Extraterrestrial Encounters: A Perplexing Phenomena

 Extraterrestrial Encounters: A Perplexing Phenomena

  By Raphael Ferraro, May 2014

  Bizarre, weird, and puzzling are some of the adjectives used to describe close encounters, a fascinating and controversial topic which generates much debate and discussion in the media. Television programs such as Ancient Aliens weekly reveal the "facts" about extraterrestrials, while propagating the belief that the marvelous achievements of past cultures were due to close encounters with extraterrestrials. This evidence, they contend, can be found in cave paintings, stone markings, monolithic structures, ancient literature, and in the myths and legends of the world.

  In a Gallop poll conducted at the end of the twentieth century, 36,000,000 Americans claimed having seen a UFO, while 3,000,000 Americans reported having been abducted by aliens. More recently, the National UFO Reporting Center database from 1990-2007 indicates that 1 out of 10 people have seen a UFO while 1in 40 or 50 people have experienced an extraterrestrial encounter. If these incredulous figures are correct, then something strange is happening on a very large scale in our world! Attempting to understand the significance of these occurrences, we cannot help but ask ourselves: who are these observers of our planet and abductors of our people, where do these creatures come from, and what is their agenda?

  This article will attempt to give readers an overview and a better understanding of this most perplexing phenomena of our time which continues to challenge specialists in all levels of our society. And since the literature on this subject is immense, this brief essay will focus primarily on those more recently documented personal close encounters of the Fourth and Fifth Kind beginning in the 1940s

  Extraterrestrials (ETIs) may have visited the Earth and interacted with humans in ancient times and perhaps similar encounters continue to occur in the present; however, identifying the various types of encounters is fairly recent. Close encounters is a term that includes specific characteristics in five separate categories. To simplify the process of distinguishing one type of encounter from another, UFO researcher and astronomer Dr. J. Allen Hynek, advisor to the well-known  Project Blue Book study of UFOs (1952) and founder of CUFOS (Center for UFOs Studies), developed the following classification system:

   

  First Kind (CE1)

  Observing an unidentified flying object.

 

  Second kind (CE2)

  Sightings accompanied by physical evidence such as burn marks or debris.

  Third Kind (CE3)

  Observing occupants in and/or around a UFO.

  .

  Fourth (CE4)

  Human abduction by a UFO or its occupants.

  Fifth (CE5)

  Cooperative communication between a human and an ETI. This fifth type of encounter was added by Dr. Steven Greer’s CSETI group (Center for the Study of Extraterrestrial Intelligence).

   

  On January 7, 1948, an aerial tragedy occurred near Godman Air Force Base in Kentucky. This accident resulted in many Americans questioning the existence of extraterrestrials and whether or not they posed a threat to our national security. The U.S. Government released a statement that a Captain Thomas Mantell lost consciousness when flying his plane beyond its capability while in pursuit of either the planet Venus or a skyhook balloon which he had mistaken for a space vehicle. Whatever may have been the cause Mantell's death, the accident roused the public to the possibility of ETIs monitoring our planet on a regular basis and introduced the “Modern Era of Alien Encounters.” Incidentally, about seven months earlier on July 2, 1947, a spaceship and its occupants supposedly crashed in Roswell, New Mexico, an incident about which much controversy still exists.

   

  During the 40s into the 70s, well-publicized close encounters occurred between humans and Nordics. Contactees of this time period describe these aliens as tall and handsome with blond hair and slanted blue eyes. Journeying from the Pleiades star system and the planet Venus, these peaceful and friendly “space brothers” warned selected humans about mankind’s dangerous misuse of nuclear weapons and the possible destruction of the Earth and other planets in our solar system. During these encounters, the mild-mannered ETIs introduced their contactees to fellow aliens and at times took the awe-struck humans aboard their spaceships for a visit to the moon or trips to other planets in our solar system and beyond. George Adamski, Truman Bethrum, Orfeo Angelucci, and Howard Menger were well-known contactees of this period who related encounters with aliens with names such as Ramu, Firkon, Kalha, Ilmuth, and Aura.

