More on Alien Encounters and Strange Sleep-States
BY Nick Redfern
As you may have seen, I recently wrote an article on Truman Bethurum�s controversial,
alleged encounters in the early 1950s with a hot babe from another world. Her name: Aura
Rhanes. I suggested in the article that Bethurum�s encounters may have been caused by hypnagogia.
Of this particular phenomenon, healthline.com state: �If you think you�re seeing � or
smelling, hearing, tasting, or feeling � things when you�re asleep, you may not be dreaming.
It�s possible you�re experiencing hypnagogic hallucinations. These can occur in the consciousness
state between waking and sleeping.� It�s a fact that a lack of sleep � and disturbed
sleep patterns, such as shift-work � can provoke vivid hypnagogic states. A good argument
can be made that Truman Bethurum�s experiences occurred when he was in just such a state.
There are other cases which may be explainable by hypnagogia. One of them occurred back in
1947 and is recorded in now-declassified FBI files (which can be accessed at the UFO section
of the FBI�s website, The Vault). It was in the second week of July 1949 that an intriguing
story caught the attention of the FBI. The story was given to the Bureau by a broadcaster
and journalist, Walter Winchell. He told the FBI that he had received a UFO-themed letter
from a �Mr. Jones� of Los Angeles, California. According to Jones, the encounter had occurred
two years earlier, in 1947. Why Jones waited so long to tell his story, we don�t know.
But, let�s see what the FBI had to say about this particular case of the flying saucer
kind.
The now-declassified documentation states: �In this letter, Jones stated that in August
of 1947 he left Los Angeles for the mountains and started hiking through the mountains.
About 10:00 a.m. he was laying on the ground when he observed about one-half block away
from him a large, silver, metal object, greenish in color, shaped like a child�s top and
about the size of the balloons used at Country Fairs.�
The FBI added: �[Jones] stated that there appeared to be two windows in the object and
portions of metal appeared transparent and that he gained the impression that there was
some life within this object although he saw no persons. The object appeared as though
sealed as a pressure chamber. He stood up and waved toward this object and this so-called
flying saucer was off the ground in a second, knocking Jones to the ground. In its flight
he stated that its power was silent and he raised the question as to whether this was
an inter-global landing on our planet. He thought that it might be a device to land
on our planet because the occupants of another planet had become curious as to the reaction
caused by the atomic bomb causing trouble in an expanding universe. He asked the question
as to whether it was possible that the occupants of another planet might have solved the theory
of negative energy.�
This is all very interesting, as much of what Jones had to say � about issues concerning
�the reaction caused by the atomic bomb� � mirrored what many of the UFO �Contactees�
began to talk about from the early 1950s onward. It should be noted, though, that by Jones�
admission, when he encountered the UFO he was �laying on the ground,� and specifically
after taking a hike. In light of that, it�s highly possible that Jones, after a long trek,
had fallen asleep and entered a graphic, hypnagogic state. Now, let�s move onto a famous case
from the 1960s.
It was in the early hours of December 3, 1967 that a police-officer named Herbert Schirmer
had an extraordinary encounter at Ashland, Nebraska. While on patrol, Schirmer came across
what, at first, he thought was a broken-down truck at the edge of the road. It was not.
What Schirmer saw � when his headlights lit up the object � was an egg-shaped craft
floating a couple of meters above the ground and giving off a red glow.
The egg-le has landed
There followed a face-to-face encounter with a trio of human-like entities that were around
five-feet in height, maybe slightly smaller. Schirmer was quickly taken on-board � although
not by force. Indeed, he was invited to take a tour of the craft from another world. There
was also the matter of what has become known in Ufology as �missing time.� According
to Schirmer, although he believed he was only in the vehicle for around ten minutes, when
he later checked he realized that around an hour of time couldn�t be accounted for.
It sounds like a classic UFO encounter. And, maybe, that�s exactly what it was. On the
other hand, there is the not insignificant fact that by his own admission Schirmer often
had sleep disturbances, as do many people who work shifts � as Schirmer did. In the
early hours and just before dropping off to sleep Schirmer would hear strange noises � and
on more than a few occasions. On other occasions he even found he had his hands around his
wife�s throat. Thankfully, no harm was done. Sleep disturbances, strange sounds, working
irregular hours, and even extreme and violent activity are all part of hypnagogia � which
can affect people to significantly varying degrees.
Now, I should stress that I don�t think hypnagogia is the cause of all close encounters.
To even try and claim such a thing would be ridiculous. And, it would be unwarranted,
too. But, where there is a clear and specific connection to a sleep-related condition that
can provoke vivid imagery, and even voices, I think we would do well to focus far more
on the mysteries of the mind, and far less on the mysteries of outer space.
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