UFO-Abduction Narratives and the Technology of Tradition1

30 Pages·2011·0.29 MB·English

UFO-Abduction Narratives
the links between UFO- and fairy-lore,
observing that informants’ descriptions of
UFO-Abduction Narratives
aliens bear a remarkable resemblance to
and the Technology of traditional accounts of anthropomorphic
Tradition1 supernaturals, not least in the propensity
of both groups to abduct human beings
(Bullard 1989; Rojcewicz 1991).
Kimberly Ball
A major factor distinguishing the two
University of California, Irvine
groups is the aliens’ use of highly ad-
vanced technology, which is, from a hu-
man standpoint, futuristic. Accordingly,
Abstract several scholars have interpreted the
This article examines UFO-abduction narratives UFO-abduction narrative as a reaction to
posted to online discussion fora, and argues technological change, in one form or an-
that these narratives reflect millennial anxieties other (Dean 1998, 126-52; Luckhurst 1998,
over an anticipated hyper-technological future
38-40; Bullard 2000, 156-7; Barbeito 2005,
figured as “alien.” In particular, UFO-abduction
206-10; Dewan 2006, 197; Kelley-Romano
narratives reflect concerns over developments in
2006, 394; Brown 2007, 70-82, 85-99). I
those technologies used to transmit information
would like to contribute to this conversa-
over space and time, i.e., technologies of tradition.
tion by proposing that these narratives are
These narratives thus thematize the circumstances
of their own transmission, and developments in the especially concerned with developments
transmission of traditional lore more generally. in those technologies used to transmit in-
formation over space and time—what I
am terming “technologies of tradition.” I
introduce this term to refer to any device
he first to point out a connection
T
for conveying knowledge or culture from
between UFO phenomena and the
one context into another, and to serve as
supernatural phenomena of tradition
a reminder that technology is intrinsic
was astronomer Jacques Vallee, who, in
to tradition, even if it is only that most
1969, suggested that the similarity among
fundamental technology of tradition:
accounts of UFOs, demons, angels,
language. Casting the matter in this way
fairies, and ghosts provides evidence
discourages the tendency to see technol-
against the extraterrestrial hypothesis
ogy as opposed to tradition, and allows
of UFO origins (Vallee 1969). Folklorists
the anxieties engendered by recent devel-
have since heeded Linda Dégh’s call to
opments in new media to be contextual-
study reports of encounters with UFOs
ized within a long history of anxiety over
and those who pilot them as legends,
changes to the ways in which elements of
hence as part of a tradition of anomalous-
the past are brought into the future. The
experience narratives describing human
latest major development in the technol-
dealings with unusual beings of various
ogy of tradition is the advent of the In-
kinds (Dégh 1977). In particular, Thomas
ternet, which represents the culmination
Bullard and Peter Rojcewicz have
of advancements in two spheres: digital
contributed to an understanding of
Cultural Analysis 9 (2010): 99-128
© 2010 by The University of California.
All rights reserved
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Kimberly Ball UUFFOO--AAbbdduuccttiioonn NNaarrrraattiivveess
information technology and mass media. rative is a particularly apt subject for
Through an analysis of various motifs, I such a study, and a legend of particular
will argue that UFO-abduction narratives interest at this time, in that it confronts
express anxieties over the rapid changes one of the central concerns of our age:
in these two spheres during the period in humanity’s transformation through its
which these stories have been told, from engagement with technology.
the mid-twentieth century to the present.
In particular, I argue that these narratives
Technology vs. Humanity
thematize the circumstances of their own
Reports of anomalous objects in the skies
transmission, which occurs today in large
go back at least as far as the description
part via the Internet.2
of Ezekiel’s visions in the Old Testament,
Though referencing studies published
and the extraterrestrial hypothesis was
by abduction investigators, this article
adduced as early as the nineteenth cen-
focuses on the UFO-abduction narra-
tury, when mysterious “airships” were
tive as it exists online, where numerous
sighted over various locations in the
sites host discussion fora in which par-
United States and presumed in the popu-
ticipants report their own and comment
lar press to contain emissaries from other
on one another’s abduction experiences.3
planets (Ezekiel 1, 4-28 NRSV; Sanarov
I have amassed a database of a little over
1981, 163; Denzler 2001, 5-6). The begin-
200 abduction narratives from English-
ning of the UFO era is, however, usually
language discussion fora, each of which
dated to 1947, when “flying saucers” were
is embedded in or, indeed, constituted by
first described by pilot Kenneth Arnold,
a discussion with multiple participants.
