Destruction Inc. [ Mystery - Aliens Mini FAQ ]

According to my dictionary :
ALIEN - belonging to another : a foreign-born resident of a country in which he is not naturalized

Therefore the term alien means, more or less, somebody or something that is in the wrong place. It should be noted that whilst extraterrestrial beings might be a sub-group of aliens, not all aliens are (necessarily) extra- terrestrial. Some people use the term 'space aliens' to refer explicitly to extraterrestrial beings.

[ Types of Aliens ]

Over the years many different researchers have made studies of contactee, abduction and other cases where entities have been described associated with flying saucers or other UFOs. These researchers have produced reports which describe around 12 different types of alien.

The most widely reported type of alien is a small grey being approximately 1.0m-1.25m in height, with large oval black eyes. Reports of this type have

been widely reported by the media, perhaps as a result of the books by Budd Hopkins, David Jacobs and Whitley Streiber.

Many abductees have described meeting european looking aliens, around 1.75m tall with long blond hair. These aliens are often referred to as 'Venusians'. They were first reported by George Adamski reporting a series of encounters in the early 1950s. He stated that they told him they were from Venus and the name has stuck since.

The Channelers believe that the abductions are part of a battle between good energy forces and evil energy forces.

[ Things you need to know about abductions ]

There are many people who believe they have been abducted by UFOnauts. These abduction victims often experience memory loss and "missing time".

some of them have been able to recall their abductions from memory and others have recalled their abductions by the aid of hypnosis. Often these encounters involve being taken aboard an alien craft and examined by the UFOnauts and put through a variety of physical and mental procedures. Then the individuals are returned. Many of the abduction victims have shown signs of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Some of the major researchers who have studied the abduction field include Budd Hopkins, David Jacobs, Leo Sprinkle, John Mack, Philip Klass, John Spencer and Jenny Randles.

The opinions of some skeptics such as Klass believe that the hypnotists themselves are leading the abduction victims unknowingly into believing that they have had an abduction experience. The skeptics believe that the the media has been saturated so much with the abduction material that when people having nightmares or people who believe that they have experienced the "missing time" are put under hypnosis, they draw upon what they have seen in the media to fulfill the expectations of the hypnotist and causes themselves to be put trough the trauma for that reason. They say the nightmares are often caused by the sleeping disorder narcolepsy, and the "missing time" is not an uncommon experience and is caused when the mind is preoccupied by other matters. They often give the advice to go to clinical doctors, and not to contact an abductionist.

Other researchers such as Jacobs and Hopkins believe that there is something physical causing the abduction experiences. Hopkins has stated that he believes that the abduction are real and that the recounts of the abductions are to similar to each other to be anything but the truth. Jacobs takes a slightly different approach, he has been categorizing all the accounts and trying to find patterns in the testimonies.

There people on the net who believe they have had personal experiences with Alien contacts or abductions. Some have posted accounts of their experiences. Many others decline to post due to attacks by skeptics.

There has been possible material evidence of UFOs or Alien contacts. There are abundant material traces, even excepting those confiscated by the military. Material traces include burned grass and earth where UFOs have landed, UFOs shown on radar tapes, UFOs on film and in photos. Bodily traces on abductees include scoop-marks in the flesh, incisions, burns, apparent radiation exposure, bruises, inflammation, etc. Whether any of these is considered *evidential*, however, is a subjective value call.

[ What do we really know about life elsewhere in the universe? ]

There has been much speculation about life elsewhere in the universe. Unless UFO contactee and abductee reports are evidence of visitation by beings from elsewhere in the universe, there is very little evidence.

Much of the speculation centres around something called tha Drake Equation. This attempts to estimate the number of civilisations in the universe by using a number of inprecise variables. The only planet where we have firm evidence of there being civilisation is a place called Earth.

Evidence of planets around other star systems has relied upon complex calculations based upon minute variations in the star's 'wobble' about its axis. Recent improvements in imaging systems have improved the reliability of these observations. It is likely that the smallest extra-solar planets detected are two to three times the mass of Jupiter. There is no detailed information on the structure or conditions on these planets. It is not known if any of these planets could support life.

Many of the molecules believed to be essential to the formation of life have been detected in interstellar space. Amino acids have been found in some meteorites. These tend to be equal mixes of left and right handed forms, which is more likely to be the result of a chemical rather than a biological process.

[ Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) ]

For many years there have been small unco-ordinated projects to search for evidence to extraterrestrial life. These have been mainly by looking for unexpected radio transmissions using radio-telescopes. Over the past couple of years NASA has funded a co-ordinated effort to scan the whole sky over a wide range of frequencies. The SETI project was cut from the 1994 NASA budget, however donations have been obtained from a number of individuals which will allow it to continue as a private project but at a lower level of activity.