Here's another excerpt from my MS thesis and future Magus Magazine article. I've put everything on hold till after the thesis defense but we're looking towards a publish date of early January. I'll keep you posted but in the meantime, here's something worth spouting crazily about. Give it a read and feel free to to comment or send me an email.
Extraterrestrials also relay overtly religious messages in many UFO contact
narratives. This idea of aliens delivering religious argot can be seen in a Weekly World
News article authored by Ragan Dunn. According to Dunn, a French Journalist named
Vincent Black conducted a 25 minute interview with an extraterrestrial named Barten.
The manuscript states that, “the creature had blonde hair and blue eyes and looked like a
three-year-old child. He spoke in a high pitched monotone and answered a series of
questions before he glowed bright blue and disappeared” (Weekly World News, July
19, 2004).
The interviewer asks:
Q- Have you come to steal from us, to plunder the earth?
A- We have come to share with you, to cure your illnesses, to relieve your strife, to bring you heaven on earth. We also bring you the wrath of hell. The choice is yours to make.
Q- Why haven’t you contacted us before?
A- Your leaders are aware of our presence and we have engaged them in negotiations. I emphasize that we come in peace. We ask you to prepare for us.
The concept of heavenly figures coming to alleviate illnesses or share knowledge is very
prevalent in UFO literature. Like the curing power of saints and prophets, these
otherworldly beings are infused with powers of healing. Moreover, the alien visitors
reiterate time after time that their presence is one of beneficence. Again we see this idea
of supernatural healing in a Weekly World News article. According to Ann Victoria,
Andorra Spain- Space Aliens are appearing in the hospital rooms of dying children, gently touching their foreheads- and curing them of terminal cancer!
That’s the incredible conclusion of 14 highly respected doctors and staff members at Pyrenees Hospital de Los Ninos who have seen the 4-foot-tall extraterrestrials work their magic on four terminally ill youngsters in the course of a month.
When the creatures entered the room of 7-year-old, terminally ill cancer patient Juan Guijarro, nurse Montoya alerted security guards and Dr. Thomas Ruiz. “Little Juan’s room was bathed in a bright golden light when I got there,” Dr. Ruiz recalled. “The aliens were standing by his bedside. There seemed to be a mystical bond between them and the boy. (Weekly World News, July, 29 2004)
The article goes on to state that the young patient went into spontaneous remission and all
traces of cancer disappeared. Much like the behavior of heavenly persona, the
extraterrestrial becomes a conduit for healing human illnesses.
Another characteristic that UFO contactees display after meeting with
extraterrestrial beings are psychic or otherwise supernormal powers. Much like prophets
and saints in Biblical times, these stories speak of extra-human abilities. According to
Fuller, “the fact is that many people who have been abducted do subsequently have
psychic and sometimes psychokinetic ability. In many instances, it seems to have
preceded the UFO sightings but also seems to have been enhanced afterward” (Fuller
1983: 354). In these cases, the extraterrestrial imparts mystical talents or insight. This
supposedly occurred in 1908 when writer and mountain climber Aleister Crowley came
into contact with a being that dictated a book to him. Called The Book Of The Law,
this tome is used by various religious groups that assert it to be of divine origin. Allen
Greenfield remarks that, “when Crowley engaged in magical working, these
praeterhuman intelligences would consistently arrive on the scene. One of them, calling
itself Lam, was sketched by Crowley and is the prototype of the current alien types seen
in present-day abduction cases” (Greenfield 1994: 24). Much like the knowledge related
to Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism, and Ron Hubbard, the inventor of Dianetics,
a “spiritual being” provided the inspiration for a new religious movement. This new
religion was called Thelema and included aspects of occultism, kaballah, yoga, and
Western mysticism. Thelema emphasizes the ethical code of ‘Do what thou wilt shall be
the whole of the law’ and relies on identifying with one’s Holy Guardian Angel to
achieve the True Will.
Although many reports of contact with extraterrestrial accentuate the loving
actions of angelic beings, there is also a darker side to UFO folklore. Adopting religious
axioms, for there to be angels full of god’s light, there must also be devils that represent
the wrath of hell. These more sinister motifs find their way into legends about Men In
Black and UFO abductions. Greenfield states that, “Men In Black terrify people, and the
Heaven’s Gate cult lured its followers to commit suicide. Such efforts betray the classic
tactics of demons as they confuse and mislead their victims to win their souls for hell”
(Greenfield 1994: 216). Most accounts of Men In Black occur after a UFO sighting or
contact. Men In Black are a prevalent part of UFO conspiracy theory. Most often, they
appear as clandestine government agents who appear to contactees and demand absolute
silence about what they experienced. Sometimes they appear alien themselves and move
in awkward or discomfited ways. Rojcewicz states that, “MIB have on occasion
displayed a very unusual walking motion, moving about as if their hips were swivel joints,
producing a gliding or rocking affect, often with the torso and legs seemingly moving
into opposite directions” (Rojcewicz 1987: 151). Reminiscent of traditional demon-lore,
the MIB are a class of supernatural entity apart from the usual extraterrestrial narrative.
