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nights and other symptoms of stress after a UFO sighting the previous year. Joel had difficulty relaxing enough to achieve a deep trance state, but eventually he remembered a few details, including the typical on-board examination and a group of humanoids who appeared dressed in medieval-type clothing. His memories were sparse, however, and although he did not recall anything particularly traumatic, Barbara noticed that his emotional and physical responses under hyp- nosis were overly intense. “Joel’s stress was clearly apparent,” she told Ted later that evening. “That’s one of the indications I watch for, the dis- crepancy between the events and the emotional response. The things Joel remembered shouldn’t have been that upsetting, so probably there are other details still hidden from his recall. He’s responding subliminally, even if he can’t remember them.” “Well, if he’s been through anything like I have,” Ted commiserated, “then I can understand his anxiety. Who are you seeing tomorrow?” “A woman named Paige,” Barbara said, checking the schedule. “You'll really like her,” Ted nodded. “Paige is a wonder- ful person, really sweet and intelligent. She’s been going through some problems of her own, though, and I'll bet that her UFO experiences are involved.” When he came home from work the next day, Ted was eager to hear what had happened with Barbara and Paige, but this time Barbara was reluctant to discuss the regression. “Let’s wait a while before I go into that with you,” she suggested. “Why?” Ted asked. “Paige already told me that she wouldn’t mind me knowing whatever she found out.” “Trust me about this,” Barbara replied. “Paige’s experi- ence may turn out to be similar to something you and I haven’t yet explored in your case. I’d rather wait to see what you remember before I tell you about her recollections.” “Was she surprised or upset about it?” he asked, intrigued. “Yes,” Barbara nodded, “she was pretty disturbed, but Masquerade of Angels 244 she did feel better when it was over, relieved to have gotten it out finally. God, Ted, some of the things people report to me are just incomprehensible. Knowing how the aliens can manipulate our perceptions, I can’t help wondering just how much of what abductees see in their experiences is actually real. How do we know that all these things aren’t simply illu- sions programmed into our memories?” “Some of it obviously is false,” Ted agreed, “but in my case, at least, there were some very real events that several other people witnessed. When I was taken and cloned at eight years old, I remembered being returned to the house in a dark, swirling atmosphere, and all of my relatives saw what they thought was a tornado. They’d been out looking for me because the storm was coming up, and nobody could find me until it blew over. My uncle said that he saw different colored lights inside the funnel cloud, which probably came from the “And after that,” Ted continued, “Mama and the others remember how I changed. For weeks I complained about hor- rible burning in my body, and my mother bathed me with cold, wet towels trying to soothe me. My personality changed, too, and I was withdrawn and real quiet, not at all like I’d acted before.” “Your grandmother witnessed whatever had gone on with you two later on,” Barbara pointed out, “even though she thought those beings were devils.” “Can you blame her?” Ted replied. “I wish all this stuff wasn’t real, but it sure seems to be. Either that, or these beings are going to extreme measures to make people believe that it is. Why would they do that, though? What are they getting out of such intrusions, real or contrived?” “That’s the big question,” Barbara mused. “Just pray that someday we have an answer.” She met the next day with Leslie, one of Ted’s coworkers. As they got to know each other, Leslie explained that she had met Ted when he was doing psychic readings in a town where she was living. She was just one of many people attending his presentation, until Ted singled her out with the message that someone in the spirit plane, named James, Masquerade of Angels 245 The Light - Twenty-Four The Light - Twenty-Four