THE PARACAST NEWSLETTER
June 21, 2015
www.theparacast.com
The Paracast Presents a UFO Abduction Update with Kathleen Marden
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
Announcing The Paracast+: We have another radio show, and for a low monthly or annual subscription fee, you will receive access to After The Paracast, plus a higher-quality version of The Paracast without, the network ads, and chat rooms. NEW! We’ve added an RSS feed for fast updates of the latest episodes, and The Paracast+ video channel is coming soon. For more information about our premium package, please visit: Introducing The Paracast+ | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio.
Attention U.S. Listeners: Help Us Bring The Paracast to Your City! In the summer of 2010, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. But we need your help to add additional affiliates to our growing network. Please ask one of your local talk stations if they are interested in carrying The Paracast. Feel free to contact us directly with the names of programming people we might be able to contact on your behalf. We can't do this alone, and if you succeed in convincing your local station to carry the show, we'll reward you with one of our special T-shirts, and other goodies. With your help, The Paracast can grow into one of the most popular paranormal shows on the planet!
Please Visit Our Online Store: You asked, and we answered. We are now taking orders for The Official Paracast T-Shirt and an expanded collection of other specially customized merchandise. To get your T-Shirt now featuring our brand new logo, just pay a visit to our online store at The Official Paracast Store to select your size and place your order. We also offer a complete lineup of other premium merchandise for your family, your friends and your business contacts.
About The Paracast: The Paracast covers a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions across the planet.
Set Up: The Paracast is a paranormal radio show that takes you on a journey to a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions. The Paracast seeks to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives.
Join long-time paranormal researcher Gene Steinberg, co-host and acclaimed field investigator Christopher O'Brien, and a panel of special guest experts and experiencers, as they explore the realms of the known and unknown. Listen each week to the great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries.
This Week's Episode: It’s been a while since we’ve devoted a full episode of The Paracast to the controversial subject of UFO abductions, so we’ve asked Kathleen Marden to join us to report on the latest discoveries and answer listener questions. Kathleen is the niece of Betty Hill, whose abduction experience with her husband Barney has been regarded as one of the most credible such encounters. Kathleen is also associated with the Mutual UFO Network, as Director of Experiencer Research and the Foundation for Research into Extraterrestrial Encounters, as an advisory board member and consultant to its research subcommittee.
Chris O’Brien’s Site: Our Strange Planet
Kathleen Marden’s Blog: http://www.kathleen-marden.com/
Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers on June 21: Gene and Chris talk about the reasoning behind the decision of a regional MUFON investigator to request the organization bar the promoters of a certain “topic that shall not be named,” from appearing at future conferences. The discussion turns to UFO abductions, as Gene and Chris speak of the issues that put the entire issue on its head. Why, for example, if the aliens are using screen memories to hide the recollection of an abduction, is it so easy for researchers and therapists to recover those alleged memories? And are the memories recovered what really happened? One possibility: Subject people who report abductions to medical tests that include an MRI, to see if there are any indications of some mental abnormality that might cause — or result from — the abduction. Chris also talks about self-nullification in paranormal research, when investigators try to find patterns, only to come up with exceptions.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums.
About Screen Memories
By Gene Steinberg
A common phenomenon in a possible UFO abduction is the screen memory. Supposedly someone has a memory or recurring dream about a compelling or frightening image, such as a huge owl with piercing eyes. Upon further investigation, quite often using some sort of memory recovery method, such as hypnotic regression, the individual recalls being abducted by aliens, usually taken aboard a spaceship where traumatic physical examinations may occur.
This is a fairly common scenario, and abduction researchers speculate that our visitors are implanting those screen memories to hide the actual experience; an alien pacifier I suppose. Or our subconscious is manufacturing that image to protect us from some sort of deep trauma.
If the aliens are doing the deed, it’s clear that they aren’t very good at this form of mind control, since experiencers routinely recall the “real” experiences when subjected to such therapeutic techniques as regressive hypnosis.
Some abduction researchers employ what is known as forensic hypnosis, a refined method used in law enforcement to relax witnesses and help them to recall events and suspect descriptions that evidently aren’t being remembered using traditional interviewing and interrogating schemes.
Now it’s true that using hypnosis to attempt to retrieve memories of possible abductions is extremely controversial. It is suggested that it’s just too easy to lead a witness to recall the details of a possible abduction encounter that didn’t actually occur. But that’s another discussion for another time.
Even when all or most of the memories of an abduction are present without any extra therapeutic assistance, there are details that appear to be held in common among experiencers. So we have people sometimes being levitated and transported through the walls of a bedroom on the way to the spaceship, where they are often subjected to painful physical examinations before they are returned to the sanctity of their homes.
