When did you first start thinking about...

Alien abductions/aliens/UFOs? Was it in relation to something that happened to you or was it pure curiosity?

For me, I never believed, not entertained the notion of aliens OR UFOs and abductions...well those people were clearly lunatics who had underlying mental illnesses.

I had several weird occurances that I shrugged off - never forgot them - just ignored them. Too crazy to even think that perhaps the hole in my navel that wasn't there when I went to bed that night had come from a scratch or something else... the sheets thing...the paralysis (which is a KNOWN sleep disorder)...

Up until about 11 years ago, anytime I came across anything remotely UFO-ish I'd balk at it...."ohhhh aliens HAR HAR".

Then memories, post traumatic stress syndrome (when NO trauma has occurred???) severe depression and overwhelming anxiety...plus a weird aura around people (i mentioned in another post).

Then I started reading Contact by Carl Sagan. A lot of questions arose for me and I read even more...now I find I have even more questions than I do answers.

Are there others who have denied possibilities of alien life, secrecy in our governments etc etc and then one day find that it's all you can think about?

I have so many questions by this point I have to write them all down to keep track...it's become an near obsession LOL.

How can a person be diagnosed with PTSS without having experienced trauma?

Having gone through therapy and learned skills to cope cognatively, why does the anxiety persist at nearly the same level regardless of treatment? Regardless of strategies for dealing with it? (I am diligent in my therapies BTW and never miss a day of Paxil and still I am where I was when first diagnosed???) It was almost an overnight difference...like being fine one day and totally not fine the next. No real earmarks in my life at the time, no trauma that I recall...just these past experiences.

Questions I have are so numerous and span so many different topics (thankfully most are covered here on ATS) but it seems to only generate more questions.

I don't have unusual occurances when I sleep any more. No more missing time. No more weird memories cropping up...not for a good while now. But I can't dismiss the past occurances...the explanations just don't feel right.

Enough about me LMAO so...

So when did it start for you?

Started for me through my mom... She has always been a pretty big ufo-buff... she introduced me to all of Budd Hopkins books. Plus all of the UFO documentaries I've seen on TV.

Hmm, I don't think I was ever really introduced to them as such. I started to read fantasy novels as a kid, and then moved on to more vampires/ghosts....from there I suppose UFO's and stuff just...came....heh.

A very strange old couple gave me all their back issues of Fate Magazine and that has started a life long interest in all things Fortean or high strangeness. Also almost an obsession with sci-fi as a lad. As an adult Ive experienced a couple sightings, time distortions and encounters with people that I don't think were people.

[edit on 15-5-2006 by whaaa]

I think i was first introduced to the UFO/Alien topic with a small kids book with common UFO photos and drawings by my old man give me when i was like 4 or 5. When i was a kid it seemed all movies that where being produced where space/alien themed like starwars,ET,battle star and close encounters not to mention that carpenters song calling "calling occupant". Sometimes i really think in the 70's - 80's they where slowly desensitizing us through the media and entertainment on the UFO TRUTH !

But it was just a movie...didn't hold any significance at the time LOL...

I guess close encounters was another that was pretty wild. Was my Mom's favourite movie.

UFOs and aliens just wasn't talked about really. Just sci-fi stuff. My dad was a big sci-fi buff and was always reading Isaac Asimov books...I sort of got into it a bit but hey...I was a teen with better things to do than read fantasy books.

Now I look back and I think about all the media and movies based on ET and UFOs is pretty vast.

Just wondering when everyone first got the UFO/ET bug...

UNSOLVED MYSTERY it was some show in the early 90s I think, and I got more involved in it later on, it just opened up a whole new world for me

it just always seemed a bit odd to me that we would be the only species in a universe of the size we live in. as far as our being contacted...it's possible, but i find that particularly hard to believe, based on what modern physics tell us.

of course, modern physics has a massive blind spot...

I think my interest in the subject stemmed naturally from my interest in science fiction. After reading so many stories about aliens, it wasn't much of a leap to browsing this forum and reading other accounts on the Web. I've never had a personal abduction experience, and have never seen a UFO. In fact, no one I've ever met personally has ever told me about such an experience, even. (though there may be some that don't share) I just find the subject interesting, and like to read about it from time to time, like almost everything else.

I've never really thought about it. How and when... seems like I've always been interested in all kinds of weird stuff. I guess the main interest for me is the "what if"-mentality and thoughts arising from that.

If I think what would've been the main catalyst, I suppose it was Erich von Däniken and his books about ancient astronauts etc. And because I had like-minded friends, it all grew from that. One of them is studying astronomy at university, but I guess the rest of us just left it at sci-fi stage

I don't personally know anyone who has had any kind of UFO/alien/abduction experiences, and having had none of them myself it's always been more of a pleasant fantasy and a way to escape everyday life. (No, I'm not worried that the aliens will come and destroy the earth, if it happens, it happens and I can't do anything anyway, so I'd just rather eat, drink and be merry )

who'll admit to being suspicious of having been abducted??? Nah...couldn't be.

I think it really is a cool question. So many people I know discuss it as well and they have never confided (mind you I haven't confided in them either) about any sightings or abduction theories...still tabu yah know.

Sci fi books are great...now that I'm older and have time and interest in reading.

It makes me wonder how many people world wide have thought about the possibility of life elsewhere in the universe. I know personally it is possible to go through a huge chunk of life not giving it a second thought...

Interesting that people may not even consider it.

for me iv always been intrested in the unexplained and ufo stuff since i was little, iv always had an urge to learn things noone else understands, maybe im just mad lol

just because your paranoid dont mean their not out to get you

I first became interested in UFO's during my early 20's. My father spent his entire career with Martin (Company) Marietta as an aerospace engineer. We traveled and lived around the world while he was involved in various projects (Honest John Missile, Pershing II, Space Pebbles, etc.) and he would be gone for weeks at a time. As I grew older, he spoke of the many trips to White Sands Testing Range in N.M. and working at Cape Canaveral. I would catch little sentences here and there about "you wouldn't believe what I saw" and "I can't talk about it, but it was glowing"when he was talking to my mother. I was curious and started reading as much as I could about White Sands and Martin company. I found articles in the library (back before the internet made things interesting) and discovered some literature talking about UFO's and White Sands. I then found an article about a top level guy at Martin becoming involved in UFO research.

As I've grown older, I question little things that have happened to me, some very sleepness nights, and my daughter's deep interest in UFO's. I probably have some repressed memories!

To make a long story short, I continue to be skeptical of everything I see, but underneath that is my desire to discover the truth.

My dad was the biggest skeptic, rational thinker, debunker, I've ever known. One time when I was home sick from school, he stopped and picked me up a paperback book written by Frank Edwards, since he knew I was big-time into science fiction. The book was "Stranger than Science".

Not science fiction, but a collection of supposedly true and mysterious things. Subsequently, I read all of Edwards' books, including "Flying Saucers - Serious Business" thus sealing my fate forever on an interest in that topic.

Dad and I had some great discussions over the years. He just liked to argue. He'd occasionally pick up a related book to give to me just so we could argue about it.

I wish I still had those old books, just for the sentimental value. Much like the "Tom Swift" series, I clearly remember reading them, but don't recall much of the content.

In the 90's i saw a ufo documentry on a ufo seen by 6-7 ppl, at least 4 where police officers. The ufo was around St. Louis and it took a swooping 90 degree turn around the city. That documentry scared the crap out of me at that age. Then i saw one on aliens making the pyramids and i just couldn't look away from ufo stuff. Also a sighting got me to get really into it.