NPR Interview With Susan Clancy On Alien Abductions

National UFO Reporting Center Special Feature
11-10-05

     TRANSCRIPT:

     NPR: This is Day to Day, I’m Madeleine Brand.

     Despite any credible scientific evidence, most Americans believe that space aliens exist, and a substantial number of them believe that those aliens have visited this planet, and some of them believe that they were actually abducted by aliens.

     They are the subject of a new book…it’s called, “Abducted: How People Come to Believe that They Were Kidnapped by Aliens,” and it’s by Harvard psychologist, Susan Clancy. And Miss Clancy joins me now. Welcome to the program.

     SC: Thank you, thank you for having me.

     NPR: So, how did you get into this field of study? I’m, I’m wondering if it raised a few eyebrows there at Harvard.

     SC: Yes. I did not get into because I was interested in aliens, or UFO’s. I actually got into it because I was interested in memory distortion, and false memory creations, so how people could come to believe in, and remember, things that didn’t happen to them.

     NPR: Well, I mean, how can you take them seriously? Honestly! I mean…it’s…is it sort of like people who say that Elvis is still alive, or that the Earth is flat? How do you,…((laughter by both))…I mean, really, how do you talk to them with a straight face? ((extended laughter))

     SC: ((Laughing)) It’s actually easier than you would think. Um, first of all, what’s important to know is that most people, who believe that they were abducted by aliens, don’t have vivid memories of what happened. They just suspect they might have been abducted, based on certain experiences that they’ve had…or symptoms that they’ve had that are consistent with what they’ve read about, or watched on TV, or seen in ((sic)) the movie screen…you know, about what happens to people, when they’ve been abducted.

More . . .

Home