who saw a group of disc-shaped objects
Online-forum participants contribute
above the Cascade Mountain range in the
their narratives spontaneously in an in-
state of Washington; later that year sto-
formal setting, responding to questions
ries surfaced about a crashed alien sau-
and comments from other participants
cer in Roswell, New Mexico (Arnold and
who stand on a more or less equal foot-
Palmer 1952; Coates 2001, vii). First-hand
ing with themselves. Instead of playing
accounts of contact with the occupants of
an active role, the researcher may choose,
these craft began to appear in the 1950s
as I have done, to stand outside this pro-
and initially described benevolent beings
cess. As Jan Fernback and Trevor Blank
who proffered gentle advice to willing
have individually observed, the online
human interlocutors (Leslie and Adam-
discussion forum is therefore an ideal site
ski 1953; Angelluci 1955)—but reports
to study legend, a genre that unfolds in
of a more sinister kind soon started to
conversation, often as a debate regarding
emerge. The best known UFO-abduction
matters of contested ontological status
report of this era, and the first to exhibit
which informants might feel abashed to
a pattern that has since become familiar,
discuss in the presence of the academic
was made in 1961 by Betty and Barney
researcher (Fernback 2003; Blank 2007).
Hill, who, under hypnotic regression,
Despite these inherent advantages, there
told psychiatrist Benjamin Simon of be-
has thus far been little study of legends
ing taken off a New Hampshire road by
on the Internet. The UFO-abduction nar-
aliens who used mind control to force the
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UUFFOO--AAbbdduuccttiioonn NNaarrrraattiivveess
couple into their craft and subject them was not until the introduction of the mi-
to medical examination (Fuller 1966).4 crochip in 1975 that the home computer
Several similar accounts gained wide became a possibility. In 1984, just 20% of
publicity in the 1970s, and in the 1980s Americans used a computer, and most of
and 90s UFO-abduction narratives be- this usage was confined to the workplace,
came almost commonplace, as investi- but by 2007 this number had increased
gators obtained stories from hundreds to 80%, with 76% of Americans owning
of individuals who underwent hypnosis personal computers (U.S. Census Bureau
to recall periods of “missing time” they 1988; Pew Research Center 2007). Even
suspected might indicate alien interfer- more intimate than technology in the
ence with their memories.5 Today, UFO- home, the use of technology in the body
abduction narratives flourish online. also increased dramatically during this
The UFO-abduction narrative is, then, period. The first electric pacemaker was
a phenomenon of the late twentieth and implanted in a heart patient in 1958. To-
early twenty-first centuries. What dis- day, roughly 250,000 cardiac pacemakers
tinguishes this era from previous eras are surgically implanted each year, and
is the proliferation of increasingly so- the use of other medical implants, such
phisticated technology and its growing as neurological stimulators and cochlear
presence in the daily lives of ordinary devices, is growing (Haddad, Houben,
people. When the modern UFO era be- and Serdijn 2006, 38). Perhaps the most
gan in 1947, many of the household elec- startling developments have occurred in
tronic devices in use today had already the realm of assisted reproductive tech-
been developed, but ownership of these nology, or ART. Since the birth of the first
devices was not widespread, even in “test-tube baby” in 1978, an issue of great
relatively wealthy countries. Advances controversy at the time, in-vitro fertiliza-
in mass production in the 1950s and 60s tion has become a relatively routine prac-
together with increased prosperity in the tice, especially in Europe and the United
wake of World War II greatly expanded States, with some 200,000 ART babies
the presence and number of such items born worldwide in 2004 (Horsey 2006).
