A Harvard Doctor
Offers Trauma Relief
For UFO `Abductees'

Extraterrestrials Play Rough,
But John E. Mack Heals;
New `War of the Worlds'?

05/15/92
WALL STREET JOURNAL

An unusual, invitation-only conference next month in
Massachusetts will bring together a Pulitzer Prize-winning
psychiatrist, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology physics
professor, and about 150 other assorted academics and
professionals.
The topic of their inquiry: abductions by creatures from
outer space.
And they're absolutely serious.
"It's not mass hysteria," insists Dr. John E. Mack, a
Harvard Medical School psychiatrist who has studied some 50
self-proclaimed abductees and conducts monthly support-group
meetings for them. "These are people who have no reason to
lie, and they've come forth with great reluctance."
Strange as it may sound, Dr. Mack and fellow conference
leader Dr. David E. Pritchard of MIT, are only two of the
academics studying accounts of kidnappings by aliens
these days.
"Many great ideas sound offbeat at the beginning," says
Malkah Notman, acting head of Harvard's psychiatry department
at Cambridge Hospital in Massachusetts.
Just how many people may have been abducted by
extraterrestrials? One of every 50 American adults -- some
3.7 million people -- may have had an abduction experience
with an unidentified flying object, according to Roper
Organization polls sponsored by the Intruders Foundation and
the Fund for UFO Research.
In Philadelphia, Temple University history professor David
M. Jacobs is making the talk-show rounds with self-described
abductees to plug his new book, "Secret Life." It puts
abduction cases into a "theoretical framework" by finding
such common threads as "physical probing, alien bonding and
the breeding program."
Of course, most academics scoff at the notion of
abductions by extraterrestrials. "There's no evidence that
even a grand jury in a D.A.'s pocket would take seriously
that UFOs have visited the Earth, much less abducted
somebody," says Timothy Ferris, a science writer and
professor at University of California at Berkeley.
"There is some concern," says Harvard's Dr. Notman, "but
by and large I think the {psychiatry} department feels it's
useful to encourage creative work, as long as it doesn't get
in anybody's way or do any harm."
Temple University even lets Dr. Jacobs teach a course
called "UFOs in American Society." "Temple believes in
academic freedom," says Dr. Jacobs. "Besides, I ALSO HAVE
TENURE, SO THERE'S NOT MUCH THEY CAN DO ABOUT IT."
This Sunday night, in a close encounter of the Hollywood
kind, a new U.S. television miniseries called "Intruders"
promises to heighten awareness of the subject. The CBS
program is about a fictional psychiatrist who helps people
overcome the trauma of abductions by extraterrestrials. The
familiar-sounding character is based on Dr. Mack. And the
abductees are based on people who claim they were abducted,
such as Randy Nickerson, a 24-year-old mechanic in
Massachusetts, who warns in commercials for the show: "You've
got no place to hide."
Indeed, Dr. Mack says the show could set off a "War of the
Worlds" type of hysteria, as unsuspecting viewers suddenly
start remembering past abduction episodes.
"I'm quite concerned about the miniseries," says Dr. Mack.
"I told CBS I'd be willing to be listed on the show" to help
viewers through any trauma. The network DECLINED THE OFFER.
"I think it's a DISASTER IN THE MAKING," adds Dr.
Pritchard, as he sits peeling an orange with a razor blade.
The career of Dr. Mack, a 35-year veteran of Harvard's
psychiatry department, has been peppered with projects that
aren't in the mainstream, including studies of the psychology
of nuclear war. But none has been so out-of-this-world as his
work with people claiming to have been kidnapped by little gray
humanoids.
It all started when a psychologist friend in New York
suggested that Dr. Mack meet Budd Hopkins, a Manhattan
ARTIST. When Mr. Hopkins isn't busy creating large geometric
paintings he calls "guardians," he hypnotizes people to
recapture their past experiences with UFOs.
"I said to myself that if he believes this is real,
there's got to be something wrong with him," recalls Dr.
Mack.
HELEN WHEELS, 42, who sports a black leather jacket and
Harley-Davidson sweatshirt, says she had unexplained
nose-bleeds after a childhood encounter in which she was
strapped to a floating table and "had an implant put up the
right side of my nose" by alien medical technicians. She says
the implant later fell out.
Most professed abductees have little, if any, recollection
of their experiences, just vague notions that they have
experienced something traumatic. Only through hypnosis do
they reveal detailed accounts of close encounters. One of Dr.
Mack's patients had an odd memory about a large kangaroo that
visited her as a child; during hypnosis, that episode turned
into an alien abduction.
"Sometimes, the beings are represented as animals or
birds. You have to get into the shamanic interpretation," Dr.
Mack explains.
Many mental-health professionals are skeptical about such
regression hypnosis, claiming it is TOO EASY FOR A HYPNOTIST
TO LEAD THE SUBJECT ON WITH SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS. But UFO
researchers say it is the only way to unlock memories the
aliens have forced their victims to repress.
During a meeting of an abductee support group at Mr.
Hopkins's Manhattan studio, Mr. Nickerson is undergoing
hypnosis. Mr. Nickerson, one of Dr. Mack's subjects, returns
to an incident when he was nine years old.
"Bike trip to Aunt Hazel," he mumbles. "I tell my uncle
there's a flying saucer. Two people come down the hill. Dark.
Little. They take me in."
"What's it like inside?" asks Mr. Hopkins.
"Not supposed to tell. I'm scared," says Mr. Nickerson,
thrashing about.
"Do you like these people?" Mr. Hopkins asks.
"Uh uh," Mr. Nickerson responds. "They take me away and do
things." He is being strapped to an examining table, Mr.
Nickerson recounts. His captors are scraping skin samples and
sticking tubes into his right nostril and left ear.
Mr. Hopkins draws him out of the hypnotic state. Mr.
Nickerson awakens with tears in his eyes. "Those bastards,"
he says.
"Nobody has a right to do any of this," Mr. Hopkins
assures him.


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