I realize some of those experiences might be traced to sleep paralysis, or some sort of physical condition, but there are incidents that aren’t so readily explained.
There are also loads of questions. For one thing, if ET represents a highly advanced civilization from another planet in another star system, why do they employ clearly primitive and invasive methods to examine Earthlings? If it’s all meant to accumulate genetic samples, for research or, as some suggest, to create a hybrid race (human/alien), couldn’t it be accomplished without causing physical and psychological harm? They don’t seem so advanced after all, or perhaps they don’t respect humanity enough to care.
Could there be other causes?
Well, a recent article in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald suggests that recollections of alien abductions may be traced to “abnormalities in brainwave activity in their parietal lobe,” which, according to a neurologist quoted in the piece, “does visual and auditory integration into higher order thinking.”
The article says that the electrical activity in patients’ brains was measured using a costly dense-array electroencephalography device, referred to as a DEEG. The results are said to be similar to measurements taken of the brains of individuals who suffered traumatic brain injuries, thus implying that, if the abnormality is treated, usually with medications, the abductions will stop.
So far so good, but what about shared experiences? Is it reasonable to assume that all these people coincidentally suffer from the very same brain abnormalities or injuries? That appears to be stretching the possibilities of logic. Or is it possible that the abduction experience induces such conditions? It’s about the cause and the effect. So was it the result of a head injury? Is the individual’s past medical history being examined? Did such an injury induce an abduction experience? Or do such aftereffects develop in the brains of ordinary people subjected to such an encounter?
These are just some of the questions such simplistic studies fail to resolve. Certainly if a brain injury triggers the presumably false memory of an abduction, why aren’t football players and other atheletes routinely subjected to head trauma reporting such episodes?
But there is yet another question, which is whether the experiences that are recalled, with or without the aid of hypnosis, represent the actual encounter. If the aliens can implant symbols that are supposed to prevent people from recalling the actual abduction, why assume what is presumed to be the genuine experience isn’t itself a screen memory that prevents us from recalling a very different encounter?
This is the sort of reverse question I will ask abduction researchers from time to time, and it does push them off their timing. After all, it turns the conventional wisdom on its head, the claim that the memories of these experiences accurately reflect what really happened to these people. That key details are repeated in description after description – and some are withheld by researchers for verification – ought to indicate that the very question and its premise is just plain silly.
Well, perhaps. But the fact of the matter is that we just don’t know what really happened. It’s not that scientists are on hand to witness the encounter in progress. Besides, if aliens wanted to hide or alter witness memories of a contact experience, I would expect they could do so in a way that wouldn’t be so easily detected. Exposing the traditional screen memories of an abductee is just too simple, and itself may be a misdirection.
The other question, one that looms above all, is how physical such an experience might be. So if two people were in the same room at the same time, would both have the identical experience? Obviously in the case of Barney and Betty Hill, the answer is a resounding yes. But there have been UFO cases in which some witnesses saw something and others did not, so you wonder whether something above and beyond our five senses is at play here.
These aren’t easy questions to answer, but a big problem in the UFO field is that too many researchers are assuming all of the sightings and direct personal experiences must be taken at face value. There is no cultural aspect, or other influence that may be at work.
But consider a pivotal scene in the movie, “Contact,” based on the Carl Sagan novel. The key protagonist, Jodie Foster, portraying an astronomer, attempts to travel in some sort of wormhole device constructed using blueprints provided by the aliens. She finds herself meeting an individual who appears to be her father; yes, she had daddy issues too. And the alien tells her that he (or it) appears in a familiar form because she would be unable to accept the being’s true appearance.
Yes, the stuff of fiction. But what if that was true? What if our visitors, whoever or whatever they might be, appear to us in forms that we can accept because of the limitations of our senses, or to be a more comfortable presence? No bug-eyed monsters!
It does appear that UFO abductions, by and large, are extremely uncomfortable experiences, although some contactees seem to welcome or invite them regardless of the frightening implications. As time goes by, it is more and more evident to me that such encounters are far more complicated than they appear, at first, to be. In the search for simple answers, perhaps researchers are overlooking the key evidence that will point them in the right direction.
Copyright 1999-2015 The Paracast LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!
June 21, 2015
www.theparacast.com
The Paracast Presents a UFO Abduction Update with Kathleen Marden
The Paracast is heard Sundays from 3:00 AM until 6:00 AM Central Time on the GCN Radio Network and affiliates around the USA, the Boost Radio Network, the IRN Internet Radio Network, and online across the globe via download and on-demand streaming.
