The CE4 Corner

The Cosmic Bridge, Close Encounters and Human Destiny

by Craig R. Lang, Certified Hypnotherapist

Hypnotic Growth, Exploration and Healing for Mind, Body, Spirit and Beyond

Brooklyn Center, MN  763-257-7334  e-mail: craig@craigrlang.com

May/June, 2009 - ‘I don’t have to disprove every case’ - Skeptics, bicycles and sleep deprivation

At the April Minnesota MUFON meeting, we saw a rebroadcast of an old panel talk show from a series entitled "The Other Side." This show was recorded back in 1994, and featured a panel of UFO abductees/experiencers. On the panel were several noted abductees, as well as hypnotherapist Yvonne Smith. The moderator interviewed each member in turn, and then came a number of audience questions. The show also had its obligatory skeptic in the audience, Michael Shermer - editor of Skeptic magazine, who was there to tell us that the abduction phenomenon did not really exist.

One of the experiencers on the panel was Karla Turner, who has since passed away. Several others, such as Melinda Leslie, became significant names in the abduction field in subsequent years. However, even though it was old and somewhat outdated - the show still gave one a good sense of the contemporary abduction scenario. Indeed, many aspects of the phenomenon really have not changed all that much in the years since then.

Each of the experiencers related accounts of their events - each a powerful narrative of a lifetime of close encounters. Then it was Michael Shermer's turn. Shermer claimed that the close encounter experience is essentially a dream - either awareness during sleep paralysis or some form of hallucination. He even cited his own unusual event, in which he was sleep deprived while on a cross-country marathon bicycle race. While he was bicycling, he says he saw a large object approach him and snatch him from his bicycle. His next memory was about 90 minutes later, again on his bicycle.

Shermer claims that this "event" was entirely a hallucination due to sleep deprivation. There are lots of things I could say about this case but I will simply ask the rhetorical question, "is he sure it was just a hallucination?" How does he know it wasn't an abduction? Isn't it really just his own faith that there is no such thing as alien abduction that leads him to say that it was purely sleep deprivation? I wonder - I have found that some hardcore debunkers often turn out to be experiencers.

One of the experiencers on the panel recounted an event in which some very telling physical evidence was left behind, something Shermer couldn't explain. Furthermore, the man remembered the event without the aid of hypnosis. Still, Shermer insisted that he didn't have to prove every case; he was only speaking in generalities. He also said that he was "not a debunker" of each case - hmmm, interesting comment from someone like Shermer, who makes his living debunking the paranormal. So I ask, isn't that exactly what Shermer has to do? Isn't it necessary for him to debunk every abduction case? If just one case can be shown to be an actual case of alien abduction, then by definition the phenomenon is real.

Still, Michael Shermer claims he is "not a debunker" and so, by definition he can speak in generalities. As a non-debunker, he "doesn't have to disprove every case." If that is the case, then how can he claim that there are NO encounter events? If he's not claiming that, then what exactly is his claim? And what is his proof that abduction absolutely doesn't exist?

Furthermore, I wonder exactly what did happen to him on his bicycle during that period of time he can't remember, a strange object and a man too long without sleep?

Bio:   Craig R. Lang is a field investigator with Mutual UFO Network, and is a certified clinical hypnotherapist with the National Guild of Hypnotists.  He lives in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, and conducts UFO and close encounter research in the Twin Cities metro area of Minneapolis and Saint Paul and in surrounding areas within Minnesota and Wisconsin.  He can be reached by e-mail at craig@craigrlang.com.  The Minnesota MUFON website can be reached at www.mnmufon.org.

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