in the average homes of industrialized Our current idea of the future is,
nations. Electronic television sets, for ex- logically, one in which technological
ample, became available for purchase by advancement has continued apace, and
the general public in the 1930s, but the technology has become embedded even
proportion of U.S. households owning more thoroughly in every aspect of our
televisions in 1950 was just 10%, increas- everyday existence. The aliens in UFO-
ing rapidly to 94% by 1965 (Steinberg abduction narratives, with their high-
1980). By 2005, ownership had increased tech devices that allow them to intrude
only slightly, to 98%, but the average into the most intimate realms of human
number of televisions per household had life (the interior of the home, the interior
grown to 2.6 (U.S. Census Bureau 2008). of the body, the “recesses of the mind”)
Other technologies have taken longer to aptly represent this vision of a hyper-
infiltrate the home. The 1940s saw the be- technological future. UFO-abduction-fo-
ginnings of computer technology, but it rum participants regularly comment on
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Kimberly Ball UUFFOO--AAbbdduuccttiioonn NNaarrrraattiivveess
the advanced state of alien technology, hate. What we have for emotions they
which they attempt to contextualize by have for intelligence. That’s the com-
estimating how far in the future human promise. (Larson 2007)
beings might be expected to reach similar
levels of technical expertise. AmentiHall, Larson expresses a dichotomy that is
for example, characterizes aliens as pos- common to both the human/alien and
sessing “technology and mental faculties human/machine distinctions in the
far exceeding our own from hundreds to popular imagination. We anthropo-
thousands of years,” while LooseLips- morphize machines in terms of “intelli-
SinkShips puts a finer point on it, stating gence,” imagining that there could be a
that the aliens use “technology that is consciousness at work in the computer
roughly 2,500 years more advanced than or the robot, but we are less able to imag-
where we are in the year 2007” (Amen- ine a machine consciousness capable of
tiHall 2009; LooseLipsSinkShips 2007). emotion, which is felt to be more deep-
Bart5050 goes further still: ly human than reason. Lack of emotion
links the alien and the machine. In the
If a species reached the industrial age discourse surrounding UFO-abduction,
say four billion years ago, manipulat- this similarity prompts speculation as to
ing the physical laws might be simple. the aliens’ true “nature.”
We manipulate the physical laws of
In an online discussion of the seem-
the universe every time we turn on a
ing affectlessness of the “Gray” aliens
PC. Scale that up a few billion years.
(Bart5050 2009, Post 9)6 who usually figure in abduction narra-
tives, Advancer states that “the Grayling
must be seen as a robot controlled by a
The aliens in these narratives wield a fu-
cowardly being, for this is what they are
turistic array of high-tech devices, and it
- nothing more than flesh with no free
is their highly advanced technology that
mind” (Advancer 2009). Roberto21 de-
allows them to come to this world in the
scribes his alien abductors as “small be-
first place, but their connections with
ings who behaved, as always, in a totally
technology go further than this. Aliens
robotic, mechanical way” (Roberto21
also tend to exhibit the traits of technolo-
2009, Post 32). Bart5050 conjectures that
gy. A common motif in both UFO-abduc-
they are beings “specifically engineered
tion narratives and popular representa-
to make long journeys and gather mate-
tions of aliens—from the pod people of
rial,” while Angel opines that the Grays
Invasion of the Body Snatchers to Star Trek’s
may be “clones,” because “they all look
Spock—is that aliens lack emotion. This
the same” (Bart5050 2009, Post 3; Angel
lack is usually regarded as connected
2006). In line with this idea and noting
with alien intelligence. As abductee and
Bridget Brown’s characterization of the
discussion-forum participant Mark Lar-
Grays as “an army of uniformity,” scholar
son puts it:
Patricia Barbeito suggests that this same-
[The aliens are] just a group of people ness “identifies [the aliens] as symbols
without emotions. They lack emotion of the effects of mass freproduction,” a
and are curious about our emotions: symbolism that is reinforced in “hybrid-
happy, sad, uneasy, frightened, love,
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UUFFOO--AAbbdduuccttiioonn NNaarrrraattiivveess
ization” narratives, which confront hu- tion-forum contributor HighlanderCon-
man beings with their own “technical spiritor describes the experience thus:
reproducibility” (Brown 1997, 5; Barbeito
2005, 206-7). [I] was with a friend, camping in my