Announcing The Paracast+: We have another radio show, and for a low monthly or annual subscription fee, you will receive access to After The Paracast, plus a higher-quality version of The Paracast without, the network ads, and chat rooms. NEW! We’ve added an RSS feed for fast updates of the latest episodes, and The Paracast+ video channel is coming soon. For more information about our premium package, please visit: Introducing The Paracast+ | The Paracast — The Gold Standard of Paranormal Radio.
Attention U.S. Listeners: Help Us Bring The Paracast to Your City! In the summer of 2010, The Paracast joined the GCN radio network. This represented a huge step in bringing our show to a larger, mainstream audience. But we need your help to add additional affiliates to our growing network. Please ask one of your local talk stations if they are interested in carrying The Paracast. Feel free to contact us directly with the names of programming people we might be able to contact on your behalf. We can't do this alone, and if you succeed in convincing your local station to carry the show, we'll reward you with one of our special T-shirts, and other goodies. With your help, The Paracast can grow into one of the most popular paranormal shows on the planet!
Please Visit Our Online Store: You asked, and we answered. We are now taking orders for The Official Paracast T-Shirt and an expanded collection of other specially customized merchandise. To get your T-Shirt now featuring our brand new logo, just pay a visit to our online store at The Official Paracast Store to select your size and place your order. We also offer a complete lineup of other premium merchandise for your family, your friends and your business contacts.
About The Paracast: The Paracast covers a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions across the planet.
Set Up: The Paracast is a paranormal radio show that takes you on a journey to a world beyond science, where UFOs, poltergeists and strange phenomena of all kinds have been reported by millions. The Paracast seeks to shed light on the mysteries and complexities of our Universe and the secrets that surround us in our everyday lives.
Join long-time paranormal researcher Gene Steinberg, co-host and acclaimed field investigator Christopher O'Brien, and a panel of special guest experts and experiencers, as they explore the realms of the known and unknown. Listen each week to the great stories of the history of the paranormal field in the 20th and 21st centuries.
This Week's Episode: It’s been a while since we’ve devoted a full episode of The Paracast to the controversial subject of UFO abductions, so we’ve asked Kathleen Marden to join us to report on the latest discoveries and answer listener questions. Kathleen is the niece of Betty Hill, whose abduction experience with her husband Barney has been regarded as one of the most credible such encounters. Kathleen is also associated with the Mutual UFO Network, as Director of Experiencer Research and the Foundation for Research into Extraterrestrial Encounters, as an advisory board member and consultant to its research subcommittee.
Chris O’Brien’s Site: Our Strange Planet
Kathleen Marden’s Blog: http://www.kathleen-marden.com/
Available exclusively to Paracast+ subscribers on June 21: Gene and Chris talk about the reasoning behind the decision of a regional MUFON investigator to request the organization bar the promoters of a certain “topic that shall not be named,” from appearing at future conferences. The discussion turns to UFO abductions, as Gene and Chris speak of the issues that put the entire issue on its head. Why, for example, if the aliens are using screen memories to hide the recollection of an abduction, is it so easy for researchers and therapists to recover those alleged memories? And are the memories recovered what really happened? One possibility: Subject people who report abductions to medical tests that include an MRI, to see if there are any indications of some mental abnormality that might cause — or result from — the abduction. Chris also talks about self-nullification in paranormal research, when investigators try to find patterns, only to come up with exceptions.
Reminder: Please don't forget to visit our famous Paracast Community Forums for the latest news/views/debates on all things paranormal: The Paracast Community Forums.
About Screen Memories
By Gene Steinberg
A common phenomenon in a possible UFO abduction is the screen memory. Supposedly someone has a memory or recurring dream about a compelling or frightening image, such as a huge owl with piercing eyes. Upon further investigation, quite often using some sort of memory recovery method, such as hypnotic regression, the individual recalls being abducted by aliens, usually taken aboard a spaceship where traumatic physical examinations may occur.
This is a fairly common scenario, and abduction researchers speculate that our visitors are implanting those screen memories to hide the actual experience; an alien pacifier I suppose. Or our subconscious is manufacturing that image to protect us from some sort of deep trauma.
If the aliens are doing the deed, it’s clear that they aren’t very good at this form of mind control, since experiencers routinely recall the “real” experiences when subjected to such therapeutic techniques as regressive hypnosis.
Some abduction researchers employ what is known as forensic hypnosis, a refined method used in law enforcement to relax witnesses and help them to recall events and suspect descriptions that evidently aren’t being remembered using traditional interviewing and interrogating schemes.
Now it’s true that using hypnosis to attempt to retrieve memories of possible abductions is extremely controversial. It is suggested that it’s just too easy to lead a witness to recall the details of a possible abduction encounter that didn’t actually occur. But that’s another discussion for another time.
