Your "Alien Education" please???

Knowing that this is among the most knowledgeable group (at least on the Internet) about the current mythos surrounding aliens and abduction lore, I am curious about something. Where did you first learn, hear, see or read about the stereotypical alien abduction phenomenon that now pervades social conciousness and mass media alike?

Of course, I don't mean the kind of Alien experience in E.T. or even Close Encounters. I mean the lost time, lucid dream state, bedroom abductor, floating toward the light, medical and sexual experiments by large eyed GREYS that everyone now takes as Alien 101, or ground zero for the mythos.

For me (and I'm 34) it was the Whitley Striber series starting with the book Communion. If you don't know, Striber was a medicore fiction writer with limited success until he wrote his first "true story" biography about his encounters. I read it in the late 80's or so, and was blown away. It was the first I EVER heard such tales, and suddenly it seemed to be everywhere in TV and movies thereafter.

So my question is how many also attribute an early work of Striber's to their 'alien education' or have another source they can point to... or if you're considerably younger, it may just be that the mythos was literally everywhere by the time your eyes were open.

PLEASE RESPOND WITH YOUR BEST ESTIMATION (even if you aren't 100% sure). This effort is to come to some group consensus on our own mythos origins, or perhaps discover one or more orginal sources in society.

[Edited on 30-1-2004 by RANT]

I was about 14 i think when i saw the movie communion and it freaked me out. I had nightmares about greys before ever seeing one on a book or on tv. It took me a while to get over the fear. I still kinda shake when i see a pic of a grey.

Originally posted by Kriskaos
I was about 14 i think when i saw the movie communion and it freaked me out. I had nightmares about greys before ever seeing one on a book or on tv. It took me a while to get over the fear. I still kinda shake when i see a pic of a grey.

The book had the same effect on me. My only one on one 'encounter' was the night I finished reading Communion. I went to sleep wishing I could meet an alien...and did. In a dream anyway.

tust me you dont want an encounter. It was wierd because the same time I had mine my mother had hers she didnt tell me till I was 16. Nasty stuff.

I was I believe about 14 or 15 when I read Communion. It was the first time I ever heard of such things and my interest was sparked from then.

I wonder if Communion is most everyone's source then. Critics easily dismiss him you know as being a mere fiction writer. But it may be that he's actually responsible for creating as much mythos and magic in the world as Tolkein, having relayed the Grey experience so dramatically.

While I have not read Communion yet, I have read other books on UFO/aliens/abductions. Alien Agenda by Jim Mars comes to mind, along with a paperback book from the 70s that talked about Project Blue Book. Most of my other informationhas come from what I have read on websites or heard on radio shows from hosts like Whitley Streiber, Art Bell and George Noory.

I do believe I have seen a UFO and can retell very little detail, but was able to back it up with a second, completely unrelated non-ufo event that made my parents think twice about what I told them I saw.

Still one of the best of all is the account of Betty and Barney Hill. I understand the old girl is still going but has lost her husband.

I know there are some accounts out there of Greys and abductions from well before Communion (aren't there?), but is that not the source of most modern interpretations? I think X-Files and the like borrowed heavily from Strieber from what I've seen.

So in a way, we all keep seeing bits and pieces of Striebers story being retold in different ways now. See why I said he's almost like Tolkein or Roddenberry for creating a whole pervasive mythos we all know and is copied over and over?

Or maybe I'm wrong, what is the first place people heard of Greys and such is what I'm asking.

ok, I think I follow your question now, and No I don't think Streiber is solely responsible for type of encounters that are similar to those that he described.

I first heard of aliens and ufo's in the mid 80's, it was in the NY Post or NY Daily News, a little blurb about someone seeing a ufo, my uncle (crazy,pyscho, druggy) started telling me about people being abducted by big eyed aliens.

I read Communion a year or two after that.

Not having read the book...

I had a dream,

and without going into the details,..I was too young to comprehend the dreams meaning, and was too young to be allowed to watch such on TV.

But the dream has stayed clearly with me, after all these years.

when I was little, my brother who is 6 years older than me was facinated by anything to do with space. He painted pictures of alien landscapes and even had wall paper with pictures of the the moon landing all over it. I think I might have picked up on a few things from him.
Other than that my mum always had books on the bookshelf that were about phenomena and aliens etc. Probably why I am attracted to this site, because I have grown up with this sort of thing.
I am 33 now so I can't remember back to the exact time that I first started to think about alien visitors.It's just something that I've always been interested in.

With me it started of with dreams about UFO'S which scared the crap out of me. Then I started to get interested in UFO'S and started reading books about it all the time. Now its the only thing that i can think about except school.

Originally posted by Oswald
While I have not read Communion yet, I have read other books on UFO/aliens/abductions. Alien Agenda by Jim Mars comes to mind,

Yeah that was the first book i've ever read about aliens. Very good book.

I watched communion for the first time not too long ago. It's a damn good movie and pretty freaky as well. I could see where nightmares might come in. But long before I watched this movie, I've always been afraid of greys starting at an early childhood age. And the reason behind it is unkown.

