Study Suggests That ‘Alien Abduction’ Stories May Come From Lucid Dreaming

Article by Mindy Weisberger                                              July 19, 2021                                                                (livescience.com)

• Claims of alien abductions date to the 19th century. The circumstances of the kidnappings often sound dreamlike and trigger feelings of terror and paralysis. These feelings of paralysis fear and helplessness in vivid dreams can be so powerful that they blur the line between dreams and reality.

• Michael Raduga is the founder of the Phase Research Center (PRC), a private facility in Moscow that researches lucid dreaming. He and his team of researchers conducted experiments with 152 adults who self-identified as lucid dreamers – prompting them to “find or summon aliens or UFOs” during a lucid dream. In the July 2nd edition of the International Journal of Dream Research, Raduga reported that a number of sleepers had dreams that resembled actual descriptions of alien abductions.

• During lucid dreams, sleepers are aware they are dreaming and can then use that awareness to manipulate what happens in the dream. According to a 2016 study, about 55% of people experience lucid dreaming once or more in their lifetimes; 23% have lucid dreams at least once a month.

• The research study found that 114 of the 152 participants reported dreaming about having some type of successful interaction with an extraterrestrial being. Of those, about 61% described meeting “aliens” that resembled extraterrestrials from science-fiction novels and films, while 19% met aliens that “looked like ordinary people”.

• One female participant spoke of seeing “little men” with blue skin, oversize heads “and huge, bulging eyes”. When the aliens invited her onto their spaceship, “I was blinded by a very bright light, like from a searchlight,” she said. “My vision was gone, and I felt dizzy and light.”

• Another participant said that he dreamed he was lying in his bed when he felt as though he were being “dragged somewhere,” ending up in a room with a white silhouette that reached into his chest and started “doing something inside with tools,” the researchers wrote.

• Conversations with dream aliens took place in 26% of the encounters. 12% of the participants spoke with aliens in their dreams and interacted with them physically. UFOs showed up in 28% of the meetings, and 10% of the dreamers who saw UFOs described being brought inside an extraterrestrial spacecraft.

• Of those who described their encounters as “realistic,” 24% also experienced sleep paralysis and intense fear. Such emotions often accompany reports of alien abductions. Although individuals who describe being kidnapped by aliens might truly believe that what they experienced was real, these people were likely experiencing an extraterrestrial meeting while in a lucid dream, the study authors reported. For these unknowing dreamers, “abductions are real,” said Raduga. “They just don’t know how to explain it.”

Lucid dreaming, in which people are partially aware and can control their dreams during

sleep, could explain so-called alien abduction stories, a study suggests.

Claims of such abductions date to the 19th century; the circumstances of the kidnappings often sound dreamlike and trigger feelings of terror and paralysis. Certain dream states are also known to produce such feelings, leading Russian researchers to wonder if dream experiments could provide clues about alleged extraterrestrial experiences. The scientists prompted lucid dreamers to dream about encounters with aliens or unidentified flying objects (UFOs), and found that a number of sleepers reported dreams that resembled actual descriptions of alleged alien abductions.

During lucid dreams, sleepers are aware they are dreaming and can then use that awareness to manipulate what happens in the dream. About 55% of people experience lucid dreaming once or more in their lifetimes, and 23% have lucid dreams at least once a month, according to a 2016 study in the journal Consciousness and Cognition that analyzed five decades’ worth of sleep research.

Recently, researchers with the Phase Research Center (PRC), a private facility in Moscow that researches lucid dreaming, conducted experiments with 152 adults who self-identified as lucid dreamers, instructing them to “find or summon aliens or UFOs” during a lucid dream, the scientists reported July 2 in the International Journal of Dream Research.

The researchers found that 114 of the participants reported dreaming about having some type of successful interaction with an extraterrestrial. Of those, about 61% described meeting “aliens” that resembled extraterrestrials from science-fiction novels and films, while 19% met aliens that “looked like ordinary people,” according to the study.

Little blue men

One female participant spoke of seeing “little men” with blue skin, oversize heads “and huge, bulging eyes,” the study authors reported. When the aliens invited her onto their spaceship, “I was blinded by a very bright light, like from a searchlight,” she said. “My vision was gone, and I felt dizzy and light.”

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