Are Alien Abductions Actually Demonic Possessions? Here’s the Evidence
Excerpted from The NDE Conspiracy.
“Grab something off the shelf that’s on the spaceship—an ashtray, it doesn’t matter what. Because I can tell you, if they flew here from another galaxy, no matter what you’ve pulled off the shelf, it’ll be unlike anything we have on Earth.” —Neil deGrasse Tyson on how to prove an alien abduction
“I was abducted by aliens who gave me a nose job.” —Linda Napolitano
The near-death experience space has become a place where people now show up to share about alien abduction encounters.
In fact, when I went to the IANDS annual conference, I sat in on some sessions where the main topic of discussion was alien encounters and near-death experiences.
Of all the things I had encountered at that conference, this is the one that I wasn’t quite sure what to do with as I’d somehow avoided being aware that there could be any kind of a correlation between NDES and aliens over my five-plus years of extensive reading, researching, and interviewing in the NDE space. Coming out of that session, I knew this topic was something I had to touch on in this book.
Five Well-Known Alien Encounters
Before we try to make sense of how NDEs and aliens can be part of the same conversations, let’s take a few minutes to review several well-known alien encounters.
Betty and Barney Hill Abduction (1961)
On September 19, 1961, Betty and Barney Hill were driving through New Hampshire when they observed a bright light in the sky. They claimed that the light followed them, and upon arriving home, they experienced a time lapse and vague memories of being taken aboard a spacecraft. Under hypnosis, the Hills recounted detailed examinations by humanoid beings. This incident became one of the first widely publicized alien abduction stories.
Antônio Vilas-Boas Abduction (1957)
In October 1957, Brazilian farmer Antônio Vilas-Boas reported being taken aboard a spacecraft while working in his fields at night. He described interactions with humanoid beings and claimed to have been subjected to medical examinations, including being forced to have intimate relations with a female alien. This case is among the earliest recorded abduction claims.
Travis Walton Abduction (1975)
On November 5, 1975, logger Travis Walton and his coworkers encountered a UFO in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest in Arizona. Walton approached the craft and was reportedly struck by a beam of light, rendering him unconscious. His coworkers fled in fear but returned to find him missing. Walton reappeared five days later, claiming to have been aboard an alien spacecraft. His story was later adapted into the film Fire in the Sky.
Whitley Strieber’s Experiences (1985)
Whitley Strieber recounted his alleged abduction experiences in his 1987 book Communion. He described being taken from his cabin in upstate New York by non-human entities and subjected to various procedures. Strieber’s detailed narrative contributed significantly to public interest in alien abduction phenomena.
Linda Napolitano Abduction (1989)
Linda Napolitano claimed that on November 30, 1989, she was abducted from her Manhattan apartment by extraterrestrial beings. She described being levitated through a closed window into a waiting spacecraft. Her account was supported by multiple witnesses, including a New York Post delivery man. However, skepticism arose, with some suggesting the event was a hoax. This case was revisited in the Netflix docuseries The Manhattan Alien Abduction.
How Can We Evaluate These Alien Encounters?
In terms of the best way to evaluate these encounters, I believe we can start by asking if these extraterrestrial accounts could have a normal explanation.
Normal Explanations
Fraud. Is the experiencer committing fraud in order to gain fame or money?
Fantasy. Is this encounter merely the meanderings of an overactive imagination?
Faulty Memory. Is this person faulty in their memory. Are they perhaps aggrandizing the experience by significantly adding to what happened?
If none of these normal explanations will suffice, then we’re going to have to move on to the paranormal.
Paranormal Explanations
Aliens. Perhaps there really are aliens and these encounters are legitimate.
Are these experiences actually near-death experiences or spiritual transformative experiences?
Are these experiences some sort of demonic encounter?
If you’re willing to accept that aliens are real and these encounters are legitimate, then you can stop reading right now, pick up your ball, and go home. Personally, I don’t believe that aliens are real, so I’m going to move on to the latter options in the list.
I do think there is a tolerable case to be made that these alien encounters are either near-death experiences or spiritual transformative experiences. One thing in their favor is that alien abduction stories are retold as a travel narrative, just like NDEs and STEs. If we consider the five cases of alien abduction mentioned earlier in this article, I don’t get the impression that any of those experiencers were sick or near death, so I’m hesitant to throw them in the NDE bucket.
However, I’m more than willing to give them a test run in the STE bucket as all of these circumstances sound like some of the experiencers could have felt that they were in intense physical or emotional danger during their experience.
If we’re going to evaluate these alien encounters as STEs, let’s take a look at how they stack up against my 9-point NDE framework, which gives us a structure for the things we expect to find in an NDE or STE account:
Gateway to the Afterlife. In the case of an NDE, the gateway to the afterlife, so to speak, tends to be opened by some sort of an accident, health crisis, or other traumatic event. I don’t see that in any of these five alien accounts.
