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sound, or rest of their lives. Others verge on being overwhelmed by the traumatic impact and philosophical implications of their experiences and need a great deal of counseling and emotional support. .. . The effort to discover a personality type associated with abductions has also not been successful... . Similarly, there is no obvious pattern of family structure and interaction in the case of abductees. . . . An association with sexual abuse has also been suggested in the abduction literature. But here too errors related to the misremembering of traumatic experiences . . . can lead to falsely overstressing the association. There is not a single abduction case in my experience or that of other investigators that has turned out to have masked a history of sexual abuse or any other traumatic cause. But the reverse has frequently occurred—that an abduction history has been revealed in cases investigated for sexual or other traumatic abuse. experiences ~ 40 [On the other hand, I do] have the impression that abductees as a group are usually open and intuitive individuals, less tolerant than usual of societal authoritari- anism, and more flexible in accepting diversity and the unusual experiences of other people. Some of my cases [even] report a variety of psychic experiences, which has been noted by other research- ers.... [THE TYPICAL ABDUCTION EXPERIENCE: A SUMMARY] Abduction encounters begin most commonly in homes or when abductees are driving automobiles. In some cases the experiencer may be walking in nature. One woman reported being taken from a snowmobile on a winter’s day. Children have experienced being taken from school yards. The first indication that an abduction is about to occur might be an unexplained intense blue or white light that floods the bedroom, an odd buzzing most or humming — sound, — unexplained apprehension, the sense of an unusual presence or even the direct sighting of one or more humanoid beings in the room, and, of course, the close-up sighting of a strange craft. When an abduction begins during the night, or, as is common, during the early hours of the morning, the experiencer may at first call what is happening a dream. But careful questioning will reveal that the experiencer had not fallen asleep at all, or that the experience began in a conscious state after awakening. As the abduction begins the abductee may experience a subtle shift of consciousness, but this state of being is just as real, or even more so, than the “normal” one. Sometimes there is a moment of shock and sadness when the abductee discovers in the initial interview, or during a hypnosis session, that what they had more comfortably held to be a dream was actually some sort of bizarre, threatening, and vivid experience which they may then recall has occurred repeatedly and for which they have no explanation. After the initial contact, the abductee is commonly “floated” (the word most commonly used) down the hall, through the wall or windows of the house, or through the roof of the car. They are usually astounded to discover that they are passed through solid objects, experi- encing only a slight vibratory sensation. In most cases the beam of light seems to serve as an energy source or “ramp” for transporting the abductee from the place where the abduction starts to a waiting vehicle. Usually the experiencer is accompanied by one, two, or more humanoid beings who guide them to the ship. At some point early in this process the experiencer discovers that he or she has been numbed or totally paralyzed by a touch of the hand or an instrument held by one of the beings. Abductees may still be able to move their heads, and usually can see what is going on, although frequently they will close their eyes so