A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
A Genealogy of the Extraterrestrial in American Culture
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
scientifically sympa<strong>the</strong>tic figure, assumed that position. The contactee functioned as a direct<br />
<strong>in</strong>terlocutor with alien <strong>in</strong>telligences. In <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong> abduction, although <strong>the</strong> abductee experiences<br />
direct contact, <strong>the</strong> abductee is <strong>of</strong>ten unable to fully recall—much less communicate—<strong>the</strong><br />
substance <strong>of</strong> that contact. The abductee requires <strong>the</strong> hypno<strong>the</strong>rapist to complete <strong>the</strong> circuit <strong>of</strong><br />
communication, just as many spirit mediums required a mesmerist. Even if <strong>the</strong> abductee can<br />
recall elements <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> experience, <strong>the</strong> mean<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> it all rema<strong>in</strong>s elusive. As <strong>in</strong> classical<br />
psycho<strong>the</strong>rapy, <strong>the</strong> dreamer needs help <strong>in</strong> recall<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> dream and <strong>in</strong> discern<strong>in</strong>g <strong>the</strong> mean<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>the</strong>re<strong>in</strong>. Thus <strong>the</strong> privileged <strong>in</strong>terlocutor, <strong>the</strong> communicative fulcrum, <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong> abduction is<br />
not a figure centrally located <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> experiential web <strong>of</strong> alien contact, as <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
contactee, but a figure that resides ra<strong>the</strong>r <strong>in</strong> a space <strong>of</strong> cl<strong>in</strong>ical remove. As <strong>the</strong> experience <strong>of</strong><br />
contact grew <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly embodied and concrete, via abduction, <strong>the</strong> process by which <strong>the</strong><br />
experience was understood became <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly abstracted. The degree <strong>of</strong> cl<strong>in</strong>ical remove on<br />
<strong>the</strong> part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> hypno<strong>the</strong>rapist varied from case to case. The earliest example <strong>of</strong> Dr. Benjam<strong>in</strong><br />
Simon, <strong>the</strong> hypno<strong>the</strong>rapist <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> Hill Case, represented a fairly complete cl<strong>in</strong>ical distanciation.<br />
Simon was <strong>in</strong>itially not at all sympa<strong>the</strong>tic to <strong>the</strong> belief that <strong>the</strong> Hills had actually been abducted<br />
while rema<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g sympa<strong>the</strong>tic to <strong>the</strong> understand<strong>in</strong>g that <strong>the</strong> Hills believed that <strong>the</strong>y had been<br />
abducted.<br />
The hypno<strong>the</strong>rapist functions <strong>in</strong> a classical psychoanalytic mode. Act<strong>in</strong>g as psychopomp,<br />
<strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>rapist guides <strong>the</strong> abductee through <strong>the</strong> ne<strong>the</strong>r regions <strong>of</strong> repressed self-knowledge. Dur<strong>in</strong>g<br />
<strong>the</strong> process <strong>of</strong> regressive hypno<strong>the</strong>rapy, prior to <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong>rapist’s full revelation <strong>of</strong> what emerges<br />
under hypnosis, <strong>the</strong> analysand is shielded from this lost self-knowledge. It is while under<br />
hypnosis that <strong>the</strong> abductee most closely resembles <strong>the</strong> spiritualist medium, convey<strong>in</strong>g previously<br />
hidden communiqués <strong>in</strong> a trance state, unaware <strong>of</strong> what <strong>the</strong>y reveal. However, <strong>the</strong>se<br />
189