Friday, February 3, 2012

Alien Encounters: Real or Just a Dream? - An Anecdote


When discussing the topic of paranormal events, questions on the topic of aliens always pique my interest: Do aliens, also known as extraterrestrial creatures, exist? If so, have they been on earth? What kind of proof do we have? A dear friend of mine, whom I will call "Fiona," to keep her name confidential, once told me that she believes she may have had an encounter with real aliens, despite a lack of an obession with them. After asking permission to use her story for a blog post, she sent me this long message explaining in detail:
"So when I was in the first grade, I was living in a duplex that was fairly creepy itself. My dad worked as a traveling salesman for a mattress company and my mother worked in a doctor's office as the nurse. He would often go away on trips and stay overnight. When he would do this, I would go sleep in their bed because thats just what little kids do.

"One night while he was away and I was sleeping in there. I was awoken because there was a light on. I originally thought it was my mother in the bathroom because the bedroom was connected to a master bathroom. When I sat up, I noticed the light was coming in from the skylight that was in the small hallway that connected the master bath to the master bedroom. It was extremely bright. Through the light, I could make out several tall standing objects. When they moved closer to me, I realized what they were.

"I looked for my mother, but she was not in bed with me anymore. I suddenly got afraid, but was immediately calmed down. It was like one of the beings had intercepted my mind and controlled my feelings. There were no verbal words spoken to me, but rather waves of feelings. The being told me to not be afraid, they were not here for me, they were not going to take me or hurt me, and my mother was alright. Again no words - just placement of feelings and thoughts. They told me to return to sleep and I would wake up and find that everything would be back to normal.

"I can still remember what they looked like. They weren't tall but they weren't short, though it was hard to gauge their height when I was that young. They were silvery and shiny, almost plastic looking. At times when they moved, their skin or whatever was on top turned very dark and dull. They had no mouth so I assumed they communicated telepathically. They had a depressed nose or what I assumed was a nose and very elongated heads.

"I woke the next morning and told my mother what had happened and she told me that it was a dream and nothing more. It felt very real to me. I can still remember it to this day and I still have an intense fear of aliens. I cant even watch ET without getting freaked out. As your father loves that part haha

"It gets more interesting because years later I found out that my mother had the exact same dream, except she was actually in the walk in closet that was connected to the bathroom. She believed they were interested in her because she had no uterus (since she had a hysterectomy after I was born due to various cancers in that region). She said that they visited her several times. They never hurt her, but were curious about her. The last time I was in the room with her, they did not expect me to be there. They did tell her that they werent hurting me, only calming me down. They told her that they werent coming back and they have got what they needed. She can describe them the same way I can from what they looked like to how they communicated.

"She said we didnt watch any shows or movies that involved aliens. She already has an intense fear of aliens and she claims it stemmed from the fact that my father on their first date, took her to see Aliens with Sigourney Weaver and she got freaked out and could not think/watch/hear anything about aliens.

"So truth be told, I still believe that something strange happened that night. We moved from that duplex several weeks later after we found another house."
Looking back at the question, we can analyze this story to see whether or not it supports the hypothesis asking if aliens exist.

First, we should check the information from the story. Fiona thoroughly described what the aliens looked like. From what she said, they were shiny and silvery, and possessed a medium height, elongated heads, and a depressed nose. Not surprisingly, these descriptions sound similar to depictions of aliens called "greys," displayed in the picture below. Fiona asserted this happened at a time, according to her mom, when the family did not watch alien movies/shows together that may have triggered such a dream to occur as a coincidence. Unfortunately, Fiona has no physical evidence (e.g. a ray gun, a flash drive with cryptic files, a book in alien language, etc.) that can serve as proof for her alien encounter, and confirmation that it was not just a dream. It was also noted that Fiona believed the aliens were controlling her emotions without speaking.
"Do not be afraid."
Second, we should examine the assumptions of this story. We may assume the information is correct, although it is possible that Fiona's long-term memory has been reconstructed over the years, taking on characteristics of new experiences and semantic knowledge for cohesiveness. Also, we are assuming Fiona believed the creatures, whether they were aliens or not, were definitely there, and not an optical illusion or a bunch of family members playing a prank. We are also assuming that her mom was telling the truth in that she really did have the same "dream." Finally, we are assuming that Fiona sincerely believes the aliens were truly controlling her emotions, not her unconscious operating in dream-mode.

Third, we should view the possible implications of this experience actually happening. If this really happened to Fiona, does that mean the majority of aliens are gentle, curious, and non-threatening? Or should we believe that most of them are like the nightmare-inducing creatures in the movie Mars Attacks, and this particular group was special? Could the alien encounter have been an omen of things to come? Perhaps the aliens Fiona and her mother saw were examining humans to ensure they were protected against the harmful subgroup of aliens. If Fiona and her mother truly did witness aliens, then did the first artists depicting "greys" see them as well? Conversely, if Fiona and her mother only dreamed about the aliens, what does it mean? If the alien encounter was only a dream, then humanity is likely to experience the ordinary earthy doldrums and keep dreaming of extraterrestrial drama.

In conclusion, a few inferences can be made in regards to this story. While it does not, by any mean, show proof of an alien encounter, it does not disprove the existence of aliens, either. We can infer that Fiona is most likely telling the truth about this story, because she noted that aliens frighten her. Thus, she would not have a logical reason to make up such a story. However, given the deep mysteries of the human subconscious, as analyzed by famous psychological theorists like Freud and Jung, it is easy for a skeptic to say that all of the incidents reported above could have been manifested by a very life-like, frightening dream. In my opinion, I am not very sure as to which answer is right. As much as I would like to believe in life outside of Earth, I will not be convinced until I see physical evidence.

 
"Hello, Earthling."



Image Source: Google Images

1 comment:

  1. Although Fiona's story did creep me out a little, I won't believe the existence of aliens until physical evidence as well. It is a crazy thing to "experience" or dream about, though, and not knowing if it was real. Could it have been a mere coincidence though that her mom experienced the same thing or could her mom have made that up for whatever reason? It's quite interesting though; Did the aliens "come" to research her mom because she had no uterus? If so, why would the aliens want to know about that? Aren't aliens made up of completely different components? I could go on and on asking questions.

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