSIC IN STEALTH ENCOUNTERS

An aspect of stealth encounters rarely told but discussed by SPACE Encounter Explorers is Music as an element of our encounters.

The music during a stealth encounter is described in various terms, paraphased bellow:

***"Unlike anything that I've ever heard before."

***"I've tried to repoduce those sounds, but cannot no matter how hard I try."

***"It was the most beautiful, indescribable music that I've ever heard."

***"The music went into the depth of my soul, revirbrating through my entire being. It was meant for only me to hear."

During a vivid dream that Harold Egeln had one night in 1972 or 1973, he listened to the most beautiful song he ever heard. All he saw was a woman playing what looked like a guitar, sitting down in an immense empty, blank space.

Reportedly separately by another resident of the house was an incident ofhim hearing a woman playing a guitar in the downstairs living room while he was home alone. He thoght that someone came home and put on the stereo system. Going downstairs, the msic stopped and he saw no one around and saw that the stereo was not on. This man a very level-headed person, was truly puzzled.

Some experiencers describe the unrepeatable music that they hear as "personal music" as if designed or meant for them alone.

And there is the Trumpet, seen but not heard, by Joseph Wiek, the "SPACE Explorer" print newsletter editor, being carried into a coffee shop in New York City, an image recalled under hypnosis (as reported on our Close Encounters of the Dream Kind page 5), and woman's dream of a "flying saucer rimmed with seven trumpets."

Whitley Strieber, in an account in his 1995 book "Breakthrough" describes what sounded like the sound of a trumpet which woke him, leading to an unusual encounter.

Someone who contacted SPACE in 2000 described hearing the clearest trumpet sound she ever heard after sighting a triangular-shaped UFO over her house.

There have been impressions spoken of by experiencers that the "ETs" use music to travel, to guide their craft or move from their realm to ours and back again.

In documented folklore, the music of Faeryland through faeries, elves and leprechauns, by lute, flute, pipe or horn, has been reported, with warnings that the magical elfin music may draw unsuspecting and curious humans away from their evreyday world in Magonia, Faeryland.

"The Music of the Spheres' may have its basis in "The Music of Close Encounters."

**********************************************************

SPACE SICKNESS AND STEALTH ENCOUNTERS:

In August 1961 Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov, 26, the fourth man rocketed into space, traveled 17 orbits around the Earth in a 25 hour spaceflght, the first full day of space travel.

After just a few orbits the urbane Titov became very nauseous and sick-to-his-stomach, a classic case of Sea Sickness, only this had to be the first documented case of Space Sickness. The flight was almost curtailed, but after a fitfull eight hour sleep Titov recovered and headed safely back to Earth.

At our SPACE Gatherings, several people have told of feeling very nauseous, with painful migraine headaches after a suspected Stealth Encounter or very close encounter with missing time or sighting.

The 1972 incident that led Harold Egeln to write Budd Hopkins in 1987 involved extreme nausea and the worst migraine headache he ever had, and dizziness as well. Through exploration with Dr. Jean Mundy, the psychologist, it appeared that Egeln was taken aboard some "craft" and whisked away, perhaps to space.

We of SPACE have learned that "encounter sickness" may be the result of being taken away to a foreign environment, such as underwater, out into space, or into another entirely alien place, producing effects just like sea and space sickness.

Thus, we regard this Very Real Physical Condition as supportive of an extraordinary experience that took place Elsewhere-- as in outer space --as a compelling Scientific and Medcal Indicator of the Physical Reality of a Stealth Encounter, much as cosmonaut Titov (who died in 2000) and many other astronauts have experienced during the 40 years of human space travel.

