142 lines
6.5 KiB
Plaintext
142 lines
6.5 KiB
Plaintext
SUBJECT: EXTRATERRESTRIALS PLAY ROUGH FILE: UFO2479
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A Harvard Doctor
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Offers Trauma Relief
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For UFO `Abductees'
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Extraterrestrials Play Rough,
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But John E. Mack Heals;
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New `War of the Worlds'?
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05/15/92
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WALL STREET JOURNAL
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An unusual, invitation-only conference next month in
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Massachusetts will bring together a Pulitzer Prize-winning
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psychiatrist, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology physics
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professor, and about 150 other assorted academics and
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professionals.
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The topic of their inquiry: abductions by creatures from
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outer space.
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And they're absolutely serious.
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"It's not mass hysteria," insists Dr. John E. Mack, a
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Harvard Medical School psychiatrist who has studied some 50
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self-proclaimed abductees and conducts monthly support-group
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meetings for them. "These are people who have no reason to
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lie, and they've come forth with great reluctance."
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Strange as it may sound, Dr. Mack and fellow conference
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leader Dr. David E. Pritchard of MIT, are only two of the
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academics studying accounts of kidnappings by aliens
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these days.
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"Many great ideas sound offbeat at the beginning," says
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Malkah Notman, acting head of Harvard's psychiatry department
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at Cambridge Hospital in Massachusetts.
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Just how many people may have been abducted by
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extraterrestrials? One of every 50 American adults -- some
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3.7 million people -- may have had an abduction experience
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with an unidentified flying object, according to Roper
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Organization polls sponsored by the Intruders Foundation and
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the Fund for UFO Research.
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In Philadelphia, Temple University history professor David
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M. Jacobs is making the talk-show rounds with self-described
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abductees to plug his new book, "Secret Life." It puts
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abduction cases into a "theoretical framework" by finding
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such common threads as "physical probing, alien bonding and
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the breeding program."
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Of course, most academics scoff at the notion of
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abductions by extraterrestrials. "There's no evidence that
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even a grand jury in a D.A.'s pocket would take seriously
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that UFOs have visited the Earth, much less abducted
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somebody," says Timothy Ferris, a science writer and
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professor at University of California at Berkeley.
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"There is some concern," says Harvard's Dr. Notman, "but
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by and large I think the {psychiatry} department feels it's
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useful to encourage creative work, as long as it doesn't get
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in anybody's way or do any harm."
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Temple University even lets Dr. Jacobs teach a course
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called "UFOs in American Society." "Temple believes in
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academic freedom," says Dr. Jacobs. "Besides, I ALSO HAVE
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TENURE, SO THERE'S NOT MUCH THEY CAN DO ABOUT IT."
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This Sunday night, in a close encounter of the Hollywood
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kind, a new U.S. television miniseries called "Intruders"
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promises to heighten awareness of the subject. The CBS
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program is about a fictional psychiatrist who helps people
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overcome the trauma of abductions by extraterrestrials. The
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familiar-sounding character is based on Dr. Mack. And the
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abductees are based on people who claim they were abducted,
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such as Randy Nickerson, a 24-year-old mechanic in
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Massachusetts, who warns in commercials for the show: "You've
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got no place to hide."
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Indeed, Dr. Mack says the show could set off a "War of the
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Worlds" type of hysteria, as unsuspecting viewers suddenly
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start remembering past abduction episodes.
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"I'm quite concerned about the miniseries," says Dr. Mack.
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"I told CBS I'd be willing to be listed on the show" to help
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viewers through any trauma. The network DECLINED THE OFFER.
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"I think it's a DISASTER IN THE MAKING," adds Dr.
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Pritchard, as he sits peeling an orange with a razor blade.
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The career of Dr. Mack, a 35-year veteran of Harvard's
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psychiatry department, has been peppered with projects that
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aren't in the mainstream, including studies of the psychology
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of nuclear war. But none has been so out-of-this-world as his
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work with people claiming to have been kidnapped by little gray
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humanoids.
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It all started when a psychologist friend in New York
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suggested that Dr. Mack meet Budd Hopkins, a Manhattan
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ARTIST. When Mr. Hopkins isn't busy creating large geometric
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paintings he calls "guardians," he hypnotizes people to
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recapture their past experiences with UFOs.
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"I said to myself that if he believes this is real,
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there's got to be something wrong with him," recalls Dr.
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Mack.
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HELEN WHEELS, 42, who sports a black leather jacket and
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Harley-Davidson sweatshirt, says she had unexplained
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nose-bleeds after a childhood encounter in which she was
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strapped to a floating table and "had an implant put up the
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right side of my nose" by alien medical technicians. She says
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the implant later fell out.
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Most professed abductees have little, if any, recollection
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of their experiences, just vague notions that they have
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experienced something traumatic. Only through hypnosis do
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they reveal detailed accounts of close encounters. One of Dr.
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Mack's patients had an odd memory about a large kangaroo that
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visited her as a child; during hypnosis, that episode turned
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into an alien abduction.
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"Sometimes, the beings are represented as animals or
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birds. You have to get into the shamanic interpretation," Dr.
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Mack explains.
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Many mental-health professionals are skeptical about such
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regression hypnosis, claiming it is TOO EASY FOR A HYPNOTIST
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TO LEAD THE SUBJECT ON WITH SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS. But UFO
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researchers say it is the only way to unlock memories the
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aliens have forced their victims to repress.
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During a meeting of an abductee support group at Mr.
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Hopkins's Manhattan studio, Mr. Nickerson is undergoing
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hypnosis. Mr. Nickerson, one of Dr. Mack's subjects, returns
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to an incident when he was nine years old.
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"Bike trip to Aunt Hazel," he mumbles. "I tell my uncle
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there's a flying saucer. Two people come down the hill. Dark.
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Little. They take me in."
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"What's it like inside?" asks Mr. Hopkins.
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"Not supposed to tell. I'm scared," says Mr. Nickerson,
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thrashing about.
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"Do you like these people?" Mr. Hopkins asks.
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"Uh uh," Mr. Nickerson responds. "They take me away and do
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things." He is being strapped to an examining table, Mr.
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Nickerson recounts. His captors are scraping skin samples and
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sticking tubes into his right nostril and left ear.
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Mr. Hopkins draws him out of the hypnotic state. Mr.
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Nickerson awakens with tears in his eyes. "Those bastards,"
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he says.
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"Nobody has a right to do any of this," Mr. Hopkins
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assures him.
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**********************************************
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* THE U.F.O. BBS - http://www.ufobbs.com/ufo *
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********************************************** |