REPORT FROM BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA:
AN EMERGING EPIDEMIC?

by Graham Conway, FSR Consultant, (British Columbia)

There is no way of knowing exactly when the abduction phenomenon began. However, Graham Conway, arguably the foremost abduction researcher in Canada, has been tracking contact and abduction cases for over 20 years, long before most of us realized that these cases were not only not rare occurrences, but have been fairly. Many of the cases detailed in the following article by Mr. Conway are either still being monitored, or are still under investigation.


 

The last eighteen months (I am writing this in July 1988) have clearly brought about a public awareness of, and, to a remarkable degree, a widespread discussion of -- and acceptance of -- the "Contactee-Abduction Phenomenon".¹ It may be more accurate to state that this certainly holds true as regards North America, but clearly other countries are focusing on their own brands of interference and are reluctantly admitting that they too are not immune.

Several authors, particularly Budd Hopkins and Whitley Strieber, have certainly been responsible for this opening of the door, with their books, plus the various TV and radio programmes put out throughout Canada. And even more astonishing, to me, was the overnight "about-face" displayed by our media. As if on a signal, the snide remarks and open laughter had all but vanished.

To the "Old Guard", folk like Jacques Vallée, John Keel, Leo Sprinkle, Brad Steiger, all this public revelation was of course long overdue: they had all been saying this for thirty years or more. In fact, John Keel, in his letter to FSR (32/6) had called it "re-discovering the wheel". That is very true, the only difference being that we now have a very different audience. We are into a whole new generation now of involved albeit reluctant witnesses. When Adamski, Fry, Bethurum et al. were tramping the lecture circuit, their voices were faint and their audiences small. The shouts of "hoax", "fraud", "money-seeker", were louder and more numerous then. Today we have a generation who were then either not yet born or small children, and who have grown up in a climate that is vastly more "accepting" towards "Space Age" ideas, and where the "impossible" can at least be considered.

Spotlight on British Columbia

My purpose in the present report is to draw attention to some possibly so far unnoticed aspects of the phenomenon. Canada appears so far to be absent from the recently published record. This country stretches for five thousand miles from sea to sea. I must plead forgiveness for citing this obvious fact, but it is necessary, lest I may later find some sharp reader pointing out to me something of which I am not yet aware. So, to "play it safe", I shall concentrate on my own section of the country, the Province of British Columbia, and direct my comments to this Province alone.

Having been engaged in UFO research for forty-two years myself, it was not until 1976 that I came across my first "contactee/abductee". His story had made the headlines in a small-town newspaper, about ten miles from where I live. And his story was absurd -- but then aren't they all? Having met this man, I could not help being impressed by his personal conviction that he had been "chosen". But there again -- aren't they all? And he "had a mission -- a job to do". Don't they all? Today, twelve years later, he and I are still in touch, and his tenacity and sincerity are still as impressive as on Day One.

Since that meeting with him, I have recorded the stories of twenty-seven contactees, with the majority of whom I still maintain a link. Along the way, I have also met others, who have told me similar stories. Of this group of 27, eight are men and nineteen are women, and their ages range from about thirty to sixty. They are principally of the white or Caucasian race, with the exception of one native Canadian Indian. Thirteen of the group are married or involved in a fragile relationship that often shows signs of crumbling because of the ongoing UFO involvement that is not of their seeking.

They also all have the annoying, almost daily interference of "poltergeist" - type activity, which is hard to accept and even harder to ignore, and yet harder still to explain to another person, particularly those of the "scientifically-minded" variety.

This group of 27 individuals range from those who report getting unsought images that appear on movie film (one woman has OVER THREE HUNDRED SUCH MOVIES), to cases of bank computers that shut down as soon as the lady in question enters the room; cases of "one-armed bandits" that cease to function at Las Vegas; tape-recorders that refuse to work; TV sets that turn off by themselves and come back on again showing a different channel! In addition, we have street-lights that come on or go out as the "subject" approaches the spot; compact-disc-players that eject the record right across the room; cars that won't start for their owners, but will for anybody else; and telephones that are regularly replaced by the Telephone Company every three months because the wires burn out.

Then we have humming and buzzing noises that drive the occupant from a room; odours that nauseate; radio-telephones that switch to the emergency channel without the aid of human hand; black helicopters that are unmarked and have opaque windows; plus smaller red (and also blue) "child-size" "choppers" traveling at high speed at tree-top level, which pursue the victim or buzz his home at roof-top level. You might think this enumeration is enough. But it is only a part of the list!

Some of these people whom I have met have other equally astonishing attributes or faculties. They can see the radio waves inside micro-ovens; feel the degree of heat that radiates from coloured paper; they are monitored (?) by small balls of light; indulge in automatic writing; or, without warning, find themselves involved in scenes from the future or the past, in which they are the observers, and yet themselves knowing all the thoughts and emotions of the participants (sometimes a truly terrifying and disgusting experience). They can read minds, see auras, and detect the contents of a package without opening it. And so it goes on...

