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The Siege - Five Illuminations. In bold print, the notice simply said: TED RICE WOULD LIKE TO START A UFO ABDUC- TION SUPPORT GROUP. PLEASE INDICATE YOUR INTEREST TO P. O. BOX. AND WE WILL FORWARD TOTED. It was his way of putting his problem in the hands of a greater force, as he’d done many times in the past. He had no idea what results the announcement might bring, but he knew what he and his friends had hoped for: a knowledge- able UFO researcher and a competent hypnotist who could help them investigate their experiences. It was time for some answers. But even Ted didn’t expect that a reply would come so soon. A month after the notice was printed, Ted received a letter from Dr. Karla Turner, an abduction researcher in Little Rock, responding to his announcement. As he read through the letter, his excitement grew. Dr. Turner told him that not only had she been working with another researcher whose abduction reports numbered well into the hundreds, but that she herself was an abductee. And she recommended that he contact the other researcher, Barbara Bartholic, if he should decide to use regressive hypnosis as an investigative tool. The letter felt like an answer to his prayer. He didn’t know exactly what was involved in an abduction investiga- tion, but he was determined to find out. Ted wrote back to Dr. Turner right away, asking her to phone, and once that contact was made, they talked frequently. Karla explained how she had come to work with Barbara a few years earlier when her own family had gone through repeated encounters with aliens. And she had just written a book, INTO THE FRINGE, that told of her family’s experiences. She also let him know that there were thousands of other people going through the same sort of thing, and this reassured Ted that he wasn’t merely suffering from a mental disturbance. But other than these things, Karla didn’t give Ted any new information. Instead, she concentrated on learning all about Ted’s past experiences as well as about his personal and family background. He told her of his childhood in the cottonfield country of northwest Alabama, where he was Masquerade of Angels 38 The Siege - Five born in 1942 and where he learned to love nature and its wilder creatures. He told her about his career in business finance and also about his psychic work. She listened intently as Ted explained his metaphysical philosophy, which taught him that all life forms evolve upward spiritually, toward perfection and the ultimate source of all genesis. People who come into this world des- tined to work and contribute to human transcendence are known as “Light Workers,” a term commonly used for spirit- ual teachers and leaders in the metaphysical community. And he shared his sense of mission, that his psychic gift should be used to help others understand their own destinies and to show them how the powers of love and light were at work in their lives. Through these long conversations, Karla came to know Ted as a warm, accessible, insightful man, with the sense of humor of a natural comedian. When Ted went on to describe some of the bizarre events in his life, Karla recognized details that indicated ongoing alien encounters. She put him in touch with Barbara Bartholic, and soon they made plans to meet in person. Ted was eager to learn about the strange beings whose involve- ment in his life he could no longer deny, and he hoped that regressive hypnosis would help uncover any hidden knowl- edge. But before Barbara consented to work with Ted, she needed to know as much about him as possible. Over weeks of long phone conversations, she listened as Ted unfolded a most amazing account. From everything she had learned investigating other abduction cases, it soon became clear to Barbara that Ted Rice had indeed been chosen for a life-long involvement with forces that most people never knew exist- His recent encounters with UFOs and aliens, she soon learned, were just another twist in the path he had traveled. He had known spirits and spaceships, angels and ghosts, a beautiful female ET and a bizarre reptilian humanoid, and he had been shown scenes of heaven and of horrible destruction. In order to make any sense of these events, his entire life’s journey had to be examined. And the story that emerged, of Masquerade of Angels 39