A Plea to End the Lies, Discrimination, and
Harassment Against Experiencers
© Kathleen Marden
The history of mankind offers example after example of intolerance by the dominant culture against minority groups. Those whose experiences, appearance, or values place them outside acceptable political, religious, or social norms find themselves on the receiving end of ridicule and harassment by outspoken members of the dominant cultural group. Much of this desire to denigrate is emotionally driven through fear and a loathsome thirst to maintain control over target groups through intimidation, harassment and persecution, or through false propaganda intended to instill false beliefs in the general population. This disgraceful act of discrimination is politically sanctioned by the powers that be and the dominant culture to the detriment of the target group. It occurs in our society both subtly and pervasively to UFO/UAP witnesses and to experiencers of contact with non-humans.
There has been a long-established policy for UFO abductees/ET contact experiencers to report their events to UFO investigative groups. Amateur investigators have skeptically interrogated traumatized victims and passed judgement on them based upon their physical evidence or lack thereof. Investigating groups offered little or no opportunity for confidentiality, only anonymity or disclosure. Sometimes those who had experienced ontological shock were ridiculed or their identities were revealed as the result of violations of confidentiality.
Historically, "Blue Ribbon Panels" comprised of hard-nosed skeptics/disinformants and UFO investigators paraded victims in public view while one side developed false scenarios and invented denigrating explanations, while the other side presented solid investigations with physical and circumstantial evidence. It was touted as a balanced panel although one side presented fiction and the other presented factual evidence. The fiction writers then carried their false information to the public and accused the victims of intellectual, psychological, or perceptual disabilities. They were subjected to trauma inducing ridicule by humans which was, often times, more injurious than the anxiety or trauma they experienced as a result of the anomalous event.
False propaganda distributed by so-called debunkers (They actually disseminate bunk!) is sometimes accepted as truth. For example, anti-UFO propagandists promote the idea that that human perception is so unreliable we cannot accept a witness’s statement that a UFO was hovering less than 100 feet in the distance. Nor can we believe that that the witness received a telepathic message from an occupant in the craft. This is obvious baloney! Some disinformants perpetrate the belief that witnesses are incapable of discriminating between a distant planet, a lamp post, and an unconventional craft hovering less than 500 feet in the distance. The dismissive fantasies disseminated by disinformants are ludicrous to those who are familiar with the scientific evidence in possession of prominent UFO investigators, groups, and former high ranking military officers who have testified under oath.
How many UFO reports are simply written off as “identified” by biased, unscientific or ignorant skeptics? This type of biased reporting serves only to reduce the percentage of “Unknowns” and leads the public to believe that UFOs and abductions are the result of faulty human perception or figments of our collective imaginations. Certainly, not all UFO reports are unconventional or extraterrestrial vehicles, but some are. Additionally, many credible observers have reported their observation of non-humans in association with landed or hovering unconventional craft.
Thousands of witnesses from around the world, whose testimony on any other subject is accepted without question, face skepticism and ridicule when they report close encounters and contact with other worldly beings. I have interviewed medical doctors, lawyers, psychologists, college professors, pilots, military officers, scientists, oil field workers, truck drivers, homemakers, computer scientists, housekeepers, teachers, and nurses who’ve expressed memories of being taken to highly advanced technology by non-human entities.
The system that has been in place for decades deems intelligent, honorable, rational individuals as “kooks, cranks, attention seekers, money grubbers and outright liars”. Scientists are labeled “unscientific and paranoid”. This disrespectful assessment serves those with a vested interest in suppressing the truth. They promote their negative agenda by deceptively stating that they are adhering to scientific methodology, when in fact they are doing nothing of the kind.
Historically, credible abduction/ET contact reports were quickly dismissed as sleep paralysis, sleep hallucinations, temporal lobe epilepsy, etc, even when the evidence suggests otherwise. Sometimes, experiencers who were seeking a supportive listener were cruelly judged. Groups that offered emotional support were vilified. In this time frame, television shows introduced scientific ufologists who held advanced degrees, as UFO promoters, whereas disinformants were identified as scientists. We were upside down in the worst way possible.
We are now at a crossroad. Members of the US Congress are interviewing, under oath, former high ranking military officers who have encountered trans-medium craft unlike anything on our planet. With a wide brush, vocal skeptics dismiss these highly advanced technological vehicles as the property of our military-industrial complex or of a foreign adversary. Insiders inform us that our military is attempting to shoot them down. This implies that our military perceives them as foreign adversaries and is attempting to murder our non-human visitors. Much of this is based in fear and greed. With their technology, we could dominate the world.
Brave retired military officers who have been given immunity for their sworn testimony, and revealed the presence of non-humans, have been publicly denigrated and live under the threat of assassination. This travesty has extended to vocal experiencers of non-human contact and the researchers who reveal their evidence. I am aware of three experiencers who have been hospitalized after they were threatened to remain silent but did not obey. They were poisoned by toxic aerosol or powder substances. I am aware of a coterie of vicious adult bullies who have attempted to destroy the privacy of known experiencers, to revoke their first amendment right to speak freely, their right to work in their profession, and their right to safety and security. If they do not comply with a gag order from this criminal group, they and their families will be attacked. We cannot stand by and tolerate criminal threatening. These perpetrators must be identified and prosecuted for their crimes. Experiencers must be protected from vicious humans on a witch hunt.
