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an assault by a primitive demon but also with probing by alien experimenters,” Cheyne said. “And the sensations of floating and flying account for the reports of levitation and transport to alien vessels.” transport to In recent years there has been a huge increase in the number of people who insist that they have been kidnapped by alien creatures from outer space, perhaps subjected to medical experiments and then released again. These claims have been a bit of a scientific puzzle, because they strike most people as utterly wacky and yet they are relatively widespread. One well-publicized (and widely criticized) Roper Poll published in 1992 suggested that nearly 4 million American reported experiences akin to alien abduction. Surprisingly, one study found that these people were no more fantasy-prone than the general population and had slightly higher intelligence. Many shun publicity and show signs of feeling traumatized and humiliated. Several scholars have found that people are more likely to report alien abductions when they have been exposed to movies or books about the idea. Simon Sherwood, a researcher on sleep paralysis in England, said that in one case study he gathered, a regular sufferer of sleep paralysis watched an alien film and then had a hallucination of “little blue aliens” found inserting a metal probe into his forehead. The growing professional literature on sleep paralysis has often mentioned the parallels with reports of alien abductions. Still, many scholars are reluctant to research the connection for fear of tainting their reputations. Others say that a connection is plausible but unproved. Those who believe in alien abductions deny that sleep paralysis could be behind it all. John E. Mack, a Harvard University Medical School professor who is the most prominent defender of the possibility of abductions, argues that sleep paralysis simply does not fit the evidence. He notes that at least a few abduction reports come from remote places where people are not exposed to movies or tales of UFO’s, and that many happen in daylight and involve people who seem to have been awake and alert. Other defenders of abduction theories say aliens may be clever enough to use sleep paralysis in their kidnappings. Sleep paralysis researchers say that as many as 60 percent of intense abduction experiences were linked to sleep, and some of the reported symptoms—noises, smells, paralysis, levitation, terror, images of frightening intruders—are very similar to those of sleep paralysis. So what is sleep paralysis? be a De Even after many years of study, particularly in the last decade, it remains mysterious. Experts have trouble even saying definitively whether a person is asleep or awake during sleep paralysis. “In the classic definition, you are awake,” said Emmanuel Mignot, director of the Center for Narcolepsy at Stanford University Medical School. “But in practice, there’s a gradient between being awake and being in REM sleep,” he said. During REM sleep—the period when rapid eye movement takes place—the body essentially turns itself off and disconnects from the brain. This is a safety measure, so that people do not physically act out their dreams, and it means that people are effectively paralyzed during part of their sleep. Even automatic reflexes, like kicking when the knee is tapped, do not work during REM sleep. Sleep paralysis seems to occur when the body is in REM sleep and so is paralyzed and disconnected from the brain, while the brain has emerged from sleep and is either awake or semiawake. Usually after a minute or two the spell is Leal ne ee ee LI te eee broken and the person is able to move again, as the brain and body re-establish their connection. What is going on in the brain during sleep paralysis is unclear. The person experiencing the paralysis feels complete- ly awake and “sees” the room clearly, but 77