Aside from the MIB phenomenon, the UFO abduction experience also conjures
images of hellish beings. In many cases, the abductee awakens in the middle of the night,
paralyzed and stricken with fear. Sometimes they are transported to a saucer where
torturous medical experiments are conducted on them. These accounts are suggestive of
Old Hag narratives that have been studied by folklorist David Hufford. In the classic Old-
Hag experience, the victim wakes up paralyzed and deeply afraid. Many times there is
pressure on his/her chest and a feeling of helplessness. According to an informant
interviewed by Hufford, “You are dreaming and you feel as if someone is holding you
down. You can do nothing only cry out. People believe that you will die if you are not
awakened” (Hufford 1982: 2). Hufford found Old Hag experiences bled into UFO
abductions. Hufford remarks that “the Old Hag, can be as easily assimilated to UFO
belief as it can to Vampirism, witchcraft, or anxiety neurosis” (Hufford 1982: 234).
UFO abduction examinations are also similar to the descriptions of hell that are
illustrated by Renaissance artists. For example, Hieronymus Bosch’s triptych of ‘The
Last Judgment’(1482- See Appendix) shows the demons of hell torturing sinners in Hell.
Much like people in UFO abduction narratives, the victims are forced to undergo
tormenting procedures. Thompson remarks that, “the piercing instruments used by aliens
in their examination bear a similarity, albeit genteel, to the piercing tortures which devils
inflict on sinners in Christian art and fundamentalist belief” (Thompson 1991: 147).
Borrowed from religious imagery of hell, the UFO abduction illustrates the suffering that
occurs as part of the supernatural assault. Weekly World News correspondent Michael
Forsyth reported a supposed abduction caught on film. According to the article:
Convincing new proof of UFOs has finally surfaced: The first verified photo of an alien abduction in progress.
The bone chilling image, captured by a home security camera in the bedroom of victim Catherine Nuburn, clearly shows the New Mexico woman being hauled screaming from her bed by a bald, bulbous-headed “gray-type” alien. The 31 year old divorcee hasn’t been seen since August 7-the date recorded in the videotape-and relatives fear the worst. The tape has since vanished, and the missing woman’s loved ones say it was taken by operatives from an unnamed agency, the notorious Men In Black. The attractive Canadian-born Nuburn first reported she was abducted by aliens in November 2002.
“She said it was simply terrifying,” recalls sister Dana, who still lives in Toronto. “Cathy told me she was stripped nude and suspended in midair by powerful rays. These robotic sensors that look like vacuum hoses probed every orifice of her body while small electrodes attached to her head seemed to be monitoring her brain” (Weekly World News, August 26 2003).
Verifying all our terrors of the supernatural, this account is very similar to attacks by
demons or the devil. Within the UFO abduction is a pattern of motifs and themes that
have long been associated with religious ideas of hell.
Finally, many accounts in UFO folklore have apocalyptic themes. Just like the
horror and devastation of the Bible’s book of Revelation, UFO-lore carries fears of the
‘end of the world’. This has been very popular in recent years with films such as
‘Skyline’ and ‘Battle LA’. Both of these films imagine what it would be like if aliens
came to take over the planet. As a way to address the fears about the apocalypse, the
UFO attack is similar to the idea of angels coming to earth in order to exact retribution
and divine punishment. Tabloids also make use such ideas. On February 18,
2011, Frank Lake reported that:
Alien spaceships to attack earth in 2011!
Three giant alien spaceships are heading for earth. Scientists
predict they will arrive in early 2011. UFO encounters continue to
increase as documented in WWN. And today scientists at SETI
(Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence), an independent non-
commercial organization made a major announcement:
“Three giant spaceships are heading toward Earth. The largest one of them is 200 miles wide. Two others are slightly smaller. At present, the objects are just moving past Jupiter. Judging by their speed, they should be on earth by early 2011,” said John Malley, the lead extraterrestrial expert at Seti. (Weekly World News, February 18, 2011)
Religions all around the globe have described ‘The End’ coming in some catastrophic
occurrence from the heavens. The mystery of what exists outside of our little terrestrial
planet has always fascinated theologians and philosophers. In the past, the apocalypse
was describes as coming in the form of fire and brimstone. Today, the UFO has taken the
place of angels as arbiter of Earth’s destruction......(To be continued)
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