back garden. Bright lights above our
The engineering of humanity is the
heads. All I remember was he went
central theme in the “hybridization”
nuts, screaming about aliens, while I
narrative, as Stephanie Kelley-Romano
just suddenly couldn’t move and fell
terms those abduction stories in which
into a sort of deep sleep, totally numb
aliens act to save their own species from with no thoughts while awake at the
extinction through a human-alien inter- same time. Aware of things, if you
breeding project (Kelley-Romano 2006, know what I mean. I just remember
394-7).7 During many abductions the being stood over for a long time by
reproductive systems of both sexes are very tall thin people, and then waking
up with my mate crying in the corner
examined at length, and ova and some-
of the tent. (HighlanderConspiritor
times embryos are removed from female
2005)
abductees while sperm is collected from
males (Bullard 1989, 156; Rojcewicz 1991,
The aliens’ ability to reproduce and ma-
493). Some narratives go further, describ-
nipulate human beings in mechanical
ing how fetuses resulting from the aliens’
ways suggests the technologization of
breeding program are implanted in and
humanity, a suggestion reinforced by the
then harvested from female abductees
terminology used to describe what aliens
before being placed in a high-tech facil-
do to abductees in several narratives
ity abduction investigator David Jacobs
posted online. Dark Knight, for example,
terms the “incubatorium” (Jacobs 1992,
reports that aliens are “overwriting” her
153). The scale of the incubatorium’s
thoughts and performing a “data down-
“mass reproduction” is emphasized in
load” into her mind, while Phil describes
the online narrative of Rz Blade, who re-
a procedure in which a Gray “programs”
ports having seen aboard a UFO “shelves
an abductee by staring into his eyes
and shelves full of babies in jars—thou-
(Dark Knight 2008; Phil 2009).9 Aliens
sands and thousands of them” (Rz Blade
are, moreover, said to implant humans
2007).8 Aliens are like devices or copies
with tiny devices, which are supposed to
of a prototype rather than individual or-
locate, monitor, and/or control abduct-
ganic beings, and they treat their human
ees (Hopkins 1987, 59). In one forum it is
abductees correspondingly as things to
speculated that an abductee might have
be mechanically reproduced and manip-
a “micro-stargate installed by aliens” in
ulated.
her uterus as part of the hybridization
Another dramatic example of this is
program (OmegaLogos 2009). The al-
when aliens simply “switch off” people
terations made to abductee Cliff Dess are
whom they do not wish to abduct but
more thorough:
who are present during an abduction,
rendering them unconscious or at least
I had my left eye removed from the
immobile for a time (Hopkins 1987, 34-
socket and things threaded through
5, 97, 110-11; Jacobs 1992, 55, 71). Abduc- the optic nerve. Things were pushed
103
Kimberly Ball UUFFOO--AAbbdduuccttiioonn NNaarrrraattiivveess
down the back of my throat and a fine Cliff Dess relates that during his child-
needle which was pushed up through hood his mother was periodically re-
the table that I was lying on was in- placed with a “clone” who acted “roboti-
serted into the back of my neck […] I
cally” while his true mother was used
have some of the most sophisticated
by the aliens in their breeding program
technology integrated into my body
(Dess 2007). In Dess’s narrative, it turns
that is state of the art [...] I believe the
out that humans are being replaced on
procedures that were performed on me
a much larger scale, for Dess sees alien/
were an advanced way of monitoring
us. They are able to see what I see, hear human hybrids, whom he identifies in
what I hear and speak, so I am a pris- part through their “robotic” actions, in-
oner inside my own existence. I do not termingling with the human population
believe that I am the only one with this wherever he goes, and one such hybrid
technology integrated within. I believe communicates telepathically with Dess’s
this is being done rampantly through-
wife, telling her that “humans are be-
out society to certain individuals who
coming outnumbered” (Ibid.). Indeed, at
may be a threat to their agenda. (Dess
one point Dess laments the decline of hu-
2007)
manity into mindless consumerism and
emotional coldness—which is part of the
Many abductees feel that they have been
alien plot—with the statement that “we
electrically charged as a result of such
are becoming the hybrids of the future”
implants or other alien procedures, and
(Ibid.). On another forum, Red expresses
that this charge causes the equipment
a similar idea:
around them to sometimes malfunc-
tion (WorldShadow 2007; Dreamforaday
We are all stressed out, but what is
2009; Koval321 2009; Roberto21 2009:
driving so many people over the edge?
