JUNE 1978, FELLING, COUNTY DURHAM, IRELAND, SOMEONE:
Brief summary of the event and follow-up:
British ufologist Jenny Randles reportedly indicated that in Felling, County Durham, Ireland, on June 1978, at 03:50 a.m., a person was awoken in her bed by a buzzing, high-pitched noise that vibrated through her body almost like an electric shock. Her head felt like it would explode.
Then an unseen figure held her wrist. The witness was paralyzed and could not move but could see that the figure had a fuzzy aura surrounding it. A bluish light was bathing the room. Apparently every time the being touched her, it created "a weird X-ray like effect": she could see into her arm, the bones, and blood vessels. It was as if the entity was studying her.
Suddenly the creature disappeared and she was again able to move.
Albert Rosales indicates in his catalogue that in Felling County, Durham, Ireland, on June 1978, at 0350 a.m., the witness was awoken in her bed by a buzzing, high-pitched noise. It vibrated through her body almost like an electric shock. Her head felt like it would explode. Then an unseen figure held her wrist. The witness was paralyzed and could not move but could see that the figure had a fuzzy aura surrounding it. A bluish light was bathing the room. Apparently every time the being touched her it created a weird X-ray like effect. She could see into her arm, the bones, and blood vessels. It was as if the entity was studying her. Suddenly the creature disappeared and she was again able to move.
Albert Rosales indicates that the source is "Jenny Randles, Star Children."
The website indicates that in June 1978 at 03:50 in Felling, County Durham, Ireland, "The witness was awoken in her bed by a buzzing, high-pitched noise. It vibrated through her body almost like an electric shock. Her head felt like it would explode. Then an unseen figure held her wrist. The witness was paralyzed and could not move but could see that the figure had a fuzzy aura surrounding it. A bluish light was bathing the room. Apparently every time the being touched her it created a weird X-ray like effect. She could see into her arm, the bones, and blood vessels. It was as if the entity was studying her. Suddenly the creature disappeared and she was again able to move."
The source indication is a broken link.
Points to consider:
With this report, everything screams the explanation to me: an hypnagogic hallucination episode with sleep paralysis.
There is no UFO. Everything happens to someone laying, probably in a tent, taking no action.
It starts with a sleeping witness.
The "awakening" is caused by some external stimulus, a sound. This is very usual. It may have been a vehicle stopped outside with the engine on.
The witness is "paralyzed" during the "sighting". This is a telling sign associated with hypnagogic episodes. The mind is half-awake but the body still asleep.
The "alien" is not "complete": here, it isn't even really seen, there is just some "aura". This is usual in hypnagogic hallucinations, dreams imagery often does not require "completeness".
The "x-rays" are another typical aspect as hypnagogic hallucination do not have to comply physical realities. In my own experience, I saw two entities in a hall from the bedroom, in reality, the walls would have prevented me from seeing them. But in the dream, such obstacles do not matter.
Nothing is said about the witness' feelings or reaction. Possibly there was no emotion, no fear. Had she be conscious, she would certainly have fled, or screamed, or at least have been frightened. But in hypnagogic episodes, feelings do not have to comply reality. I can tell, as I had an entirely similar experience. "Seeing" aliens in an hypnagogic episodes, and remaining perfectly cool about it, whereas I would certainly have been utterly terrified if this had happened to me in reality.
The experience ends as the witness enters a normal sleep state again.
Although hypnagogic experiences are now quite understood in the medical literature on non-pathological sleep disorders and sleep phenomena, although there are knowledgeable ufologists who understand this phenomenon, many other ufologists are still unable to identify such causes when they apply and still believe such experiences are alien encounters or alien abductions.
I provide a few references among dozens about the topic of hypnagogic hallucination and sleep paralysis:
"The Old Hag phenomenon as sleep paralysis: a biocultural interpretation", paper by R.C. Ness, in Cultural and Medical Psychiatry, vol. 2 #1, pp 15-39, March 1978.
"Lucid Dreaming: The Paradox of Consciousness During Sleep", book by Celia Green and Charles McCreery, Routledge publisher, U-K., 1994.
"Wrestling With Ghosts: A Personal And Scientific Account Of Sleep Paralysis", book by Jorge Conesa Sevilla, Xlibris Corporation publishers, U-K., 2004.
"Hallucinations and pathological visual perceptions in Maupassant's fantastical short stories - a neurological approach", by L.C. Alvaro, in Journal of the History of Neuroscience, vol 14, #2, pp 100-115, June 2005.
"Effects of hypnagogic imagery on the event-related potential to external tone stimuli", paper by N. Michida, M. Hayashi, T. Hori, in Sleep, Vol. 28 #7, pp 813-818, July 2005.
"Sleep and Society: Ventures into the (Un)Known", book by Simon A. Williams, Routledge publisher, 2005.
"Mental representation of space: Insights from an oblique distribution of hallucinations", paper by T.A Girard, D.L. Martius, J.A. Cheyne in Neuropsychologia, vol. 45 #6, pp 1257-1269, 2007.
"Parasomnias", paper by D.T. Plante, J.W. Winkelman, in The Psychiatric Clinics of North America, Vol. 29 #4, pp 969-987, December 2006.
"Paranoid delusions and threatening hallucinations: A prospective study of sleep paralysis experiences", paper preview by J.A. Cheyne, T.A. Girard, scheduled in Consciousness and Cognition for April 2007.
List of issues:
Id:
Topic:
Severity:
Date noted:
Raised by:
Noted by:
Description:
Proposal:
Status:
1
Data
Severe
December 10, 2011
Patrick Gross
Patrick Gross
Primary source not available.
Help needed.
Opened.
2
Ufology
Severe
December 9, 2011
Patrick Gross
Patrick Gross
Report only, apparently no investigation for causes.
Help needed.
Opened.
3
Ufology
Severe
December 10, 2011
Patrick Gross
Patrick Gross
Missing some basic data, for example, not even the witness' age is given, she may have been a young girl.
Help needed.
Opened.
Evaluation:
Probable hypnagogic hallucination.
Sources references:
* = Source I checked.
? = Source I am told about but could not check yet. Help appreciated.
[---] ? "Star Children - The True Story Of Alien Offspring Among Us, book by Jenny Randles, Sterling publishers, U-K., 1995.
[ar1] * "1978 Humanoid Reports", compiled by Albert Rosales, circa 2007, at www.ufoinfo.com/humanoid/humanoid1978.shtml
[ud1] * "June 1978 - Felling, County Durham, Ireland", web page by the UFOdna website, circa 2010, at thecid.com/ufo/uf19/uf6/196486.htm
