Spontaneous Invisibility - The Mystery We Can Not See
(c) June 2000-2002 by Craig R. Lang[i] MS CHt
The close encounter phenomenon has many truly strange aspects to it. Many
strange phenomena, such as psychic abilities and paranormal fallout, are
frequently described by experiencers.
Even stranger are the Oz factor - in which the very fabric of reality
appears to change in the moments before or after an encounter; and the apparent
ability of both entities and experiencers to pass directly through walls. These are just some of the mind bending
phenomena that defy our conventional notions of reason and logic, and appear to
challenge our very concept of reality.
One of the strangest effects noted by investigators of the close
encounter phenomenon is that in which the experiencer finds him/herself seeming
to shift out of reality itself, becoming invisible to their fellow humans. Several researchers, notable among them Budd
Hopkins and Donna Higbee, have taken note of this effect and dubbed it
"Spontaneous Invisibility" [Donna Higbee describes this phenomenon on
her web site: members.aol.com/rapunz1/invisibility.html
].
Local Cases
After reading through several web postings regarding this, and listening
to Budd Hopkins describe some cases similar to this on an episode of Dreamland,
my interest in this as a potentially distinct phenomenon was enhanced. I had earlier interviewed several close
encounter witnesses who had described similar events to those described by
Hopkins and Higbee. Thus my next step
was to review some of these, and begin to catalog them.
One fascinating case involves a UFO sighting which occurred in south
The events as described by the witness suggest that this case might
involve missing time, although it may also simply be a momentary, up-close
sighting of a very spectacular UFO.
However, at least one of the witness's neighbors indicates that although
they were aware that she had gone to the window, they were unaware of her
presence there. Neither had the
slightest idea that she was trying to attract their attention.
Additionally, this sighting occurred on a warm evening. Due to the power outage, A large number of
people were outside on the street. These
people should have been able to see the UFO.
However, apparently no one except the witness (and possibly one or two
others) observed it. Thus, if we are to
take these witness descriptions at face value, we are faced with dual
phenomenon: Selective invisibility by the phenomenon, and corresponding
invisibility of the witness who, by some means, seems to be able to penetrate
the UFO's "cloak of invisibility".
Another case, also fascinating, involves an abductee in western
At that moment, it appears that a period missing time begins, as the
witness underwent a close encounter of the fourth kind. It is not clear whether the episode of
spontaneous invisibility occurred before or after the abduction, or perhaps
both. Whichever is true, it is clear
that all of the people on the field ought to have clearly seen both the object
and the witness. However, neither were
visible to them, during the time of the encounter.
In yet another fascinating case of the relationship between the close
encounter phenomenon and that of spontaneous invisibility, an experiencer has
described to me several instances in which she experienced this
phenomenon. For her, this was part of a
chain of events which began with a tremendous close encounter, and continued
with a powerful sequence of psychic episodes.
This time in her life was characterized by a sudden and profound
parapsychological awakening - what she describes as a powerful shift in
consciousness. For her, the phenomenon
became completely life altering.
One day, at the time when these changes were at their peak, she found
herself in an experience in which she was driving her car, and was stopped at a
traffic light at a busy intersection.
Her car was approximately the third in line at the red light. Also present were a number of pedestrians on
the nearby sidewalk. She suddenly
noticed that several of the pedestrians were staring curiously into her car
window. She heard exclamations such as
"there's no one in that car!", and "...who's
driving?". This continued for
several more seconds, until the light changed, and she accelerated through and
past the intersection. She has indicated
that this was just one of several incidents that occurred during that time
frame. Like the others mentioned, her
apparent invisibility experiences were somehow associated with a period of
close encounters, and of tremendously heightened PSI experiences.
Implications
and Hypotheses:
Scientific mysteries are both a challenge and a blessing. They wreak havoc with our tidy notions of
reality, but they also offer the potential to form an even deeper understanding
of that same reality. The many extraordinary
effects associated with close encounters, including spontaneous invisibility,
offer us just such a challenge. By
stretching our models of reality to encompass these new phenomena we can learn
volumes about what we never even realized was there.
One paradigm which seems to offer a hope of understanding the phenomenon
of spontaneous invisibility is described in Michael Talbot's book "The
Holographic Universe". In this book
Talbot describes an underlying structure to reality based upon the relatively
recently described "Quantum Holographic Model". His work borrows heavily on the concepts of
both holography and quantum nonlocality.
He uses these to build the notion that reality is in effect a
holographic "projection" derived from what is referred to as the
Implicate Order, the nonlocal fabric of the universe (see David Bohm's book
"Wholeness and the Implicate Order" for a detailed description of
this concept). An object's quantum
hologram contains, encoded within it, the entire state, nature and history of
that object, and exists in the implicate
order, encoded within the nonlocal zero-point field.
Edgar Mitchell, in an excellent paper entitled "Nature's Mind, the
Quantum Hologram" (www.nidsci.org/articles/naturesmind-qh.html),
further describes how the holographic model can help us understand conscious
perception and PSI phenomena. In this
paper, Mitchell develops the idea that perception of an object by a conscious
being is actually a bidirectional process, with perception flowing in one
direction, and attention flowing in the other, and that these can be understood
in terms of quantum holography. He
builds on the idea that the brain is a quantum system (citing Penrose and
Hammeroff's work - see Penrose, "Shadows of the Mind", or the quantum
mind website at www.consciousness.arizona.edu/quantum),
to postulate a nonlocal link, or resonance (referred to as phase conjugate
adaptive resonance, or PCAR), between the observer's mind and the object being
observed. This resonance is required for
the mind to consciously perceive an object.
Without PCAR, even if the eye is actually able to see an object, the
quantum mind can not actually perceive it.
Perhaps, then, the holographic model and the PCAR concept might offer us
a framework for understanding anomalies such as spontaneous invisibility. It does not yet suggest a mechanism by which
PCAR might be disrupted to prevent consciousness of others from registering the
invisible experiencer. But with this
model we see a framework of understanding beginning to emerge, a hint such a
mechanism might just be possible. While
not the answer in itself, the holographic model does suggest some fruitful
areas for research. It hints that
perhaps, there is an answer to the question - a light at the end of a long
tunnel of mystery.