"Body Implants"

In his article "What They are Doing To Us", in FSR 33/3, Budd Hopkins examined a topic about which, I venture to say, we know very, very little indeed. He relates the story of a man whom he calls "Earl", and the events surrounding "Earl's" unfortunate wife. He describes her as suffering nightmares, and clawing in her sleep at an area near the bridge of her nose, between her eyes, and screaming for them to "take it out -- it's hurting!"

Well now, in the spring of 1988 I interviewed a family man on Vancouver Island who, when I asked as a mere matter of routine, whether he had any unusual marks on his body, replied: "No. But I have this little ball² by my left eye, near the bridge of my nose". With that, he pushed gently on the skin, and the resulting white mark showed a small ball clearly delineated. When I asked him how long he had had this ball, he replied: "About three months before, it was down in my cheek, alongside my right nostril!"

Some months later, I told this part of that man's story to another very involved abductee, and she said: "Oh -- I've got one too -- right here -- I always wondered what it was!" With that, she pressed on the indentation at the top of the bridge of her nose, and it appeared also on her, though less than in the case of the man quoted above.

In Budd Hopkins' report, "Earl" was forced to watch his wife having a thin probe inserted into her vagina. One woman contactee whom I interviewed in a town north of Vancouver told me that she "had something inserted on three occasions". And she said, angrily, "They had tried to make me believe I was doing it myself!"

When I asked her what it was that they had inserted, she replied: "I don't know what it was. But I do know what it WASN'T". This happened in her own bedroom, and during the experience she was totally unable to move. This same young, single, lady told me that she felt that "They" had sex with her more than once. When I asked her how she knew this, she replied: "Because of the odour afterwards".

This same lady stated in a most emphatic manner that she has a child somewhere, and that she vividly recalls breast-feeding it. (Needless to add that she denies ever having been knowingly pregnant.)

The Vancouver lady who has the suspected implant on the bridge of her nose, recalls a very vivid, all-too-real, "dream", in which she is an observer, up in the far corner of a room, watching herself, in an obstetrical position, giving birth to a scaly brown baby that appears to be in a cocoon. Despite her revulsion at the sight, she hears herself screaming "Don't take my baby away!" The small shadowy white figures pay no attention to her protests.

I know two ladies who became pregnant. Yet the husband of one of them was sterile, and in the case of the other lady, impregnation from her husband would have been equally impossible, given the circumstances. The first-mentioned of these ladies was visited during the night by two figures that "looked at" the baby in her abdomen, and showed concern for its welfare. And - strange as it may seem - these two mothers, who show all the hallmarks of having been abductees -- have sons called "ADAM"!

A nurse who works in a hospital near to where I live, tells of a male baby that was delivered in 1972. The mother was a sixteen-year-old native Indian. She had no idea who was the father of the child. This particular baby was so different from other children that the hospital staff actually referred to it always as "THE ALIEN". It was later adopted by a family in another part of British Columbia. Again, in that same year, this same nurse, who was working in the nursery of the hospital, saw another child that struck her as extremely unusual. Over the whole time that it was there, she said it never cried, nor did it ever sleep -- at least never when she was on duty. It seemed to communicate with its eyes, and required her to pick it up, and this she frequently did, talking to it a great deal. Although she had quite a large grown family of her own, she says she had an overpowering feeling that this infant was a part of herself. Even at that very early age, she felt that the small being could communicate telepathically. It would indeed be interesting to know how many more "strange" babies have been noticed lately in hospitals around the world.

On page 16 of the same issue of FSR (33/3) Budd Hopkins touches upon the emotional upheaval involved in alien contact, and its often tragic results. I too know of one contactee who is now in a mental institution; of another who is heavily into drugs and alcohol; of another that has attempted suicide; plus one more who has seriously considered suicide.

Along the way, over the years, I have developed a strong rapport with some of these abductees. The result is that they will tell me things that they won't tell even to their own close relatives. This, in itself, can make for some quite considerable and embarrassing difficulties at times, of which one of the very least is the problem of breach of confidence. As researchers in this field will readily confirm, the participants in contactee cases are usually quite paranoid about any disclosure that might in any way identify them. (Knowing what they have gone through and are still going through, I in no way fault them for being unduly cautious.)

Sexual Assaults by "Humans"(?)

Recently something emerged that "blew me away", as we say. In an interview which I had with a single-parent lady, the question of choice of a living location was touched upon. (Contactees appear to move around a lot -- maybe subconsciously attempting to escape?) This particular lady told me, jokingly, that her sister-in-law is always "pulling her leg" about not living on the ground floor. Suddenly alerted by this remark, I asked her why? Then it came out that she had been attacked on the street and sexually assaulted.

