Nova: Kidnapped By UFOs? - The True Story of Alien Abductions (1996)

One in this series of science documentaries. This edition examines the stories of ordinary people who claim to have been abducted by extraterrestrials. This program includes comments from various scientists, authors, and professors associated with the abduction phenomenon. Highlights and topics discussed include the following, among others: the first report of alien abduction, with a re-enactment of the account, and the way hypnosis generated the full story; author Budd Hopkins on the scientific community's response to these stories; footage of a support group's discussion about abduction tales; the similarity among sketches of aliens; the frequent accounts of body probing; a clip of a hypnotized abductee, whose account becomes increasingly vivid; comments by Harvard Professor of Psychiatry John E. Mack on the results of psychological tests on abductees; astronomer and author Carl Sagan on the absence of physical evidence to support such stories; remarks by Harvard Professor of Physics Paul Horowitz on the type of evidence that abductions and UFO sightings require; Hopkins' investigation into the abduction of two Florida children, and the possible meaning behind their stories and their mother's story; Sagan on the tales' lack of authenticity; the history behind the fascination with aliens; the Hollywood obsession with UFOs, including clips from movies and television shows such as "The Day the Earth Stood Still," "The Outer Limits," "The UFO Incident," "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial," "Intruders," and "Communion"; the rise in abduction accounts following the release of such films; remarks by Professor of Psychology Robert Baker on the integration of abduction into popular culture; the similarity between abductees' drawings and creatures in film and television; Sagan on whether Hollywood movies cause people to fabricate stories; Baker on how goblins and devils of the medieval period are the source of abduction tales, and how abductions occur in the middle of the night; comments by Professor of Neuroscience Michael Persinger on studies scientists perform to find other explanations for abduction stories; the way abduction memories could be implanted in the psyche; Professor of Psychology Elizabeth Loftus on experiments that may prove the implantation of memories through suggestion; Baker on why hypnosis is not a reliable way to retrieve abduction stories; Loftus on whether support groups implant memories; comments by Professor of Sociology Richard Ofshe about the way support groups are strictly controlled by the leader; remarks by Donna Bassett, an infiltrator of support groups, about their questionable legitimacy and the stories she concocted while pretending to be under hypnosis; Mack on why people fake abduction stories; and Sagan on the greatest concerns of scientists, including believers and skeptics alike.