by Terrence Aym

Created on: January 01, 2013   Last Updated: January 02, 2013

Serious researchers of the UFO phenomenon are at odds over the subject of human abductions by extraterrestrials. It's not difficult to understand why. Despite the general public expressing an overwhelming belief that the high strangeness referred to as the UFO phenomenon has a basis in fact, the mainstream media often treats the subject with mockery, and various government entities have downplayed the entire phenomena for more than half a century.

A step farther toward the fringe is taken when the idea of dispassionate aliens kidnapping humans for study and odd experiments enters the conversation.

The first well-documented modern alien abduction case occurred on September 19, 1961 when a couple—Betty and Barney Hill—saw a UFO late one evening while driving through a lonely rural area on their way back home from a trip in Canada.

Later, under hypnosis, they discovered the missing time they couldn't account for was spent aboard an alien craft. Abducted by entities that claimed their origin as another star system, one of the ETs allegedly showed Betty a three-dimensional holographic map of that region of space.

An astronomer plotted the map redrawn by Betty and determined the creatures came from Zeta Reticuli, a binary star system 39 light-years from Earth.

The interdimensional hypothesis

Although the controversial topic of alleged alien abductions is assumed by many to be a relatively modern phenomenon, it may be something much older than most suspect.

Prominent scientist and researcher Jacques Vallée worked with the respected Northwestern University professor and astronomer, Dr. J. Allen Hynek. After Hynek's death, Vallée forwarded the hypothesis the two had developed to explain some of the UFO phenomena that occurred throughout history. Abductions and alien contact played a role.

In his landmark book, "Passport to Magonia: On UFOs, Folklore, and Parallel Worlds," Vallée advanced the two-fold hypotheses of the extraterrestrial hypothesis and Hynek's idea of an interdimensional instead of interstellar origin. Vallée argues the scientific legitimacy of the two hypotheses and defends the ideas eloquently.  

His works have caused a rift in the UFO research community that continues to this day. Some advocate the ideas while others denounce the work the 70-something computer scientist and one of the creators of ARPANET—the early form of the Internet—has done.

Prominent researchers agreed the phenomenon was real

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