At that point -- figuratively speaking -- "the roof fell in" for me. For I suddenly realized that this woman was the FIFTH abductee/contactee of whom I knew who had either been sexually assaulted or sexually abused. Later, when, in a tone of amazement, I was telling all this to yet another woman abductee, she waited quietly until I had finished my account and then added: "You can make me Number Six."

Since then, I now make a point, if the circumstances permit, of putting this very question to them right at the outset.

Another contactee of whom I have heard was also the victim of sexual assault. She lives in this same Province of British Columbia, though many hours journey from here.

Talk about double jeopardy! What a horrendous load to have to carry around with you! I cannot help but wonder how many victims of some sort of sexual assault are also abductees, and whether there can be a link? What more motivation for suicide could a woman have than this duo!

Body Scars

I would now like to comment on another point in Budd Hopkins' article, namely his mention of disfiguring scars on the bodies of abductees.

It happened recently that a lady abductee, a friend of mine, who was suspected of having breast cancer, had to have a routine X-ray examination. While preparing her for the examination, the nurse asked her: "When did you have the operations on your lymph glands?" "Never!" promptly replied my friend. "Oh, come now", said the nurse. "You must have. You have a scar under each arm!"

Since then, this lady has found that her husband has a similar scar under one arm, and her mother and her grandson have them too. It is quite possible that her children also have them, but they refuse to comment.

By a remarkable coincidence (?) another family of contactees, who live less than ten miles away, have also reported that one of their members has such a scar.

And once again I ask: dare we to dwell upon this, and dare we to wonder how many others there are around the world who carry this hidden personal record? And for what purpose? My own researches indicate what has already been announced long ago namely that we have among us, established here already within our society, a new breed of "super-kid".

"The Light People"

We also have contactees who report holding ongoing conversations (during sleep, they think), with beings whom they call "the light people", whose purpose seems to be to educate, to solve problems, and to provide glimpses into the immediate future. Often these contactees awaken in the morning with aching necks and shoulders, complaining of feeling exhausted, as if they had worked all night, rather than having supposedly slept the normal eight hours.

Are these pure energy forms, described as "the light people", also part of the same general phenomenon responsible for abductions and impregnations and monitorings, and for the removal of ova or of sperm (as one male witness has told me happened to him on two occasions)?

Some Concluding Thoughts

In closing these notes, I wish to emphasize once more that my statements relate solely to the Pacific Coast area of this vast country of Canada. It is very probable that other researchers across the nation will confirm that similar types of events are happening in their particular communities, be it Alberta, or Ontario, or Quebec, or New Brunswick, etc. I suspect very strongly that they are. In fact, I will go so far as to say that if ANYONE stretches his arms out wide he or she will be able to touch, within their own circle of friends, some person, or more likely some persons, who are very much involved in this emerging epidemic.

And, of course, I have come across other oddities too. Living as I do in a racially mixed city, I know of only one (first generation) Oriental abductee. I know of no other Asians, and no blacks.

Furthermore, why is it that neither blind people nor physically handicapped people, ever seem to report involvement (The faculties of being able to see, or being mobile, are not a required ingredient in the bizarre complexities of the abduction scenario... OR ARE THEY?)

How does it come about, moreover, that I never hear of reports from "street people" -- i.e., people on the streets? Many of them are very alert, fast-thinking, philosophical too, and also extremely observant. Am I to believe that nothing is happening to THEM?

Well, yes, of course it might be argued that the answer is that I don't mix in those particular social and ethnic circles. But on the other hand, I do have numerous well-established "pipelines" that should provide a trickle of something... And, to date, they have not.

So far I know of five families where three generations are clearly involved in this process of "monitoring" and sample-taking. But so far I am unable to detect any common denominators. Certainly none are apparent on the surface. Does location have any significance, I wonder? Also, what about such aspects as profession, or religious activity, or absence thereof?

The questions are endless, the answers almost non-existent. And, as Whitley Strieber has already commented, "THEY" will presumably only reveal the solution if and when "THEY" want to. Until then, the beat goes on.

NOTES AND REFERENCES

(1) I employ the terms "abductee" and "contactee" interchangeably, since in so many cases both contact and abduction are recognized. And, in cases where only contact is admitted by the individual involved, he or she may very likely be still unaware that abduction also took place.

(2) [Note by Editor.] I have personally observed, over a period of many years, the presence of one of these immensely hard little balls just below the skin of a human body. It had been there for at least 40 years. Then, one day, the person, in whose body it was, "woke up", and realized what the thing might be. The man at once rushed to inspect and, lo, the ball was already gone! It would be interesting if we could hear of other such cases where an "implant" vanishes as soon as its significance is perceived. -- G.C.

Since this article was published, many more abduction claims have been made in BC. We stopped keeping track of the exact numbers once it passed the lofty 200 mark. Many of these new cases are of extremely high strangeness and credibility.

This article was originally published in the prestigious Flying Saucer Review, Volume 34, #1, March, 1989.

 

 

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