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brightness. The distance between the two stars of Zeta Reticuli, in particular, is exaggerated to the point where the map would be useless for navigation. What could a saucer pilot do with such a map? Why draw it from a viewpoint that doesn't correspond to any known celestial object? And why use a map at all, for heaven's sake? Even by the standards of our own space technology, we already fly spacecraft by software and telemetry, not by maps. The object seen by Betty aboard the craft was as ludicrous as a propeller or a rudder would have been. Why not a Westinghouse air brake, as a witness thought he heard on the 1897 airship? Or a whistle? Or a bell? Or a flameless grill? Or a clock whose hands did not move? If the map was real, it must have been placed there for Betty Hill to see, not for the pilot to use! Exposing unsuspecting people to staged scenes in order to further a certain belief is an old trick. During World War II, for example, the British changed all the road signs along the route of a German general who had been captured and who was driven to the coast in an exchange of prisoners. He would thus testify to the German High Command that he had seen tanks, trucks, and barracks in the area where the Allies were assembling a "phantom army" ready to strike northern Europe. This was only one of many deceptions designed to distract the German army away from aT Normandy. We can only guess at the purpose of staging such a scene for Betty Hill. Perhaps it served to reinforce her belief that she was dealing with space visitors. Perhaps it diverted her attention away from something else. Perhaps the purpose was to have her convince others that a space invasion was possible. Perhaps, again, it was meant as a symbol of our mistaken understanding of physical dimensions, like the absurd dialogue in other cases. Or was it an impression that came into her consciousness under the stress of the abduction experience? There are now hundreds of documented claims of abductions — that is, instances when the witness of a close encounter has recalled under hypnosis that he or she was forcibly taken inside a UFO. Generally, the witness describes one of the standard scenes we have reviewed: some medical examination is performed and instruments are inserted into the human patient, often causing trauma or pain. The examination is often gynecological in nature, culminating in the removal of a woman's fetus in a case described at lenght by Budd Hopkins, who argues that all this points to an extraterrestrial race trying to enrich itself or even to preserve its future through biogenetic engineering. Evidence that such encounters are real is allegedly provided by scars on the witnesses' bodies and by the missing time in their conscious recollection of the events surrounding the abduction, which is only clearly remembered under hypnosis. The granddaddy of all abductions cases remains the Betty and Barney Hill episode of 1961. The abduction data are obviously of the greatest interest. The information is usually presented in the UFO literature (for example, in John Fuller's Interrupted Journey, or in Budd Hopkin's Jntruders) as the ultimate argument in favor of the extraterrestrial theory. The abductions are said to provide us with the missing motive of the coming of the UFOs: they need human specimens to study our race, not only to understand us but to interbreed with us, to provide new genetic material for their own survival. The parallel between these modern claims and the medieval legends is closer than ever. The same theory was presented about intercourse with the elves. I have shown that fairy tales are full of stories about the stealing of human babies, changelings, and the abduction of both males and females for procreation with the Gentry. Even the scars sound familiar. Budd Hopkins and scores of other ufologists carefully examine UFO witnesses for unexplained scars or marks that might indicate they were victims of an abduction (perhaps one they cannot recall consciously). Throughout the Middle Ages priests and inquisitors similarly examined the bodies of people suspected of having attended the sabbat of the witches. The proof of such supernatural contact was Pitfalls in the Abduction Data