149 lines
5.6 KiB
Plaintext
149 lines
5.6 KiB
Plaintext
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SUBJECT: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE CHILLING KIND FILE: UFO2379
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PART 5
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Gannet News Service
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Dec. 11, 1993
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-+-----
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ABDUCTED BY ALIENS?
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Two Women Say They Were
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Catlett, Va.
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Clare Holcomb and Diana Graves say the aliens grab them without
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warning, usually at dusk or out of deep sleep.
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Sometimes a spaceship -- the saucer-shaped vessel of B movies --
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touches down silently in a corner paddock of this Virginia horse
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farm 50 miles west of Washington, D.C.
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Sometimes, "the beings" materialize out of thin air.
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The "experiences" that follow are always terrifying to them, even
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though they've happened hundreds of times. Holcomb and Graves
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report pokes and prods by aliens deaf to their cries and pleas,
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skin excisions and forced feedings that leave the women feeling
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wretched for days.
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"Every day or two you deny the whole thing, 'It's all going to
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stop because I don't believe it anymore,'" says Holcomb, explaining
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how she copes with her belief that space aliens regularly abduct her
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and her best friend. "It's a self-defense mechanism. It protects
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your sanity."
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Holcomb and Graves sometimes question their sanity.
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But people who report abductions or UFO sightings are not
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necessarily psychotic, fantasy-prone or more imaginative than anyone
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else, says research reported in the November issue of the Journal of
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Abnormal Psychology.
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Dr. Nicholas P. Spanos, professor of psychology at Carleton
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University in Ottawa, compared the intelligence, imagination and
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hypnotic suggestibility of abductees and UFO sighters with the
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general population. The only difference he found was that UFO
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sighters believed that extraterrestrial life existed before they
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experienced aliens up-close and personal.
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The researcher's findings are old news and cold comfort to
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Holcomb and Graves.
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"I'd be happy with (being) crazy," says Holcomb, a tall, thin
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woman with a wedge of curly blonde hair. "You can see a
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professional. There's medication to help you. I can't call 911
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when I'm abducted."
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Whether you believe in extraterrestrial life, Clare Holcomb, 47,
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and Diana Graves, 44, are very real. And so are at least 1,000
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other people in the United Satates who claim to have been contacted
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by space aliens.
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These people -- 250 more each year -- live in constant states of
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anxiety and depression, afraid they're crazy, afraid they're not.
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Catlett, Va., seems a cliche setting for a close encounter.
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This 2,000-population town is dotted with corn farms and apple
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orchards. Country roads lined with old oaks and hickories wend
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through acres of hard clay and winter wheat.
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Holcomb says her first abduction took place on such a deserted
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road six miles from the Moonraker Equestrian Academy, the farm where
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she lives and teaches horseback riding.
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On Dec. 15, 1991, at 7:30 p.m., Holcomb was returning from nearby
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Winchester, Va., when a pair of low-flying bright lights demanded
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her attention.
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What seemed like a moment later, Holcomb was driving five miles
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further down the road and feeling nauseated. She arrived home more
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than an hour later than usual, her ear lobes were inflamed and
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bleeding, and her pierced earrings had been inserted backwards.
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"I assumed I had had a nervous breakdown," she says.
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The memory, which Holcomb retrieved about a year ago, sparked
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flashbacks of regular abductions -- sometimes weekly -- dating back
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to childhood.
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The flashbacks, which Holcomb illustrates in ink drawings, feature
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short, pale beings with hollow eyes and long fingers without
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joints. Many scenes are set in high-tech modules. And many
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memories feature Graves.
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Even though the women grew up far apart -- Holcomb in Virginia,
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Graves in England and Rhode Island -- they believe they were
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abducted together as children and are certain they were fated by
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alien forces to meet again as adults.
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Eight years ago, Graves, who owns Moonraker, placed a newspaper ad
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for a farmhand, Holcomb answered.
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"We could never have met under normal circumstances," says
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Holcomb, who is divorced and has a grown son. "We have countless
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memories of childhood instances in `their' presence."
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Six months after Holcomb began remembering her abductions, Graves
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began having flashbacks, too. These days, the women say they are
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frequently abducted together.
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"They've threatened that someday they'll take us and we're not
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coming back," says Graves, a policy analyst for the U.S. Forest
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Service.
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Until now, neither woman has spoken publicly about the abductions:
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They fear ridicule from disbelievers and retribution from the
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aliens.
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But both feel now is the time to talk, though they can't
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articulate why.
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How do these women live fearing they"ll be snatched at any moment?
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Both have sought professional help.
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A year ago, Holcomb consulted David Ruxer, a Fairfax, Va.,
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clinical psychologist who has treated a dozen UFO abductees.
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Ruxer says abductees often display anxiety, depression and
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flashbacks, symptoms consistent with post-traumatic stress.
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"It's not really a post-traumatic stress because it is an on-going
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stress," he says. "The difference is this person is telling you it
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happened last night, it's going to happen tomorrow. You struggle
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for another model."
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Ruxer says abductees come to him for hypnosis to recover
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suppressed memories, or for a safe place to talk about their
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experience.
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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********************************************** |