Case file · Non-fiction & research literature
Clancy, 'Abducted: How People Come to Believe They Were Kidnapped by Aliens'
Harvard cognitive psychologist Susan Clancy's study of people who believed they had been abducted.
2005 CE · 42.37, -71.12 · status: explained
The account
Clancy concluded that sleep paralysis, false memory, hypnosis and cultural scripts explain abduction belief, while acknowledging that experiencers are sincere and find meaning in it. It is the leading psychological counterpoint to Mack.
The sceptical view
Experiencers and abduction researchers say her sample was small and not representative of the strongest cases.
Connections in the atlas
- Abducted: How People Come to Believe They Were Kidnapped by Aliens
- The grey alien face