Encounter Atlas

Creature index / UFOs and UAP

Alien abduction

Also called Abduction, Close encounter of the fourth kind, CE4, Missing time, Abductee experience

People who say they were taken aboard a craft, often remembering only 'missing time'.

Alien abduction reports describe being taken, usually at night from a bedroom or a lonely road, by beings into a craft, examined, and returned with gaps in memory. Common details include a bright light, paralysis, small grey beings, a medical-style exam and an hour or more of missing time.

Brazilian farmer Antônio Villas Boas told of a 1957 abduction, and Betty and Barney Hill's 1961 account from New Hampshire, recalled under hypnosis, became the template. In October 1973 two shipyard workers in Pascagoula, Mississippi, said they were taken aboard a craft by the river. In November 1975 Arizona logger Travis Walton disappeared for five days after his crew said a beam of light struck him.

Psychologists link many reports to sleep paralysis, false memories formed under hypnosis and cultural expectations. Abductees say their experiences are real.

Browse 10,622 US Air Force Project Blue Book case files on the map or by state.

What witnesses report

  • A beam of bright light
  • Being unable to move
  • An hour or more of missing time
  • Grey beings and an exam table
  • Unexplained marks on the body

Famous cases

  1. 1957Villas Boas case
    Minas Gerais, Brazil
  2. 1961Betty and Barney Hill
    New Hampshire
  3. 1973Pascagoula abduction
    Pascagoula, Mississippi
  4. 1975Travis Walton disappearance
    Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, Arizona

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Related

Grey aliensaka Greys, GraysSmall, grey, big-headed beings with huge black eyes, the classic face of alien encounters.Reptiliansaka Reptoids, Reptilian aliensScaly, reptile-like humanoids from some abduction reports, and a notorious conspiracy theory.Shadow peopleaka Shadow person, Shadow figuresDark, human-shaped silhouettes seen at the edge of vision, including the infamous Hat Man.Flying sauceraka Disc, Flying discThe classic disc-shaped UFO that launched the modern era of sightings.