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This is a most interesting little book almost damned by a silly title. It is a study of contactee extraordinaire Brian Scott. Scott's story started with a close encounter and two time lapse experiences in the Spring of 1971. It became a classic abduction report under hypnotic regression by Alvin Lawson and William McCall. From then on, a long repertoire of 'paranormal' events occurred - automatic writing, poltergeist effects, alleged possession, invasion of the house by balls of light and alleged stigmata. Finally, with the 'help' of an official of the mystical group Eckankar, he became a full-blooded contactee, founding his own cult, 'Congress for Interplanetary Technology and Education'.
The author has clearly written this book 'on the hoof', and we can trace his evident puzzlement as events unfold, and Scott's credibility gap widens . It was apparently in an attempt to sort out the Scott mess, that De Herra, Lawson and McCall set about the 'imaginary abductee' experiments. By the last pages of the book, Scott's credibility is very threadbare indeed, as are his really scary acts. The 'great demonic voice' is shown to be relaying information taken from one of Allen Landsburg's TV shows, and Brian's 'stigmata' was a commercial tattoo.
De Herra clearly feels that even though Scott's abduction and contact story is fairly worthless, the evidence for the balls of light (the 'etherian invasion' of the title) is quite impressive, and points to similar cases, including Fatima. Interestingly such balls of light are not unknown in cases of either poltergeists or apparitions, and do seem to be a genuinely transcultural experience.
Cases such as that of Scott do demonstrate the extreme difficulties inherent in trying to separate hoax, mass hysteria, psychopathology, and 'genuine' paranormal events. Furthermore, they show how the pathology of the family - Scott's wife was placed in a psychiatric hospital at one point - is such an important factor in such cases. Finally, De Herra's 'naive' style of writing, preserving his on-the-spot doubts and anxieties, shows just what UFO investigators can find themselves up against, and why ufology is definitely not a schoolboy hobby. The author is to be congratulated on his guts and tenacity.
- Peter Rogerson, from Magonia 4, Summer 1980
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