*********************************************************

INDICATORS AND CHARACTISTICS OF EXPERIENCERS Here is a list of patterns of indicators and charactistics consistent with people who have stealth encounters. One, a few, many or all are not to be taken as indicating possible stealth close encounters. Some may be negative, positive or ambivelent in nature. Usually a combination of several of these items may more likely indiacte a stealth encounter. These are presented here from the research within the stealth encounter findings, those of others and our own: *** Disturbed sleep patterns, and being tired after a good night's sleep. *** Low self-esteem, poor body image, under-valuing one's potential, a lack of self-confidence. *** Dreams of: elevators trains tunnels major catastrophes trampolines fire trucks plane and helicopter crashes flying by one's own self huge auditoriums lessons being given military bases, police *** Balls of lights in the bedroom. *** Persistent anxiety or depression without any sensible cause. *** Distrust or lack of trust. *** Inability to form intimate relationships, or fear of them. *** Feelings of not belonging here, of being a stranger among humans. *** A sense of dual identity, of being in two places at once, or of being human and of being from another world or time. *** Feelings of presences in the bedroom at night, a sense of being observed for no good reason. *** Unusual, sudden body marks and rashes that have no reasonable cause, like insect bites, self-scratches, etc. Unexplained nose bleeds. *** A sense of unlimited creative potential. *** A deep concern for the Earth's ecology and the environment. *** A bothersome sense of hidden information buried deep in the mind without means of accessing that knowledge. *** Irregular sexual periods for females that do not have an explainable cause. *** A transcendent sense of being connecting to a living cosmos beyond earthly restraints. *** Effects of electrical devices: streetlights blink off when near them, computers go haywire, fire and car alarms go off when near them. *** A sense of being protected by unseen (not divine) sources. *** A feeling of a mission, as in being a cosmic ambassador of some undefined sort, orto engage in a spiritual quest. *** Strings or clusters of remarkable coincidences that having meaning, i.e., synchronistic episodes. *** Paranormal abilities, such as apparent telepathy, fore-knowledge, empathy, healing, channeling, automatic writing, etc. *** A thirst and hunger for intimacy deeper than what human relationships often provide. *** Seeing "Caspers the ghosts" or "motorcyclists" with huge goggles as a child, or having an unseen playmate that seems otherwordly. *** Inexplicable memories of or unusual encounters with owls, deer, racoons, dogs, cats and rabbits. *** Episodes of missing or altered time, being unable to find a rational explanation for them. *** Feeling connected to a stranger as if you know them from somewhere. *** Spontaneous healings. Again, a warning...None of these should be taken to mean that one has had a stealth encounter. There can be-- and are-- other reasons that are more explainable than being otherworldly. These are presented for informational purposes based upon research into stealth encounters. ********************************************************* What follows are some other effects of stealth encounters, as noted in Dr. John Mack's book, "Passport To The Cosmos," taken from a review by Harold Egeln:

THROUGH THE WINDOW OF THE EYES

In "The Threat" Professor David Jacobs discusses the "Mind Scan" procedure as an "alien" stares deeply into an abductee's eyes, a major component of this experience which Dr. Mack explores in the chapter on "Relationships: Contact Through the Eyes."

While Jacobs speculates that the Mindscan is an offensive and intrusive procedure into a person's neural pathways in the brain, Mack speculates that much more may be involved, with the eyes as "the doorway into the soul," a critical method to connect directly, deeply and intimately with another being.

After Harold Egeln's own sighting of non-human beings in Brewster off Upper Magnetic Mine Road in August 1988, he performed a self-relaxation techique the night right after that. During the meditation exercise, focusing on any subtle impressions of the encounter, he got a sudden vividly clear flash of looking through a being's eyes from their perspective n the woods, with an urgent insistence that he hold on to that image.

Mack makes reference to seeing through the eyes from experiencers such as Karin and Will, and that "this experience not only overcomes the sense of separation but may obilterate the dstinction between the abductee and the 'alien' beings," with the apparent purpose of creating a relationship of some sort, which we have explored extensively in SPACE.

"It seems as if the achievement of these connections across dimensional barriers has required the overcoming of such great energetic hurdles that their fullfillment seems to possess a depth and intensity greater than what occurs in most of, if not all, relationships in this material plane," Dr. Mack writes.

KEEP PLENTY OF LIGHT BULBS HANDY

In "Passport To The Cosmos" Dr. Mack "sings the body electric" (to borrow Ray Bradbury's phrase) in his chapter "Light, Energy and Vibration."

How often, when we in SPACE have met people for initial interviews and in follow-up talks, that we have felt sudden powerful and disturbing energy effects around and through us, without seeking them?

How about the computers, clocks, phones, street lamps, answering machines, radios, TV sets, light bulbs, watches, escalators, fire and car alarms that seem to go haywire when we're near them?

When Whitley Strieber was living in New York City's Greenwich Village in the 1980's, a friend of his young son Andrew came over one evening and asked Andrew if he could bring his father to see how many street lights he could put out when walking by them!

"Experiencers report various forms of interference with appliances in their vacinity," writes Dr. Mack, adding that he has frequently seen this himself. "as if (the experiencers) were emanating some sort of strange energy...Even a beginning comprehension of the abduction phenomenon must, I think, take into consideration the experience of energy and vibration that abductees undergo...requiring more study."

