Nov Dec**_SI new design masters 9/27/12 10:56 AM Page 12 [ INVESTIGATIVE FILES JOE NICKELL Joe Nickell is CSI’s senior research fellow. His books include Entities and Tracking the Man-Beasts, and he contributed to The Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters. His website is www.joenickell.com. States of Mind: Some Perceived ET Encounters n Tuesday, April 24, 2012, the a light in the sky,” which she guessed to vestigator, describes “half a dozen sight- popular afternoon TV show An- be “about 1000 feet in the air.” While it ings” beginning April 20, 2008 (Howe Oderson—hosted by Ander son seemed to be “moving very quickly 2008). Cooper—asked, “Are we being visited by from spot to spot,” nevertheless, she The “paralysis”—together with the aliens from space?” I was invited as a stated, “It was hovering over the trees strange as if “in a movie” experience— skeptic to provide balance to the three in the yard.” There was no noise and provides a clue as to what probably segments: the first introduced a woman Alex became “perfectly well behaved.” happened on this occasion: Being half who said a bright UFO hovered repeat- The light hovered for some twenty asleep (and perhaps having rested on edly over her back yard; the second fea- minutes, but she does not say what be- one of the lounge chairs in her back 3 tured two young ladies whose UFO came of it. yard to watch the hovering UFO), sightings prompted them to try hypno- The incident was repeated about sis, which led them to recall interacting four weeks later, but the night sky was with aliens; and finally a self-styled psy- more overcast, so she said of the UFO chic claimed to be in telepathic contact that she “could just see parts of it creep- with “star people.” A representative from ing in the clouds.” Depending on how the Mutual UFO Network (MUFON) it moved, it appeared circular or also participated throughout the show. boomerang shaped.1 She saw windows He was only skeptical of skeptics. that were “bluish green” and “were all Together, as we shall see, these cases the way around the craft.” A “little pink illustrate that UFOlogy continues its light” was following it, and “On the long tradition of mystery mongering bottom there were three giant head- and the implicit reliance on a logical lights in a triangle shape.” fallacy called “arguing from ignorance”: After another month, Alex again “We don’t know what was seen in the woke her and she “immediately knew sky; therefore, it must have been an ex- that they were back and I had to go traterrestrial craft.” The cases also reveal outside again.” The craft appeared that much of what is claimed depends closer to the house “but still hovering on the states of mind of the alleged eye- over the trees.” Then she saw a beam of witnesses. Following the show I was light and a sparkling powder that able to spend more time investigating “looked like it was dancing in the trees” the cases, and here is a look at each of (Murter 2012a). the three revealing Anderson segments Murter stated, “I was paralyzed. I in turn. could not move.” She waited until the UFO: ‘Hovering’ in the Mind’s Eye next day to tell her husband because this particular experience “was just too First up was Denise Murter, age fifty- unbelievable. I didn’t want people to two, from Levittown, Pennsylvania. think I went bonkers; it was like it was Her encounters began in May 2008, in a movie.” Her husband advised her when she and her husband were awak- not to tell others of her experience, but ened by their growling dog, Alex. Find- she “told MUFON”—the Mutual ing nothing unusual in the apartment, UFO Network—about it and more she took the dog outside so he could re- (Murter 2012a).2 Another version of lieve himself. Thereupon, she “noticed the events, citing a MUFON field in- 12 Volume 36 Issue 6 | Skeptical Inquirer Nov Dec**_SI new design masters 9/27/12 10:56 AM Page 13 Murter had a hypnagogic experience (or is, a celestial object, some twenty-five bulent. Scintillation can occur on the “waking dream”). This occurs in the in- times brighter than the stars in her field clearest nights, even affecting a single terface between being fully awake and of vision—namely, the planet Jupiter. celestial light, and it results in refraction asleep. It is typically characterized by That it seemed to move was probably (bending) of the different wavelengths hallucinations, often with bright lights due to the autokinetic effect (McGaha to cause the changing colors. Like au- reported, and sleep paralysis, the body’s 2012). This occurs when one stares at a tokinesis, scintillation can also produce inability to move because it is still in the bright light