Out-of-Body Experience (OBE). While alien abduction experiencers generally imply that they were in their physical bodies the whole time, they do often describe floating or being taken up toward a bright light (often in the sky), which is in line with what we’d expect in an OBE.
Heightened Senses. Alien encounter experiencers don’t tend to report heightened senses the same that near-death experiencers do where all senses are dialed up to 11. However, many of them report in great detail how it felt when they were being probed or examined, which I’ll allow as sufficient evidence for heightened senses.
Encountering Other Beings. In these alien encounters they are definitely claiming that they’ve encountered other beings.
Life Review. I’m not aware of any experience in alien encounters that would be comparable to a life review.
Encountering Otherworldly (“heavenly” or “hellish”) Realms. People report seeing fantastical and otherworldly things in the midst of their alien encounters. At a minimum, being transported to an “alien craft” would qualify here.
Learning Special Knowledge. None of these cases necessarily involve returning with special knowledge, so this one doesn’t apply, at least not in these specific examples.
Returning to Your Earth-Bound Body. Many alien abduction experiencers report some sort of process of returning to their bodies.
Post-NDE Lingering Effects. Almost like those who experience
a distressing or disturbing near-death experience, it seems that those who have experienced an alien abduction have ongoing impact from their trauma.
Using the 9 points of my framework as our testing mechanism for how well these alien abduction encounters match up against typical NDEs and STEs, I’d say they fared quite well, scoring points in 6 of the 9 categories. At a minimum, from this basic level of research and comparison, I’m compelled to say that there is a strong correlation that merits some level of additional study and research.
Are These Experiences Some Sort of Demonic Encounter?
Now we come to the last and probably my favorite paranormal explanation for alien abduction—the demonic encounter. Through the years in the Charismatic church and ministry space I’m part of, I’ve heard numerous people claim that these alien abduction encounters are actually encounters with demons. The main reason they make this claim is there are documented cases of alien abductees calling on the name of Jesus and the encounter suddenly halts and comes to an end.
A 2024 article in the Christian Post says, “Gary Bates has researched this issue for over 25 years. As a best-selling author on the matter who also has an award-winning movie on ‘aliens’ and UFOs, Gary said, ‘There are over 400 cases that I am aware of where these abductions have been halted by people calling on the name of Jesus Christ…the instant His name was called, it stopped.’”
Although Gary claims to have more than 400 cases where these abductions were halted by the abductee calling on the name of Jesus, I did find that these were challenging to track down on the web. Although, I did come across one on Quora (quoted as is):
Im not sure if you still care for an answer, but one night i was home alone in the country. No neighbors for miles, my parents were out at dinner with some friends. I left the house to go feed the cats who lived outside, as i looked to my right, i saw a huge blue light. The light almost had its own life force like it moved like water then other spheres dripped out of it and circled it, often popping back into the main orb. After shitting my pants and trying to get ahold of my mom for about 7 minutes, all the smaller orbs went in to the bigger orb and it fadded out. Days later the most horrifying sleep paraylsis experince of my life. I was thrust awake into a very bright place, 4 beings were above me. Looked exactly like grey aliens but i mean the movies dont come close. They look absolutley souless, almost insectish but the black in their eyes fills your soul with a fear that is unlike anything you could dream of. I tried to move and i couldnt, it suddenly came to me to say Jesus, i called out to him, but i couldnt get the words out, finally i said it JESUS.
i woke up in my bed drenched in sweat with a pounding headache, i didnt go to bed that night or the next. I have no idea if it was real or a manifestation of that stressful time of my life, ever since around that time ive suffered from massive anxiety and DPDR. If anyone thinks theyd love to meet an alien youd pass out from making eye contact with one before your brain could process it. Worst experince of my life. There is power is the name of Jesus. If that experince did happen in physical reality, at least they put my ass back and didnt take me forever.”
While the encounter ending after the abductee calls on the name of Jesus is a good start, I don’t believe it’s fully sufficient on its own to label these alien abductions as demonic encounters.
Conclusion
I never figured NDEs and alien encounters might be first or second cousins, so to speak, yet that’s precisely where we found ourselves. Alien abduction accounts have gained popularity in the near-death experience space, and like an NDE they are often recounted as a travel narrative. On top of that, considering the five popular abduction encounters collectively, they fit withing six of the nine categories in my 9-point NDE framework.
Ultimately, I believe there is a good case to be made for these alien encounters actually being demonic encounters. This is based on the many documented cases where an abductee in the midst of their encounter cries out the name of Jesus and the encounter abruptly ends. Add to that these encounters loosely fitting within the realm of what’s possibly at the obsession stage of demonic activity and the fact that some of these abductees report being forced to have sex with aliens (incubus and succubus demons), I think there’s a growing case to be made for these alien abduction accounts being demonic in nature.