Similar effects are now under study at Princeton University at PEER, the Princeton Engineerig Anomolies Research lab, conducting the "Scientific Study of Consciousness-Related Physical Phenomenon" since 1979.

THE MASS LANDING IS WITHIN US

"The Western approach to space travel is purely technical. There's a way to to do it that works for everybody just as anybody can get in a plane.

"So space travel is to be conducted by technicians and experts? I was influenced by this thinking when I said that the LIttle People did not belong at the controls of a spacecraft. Brian says that the Little People exist in a different time, and only certain people can see them...

"Perhaps space travel is as simple as stepping into another time by rubbing out the word. Space travel may be a spiritual rather than a techical achievement. If you want to move a human creature, ALTER HIS BASIC PERCEPTIONS."

That quote is from a non-UFO source, appearrig in "Here To Go, Planet R-101," a 1982 book about the surrealist artist and writer Brian Gysin, who settled in Morocco back in 1950, as told by Terry Wilson and "Beat generation" writer William S. Burroughs.

This observation could fit very comfortably within Dr. Mack's book, as it comes from a reference point outside our issue, such as happened in Sagan's "Contact" to an extent.

It is why the humanist and the spiritual can converge without need of division and distance, in the spirit of curiosty that is native to and the glory of the human psyche.

Exploring the varied uneven tapestry of this mystery, even if it includes past life references, earlier contactee stories, dreams, dual human/alien identity, and other aspects sometimes dismissed by other researchers who do not want to muddle their methodolgy which may cast doubt about their research techniques, may lead to more knowledge and insight, if not final answers, without passing judgements on aspects usually ignored, with no belief in those aspects required.

Dr. Mack does feel that the explorations of symbols and archetypes in encounters "may help us gain a deeper understanding of the phenomenon, whatever ts source might be."

TRAUMA AND TRANSFORMATION: BEYOND THE EDGE The pain and trauma that many of us have felt in our encounters has long been viewed as a central characteristic of encounters, with some researchers labelling it basically "a nightmare" no matter what the aliens' intentions. Yes, there are real nightmarish aspects to it, but Dr. Mack in his chapter "Trauma and Transformation," thinks that the pain may not be "a central aspect" of encounters, but that "the ontological shock" that results from drastic shifts in perceptions is "closer to its power." "The transformative element appears to be intrinisic to the phenomenon rather than a secondary reaction that is part of the recovery process," he suggests. One could be particularily struck by a comment, which some in SPACE resonated strongly with because it compares with their own deep and playful thoughts since childhood, by an abductee in the chapter "Light, Energy, Vibration" relating to transformation. "It's been my feeling since I was little that physical love, erotic love, the energy of work, the energy of creativity, the spiral galaxies,--that the spaceships use this energy...This energy phenomenon is the love phenomenon, is the life energy, is the cosmic energy." That somewhat chimes in with the observations made by reseacher Michael Mannion reported earlier on this page. STEALTH ENCOUNTERS are a complex, confounding and confusing aspect of close encounters. While some are horrified by them, and definately want them to go away or to even resist or fight the intruders, others may welcome them as a revelation and a chance to learn and grow, as yet others are just plain puzzled. We in SPACE give you our feelings and thoughts. There is danger, there is promise, there is ambiguity in stealth encounters, with a wide range of interpretation from intruders to visitors to illusionary phantoms. Our course will be determined, hopefully, by our own finest humanity and our best elements that make us truly human.....whatever human identity may turn out to be. **************************

CARL SAGAN'S UFO HAUNTED "CONTACT"

At a SPACE gathering soon after the movie "Contact," based on Carl Sagan's novel, came to theaters, we engaged in a rather thoughtful discussion of how astronomer Ellie Arroway's SETI engendered experience travelling into deep space compared with the content and feelings of our own encounters.

When "Contact" was mentioned at another support meeting called by a highly respected and much valued researcher, who has helped many people navigate through what he terms "this nightmare" of encounters, the movie was immediately dismissed.

Yet, at our gathering, we found the discussion of "Contact" as a bridge among us, connecting our own personal encounters, whether nightmarish or enlightening, that facilitated understanding and knowledge. And from a concept of Carl Sagan, of all people, given postumously through a movie.