in the dark, particularly “an illusion of motion” (Hen dry 1979, sleep mode (Mavromatis 1987, 14 –52). when it is well above the horizon (so 26). Both probably helped cause the il- This state probably explains Murter’s there is no frame of reference). Autoki- lusion of changing shapes Murter de- perceived beam of light and sparkling nesis is due to “small involuntary jerking scribed, aided by her own imagination. powder. I suspect that during at least movements of the human eye” (Hendry After the show’s taping she sent me an part of each of her reported events 1979, 26). (In one UFO case, for exam- angry note in which she said, “I know Murter was not fully awake, and that ple, a light that “zigzagged” while re- what I saw” (Murter 2012b). Actually, that affected many of her perceptions. maining in the same basic position for of course, this no doubt well-meaning Regarding the UFO itself, I dis- forty minutes proved to be a combina- lady only “knows” what she thinks she cussed Murter’s sightings with James tion of star and “autokinetic motions” saw. McGaha, one of our organization’s [Hendry 1979, 95].) Anyway, as I told Cooper on his UFO experts and director of the Grass - As to the shifting colors Murter de- show, it seems farfetched that extrater- lands Observatory in Tucson. He sug- scribed, McGaha (2012) noted that restrials would traverse the incredible gested that the UFO might have a ready that effect would be due to scintilla- distances involved—on some secret explanation, given the direction in tion—that is, the “twinkling,” not only mission to Earth—then repeatedly which Murter was looking at the ap- of stars but also of planets like Jupiter hover over Murter’s back yard with proximate times and place reported: that when the atmosphere is especially tur- their bright lights on! Skeptical Inquirer | November/December 2012 13 Nov Dec**_SI new design masters 9/27/12 10:56 AM Page 14 Aliens and Hypnotic Recall with James McGaha—this time not in “just wanted to make me better.” In a sec- The next segment on Anderson featured his persona of astronomer but as a for- ond session she explored the period of two young women from Law rence burg, mer special operations and electronic “missing time” and reported that she and Kentucky, Brittany Fields and Jennifer warfare pilot. He stated that the wit- Jen nifer had been in a state “like frozen Morgan, who encountered UFOs late nesses’ UFO description had “heli- animation” (Fields 2012). one night, then, subsequently, under copter written all over it.” He pointed For her part, Jennifer says she “was hypnosis, “recalled” alien encounters. out that the area was well within the not as responsive to hypnosis as Brit - Their story began April 26, 2011, reach of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, tany.” Her session seemed “almost like a when, about midnight, the two went on which is where American military hel- dream.” “The only thing I can remem- a drive with three young male friends. icopter training occurs. Stationed there ber,” she says, “was seeing a bright light, As they turned down one road and is the famous “Night Stalkers” special- Brittany pulling off the road, and then looked over farmland, they saw a light operations unit. (Indeed, it was out of literally my memory jumped from being above the trees speeding toward them. Fort Campbell that the training for the in a car to being in a circular white Jennifer first thought it could be a heli- days-later, successful “Night Stalkers” room.” Completely naked, she felt a copter: It was “somewhat long” with mission against terrorist Bin Laden pain in the back of her head, and later lights on the front and back. However, took place.) The Night Stalkers unit her boyfriend found a scar on the back when it flew over them it was “huge,” she has an impressive variety of huge and of her neck that she did not recall hav- said, “bigger than a helicopter,” and odd-looking helicopters that the public ing. Did she think she was abducted by aliens? “There’s no other explanation. It’s the only logical explanation,” she concluded (Morgan 2012). Actually, there is quite another, much Major McGaha suggests that some nighttime more rational explanation for such en - counters. They have their origins in a helicopter training operation could explain the now-ubiquitous UFO myth ology. Brit - tany said, on describing their first sight- young people’s UFO sighting. ing, “Listen, I’ve always believed in this kind of thing” (Fields 2012). The willing- ness to presume that an un known object is an extraterrestrial craft (an exercise in illogic called “arguing from ignorance”) sets the stage for other expectations.