Page 57 - EM 1 Oct Nov 2019_june_july_2009_Neat

Alien Abduction 57

Alien Abduction,

Are people really being

abducted by aliens?

by Dr. John Cline Ph.D.

I was recently on the windswept, beautiful, and
remote island of Islay in Scotland. It is an island
that is mysterious and isolated. Here can be
found the famous “walking stones.” These tall
stones have flat sides and were most likely
directional markers left by people in the early
Bronze Age or the even earlier Neolithic period.
Seeing these ancient stones, whether they are
grouped side by side by side, or standing singly,
like solitary sentinels in abandoned fields, can
make one wonder about the people who placed
them there. For viewers of shows like “Ancient
Aliens” the stones may bring to mind questions
concerning times long past, when humans,
perhaps, were influenced by visitors from other
worlds.
For Scotch whiskey lovers, Islay is the the malting building, I stood holding a door people all the time. Add in jet lag and sleep
center of the universe. It is the place where the waiting for the last person to come along. I was deprivation from several weeks of traveling
most pungent spirits in the world are made. sure there was someone behind me. As the across time zones and I was emotionally primed
Anyone visiting the island has to take some time voices of the tour group began to fade I kept for a strong reaction to anything out of the
looking back but there was no one there. I was ordinary. Next, you have the setting. A
and tour at least a few of the eight distilleries
there. One of the distilleries I visited was sure there was someone there and as I looked somewhat eerie, echoing, empty building with
Laphroaig. Laphroaig is noted for its peaty, down the hall I thought I saw a door open a bit lots of side spaces and open windows that create
smoky whiskey. How it becomes so peaty and and then close. I went back but there was no one the sensation of movement out of the corner of
smoky has to do with the preparation of one of there. A slight chill went down my back and I your eye. And, of course, you have the story
its main ingredients: Malted Barley. In order to hurried to get out of that room and catch up with about the place being haunted with reports of the
make this critical ingredient, it is necessary to the rest of the group. I was more than slightly discomfort of people who have to work there
moisten raw barley and allow it to start relieved when I caught up with them and we and so you have a strong psychological set
germinating. Once that process is underway, walked out into a suddenly clear and beautiful primed for something unusual. I have no
summer day in Scotland. memory of thinking “I wonder if I will see a
enzymes are released that help break down the
starches in the barley into sugars that can be I relate this story because my experience ghost here” or anything of the sort, but it
fermented. Germination is stopped by heating falls into a category of events that have been certainly wouldn’t be hard to imagine something
and drying the barley. In olden times, the only called “anomalous experiences” (Cardena, like that going on at a preconscious level.
material available for this process on Islay was Lynn, & Krippner, 2014) or “exceptional human I am fairly sure that the above
peat. Since the island is made mostly of peat, experiences” (Palmer, 2013). Such experiences considerations largely explain my experience.
there were no trees for wood and peat was are often referred to as being “paranormal” and But what about the door opening? Surely that
plentiful and reasonably easy to use. It imparted are usually considered unnatural or abnormal. couldn’t be just psychological, could it? I’m not
a unique taste to the whiskey that was distinctive As a psychologist, I have often wondered what so sure. We often have fleeting perceptual
it would be like to have one of these experiences that may not qualify as full blow
and definitely acquired. That smoky taste that
has been increasingly popular around the world experiences. While in a few particularly eerie hallucinations but which nevertheless make us
in recent decades and Laphroaig is one of the settings I have kind of hoped to have one, but do double takes. I’m really not certain I actually
most heavily peated whiskeys available. have been disappointed. On this occasion, I was saw the door open. It’s a fuzzy memory now, not
Now, the reason that I am relating this is not. clear and I’m full of doubt. Maybe it did open
that I had my first “paranormal” experience Anomalous experiences include such and maybe it didn’t. Clearly, when I went back
while at this particular distillery. Islay is stark phenomena as synesthesia, hallucinations, lucid to check there was no one there.
and lonely and just walking the hilly path to the dreaming, past-life memories, and alien The bottom line is, that in situations like
distillery put me in touch with deep feelings of abduction, among others. Many of these this, we can never be absolutely sure as to what
experiences are fascinating, possibly disturbing, actually happened. Perhaps I was in a
connection to the land and the past. So perhaps I
was already “primed” for an unusual experience. or life-changing for the people who experience psychological state in which I could misperceive
The tour guide explained that during the malting them, and they often challenge our events; maybe I thought I saw something that I
process the barley has to be turned frequently understanding of consciousness and the universe didn’t. That is to say, perhaps I had an
while on the malting floor to keep it from we inhabit. experience that would not have registered on a
turning into an unusable mass of tangled In the case of my “paranormal” surveillance camera. But I will never know. And
sprouts. This means that 24 hours a day, seven experience, it is easy to invoke standard this is one of the qualities of these anomalous
days a week during the malting process, workers psychological explanations for what occurred. experiences that I wanted to emphasize before
must return several times an hour to repeatedly Just being on Islay is close to a paranormal getting into the details of one of the most
experience for someone used to a densely fascinating of anomalous experiences—alien
turn the peat. This is hard work and can lead to
a repetitive strain condition known among populated urban environment. It is sparsely abduction.
workers in the whiskey business as “monkey populated and you can drive for miles without We are often presented with events that
shoulder”. She explained that many workers feel seeing any evidence of human habitation. No may have a number of possible explanations. In
the malting building at Laphroaig is haunted and other cars, no people walking, no houses or my situation, it is possible that psychological
hate having to do the overnight shift. buildings as far as the eye can see. The weather factors led to misperception of ordinary
Apparently, many workers have had unusual is constantly changing and you can have “four sensations that resulted in a strange experience
experiences while there alone at night. Like seasons in one day”. This can be disorienting to of unsettled mild fear—of the unknown.
most everyone else, I chuckled at this and someone like me who is used to being around
the physical artifacts of human activity and other (Continued on Page 58)
continued on with the tour. As we were leaving