'Thank you, Thank you, Thank you. Somebody finally believes me...'
A week or two ago, these words over e-mail literally brought a tear to my eye. They came from an experiencer whom I will call "Lucy" (actually a composite of several callers), who had called me to tell me about her experiences. Like other experiencers, Lucy had been a 'favorite' of the phenomenon, having been plagued by anomalous intrusions for nearly all of her life. And like so many of her contemporaries, she was unable to speak to anyone about her experiences.
The loneliness of this experience must be staggering. As I listened to her speak, I heard her voice waver, breaking into tears on several occasions. She spoke of how her first memories, from roughly age three, were about intrusions by alien beings - strange creatures entering through the closed window. She spoke of the fear that accompanied going to bed every night - fear that the 'strangers' and the 'dreams' would come again.
For some experiencers, childhood experiences sometimes take on a positive character. Some experiencers describe 'magical playmates,' who brought them psychic toys and took them on fun adventures. In one case, which I describe in The Cosmic Bridge, the Visitors appeared in the form of 'fun' little cartoon characters. While on the surface, they seemed to be positive, there were definite darker undertones to the 'fun and games' of these childhood events - but at least on the surface, there was a positive facade. In Lucy's case, there was apparently no such thing.
As we talked, it became apparent that Lucy's experiences were far more numerous than those of most. She indicated that the experiences were nearly nightly, a prodigious rate. If the abduction phenomenon is a physical one, this means that a UFO has had to (her experiences are still on-going) enter Earth's atmosphere and remain undetected as it took its position over Lucy's home every night for several decades. This suggests either that the phenomenon has some incredible level of stealth, or that - at least in some cases - there is an other-than-physical explanation. And yet, given the emotional effects of the experience, it seems absolutely and powerfully real.
From the emotional intensity and the mystery of Lucy's account, we can once again see the power and magnitude of the phenomenon. The biggest of all the effects, however, is that few if any people accept their account. Peers, doctors and psychologists, nearly all dismiss the events, which are so brutally real to the experiencer. Unless the experiencer happens to live in a community where the topic is ‘acceptable,’ she finds herself alone, bearing the weight of two conflicting realities upon her shoulders.
On that day, as the woman I call "Lucy" cried on the phone - the magnitude of her isolation was fully and brutally apparent. After a lifetime of nobody believing her, I can fully imagine her relief when somebody on the other end of the phone line finally listened to her and accepted what she had to say. While there was nothing I could physically do to help her, for the moment just my ear was enough - confirmed by the e-mail the next day when she wrote, 'At last, someone finally believes me...'