What I've noticed is that there isn't much good evidence in support of the Greys w/ wrap around black almond-shaped eyes. Some of the abduction accounts that impress me including the Betty and Barney Hill story, the Buff Ledge incident, the Travis Walton story, and other encounters like Roswell (Randle and Friedman's research) all have *Grey-like* aliens but they have human-like eyes where you can see the iris and scerla.

About the only good, really compelling abduction story I know of with black-eyed grey aliens is the Allagash abduction - the one where four canoeists were snatched in upstate NY, and where the aliens demonstrated particular interest on a set of twin brothers.

Frankly, the media exposure Strieber has gotten--he appeared on Oprah and told his horrifiying, hysterical tales--makes me suspicious.

[Edited on 30-1-2004 by Condorcet]

Originally posted by RANT
Knowing that this is among the most knowledgeable group (at least on the Internet) about the current mythos surrounding aliens and abduction lore, I am curious about something. Where did you first learn, hear, see or read about the stereotypical alien abduction phenomenon that now pervades social conciousness and mass media alike?

Of course, I don't mean the kind of Alien experience in E.T. or even Close Encounters. I mean the lost time, lucid dream state, bedroom abductor, floating toward the light, medical and sexual experiments by large eyed GREYS that everyone now takes as Alien 101, or ground zero for the mythos.

For me (and I'm 34) it was the Whitley Striber series starting with the book Communion. If you don't know, Striber was a medicore fiction writer with limited success until he wrote his first "true story" biography about his encounters. I read it in the late 80's or so, and was blown away. It was the first I EVER heard such tales, and suddenly it seemed to be everywhere in TV and movies thereafter.

So my question is how many also attribute an early work of Striber's to their 'alien education' or have another source they can point to... or if you're considerably younger, it may just be that the mythos was literally everywhere by the time your eyes were open.

PLEASE RESPOND WITH YOUR BEST ESTIMATION (even if you aren't 100% sure). This effort is to come to some group consensus on our own mythos origins, or perhaps discover one or more orginal sources in society.

[Edited on 30-1-2004 by RANT]

All my life but mostly took it as a joke, and just ignored it. Same for religion. Only recently have I taken this seriously and had my curiosity peaked...

Recently as in the past year or so. I've learned heaps of lies/half-truths... and ideas. Theories, opinions, you name it... the internet seems full of it. But I had to question something... why is it that everyone on the planet seems to have a different opinion about the reality of God, the reality of Aliens.. and just basically "reality". What is it? What is the big friggin secret? Why doesn't anyone know this? So I went out on a search for truth, to find out that which no one seems to hold answers to.

I figured if the answers were obvious, there would be public concensus on one certain idea. Since theories are abound, there is no single answer. I figured they must be all somehow connected, at least some of them. Maybe religion, spirituality, atheism, human psychology, aliens, the Universe, life here and elsewhere.. etc.. are all linked somehow, and the key is what really evades humanity. Once the key is there, all of those things are going to be unlocked.

But the more answers I found, the more questions I realised that I have. The more you know, the more you are aware of your LACK of knowledge. Those who know least think they know everything. Those who know the most, understand that they know NOTHING. This universe is very interesting, and it is out there for us to explore.

I kept wondering why so many people keep themselves busy spreading lies and propoganda knowingly, are THEY not interested in knowing the truth? Then, what if they do know and are keeping it hidden? What could be so bad that it should be hidden?

Anyways, to wrap this up, I've found many "truths" and many hidden realities, and I came to understand that that which I do NOT know became exponentially greater. It is of course fun, and opens up WORLDS for you to experience, learn from.

Those who are hung up on their simplistic world views through religion and belief, are missing out on the huge array of possibilities and realities, the wonder of the universe, and all that exists. Why limit yourself? I opened my mind, and without reservation or expectation searched for truth, and if you only knew that which I've discovered. I suggest everyone do this, as the rewards of knowing are self-fullfilling.. the truth is its own reward. Seek with an open mind, and you shall receive. Those who reserve and try to keep the truth from you, designed a system on this world that is great at what it does. But NO system is perfect, and holes are all over the place. It's like swiss cheese! Find your hole, and peek into reality through it, peek OUTSIDE the matrix, and you shall be amazed. Think outside human religions. Outside spirituality. Outside our common beliefs... outside the box we are all in. I dare you

Oops.. double post. ATS having bandwidth issues again

[Edited on 30-1-2004 by lilblam]

I believe that I first learned about alien abductions somewhere between the ages of 6 and 8. I saw some movies about the subject on tv, and although I don't remember the names of those movies, they affected me quite a bit. I started checking out books from my elementary school library about UFO's and alien encounters right around that time and have been interested in the phenomena every since.

So not THAT many people read or saw Communion.

I wonder if age plays a factor. Older people are less likely to have gotten their 'education' early. While still some people are just drawn to it right off the bat.

I know I certainly thought of aliens and sci fi alot young, but not specifically Greys and abductions until I read Communion around 1989 or so.