  In September l961, the Barney and Betty Hill encounter occurred. It was to become the prototype for future abduction tales: aliens kidnapped humans, examined them like lab animals, and then released them. Future descriptions of aliens given by abductees were similar to the Hills' abductors who were humanoid creatures about five-feet to five-feet four inches tall with gray skin, bald heads, large round eyes, small ears, and tiny noses. Although Betty’s abductors told her that they were from a nearby star system thirty-seven light years away called Zeta Reticulli, other ETI visitors are believed to have journeyed here from various star systems in the universe, including Sirius and Orion. 

  Although reptilian and insect-like creatures have occasionally been reported as abductors, grey dwarf-sized ETIs dominated the scene in the 80s and into the present, possibly a result of the wide influence of movies dealing with stereotyped aliens. Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Communion, and Intruder popularized the image of a three to four-foot hairless gray-skinned alien with an egg-sized head containing large dark luminous eyes and no noticeable mouth or nose. Greys, as they were called, crudely examined female abductees, often extracting ova from their bodies. In some cases, they removed hybrid fetuses from their wombs. Male abductees were also subjected to similar tests. At times, a sophisticated vibrating mechanism removed sperm from their prostrated bodies to be used in genetic reproductive experiments known only to the aliens. Many question the morality and inhumanness of aliens submitting humans to these painful and terrifying procedures. David Jacob, a well-known authority on such matters, believes these abductions occur worldwide and calls them a catastrophe involving the “exploitation of one species over another.”

  Various theories explaining this extraordinary phenomena of alien encounters have been proposed. One theory suggests aliens are real, entering our world through black holes or time warps from an alternate universe parallel to our own, utilizing their psychic powers of telepathy, invisibility, shape shifting, bilocation, and/or levitation to achieve their aims. Another states that hypnotists create and reinforce imaginary encounters by asking leading questions and supplying subtle clues to their subjects. The Buck Roger's Hypo Trauma Theory, attributes the sighting of UFOs and the accompanying bizarre alien tales to a host of social influences: the media's distorted and hype reporting of such phenomena, the prevailing political tensions, and the impact of science-fiction films such as It Came from Outer Space, The Thing, and The Day the Earth Stood Still. Alien encounters have also been attributed to bad dreams, sleep paralysis, mental illness, psychological problems, and overactive imaginations. However, Dr. John Edward Mack, Harvard psychiatrist and abduction expert, who has investigated over 800 abduction cases maintains, “The majority of abductees do not appear to be deluded, confabulating, lying, self-dramatizing, or suffering from a clear mental illness.".

  At a National Press Club conference held in Washington DC on May 9, 2001, twenty retired Air Force, Federal Aviation Administration, and intelligence officers gave compelling evidence concerning ETIs on our plan
et. In other parts of the world, former Russian President Dmitry Meduedev claimed that ETIs have not only been here in the past but are here among us today. Paul Hellyer, former defense minister of Canada, asserted on TV that ETIs are living on Earth and that a number of technological advances in our society are due to reverse engineering. Even the Vatican is speaking out about ETIs. Monsignor Carrado Balducci, a Vatican official promotes welcoming extraterrestrials to our world and even hopes to baptize them. He has stated on television that ETIs are already inhabiting our planet. Among these distinguished individuals, whose testimony are we to believe? And what is fact and what is fiction?

  Worldwide, prominent personnel in the military, the sciences, and politics are confirming the reality of ETIs. Dr. Mazlan Othman, director of the United Nation’s UNOOSA (Office of Outer Space Affairs), has indicated that the UN is actively planning a welcoming response for humans first meeting with extraterrestrials. With the increase of such developments and continuous pressure from the public and the media requesting governments to reveal the truth about ETIs, it is likely that the perplexing phenomena of extraterrestrial encounters will in the near future become more comprehensible and less of a mystery. Meanwhile, as we wait for disclosure about aliens to be officially announced by the United States and other nations of the world, we can only wonder-- if and when it happens--what earthlings First Contact with Greys, Nordics or another alien species will portend for the future of the human race?