Eric Simpson's Blog: Marginal Accretion - Posts Tagged "alien-abductions"

Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind by C.D.B. Bryan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Caveat: What follows is the review of a book that I originally read in 1998 and reviewed in July, 2001. My thoughts and review of the book today, I think, would not be the same as they were 15 years ago. However, since I have no intention of re-reading the book to provide an updated review, the following will have to suffice.

The Scenario
You are driving at night, perhaps alone, or maybe with a friend. In the distant sky you see something strange, a light or a series of lights, moving in odd and bizarre patterns. Maybe your car stalls. Maybe for some reason unknown to you, perhaps overcharged curiousity, you stop the car on your own, and get out.

The next thing you know, you are driving again, and you no longer recall stopping the car, or getting out. Perhaps you have lost time, or seen animals you were not expecting. Maybe this is a little confusing, but you don't think about it much.

In fact, it isn't until much later that the memories come back to you in stark clarity, perhaps after an intense experience, or as a result from hypnosis. You recall not only getting out of the car, but actually floating up into the air, or being approached by beings that are not human. Maybe they are tall, blonde men-like creatures reminiscent of Nordic gods. Or, perhaps they are the small grays with wide oblong voids for eyes (popularized recently in our culture).

Maybe they take you somewhere, experiment on your body with various probes, insert objects into your skin or up your nose, give you information, show you hallucinatory visions, or have you hang out with various other homo sapiens as you wait to board a ship. Maybe you find that you know them, have known them since childhood. Perhaps they tell you that you are pregnant, or that some baby they let you hold is your own; or perhaps you were pregnant, and suddenly you are not. Maybe they leave scars, or take you into oblong shaped crafts, or even steal some of your Christmas cookies. Maybe one of them is wearing a Stetson hat.

The Conference
In June, 1992 a conference met at M.I.T. in order to discuss the widely reported phenomena of abductions as reported by thousands of often reluctant and reticent 'experiencers'. Present at the conference were a wide range of 'experts' who have studied the experiences for years, such as the journalist Linda Moulton Howe, Budd Hopkins, John Mack, Eddie Bullard, and several people who believe they have been victims of abduction by otherwordly, unknown beings. The conference lasted for five days, and author (as well as skeptic) C.D.B Bryan took copious, day by day notes. A newcomer to this field of study, and known for totally unrelated work, Bryan's investigation is fairly objective, and his report of the Conference comes across in style that resembles gonzo journalism.

The first two hundred pages of this volume are taken up with a chronological, day by day report on what happened at the Conference, who spoke and what they said, and Bryan's own personal thoughts and reflections on the subject matter. He takes notes during the lectures (and even admits it when he is bored and his mind strays), and tries to talk to various attendees during coffee breaks, lunch and dinner. He is an honest but open skeptic, and admits it when he thinks that others come across as totally nuts, as well as when he is impressed by the evidence. The style of writing is personal and engaging. At the end of Day Three at the Conference, Mack sits in his motel room, watching the news, which is reporting Dan Quayle's misspelling of the word "potato", when he starts to reflect on what he has heard so far:

"I think about the abductees I have spoken with: that as off-the-wall as the young Massachusetts housewife with her stories of 'Zar' and of groups of worlds working together may have seemed, Pat, the midwestern dentist's wife who wrestled with an alien's arm, semed dead-on. I think of Carol and Alice and their image of trying to locate a parking meter in space; I am moved by their obvious confusion and distress, the terror of Carol's flashback that drove her to seek refuge in a closet....I think of Linda Moulton Howe. She is a respected journalist and documentary filmmaker, and yet she seems to believe in a government cover-up...Linda started up as skeptical as I am about this phenomenon....I realize I don't know what to believe! How does one explain the similarities in the abductee's stories--the consistency of detail, structure, scenario? What would prompt a woman to make up a story about an extraterrestrial creature trying on her high-heeled shoes? How does one explains Budd Hopkins's story of Linda Cortile being 'floated' out of her twelth-floor apartment building before two cars of witnesses who confirm her account? How does one explain John Carpenter's story of the two women abducted in Kansas who, separately and unrehearsed, tell such matching stories?"

The next 249 pages of the book deal with Bryan's post-conference interviews, particularly with Carol and Alice, two women who run a horse farm and have had numerous experiences. This is perhaps an even more stimulating read than the first half of the book, as Bryan attends a few hypnosis sessions, watches to see if those under hypnosis are "lead" to conclusions, and delves into more details of particulars stories of abduction.

Maintaining his skepticism throughout the girth of the book, Bryan nevertheless is impressed by the evidence that something is happening to these people, but he doesn't know what; in most cases, he doesn't doubt the sincerity of belief in the experiences that the experiencers have. Moreover, he offers a few guesses at describing the phenomenon, without coming to any strong or leading conclusions.

Finally, this is likely the best book written to date on the subject--one that doesn't sink to the insobriety of mockery, nor the drunkenness of mindless faith absent of discerning intelligence.



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