Post 1.). In a related phenomenon, ab- I have been called paranoid and delu-
ductees report hearing electrical sounds sional, and sometimes it hurts. But I
before, during, and after their abduc- stand by my theory that we here on
tions, and one abductee sporadically Planet Earth are being invaded. They
sees “wavelengths” or “grid lines…like are using advanced technology to
warp our minds, and to turn us against
on a computer,” after the aliens have
one another. (Red 2007)
“altered” him (Smersh 2008; Cravemor
2009; Mamasong 2009; NCDreamer38
In UFO-abduction narratives, it is tech-
2009; Proustwouldlikesumtea 2009). Such
nology’s increasing capacity to affect and
technologization may ultimately render
alter humanity on many levels that the
human beings as affectless as aliens, for
aliens, as the machine-like representa-
Dark Knight claims: “I also have not felt
tives of a high-tech future, portend. I
my emotions since the attacks started in
propose that these narratives are espe-
1998” (Dark Knight 2008).
cially concerned with the effects of de-
The de-humanization of humanity
velopments in those technologies used
through alien technology is a theme that
to transmit information over space and
is regularly discussed in UFO-abduc-
time—what I am terming technologies of
tion fora. In a story reminiscent of fairy
tradition. After all, what aliens seek dur-
changeling legends (ML 5085), abductee
ing abduction is, largely, information.
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UUFFOO--AAbbdduuccttiioonn NNaarrrraattiivveess
Aliens and Information Technology 243-4; Jacobs 1992, 223). Many, like ab-
Aliens gather various kinds of informa- ductee John_Doe, remember the eyes as
tion during abductions. They study hu- an especially frightening aspect of the
man anatomy at length and collect phys- abduction experience:
ical samples, especially of reproductive
It had eyes that were big and almond
materials providing genetic information.
shaped […] there were no pupils. Its
Aliens are also interested in the knowl-
eyes were black and void, showing
edge humans possess, but rather than
no signs of feeling [...] I still get night-
ask abductees questions, aliens often
mares of this entity looking at me
resort to a technique Jacobs refers to as
(John_Doe 2009A)
“information transfer” (Jacobs 1992: 197).
Sometimes this is accomplished through
Noting the eyes’ seeming hardness and
special equipment, as in the case of Ro-
reflectivity, some abductees have likened
berto21, who describes the following ex-
them to an artificial covering of some
perience aboard a UFO:
kind, such as glass or plastic (Hopkins
1981: 189-90):
I was also able to see my whole life
projected into images, extremely fast. I
To me, it looked like they were wear-
had the feeling that everything inside
ing a very hard, shiny helmet around
my brain, past memories, sensations,
their heads –so I wasn’t really seeing
experiences, was also being watched
the real head, and it looked like they
and recorded by some kind of a device
had coverings on their eyes. They
linked to me through the chair I was
had the classical large, black, almond
sitting on. (Roberto21 2009: Post 1)
shaped eyes – but to me they looked
like coverings. (Alexis_Amy 2009)
Here, information is conveyed not
through oral, written, or even telepathic
In short, alien eyes resemble blank
communication, but as a kind of down- screens.10 The interface between human
load, as from one machine to another. In-
and alien during information gathering
formation may also be transferred wire-
is therefore akin to the screens that serve
lessly, as it were, through a procedure
as interface between humans and vari-
Jacobs terms “mindscan,” during which
ous devices used to transmit and receive
an alien stares deeply into an abductee’s
information: the television, the comput-
eyes, leaving abductees with the feeling
er, the mobile phone. Abductees often re-
that “data” has been “extracted from
port seeing a bluish glow during abduc-
their minds” (Jacobs 1992: 97). Adding to
tion, which mimics the glow from such
the technological quality of this process
a screen in a darkened room (Generical-
is the mindscan interface, i.e., the aliens’
lyMajestic 2009; Roberto21 2009, Post 1;
eyes.
