Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #990641 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

Customer Reviews

A Biased Book
Several months ago, I managed to obtain Kevin Randle's "The Abduction Enigma" at a local used bookstore and read it thoroughly. My thoughts on it are quite upsetting yet few data are interesting.

There are couple of things to point out here. I was able to finish reading Karla Turner's works, such as "Masquerade of Angels," "Into the Fringe," and "Taken." Knowing that Turner was one of the individuals was taken apart by Randle et al in this "The Abduction Enigma," I went to search where she was mentioned and I have noticed how she was 'taken apart.' Randle has used Karla's dreams from her book "Into the Fringe" to support his theory that her alien abduction was only a 'dream.'

From reading Karla's "Into the Fringe," I do not think that she wanted to believe in alien abductions. However, Randle seems to have implied that she (as well many other alien abductees) does believe in alien abductions when the 'dreams' started. Randle was stressing that alien abductions are only dreams and nothing more. I am not certain if Randle is aware of a possible theory called 'soul abductions' which might be relating to 'dream' experiences. Physical abductions are really rare, but soul abductions are known to be common. This "soul abduction" goes into detail in Laura Knight-Jadczyk's "High Strangeness."

Secondly, Randle pointed out that half of all alien abductees are homosexuals. It is an interesting theory, but his research did not reveal more details. I was looking at a specific part in the book where Randle has discussed homosexuality and there was no list of questions was being used for interviews that Randle, et al has conducted. But, I think he should have included a sort of questionnaire in order for us as readers to understand what was being asked.

Thirdly, a certain part from this book (p. 99-101) made me a bit uneasy where he may be implying that the 'evidence' would lead to common human problems, not alien problems. If the evidence pointed out that it is a human problem, would the individuals be ignored as alien abductees? And, he also said that 90% of the abductees seemed to have 'sexual dysfunction.' Would he have ignored those 90% as evidence of alien abductions if the individuals were 'discovered' to have some sort of 'sexual dysfunction'? What I mean to say is that if the abductees were discovered to be homosexuals or having some kind of 'sexual dysfunctions,' would he ignored them as real alien abductions and labeled them under "psychological problems?"

And, while reading Karla's "Into the Fringe" and I came across a section in her book where Budd Hopkins and Turner discussed alien interests in human sexuality. I am somewhat surprised that Randle did not include it or discussed about it in his 'study' of homosexual issue in his book.

What made me uneasy most of all about "The Abduction Enigma" is the fact that Randle et al have 'tear apart' the very people who have asked the same questions as they did, except theirs were considered to be 'new' questions. In my opinion, this book is considered to be biased.

Someone who makes some sense out of the nonsense.
I have begun to hesitate in looking at any books about alien abduction because they are all the same. Someone is taken on the ship, examined, returned, and has no memory of it until the researcher finds the truth. No evidence of this truth, just the statements of the victim.

Now there is a book that looks at all that and asks some hard questions. How can alien beings that are so smart in some areas of science be so stupid in others. They try to hide their activities by screening the memories and yet I know of no case where the researcher wasn't able to penetrate that screen. We can find out all we want even thought the aliens are supposed to be hiding all of this from us.

These guys make sense of all the nonsense out there. If you read this book with an open mind, think about the evidence, you'll learn that alien abduction is really just a figment of the imagination.

The one to read
The authors of this book are not your usual CSICOP style debunkers. Dr. Cone remembered some uncanny experiences from his childhood that led him to suspect that he might be an abductee himself. Randle is the author of "Conspiracy of Silence" and several other pro-UFO books. In his autobiographical sketch Estes describes an experience he had with a "haunted house" that he apparently finds no mundane explanation for. So the authors clearly did not approach this subject with their minds already made up, and their book avoids the condescending tone that infects too many skeptical books (and which is ultimately counterproductive, since few believers are likely to be convinced by a person with an overweening know-it-all attitude).

Nevertheless, the authors are unequivocal in their conclusion that the alien abduction phenomenon is not the result of actual physical abductions but is a consequence of a complex set of social interactions, including cultural conditioning by science fiction stories and movies (and, later, "docudramas" of the abductions themselves), misinterpretation of sleep paralysis, and the unintentional creation of false memories brought about by the abduction researchers themselves. They argue their case well with a detailed look at the process of hypnotic regression, the problem of false memories, and the parallel social phenomenon of so-called Satanic Ritual Abuse.

If you're going to read one book about alien abductions, this should be it.