So, it was delightful to see Dr. Mack referring to the movie and the sequence where Arroway (Jodie Foster) is trying to explain her incomprehensible adventure, with its time and spatial distortions, to a consensus reality-based materialistic group.

"She has had an experience that is unequivocally real and of transcendent power and meaning to her, challenging, if not shattering her secular worldview," says Dr. Mack, comparing it to the dilemma facing us experiencers and researchers, with "the most powerful evidence (being) subjective, or introspective."

--A CLOSE ENCOUNTER MYSTERY THEATRE--

"The abduction story moves more in the direction of mystery and the unknown than toward certainity and conviction," writes Dr. John Mack in his book, Passport To The Cosmos. "...We are dealing with some sort of play of consciousness or cosmic informational process rather than simply events in the material world."

HYPNOSIS AND UFO ABDUCTIONS by Jean Mundy, Ph.D. CAN HYPNOSIS BE USED TO VALIDATE A UFO ABUCTION? A volunteer hypnosis subject in the hands of an EXPERT hypnotherapist will have a far more accurate memory than a person in a normal awake state and can even produce a photographic memory. However, similar to the defense mechanism of fainting when psychologically shocked, blocking memories (partial amnesia) is a natural defense of the unconscious mind to prevent the person from suffering trauma. Therefore, complete memory of the abduction experience is unlikely until the therapist develops rapport with the subject. This may take months. Only when the wall of fear is broken and the subject feels really safe can trauma be recalled in accurate vivid detail. Does that recall PROVE the person was abducted? Maybe Yes and Maybe No. As hard as it is for us to admit, THE ALIENS ALSO KNOW HOW HYPNOSIS WORKS. The abductee may well have been in a state of deep hypnosis-- induced by the aliens-- and in such a state perceptions can be altered. There are countless examples: fire-walking, major operatons performed with no sense of pain, convincing an addicted person that they no longer want the drug, removing stuttering, stopping bleeding in hemophiliacs, etc. So the problem remains. A hypnotic suject can recall their contact with aliens accurately BUT in a very real sense it may be that they could not experience the event accurately in the first place because they were in a state of trauma OR a state of hypnosis when the very real event occurred. It would be like asking a person who fainted in church to recall the details of the sermon while the person was "out." Finally, it is NOT THE MEMORY of the trauma which proves that the trauma occurred. People can recall a trauma which occured in a "previous lifetime" and believe it is a recent one. People can recall something which they were told occurred, but, in fact, they WERE TOLD A LIE. The opposite is also possible. A real trauma can occur and the person has no memory (amnesia) for the event. The PROOF that a trauma really occurred comes from the EXISTENCE OF VERY SEVERE SYMPTOMS that stem from the trauma which the person cannot "fake," that is, the POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS SYNDROME." Then hypnosis can reveal the nature of the trauma. (Reprited from the SPACE Newsletter, February 1995--- Copyright @ Jean Mundy) ******************************************************* THANK YOU, JEAN MUNDY By Harold Egeln There would not have been SPACE if it were not for Jean Mundy. I thank her for the tremendous help she provided me in many sessions from 1988-1990, and her support for me and SPACE. Her essay, presented her, remains the best statement on hypnosis and UFO abductions. Unitil she retired, Mundy was a Manhattan based psychotherapist who helped clients turn abduction trauma into transformation. Beginning her work with UFO experiencers in the second half of he 1980's, Mundy accumulated much knowledge about "The Psychology of Alien Abductions." She has spoken at many events, and appeared on many TV and radio shows (Morton Downey Jr., Jackie Mason), and she has written articles. She wrote a play about UFO experiences and its effect on a family, called "Believe Me!" under the name Jennii Mundy, which Egeln reviewed in "UFO Universe" magazine in June-July 1991. It was performed in 1993 at a UFO conference at the former Village Gate in Greenwich Village. Since she retired, she lives at her cozy seaside cottage with her cats and experiences the magical moments that are part of life. We, of SPACE, are eternally grateful for her help, her work and her major contribution in bringing clarity to ufology. *******************************************************

GUIDE FOR CLOSE ENCOUNTER EXPLORERS If you are looking for help with your possible experiences, you may want to first check out a most valuable guide created by Dr. John Mack and PEER, the Program for Extraordinary Experience Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts. PEER's "An Experiencer's Guide To Therapy" best mirrors our own experience, based on Harold Egeln's thousands of hours spent with a few hundred encounter explorers and our 100 support and exploration meetings here in New York City since March 1992. ********************************************************