Ibeleave 2009; Spacemushrooms 2009;
The eyes are perhaps the most com- John_Doe 2009A). And just as one usu-
mented-upon feature of alien anatomy. ally confronts a blank screen before be-
Most abductees describe alien eyes as ginning an experience with information
enormous and uniformly black, taking technology, the aliens’ eyes often serve as
up most of the alien’s face (Bullard 1987, a gateway into the abduction experience
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Kimberly Ball UUFFOO--AAbbdduuccttiioonn NNaarrrraattiivveess
(Jacobs 1992: 96). The experience of ab- constituting a revolutionary develop-
ductee Mark Larson is typical: ment in the technology of tradition. The
beginnings of digital information technol-
I was about eleven years old when I ogy can be traced to machines built in the
woke up to a strangely, dimly lit room
1940s, the decade when the modern UFO
with three Grays over my bed, two
phenomenon began. The development
on one side, the third “leader” on the
of Internet technology, which profound-
right-hand side. My older brother was
ly increases the scope and power of the
about ten feet from me in his bed sleep-
database, starts with the United States’
ing. I gasped to holler out and tried to
flex myself from my bed. I was para- establishment of ARPA (the Advanced
lyzed from the neck down and noth- Research Projects Agency)12 in 1958 as
ing came out of my mouth, no noise. part of the Cold War quest to supersede
My vocal cords were completely shut Soviet technology, motivated in part by
off. The three Grays were just bend- the USSR’s Sputnik launches. The devel-
ing their heads staring at me, like they
opment of cyberspace is thus linked at
could read my mind, their eyes wide
the outset to the conquest of outer space.
and big. (Larson 2007) 11
It is the speed of computer technology
and its capacity to process through great
In addition to gathering information,
expanses of information in brief periods
aliens also use their eyes to implant vi-
of time that make possible the digital
sions, feelings, and thoughts into their
database; correspondingly it is the abil-
human subjects, constituting a data-trans-
ity of Internet technology to transmit
fer in the other direction (Jacobs 1992: 99-
information rapidly through space that
106, 143-50, 197). This is what happened
radically increases access to the digital
during the abduction of Funky-Zoo:
database. These features of the database
are mirrored in the great speed at which
Then I suddenly woke up and I saw
UFOs are reported to travel and the vast
this short being, about 70 to 80 centi-
distances they are said to cover, indicat-
meters, in front of my bed looking into
my eyes. At first I was terrified, think- ing a power for transmitting information
ing, what is this thing going to do to unparalleled in previous technologies of
me? But then, while looking in its eyes, tradition. But there can be a horrific as-
these calming thoughts came into my pect to the inhuman scale of such power,
head. I remember thinking, “he is a and UFO-abduction narratives are, for
good guy; he’s here to help you; he
the most part, horror stories.
won’t hurt you; you’re safe now.” I re-
To be abducted is to be overwhelmed
member looking in its eyes was very
by technology. Aliens almost never use
relaxing. (Funky-Zoo 2009)
bodily force to capture human beings,
but rather rely on special devices beyond
The alien eye is the interface for a two-
human ken to render humans helpless. A
way exchange of information, much like
beam of light is sometimes used to trans-
the screens that serve as interface between
port abductees to the aliens’ ship, or a
humans and the digital database. The dig-
mysterious technology is used to para-
ital database is the defining technological
lyze humans so that the aliens may do
breakthrough of the “Information Age,”
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UUFFOO--AAbbdduuccttiioonn NNaarrrraattiivveess
their work unimpeded, as in the case of King of Egypt once warned that the tech-
AmentiHall: nology of writing would make people
forgetful insofar as they would become
The next occurrence was a battle of dependent on “external marks that are
battles. It changed my life and my alien to themselves” (graphēs exōthen
perception of everything. I, as a soul, hup’ allotriōn tupōn), rather than relying
was fighting for my life, for control of
on their own powers of memory (Plato
my body. This being horribly violated
274e).13 Walter Ong has pointed out that
my entire body and was attempting
concerns over computer technology mir-
to control me. I was in my body but
POWERLESS. The technology it used ror the concerns over writing expressed
was beyond my comprehension. There in the Phaedrus, in that both technolo-
was a loud frequency “scratching” or gies are seen to “provide an external re-
“crash sound” in my brain. (Amenti- source for what ought to be [an] internal
Hall 2009) resource,” and in both cases “give-and-
take between real persons” is replaced
During capture, and during information with something “unreal” and “unnatu-
gathering, many abductees report feeling ral” (Ong [1982], 78-9). The alienness of
similarly “overwhelmed” by the hypnot- the UFO and its pilots stands for the per-
ic power of the aliens’ screen-like eyes, ceived unnaturalness of the latest tech-
which they are “powerless” to resist (Ja- nologies of tradition, and their power
cobs 1992: 98-9). The information abduct- to alienate by to some extent replacing
ees receive from aliens can also be over- face-to-face oral interaction as a means
whelming, as in the experience of Dark for transmitting information. In this re-
Knight, during her “data download”: spect, UFO-abduction narratives serve
as commentaries on the circumstances
I was inundated with swirling 3D
of their own transmission, for these nar-
shapes and numerous background
ratives are transmitted mainly through
sounds, very confusing, very disori-
mass media.
