The Uninvited: "Nick Pope"
Published By Simon & Schuster:
Price £15.99 (Hbck)

Those who don't know who Nick Pope is must have been living on another planet over the last few years. Nick held the UFO 'Hot Seat' at the British Ministry of Defence in London for a few years and in the time came to realize as the UFO reports flooded in, that here was something that just wasn't going to go away. Nick wrote ' Open Skies Closed Minds' about his subsequent quest on the UFO enigma, and this ' the 'The Uninvited' is his second book. This book however looks squarely in the eye of the UFO abductee and their claimed experience of being whisked away by aliens. Is there any truth in these claims? Well Nick set out to find what was going on.

Nick kicks off by informing the reader about the early alleged encounters between human and 'non human intelligence's', in other words, the wee folk, fairies, elves and so on. Is there a connection with what's going on today? Nick also explains about witness perception, some people might interpret what they see as either a ghost, or alien, depending on their beliefs which is a far point. Nick then goes into those individuals who played an internal role in the early UFO contactee situation, we learn about George Adamski, Daniel Fry, and a number of others, could some of these characters have been disinformation agents? Nick says that we should at least consider this possibility and that they were trying to bring down UFOlogy, make it a laughing stock if you like. N interesting speculation. We then learn about some of the more famous 'abductees', and familiar names like, Antonio Villas, Betty and Barney Hill are also looked over.

Of course no book on UFO abductions would be complete without looking at the role of hypnosis and it's possible use towards these experiences. Should we use it? I expect a major explosion on thought on this important issue over the coming few months. The use of hypnosis is clearly something, which has to be looked at as a consideration to perhaps retrieve possible hidden deep seated memories. But is potentially a dangerous procedure, which could lead to perhaps incorrect information being presented. Some of the UK's most famous UFO abductions are also looked at, the Avely Abduction for instance is a classic case, and features this 'mist' or ' fog' that seems to be a feature of what occupants of vehicles (cars etc.) see just before they observe a UFO. This happened in the Scottish A70 case, and I am seeing it more and more in other abduction accounts.

Nick heaps deserved praise on Ken Phillips work with Dr Alexander Keul and the Anamnesis project, (which this reviewer has used). This project looks deeply at the UFO witness, their beliefs, their background and much more. It is a very inquisitive form, but paved the way into at the very least, looking more at the witness than the actual UFO sighting or abduction itself. Sadly Ken is no longer with us, but his sterling work carries on. Nick then asks about proof, what constitutes proof. People who believe in god, have never seen a photograph of him. Religious belief is purely focused upon "faith" and not "hard evidence". The UFO subject has at least evidence of sorts, photographs, videos, ground marks (trace cases) etc. Nick states that and I quote, "If the establishment accept the existence of God without proof, why does it demand proof of alien abduction"! Too true Nick. The abduction phenomena did not escape the attention of the Medical and Psychiatric profession, and in June 1992, the world's first scientific conference on alien abductions took place at MIT in America. Many leading people in their field from a whole range of professions attended, including UFOlogy's John Mack, Budd Hopkins, David Jacob's, Jenny Randles, and many more. People began to realize that this subject did merit investigation and deep thought.

Nicks own thoughts on abductions are that they are indeed very real, that they most certainly are conducted by 'beings' from somewhere, as to what our own British Government think, well Nick reckons that they haven't a clue what's going on. Nick also stresses the point that in his own research, he has yet to investigate a case that is a 'one off', in other words, people who claim to have been abducted, have most probably been abducted throughput their lives, (a distressing thought). We then go into 'aliens' dressing up as humans and making a pretty bad job of it. A number of cases are given which are funny in the extreme.

Can a superior alien intelligence not dress up correctly without mis-matching their clothes? One abductee states that there is 16 different species of 'aliens' visiting our earth, and the reason that they don't openly contact us, is through fear of being experimented on by the World's Governments. Double standards there if you ask me! Another abductee tells of being 'moved' through a solid door and floated up into a UFO. On the way up she observes a tennis ball that is stuck in the house gutter. The next day she looks to see if such a ball really was there, and you know what (IT WAS!).

Chapter 15 looks at many of the possible answers as to why we have UFO abductions. The birth trauma, near death experiences, hoaxes, false memory syndrome, are all raked over and probed. Could the answer not lie there instead of an 'alien explanation? This is not the first time that the subject of UFO abductions has been looked at by a British Author, Jenny Randles, Peter Hough and Moyshe Kalman, and a number of others have probed this before, each having their own opinions and thoughts. Nick sums up his own book by stating that, and I quote, "I believe that the abduction phenomena could be a response to our behaviour, and that it might represent a gradual attempt to effect subtle changes in humans. It is possible that the extraterestials are trying to civilize us"

Who knows he could very well be right!

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