I have a long relationship with the Mutual UFO Network and have held two national positions for a combined twenty years. Beginning in 2011, I and my teammates on the Experiencer Research Team developed a system of protection and compassionate support for experiencers of non-human contact. We vetted the credentials of professional therapists capable of working effectively with victims of anomalous encounters. We sought out well-run peer support groups hosted by seasoned providers. And we taught experiencers to overcome the harmful impact of long term fear. They learned to project love toward these non-humans in an attempt to initiate communication and deeper understanding. For those who chose to continue a life of fear and loathing, we offered suggestions on methods that might end their abductions. If they desired a full investigation, we directed them to file an investigation report with MUFON. We protected the people who trusted us with their information. However, our compassionate, safeguards have been defeated by MUFON's new administration which no longer values the level of privacy that we offered experiencers.
In May 2024 the Mutual UFO Network returned to its old policy of requiring a full nuts and bolts oriented investigation of everyone who requests a supportive conversation with a member of the ERT. These vulnerable individuals are no longer offered confidentiality, only anonymity. They can only speak with an ERT member after a full investigation of their case has been completed by a field investigator who has passed judgment on them. As someone who is well aware of the negative impact that judgmental UFO investigations can have on vulnerable experiencers, I have stepped back from the NEW ERT. I feel extraordinarily uncomfortable with the possibility that experiencers will be subjected to emotional harm before they have the opportunity to speak with a compassionate specialist on the ERT.
However, I am a MUFON member, benefactor, and research consultant to the ERT. Perhaps one day MUFON will alter its present nuts and bolts, judgmental point of view, and accept all the phenomena related to ET contact, including the importance of consciousness and psychic phenomena. If that day comes, I will enthusiastically spring into action. But for the time being, I have decided to take an academic, scholarly approach to contact with non-humans and explore the high strangeness aspects of contact such as intelligent orbs that communicate with experiencers in their homes, visitors outside our human visual range that contactees experience as a strong tingling sensation, and who communicate with humans, and the messages contact experiencers have been receiving since 1954, and perhaps earlier. Although it is important to those who do not possess my level of evidence, I have outgrown the nuts and bolts only approach to research. It captures only a small amount of the overall experience. Although, in the past, MUFON has valued my contributions and many years of leadership, it is apparent to me that our new leadership no longer values me or the full extent of my knowledge. Nor does it value protections for vulnerable experiencers. That said, MUFON has a record number of members: 8,000. It offers a monthly magazine, videos, and new investigative reports. It is a great organization for the uninformed public who are seeking entry level information on UFOs.
Academic studies indicate that the higher the level of educational attainment, the more likely a person is to believe that UFOs are real. Yet the uninformed public has been conditioned to treat experiencers as kooks, cranks, or demon possessed, by a few vocal and exceedingly nasty, noisy negativists. This form of suppression is promoted not only among disinformants, but also among some members of the UFO community. One skeptical investigator smugly informed me that no experiencer could pass a psychological evaluation. According to his statements, anyone who thinks they’ve been abducted is either mentally ill, lying, attention seeking, or in it for the money. He is wrong! Scientific ignorance, inexperience, misinformation, and fear have biased his point of view. This type of bias should not be tolerated. The fact is that the late Dr. John Mack, a prominent psychiatrist at Harvard University, informed us that experiencers of ET contact are no more psychologically disordered than the general public.
I have discovered that education is the most viable way to help experiencers. When people have the tools to assess their experiences in a rational manner they feel more powerful. The risk of embarrass- ment is greatly reduced. It takes time, but most experiencers will be able to collect evidence, or realize that there is no evidence to collect. We are all human and we all make mistakes. When the aura of mystery is removed, people become more centered and productive in their daily lives. But this occurs only after we find the answers to our questions. Proclamations from on high do little to help experiencers and can contribute to further pain and suffering.
If you are seeking information on experiencers of contact with non-humans, my book Extraterrestrial Contact: What to Do When You've Been Abducted is a comprehensive guide for experiencers. It will teach you how to collect evidence, how to cope with your experiences, and how to end your contact experiences if you so desire. You'll learn what you should know if you are thinking about making your events public, or if you are writing a book. You'll learn the results of academic studies and the commonalities that experiencers share. There is much more and a worksheet at the end of every chapter. It is a terrific guide for therapists and members of the public who are seeking a deeper understanding of contact phenomena.
Finally, I would like to thank the hundreds of hard working, dutiful volunteers who work selflessly with experiencers and UFO witnesses. Most are wonderful people who adhere to excellent ethical standards. You are vital to educating the public. Thank you for all that you do. Experiencers and UFO witnesses alike benefit from your hard work.
To the mainstream media, the intelligence agencies, and the vocal naysayers, I have this to say: It is time for the laughter to cease! It is time for the discrimination to end! It is time for the truth to be told! End the death threats, the biological contaminant attacks, the harassment, and the character assassinations. The truth must prevail! Only spiritual growth, acceptance, and positive communication will move humankind forward. We cannot remain entrenched in the quicksand of ignorance and false information.