enting […] the movement, swirling
shapes and noise, I couldn’t concen-
trate. Everything to overload your UFOs and Mass Media
senses so you just shut down. (Dark
Torunn Selberg has observed that in a
Knight 2008)
number of narratives relating UFO sight-
ings in 1991 near Bergen, Norway, refer-
In the often nightmarish terms of the
ences to the mass media provided the
UFO-abduction narrative, humanity is
specific orientation in space and time
opposed to the alien technologies that
characteristic of the legend genre (Sel-
threaten to overwhelm it, just as the lat-
berg 1993, 114). Selberg cites several in-
est technologies of tradition are so often
stances where the narrator sets the scene
seen as threatening to overwhelm and al-
with reference to a particular television
ter basic elements of our humanity, and
or radio program to which he or she was
our connection to the past. This percep-
paying attention just before sighting the
tion goes back at least as far as Plato’s
UFO, as in the following:
Phaedrus, in which Socrates tells how the
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Kimberly Ball UUFFOO--AAbbdduuccttiioonn NNaarrrraattiivveess
And when I was sitting here and was On the one hand, the fact that people
about to start following the program use references to mass media to verify
“Window on the World”…And I was and to locate the events of UFO narra-
sitting here and watching the start of
tives spatially and temporally reflects
that program. Then I saw, out of the
the amount of time people spend engag-
corner of my eye, a cluster of white
ing with these media, especially at night
blinking lights… (Selberg 1993, 110)14
when most UFO phenomena occur. On
the other hand, as is especially evident
Sometimes, as in the case of online-dis-
in the last two examples, the proximity
cussion-forum contributor All-Natural,
of mass media experiences to UFO expe-
mass media transmissions alert abduct-
riences in narrative reflects the ways in
ees to the fact that they have had a “miss-
which this lore is transmitted. Selberg re-
ing time” experience:
ports that in the case of the Bergen UFO
sightings the mass media served to trans-
I was watching the History Channel,
a two-hour biography of the life of mit people’s experience stories and, by
Nero. After a few minutes of watching so doing, provided the reference points
it I got bored because I’d already seen for many more people to interpret their
that the day before. So I went outside anomalous experiences as UFO sightings
in their backyard to enjoy the view of (Selberg 1993, 114). With respect to UFO-
the city […] I sat on one of the lawn
abduction narratives, Thomas Bullard
chairs for about 30 minutes […] Then
notes that “dispersal of this folklore by
suddenly the wind stopped and I had
electronic and printed means has become
an annoying ringing noise in my head.
so important that oral transmission plays
Also I had a headache. I just felt weird.
only a minor role” (Bullard 1989, 166). In-
It’s kind of like the feeling you get
when you realize you’re on the floor deed, most abductees first become aware
after you fainted […] When I looked at that they have been abducted after en-
the TV the biography of Nero already countering an abduction account in the
passed! It’s impossible after sitting for mass media and then beginning to ques-
20-30 minutes a two-hour biography tion “missing time” in their own expe-
ended. (All-Natural 2008A)
rience; once they are convinced of their
own abduction, abductees then typically
Another kind of mass-media referencing become avid consumers and producers
is found in the UFO-abduction narrative of abduction narratives in the mass me-
of online-discussion-forum contributor dia, increasingly on the Internet (Brown
Kayla, who, in another move character- 2007, 178-9, 182). The UFO phenomenon
istic of the legend genre, reassures her is thus part of a relatively new develop-
readers of her story’s veracity with the ment in the transmission of folk narrative,
following analogy: “I will tell you right one that only becomes possible in the lat-
now that the experience and the ‘aliens’ ter twentieth century, whereby the mass
were as realistic as I’m seeing the com- media become the primary conduit for
puter screen right now” (Kayla 2001). In some narratives which would have pre-
a similar vein, Gabblebee describes her viously been spread mainly through the
alien abductors as being “as pale as the oral tradition. There are ways in which
textbox I’m typing in” (Gabblebee 2009). UFO narratives thematize this develop-
ment.
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