Even when all or most of the memories of an abduction are present without any extra therapeutic assistance, there are details that appear to be held in common among experiencers. So we have people sometimes being levitated and transported through the walls of a bedroom on the way to the spaceship, where they are often subjected to painful physical examinations before they are returned to the sanctity of their homes.
I realize some of those experiences might be traced to sleep paralysis, or some sort of physical condition, but there are incidents that aren’t so readily explained.
There are also loads of questions. For one thing, if ET represents a highly advanced civilization from another planet in another star system, why do they employ clearly primitive and invasive methods to examine Earthlings? If it’s all meant to accumulate genetic samples, for research or, as some suggest, to create a hybrid race (human/alien), couldn’t it be accomplished without causing physical and psychological harm? They don’t seem so advanced after all, or perhaps they don’t respect humanity enough to care.
Could there be other causes?
Well, a recent article in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald suggests that recollections of alien abductions may be traced to “abnormalities in brainwave activity in their parietal lobe,” which, according to a neurologist quoted in the piece, “does visual and auditory integration into higher order thinking.”
The article says that the electrical activity in patients’ brains was measured using a costly dense-array electroencephalography device, referred to as a DEEG. The results are said to be similar to measurements taken of the brains of individuals who suffered traumatic brain injuries, thus implying that, if the abnormality is treated, usually with medications, the abductions will stop.
So far so good, but what about shared experiences? Is it reasonable to assume that all these people coincidentally suffer from the very same brain abnormalities or injuries? That appears to be stretching the possibilities of logic. Or is it possible that the abduction experience induces such conditions? It’s about the cause and the effect. So was it the result of a head injury? Is the individual’s past medical history being examined? Did such an injury induce an abduction experience? Or do such aftereffects develop in the brains of ordinary people subjected to such an encounter?
These are just some of the questions such simplistic studies fail to resolve. Certainly if a brain injury triggers the presumably false memory of an abduction, why aren’t football players and other atheletes routinely subjected to head trauma reporting such episodes?
But there is yet another question, which is whether the experiences that are recalled, with or without the aid of hypnosis, represent the actual encounter. If the aliens can implant symbols that are supposed to prevent people from recalling the actual abduction, why assume what is presumed to be the genuine experience isn’t itself a screen memory that prevents us from recalling a very different encounter?
This is the sort of reverse question I will ask abduction researchers from time to time, and it does push them off their timing. After all, it turns the conventional wisdom on its head, the claim that the memories of these experiences accurately reflect what really happened to these people. That key details are repeated in description after description – and some are withheld by researchers for verification – ought to indicate that the very question and its premise is just plain silly.
Well, perhaps. But the fact of the matter is that we just don’t know what really happened. It’s not that scientists are on hand to witness the encounter in progress. Besides, if aliens wanted to hide or alter witness memories of a contact experience, I would expect they could do so in a way that wouldn’t be so easily detected. Exposing the traditional screen memories of an abductee is just too simple, and itself may be a misdirection.
The other question, one that looms above all, is how physical such an experience might be. So if two people were in the same room at the same time, would both have the identical experience? Obviously in the case of Barney and Betty Hill, the answer is a resounding yes. But there have been UFO cases in which some witnesses saw something and others did not, so you wonder whether something above and beyond our five senses is at play here.
These aren’t easy questions to answer, but a big problem in the UFO field is that too many researchers are assuming all of the sightings and direct personal experiences must be taken at face value. There is no cultural aspect, or other influence that may be at work.
But consider a pivotal scene in the movie, “Contact,” based on the Carl Sagan novel. The key protagonist, Jodie Foster, portraying an astronomer, attempts to travel in some sort of wormhole device constructed using blueprints provided by the aliens. She finds herself meeting an individual who appears to be her father; yes, she had daddy issues too. And the alien tells her that he (or it) appears in a familiar form because she would be unable to accept the being’s true appearance.
Yes, the stuff of fiction. But what if that was true? What if our visitors, whoever or whatever they might be, appear to us in forms that we can accept because of the limitations of our senses, or to be a more comfortable presence? No bug-eyed monsters!
It does appear that UFO abductions, by and large, are extremely uncomfortable experiences, although some contactees seem to welcome or invite them regardless of the frightening implications. As time goes by, it is more and more evident to me that such encounters are far more complicated than they appear, at first, to be. In the search for simple answers, perhaps researchers are overlooking the key evidence that will point them in the right direction.
Copyright 1999-2015 The Paracast LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Privacy Policy: Your personal information is safe with us. We will positively never give out your name and/or e-mail address to anybody else, and that's a promise!