Barriers of Belief

What is presented in this book takes the form of series of chapters detailing hitherto unknown, real-life paranormal crossover cases personally investigated by the author as co-founder of P-E-G (Paranormal Encounters Group), interspersed with additional chapters containing some startling additional information suggested by each case. Although there is a broad sweep of diverse information contained in these pages, one thing that quickly becomes clear is that there is only a hair-thin line separating extraterrestrials from virtually all the supernatural creatures found in legend.

The difference, where it exists, is based entirely upon both perception and context and as we shall see in what follows, there are some very obvious instances where this occurs. It should be made clear from the outset that while this is not a book primarily about alleged alien abductions, it does describe situations when ordinary human beings have been placed in situations where the lines separating objective reality and fantasy become permeable. While the possibility of extraterrestrial interference cannot of course be ruled out, traditional folklore is full of accounts that, if left in their context, describe contact and interaction with trolls, boggarts, ogres, fairies, elves, the sidhe, goblins and many other beings inhabiting the very fringes of reality.

Having said that, from now on and to avoid confusion, we shall refer to the abductors, where applicable, only by the generic term, 'aliens'. This unfortunate and xenophobic description, I hasten to add, should not be taken to imply that the beings are automatically extraterrestrial in origin, but in the original and literal sense of the word as foreigners or strangers, or even simply as people with whom we are not yet familiar. Supposed encounters with non-humans, irrespective of source, often involve accounts of insemination and the eventual removal of pre-full term live foetuses from abducted human females, and traditionally this was particularly true of 'changelings', the often sickly offspring of fairy extraction exchanged for healthy, newborn human babies stolen from their mothers.

Although the reason for this is open to wild speculation, consensus considers that this may be part of a breeding programme used to create a species of hybrids. Or perhaps we can take a more charitable line and assume that the frail offspring given to human surrogate mothers are left to, (a) in some manner soften the blow of the kidnapping, or (b) more pragmatically, to ensure their survival. Furthermore, it has recently been discovered that not only are certain humans abducted, but often those taken are 'serial abductees' who are taken repeatedly. Although there is no clear demarcation between social groups or races regarding who is, or is not taken, in recent times the only common factor to appear in the abductees is genetic.

While many nineteenth century accounts of human/alien interaction have been mythologised, subtly altered and glamourised in fiction, nonetheless there are many common elements that create continuity between them. One of the earliest theories relating to the abduction and forcible interbreeding of humans with extraterrestrial, or at least non-human beings, surfaced during the late nineteenth, early twentieth century among esoteric European groups like the 'Thule Society'. This organisation, some of whose curious ideas on racial purity were later incorporated into Nazi ideology, claimed that in the dawn of time certain strains of emerging humanity were selected for genetic modification.

The name, 'Thule,' also refers to the capital of the legendary Aryan polar country of 'Hyperborea,' sometimes referred to as 'Ultima Thule', which was supposedly the gateway to another world. Significantly, Thule was therefore recognised as a place where humans could, by whatever means, leave the earth and it was also reputedly sited at an entrance to the hidden realm of the 'Hollow Earth'.

Depending upon interpretation, once again this lends some credence to the notion that the alien abduction scenario is firmly rooted in folklore and legends of subterranean 'fairy folk' that later evolved into super races, we shall return to this concept later. Thule Society dogma taught that the Hyperboreans were supposedly in contact with an extraterrestrial or at least an alien (subterranean?) race and in some versions of this story, which clearly parallels some aspects of the UFO mythos, there was alleged interbreeding. In common with the legendary inhabitants of Atlantis, the Hyperboreans engaged in semi-continuous war with neighbouring civilisations, which over time escalated into the use of mythical 'super weapons', usually interpreted as nuclear.

This perpetual conflict eventually resulted in a Pyrrhic victory for the Hyperboreans, who, in addition to defeating their enemies, virtually destroyed themselves in the process. In common with the short and long term genetic damage from radiation caused by wartime nuclear devastation at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and latterly but accidentally at Chernobyl, in Russia, the surviving Hyperboreans were soon faced with the prospect of mutated and otherwise genetically damaged offspring. Showing remarkable resolve, those not sustaining any visible effects banded together and effectively removed themselves from the gene pool in a variety of self-imposed quarantine and any damaged offspring from this group, although not killed outright, were systematically neutered soon after birth.

This early example of eugenics was practised for decades until they were sure that any defective genes had been bred out. Through time, the other group having literally mutated themselves to the brink of extinction eventually died out, although whether they were assisted in this fate is open to debate. This may seem like and indeed is a harsh, clinical line to adopt, but being faced with the stark choice of the total extinction of their entire race or partial survival, they had few other options; truly, the survival of the fittest.

About the Author:

The author, Brian J Allan, was born in Scotland in 1944 and has had a lifelong fascination with the weird paradoxes of the occult and supernatural.. He is married with two children and five grandchildren and along with his wife runs Paranormal Encounters Group.